"Cage of thorns!"
A Thorny vines adorned with red roses was launched from Violet's magic circle that she casted on from the ground where Selene Stood, intending to trap her in place.
Shing!* Shing!* Shing!* Shing!*
"Nice try, but too fragile, Violet"
Selene simply slashed the vines with ease and charged towards Violet, not before Matilda disrupted and by blocking Selene's path with a wave of her training sabre and launching a blade of wind as well in the process, which Selene deflected before she got hit.
TING!*
Matilda took this chance to clash with Selene, holding her off from attacking Violet.
"Sorry! I have to do my work as a vanguard if you don't mind, Selene! HAH!"
Matilda waved her sabre, targeting Selene's abdomen with speed boosted by her wind enchantment.
TING!*
Selene blocked her attack once again.
TING!* TING!* TING!* TING!*
Matilda and Selene exchanged a flurry of blows with Selene leisurely blocking and deflecting everything that came her way, while Matilda was giving her all with the intention of at least landing a single hit.
She's definitely improved since the last time we exchanged blows, but she's still waving her sabre with no clear intent and objective like trying to find a weakness in my defence.
TING!!!!*
"AH!"
But It's enough to distract an enemy for her teammates to join and support her.
Selene launched a blinding attack that unarmed Matilda, launching her sabre across the training hall, but before she could deliver a final knockout blow, multiple projectiles were inbound targeting her, preventing her from doing so.
"Arrow of Thorns!"
"Water blast!"
Selene instead retreated a few steps back and dodged the attacks, launched at her.
They're timing on launching projectiles when their companion needs it the most is more on point than ever.
Matilda sprang forward and unsheathed another sabre she prepared beforehand, while Selene was dodging Violet and Ella's launched spells.
Matilda's also got annoyed by getting her weapon disarmed all the time. Hahaha. She brought an extra expecting it to happen.
Selene smiled as she blocked a downward strike from Matilda with a training scythe.
WHOOSH!*
More projectiles were launched on her sides as she dodged or retreated from Matilda's strikes.
Good, not giving the opponent any breathing room. I'm such a great teacher. I should probably apply as a battle instructor in the academy when this is all o-!
"HAAAAH!"
SLAP!*
"Woah!" Selene exclaimed as she dodged the sudden attack that almost hit her leg.
A whip adorned with thorns rested on Violet's hands, exposing her as the culprit from an unexpected attack
"I've been training with my father for this! Now dance for me, Selene!"
SLAP!* SLAP!* SLAP!*
OK! Holy crap, this is getting way harder than I thought!!! I do remember Violet used a whip as her main weapon, but I wasn't prepared for this, because this is the first time she used it!
Violet realised half a year ago as she tried out multiple weapons that suited her that the whip was the best match with her talent.
It was similar in how it moved like her thorny vines that she used when she casted her spells, which gave her a new enlightenment as well on how to use her vines more flexibly like a whip.
Violet had been losing all her spars with Selene for the last year they've started doing these sessions.
She wanted to get back at Selene, so she bided her time.
Violet trained with the help of her father with her whip skills and vine manipulation, enough that her father commented that most of the people on the same tier (adept) would find it hard to beat me with the newfound power she discovered.
She kept it a secret from Selene and lost to her on purpose without revealing her growing trump card.
Now that she was finally confident with her technique with the whip and her control with her vine spells. She fully intended to unleash all her pent up frustration she had boiling up inside her.
"Verdant Fury!"
Multiple green magic circles appeared, floating in mid-air as Rose stretched both her arms out wide.
long and thorny vines that were as thick as an adult's arm emerged from the magic circles all lashing out at their target.
Selene, seeing dozens of vines that were about to converge on her position, smiled wryly at the unexpected view presented before her.
I knew that she was holding something back, but this is going too far!
Selene knew she couldn't block this without ample preparation. She thought at that moment she'd doubt that anyone around her tier would fail to survive the attack of this scale.
"F*ck! Warn me next time VIOLET!"
Matilda literally had to use everything in her power to dodge Violet's attack, even using a wind blast to launch her out of the danger zone.
BANG!* BANG!* BANG!* BANG!* BANG!*
As the vines met their target the wave of smoke covered the whole training hall, blinding all the people within it.
"Did we get her!?" Ella excitedly said
"Woohoo! Way to go Violet! That's my buddy for you" Matilda rejoiced as she ran towards her companions with glee
Violet on the other hand balled her fist while holding her whip as she smiled bitterly.
"No we didn't. My spell isn't supposed to emit smoke like this and don't you smell something weird with the smoke?"
""Ah""
Ella and Matilda came to realise what Violet was trying to point out.
The smoke smelled like something was burning.
Hahaha My dad even guaranteed that an Astute would fail to escape from that attack if they get caught by it unexpectedly....
Violet trembled and knelt in place as she exhausted every ounce of her mana, making her lethargic and unfit for further battle.
Matilda and Ella on the other hand took a stance at the direction where the smoke emitted.
"I can't believe you guys manage to push me this far. All three of you have become my dearest friends, so it's only right for me to show you another secret that I've been wanting to show you"
AWOOOO!!!!!*
A Flaming wolf with crimson flames stood in front of Selene.
All the vines that Violet conjured and launched laid flat on the ground were burnt and pulverised, slowly dispersing in the wind from the loss of mana that retained it.
Selene knelt closely beside the flaming wolf and petted it with love and care.
"I introduce to you all, Blaze. My second companion I have. He's an undead fire wolf."
The trio seeing the Undead fire wolf beside Selene shuddered.
They knew that it was at least Adept tier or peak of Adept tier.
The trio knew that as the daughter of the emperor and directly from their friend that Selene had the necromancer class.
A class that only the Aventus had the possibility of attaining.
The power to control the undead.
Make covenants similar to Spirit tamers but in greater numbers.
Which easily makes a single Necromance worthy of the title of a one man army.
Selene as the Saint of Death naturally would be bestowed such a class.
"Uhhhh, Selene I'm kinda tired with all the fighting already. We still have exams to do later. Can we call it a day?" Matilda uttered with cold sweat poured all over her body.
Ella nodded with great vigour, agreeing with Matilda's sentiment.
"Yes! Haven't we spared and trained enough!?"
Violet also raised her trembling hand with a pale face.
"Look at me, Selene! I can barely stand! I can't continue further! Please spare me at least!"
Hearing Violet's selfish plea, Matilda reacted violently, baring her teeth at the traitor that gave up on her.
"I can't believe you're giving up now, Violet! Where did your smug face go when you launched that last spell of yours!?"
"Shut up! Talk to me again when you're as exhausted as-! Ah!"
"Catch!"
Selene threw something at Violet, which she easily caught despite her shaking figure.
"A mana potion..... Selene... don't tell me..!?"
Selene smiled sadistically and spoke in a manner that made her friends see her as the devil himself.
"A simple solution for someone who's out of mana. I made it as well just in case this happened! Rejoice! We can now continue sparring!"
I can't stop now that I've shown them something interesting! They have to at least try sparring with blaze at least once!
The three only stared dumbfounded at Selene's absurd words
I couldn't genuinely train them before because of all the people observing us. Now I can start getting them strong enough to defend themselves for future events. I don't want them dying on me after all.
Now that all the shackles that bound Selene had disappeared, she was now ready to prepare three of her current closest friends to be as strong as they could be with her help, relieving her of the worry that they might meet their timely demise.
Violet, Ella and Matilda would then proceed to experience hell for the next two hours.
They would then get carried back by Selene and her summons back to their rooms to rest for the rest of the trip.
Selene would also feed the three with a recovery enhancing potion, which simply made their recovery faster to have them back in tip top shape by the time they get to the Academy.