"Elder Sister, I want to have a match with you!" ［Eliza］
"Eh?" ［Elise］
At Eliza's sudden request, everyone was made to stop drinking their smoothies and the direction of their eyes immediately landed on the former. It was so sudden, none of the people present knew how to react to it.
Well, all of them except Fritz. He just continued drinking his smoothie, seemingly knowledgeable about what her little daughter wanted to request of Elise. After all, he was the one who had been with Eliza the most.
"Eh? Liz, what are you talking about?" ［Elise］
"I want to have a march with you!" ［Eliza］
"No, no, I understood that part. What I'm asking is why?" ［Elise］
"I just want to test how much I've grown by fighting with you!" ［Eliza］
"Eh?" ［Elise］
With Liz's vague explanation, Elise became even more puzzled about what was going on in her younger sister's head. Having no other choices left, she asked their father for an answer with simple eye contact.
"Hm? Didn't Grey and Yuna tell you? They also trained Liz to know how to fight when they stayed at our mansion back at Moterno." ［Fritz］
When Fritz said those, Elise's eyes immediately shifted to Grey and Yuna. Not just Elise's, but Elaine and Eleanora's eyes also shifted to them. Their faces were asking the two for confirmation.
"Ah... Did we forget to tell you?" ［Grey］
"""Yes, you did!"""
In unison, the three's voices rang throughout Grey and Yuna's ear.s It was so loud that they thought their eardrums were going to burst. Especially for Yuna who had sensitive ears, the noise still continued ringing in her ears.
Even though they had talked about many topics about Eliza, Grey and Yuna only mentioned that she went along with them while they were adventuring and exploring. They didn't go into further details as almost every day was the same.
There were a few moments where Grey and Yuna mentioned they tutored Eliza, but the other party only thought it was regarding magic theories only. After all, who would think that someone actually trained a young girl against monsters.
If there was one topic about Eliza that they focused on, it would be Eliza's cuteness when she was with them. Especially the girls, the moment they arrive at that topic, they would be talking for quite a long time without break.
Another reason was the girls' love for sweet things, whenever they talked about Eliza eating desserts, they would only stay at the topic of Eliza for a short while before changing it completely to sweets-related things.
"Wait! So that means!" ［Elise］
"Ah!" ［Elaine］
"Eh?" ［Eliza］
A sudden realization hit Elise and Elaine at the same time, and for reasons unknown to the others, they rushed towards Eliza and checked up on her condition. Her arms, her hands, her legs, her face, they checked her up with worried eyes.
Being a little ticklish, Eliza couldn't help herself but laugh when Elise and Elaine inspected her body. It was the complete opposite to the two who were completely worried for her wellbeing.
"Liz, you weren't hurt, are you?" ［Elise］
"They didn't make you do anything harsh, did they?" ［Elaine］
"You don't have any wounds, right? Right?!" ［Elise］
"You're still getting the right amount of sleep are you?" ［Elaine］
Eliza tried to resist the two of them, all the while laughing from feeling tickled, but they were too much for her to handle alone. She really looked like a doll, being played by her older sister and cousin.
While that was happening, four of the others were confused why they suddenly acted that way, while the other two didn't even pay attention. Those two were Galvin and Elnart who just continued drinking their smoothies and then played with the familiars who had come over.
"Umm... Elise, Elaine, what are you doing to Liz?" ［Eleanora］
"We're checking up on her condition if she's fine. After all, it was Grey and Yuna who trained her!" ［Elise］
"That's right! Yuna is a terrifying demon when she's on teacher mode!" ［Elaine］
"Urk!" ［Yuna］
Yuna's face cramped when she heard Elaine and Elise's statements. It was as if she was betrayed by her best friends. Well, they are amongst her best friends so her reaction wasn't too far off.
She and Grey couldn't argue with what Elise and Elaine said since any normal person would outright die with their training regime. Not only from the training itself, but also with the consequences after the training.
Of course, everything was mostly Grey's fault. After all, it was because of the way he trained Yuna that the latter also became a spartan-like teacher when she teaches others. She was totally influenced by her teacher and boyfriend.
"Hehe... Elder Sister and hehe... Elder Sister Elaine, please ehehe... stop! It's really uncomfortable hehe... and ticklish!" ［Eliza］
""S... Sorry..."" ［Elise and Elaine］
After Eliza's short outburst, everyone came back to their senses and calmed down. Elise and Elaine in particular were downhearted by what Eliza said, while Galvin and Elnart still continued with their smoothies.
A little crestfallen, Elise and Elaine let go of Eliza and returned to their garden table to continue their breakfast. Their breakfast meals had almost gone cold so they hurried up in finishing them.
"But still, to think that our little Liz had been trained by Yuna and Grey... It really shocks me..." ［Elaine］
"That means that Liz had already learned how to fight monsters..." ［Elise］
Slowly finishing their breakfast, Elise and Elaine talked about how they felt with Eliza being trained by their current instructors. As for the mother, Eleanora, she asked Fritz about the details.
"Then, Elder Sister, does that mean you agree to have a match with me?" ［Eliza］
"Uuu... Fine. But I'll decide the rules, okay?" ［Elise］
"Thank you, Elder Sister!" ［Eliza］
With an elated smile, Eliza dashed towards Elise and gave her a tight hug, and as the one on the receiving end, Elise's mood improved drastically as a smile sprouted on her face.
As the parents of the two sweet girls in front of everyone, Eleanora and Fritz can't help themselves but smile as well along with their daughters. Although they haven't been with each other for a few months, they were still as close as ever.
After Elise agreed on having a match, she and Elaine quickly finished their breakfast, and a few moments later, everyone headed to a wide space so that the two of them could move freely. It was the training ground behind the mansion.
Of course, Grey didn't forget to store the juices and smoothies back to his "Inventory". After all, with the effects of his ability, he could make sure that they remain chilled for the others to finish them later.
Although the training ground in the back was much smaller than the ones in the Royal Academy, it was still very wide. About as wide as a basketball court back on Earth, enough for Elise and Eliza to fight without restraints of space.
As Elise often stores her trusty sword back in the Royal Academy, she only used a common iron sword she found in the knight's armory. To make things fair, Eliza is also going to use the same kind of sword.
Their weapons both at their disposal, the two sisters positioned themselves in the open space and readied themselves for the signal. Their cousin, Elaine acted as the referee for the match
The rules Elise made were as follows; first, they can only fight inside the training ground. Second, super destructive spells and arts are prohibited. Third, blows towards the vitals are prohibited. And lastly, no using of auras.
In order to win, the opponent must surrender or be rendered unable to fight. Breaking of the rules will also result in the opponent's victory. It was the usual rules for sparring matches.
While Elise may be older, the gap between her and her younger sister's wasn't that big. Elise' combat power sat at 63 while Eliza's is at 58, both were F-rankers who can easily outclass the best athletes back on Earth.
As for who has the advantage, it was hard to tell. While Elise was stronger by about 30%, Eliza has more experience in fighting against people and could crush people stronger than her. The match could go in any direction at any moment.
Lastly, in order to ensure that the other sections of the training ground stay safe, Grey erected a barrier around the fighting area. It also served as a safety precaution so that none of the spectators gets hurt.
"Are the both of you ready?" ［Elaine］
"Yes." ［Elise］
"Un!" ［Eliza］
"Then... Fight!" ［Elaine］
With Elaine's signal, like Eliza's previous match with Grey, Eliza took the initiative and dashed towards Elise in order to land the first blow. She was so quick that even Grey and Yuna were surprised by her growth.
Elise, who hasn't seen her little sister fight, was taken aback by how quickly Eliza approached her, but in less than a second, she was able to regain her composure. It was what to be expected from one of year 2's top students.
Eliza brandished her sword left and right, trying to crack open Elise's guard at every moment, but Elise receiving the blows parried them perfectly. She was gauging how strong her opponent was.
Seeing that attacking directly was pointless, Eliza halted her assault and stepped away a few meters back. She didn't let Elise catch up to her and when she was in position...
⟨⟨Heavy Slash!⟩⟩ ［Eliza］
... she struck the ground with her sword, making earthen debris fly in every direction. Luckily, the debris weren't on the level where they could break Grey's barrier, or rather, no magic below the advanced level could destroy it.
When the debris were on the level of her shoulders, Eliza swung her sword with the flat facing the debris and hit them with great power, making them fire rapidly like bullets towards Elise.
With her quick reflexes, Elise immediately erected a wall with earth magic in front of her, blocking all the bullet-like projectiles coming her way, but on the down side, it also made her lose vision of her opponent.
Eliza didn't let her rest. After she fired those debris towards Elise, she ran towards her direction and leaped over the wall, and with both her hands gripping her sword, she attempted to land a devastating blow to Elise.
⟨⟨Heavy Slash!⟩⟩ ［Eliza］
Rather than parrying Eliza's sword, Elise chose to dodge the attack instead, making debris scatter all over the training ground once again after Eliza's heavy attack hit the ground, leaving behind a small crater.
After seeing Eliza's attack, Elise calmly breathed in air with her eyes closed. When she opened her eyes, a dangerous glint flashed from it. She had finished gauging her younger sister's strength.
Elsie had finally gotten serious. Now, she knew the full extent of Eliza's power and knew full well that it would be dangerous if she let her guard down. It was the reason Elise was amongst the top students
Without a single warning, the two dashed towards each other and when they were at each other's range, sounds of swords clashing which one another echoed throughout the whole training ground.
With each of their blows packing enough power to break walls as if they were twigs, the two continued clashing with each other as bursts of winds explode in the vicinity every time their swords clash.
"⟨⟨Heavy Slaー" ［Eliza］
Eliza tried to use an art but before she could even finish executing it, Elise interrupted her by parrying her sword at the hilt, interrupting the flow of mana. Thankfully, Eliza knew how to handle those mana flow interruptions, otherwise, things would have gone south for her.
Moreover, as Eliza was hit from below, her arms had been deflected upwards, leaving her guard open. Elise saw it as the opportunity to strike and finish things once and for all.
"You're wide open!" ［Elise］
"Tsk! ⟨⟨Gust⟩⟩!" ［Eliza］
But Eliza didn't let Elise do what she wanted. The moment she noticed she was at a disadvantage at direct combat, she casted "Gust" to push Elise away and give her time to create some distance between them.
Although Elise was not pushed too far, being subjected to strong winds, she was forced to guard her eyes from the wind with her arms crossed, allowing Eliza to escape the danger.
⟨⟨Soaring Edge!⟩⟩ ［Eliza］
Following her "Gust", Eliza quickly executed an art and launched it towards her older sister. Elise, on the receiving end, quickly countered it by erecting another wall using earth magic.
Learning from Eliza's previous attack, after she erected the wall Elise quickly backed off, wary that Eliza might jump on her once again. But of course, Eliza was also smart to not use the same method twice.
So far, Eliza's fighting performance has been great and she has been fighting on equal grounds with her older sister who was stronger than her, but there was only one problem.
"Huff... Huff... Huff..." ［Eliza］
Because of using spells and arts one after another in such a short amount of time, the fatigue from rapid mana exhaustion started kicking in. In spite of that, the flames of determination in Eliza's eyes still kept on burning.
Taking that opportunity, Elise quickly demolished the wall she had previously erected and started charging towards her sister again all the while keeping watch on Eliza's hand movements in order to predict her next move.
Eliza was about to swing her sword, waiting for Elise to enter her range, when out of nowhere, a wall emerged suddenly from the ground, blocking her vision from her older sister.
Elise then leaped to the top of the earthen pillar and shortly after she stepped foot there, she leaped once again, making her high up into the air. She was like a deadly butterfly ready to strike.
⟨⟨Cross Edge!⟩⟩ ［Elise］
Like a meteor crashing into the earth, Elise's attack came crashing towards Eliza with great speed and power comparable to that of a heavy electric pole crashing to the ground, powerful enough to crush cars with ease.
With the attack only a few seconds away hitting her, Eliza quickly propelled herself away with wind magic, making her dodge the attack. Although she was safe, she was only a hair's breadth from danger.
"Tch! ⟨⟨Heavy Slash⟩⟩! ⟨⟨Heavy Slash⟩⟩! ⟨⟨Heavy Slash⟩⟩!" ［Eliza］
One after another, Eliza struck the ground with her sword making debris and dust fly all over the place. It was as if she had gone mad and was taking out her frustration towards the ground.
⟨⟨Gust!⟩⟩［Eliza］
When she was satisfied, Eliza then scattered the dust even more with a wind spell, creating a smokescreen, and disabling Elise from knowing of her position. The same could be said for the others who were spectating.
"Please hold on a moment, I'll just enchant the barrier so that we could see them clearly." ［Grey］
"Ah, thank you. That would really be helpful." ［Fritz］
"That would be greatly appreciated." ［Eleanora］
"Don't mention it." ［Grey］
With quick work from afar, Grey quickly enchanted the barrier to filter out the dust and only show Elise and Elaine who were currently clashing. It was still a little blurry but it served its purpose.
By the time Grey finished enchanting the barrier, Elise had already erected yet another wall, and the reason for that was none other than Liz who was attacking her relentlessly
"⟨⟨Water Blade⟩⟩! ⟨⟨Water Blade⟩⟩! ⟨⟨Water Blade⟩⟩!" ［Eliza］
From the left, from the right, from all directions, spells were fired one after another in an attempt to hit Elise, but with reflexes as good as hers, the latter was able to block them with ease.
"Huff.. Huff... Huff..." ［Elise］
The only problem was that Elise had also started to suffer from the fatigue brought by rapid mana exhaustion. It was because she kept erecting earthen walls one after another to block Eliza's attacks.
By the time the cloud of dust settled, there was already a maze of earthen walls formed inside the training ground, and behind one of those walls, Eliza was lying in wait for an opportunity to attack Elise, all while recovering her stamina.
Although it would be better for Elise to demolish the walls, she didn't have enough mana to do so. She must conserve as much mana as possible or else it would be a disadvantage for her.
Both of them were already worn out but neither of them wanted to surrender, the only way for them to win the match was either to exhaust the opponent's mana or corner them. They were all out of other options.
Trying to conserve her stamina, Elise started navigating the maze in search of Eliza, and while she was doing it, she was being mindful of her movements so that she wouldn't make any unnecessary noise that would give away her position.
Although there were dozens of walls already erected, the spectators were still able to see what was happening from the large gaps between them. Elaine had also been running around to get a better view at things.
When Elise was about to enter a crossroad, she suddenly halted her movements and with a swing of her sword, she cut up one of the walls on her right, revealing Eliza who was waiting behind it.
"Found you." ［Elise］
"Tch! ⟨⟨Gust⟩⟩!" ［Eliza］
The moment she saw her older sister, Eliza quickly widened their distance with one another with a wind spell. She was trying to avoid direct combat, but Elise had already learnt of her tricks.
"Don't even think about it!" ［Elise］
Seeing Eliza escape, Elise quickly chased after her. They took left turns, right turns, and they even leaped over walls. To make it short, Elise has been chasing Eliza for a considerable amount of time.
Driven by impatience, Elise then erected a high wall in front of Eliza, making her unable to continue. Eliza was about to take a turn, but before she could even try, Elise had already enclosed the two of them in a small area.
With nowhere left to run, Eliza has no other choice but to face her older sister. She was already exhausted, but the same could be said for Elise. Once again, their swords started clashing fiercely once again.
With every metallic clanging noise echoing through the training ground, sparks and bursts of wind would always accompany it. It was a very intense battle between the two sisters.
Eliza swiftly raised her sword with strong passion burning in her eyes. With every ounce of strength she got left, she gripped her sword and tried to deliver the finishing blow, or so it seemed like it.
When Elise tried to parry Eliza's strike from above, the latter suddenly docked and shifted the trajectory of her sword. It was the same trick she used against Grey before, a feint.
⟨⟨Soaring Edge!⟩⟩ ［Eliza］
Following the feint, Eliza's real attack came rushing from down below towards Elise's torso, but before it could hit her, Elise also shifted the trajectory of her sword, parrying it at the last moments.
But since the attack had just been fired and was still concentrated with Eliza's remaining mana and strength, cracks started running throughout Elise's sword, and a few moments later, it shattered into smithereens.
Even then, Elise didn't let that shake her. She quickly let go of the broken sword and with swift movements she lowered her body and swept Eliza's feet off the ground with a simple low kick.
She then hit Liz's wrist from below with her hand, making her younger sister lose grip of her sword, and with skillful movements, she stole Liz's sword from her in just a matter of seconds.
By the time Liz fell to the ground, Elise was already pointing her own sword at her. It was the end of the match. Elise was panting heavily as she was doing so, but she has become victorious.
"It's over." ［Elise］
CHAPTER 87 END