"Right across the arena, stands the elven competitor who dares to fight Princess Trysta!"
Not tall but not short–by the side in-between her hair were her pointy, elven ears. Her hair was short, pastel blue, lighter than Minerva's that spanned down her neck–her grey eyes offered no invitation, nor anything else, for it was lifeless.
She wore not a uniform, but white armor on her chest, shoulders, lower arms, waist, lower legs and knees. The rest by black cloth.
On her right hand, she held a claymore as white as sugar with a gem as blue as the sea in-between the blade and crossguard.. Just like the Sword of the Blood Moon.
The audience was confused.
"Hey.. Who is she?" a Praefator student asked a Zenith student.
"Oh, I've seen her sometimes.. But why is she there?" the Zenith student replied.
"Unfortunately, the original representative, Agatha Scriver was deemed unable to fight after her pyrrhic victory against the Atlas Academy representative. Although we do have healers, the wound was taking too long to heal. That's all I know." Ms. Phoebe brought the news, albeit disappointed.
"But fret not," the commenter butted in, "for this one is just standing, yet I'm already getting the chills from her aura! Everyone, welcome Syvne!"
Syvne braced herself, tilting and slightly bending down as she held the claymore with both hands.
"I'M BEGINNING THE COUNTDOWN!"
"3!"
"2!"
"1–"
She dashed forward at inhuman speed before the countdown could even end.
"SHE JUMPED IT! IS SHE THIS EAGER TO FIGHT PRINCESS TRYSTA!?" the commenter commented, amused.
Noelle's eyes widened as Syvne jumped the countdown. What the..!?
She glowed a yellow silhouette as Syvne arrived in front of her, about to swing her claymore.
She attempted a kick in the belly, but it was blocked with the flat of the blade at speed that matched Noelle's.
Syvne launched a speedy, yet smooth counterattack that caught Noelle off-guard–the sheer speed outmatched Minerva's–it wasn't even close.
Noelle flew away from her range as a ball of light. My, my, this girl is faster than Minerva.. Way faster.
Water rose and propelled towards the flying Noelle, who just barely avoided them. Yet they just kept on coming, growing bigger and faster the more she avoided.
Syvne however, showed not the slightest hint of annoyance through her inexpressive face despite Noelle circling around the whole arena, dodging her attacks at high speed.
She sheathed her claymore at its scabbard–she drew a flintlock of white body and blue metal. She closed her left eye and pulled the trigger–shooting far right from where Noelle was.
It banged like a real flintlock, yet what came out was a shard of ice shaped like that of a bullet.
Noelle was forced out of her ball of light form and fell high from the sky as Syvne shot her with perfect precision.
Noelle let out a quick yelp before positioning herself and landing on one knee like a superhero. Gee, she actually hit the shot! she eyed her with intent. Just who is this Syvne girl?
Her intentful stare locked onto Syvne's unreadable gaze–she couldn't figure out what she was thinking at all.
Slowly, she rose. "They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, yet yours seemed to be covered by blinds." she chuckled.
As she expected, Syvne did not give her a response.. Yet Noelle just smiled. If Syvne was watching her eyes–she'd see a fire being lit.
Noelle raised her right arm to her shoulder and swung it down; yellow light resembling a sharp blade conjured from beneath her sleeve, on top of her hand.
The former put her gun up and pulled the trigger again. Noelle blocked it with her light blade like she saw it coming from miles away.
"I'll make you open those blinds!" she braced herself then dashed forward as a ball of light, faster than before.
Syvne sheathed her gun into the scabbard, then drew a chained scythe like Acheron's, but of the same color as her former weapons. She revolved it in front of her, forming a fan that rotated at otherworldly speeds.
Noelle took the route to her flank, avoiding the deadly fan that anybody would avoid charging into.
The whole thing was so fast, even the commenters were unable to comment.. Yet, Syvne was catching up–no, matching Noelle's speed without end.
She flicked to the left as Noelle transformed and lunged at her. She blocked it, almost landing a hit on Noelle.
Noelle stepped back and ducked as Syvne stopped and swung her scythe at her–she was on the attack this time.
She ducked again when the scythe swung at her–only then did she realize there were shards of ice flying at her from under the scythe. Crap! she muttered in her thoughts before glowing a yellow silhouette again, allowing the shards to pass through her. She was mere milliseconds away from getting hit.
.
"I… I.. I can't keep up..!" the commenter commented, overwhelmed.
"Me neither.. What the hell is happening between those two..?" Ms. Phoebe replied in agreement.
"Well.. Syvne's doing amazing at the very least, matching Princess Trysta's speed when nobody could before.." he giggled. "Could she actually beat the First Undefeated..!?"
.
Damon glared up the commenters' window. "That's not happening."
Gertrude and Breah nodded in agreement.
Meredith, however.. "It might just happen." as if she said something taboo, the three were quick to land their stares at her. She put her hands up and shook her head. "No, no–don't think I'm hoping for her to lose or anything.. It's just.. Have we ever seen that Syvne girl fight? This is literally the first time we've heard of her."
She tilted down, thinking. "I don't recall meeting her either in Zenith Institution back when I was studying there." this made Damon give her a sour look.. Just the mention of her studying in Zenith Institution.
"Right.. You studied there." he replied with weakness and looked away.
Meredith heard the sourness in his voice. "Damon.. You're still not over it?"
"So what if I'm not?" he replied with hostility. "I have every right to."
She folded her arms, frowning. "Well quit it. Dad chose me and not you to study there like.. 7 years ago!" she sighed. "You have GOT to be the most childish guy I've ever known–"
He stood up abruptly, walking away with his fists clenched, not uttering a single word. He left Meredith and the other two silent.
Meredith watched him disappear from her sight with disappointment.
.
Minerva sat atop the ledge of the roof like last time, watching the duel from above, swinging her legs up and down.
She sighed. "She's so fast.." she observed Syvne. "A water mage, faster than me.."
"There's always people better than others." she shrieked to the voice of Sévir behind her.
She turned around. "Sévir!?"
"That's me."
She sighed again. "Your footsteps are so silent.. Almost like an assassin."
He folded his arms by reflex. "I made a decision." his straightforwardness never ceased to surprise her.
She tapped the space beside her. "Sit down."
He observed the brightness of the sky, then sat down.
"So cautious, aren't you?" she looked down, getting back to watching the duel as Sévir did. "So, what decision is this about?"
He kept silent for a few seconds, then.. "I know a few hours ago, I said I won't be coming with you to Magiaville."
The mention of the town caught her attention–she turned to him.
"I thought about it a bit more.. And of course, Zephyr kept persuading me to come with you. Though, I didn't tell her about that underground Magiaville."
Minerva chuckled as a response.
"So I concluded that I'll be returning to Stepanburg."
Oh.. the anticipation sure did drop her heart.
"But, after I'm done with my business there.." he turned to Minerva, their gazes meeting each other. "I'll regroup with you.."
"R–"
"Wherever you may be, I'll regroup with you."
Silence.. Minerva looked away, covering her mouth and right cheek from Sévir with her hand. Good thing my hair's covering my ear.. her eyes narrowed as the blush in her cheeks grew. What he said sooo caught me off-guard.. I'm blushing like hell!
She cleared her throat. "Mm.. That's great then.." she turned to him, only to see him standing up. "Ah–you're leaving already?"
"That's all I had to say," he buried his hands in his pockets, "what? Did you want me to stay or something?"
Minerva kept silent.
"Just get Meredith or better yet, Zephyr. Maybe Sanguine." he turned heels and walked away.
As he got farther and farther, Minerva let out a big sigh, scratching her head. "You sounded so cool earlier, then you just up and left like that.." she giggled. "That's so you."