Holman, Laura, Dinodas, and Thodebald hailed from the noble Verti family, one of the three most prominent families in the Windeast Kingdom alongside Diagon family and Horizon family.
While Holman and Laura were born into the main house, Dinodas and Thodebald were from the branch house, which placed them in a lower social standing.
The Verti family was renowned for their craftsmanship of magical items. Making magic items was a complicated and time-consuming process that required a good understanding of magic formations, magic circles, and alchemy. Magic items were made from special materials that were often difficult to find and expensive. Because of this, the Verti Family had opened branches of magic item stores in many locations. These stores not only sold magic items but also bought the materials needed to make them.
They also had unique tradition. Each child from the main house was paired with a child from the branch house, and if they grew close, the child from the main house could switch positions at any time with the child from the branch house. This ability was something that ultimately saved Holman's life from Vale's surprise attack. In essence, the tradition was that the children of the main family branch had the ability to protect themselves by sacrificing the life of a child from branch house.
Laura also possessed this ability, which meant that she could exchange positions with Dinodas if she was in danger.
In addition to their skill in creating magical items, the Verti Family held considerable sway over the Windeast Kingdom's army, making them experts in tracking.
After tracking for about fifteen minutes, Laura and Dinodas finally located Alex and his two companions, Yor and Colbert, who had just slain a monster. The trio was startled by the sudden appearance of Laura and Dinodas.
"Laura, what are you doing here? Where's Holman?" Yor inquired.
Meanwhile, Alex furrowed his brow and asked, "Are you tracking us?"
"I am sorry, but we came here on Holman's orders. In this exam, we got a mission from the Verti Patriarch to kill Frida. It's a shame our efforts failed and Thodebald is now dead," Dinodas explained the purpose.
"That's your mission, deal with it on your own. We have no intention of interfering," Colbert retorted with sarcasm.
"Fidelis and Sabine died at the hands of Frida and her cronies, did they not?" Laura interjected.
After the skirmish with Frida, Laura recognized that she was now a target of Frida's vengeance, which led her to contemplate killing Frida as soon as possible.
Yor gritted her teeth, her fury reigniting at the mention of Fidelis and Sabine's names. She turned to Alex and said, "Let's assist Holman. This is the perfect opportunity to take down that wench, Frida."
"Yor, think again. In a life or death situation, Frida wouldn't hesitate to take lives with her to the afterlife. This is too dangerous," Colbert firmly rejected Yor's proposal.
"Are you afraid, Colbert?!" Yor challenged him.
"Both of you, be quiet!" Alex shouted loudly, successfully breaking up the argument between Yor and Colbert.
"As Colbert mentioned, Frida could take several lives before her death. It's a risk. However, consider the potential reward. Our patriarch will certainly reward us if we succeed in killing her. The risk is worth it," Alex reasoned with Colbert and Yor.
If it were just the three of them, Alex might not have dared to do it. But with Holman and the others, he believed they had a good chance of defeating Frida.
Yor nodded happily at the decision Alex made, while Colbert couldn't help but snort in annoyance.
"Please lead us to Holman," Alex requested of Laura and Dinodas.
Laura nodded, relieved that Alex had made the right choice to help them kill Frida. She and Dinodas then left to guide Alex and the others to where Holman was.
***
The sound of swords clashing continuously echoed in the room. Two sharp swords collided endlessly. The girl's eyes kept moving to analyze the opponent's movements in front of her. The movements of the two fighting girls looked very similar, as if they were fighting against themselves.
"There's really no opening," Frida muttered as she tightly held her sword to defend against the wooden puppet's attack, which perfectly mimicked Frida's appearance and abilities.
Frida took a few steps back as the impersonator moved forward to attack her. Frida threw her sword up and then crossed her arms. She cast a magic spell, "—Dancing of the Thousand Stars."
The sword she had thrown then disintegrated into thousands of small floating lights. Frida extended her right hand forward, making a grasping motion, at which moment, thousands of small floating lights attacked the impersonator.
The wooden puppet stabbed its sword into the ground, and a second later, the sword emitted a white light that formed a shield. The shield resisted the attack of the thousands of small lights that were about to attack the wooden puppet. In the end, Frida's attack failed, and the thousands of small lights again reformed into a sword.
"Even this magic technique is being anticipated. How can I defeat it?" Frida started to rue her greed, wondering if she hadn't been lured in by the black magic radiation stone, she wouldn't be caught in this trap with the doppelganger.
The girl had no choice but to continue fighting. However, in the fierce duel between Frida and the impersonator, the student from the royal family couldn't gain the slightest advantage. On the contrary, several times, due to her carelessness, the impersonator successfully landed attacks on her body.
After more than half an hour of fighting, Frida's abilities began to decline due to exhaustion. Not only that, but the old wounds that had not fully healed and the newly appeared wounds made Frida even more helpless against the impersonator.
Meanwhile, even though Frida tried to use her magic techniques wisely, the impersonator continued to force her to use them continuously, causing the mana in Frida's body to decrease drastically.
Frida struggled to stand up, feeling the weight of various pains spreading throughout her body. Using a sword as a support, Frida finally managed to stand up. Her chest rose and fell irregularly as she tried to catch her breath.
"Am I going to die here?" Frida was very confident in her abilities, but for the first time, she felt a sense of helplessness while fighting the wooden puppet that perfectly mimicked her appearance and ability.