Soren's eyes squeezed shut as he waited for Amelia's punch to land, however, the blow never came.
"My shield is my weapon. My shield is my strength. My Goddess protects me. 「Divine Barrier!」"
Just as the air pressure from Amelia's punch tore Soren's cheek, a voice cried out from behind, and a silver light appeared before his eyes.
Thud–!
'She blocked it?'
Seeing Olivia already at a level where she could block an attack from Amelia shocked him, but he didn't have the time to waste on that right now.
Slash!
He took advantage of the [Divine Barrier] to take back the momentum and force Amelia back.
Of course, if she had wanted to, she could've turned the tables and won at any time, but she was here purely to sate her curiosity, so she wasn't going to do such a thing, though Soren was unaware of this fact.
He continuously slashed at her whilst frequently releasing spells at a point-blank range, but she either dodged or blocked every attack without fail.
'It doesn't matter.'
He didn't stop attacking; however, the moment he did, she would once again take the initiative, which would immediately lead to his defeat.
Then a voice pierced Soren's ears.
"Hmm… Let's see…"
Clang–!
She suddenly caught his handaxe in her grip with more strength than before, making it nigh impossible for him to retrieve it.
Instead of falling for the tug of war that he would inevitably lose, he let go of the axe and cast [Breeze] whilst jumping back to push himself as far away as possible, only to notice that the smile on Amelia's face had deepened.
"...Interesting."
The moment those words left her mouth, she disappeared from sight.
He was preparing to cast [Shield] in response to her attack, but before the magic circle could even form.
BANG-!
Her fist landed squarely on his stomach, sending him flying.
THUD!
"Ack–! Fuck! Why does everyone keep aiming for my stomach!"
The moment he hit the tree, Olivia turned around and ran over to him with a panicked expression.
"Soren! Don't worry! I'll heal you! Stitch thy flesh, I end thy agony. In the name of Aryn,「Heal!」"
Fwoosh
Silver light emanated from her clasped hands, and Soren's body quickly returned to normal.
Noticing the severe lack of a follow-up, Soren looked up only to discover that, for some reason, she was standing a few metres away with a smile on her face.
That was when it clicked.
The look on her face was one Soren was familiar with.
It was a similar expression to the hobgoblin he had encountered back in Rena Forest.
'She's toying with me.'
Unlike in Rena Forest, however, Soren knew that Amelia didn't have malicious intentions.
'That doesn't make me feel any better though…'
'I wish she'd just tell me why she's taking it this far.'
If it was just a minor interest, it didn't make sense as to why she was still here playing with him; surely by now she had realised that Soren had nothing left to show.
At least back in the game with Alex, the reason they fought for so long was because he kept growing throughout their fight; on the other hand, Soren was barely scraping by, even with the support of a class B priestess.
He glanced down at his bracelet to check the time, only to discover that it had just passed the half-five mark.
'The plans fucked.'
Even if Amelia left him alone now, there wouldn't be enough time for him and Olivia to get their top 10 positions.
"All done! Do you feel better now?"
"Yeah, thanks."
Soren accepted the hand that she had offered and was pulled up, then directed his gaze towards Amelia.
"Ready?"
Those words were the only words she spoke.
"Wait a second."
However, Soren thought that if he was being given time, he should make the most of it.
"I call to you, goddess, hear my name and help thy champion. 「Minor Blessing of Stamina」"
But the purple-ish silver light never appeared.
Soren raised his eyebrow and tried again.
"I call to you, goddess, hear my name and help thy champion. 「Minor Blessing of Stamina」"
"..."
Amelia stared at him with a face full of dissatisfaction; meanwhile, Olivia looked worried.
"Uhm.. Soren? Can you use divine power?"
Soren nodded at her question but explained that, for some reason, the blessing wasn't working.
"That's uhm.. Probably because there's a limit to blessing your body."
"Oh…"
"But! But! There are other blessings you can do! You can even bless magic or weapons directly! Sadly, I'm still learning that, though, so I can't do that."
"How does the prayer go?"
Olivia told Soren the incantation, but warned him that it was unlikely he would be able to pull it off, to which he nodded and turned his attention back to Amelia.
Of course, he was already forming a magic circle by the time he had nodded.
'I'm not sure how much mana I have left though..'
In the past, he had been able to approximately measure using his memory of how many spells he had cast, but now that his mana pool had increased, he was left in the dark.
All he could hope for was that it would last him until the end of the battle.
With that, the one-sided fight started once more.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
Olivia POV
'Soren…'
Olivia was clutching her wooden staff to her chest, watching the fight between Soren and Amelia.
She wasn't sure of how to feel about Soren at first, a person she had never met, who was claiming that she was a trustworthy party member and then handing her what was essentially a high placement in the exam on a silver platter.
It was a situation that felt almost too good to be true.
Olivia was naive, even though she was aware of that fact, but it was a lot less than Soren had thought.
Her talking to him and accepting his deal wasn't due to naivety; no, it was because Olivia was skilled at reading people; she could tell that the enchantingly pretty girl held no malicious intent towards her.
Throughout the few hours they spent together wandering around, Olivia also realised that Soren was purposely acting polite around her, which she found strange.
She wanted to know what was going on with the mysterious person before her.
A person who was clearly a noble yet hid it, a person who didn't feel shame while being polite to a commoner, a person who she had found out to be ranked 96th, yet held strength unfitting of their rank.
Over time, Olivia's guard fell so quickly that she even shared her secret love story, which she had never told anyone; it had even surprised herself.
Then Amelia appeared.
When Amelia first arrived, Olivia had been terrified, giving up hope instantly, and even offered up the mana beads she so desperately needed.
But then…
– Can you use your blessings on me?
Soren asked for her help.
At first, Olivia was confused.
'She's planning on fighting her?'
It sounded unbelievable to her.
Even someone like Olivia, who lived under a rock, had heard of Amelia many times before enrolling in Stellaris Academy; that's how famous Amelia Indras Einhardt was in the world of Ivansia.
The youngest princess of the Einhardt Kingdom, though that was her formal title, the world knew her by a different one:
Wild Wolf.
It was a title given to her back when she was still only 15, during the time she had participated in a duelling tournament held in Einhardt and won first place, beating even her eldest brother in the process.
If anyone asked who the strongest first-year was, without a doubt, 10 out of 10 people would say Amelia.
Yet Soren had agreed to fight her.
Amelia was the one who had asked, but the fact that Soren was even able to agree was amazing to Olivia.
She even had the thought that Soren and Alex would probably be great friends, breaking through the worry she would have usually had about introducing a girl to Alex.
As Olivia watched the fight between Soren and Amelia, she couldn't help but be concerned.
'She's trying so hard, but Amelia's just too strong.'
No matter what spell she used or how she attacked, Amelia would always block or dodge without fail.
It was too much of a skill gap to be closed with just a few blessings.
'I wish I could help more…'
All Olivia was able to do was heal Soren and occasionally summon a barrier to protect her, but all of that only happened because Amelia let her.
Long gone were Olivia's thoughts of ranking high; all she cared about right now was supporting the girl fighting so desperately in front of her.
'Please Goddess, lend me your strength.'
Olivia turned her gaze to the sky, clasping her hands together and praying desperately.
Hoping the white-haired girl would win.
————「❤︎」————