Unflinching, Princess Marina pointed the end of her quarter staff that had the white ore at the arrow and whispered the word "Revertir." and the arrow returned back to Malcolm.
Whispering "Hielo Crecer", Princess Marina threw a slab of ice at Malcolm and advanced quickly.
Shooting through the slab of ice with an arrow with an arrow that sprouted out vines, Malcolm widened the distance between him and Princess Marina and said the words "Niebla" and "Atar" as he shot two arrows of completely different blessings at her.
The first arrow that reached Princess Marina covered her vision with fog and the next one was an arrow with earth-like properties to bind her. Before the second arrow could hit her, Princess Marina jumped and said the word "Volar" to increase her velocity. Mid air, Princess Marina pointed the blue ore of her quarter staff at Malcolm, whispered "Hielo Avanzar" and numerous icicles rained down on him.
"Amazing." whispered Fawn as she stared at the demonstration
"She really is the highest scorer of the hunt." said another first year student as they all stared at the demonstration in awe.
As the icicles rained down on Malcolm, a small blue ore on Malcolm's glove glinted. Putting his bow behind him, Malcolm whispered "Congelar" froze his fists and began punching the icicles one by one.
"He's amazing too." the first years whispered amongst themselves as Malcolm destroyed all the icicles raining down on him.
Landing quickly, Princess Marina advanced towards Malcolm and Malcolm took an arrow tip which had a tiny fragment of the brown ore and threw it at Princess Marina's feet. Dodging quickly, Princess Marina's momentum was slowed by the sudden dodge and Malcolm followed up by throwing an arrow tip that released dust inches from her face.
Momentarily blinded by the dust, Princess Marina closed her eyes. Not wanting to give her time to think, Malcolm followed up with an earth arrow tip to bind her but Princess Marina jumped backwards.
Frustrated that he couldn't finish her off with that blow, Malcolm whispered "Hielo" as he punched the air and ice shot out from his gloves.
Dodging all of them perfectly as if her eyes were open, Princess Marina traded her offense for defense as she waited for her eyes to clear.
Flashback
"How did you do that?" Estania asked as she placed her head on Gale's chest.
"How did you manage to fight off so many Malovian soldiers despite being injured in both eyes?" Estania asked as she raised her head to look up at Gale.
"Talent?" Gale asked with a teasing grin as he tried to ease the mood.
"Stop it." Estania said as she slapped his chest.
"I need to know this if I need to fight in the front lines one day." Estania said and Gale shook his head.
"Don't say that." Gale said as he took her hands in his.
"We can't avoid it." Estania said as she looked at Gale sadly.
"We got help from Evero last time but everyone who knows Evero knows that they do nothing for free." Estania said as she played with Gale's fingers.
"Though they haven't demanded anything from us yet. Relying on help from Evero for the second time, will cost us more than we can give." Estania said as she kissed Gale on the cheek.
Letting out a sigh because he knew that Estania wouldn't change her mind when she decided on something, Gale stood up and lent Estania a hand.
Standing under a moonlight on a barren field, Gale said "Try attacking me." with his eyes closed and Estania threw a punch that Gale sidestepped quickly.
"The purpose of this is to make sure you can always protect yourself." Gale said as he dodged another punch followed by a round house kick.
"Think about it." Gale said as he dodged a kick to his head.
"How am I dodging you?" Gale said as he sidestepped another blow.
"Smell? Sound?." Estania said as she threw punch after punch in quick succession.
"Wind pressure." Gale said and Estania noticed that he didn't move till her punch came close enough.
"The theory is a lot easier than practice but I am sure that with time, this will be like breathing to you." Gale said as he continued to dodge Estania's attacks.
Flashback end.
"Left" Princess Marina thought as she dodged instantly.
"Left again." Princess Marina thought as she sidestepped easily.
"He must be running out of arrows now." Princess Marina thought as she opened her eyes.
Pressing the button at the centre of her quarter staff to split it, Princess Marina conjured a block of ice again and used the wind to propel it.
Putting his bow behind him, Malcolm used his fists to punch the slab of ice into smithereens but the second the ice broke away Princess Marina had a dagger of water aimed at his throat.