Scarred
Chapter 4: The Test
The next day, Sting and Rouge asked a female guild-mate for some spare clothes that Alice could borrow and got her cleaned up. Alice was combing her long, black hair and tied it in a side-ponytail with a red ribbon.
The twin slayers brought her up to Sabertooth's Master, Master Jemma, to ask whether she could join or not. They knocked on the door three times and entered.
"Master, Alice here would like to join" Sting said formally, kneeling on the floor as Rouge did the same. They both gestured for her to do the same so she did.
"Master Jemma, please allow me to join. I have nowhere else to go and I will not put the Sabertooth name to shame" Alice said sternly, her voice deep, although still a girl's voice. The three of them put their heads down.
"I'll let you stay. But you must prove your worth and fight one of my members" the bulky man said, his voice with no consideration or heart.
"Yes Sir" Alice responded with no hesitation. The slayers looked up.
"Master, who will she fight?" Sting asked, the shadow dragon slayer looked up.
"Alice, you will pick. I will not tell you anything about them" the master said and the trio stood up and left the room. Alice walked around the guild, looking for the right opponent until she saw long blonde hair.
"Rouge, Sting, I want to fight him" she pointed at a blonde man sitting next to someone with green hair. Rouge nodded and Sting opened his mouth to shout out.
"Yo Rufus! Come outside" Sting yelled as he pulled Alice and Rouge outside. Rufus Lohr, the memory-make mage of Sabertooth, also one of the strongest. The mage followed them outside to find that the slayers had set up a battlefield outside.
"Sting, what is the meaning of this?" Rufus asked, pushing his mask up.
"Simple! This girl wants to join the guild and Master said that she has to prove herself by fighting one of the guild members. And so she chose to fight you" Sting answered in a storytelling tune and often gesturing at Alice and the Master, who has appeared out of nowhere. Alice jumped into the battleground and took out her daggers.
"Sorry but I- you just caught my eye" Alice bowed and stayed silent afterwards. Rufus observed her, her battle stance, her weapon, her breathing patterns and, later, her fighting pattern and weak points. Alice did the same.
"Pleasure to meet you miss?" he bowed.
"My name's Alice Kokoroni. Nice to meet you" she bowed too.
"Rufus Lohr." he introduced himself.
"Nice name, but it's best if we start now" Alice said, preparing for any impact.
Rufus used his magic to recreate a machine gun, shooting at Alice. Alice did a backflip around it and requiped a mace. She flung the mace around and shot it straight into the barrel. The gun exploded and Rufus jumped into a tree.
"Requip mage. Memorized" he whispered. Alice remembered his magic and remembered something her mother taught her.
'Always observe your enemy closely, look for any openings' her mother's voice rang in her ears as she watched Rufus recreated her mace. She noticed that it took sometime and a lot of focus for it to be made and threw one of her daggers near his head.
"I know your weak points know Sir Rufus" Alice laughed as she appeared behind him. This was a trick her mom taught her, it helps her become faster than light.
"As do I miss Alice" Rufus smirked as he threw the mace around her area. Alice appeared behind him and cut the branch he was on.
"Memory make" he focused making a cushion below him when Alice jumped on him, breaking his concentration, and they landed on the ground. Dust was everywhere, blocking everyone's view of the winner.
Rufus had landed on the ground while Alice had jumped and landed gracefully on top of him, pointing her mother's sword at his neck. The dust had cleared at that time and the winner was clearly Alice, amazing everyone.
"Stop!" Master Jemma shouted, catching everyone's attention. Alice returned her blade and helped Rufus up as everyone waited for their Master's words.
"You are hereby accepted, Alice Kokoroni, as a member of Sabertooth" the bulky man stated. Sighs of relief were heard, although only coming from Sting, Rouge, Lector, Frosch and Alice. Alice kneeled down and thanked him.
"Thank you Master Jemma for this chance. I promise I will not put the name of Sabertooth in shame" she swore before getting bombarded with 'Congratulations' and 'Welcomes'. They all went inside the guild and partied most of the time, Alice just sitting with Sting and Rouge, and their exceeds.
"Miss Alice" Rufus said by her ear, catching her by surprise. She grabbed her dagger and brought it to his throat in reflex.
"S-Sir Rufus" she lowered the dagger and sighed, "Sorry 'bout that. Reflex"
"It's quite already M'lady. I'm the one who surprised you" the blonde-haired man kissed her hand as he kneeled, making the twin slayers jealous.
"W-what-"
"Might I say you're skills are fine. And how you observed me- you're such a wonderful lady" Rufus remarked smoothly, a smile evident on her face.
"T-thanks..." she said, no blush seen, although a small smile of appreciation upon her face.
The 6 of them, exceeds included, spent the night talking and drinking, the Trio had juice, and soon after, Orga joined.
"Well then, I think it's time for us to go home now Rufus, Orga" Sting declared, dragging on a sleeping Lector as Rouge nodded and followed.
"Wait Sting-kun! Where is Alice-chan going to stay?" Frosch asked, looking back at the said teen.
"Oh yeah! Alice you can sleep in our house" Sting beamed happily. Alice answered reluctantly, "Are you sure? I can just make a camp in the woods"
"Yes he's sure. We wouldn't let a girl sleep in the woods" Lector said, pulling on her shirt with Frosch.
"O-Okay... But I'll leave tomorrow" she said as she stopped walking.
"No, you stay as long as you need. You can even stay forever!" Sting laughed as he dragged his two companions home, the exceeds following through.
