"Evlin, we don't really know how fast or strong Daren really is... So we need to work assuming the worst-case scenario ok?"
"OK!"
"We need to assume he has much more speed and power than anyone you've faced before. Trying to face him in close-combat is probably a dead-end. I'm pretty sure your wood armor would be as helpful as a piece of paper against those claws..."
"So should I do my usual strategy and keep my distance while shooting at him?"
"No... If he really is that fast he will probably catch up to you before you even get a chance..."
"Then..."
"Your best option is to rely on earth magic attacks. You won't try to use Sphinx or the knives tight?"
"I don't want to... I need them to see that I'm not some crazy girl who just keeps boosting herself with random power-ups to win her fights..."
"Then... We will need to take a page from your fight against the ogre..."
"The ogre...?"
"Yes, the one who was immune against your attacks... You defeated him using gravity right?"
"Yeah, but in that case I made him fall from a cliff... We are on an open field right now..."
"Then make a cliff! Just keep avoiding Daren's attacks and find an opening to raise him in the air with your magic and let gravity do the rest."
"Ok but, how am I going to dodge his attacks?"
"You won't be dodging, you will be blocking it!"
"Eh...?"
"Just remember this... Never point your crossbow at Daren, always keep it aimed at your feet!"
"Ehh...??"
The conversation with Ashley flashed before Evlin's eyes as soon as the fight started. She noticed Daren beginning to move and her first instinctive decision was to shoot the ground beneath her own feet to raise a massive rock shield to block his claws.
Daren's attack was blocked and he kicked the earth shield to leap backwards creating some space between the two.
She realized what Ashley was trying to say. It would be impossible to actually hit Daren thanks to his speed, but if she kept her crossbow aiming down she would be able to hit the ground fast enough to create a defense for herself.
"So this crossbow is meant to be your staff...?"
"Pretty cool huh? I bet you never seem a mage like me before."
"Heh... You look less like a mage and more like a huntress with that weapon... Let's see if you can stop me again."
Daren vanished. He moved so fast that all Evlin could see was the after-image he left behind. Thanks to his black fur he could easily blend in with the night. The only indicator for his positioning were his flashy red eyes, moving like neon lights towards her.
She acted on instinct again and shoot the ground below one more time in order to raise another shield behind her. Daren's claws collided with the earth shield again only this time he completely destroyed the shield catching Evlin by surprise.
Pieces of rubble started to fly from the destroyed shield and almost hit her on the head. Using her legs boosted by healing magic she backed away from the spot and started to shiver thinking Daren would use this chance to strike her down. To her surprise, he had not moved. He seemed to be analyzing the broken shield.
"... I figured this was some kind of special material... But this is just a regular piece of rock..."
"..."
"Guess I have nothing to worry about then..."
Daren disappeared again. Evlin couldn't keep track of him this time. She panicked and shot the ground again, this time creating a surrounding wall covering all her directions. She heard the sound of stone breaking from her left side and immediately shot the ground on that angle, summoning a huge spike of stone aimed at Daren.
Daren noticed the spike and grabbed it with both hands, crushing it into pieces and turning the rock into a pile of rubble.
Evlin was starting to panic again. Just what was this guy? He took her attack like it was nothing. On top of that, his claws could break her shields like they were made of chocolate. If she took a hit from those she would be dead on the spot.
After finishing off the spike, Daren started to spin and slammed Evlin with his tail. A wave of pain started to move across her body as she was sent flying backwards. Even with a boosted defense from healing magic, she still felt immense pain just from a tail swing. What would happen if she got hit by his fist?
"Do you get it now...? This is the kind of power we need to defeat the goddess. Not some silly magic tricks or anything like that... Just pure raw strength!"
Daren rushed towards Evlin's side, stole her crossbow, and shattered into pieces.
"This fight is over... Just give up and go home, little girl..."
"..."
Evlin took a glance at the rest of the group sitting on the log. They were looking at Daren with respect and at her with pity. She understood it now. The point of this fight was to prove what was the best choice to deal with the goddess after all. Daren was trying to prove that the power of curses was superior to the power of magic.
Something snapped inside of Evlin. She was consumed by immense anger for some reason. She didn't care if people thought she was a bad leader or whatever, but trying to prove their superiority by mocking her skills with magic, her skills that she went through so much hard work to obtain, the one thing she knew she was good at in this world? She would not let Daren take her pride away from her so easily.
"The heck do you mean by 'over'...???"
She grabbed the broken pieces of her crossbow and modeled it together with the rest of her armor creating gauntlets for each hand. Daren reacted with shock.
"How did you..."
"You think just because I'm a mage you can beat me by breaking my staff?? Well, bad news for you, I'm the one mage in this world whose staff you can never break!!"
She slammed her gauntlets onto the ground and several stone hands started to emerge trying to grab or punch Daren. He was taken by surprise but quickly regained his composure and started to swing his claws and destroying the hands.
After he was done, he realized that Evlin was now gathering more earth magic around her and emerging it with herself. She was using earth magic to produce more rocks and modeling magic to change it into some kind of armor that was covering her whole body. Daren understood her intentions.
"You will try to fight me hand-to-hand? You really must have a death wish..."
"Shut up... I'm tired of your mockery... You have been looking down on me ever since you found out I was a mage..."
Evlin rushed towards Daren with a raised fist and Daren proceeded to do the same. The two fists clashed sending a huge air shockwave that almost knocked down the bystanders watching on the log nearby.
"... So now you can throw a punch... But good luck catching up to me on this heavy thing."
Daren vanished again and reappeared on top of Evlin, kicking her in the head. She fell down and her rock armor started to crack from the impact of the kick.
Daren used this opportunity to get on top of her and started to throw punch after punch, trying to shatter the armor.
Evlin kept using her magic to try and fix the armor but Daren was breaking it apart faster than she could repair it.
She decided to give up on the armor and slammed her two arms on the ground creating two pillars that smacked Daren in the face.
Or she assumed so, but looking closer, the pillars were not touching his face, they were stopped at the last second by him grabbing them with his hands. "Just how fast is this guy?" Evlin asked herself.
She released a little bit of magic from her greaves and crated a giant fist that punched Daren in the back. It was a direct hit. She finally managed to get a clean hit on him. Daren stumbled a little and got off from top of Evlin. It seems like he was more surprised than hurt.
He started to scratch his back, probably trying to grasp the feeling of being punched by a rock fist.
"... So that's the extent of the damage you can cause... Looks like I really have nothing to worry about..."
"You... You really will keep mocking me to the very end won't you...?"
She stood up and shot the ground once again creating a second stone fist. Daren saw the massive piece of rock coming towards his direction but he wasn't worried. He raised his fist and tried to punch it. To his surprise, the rock fist wasn't shattered. In fact, it was actually pushing him back.
"What the...!!"
This fist was different from the earlier ones. Somehow Evlin managed to change its material to some sort of diamond.
"I'm not done yet!!"
Daren heard that warning and realized that several other diamond fists were coming in his direction. He was in trouble. Just one was enough to keep him locked in one place but so many of these might actually hurt him a lot.
Daren was surrounded by the front, back, and both sides. His only means of scaping was jumping upwards. He gathered power on both legs and leaped as high as he could. At that moment Evlin saw this scene and decided to take an opportunity to follow Ashley's plan.
"Chance!"
She sent her magic towards her diamond fists and directed them towards the air making them follow Daren. Daren noticed the barrage of fists coming after him and on reflex used them as kicking stones to leap even higher trying to scape them. At that moment Evlin used her modeling magic to undo her diamond tower.
Daren then realized her plan. He looked around and noticed that he was much higher than he expected. If he fell from that high, even he would be damaged. he couldn't help but smile at the fact that this little girl managed to trick him.
"Hehe... Nice!"
As planned, Daren started to fall at immense speed. Evlin's victory was all but secured by that point. The mass of black fur was approaching the ground at an immense speed like a dark hairy meteor. His friends were looking at him with intense worry. Even Ashley, who had come up with that plan, was scared of what might happen to him. Gustav stood up as if wanting to catch him but he quickly stopped for some reason.
Evlin realized that Daren might actually end up hurting himself in the end and started to worry.
"He... He's not slowing down... I need to help him!!! Sphinx!!! Sphinx, come here now!!
Sphinx woke up from his sleep and quickly rushed towards the side of his owner. Evlin performed her reconstruction magic and fused with Sphinx.
All the individuals aside from Ashley stared at Evlin in her combined form with shock and confusion.
They assumed she was going to fly and try to grab Daren. Problem was, Evlin and Sphinx were afraid of highs so they couldn't fly. She was actually about to release another magic towards the ground to raise herself up so she could catch the falling Daren, but before she could, Gustav yelled at her to move out of the way.
"Evlin!! Get out of there!!!"
"Eh???"
Evlin didn't know what Gustav was saying but then she looked at Daren and realized he was performing some strange gestures with his arms. It looked like he was about to launch some kind of attack so she moved out of that spot by reflex.
The black lion man then swung his arms with all his strength and used the wind pressure to slow down his fall, allowing him to land on the ground perfectly safe after creating a massive pile of smoke. Evlin was astonished.
"Are you kidding me??? Is that even physically possible??"
Daren stared at her.
"I think we are done here..."
"Eh...? But... What about..."
"Let's just call it a draw..."
"A... Draw...?"
"I can see that you are not just some brat playing around with her magic... You had even more power under your belt but you only used it when someone was in danger... Plus you clearly can hold yourself well in a fight."
"So... Does that mean..."
"You can stay with us... Ria will give you aid in learning how to perform a wind-scar. After that, you can do whatever you want."
"..."
"But our path remains the same... Even you should understand by now how strong the power of curses truly is... We will be going to the southern kingdom and that's final. You can either come with us or leave us alone, I won't stop you."
"..."
He was right. After that display of power and control, it was clear that the power of a curse was nothing to laugh at. She started to wonder if even with the power of Sphinx and the silver knives would she be able to defeat him. Part of her competitive side started to wish for a rematch in the future at full power.
"We will be leaving tomorrow... Go talk with your friend what it is that you both will do..."