The group had moved outside and currently stood in a large area cleared of trees, which seemed to be used for a training area for soldiers made in a rush.
Sarah stood on one end of the field while Naya stood on the opposite.
They had quite the audience formed already, and it allowed Naya a better look at the type of defense the village could put up.
Most of the weapons they wielded were simple swords and crude spears, along with makeshift armor, which only consisted of either small sets of iron or rough leather.
They would easily die when facing even one Flameclaw.
It only reinforced Naya's belief that they would likely all die if she let the village help her.
She assumed the villagers hadn't come face-to-face with a Flameclaw yet, so they hadn't gotten a chance to see their ridiculous powers.
They could create flames out of their Arcana. Though Naya wasn't sure how they gathered it with their changed forms, in beast form, they refine Mana into Refined Arcana in their sleep, so they always wake up with nearly a full charge.
It's one of the attributes beasts have that any other race, Naya's included, would kill to have—the passive ability to regenerate refined Arcana from the atmosphere.
It hit her.
Perhaps Soranulam's goal is the study of beasts so she can somehow acquire their ability? It seemed likely, but she obviously hadn't succeeded, given how long she'd been in that field.
But doing that would break the natural order, and Nayalisia didn't think even Soranulam, vile as she was, would try to alter the physical form.
Naya stopped those thoughts and observed Sarah.
Sarah wore simple clothing, black pants, and a loose-fitting white shirt.
She clearly would not be aiming for physical confrontation. However, anything else would be doomed to fail.
Naya didn't suppress her smirk and crossed her arms.
She was curious about human magic, especially after the beautiful sight from Elizabeth at the Rozen gates.
But the battle would not be pleasant for Sarah; she would be defeated without even a hint of resistance.
A mage could not win a frontal battle with Naya; that would be true even if the battle was with another Elf.
Sarah held her arms out at her side, her forearms raised and her palms facing upward.
[So she won't charge me, alright then.]
Naya made a decision; she would not absorb the human spells but dodge them so she could see the power behind a so-called Vanguard, which Sora seemed arrogant about.
The goal wasn't to defeat the human but to observe her power.
Sarah took a deep breath and didn't appear nervous in the slightest, with the ghost of a smile on her lips.
First, a blue circle slowly materialized above open palms, spinning around as more blue lines came from the circle as if to draw inside it.
The blue lines extended into so many small shapes and sizes, various other circles within it, and so many lines connecting across it that Naya was mesmerized.
[Beautiful.]
She couldn't identify any of what was in that circle, which made her jealous of the lower races' casting methods.
Naya recalled that Elizabeth didn't take long to form her magic circle, so Sarah must have done it intentionally to showcase her skill.
To no avail since Naya wasn't sure what the extent of casting speed was; even if only a second, a human mage would instantly lose to an Elf.
With controlled movement, Sarah flicked her palm up, and the completed magic circles began to rise into the air.
Naya closely watched them; she had no idea what to expect.
It was exciting, especially since she decided to handicap herself.
The entire village was dead silent; the only noises came from the slight whirring of Sarah's magic circle and the sounds of the wild forest.
The magic circles reached an anchored position far above Sarah. They began to rotate until the front faced Naya; the middle of them looked like a-- +-- shape, with all the lines in the circle connected to each point.
They directly pointed at her as if to lock on.
Naya made a simple movement; she uncrossed her arms and sidestepped.
Her theory was correct; the magic circles rotated again to follow her.
She sped up and sidestepped again.
Still, the circles followed her.
Naya's eyes widened slightly. [How?]
Sarah broke the silence with a slight surprise of her own. "You're fast, but I expected as much." She put on a cocky smile. "That's why I designed the spell like this."
She had done it expressly to show Naya her abilities.
Naya didn't want to admit it, but the human spell was a marvel. Of course, if Naya had gotten serious right away, Sarah would have lost instantly.
But the skill was still there; Naya couldn't deny it.
Naya stared at the circles. "Your human magic is impressive. But-"
"Make no mistake, Naya." Sarah interrupted with a shake of her head and a light chuckle. "This may be how we [lesser ]races use magic..." Her body twisted slightly to the side; she moved one of her arms up, her palm closed other than two fingers pointed at Naya. "...But don't confuse me with an ordinary mage."
The whirring circles sped up and got increasingly louder.
Another realization: Sarah could control the Wild Arcana within her circle to effectively showcase her abilities to Naya.
Even Naya couldn't control it that well, as evidenced by her explosive barrier in Carla's tower.
Sarah's magic circles started to glow an azure blue, and an icy mist began to leak from the center to fall to the ground, spreading like a sudden fog.
But Naya knew that wasn't it, more like a byproduct of what the circle actually did.
Naya kept a close eye on it, though the circles were obscured by the mist around it.
Moments of tense silence followed, where Naya allowed the magic circle to continue its application. At the same time, Sarah simply had her arms crossed and her back straight with her light smirk.
It did seem like she was used to taking command of human forces if what Naya assumed Vanguard meant was accurate.
Lia wasn't around for some reason to confirm any of her ideas, which was unsettling given how helpful a guide would be in foreign lands.
"You got this, Naya!" Rula suddenly shouted; she was jumping in place in cheer.
Naya's thoughts drifted to the Elven Academy, where her peers would cheer for their favored contestant.
She smiled.
At the same time, the magic circles activated again.
"Get to dodging, Naya," Sarah said arrogantly as if she were providing training.
It wiped the smile from her face. [This human! ]
She didn't want to, but for a human to mock her like that... she would thrash that detestable, unfounded arrogance.
The mist around the circles began to coalesce; it rushed to the middle of the circles and began to solidify into not one but tens of arrow-shaped shards of ice.
Naya watched in awe. [Ineficient, but beautiful. ]
Elven battle magic lacked beauty and was brutal in application. They would instead make the ice into simplistic shards rather than give it a weaponized form, even if it was more aesthetically pleasing.
Naya wondered how much Arcana it took to power a magic circle to give shape to that form.
The arrows all pointed directly at Naya's torso; they moved when she moved.
The silence ended.
It was only a single arrow, producing a beautiful, ethereal hum as it launched from the magic circle at breakneck speed.
It shattered nearly instantaneously when it hit the ground next to Naya; the icy arrow dug into the ground up the ice feathers attached to it.
[This human... is trying to play with me.]
Naya leaned down to pick it up; she would launch the arrow back at Sarah to see her reaction.
However, right as her hand reached it, the arrow disintegrated into icy mist.
Naya twitched. Perhaps she should teach the human a lesson.
Contrary to what she expected, the mist swirled around and returned to the magic circle.
That was the most surprising thing Naya had seen thus far, and she couldn't keep it from showing on her face. "How?!"
Sarah chuckled in response. "It seems we [humans ]have more surprises than you expected."
This would have been the perfect time for Lia to offer an explanation, but she was still silent. It was starting to annoy Naya that she wouldn't understand it.
When the mist returned to the circle, it instantly formed an arrow. However, Naya noticed it was only half the size of the others.
"I see." Naya got her answer, though she couldn't understand how it worked.
Sarah nodded as if she were a teacher proud of her student. "Yep, I can't get all of the Arcana back; the world doesn't allow it."
Indeed, it was the same reason Naya didn't get an absurd amount of Wild Arcana when she broke Carla's invisibility spell: competition with the natural world.
"Now that I've given you the appetizer, I'll feed you the main course." Sarah pointed again.
Naya wanted nothing more than to punch that smug grin off her face, but she did not want to kill the old human.
"Human meals aren't something I wish to taste," Naya said dismissively.
It was time to end the spectacle.
The villager audience had not been surprised by Sarah's spell, likely because they'd seen it plenty of times.
However, even Rula watched the circle in awe.
Naya did not like that.
She knew it was her turn to showcase her abilities, lest Rula and the other humans think less of her.
"I think you'll enjoy this taste."
Naya knew what she needed to do; she gestured toward the arrows threatening to release. "Shoot one at me; aim for the heart, human."
She was briefly shocked that Sarah could control the Wild Arcana for that long.
"My name is Sarah, you know that." Sara gestured with her fingers. "But, sure. I want to see what you can do, [Elf]."
Naya's ears twitched. She was annoyed but knew it was a taste of her own medicine. Still, she didn't expect Sarah to be immature about it.
A moment later, another arrow released its ethereal hum and launched directly at Naya's heart.
Naya snapped her hand out instantly, and the purple vortex formed in her palms.
The arrow went into it like an endless hole, not a sound from it as it was effortlessly absorbed.
Purple lines went up halfway up Naya's fingers. Though the rest of her body did not change, this was enough for her.
Sarah's eyes widened for the first time. "Wow." She decided not to wait; she gestured as if commanding archers to fire. "Try this."
The arrows began to fire, releasing their hum as they fired one after the other at their high speeds.
They'd stab into the ground and shatter, turning back into mist and flowing up to the magic circle, where they decreased in size and returned to firing.
Naya twisted and weaved between every one of them, her enhanced speed preventing them from hitting her directly.
The magic circles could not match her speed, and no arrow could hit her as long as she kept moving.
Naya's body was a blur; blue streaks filled the air as they followed the purple blur across the field.
The blue glow on the magic circle was fading, and the arrows were getting to the size of needles.
Thirty more seconds passed by Naya's estimate, and the magic circle nearly lost its hue entirely, and the arrows reached a negligible size.
Sarah still had a smile, and she waved her hand. The magic circle released a cracking noise and shattered as if it were a plate.
Naya stopped; now it was her turn. It would have made for an unsightly display had she only showcased the ability to dodge.
She would not let the humans only think of her as a nimble Elf.
"My turn," Naya mimicked Sarah's earlier movement; her body twisted to the side, and one arm out with two fingers pointed at Sarah.
"Go for it." Sarah appeared unconcerned.
Naya found herself happily anticipating what she would do to block her ability.
She tugged on the Wild Arcana within her core and pulled it forward.
Less than a second later, purple Arcana came out of her fingertips in thin lines as Naya visualized the shape she wanted it to form.
It started at the tip, creating a sharp arrowhead.
The human used arrows? She would make a bigger one.
All eyes were on her now, gazes of awe at the beautiful display of purple threads wrapping in the air.
Naya liked it.
She quickly glanced to Rula, who was now watching Naya eagerly, as if she was absolutely confident Naya would win.
She liked that more.
It felt like she had a junior with absolute faith in her, but it also filled her with responsibility to answer those expectations.
The purple arrow was nearly completed, and though Naya was glancing at the audience, she strictly focused on controlling the Wild Arcana.
It was hard. The top of the arrow was easy enough; just give it a simple edge. The body was similarly simple, just a long tube.
When she reached the feathers, she felt a little trepidation. She had never tried to form anything intricate with her power.
If she failed, it would explode and likely cause grievous injuries.
The purple threads from her fingers reached the end of the arrow body, and it was time to make the feathers.
Naya placed her absolute focus on it.
It was hard, more complicated than she ever thought it would be.
Wild Arcana was not meant to be used like that; she was fighting a battle on two fronts. First, she had to prevent the Wild Arcana from being absorbed into the world and, second, prevent it from destabilizing.
She kept her face from showing any signs of difficulty.
However, the threads slowed as she made the feathers with as much detail as possible.
Naya was happy. She was experiencing a new facet of her abilities.
It felt like real magic.
The arrow was finished moments later.
When it was, the threads dispersed, and the lines were down to barely her fingertips.
Naya was shocked at how much it used, but she wasn't done.
She was proud of her achievement but needed it to improve, to shock everyone, including Sarah.
"That's quite the beautiful display. I was told Elves were brutalists with magic, so I'm happy to see you try to change it."
It wasn't surprising that something as big as Elven casting was well known, but she spoke as if she knew someone who had seen it before.
As long as her arm, the arrow floated before Naya, spinning slowly as it awaited her command.
Naya was surprised again; the arrow was more manageable to keep stabilized than when she made simple objects with Wild Arcana.
She didn't understand it at all; why would it become easier? Now, she found herself really wishing Lia would speak.
Naya pushed that down and decided on her following action. The people eagerly watched her, awaiting what she could do with the purple arrow.
Rula was, too.
She needed to meet those expectations. No, she needed to exceed them.
But her mind was blank. What could she do with the arrow other than make it explode?
She never thought about it; her power had always been straightforward. She was nervous; she didn't know what to do.
The clock was ticking; it'd be odd if she waited any longer.
Naya tugged on the rest of her Wild Arcana, but she felt something else move along with it as if aided by her thoughts of needing more.
She didn't stop the tug.
The Arcana she got was different somehow as if something else was mixed in, and it was as if it was telling her what to do with it.
She filled the arrow.
The color changed from violet to a myriad of different colors mixed in like a rainbow.
Naya released her control over it.
The arrow launched at breakneck speed, silent as it left a rainbow streak in the air.
Sarah moved instantly. From behind her back, two magic circles flew below her feet; she had evidently been making them while Naya focused on the arrow.
"Useless." A shield would likely not block the arrow.
Though Naya kept a blank face, internally, she was horrified. She had no idea what she just did or what that arrow was. It was a complete unknown.
It felt like she mixed in something that wasn't Arcana.
The arrow reached its target.
An explosion of rainbow lights and icy mist happened simultaneously, a thick blanket of blue mist and beams of multicolored light.
The only noise that filled the air was that of icy crackling; the arrow was noiseless.
A minute later, with all eyes watching anxiously, the mist was sucked inward rapidly until it dispersed entirely.
She and the rest of the audience stared at the ground in shock, in total awe about what was left over.
Sarah stood in the middle of a field of beautiful, multicolored flowers of many shapes and sizes.
Naya may have been curious how Sarah avoided had she not recognized those flowers, and she was horrified further.
She knew that assortment of flowers.
[The Reality Devil's garden...]