A long time passed before the beast and human flew at each other. They disregarded magic for the time being, purely contesting with strength and strategy.
Nine enjoyed herself as she finally let loose for the first time since she arrived in this body. Honestly, it felt great. Even back on Earth, she had always been restraining herself because she had responsibilities and endless worries. Here, she could just throw around monsters and beasts to her heart's content. Plus, they had healing magic here, so it was even better. Even if someone was on the brink of death, she could still freeze the body's status to amp up the magic.
Slamming a super-charged fist in the Demonic Winged Tiger's face, she approved when it didn't flinch back despite the pain it had to be feeling. Nine mentally appraised the tiger again. While not really what she was looking for in a familiar, she didn't want to kill this one. The few beasts she had seen previously had seemed horribly dull.
It was hard to find a beast this intelligent. Or rather, even amongst humans, it was pretty hard to find another relatively intelligent person.
She dodged the angry swipe from the beast, running up its foreleg to give herself a push as she flew up, kicking the beast in the face right on the same spot she had punched moments earlier.
"ROAR!" it howled, angry beyond belief. It couldn't believe that it was being beaten by a puny human. How was he dodging her attacks? Nothing had ever given her this much pain before. The pain was radiating in waves from where it had been punched, leaving it an aching reminder that throbbed as it tracked down the human's movements.
Although in pain, it didn't rashly make a move. Nine's eyes brightened. The more she saw, the more she approved.
A ring appeared in the air as the tiger fired up a magic spell. It sank into its body, suddenly boosting its speed and strength.
Strengthening magic. She was surprised that this Sixth Tier Magic Beast was able to use it. It must have seen some humans use it previously and puzzle out how to use it on itself. She wondered how it was able to do that when the ring of magic was imbued with runes. Was it just instinct? Innate? She didn't think so. There was something here that she was missing.
Lost in her thoughts, Nine almost allowed a hit to slip in while she was distracted. She clicked her tongue, focusing again. It wouldn't do to underestimate the opponent now, not when she could see the crafty flash in its eyes.
The Magic Beast eventually grew weary when it realized none of its hits or strategies were moving, not even after she had used magic. There was something unsettling about this human, and she didn't like how her senses kept constantly telling her of the danger.
Flapping her wings, the tiger flew into the sky, dodging one of Nine's attacks as she cast another magic circle.
Nine let out a little laugh. It seemed that the beast had finally pulled out all the stops, making full use of its appendices in the fight for the first time.
While she wasn't able to recognize the spell it was using due to Magic Beasts having some sort of innate spells, she could tell from the magic fluctuations what element was about to be used.
Shooting the lowest and quickest First Tier spells, Nine consistently dodged and fired, disrupting the casting sequence of the Demonic Winged Tiger, causing roars of rage to emerge in the forest.
It was practically a miracle that nothing else had come to spectate and see if they could get anything out of two high tiered magic beasts fighting.
The two exchanged a flurry of blows and magic, steadily depleting the magic inside them.
The tiger panted, never having used this much magic since it had emerged to Fifth Tier, let alone Sixth. Warily, it had to land on the ground for some respite as its wings trembled with exertion.
Seeing that the tiger was on the verge of collapse, Nine pulled back the spell she was about to cast, taking in the sorry sight it made.
While she had taken a couple of minor injuries due to a few minor misjudgements, she had healed herself up almost instantaneously, whereas the Magic Beast hadn't had such luxuries. The beast was covered in a multitude of wounds from low tiered magic spells. If one was able to look below its fur, they'd be able to see the smattering of bruises left on its body. A couple of wounds were bleeding sluggishly, adding to the exertion of the tiger.
Nine eyed the tiger and realized she wasn't getting anything else out of it for today. Dispelling the barrier against Deltan and Rainier, she gestured for the both of them to come over.
"Did you learn anything?" she asked, interrupting Deltan when he made to open his mouth to speak.
"So now, you're going to practice your healing magic."
Deltan silently digested what his younger brother said before his eyes widened. Did he infer that right? His brother was asking them to heal up the Sixth Tier Magic Beast that he had singlehandedly beaten to the ground?
Nine nodded at the tiger to get them to work.
Rainier moved over without any protest and crawled his way up the tiger, who had collapsed on the ground as its eyes started dimming slightly.
Deltan moved over cautiously, eventually placing a hand over the closest wound when he saw that the tiger was barely keeping its eyes open as it tried to glare at him in vain.
The eldest prince nervously crafted the spell in his mind, trying to make sure he hadn't gotten anything wrong in case he ended up hurting the tiger and end up rousing it in a last burst of anger.
He sweated as he cast the spell, almost breaking into a cry when he realized that the spell was working. He had never managed to get a healing spell going before, and not from the lack of trying. His little bouts with his younger brother had left him sore and aching after each round, and his attempts at healing himself was to no avail.
Rainier was doing better than Deltan, having no hesitation within him as he followed his master's order. He didn't believe the tiger would try anything again, and even if it did, didn't they still have master?
The human and slime made quick work of the wounds on the tiger, healing everything, but were unable to do anything about the fatigue that plagued the tiger.
"Not bad," Nine said, hauling the both of them to another part of the forest. "Now your turn to fight a Magic Beast."
Deltan tried very hard to make himself pass out, but Nine put a stop to that thought.
"Rainier, make sure he doesn't pass out."
Rainier wobbled and moved around Deltan, trapping his hands to his body.
"Traitor!" Deltan wailed.