The firebolt traced a fiery path on the grassland. Ciel stepped away and pocketed her crystal, turning from the tree as its bark caught the flame, as she watched ahead with an unhurried ease.
"I don't think there's any reason we fight, Miss!" Ciel shouted, while her staff pulsed with mana, readied for the attacker behind the cover.
"I don't think you should dodge, my girl!" The woman shouted, her voice elated. "Stand god damn still so you can die properly!"
Properly? Ciel tilted her head, confused. Then the thoughts snap when her mind felt a tug, the rising heat in the air now hot and vivid to her skin.
On her right. Ciel felt faintly where the girl aimed; her boot then nudged at a branch, before kicking it to the right.
A firebolt soon consumed the poor branch ablaze, before Ciel emerged from the left and shot a moonblast.
"Tch!" The red pigtailed girl fell as the blue ray cut a thin line of blood on her cheek, barely dodging with her bruised self.
Yet before her balance collapsed, she pressed her left palm on the floor, vaulted upward with another hand stretched out, palm reddened with a fiery mana.
Ciel's eyes glimmered with pure, unfiltered fascination before she raised her staff, humming with magic.
Firebolt and Moonblast fired, both meeting at the centre to explode into a cloud of dust. Ciel's ears drummed, but exhilaration kept her small smile plastered on her small face.
She could tell her opponent was not ordinary, just from that stunt alone.
Better yet, her aim had improved, but Ciel wouldn't count on it. She didn't need to kill when having all the advantages here.
Based on her judgement, the young girl must at least be a Tenebra II, but their power gap has vastly narrowed because-
"Fuck! Ah… that hurts…"
Simply, the young girl was not in good shape.
Dust settled down, only to soon reveal the red-haired girl now lying down, her face sinking into the deepest scowl Ciel has seen so far.
The girl's left arm, with sleeves already tattered with crimson red, fell and grazed her injury further on impact.
Ciel's brows raised, her kind voice echoing. "You should learn to cherish your body often. It's often said a human vessel is the most vulnerable amongst all races."
The advice served as a great antidote to pain. Soon, the girl's face warped into something funny, embarrassed even.
"Mind your damn business," forcing her voice into a low growl, she wobbled back up with a stern face, flames flickering in between her fingertips.
"I was minding my own business before you attacked me from nowhere." Ciel wore an innocent expression.
Though her gaze lingered on the girl's flaming hands. Mana could be channelled through stave and staff, though she rarely recalled any of her old enemy casting by hand.
Tools simply boosted firepower, casting speed and mana efficiency much more, and often or not 'hand-casting' was a manner by fools, mages who cherished 'movements' even when matched against a trained warrior.
Yet before Ciel's admiration for the girl's 'inefficiency' deepened further, another attack began again.
Snap. The girl's fingers clicked, the precise motion sparking a trail of heatwave into existence, bursting towards Ciel as the shade hid its trail.
Ciel's eyes twitched by instinct. With a tilt of her head, the heatwave weaved through her hair, before a faint explosion erupted behind her.
The fires from their clash spread, melting the green leaves into bleeding ash. The cackles in the forest were almost like its cries at the two battle-savvy figures.
It left an open arena for both figures, their silhouettes stretched by the unearthly dance of fire and moonlight.
A frown crossed Ciel's face as bloodlust trickled out from her opponent's glare. The tension in her brows snapped, tearing the wound on her forehead open anew, mixing with the thin cut on her cheek.
The Queen herself had learnt a few nifty tricks. Like Misty Veil for mobility, and Lunar Shield for Defence.
Yet somehow, the girl's twitching leg, stuck firmly to the floor, was enough to earn her pity, despite Ciel being very sure of her victory ahead.
She couldn't help it. Merciless in her past life, she should at least learn to refuse good excuses for murder.
So she asked. "Shall we have a truce?"
Her black eyes then narrowed. "You will die if we fight again. I promise you."
The noble's eyelid jumped, a gesture Ciel interpreted as a desperate hope flickering.
She watched the girl's arm raised with her shoulder. And with an elegant twist of her wrist, a defiant middle finger rose sky-high, coupled with a wide, 'kind' smile.
"Go to hell."
The other fingers stretched, opening a palm to shoot another firebolt.
A chuckle escaped Ciel as she ran forward. Her small figure ducked beneath the same attack, allowing it to burst apart behind her.
This time, Ciel closed in and reached an arm's distance with her opponent. Assured of her aim, she raised her charged staff that pulsed with a moonblast.
But the noble, with her unbruised left leg, kicked up the shaft of wood with her toe.
The blue ray blasted upward and missed her. Ashen soil and dust scattered, forming a wall between the surprised Ciel and the enraged noble.
With no time to gather mana, the noble's right arm followed the momentum to punch Ciel's stomach. A gasp escaped as Ciel crumpled, her hips slamming against the floor.
The noble's palm aimed at the fallen Ciel again, seething with a now-readied flame.
Strangely, this time the noble let slip a mutterance, almost too polite to Ciel's ears.
"Sorry about this, asshole."
The whisper, soft and tender, was unlike the growling, fierce voice from before.
Ciel mused. Regret bloomed away at her features, as a shadow from above approached.
A branch on fire performed a free skyfall onto the noble, severed by the moonblast whose target Ciel barely adjusted to.
The noble's eyes widened. Her feet skidded around as she incinerated the branch with her firebolt, leaving the back completely open.
And when she faced Ciel again, a hard shaft of woof tapped lightly at her chest.
A blue ray pierced through her heart with a squelch. Another mouthful of blood bubbled and streamed out from the girl's mouth, fog rapidly clouding over her red eyes.
As the corpse lost its strength, Ciel's hands found the girl as she fell, whose chest heaving with hushed, desperate pants.
Still breathing. Ciel raised a brow as the noble raised her palm to attack again. Heat arose with tension, till with a final sob, it plummeted down along with her hand.
A panel confirmed Ciel's kill.
[ You have slain a human target: Shire Lirene. ]
Shire. Ciel's whisper followed the syllables. With reluctance, she brushed away Shire's unkempt hair before settling her down carefully on the floor.
Around them, the fire gradually faded, leaving behind only traces of burnt leaves and black crusts of bark.
Ciel took a deep breath; this phenomenon only happened when the forest's mana overwhelmed the fire, not difficult since the one who instigated it had long passed on.
Well, Summer told her this location was specifically made so high-tier Shadebeasts wouldn't spawn. Maybe it played a factor here, too.
She took another deep breath. Without another hesitation, her hand stretched out, and she hoped to search the corpse for a clue, before-
Whoosh!
A current, similar to before, ascended from the girl's corpse, as if the death gave rise to something anew.
Ciel watched as the familiar, rainbow spire towered over her. No breeze or coolness incurred, the silence suffocating as if she faced judgment from the divines above.
But she knew it wasn't true. There were no divines in Lethandiel, so what could this spire be?
With a blink, a snap of realisation came through, as Ciel's gaze pondered upon the girl's wrist.
The bowtie spell-bind now shone purple. The purple then spread and coated all of the girl's skin, the red hair now tinged with a comforting glow.
Not good. Instinct commanded Ciel as she leapt, grasping a vial at Shire's waist. With a click, she swooped it off from the girl.
And as the spire scattered away to disappear, so did the girl's corpse, which blinked away and left behind a burnt patch of blackness on the grassland.
A breath hitched in Ciel, her look dazed and oddly comforted by the unanswered phenomenon just now.
Gazing into the blue vial, the blue moonlight draped over the forest, her white hair outlined with a renewed, regretful paleness.
She stumbled afoot, wincing at the pain in her gut, the perfect gift left behind by the volatile Shire.
"Hehe…"
Ciel was happy. Really happy.
Because she had a feeling her opponent wasn't dead. And this is far from over.
Just as she let out a few more bubbly giggles, more spires arose from afar, as if to congratulate her guesses.
Then an elegant, mature voice boomed across the trees, echoing with a confident delight.
"Welcome, all examinees!"
A smile, now relaxed and satisfied, took place at Ciel's expression.
"And congratulations on passing the first phase of the exam!"
The system zoomed through her vision, as Ciel's grip held firmer on the staff.
[ Quest: Entrance Exam to the Shadowhunter Academy ]
[ Description: You have passed the first phase of the Entrance Exam. There was no other objective.
So survive, Ciel. ]
[ Reward: Lvl +8;