"Look at that speed!"
"Hard to believe she's level two."
It was Solaris that lunged with her halberd, stabbing forward and aiming for her opponent's head. Lulope's eyes widened in shock as she tilted her head to the side, as if not expecting the speed of the weapon. She clicked her tongue at the cut at her cheek, but didn't bother attacking back. Instead she bobbed and weaved with her hand, her arms still relaxed as she dodged the repeated stabs and pullbacks of Solaris. To those that watched it was clear that Solaris' speed was above a regular level two. However, she still faced someone a level above her, thus while she drew first blood, she didn't deal any more damage than that. Solaris growled, pushing forward while she kept her thrusting assault. Lulope laughed, still dodging as if this was a mere game to her, backing off while her opponent advanced. The stalemate was suddenly broken when Solaris twirled her halberd around, swinging the butt of it upwards.
"Awaken, Inferno!"
"Aaaand she's turning up the heat, folks!"
The burst of flames hit dead center, throwing the dark elf back for quite a distance. Yet that's all it did. Lulope cracked her neck and dusted her chest off, completely unharmed as she began to pace around Solaris, who turned her body slowly as well, barking out a laugh as she twirled her halberd, now on fire, before pointing the blade at the dark elf.
"I guess I should be flattered you prepared so much for little old me!"
"Don't think too highly of yourself, you one trick pony!"
"Why not?" At the elf's anger, Solaris had a mocking smile on her face as she drew a flaming circle with her blade. "You seem afraid of this!"
"Why work hard when you can work smart?" Lulope drawled before beckoning her opponent with her hand. The captain scoffed before rushing forward once more.
"Wow, didn't know you'd know what either are!"
Solaris reared back with her weapon, touching the ground before kicking it off with a flaming explosion. The increase in power and speed caused Lulope to parry for the first time with her daggers, her eyes narrowed in annoyance. To those who knew her, Solaris became more wild than she usually was, laughing like a maniac as she added more spins and twists, going fully on the offensive with her new weapon.
"Was that your idea?" Kaguya asked idly as she leaned forward, eyes narrowed at the fight. Solaris was doing a good job in having the momentum on her side, but that's all she had. The enemy began to dance around her, parrying the blows of her long weapon. While the captain could keep up in a sense, the difference in speed was clear. Alise on the other hand giggled, smiling proudly at her student.
"Solaris is the wild type. Trying to civilize her may have worked at the start but right now? I took full advantage of honing her instincts."
"Good job." Finn frowned for a moment as he folded his hands. "But if that's all she has, it won't be enough."
After all, as an expert at the spear, he could tell that this wasn't Solaris' weapon. She was good at it, yes, but there was a difference between someone preferring a sword and someone being like Aiz. As if realizing something, Lulope glared at Solaris, as if she didn't like what she was seeing. Then she suddenly began to pick up speed. The next instance Solaris barely dodged with her head, yet the cut on her cheek was clearly visible to everyone, causing the audience to flinch. The dark elf was practically a blur to most people now. Finn glanced at Alise, yet the latter seemed utterly relaxed.
"Wow, look at that! With the terrain being like it is, the Nightshade can bounce off those rocks to pick up even more speed!"
"It is surprising that the Flamma can keep up, relatively speaking."
She was starting to run out of breath, reducing her flames to a minimum to not cover her own vision. Gritting her teeth, she tried to keep track of her enemy. From above, from below, right, left, behind, it was inevitable that she was still getting cut. Lulope was aiming for her skin, face, thigh, arm. Yet every cut was shallow, as if she wanted to play with her food. Solaris growled as she took a dagger to her back that would've otherwise cut her wrist. She almost stumbled forward, instead holding her ground and after the sound of metal hitting metal, Lulope leapt back, bouncing on her feet a few times. With a giggle, the dark elf pressed her back against a stone before dashing forward once more, flying through the air. Solaris cracked a smirk and suddenly went down, leaning back enough to touch the ground with the back of her head.
"Ooohh, anticipated! Guess the straight lines were getting predictable!"
Lulope's eyes widened, crossing her arms, ready to defend herself. Yet her enemy didn't aim for her face or aimed dead center with her blade. Instead she aimed for the fluttering cloth of hers. The blade easily pierced through it and she immediately dragged it sideways, ripping it off the elf. At the same time she was also piercing through and cutting a decent bit off her sides, causing Lulope to bite back a scream.
"She got the Salamander Wool!"
"And a good hit on her sides!"
The elf landed and the human rose to her feet. Now with that protection gone, Solaris snarled and exploded the ground underneath her to pick up speed. At the sudden acceleration, Lulope dodged to the side... only to hit her shoulder against a massive rock. The impact caused her wound to widen as she winced, holding her bleeding side.
"She stopped!"
Solaris didn't miss her chance. She stabbed her halberd into the stone, narrowly missing her target. Yet in her haste, Lulope was off balance as she dodged to the side. It was more than enough to nail her with the sole of her left leg before the dark elf could get past her. Practically stomping her head down, Solaris let out a furious roar.
"Maximum output!"
She set her entire leg on fire, seemingly creating a pillar of white fire. She grit her teeth in pain, but it was tinged with joy.
"With such a blow, even a level three won't come out unharmed."
"No kidding, how strong are those flames?!"
For a moment, the elf seemed to have gone limp. For one instance, many believed she had won. However. Those with experience. Those that reached the top percentage of the world. They knew something was off. It was too easy. Even Bell felt it in his gut, unable to feel joy even as the flames burned. It was then he spotted it. Lulope's grip on her daggers tightened. The next instance, the flames stopped and Solaris let out an ear piercing scream as two daggers dug into her left calf.
"Whoa, the Nightshade revived, what the heck?!"
"Those are deep cuts, she won't be using that leg from now on!"
"Gotcha~!" Lulope sang playfully, spitting to the side as the flames slowly disappeared. Bell leaned forward, trying to reach his captain out of instinct, but Kojiro held him back by the shoulder. All he could do was scream out his concern as Solaris stumbled back, hobbling on one leg.
"Solaris!"
The Nightshade made it a point to rise slowly, with smoke still covering her head. Coughing a bit, she waved her hand in front of her, making it disperse. The sight that followed shocked the audience to their core, some of them shooting up from their seats.
"No damage?!"
Her face was dirtied and her nose was bleeding a bit. But there was no damage visible from the flames themselves. Her smug grin was devoid of any burns. Naturally the sight caused aggravation to many. Bell shouted objections as Haruhime covered her mouth in horror. The Rakians booed at the sight, only stopping with Romulus glared at them. Back in Orario on the other hand, in a certain bar a guild advisor spilled his drink in anger. In the Twilight Mansion, only Astraea's hand on her shoulder stopped Kaguya from slamming her hands down on the table. With a seething growl, she sat back down while Ryuu bit her thumb with worry.
"We miscalculated."
"Damn it, how could we know she had a damn skill?!"
"Not like fire immunity comes up in rumors! Especially with someone that stays away from the dungeon!" Lyra added her own complaints to Kaguya's comment. It was unbelievable that someone would have such a specific skill. It was unlikely it was reported to the Guild either. It truly was a perfect counter, a hidden ace against someone like Solaris. However, the person who should've been the most upset was utterly calm. With her legs crossed, she casually smiled with her hands folded.
"It's fine."
"Alise, her leg is cut open! She won't be able to attack, much less defend!" Ryuu objected in outrage, yet her captain just shook her head calmly.
"It's fine."
"She's gonna bleed out, you airhe-"
A gasp interrupted Bete's words. They all turned back at the Divine Mirror, only to see Solaris scream at the heavens. Tione gaped just like many others before she let out a weak laugh.
"No way... "
Fire covered the wounds, as if embracing them. Slowly but surely, through her sounds of agony, Solaris did the only thing that came to mind to stop this ticking time bomb without healing potions.
"Wow, she burned her wounds shut!"
"She must be rather resistant to pain."
"That's putting it lightly, I can't even look at that, gross, gross, gross!"
Her leg steamed, in an ugly red color. Yet the blood flow ceased, the crimson color evaporated into steam. Tears formed in her eyes but she blinked them away as she let out a laugh, holding her weapon in her hand as she jumped back a few times on one leg.
"Sorry, where were we?"
Lulope stared at her with wide eyes, as if unable to believe what she just saw. Then she clicked her tongue in annoyance. She looked down at her wound on her stomach before cracking her neck, deciding to ignore it for now. Slowly she walked forwards. At the same time Solaris' back almost hit debris, but she didn't bother moving away. Instead she held her ground, with enough room to move her halberd.
"She's using the rock to stabilize herself and reduce to angles her opponent can use."
"Yeah, I doubt that's gonna be good enough!"
The Nightshade jabbed with her right dagger, forcing Solaris to block it with her staff. A few more probing jabs occured before the dark elf put her weight into it, knocking the halberd away to the side. Yet before she could follow up on that, the weapon came back faster than expected as Solaris twisted her body with a snarl, cutting her across the stomach as she leapt back.
"How can she move with one leg like that?!" Raul shouted, pointing at how Solaris seemed to wobble a few times before rebalancing herself and snapping like a whip at her opponent. Every adventurer knew one needed a good stance to unleash the most power. Yet here they saw someone, practically crippled, pulling off powerful and fast strikes on only one leg.
"Big toe."
"Err, what?" Lefiya asked in an incredulous tone. Kaguya cleared her throat, sending Alise a look of exasperation before twirling her hand in the air.
"Weight shifting requires strong big toes. The faster you spin and shift your body, the more power needs to be put into the ends of your foot." She glanced at Alise with an approving nod. "Of course doing it with one toe is very difficult."
Gareth did the same, something the Loki Familia noted themselves. Bete scoffed before he leaned back against the wall with a frown.
"Pah. Fancy technique or not... she's just stalling out the inevitable."
As if his words were a prophecy, the stalemate broke once more. In this case, in form of Solaris' halberd. Right in the middle of the staff, the wood gave in as the dagger finally cut through. Only the captain's wild flailing managed to surprise Lulope enough to back off, a cut across her arm by the halberd head. Still, she radiated joy as she stared down Solaris, now holding the two halves of her weapon in her hands as she hunched over, as if she was about to collapse.
"Her weapon broke in half! Those must be some high quality daggers!"
"Her options are getting cut down one by one. I do not believe she can keep up with the exhaustion, physically and mentally, creeping up on her."
"Yeah, unless the Crozzo loaned her some of their treasures, she's dead meat!"
The comment caused some murmurs in Orario. The Crozzo were famous for their magic swords. Normally considered national treasures ever since they first lost the blessings of the spirit, rumors said that the mythical weapons emerged once more. If they were true, it would be Solaris' only chance to win. Unleashing a wave of raw power would be the better alternative than using fire that exhausted her and even injured her if the growing burns were anything to go by. Yet she didn't reach for anything underneath her jacket. No, it'd be natural to think she was giving up. Her weapon was cut in half, damaged and she was down a leg.
Knowing those facts herself, the dark elf was patiently waiting. Not to let her opponent catch her breath, but consider the inevitable. To finally surrender. Instead something else happened. Her eyes widened and she dodged to the side, barely avoiding the burst of white flames. Solaris giggled at the reaction of her reflexes, knowing the fire would've done nothing, but taking satisfaction in that momentary fear Lulope felt. Tightening her grip on the two halves, she held them like daggers as she tilted her head with a manic grin.
"I didn't hear the ref say nothing! Run those hands up, bitch, I'm about to show you how we do it in the streets!"
