When Sins revealed the number of unique skills hella had within her, Amon himself was so surprised that he abruptly rose to his feet and said
- Are you really sure, sins? There's never been a case like this reported anywhere. Are you sure you haven't made a mistake?
- Well, it's also my first time meeting someone with three unique skills. But, I'm positive, the crystal clearly showed it and my eyes, with their hitherto unequalled powers of perception, confirmed it. She has three unique skills. Incredible as it may seem.
- It sounds crazy, but I have to admit I don't really understand how?
Hella said indifferently. Amon replied
- Any skill, magical spell or artefact requires a certain amount of mana and often conditions to be met before use, but that's not the case with unique skills. You can use them as many times as you like with almost no damage, which is why they're so dangerous. In other words, you can fight... no, you're not going to understand it that way. I think you don't have enough combat experience to understand just how extraordinary unique skills are, so I hope that training will give you more answers.
- Hmm, I hope so too, but what are they really? Power so extraordinary? I mean, can you tell with this crystal?
Sins readjusted his glasses with a small smile before answering
- Good question! Well, yes, it is possible to know your unique skills with this crystal. I should point out that this one was made with my care and is therefore clearly superior to anything used by humans. As such, deciphering the symbols in the crystal, can also show us the skills that are awakened in you. Just a moment...
Sins took a blank sheet of paper out of his pocket and wrapped it around the crystal. It glowed for a moment before going out. After which, Sins took the sheet and discovered that it was filled with information about Hella.
- I should have started with this. This sheet contains information about your magic: unique skill, magical affinity, amount of mana, mana status etc...
Hella took the sheet to look at it but
- I don't understand any of this writing.
- It's magical writing. Basically, it's a kind of language that can only be understood and translated by mages. Anyway, I'll tell you what interests you if you don't mind.
- Given the situation, I wouldn't mind. So, what is the nature of my unique skills?
Sins took the form to read it before giving a brief explanation of its contents in answer to the question
- The first skill awakened in you is the ability to seal and unseal. It allows you to seal everything from the physical to the abstract. But you can also unseal other things sealed by you or even by someone else. The second is the transfer skill, which allows you to transfer anything that has been touched by your mana to a destination already known by sight or presence. This is the same spell that Amon used to transfer his powers to you, but his was a very advanced version that allows you to transfer even things like thought etc....
- That makes more sense. It's probably the skill that was activated to allow you to send that giant snake to me. Given that you already know me physically and by sight, it's perfectly possible.
- Eeeeh I don't know what you're talking about!
said Hella, sounding innocent.
- As for the third, I'm not sure but I'd say it's a cancellation spell or something.
- What do you mean, something like that?
- There are several varieties of nullification magic and the information on the card isn't clear enough to say what's meant here by 'nullification'. What exactly does it cancel? Because magic that cancels other magic is often represented as dispelling magic or something like that, but here it just says "cancellation". I confess I don't quite understand and to avoid giving false information, I'd rather leave that to training. I'm sure that way we'll know exactly what it means and with more clarity.
- In that case, there's no time to lose. Let's get straight down to business.
pronounced Amon. Sins took a step back from hella before saying
- Very well, then. We'll start by mixing the mana. That's the first stage...
- That's not necessary. I already know how to knead mana. I've learnt a lot from the memory of Amon, as well as some powerful magic spells. I can even use them without difficulty as they're now mine. So there's no point in starting from the beginning. I just want to gain experience in real time and that's all I need.
Hella pronounced with confidence and serenity. Sins looked at Amon before continuing
- Yes, but...
He paused to take a breath before continuing
- Perhaps you're right. Nothing beats experience gained in the field. We'll do it this way and if afterwards you still think like that, then it'll be done according to your wishes.
- You've only managed half my strength and you're already showing off, get back down to earth, kid.
- No, it's you who doesn't understand, I feel capable of anything! Well, it's true that I didn't handle the other snake very well, but this is different. I just panicked last time but that won't happen again. I feel... Really strong compared to before...
- I know, I know that feeling of power more than anyone but you're not ready yet.
- Why don't you let her find out for herself?
- What do you mean? asked Hella
- What are you suggesting? asked Amon
- Well, how about a little fight to see if what Mistress Hella says is right. If she wins, then we'll do as she pleases, but if she loses, she'll have to follow the training as planned.
- Sounds good to me!
- I don't see why not.
With that, the three of them made their way to a sort of arena in the dungeon. The place was a large rectangular room. At its centre was a large pit, also rectangular in shape, which was large enough to host fights. When they arrived, sins asked hella to get ready to fight, but she jumped into the pit with ease, confident in her abilities.
- Come on, let's get it over with! Open your eyes wide, I'll show you what I was talking about. Make the point.
Amon then conjures up a silver bracelet before tossing it to hella and saying
- Put this on your wrist and we can get started.
Hella grabbed the artefact and looked at it before putting it on with a sigh.
- May this trust bring you luck.
Sins pronounced, snapping her fingers. Immediately, as if by teleportation, a slime appeared in the air and jumped into the arena.
- Is this some kind of joke? Are you guys taking the piss? Do you really think that's my opponent?
Arms folded behind his back, Sins uttered
- This is a slime, a regular monster from the first tier. I've teleported him here and he'll be your opponent. But a word of advice: don't underestimate him. He's not a monster for the faint-hearted, and that's despite his weakness. Do you want to show what you can do?
- One last thing, as a first-level monster, this slime is subject to you. Normally, because the bracelet I've made you wear acts like a veil and hides your true status from the eyes of your servants. This bracelet was created to allow the master to train with his subordinates. In other words, this slime can kill you, despite your status and the bond between you. That's the price of this bracelet's existence.
Hella, who had been looking at Amon, turned her head towards the slime, which was jumping around non-stop. Then she began to laugh softly before opening hostilities without wasting any more time.
With her two hands, she created balls of fire which she threw at the slime like a deluge of fireballs. She had every intention of putting an end to this futile and pointless fight as quickly as possible. The feeling of having been underestimated had filled her heart and distorted her judgement of her opponent because, contrary to her expectations, the slime dodged all her attacks without the slightest difficulty.
By leaping across the ground, the slime avoided all the fireballs and explosions that followed hella's attacks. The little creature, underestimated by its adversary, showed unsuspected speed and incredible alertness in the face of its enemy's violent attacks.
But the creature didn't stop there: making good use of its speed, it threw itself against a wall to gain support and then hurled itself at high speed towards its target. Hella was surprised by the slime's action, but still managed to throw the two fireballs currently in her hands at him.
But the slime's speed and the manoeuvrability of its body allowed it to twist to let the fireballs pass before hitting Hella in the stomach with all its strength.
From a sound point of view, the shock was very violent but there was a rebound effect because on contact with hella's body, the slime was thrown backwards, high into the air and far enough away from hella to go crashing to the ground and then immediately leaping back up again.
Although the bracelet masked Hella's strength and status, it was still just a mask, because the bracelet in no way diminished Hella's power, so a common slime could not cause her any damage.
But Hella was no less shocked that this little watch had managed to escape such a deluge of attacks and even come and strike her a blow. She had underestimated her opponent and began to take this duel seriously.
- I didn't want to come this far for a common slime, but you leave me no choice. More importantly, I'm not the one who wants to use it. Superior rank magic: a blast from the underworld!
A soft scarlet aura illuminated hella's body as a magic circle appeared in her pupils. She raised her little finger and made dozens of little fireballs appear all around her, targeting the slime. The slime kept jumping around as if to taunt her opponent.
- Assault!
Hella uttered, sending a flurry of little fireballs at the slime. This time, her attack was five times faster and more powerful than when she threw it with her hands. But once again she was surprised by the total ineffectiveness of her spell against the slime, which avoided each of her attacks one after the other. Either by jumping sideways, or by manipulating her body to twist and avoid the fireballs that crashed behind her, creating explosions.
- Is this some kind of joke?
uttered Hella, increasing the number and speed of her attack. But to avoid them all even better, the slime decided to use the terrain to its advantage, because even though the four sides were a bit far apart, the fact remained that they were in a false shape, with the four sides forming excellent supports for the slime, which used them to bounce even better.
The slime used the left wall to leap towards the right wall and then used the right wall to leap onto the left wall. The slime used the left wall to leap towards the right wall and then used the right wall to leap towards the left wall. By linking these movements, which gave it incredible speed and also allowed it to leap towards the wall behind and in front of hella, the slime managed to avoid all of hella's attacks, who just seemed to be overwhelmed by the situation and a little confused by the turn of events.
Left, right, back, front, over and over again, the slime went from one move to the next, and it had become so fast that hella could barely keep up with it. She seemed completely lost when the slime came crashing down on her back, landing a blow and using her to bounce off another wall.
Hella took a step forward after being hit by the slime. She then turned to look for him when the slime struck her again, right in the face. She clenched her teeth before trying to express her anger when the slime attacked her again on the left side of her face, followed by a flurry of blows from all sides.
Hella found herself trapped in a circle of percussion. She didn't see anything coming and was taking blows all over her body. Flat on her face, her back, her stomach, her chest, her sides and her legs, no part of her body was spared as she was pelted with blows. She used her arms to protect her head and was no longer able to fight back or even attack.
- You've got to be joking! It can't be a slime. Even me, who doesn't play rpg, I know that these are the weakest monsters that exist in a fantasy, so how is this possible? Why is it still alive when I'm superior to it? How can he dominate me? Dammit, if this keeps up... I'll be humiliated... By a slime?!
The slime didn't feel it because of the bracelet, but Hella was going into a black rage and her mana was boiling over as a result.
- This slime isn't normal. Not only is he able to avoid my attacks, but he's also survived an attack that would normally kill him, and worse, how can he be so agile when he's jumping around like that? Enough is enough! I know how to get wild too.
Suddenly, Hella lowered her guard and spread both her arms. She'd also taken an early blow to the face, but it didn't deter her from her manoeuvre.
- Summoning a magic circle!
At this innovation, five enormous purple magic circles appeared in the sky. To his right, two circles entered each other like a large cross. To her left, the same thing, and above her and the other four, another circle much larger than the previous ones.
Seeing this, Amon and sins were very surprised, and one after the other said
- What is this?
- Well, that's interesting.
When hella shouted
- GRAVITY ZONE!!!!
The effect of the attack was to reverse gravity towards the ground with great ferocity. The ground shook and shattered under the impact. The slime's movement was brought to a screeching halt and it, in turn, was pinned to the ground like extended jelly. But the impact of this poorly controlled spell was felt not only in the arena, but far beyond, as far as sins and amon. But these two remained steadfast in the face of the attack.
As for hella, she also suffered the full force of her own attack, which brought her to her knees on all fours on the ground. From her position, she could still see the slime still alive, which disgusted her to no end, so she made a little more effort to stand up and launch a second spell.
- By the wrath of Amon: explosion of twilight.
This attack causes a large quantity of flame to float in the air, forming a huge ball before exploding, creating a huge explosion of fire. But because of the gravitational effect, the huge fireball wasn't high enough and the explosion was directed entirely towards the ground, causing not only the whole arena to explode, but also the arena itself to crumble. This did not spare hella, who was also caught in her own attack once again.
When the effects of the explosion had disappeared, the floor of the arena had collapsed in on itself with traces of the explosion. The gravity zone invoked by Hella had disappeared and dust and smoke were rising from the area. Hella stood on the pile of rubble coughing and there was no trace of the poor slime.
Noting her victory, hella asked Amon to pull her up, which he did. Then Amon said
- And then? Proud of his victory?
- Keep your comments to yourself. Anyway, I'm still the winner.
- Oh, you didn't notice? look?
The slime that Hella had been fighting with was now in sins' hands. Hella was so disgusted by this that she immediately became angry at sins, whom she accused of rigging the game.
- Is this a joke? I knew it, you fixed the fight, it's the only possible explanation.
While she was having her little tantrum. Amon took the opportunity to remove the bracelet that masked her strength before saying
- Are you really sure? Take a look.
Amon then pointed the slime at hella. She turned round and noticed that the slime was dead. Its body had melted and it looked like a puddle on the ground. Hella was surprised and asked
- But why?
- The simple fact of coming into contact with your mana was enough to kill him, he died of fear and the shock caused by the discovery of your identity as mistress. His existence just couldn't take it, that's all.
- What's that? Hella
- That's why you were wearing that bracelet, because otherwise that slime would never have been able to stay in the same area as you, and yet you had to use one of the most powerful spells I've ever given you to get rid of it. I hope you understand the situation better now? Amon
- Even though you have an immense amount of mana thanks to the dungeon and also a great deal of magical knowledge thanks to Lord Amon's gifts, the fact remains that you are cruelly lacking in experience, style and combat technique. If you really knew how to knead mana to use the right dose at the right time, then a single attack would have put an end to this duel. But don't worry, this wasn't meant to humiliate you or anything. But by becoming aware of your own shortcomings, you can only emerge even stronger. So, now, I hope we're going to do as I planned? Any objections, mistress?
- No! It's up to you!