Melodi always felt anxious when she stared down the doll. She wasn't afraid to get hurt, since she could be healed much easier than Kenji, but she did dislike losing.
Melodi was never competitive so she wondered when winning in a fight against a magic doll became so important to her that she would work so hard to win.
She glanced over at Kenji and her heart fluttered, but before she could look back to her opponent she had been struck in the chest with a ball of wind.
Melodi was knocked back and gasped for air as she attempted to catch her breath
[LEVEL 3 MAGIC TRAINING FAILED]
[WOULD YOU LIKE TO TRY AGAIN?]
"Keep your eyes on your enemy at all times, the only times you should ever take your eyes off your target is if you are surrounded and even then you need to be aware of their position at all times and keep moving, remember movement is life."
Kenji lectured Melodi as she stood up
[WOULD YOU LIKE TO TRY AGAIN?]
"Yes." Melodi said as she took her stance
The doll slashed at Melodi with a wind attack. The spell was sharp as it cut through the air, it made almost no sound and the only way Melodi could dodge those attacks was because of the feeling of condensed mana coming her way.
Every Demon at a young age was taught how to feel mana, if they couldn't understand the concept or condense it in their body, then they would have no chance at becoming a successful spell caster.
condensed mana warped the mana around it, and to those who are particularly sensitive to mana they could dodge it with their eyes closed.
Unfortunately for Melodi, she was not so sensitive to mana and could only sense it as long as she concentrated.
The spell cut deep into the ground where Melodi stood just moments ago, but Melodi could not rest in a single spot for long and had to remain vigilant.
The doll conjured several wind spells and Melodi was focusing closely on the mana to dodge them.
Fighting the doll at level 3 was different from level 2, just like Kenji had said the doll was smarter and instead of using a spell that Melodi could see, the doll instead made Melodi focus on dodging invisible spells.
To the untrained mage, this took a heavy toll on their mental strength. Melodi had managed to increase her mental strength in recent days, but all her attention was focused on feeling the condensed mana and she couldn't concentrate enough to form a spell.
Melodi was thinking on her feet and barely holding on, her legs were beginning to shake as she twisted her body to avoid another spell.
Suddenly Melodi had a break in between attacks, she looked up to the doll and could feel a large amount of condense mana in he dolls hand. The doll had conjured a wind javelin. She knew this would be too fast for her to dodge, so Melodi began conjuring a spell of her own, but it was too slow, by the time she managed to conjure it the fight would be over.
Just as the doll was about to launch its attack suddenly the javelin shrunk. The doll launched the wind Javelin, but it wasn't fast enough to strike true. Mel had managed to avoid it by the skin of her teeth as she tumbled to the ground, skinning her knee.
The doll began to conjure another spell, but it was slower than usual, Melodi finally had a chance to fire an attack of her own.
Melodi swung her arm out and an arrow of water hit the doll in the neck. piercing through and disappearing some distance later.
The doll fell to the floor with a loud thud.
[LEVEL 3 MAGIC TRAINING COMPLETE]
[WOULD YOU LIKE TO CONTINUE TO LEVEL 4?]
The doll stood back up as the hole in its neck slowly began to repair the damage.
melodi sank to the ground, every inch of her body ached, even though she didn't get hit she hit the ground a lot as she scrambled to dodge the attacks. Not only that, her head pounded with pain from the mental exhaustion and her lungs burned with each breath she took.
*CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP*
"Well done Melodi, it was a tough fight, but you managed to pull through. It also seems your Summon has managed to learn quite a bit too."
Melodi looked past the doll and could see Luna running as fast as his little feet could carry him so he could be by his master's side.
"Thanks Luna." Melodi said with a grin on her face.
"Take a break, and try to think on what you could do if another situation such as this were to arise again." Kenji said.
Ardere was quite surprised at what Melodi was able to accomplish. She had only won her first fight with the doll since it's ability to see was hampered and at Level 3 the doll still can't sense condensed mana, so it used whatever sensed it had to try and beat Ardere, but when she went up against it again she ran into the same problem that melodi did with the wind attacks.
Arderes stamina was not as good as Melodies and she didn't last very long in her second fight.
At the same time, Melodi was thinking about Arderes fight, she could sense the condensed mana better than her and she had no trouble fighting in the mist. She had even managed to do it without a summon while Melodi had struggled to fight the doll alone and had to have Luna interfere at crucial times.
Both girls had their own strengths and weaknesses, but both were still hung up on what they could improve upon, Kenji could see it on their faces and knew they had the talent to survive the Hunt. All he had to do was make them cooperate as a team with their other members.
Suddenly Kenji's attention was drawn to some heavy footsteps behind him, they weren't loud, but as soft as they were he could hear the air rush out from under them.
Turning around he could almost laugh at the coincidence, he was just thinking about the teams tank.
Sandra had finally arrived in the training hall with her summon. Kenji noticed that not all Demons had their summons with them, he had assumed it was because it was a pain to bring them everywhere, but Ardere had explained to him that they could just be summoned with the contract if they were ever in need of them.
This confused Kenji since he wondered why they would keep their summons out all the time if they could just summon them at any time. Kenji had thought for a moment and just choked it up to some kind of kinship they might feel for their summons.
Sandra had approached the trio with her Vishup close by. it's footsteps almost impossible to hear, it's heavy coat thick and strong.
Sandra wore tight leggings that stretched around her body quite well, giving her free movement while also allowing her tail to be free from any restraints normal clothing might have for her.
Melodi liked Sandra quite a bit, she had a good personality and it seemed to be a bit more on the tomboy side once you got past the shyness, but melodi was also afraid of Sandra; not as a person, but as a female.
Melodi could see all of Sandra's curves in her clothing and she would often notice Kenji glancing towards her. Melodi would often look at her self in the mirror after every session the three had and wondered if Kenji would notice Mel more if she had a body like Sandra.
"Alright now that everyone is here we finally have a tank, a support and a DPS. The last few days have been tough without Ardere to put in damage, but you all held up well."
"Now I expect you all to excel in this fight, keep formation and make sure not to take it too far, but also don't hold back and try and force me into submission."
Ardere was a bit confused as to what was happening, but soon the other girls began to move around Ardere. Melodi was in the back, while Sandra and her summon were in front.
Sandra signaled to her summon with a whistle and the Vishup rubbed up against Sandra's legs as rocks began crawling up her body and covered her completely.
despite how heavy Sandra was she moved fairly quickly and her movements were smooth..
Suddenly Kenji got in a stance and a serious look washed over his face.
Ardere knew what was happening, they were going to fight Kenji, and not just one on one. Ardere recognized the formation, they were all going to fight Kenji as a group.
Before Ardere could form any more thoughts the Vishuo rushed forward with a loud snarl. it's soft footsteps no longer quiet as it sprinted towards Kenji.
Kenji asked no time and once the Vishup lunged at him he spun his body avoiding the attack and bringing his leg around, hitting the summon in the neck with a loud growl.
The kick sent Kenji back a bit and he rolled, recovering quickly and made his way towards Sandra. She quickly conjured an earth staff and swung out at Kenji, but he ducked underneath, and kicked Sandra at her knee joint making her fall to one leg.
Kenji had no time to rest since the Vishup was apon him once again. The summon pounced on him once more, but Kenji grabbed Sandra by her horn and moved her in the way of her own summon.
The two hit the floor with a crash and Kenji quickly went for Ardere.
Ardere had still not quite precessed what was happening, but knew Kenji had no intention of holding back on her.
Kenji came forward kicking Ardere in her midriff as she attempted to conjure a spell. Ardere fell to the floor groaning and making several attempts to breathe. Just then Kenji was knocked back with a ball of wind.
He slid across the floor and tried his best to recover quickly. That spell didn't tickle so he was aching just from standing up, suddenly he felt a jolt of electricity go through his body and he coughed up blood.
Kenji felt anguish throughout his body as he gasped for air, he had felt this before.
Melodi panicked, she had hit him with a boosted spell to get him away from Ardere, but he suddenly coughed up blood. She hated hurting him, but he wasn't going to be satisfied until he couldn't move.
Kenji stood still for just a moment before rushing forward again.
Kenji made his way to Mel as Ardere finally managed to suck some air into her lungs.
Sandra and her summon stood in the way of Kenji. The Vishup attacked from one side as Sandra swung her staff from the other.
Kenji turned to the Vishup and grabbed it by its throat while it dug its claws into his arm and shoulders, Sandra staff then struck true on Kenji's back, with a little boost from Melodi, the pain flared through his torso in a wave of agony.
"Uuuughh!"
The scream was loud, Sandra would feel bad for Kenji if she didn't know what he was capable of.
Kenji held the Vishup in the air for a moment before slamming its back into the ground and turning around just in time to catch Sandra's staff from hitting his head.
Kenji's hand felt stiff from catching the staff, it was solid earth after all.
Kenji pulled the staff and Sandra fell while Kenji lifted himself up with the momentum.
Sandra once again landed on the vishup and held it in place with the weight of her body and armour. Kenji did not stop moving as Melodi fired spell after spell of wind attacks at him.
Ardere watched with astonishment as she saw Kenji dodge the wind attacks with ease. He couldn't sense mana and yet he was dodging invisible spells.
Ardere began to stand as she finally understood the severity of the situation. Kenji was out to break bones.
Kenji was good at dodging the spells, but could not close the distance on the other two. While Kenji moved with a finesse Sandra could only dream of, she was beginning to feel exhausted from moving her heavy armour and taking hard falls, she could no longer move with it the heavy earth armour on.
Sandra's armour crumbled into dust and the Vishup underneath wiggled free and ran for Kenji.
Kenji ducked underneath a spell and noticed the large summon coming for him. Kenji continued to dodge the spells and once the Vishup was close enough he quickly turned his body, giving himself extra momentum to make up for the strength he lost due to his injured arm. As he swung, the staff broke on the side of the summons face and it tumbled to the ground, no longer moving.
Kenji then used what was left of the staff and threw it at Melodi. The blonde Demon managed to hit the staff before it got to her and a cloud of dust erupted.
Kenji took this chance to rush in and as he was passing Ardere conjured her fire serpent and swung it out at him. Kenji avoided the attack and when he got close enough he swept her legs out from under her and kicked Ardere in the face before he continued towards Melodi.
Melodi knew if Kenji got too close then he would win without a doubt and she would be in a world of trouble.
Luna boosted Melodi once more and Melodi used all her magic and blew away all the dust, but the wind was much more powerful than just that Debree, and even Kenji himself was tossed a great distance.
Kenji was launched so far he had hit the wall of the training hall and left a streak of blood on it as he slid down and fell to the ground.
Melodi huffed, she had almost no mana left and because of that attack the entire training hall was watching the fight with great interest.
Kenji felt stiffness and aching as he stood, but most importantly he felt agony from the wounds in his arms and now on his head.
the pain was blinding and he felt dizzy, but he focused on the warm blood trickling down his body and his vision cleared.
Melodi didn't have enough mana to fight Kenji, even if he was injured so she tried her best to run. She still had plenty of stamina, but whether it would last till she managed to recover enough mana to knock Kenji down for good was unlikely or run out before she could do anything was difficult to say.
whatever happens she knew her best chance was to create distance.
She had turned around to sprint away, but as she was trying to run she suddenly couldn't move.
"I thought I told you to never take your eyes off your opponent."
A chill ran down Melodies spine
Turning around she could see Kenji had grabbed her by the arm.
How had he gotten to her so fast with all those injuries?
"I'm not done yet, so don't ever underestimate me." Kenji said in a low tone as his blue eyes stared into Melodies
Kenji swung her over his shoulder and slammed her body into the ground.
Melodi had hit the ground hard, her air got knocked out. It hurt so much, she felt dizzy and couldn't do anything but struggle to breathe as Kenji turned his attention to Sandra.
Sandra had assumed Kenji would be finished with that burst of power from Melodi, but when he rushed the blonde Demon so fast she couldn't even run then took her down, suddenly her feet felt stuck.
Kenji suddenly felt a wave of nausea go through his body, Kenji fell to his knees as he spit out blood.
"He's hurt so bad." Sandra realized.
Seeing Kenji so hurt made Sandra feel like she had more of a chance than she originally thought.
Kenji picked himself up and Sandra could see his nose bleeding, leaving a crescent streak down his face.
Kenji focused on Sandra and ran past Melodies body.
Sandra conjured two earth batons and waited for Kenji to get closer. As he approached and got closer, Sandra's heart raced more and more. Finally he was close enough and she swung her baton at Kenji.
Kenji wasn't fazed by the weapon and grabbed Sandra's arm, Sandra panicked a bit, but tried her best to remain calm as she swung the other baton. Kenji could clearly see the other arm moving and moved to intercept it, but he felt his body slow before he could catch the second one.
the baton struck his ribs and Sandra could hear a crack.
Kenji let out a quick groan and head butted Sandra in her nose breaking it. Sandra fell to the floor with blood spewing from her face as she covered her wounded nose.
Kenji turned from Sandra and spotted Luna with one of the batons still in hand.
Luna bolted as fast as he could across the floor. His tiny legs didn't provide much in terms of speed, but he was trying his best.
Kenji ran for the Vanis as it tried to escape, Kenji threw the baton in front of the summons path and it stopped just before it got hit, but before Luna could continue to run Kenji grabbed it by its tail. Luna bit at Kenji's hand; however, Kenji did not let go. Instead Kenji hit the Vanis on the back of its head with a quick chopping motion and the summon went limp.
Kenji dropped the summon to the floor and noticed Sandra was still moving.
Sandra was crawling towards her baton and before she could reach it she could feel someone tug on her tail.
Kenji had grabbed Sandra by her tail and yanked it up causing her to lift her waist and scream in pain
"Aauughh!!!"
Kenji planted his foot on Sandra's horns keeping her head firmly on the floor.
"Does everyone yield!" Kenji shouted
Sandra quickly spoke
"I yield!"
Melodi wheezed as she raised her hand
"I do as well."
Ardere was quiet.
Kenji let Sandra go and she could feel a soft pinch on the back of her skull before everything went dark.
Sandra woke up first and sat up. Her body ached all over, but it wasn't hurting the same way as before. She knew she was in the infirmary before she even sat up. She had been there several times in the last couple of weeks.
Melodi and Ardere lay in beds on either side of her and their summons were nowhere to be found. most likely absorbed into the mana again.
The first time Sandra and Melodi had fought with Kenji, they were utterly embarrassed. They had almost no coordination and didn't understand fully when Kenji said "Don't hold back, because I won't".
So they underestimated him and even with the two of them and her summon he managed to send them to the infirmary while he himself only sustained a few minor cuta and bruises with only a single major wound from her summon.
Sandra felt a shiver go down her spine thinking back on the first day and remembered how her summon became too injured to recover in the physical world and resided inside the mana that forms the contract. It would keep her summon safe until it could recover, unfortunately this only happens after a certain amount of time after the summon had been greatly injured.
Despite this neat little design of the contract, Kenji laid in a bed across from the three girls. He was bandaged and sweating profusely. Sandra had seen him hurt to a large degree a few times, but not like this.
Sandra had wondered if Kenji was actually a summon or not and if he was then why do the normal laws of the contract not apply? Kenji right now should have been absorbed back into the mana for recovery, so either he isn't a summon, or he can take much more punishment than what they gave him.