"FORTIFY!"
The blade's surface shimmered momentarily, and with a bit of shimmying, it had sliced through all three sheets of metal. The entire doorframe caved in shortly after. Someone stood in the destroyed doorway, huffing and puffing from his efforts. He swung his sword over his shoulder and stared down the five students.
"Didn't expect anyone to come through here, honestly. Figured everybody would just go for the stairwell. Looks like one o' you lot have a good head on your shoulders. But you're not getting past this door without a fight. I'll be your opponent. Say, why don't we acquaint ourselves? Name's Henri. B-ranked Einherjar, at your service."
"You're oddly courteous for an Einherjar that's supposed to beat the snot out of us." Siegfried pointed out.
"Aye! I make it a point to treat everyone respectfully, regardless of whether or not they're an enemy. Just because we're fighters doesn't mean we can't be polite." The man chuckled. He dug the blade of his sword into the ground, gouging a chunk of metal out. "Shall we begin, then?"
Henri darted at them with a speed unbefitting of his large frame. In the split second before Ilise had to duck from his swing, she noted that he looked vaguely like Marten, but with more hair and an overall more affable personality. Roza wasn't so lucky. Henri's swing had sliced off some of her cowlicks, sending a fine shower of cotton-candy pink hair to the floor.
"Uh-uh. Not fast enough, lil' lady."
"YOU TOUCHED MY HAIR!" Roza cried out in horror. She patted her head frantically and turned to Ilise. "Tell me. How bad is it? Is half of it still there? I don't think I can see the outside world after this. I should just lock myself up down here-"
"PAY ATTENTION! FORTIFY!"
Siegfried stepped in between the both of them and raised his forearm. He slipped it into a faint greyish glyph, and within seconds it took on the same shimmery glow as the blade that was headed right for Ilise and Roza. Flesh and steel clashed with a horrible screeching sound that could be compared to nails on a chalkboard. Miraculously, Siegfried's spell held.
"Hehe. Not bad, for a low-tier like you. Or so I'm led to believe." Henri jabbed the hilt of his great-sword into Siegfried's stomach, knocking the wind out of him in a single blow. Roza and Ilise were on their feet, ready to pick up the slack.
"Concussive Force!"
"Discharge!"
Their attacks rebounded off the effects of Henri's Fortification spell. The two had barely enough time to dodge their own blows before they levelled the wall behind them. Henri smiled, revealing his silver tooth.
"Flaming Edge!"
His sword caught fire.
At first, everyone present looked to Toby, who up till then had been occupied with keeping his wits about himself and not wetting his pants in fear. He shook his head. It wasn't he who'd casted the spell. That could only mean that-
The Einherjar had armed himself with a flaming sword. Against five students.
"Fortify!"
Another grey glyph appeared in front of Henri's blade. He simply snorted and cleaved right through it, shattering Siegfried's magic.
"Here's a hint for all o' ye, seein' as this is an exam and whatnot. Gotta learn something, am I right? Ranged attacks won't be effective on a Fortification spell. The low-tier over here had the right idea. Get in close, and maybe you'll be able to sneak some hits in. 'Course, that'll only work if you don't value your arms and legs."
Ilise smirked. Close-range attacks. They weren't exactly her forte, but she reckoned that with her Kinetic magic, she'd be better in a pinch.
"Hyperkinetic."
With her accelerated reaction time, increased strength, speed and perception, the world seemed to slow down before her eyes. Siegfried was falling back in slow motion, something Ilise would've found to be quite funny had they not been caught in the middle of a fight. Oddly enough, the Einherjar was moving around at normal speeds. Definitely not as fast as he was before she'd activated her spell, but Ilise had never seen anyone move that quickly while she was under the effects of Hyperkinetic.
She layered her spell with another Concussive Force glyph. Hopefully, she'd be able to pull off what she'd done to Roza. For all of Henri's inhuman quickness with a blade as large as his, he hadn't noticed her yet. Just as he was about to charge Siegfried. Ilise hooked a leg around Henri's and planted her palm on his face.
As the world returned to normal in Ilise's eyes, she found herself staring at a peculiar sight. Henri had been thrown across the corridor. His flaming sword flew around in lethal arcs before deciding to embed itself inches from Siegfried's privates. Unperturbed by the near-loss of his fertility, Siegfried looked up at Ilise. "That was my trick, wasn't it?"
"Eeyup!" Ilise beamed, her voice tinged with pride. She'd have to ask Bianca to enrol her in a martial arts class sooner or later.
"Ain't no time for you to stop and chat, missy!" Henri spat some blood out the side of his mouth and swung his meaty fist down her.
"Discharge!"
A bolt of blue lightning struck Henri in the hand. It arced across his forearm, leaving behind red welts wherever the bolts danced. It gave Ilise the opening she needed to get out of the way. Henri slammed his fist into the wall, gritting his teeth in pain.
"Not bad. Not bad at all."
"Keep your guard up, old man! Scorching Sun!"
Toby opened his palm. A bright light shone from within, emitting waves of heat and blinding brightness. Henri muttered "Fortify!", but by then it was too late. His glyph-shield went up, but it couldn't deflect the light pouring through it. Ilise felt the heat sear her skin as she covered her eyes.
"GRAAAAH!" Ilise trembled at the first sound Henri had made that wasn't entirely friendly. He sounded like he was in pain.
"You little-"
He didn't get to finish his sentence, for Siegfried and Rei, with their combined strength, had finally managed to yank his sword out of the wall. They smacked him upside the head with the flat of its now-extinguished blade, knocking him out with its sheer weight alone. Henri slumped to the side. Toby blew into his palms, dousing his flame.
"Is that it? Is he...?"
"Nope." Henri said, sitting back up. "B-ranked or not, Einherjar aren't that easy to take down. But this is an exam, and that qualifies as an incapacitating hit. Congratulations. You got past me. You can either move along or question me, but I'll warn you up front: I'm a tough nut to crack."
Rei knelt in front of him and showed him the circled point on the map.
"Is this where the vault is?"
Henri snorted. "I ain't givin' up info that easily. Try again, kid."
Rei stood up. "Let's go. No point in wasting our time trying to interrogate someone when we can pretty much know where to search. He's stalling us."
With that, Rei, Ilise, Siegfried, Roza and Toby trooped off, stepping through the doorway Henri had so generously destroyed for them.
When they were out of earshot, Henri smiled to himself.
"Heh. Kids these days. They'll make for fine students, no doubt about that."
--