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–––Ciel’s viewpoint

We walked through a corridor in silence, and awaiting us at the end was Selene, looking as calm as when she left.

“So you’ve come. From what I can see you’ve prepared yourselves.”

She probably was talking about our strategy and not only our equipment. We had already decided everything, so we had no reason to hesitate now. Luvias took a step forward and replied confidently.

“Yes, we’re ready. We’ll fight you with everything we’ve got.”
“Good. Attack whenever you want, the match starts the moment you move.”

It felt like she was heavily underestimating us. I got annoyed, it was like she was convinced that no matter what we did, she would go out unscathed. But she had reasons to believe that, and we had to focus instead of being distracted by her attitude. She kept her eyes on us, watching our movements as we surrounded her and held our weapons ready. She remained still, as if confident she knew how to react no matter what we tried.

We had agreed that Diaria and I would not use any complicated spells, and only support Karin and Luvias. We only moved when they moved too.

Karin and Luvias positioned themselves in front and back of Selene. Karin was behind her, and after a nod she dashed forwards like an arrow. At the same time, Luvias also held her sword and ran forwards. Their timing was perfect.

“Yahhh!”
“Hahhh!”

Even skilled warriors struggled trying to deal with attacks that came from both sides, not to mention one of the attackers was Luvias, a hero. Usually the enemy would fall without an escape, but we were fully aware that it would end differently this time.

“Do you really think a pincer attack will help you in any way? It seems you still haven’t learned our difference in strength.”

Preparing herself for the attack, Selene changed her stance slightly, but then Diaria and I cast spells that exploded right behind Karin and Luvias.

“Light!”
“Light spirits!”
“?!”

There was a bright light behind them both, which blinded Selene’s eyes, though Luvias and Karin would be affected too. But since we trained together often, we did not need to communicate what each of us would do at a given moment, already anticipating it. The two had been charging ahead with their eyes closed, and once they felt the spells go off, they opened them. While Selene still recovered, they began their attacks.

“Take this!”
“Yahh!”

It was impossible to dodge an attack without being able to see them, but Selene was an ancient dragon, and she might even be as strong as Lapis, so there was no time to hesitate and they used their full power against her. The two swords closed in on her from both sides, and I thought they would surely hit Selene, but then they were flicked away.

“Wha-!”
“No way!”

I could not believe my eyes, Selene had punched Luvias’ sword away, and Karin’s sword was parried by her tail. Her long skirt had been concealing it, a long and sturdy tail. At first glance it looked like a reptid’s, but the scales on it were far more detailed and beautiful.

“I have to admit, that was a simple yet effective strategy. Adding the surprise factor into a fight with a more powerful enemy is the correct choice.”

Selene showed no signs of retaliating after saying that. But that did not apply to us, we were already preparing our next attack. Luvias and Karin charged ahead again, and Diaria reacted soon after.

“Sol!”

The great spirit of earth, Behemoth. Diaria had formed a pact with him, and she did not need to chant to summon him. She could make him appear for very short periods of time, leaving a strong effect on the ground.

Serene’s footing began shaking, and then what looked like two whips sprung up and tied her feet.

“Hm? You’re trying to restrain my movements now, I see.”

The whips turned into solid earth, stopping all her movements. But we knew that was unlikely to hold for long, so many more piled up and fastened around her.

“Ice Lance!”

Luvias took aim at her feet, Karin at her upper body, and I aimed my spell at her head. If she was targeted in three different parts at once, evading would be difficult, but…

“Wha-!”

There was the sound of something crumbling, and then Selene lifted her foot that were supposed to be restrained. Not even strong monsters could destroy Behemoth’s earth magic, but Selene easily broke it as if it was just brittle ceramic.

“Woah-?!”

Selene’s foot rose up into a kick towards Luvias. She twisted her body back, barely managing to evade a direct hit, but Selene would not waste such an opening. Before Luvias could fix her posture, Selene struck her palm towards Luvias’ body.

“No you won’t!”

If Luvias was knocked out in one hit like before, we would lose almost half of our fighting power. But things would end differently this time, we were fighting calmly and knew our strengths, and how to cover for our weaknesses. Freed from casting her spell, Diaria instantly held her bow and shot an arrow between Luvias and Selene.

The arrow was easily dodged, but it still gave Luvias enough time to move away. Then Luvias restarted her attack, timing it together with Karin who was still behind Selene. The two had their bodies powered up with magic to the maximum, but Selene did not seem fazed, half her body busy with Karin and the other half with Luvias. At the same time, Selene started attacking back, moving so quickly it made it difficult for anyone to get closer to her. Her movements were so fast that not even Luvias or Karin could follow her with their eyes, so they relied on their instincts to dodge everything.