Lisa reached into her dress and pulled out a familiar weapon. It was the whip with thorns that she used to punish Ryuk.
She cracked the whip once causing a resounding echo as a smile was plastered on her face. "I will take as much skin as I can."
Laura frowned, not because of Lisa's threat but because she was still pondering the best weapon to use as a counter against her whip.
Seeing as her opponent remained still, Lisa made her move. She lashed forward with the whip stretching out to strike Laura.
Laura did not bother to move as she was lost in thought, her actions eliciting a variety of responses from the crowd.
"What is she doing?"
"Is she planning on standing there like a statue?"
"Hah, this should be one of those staged fights where the nobles pay off fighters to allow their offspring to win. Pathetic."
"But isn't that Lloyd's daughter, Laura?"
As the crowd communicated amongst themselves, Max was confused as well and would have already screamed at Laura to move if not for Lloyd gesturing for him to remain calm.
Max kept his eyes on the unmoving Laura. "Is this some sort of strategy?... Pretty weird."
Meanwhile, down in the area, Lisa's first attack reached Laura in no time at all.
With a smirk, Lisa maneuvered the whip to strike at Laura's face with the hopes of allowing a thorn or two to embed themselves in her cheek.
But then, just as the whip got close enough to hurt Laura, it ended up slamming against a formless barrier.
Lisa's expression quickly crumpled as she realized that her opponent had already activated some sort of defensive artifact.
This was a normal thing for most nobles as those that were deemed important were made to wear defensive artifacts to protect them from harm.
Unfortunately for Lisa, she was not deemed as important as her elder brother that was already touted as the successor to the Duchy after their father dies.
The fact that Laura had a defensive artifact and she didn't, caused her to feel an inferiority complex that she had not accepted before now.
Laura suddenly spoke at that moment. "Oh, sorry for wasting your time, I'm still trying to figure out what weapon to use and counter your whip but I'm not getting any good ideas so I think I'll just go with the best one."
Most people got confused by Laura's words as they watched her with interest.
Lisa on the other hand felt like Laura was not taking her seriously. "In that case, I'll make you take me seriously!"
Lisa began to weave hand seals in quick succession with Laura smiling as she saw this. "Good, it's best if I summon as well."
The atmosphere in the arena was slightly confusing as it seemed to hold a bit of tension but also seemed quite lighthearted due to Laura's largely disorganized approach to her first matchup.
Max scratched his cheek. "What in tarnation is this?"
Lloyd could not help but feel embarrassed at Laura's showing. "Maybe I've spoilt her too much. Thankfully Lara came along, else…"
Lara on the other hand chuckled silently as she watched Laura. She was not aware of what the bracelet Lloyd gifted her could do, but she could still remember the girl that stood up to protect their carriage after they were attacked by Dan.
That instance had made her realize that even though Laura was largely inexperienced in actual combat, she was one willing to step forward and fight.
Thus as she watched the exchange that was about to happen below, she looked forward to seeing the beast that Laura had used to escape the clutches of Dan.
Meanwhile, down in the arena, Lisa and Laura finished weaving their hand seals almost simultaneously.
"I call upon the Queen that lords over a thousand, come forth and heed my commands… Arise, Queen Bee!"
"I call upon the one that remains unsure of his origins with unmatched strength, one who believes iron to be his property… Spring forth, Steel!"
The wind blew back and forth as two spatial tunnels opened up in the arena.
In the next second and two creatures made themselves known to everyone in the arena.
Behind Lisa was a large humanoid bee, almost three times the size of an average human. The bee had the face and upper body of an adult human female but her legs were of that of an insect and she had a pair of wings on her back.
An insectoid abdomen grew from the female's backside with an opaque stinger at the end of it.
Max put up a brow. "A Ruler rank. Interesting." Even though he had his eyes on Lisa's summon, his attention was actually on the creature standing behind Laura.
He had expected the Cockatrice to show up for Laura but the moment she started chanting an incantation, he realized that Laura might as well be a dual-class Summoner.
After all, Servant class summons did not require an incantation to be summoned.
All one needed to do was to tug on the thread that connects a Summoner to his contracted beast after which they would then open a dimensional bridge using their magic to allow the creature to cross the boundary.
Only Ruler Rank and above were worthy of incantations and the stronger the summon, the more complex the incantation became.
Max tore his gaze away from Lisa's Queen Bee and landed his eyes on Laura's… Ape?
No, not just an ape. An ape with six arms and two legs, making for a total of eight appendages and a hardened back that shone like silver as the light of the sun bounced off it.
The Spider monkey… Yes, That was Max's title for it as it reminded him of a certain cartoon character from a beloved show back then on Earth. He recalled that the show title rhymed with Ten.
The creature behind Laura was at least four times the size of an average human male and its demeanor looked quite fierce, radiating a similar aura to Lisa's Queen Bee.
"Hmm, another Ruler Rank… I didn't know you had such a trick up your sleeve, Laura." Max mused as he anticipated the clash between both ladies.