This was surprisingly difficult.

After leaving the city limits, at Nell's insistence, the spar had started out almost exactly as Amanda had expected it. The two girls were faster and stronger than Amanda would have expected, all things considered, but it was clear that they had never fought anyone who wielded a whip before, whereas Amanda had fought more swordsmen than she cared to count.

She hadn't even had to move as she kept the two at bay with her fast attacks and could easily deflect their attempts at magic. However, it didn't stay easy. Within five minutes, they had started to get a feel for Amanda's patterns and had even started to force her to move. Within ten minutes, she had to go from using only her [Divine Whip Arts] to actually adding her [Divine Whip Techniques] into the mix, then after twenty, even magic had to be applied to keep Amanda from being overwhelmed.

This wouldn't have been nearly as challenging if she just has her normal weapon repaired. Her backup whip was of fine quality, but it didn't have the [Weight Control] or [Length Control] abilities of the Sky Dragon's Whisker, which massively limited both her range and attack power.

Now, at around the forty-five minute mark, without Amanda managing to incapacitate either of them, she was starting to wonder how long this was going to last. Normally, spars didn't last for more than a four or five minutes, but neither of the girls seemed like they were thinking about stopping. In fact, they both had excited looks in their eyes as the battle continued. Amanda would admit, she didn't often get to enjoy herself like this either, as she found herself occasionally laughing when Fran performed one of her artful dodges of an attack that Amanda was used to flattening her enemies.

"[Gale Lance]." Amanda shouted, using another high density wind blast to force Fran to cancel her charge as the girl raised her [Magic Barrier] skill to almost completely nullify the damage from Amanda's spell. With her forward momentum lost, Fran was forced to dash to the side to avoid Amanda's whip.

[If you keep using your magic like that, you are going to run yourself out of mana.] Archer advised the A-rank Adventurer as the fight continued.

([Magic Barrier] takes up a good deal of mana itself. Fran will run out long before I will.) Amanda replied as she dodged a pair of [Mithril Knives of Return] thrown at her back by Art, as the girl stood just outside of the reach of her whip. Norally, she was just chase her down, but she had the capability of sinking into the shadows if Amanda didn't reach her fast enough, and attempting to charge her meant turning her back on Fran. (At this pace, they should run out of mana any time now.)

[That might normally be the case, except for unlike you, Fran and Art both have [Automatic Mana Regeneration], and Fran has a mana reserve of well over 4000 units. You might think that you are the one who is playing a war of attrition with them, but in reality, it is the other way around. They are patiently waiting for you to start to tire before they start to push for victory.]

(...What?) Amanda's mind had a hard time processing that bit of information, as she continued to fight.

4000 units? What kind of insane number was that? Amanda had never even met any human-like who had a larger Mana pool than her and she had 825 units of mana. How was such a number even possible? If Archer wasn't bullshitting her then…

[I'd suggest you start taking this seriously.]

"[Wind Tunnel]!" Amanda shouted, creating a tunnel of wind, pulling a massive amount of air towards her with her in a cyclone of wind, pulling Fran off her feet as the catgirl once again tried to close the distance. She tried to raise her [Magic Barrier] again, but as the magical wind was directed at her, but affecting everything around her, she couldn't counteract it. Off balance, she couldn't dodge when Amanda's attack came from her weak side.

It was amazing that the girl even managed to bring her sword in place to guard, but unlike Archer, she couldn't deflect the attack without having to take the brunt of the force. Fran was sent spinning through the air, at high speeds after absorbing the attack head on.

"Fran!" Art shouted, before realizing that Amanda was turning on her. "Oh snap!"

Triggering [Instantaneous Movement] Amanda became a blur and the distance between the two simply disappeared. In panic, Art quickly sank into her own shadow, trying to get away, but Amanda had dealt with such skills in the past and knew exactly how to counter it. She infused her hand with magic using her [Hand-to-hand Techniques] skill and slammed her hand into the shadow. Art's body came bouncing up out of the ground as the energy threw her out of his own technique.

Amanda then grabbed the girl's leg, and in a fluid motion, she spun the girl around and tossed her full force into Fran, who had been trying to come up behind the A-ranker. Art slammed into Fran, who barely managed to catch her without falling over herself, before having to defend the both of them from a flurry of blows from Amanda's whip. It took everything the pair had to recover and retreat, using multiple wind spells to cover them as they went.

"Suddenly: stronger." Fran observed.

"Yeah, she must be taking things seriously now." Art mumbled as she rubbed her ribs. "Well, lets start to give it our all too!"

"Nn!"

Amanda's sight of the two was suddenly obscured by a large black cloud as Art cast [Black Veil] over the spot the pair had been standing in. With Fran's [Magic Concealment], Amanda would have to depend on only her [Presence Detection] and Guardian of Children abilities to track the girl in the darkness.

No impossible, but it was easier for her to simply back up and deal with whatever the girls were trying to cook up in there. Amanda was momentarily surprised when the pair came rushing out, with Fran keeping her distance and Art moving into close quarters.

While Art wasn't physically weak by any means, her [Sword Arts] was significantly weaker than Fran's, hurting her effectiveness against Amanda up close. This was why she had thus far kept her distance and provided support with her dark magic spells, which Fran seemed to be immune to, making friendly fire a nonissue. But now it was Art who was rushing in while Fran kept her distance and cast magic.

Fran must have been planning something big. She would have to deal with Art quickly and make sure that Fran didn't have time to finish whatever it was the girl was doing.

Or so Amanda thought, but after her first wave of attacks were parried by 'Art' she suddenly realized her mistake. She could sense magical energy on both 'Art' and 'Fran'. It was [Illusion Magic], the two had switched appearances while inside of the [Black Veil], trying to throw Amanda off. Letting 'Art' close the distance as she used movement skills and [Support Magic] that she hadn't possessed before.

It was a cute trick, but ultimately only let her get in close with Amanda, who wasn't by any means weak up in close. Amanda was able to deflect 'Art''s attack with her whip, giving her a chance to grab the girl, right hand which was holding Art's black short sword, with her own left hand. "Nice try Fran, but I know that's you." Amanda said with a smile as the girl struggled, her disguise disappearing due to Amanda's touch.

"Got you." Fran said confidently.

Amanda was shocked when Art came shooting up out of Fran's shadow, a pair of throwing knives in hand, thrusting towards Amanda's stomach and forward leg. Amanda only just managed to move her right arm into the way, receiving an injury to her dominant hand in order to protect her stomach, before countering the girl's sneak attack with a powerful kick with her now injured leg, which the little Demoness managed to block.

How? Amanda thought that Art was the other Fran. Was the Fran from before just an illusion? No, that was impossible, her Guardian of Children confirmed that there had been a child there and she had detected its presence as well… she could still feel its presence.

Amanda let go of Fran and jumped away as 'Fran' rushed in at full speed with her magic sword at the ready. Leaving Amanda completely dumbstruck.

There were three children there now.

"We fooled you good!" Art laughed as she got back to her feet catching her short sword as Fran tossed it to her before reclaiming her own sword from 'Fran', who then pulled a black long sword of similar dimensions to her magic sword out of what Amanda recognized as a [Dimensional Storage].

Who was that? The Fran who rushed her first was the real Fran, as Amanda couldn't sense magic on her, now that the illusion was gone, but then who was this second Fran who she could sense magic all around?

No explanation came as the now pair of Fran's rushed in to attack, while Art returned to her old job of ranged support.

Switching her weapon to her left hand she started to do her best to hold off both of the black cats who were now taking advantage of their numbers to limit her movements and attack her from both sides, and the while having to dodge incoming magic attacks. It wasn't until Amanda managed to strike the real Fran and the copycat also flinched that Amanda realized what she was dealing with.

A [Body Split] skill. Fran had a [Body Split] skill.

This was not good. Fighting two on one was hard enough, but her various detection skills, high mobility and high weapon skills made her a hard counter to Art's [Illusion Magic] and basic [Sword Arts]. But fighting two Fran's, who had [Divine Sword Arts], was much more challenging. Even if she was having difficulties in controlling both bodies at once, she had enough skill with it to cause Amanda serious problems. Adding to Amanda's issues was the injure she took to her dominant arm and leg.

Things went from bad to worse when Fran's Doppelganger allowed Amanda's whip to latch onto her sword, before letting go of it in order to grab onto the whip with both hands. Eyes widening, Amanda pumped up her own strength and swung the whip around, trying to get the clone to let go, until Fran's real body jumped in and grabbed on as well. The two of her used all their combined strength in order to match Amanda's own. Then Amanda received another shock, literally, as the Frans both activated Lightning [Elemental Weapon], sending a current of electricity up the whip to shock Amanda. The A-rank Adventurer didn't take any damage at all, due to her high [Lightning Resistance], but the attack had weakened her grip just enough for the Frans to pull the weapon out from between her fingers.

'''Art, now!''' Fran's two bodies shouted as one.

"In Madness there is Sense! In Death there is New Life! Be the power which ushers Change into this Stagnant World! [Pandemonium Bomb]!" Art shouted as she let off a much more powerful attack then before. The giant sphere of black and white energy descending towards Amanda's head from on high.

...In a burst of speed that took the girls by surprise, Amanda moved out of the way of the attack, and rushed Art yet again. Fran would have pursued, taking advantage of Amanda's turned back, but the girl(s) was not prepared for Amanda's ability to remotely control the whip, even when it had left her head. The cable jumped to life, wrapping around Fran's two bodies, binding them together before she understood what was happening. Art was helpless as Amanda reached and subdued her as well, all before the girl's spell hit the ground with a devastating *BOOM*.

If that had managed to hit Amanda, she would have had to use her [Grace of the Spirits] for sure.

"Fuhahaha, you girls did pretty well. I can't remember the last time someone managed to hit me in a spar." Amanda laughed, though it was an understatement. She couldn't even remember the last time someone had managed to make her move in a spar. So long as you didn't count her fight with Archer as a spar. Even when fighting against four or five of the Guild's B-rank Adventurers at once, they couldn't FORCE her to move the way that these two girls had.

What in the world was Archer feeding them?

"I thought we had her." "Not stunned." "Not paralyzed." Art and the two Frans said with the most adorable of pouts.

"Sorry girls, but I've fought more than my fair share of thunderbirds over the years. I've got a bit of a resistance to the lightning element and equipment to protect me from it." Amanda giggled.

"I demand a rematch!" "Will win this time." "Won't be caught off guard."

[You two did well.] Archer chuckled. Amanda felt regenerated as someone cast [Healing Magic] on her. The wounds on her arm and leg closed up and she felt her spent stamina returning. [That sneak attack of yours was well executed, but don't get too full of yourselves. She's fighting at a greater disadvantage then just being two against one. Amanda doesn't even have her preferred weapon, and the one is using now can't even be called second rate.]

"Are you serious!?" "Nn!" "Nn!"

"Well, I wasn't going to say anything, but yes. This is my backup weapon, not my main one, and it is a lot weaker." Amanda said, with a goofy smile. Not even second rate? Yeah it wasn't anywhere near as good as her primary weapon, but it still a high class weapon.

[Let this be a lesson to the both of you as to how far you have to go. Amanda isn't the only A-rank out there, and there are S-ranks that are even higher than her. If you want to reach the top of the mountain, you will have to keep giving it your all.] Archer said, earning a nod from the two (three) girls. [Fran, how are you holding up? Is [Split Thought] still giving you a headache?]

The Fran's shook their heads. "Two brains fixed problem." One of them reported.

[Good to hear.]

[Split Body], [Split Thought], [Dimensional Storage], just how many super rare skills did Fran have?

[Miss Amanda, you might want to drink a mana potion.] Archer said, surprising the woman. [Fran's [Body Split] skill lasts for 50 minutes and has a 1 day cooldown, so it is best to get all the training she can in while it is still active.]

"Wait, we are going to be sparring for 50 more minutes?" Amanda said in surprise.

[Don't be ridiculous… we will be out here for another two hours at the very least. After that will be lunch, followed by the post lunch warm ups and instructional training and then more sparring.]

"...Huh?" Amanda said, not entirely believing what she was hearing.

...Well, it was a good thing she had [Exhaustion Resistance] Lv6.