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The magicians that had been chanting behind all of them released their spells one after another. Supportive magic was focused on enhancing the agility, strength and defense of one’s allies. As it was cast, the men’s bodies gave off a faint glow, indicating their abilities had been enhanced.

(Now then, what should I do? I could easily get rid of all of them in one swoop, but I doubt they’ll be happy with that…)

If I went into the air and launched down a large spell, they would all be gone. But if I did that, I felt like it would be way too unfair. I was supposed to show my power for longer so they could comprehend it, so I had to find a slower way, which left me with…

“…I guess I’ll just stick with a sword and slowly take them down.”
“Don’t just stand there muttering gibberish! Let’s go!”

The ones giving support from afar were three magicians and three archers, while around ten took care of close combat. First, the three men behind me advanced while swinging their swords, after a short delay the four standing on my sides also moved. The three in front of me were the last ones in moving. They adjusted their timings like that in an attempt to distract me, but something like that was too obvious for me.

“Got you-huh?!”

I felt a blade cutting through the air behind me, so I struck my sword still inside its scabbard backwards without even turning to look. Through my grip, I felt bones breaking from the impact, while the knight’s comrades wavered and their grips loosened a bit. That was when I finally turned around, barely dodging the sword coming my way. Breaking all their arms with my scabbard, I jumped back to increase the distance between us. The attacks coming from my sides cut through thin air after me.

“Ghuh!”
“Ugh?!”

The men held their arms as they collapsed on the ground. Seeing three of their comrades fall in an instant, the remaining men were unable to conceal their unrest.

“Are you kidding me?!”
“Don’t give up yet!”

After the knight that tried warning me earlier shouted that, everyone regained their composure. They tried to follow after me now that I had increased the distance between us, but I also noticed three arrows coming my way. The arrows were directed towards my legs and chest, so even if I would only get scratched, it would help reduce my mobility, yet…

“Hmph.”

I struck down the two arrows headed to my legs with my scabbard, while I grabbed the last one and stopped it with my empty hand. The archers froze, they probably had expected as much as striking the arrows out of their path, but they had not imagined I would stop one with my bare hand. Using that moment of hesitation on their part, I threw the arrow back to its sender. The arrow flew even faster than when it was launched with a bow, retracing its steps and lodging itself into the archer.

“Guh?!”

The archer struggled to understand what he was seeing as his eyes turned to the arrow stuck in his shoulder. With that, there were only two archers left.

“You little-!”
“What kind of monster are you?!”

Swords and spears were swung in front of me. There were four in total, and I thwarted all their attacks with my scabbard, their weapons flying away and pulling the soldiers with them. Next, I approached all the remaining men that stood dumbfounded and attacked their vital points with my palm.

“Guho?!”
“Ugh!”
“Ghah?!”

Three men fell to the ground while spilling the contents of their stomachs. Awaiting that moment, arrows made of flames and ice were launched towards me. It was the retaliation attack from the magicians, who had been waiting for an opening after finishing their chants. That magic was known as Flare Arrows for the fire ones, and Ice Arrows for the other. They were a step behind in power compared to spear attacks, but since they did not take long to chant and could be cast multiple times, it was favored a lot.

“Too naive!”

I released my own magic in an instant, similar fire and ice arrows like them, except that mine were much more powerful and larger in number. I cast more than ten arrows, each of them overpowering the enemy’s. The magic collided in mid-air, creating a wondrous but also dreadful spectacle of flames and shattered ice, but that was only for a few seconds before the residues all fell with force against the magicians. I did adjust my aim so they would not get badly hurt though.

I faced the remaining four men when I heard the sound of something going through the air behind me, heading straight to my head. Maybe they had gotten too excited after the fight, or had gotten confused at my strength, but if that attack hit me, I would certainly die. That annoyed me a bit, so I knocked the two arrows down without looking back while at the same time producing two lightning arrows and sent them to the archers, who collapsed without uttering a word.

“Hey now…”
“She did all this…so quickly…”
“Is this some form of dream?”
“I was so sure she was just telling tall tales…”

The last four still held onto their weapons, but they had lost all will to fight. I could not blame them, only one or two minutes had passed and I had already defeated most of their elite group. But there was still no signal for the match to end, so I figured the mock battle was still ongoing so I took one step closer while they took a step back. They were thoroughly scared, so if I continued attacking them it would be the same as bullying them… I sent a glance to the king and those around him, they were all really surprised, but no one showed signs of stopping the match.

(They don’t want it to end until I’ve actually taken all of them down? Then…)

I left the four men shaking there and flew into the sky with Flight Magic.

“Ohh! She’s flying!”
“Flight Magic! There was still someone left who could use it?!”
“I can’t believe it… Not even imperial magicians can use that…”

I ignored the surprised audience and instead focused my mind. I was going to use fire magic, the spell most commonly used in this age, Fireball. It was useful to get rid of weak opponents, and it would be perfect to destroy any lingering will to fight in my opponents. I wanted to give them a warning to not bother me in the future, so it was a perfectly over-the-top spell to accomplish that.

As I lifted my hands up, a fireball formed and grew in size as I poured mana into it. I kept ignoring the dumbfounded looks I got until the fireball was the size of a small house.

“Please dodge it.”

The men who also remained still looking at the fireball regained their senses when I said that and hurried to run away from below it. I aimed at a now empty area and lowered my arms, starting the descent of the fireball. The training dummies and targets that got close to it all sublimated, and when it hit the ground, it melted it creating a crater. When the fireball vanished underground, a large column of fire erupted out of the hole.

As I landed on the ground, the pillar of fire stood blazing behind me. The king and his nobles looked at me full of fright while I silently bowed. Doing that much ought to do the trick.

“That…that’s it…for the match. The winner is…Lapis…”

The general stuttered as he announced the result of the match. But none of the present people praised my victory.