Just as promised, the spot Devyn spoke of was devoid of most life, excluding the occasional insect or bird. Even grass refused to grow on the muddy dirt, poisoned from the ill that seeped into it from years of garbage dumped from the town.
"It stinks a bit here, but nothing will bother us, yeah? Found out about here when I got lost as a kid, Hah. Good memories."
Devyn sighed. While the memories were fuzzy now, he could still remember dragging his sister here and staring at the stars twinkling into view as the sunset. He could remember the sour mud, stinging the cuts across his back.
"I see. I suppose I should try to make a memory that could match that, then. It would be a shame to taint this place with a bad experience, wouldn't it?"
Spoke Izivel.
"Hm? Oh, that doesn't matter. It's just some old shithole. It's been 'tainted' with much more than blood."
Devyn gave a curt laugh. Turning back to face Izavel, a wry smile gave in that didn't reach his eyes.
"Now, the sooner I beat the shit out of you, the sooner we can actually get work done."
"I'm still unsure what correlation those have with each other, but it's hard to refuse a good fight."
Taking off her cloak, white hair spilled below her shoulders, catching and reflecting light in pinpricks of diamonds in his vision. He also noted that most of her body was covered in bandages, only stopping at her elbows, knees, and collarbone. A loose-fitting dress covered most of the bandages, but he could still notice that some parts were soaked in what seemed to pus and blood. Was she injured..?
"It's rude to stare, you know. If you look at me like that, it tempts me to gouge out your eyes."
Her neutrally soft tone was broken with a slight annoyance, a change that sent shivers down Devyn's neck.
Clearing his throat, he straightened his posture slightly, dragging his feet through the sticky dirt to form a fighting stance.
"E-enough about that, if we keep talking we won't be done until sundown."
Of course, he planned to finish much, much earlier than that, but he simply wanted to avoid addressing the awkwardness that arose.
With a fancy flip, Izivel's blade found itself in her hand, in a strange position. Rather then pointed at him, it was pointed inwards, resting against her forearm. The blade itself was also strange, with many rising patterns along its purple surface. He was curious as to what material it was made of, as it didn't seem to be metal.
Even though the mask, he felt her gaze sharpen, a silent reminder of her earlier threat.
"Ok, ok, let's just sta-!"
Not having time to finish, a giant pillar of copperish metal rose from the mud, screeching loudly as Izivel's blade bent it, leaving a large crater. The weight of her attack was so great, that while her sword wasn't sharp enough to scratch the surface, it still managed to cause so much damage.
"Oh, so he can control metal... A subclass of earth mana? Ah, he did react pretty quickly, so I assume he's well trained... A shame, I was hoping to finish this up with that strike."
She was close enough to where Devyn could hear her murmuring breaths under her mask. His pupils narrowed. If he had been any slower, he would have died. Sure, he wasn't planning to hold back either, but he was shocked at her lack of care for his well-being. Wasn't she being paid by his father...? No, that was his mistake. He put too much faith in the fact that his name would protect him.
"Shit... wait, that attack..."
As Izavel hopped back, Devyn realized a strange familiarity in her stance. It was almost similar to the way the royal family was trained with a blade, but he never saw a stance where someone could cause that much damage with only the hilt of their blade.
Thinking wouldn't do much good against a fast opponent like her, so he stopped. The metal pillar swelled, and shattered into hundreds of shrapnel. Those that flew in his direction hovered in the air, before homing in on Izavel.
While she was fast, a few did imbed in her skin. But as if her skin was nothing but air, the shrapnel simply fell out after a moment. She was too far away to see if she had any wounds from the attack, but he had a feeling she didn't.
"Fuck, I know that hit her... what's her deal... she isn't an enhancer, since her blade isn't giving off any mana... does she have a magic item?"
Right, her mask. It must be her mask that is protecting her. So he would simply have to break her mask, and then he could beat her. It was as simple as that.
Rising from the mud once more, the coppery metal instead gathered around him, forming a thick armor. Realizing her attacks would simply go through it, it was kept in a semi-liquid form so that her attacks would be mostly absorbed.
At least, that was what he planned. Almost like a mantis, her blade, which was pressed against her forearm, wrapped around his neck. While the armor did successfully prevent it from initially beheading him, he couldn't escape. Stuck between her arm, the blade, and herself, he could feel the metal around his neck begin to squeeze under her strength.
'How does a small girl like her have so much power?! I can't even budge her!'
While the attack was devastating, letting her stick to him ruthlessly, it also meant she couldn't escape his own attacks.
"Hah... d-did you forget?! I can change my metal's shape, idiot!"
A spike of metal rose from the surface of his armor, impaling her mask and knocking it off her face. Another also drove itself into her stomach.
She immediately let go, but the mask was already broken.
A victorious grin rose to Devyn's face.
"Hah! That was... um... fun!"
Really, he wanted to say it was dangerous. He really could have died. It still hadn't set in yet. He had never faced anyone or anything that had attacked him with the purpose to take his life, and the realization of that still brought adrenaline to his veins.
The spike of metal had gone cleanly through Izivel, but no blood fell to the ground. The bandages that covered it were ripped, and a foul smell arose from the wound, along with a dark viscous liquid that was almost a purplish color.
He had a potion in his bag, Devyn remembered. But before he could take it out, he caught sight of her face.
"H-huh..? What..."
The right half of it was completely smooth.