"Train with you? No… what I meant is… let's have a spar."
Lefiya said with a smug look.
"A spar? You mean you and me, one-on-one? But isn't Miss Lefiya a rear-guard mage? That's going to be difficult, isn't it?"
Belle muttered with a confused look.
Lefiya's brows immediately furrowed as she took offense.
"Huh? What is that supposed to mean? Are you looking down on me?"
"Don't get ahead of yourself, human!"
"You should be grateful I'm even offering to train with you, you hear me?"
She said, still pointing her finger at Belle.
"Ah… no, I didn't mean it like that. It's just that I'm a vanguard fighter and, uh…"
Belle tried to explain, but Lefiya cut her off.
"Enough. Are you accepting my challenge or not?"
Lefiya tapped her foot impatiently.
'Miss Lefiya really doesn't like me, does she...'
Belle smiled wryly to herself.
With how many glares Lefiya had been throwing her way all evening, she would have had to be completely oblivious not to notice.
"Alright, if Miss Lefiya insists."
She settled into a fighting stance.
Lefiya raised her staff in response.
She had brought it with her out of habit more than anything else.
Even on the 18th floor, monsters could wander down from the 17th or up from the 19th, and adventurers were taught early on never to go anywhere unarmed.
'I swear I'm going to teach you the difference between us.'
A smirk tugged at the corner of Lefiya's mouth as she pictured it.
Belle on her knees. Head bowed. Admitting defeat and heaping praise on her.
"Miss Lefiya, you're amazing. I'm no match for you. I admit defeat."
The imaginary Belle said it over and over with complete sincerity.
'Hmph. This will be easy.'
Never in her life had Lefiya been this confident.
Yes, she was aware Belle had done impressive things for her level.
But in her eyes, Belle was still just a newly promoted Level 2.
Compared to her... a Level 3 on the verge of reaching Level 4... it was only logical that she would win.
No… even before this expedition, she could have ranked up at any time.
There was no way this would end badly for her.
That was how it was supposed to go.
That was how it should have gone.
And yet.
Reality could be cruel.
Sparks flew through the air as their weapons clashed.
Lefiya's breath caught in her throat.
Belle came at her without pause, relentless and precise, leaving no gap for her to settle into any kind of rhythm.
'She's a level below me… right?'
'So why... why...'
'Why am I losing!?'
Sweat ran down her face.
Even pushing her superior status to its limit, she was struggling.
The gap in raw combat experience and technique made it nearly impossible to mount any kind of counterattack.
Just holding her ground and keeping herself upright took everything she had.
'What is this...'
Her pupils shook.
'Not even Ais moves like...'
A level of combat mastery she had only ever seen from Finn and the veterans of his generation.
'She's a monster.'
Her arms were trembling.
Every time she tried to create distance to begin a chant, Belle was immediately on top of her, cutting off her concentration before she could get three words out.
Her magic.
Her concurrent chanting.
The years of experience she had built up under the Loki Familia.
All of it was being shut down... completely denied.
All because of the white-haired "monster" in front of her.
A minute had passed since they started.
But to Lefiya, it felt like an eternity.
Then her focus slipped for just a moment under the accumulating pressure.
Belle didn't miss it.
A sharp kick drove into Lefiya's midsection and sent her stumbling backward, her back connecting hard with the trunk of a tree.
cough
cough
Lefiya hunched over and clutched her stomach.
"Maybe we should sto—"
Belle was about to suggest ending the spar...
But when she caught Lefiya's eyes, the words died in her throat.
There was no defeat in that gaze.
Just a burning, stubborn fire that Belle recognized without needing to think about it.
That burning determination.
'I see... she's just like me.'
The desire to grow stronger...
The refusal to accept the ceiling in front of you.
Belle understood it all too well.
Lefiya took a deep breath and forced herself back to her feet, gripping her staff tightly.
'Fine… I get it… looks like I have no choice but to acknowledge you, Belle Cranel.'
She wasn't looking down at the girl in front of her anymore.
'But that doesn't mean I'm admitting defeat.'
Something settled quietly in her chest.
A sense of rivalry, small but real, taking root.
'The trees...'
Her gaze flickered to the surroundings, and an idea formed in her mind.
As Belle closed in again, Lefiya swept her staff low across the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust that swallowed her silhouette.
When Belle's attack came, it connected with nothing but air.
Lefiya had vanished.
rustle
Leaves rustled somewhere in the dark.
'Guerrilla tactics?'
Belle paused and scanned the surroundings carefully.
A pink blur flickered between the trees, there and gone.
"Unleashed streak of light, bow limbs of the holy tree. You are an expert of the bow."
The words of a chant drifted through the air from no fixed direction.
"Magic!"
Belle snapped her head around, trying to pin down where the voice was coming from.
'She's using the environment to her advantage… clever.'
As an elf, blending into nature was second nature to Lefiya.
Belle could try to hunt her down, but her instincts told her Lefiya would finish the chant before she got close enough.
'In that case...'
She raised her right hand.
A white, shimmering light gathered around it, soft as starlight.
A sound like a bell rang out gently as she activated her skill... Argonaut.
'Hm? Magic? A skill?'
Lefiya caught it from the corner of her eye mid-leap, but forced herself to stop second-guessing and pushed on with her chant.
"Shoot, sniper of the fairies. Penetrate, arrow of absolute accuracy."
Belle stood still with her eyes closed, Argonaut building steadily in her palm.
Her ears twitched.
A presence. Close. Behind her.
She turned.
Lefiya was there, staff leveled directly at her.
"Arcs Ray!"
A beam of light launched forward.
"Firebolt!"
A bolt of fire and lightning rose to meet it.
The two spells collided and a blinding flash swallowed the area.
---
+15 chapters at patreon.com/drdedot