Chapter 231 (1/2)

Perhaps he should have expected it, but there was something very different and intimidating about the dangers Randidly had been put into with Azriel, more so than any of the times with Marco Polo or Shal.

Mostly, Azriel wasn’t very good at actually not killing him. Her attacks were fast and direct, and she seemed to have an inordinate amount of trust that he wouldn’t let himself die just from these “training spars”.

But she didn’t pull a single punch, and aimed for weaknesses and blindspots. She was brutally fast, and stronger that Randidly initially would have guessed. Part of that may be related to the sheer amount of momentum that her body seemed to have at any point, but likely related was the amount of base stats you needed to channel that much force through your body during her chained attacks.

After 3 losses, and painful regenerations, Randidly was encouraged to start using spells to try and throw her off. This worked for a time, or at least doubled the time it took her to win, but the amount of mana that he had to use in order to keep her at bay was not sustainable in the least. Spearing Roots, Root Control, Incinerating Bolts, Circle of Flame, all of these had to be used in quick succession in order to give him even a second in front of Azriel’s brutal assault.

The next time Randidly lost, and drank the position, hanging onto his life by a thread, he tried to use his newer spells, Hammer of Dawn and Burning Footsteps. They briefly gave her pause, but both were at a insufficient level as compared to her. Although it was interesting to note that she seemed much more sensitive to the magic’s effects than he was. Likely she had a much smaller amount of Resistance.

In this and only this, Randidly felt a small amount of superiority. His training had increased his Resistence much, although it had initially been a similarly pitiful amount. He supposed the people of this world were lucky that most magic monsters had been hunted and were contained within the dungeons. Otherwise they wouldn’t be able to so brazenly ignore the dangers of having low Resistance.

But he supposed it was also intelligent to focus their stats elsewhere at this point in their careers, focusing on obtaining a greater evaluation at the Regional Tournament, rather than making themselves more survivable overall. If the chances of encountering a mage were small, then the stat points were more efficiently put into other categories.

After exactly 10 duels, where Randidly was repeated beaten bloody by her insistent charges, Azriel tilted her head to the side. “There is more, yes? What are you hiding from me.” Grumbling, and with the hot fury he had mostly dispersed earlier, Randidly rose to his feet with a vicious grin. After he had completely healed, he attacked.

This time, with Randidly changing tactics, Azriel allowed them 5 whole duels before she was satisfied, even though each time she dealt with Randidly’s techniques even more effectively.

“That should be enough for today. I have a good idea of your capabilities. It’s almost dawn, why don’t you recover some and we will meet again tonight. I’ll have a plan for us then.”

Randidly, still lying on the ground, gave her a frank look. “How do you know if it will be in time? If I’m matched against him in the first round-”

Azriel snorted. “Do you think the great Styles of Deardun would leave such a thing to chance? No, our elders, with a very discerning and critical eye, have already arranged the tournament for maximum drama… your first match is against the one you faced previously, Bertarn Yish. They believe that you will lose, but rather impressively, perhaps driven on by your shame of losing previously?”

Azriel shook her head. “Sometimes I don’t understand them. They seem to recognize your various strengths, but all they saw was the previous outcome. Could they not tell  that you had no Stamina, and no real tenacity in that fight? Well, it’s fine. An easy opponent to start, to warm you up.”

Randidly smiled uneasily. Sure, he had faced him before. And Bertarn didn’t fill Randidly with the same sort of awe that he felt towards Azriel, but that didn’t mean he would be an easy opponent. His strength and defense were real, and Randidly suspected that Bertarn’s images were not weak.

But that was why it was worth doing. An easy opponent wouldn’t be nearly as fun.

****

Lucretia sat, her legs folded beneath her, Shal’s body lying on one side of her, the head of the Yeti on the other. Before her was a broken mirror, with seven complete shards held together in its case. Each showed the image of a different person, struggling training….

Desperately pushing themselves to the limits of their abilities, seeking to grow just a hair faster, more proficient, more capable, before the first round of the tournament tomorrow.

Lucretia opened her eyes, smiling. “I’ve never really bothered with weaklings such as these, but… perhaps I was a bit short sighted. I might as well plant a few seeds while I’m here…”

She held her hand up and rubbed her fingers together, and a fine lavender dust floated towards, sinking into the mirror and fading away. But then one of the sections of the mirror began to glow yellow, swiftly glowing in color.