16 Challenge (2/2)
”I'm very happy for you, Maria-chan~!” smiled Julian as Maria, upon hearing such praise, couldn't help but feel a little bashful.
”Maa, it's thanks to you guys that this happened in the first place. Now, let's go and see if we can discover some more golems that are hopefully much smaller than the gorilla,” advised Maria. The group set off and indeed ran into a few more golems. Mai took out a tiger golem with yet another light spell.
When asked, Mai replied by saying, ”These are only D-Rank: Light Spells taught to me by onee-sama. If you want to see something really cool, you should watch her train as she can even perform B-Ranks despite not being a Middle School student.” Just by hearing Mai talk, one could tell that she really looked up to her older sister.
'I expect nonetheless from the future 'Empress' and Diamond Academy's most talented female student.' Maria thought back to how the book spoke of Isis's peerless abilities and wasn't that shocked by the information she learned from Mai. After they ran into a few bird golems, that annoyingly kept pecking their heads, Julian managed to put them to sleep by using his Sound Magic.
”This is the only spell that I know, and this is my first time succeeding in using it,” Julian embarrassingly told them, scratching his head. By now all of them had the same number of defeats which was one. Though they were once again on the run for their lives as this time chasing them was a cheetah golem that was fast on its feet.
Even when Ruby attacked it with fire, it was fast and agile enough to dodge her attacks; neither did Julian's one Sound Magic spell put it to sleep nor could Mai's Light Spell land a hit. Before either noticed, they soon found themselves cornered; the cheetah ran in to attack, only for a voice to call out just in the nick of time.
”Bullet Aqua!” The group watched as bullets of water shot right through the golem cheetah, which soon turned into mud. Looking towards where the attack came from, walking forward they saw that their savior was none other than Elsa Snow. Maria was first to notice the digital number her wristwatch band was displaying.
'Wait a sec... She took out nine golems on her own?! When it took most of our efforts just to take out one?!' exclaimed Maria, confused whether to feel awed or frightened at the girl's outstanding abilities. While Maria was in her own thoughts, Elsa showed no regard for the three she just saved, until she saw that Maria was amongst the three. Seeing those emerald eyes brought back flashbacks to the night of the banquet.
Recalling how the dear Richard-sama she admired interacted with Maria, a girl who was rumored to be obsessed with the Crown Prince. Yet she could not understand why Richard seemed to act so close to this strange girl, briefly having a flashback to the other day when he even visited Maria and her group of friends around lunchtime. These memories brought forth an unpleasant feeling to Elsa who stalked forward in Maria's direction.
”When I asked at the banquet, I did not get a reply. So I'll ask you. Just what is your relationship with Richard-sama? Answer me!” the Ice Princess demanded as Maria flinched from the look of hate that was brewing in Elsa's eyes.
”Richard-sama and I are only friends! That it!” answered Maria yet this did not disperse Elsa's feelings, if anything it only ignited them.
”Lies! Ever since I first laid eyes on Richard he always acted noble, elegant, and despite his kindness, kept himself at a distance from other people. But with you... there is something different. The noble Richard that I admire has never looked at me the same way he does with you!” yelled an angry Elsa.
'Oh no... I don't like the direction of where things are headed,' dreaded Maria, feeling an ominous premonition as Elsa glared at Maria.
”I don't know what you've done, but I refuse to let my dear Richard-sama be bewitched by a fool like you! I challenge you to a match, Maria Rosendrey!” boldly declared Elsa as Maria couldn't help but think,
'Damn it! I knew it!'