"Who is your name?"
"My name is Mirea."
Lyssia nodded. She threw her sword toward the cat girl. After that, Lyssia picked up a branch from the ground.
Mirea was shocked and confused. "Miss Lyssia, what are you..."
"Fight me!" Lyssia ordered.
Mirea, who heard that, her face immediately turned pale. Of course she would not be able to win against Lyssia. The difference in their strength was far too big.
The other demi human girls looked confused. They looked at each other. They thought Lyssia was angry or disappointed with them because their training did not show much progress.
Mirea felt the same. "Miss, did we do something wrong? Please forgive us. We promise we will try harder..."
"Fight me!" Lyssia ordered again.
Mirea shook her head. She did not want to fight Lyssia because she felt it was not polite to fight someone who had helped her.
But when Mirea wanted to say something, suddenly Lyssia appeared right in front of her. She immediately swung an attack.
Mirea's eyes widened. Her instincts began to warn her. Quickly she bent down and pushed her body backward. She jumped far back, but Lyssia appeared in front of her again.
"Miss, sorr..."
Slash!
Mirea jumped to the side. She managed to avoid the fast slash. The attack passed right beside her.
Baaam!
A loud explosion was heard. When Mirea looked back, she saw a big tree had fallen because of that attack. Even though Lyssia's hand movement looked very relaxed and she was only holding a branch as a weapon.
Mirea swallowed. She felt that this was really bad. If she had been hit by that attack, she would surely have become a corpse.
"Fight me. Our enemy is the ninth evil king and his very strong followers. If you are weak, you will lose."
Lyssia waved her hand. She looked ready to move forward and attack again. Her eyes were cold without emotion. She would not hesitate to kill if she felt it was necessary.
"Show your worth to me and to Master Takuya."
Mirea, who was doubtful before, after hearing Lyssia's words, felt that she had to fight seriously. No matter the result, she would not care. What mattered was that she had done her best.
Mirea gave a salute. "Thank you. I will fight seriously. Please work with me," she said.
Mirea quickly took a fighting stance. She was ready to fight seriously this time. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Then she nodded with strong confidence.
Lyssia, seeing Mirea's resolve, looked a little excited.
"Show me your potential," Lyssia said.
"Thank you."
One second later, Lyssia disappeared. Her movement was very fast. At the same time, Mirea was very focused. She immediately moved back and made an upward slash.
Just as expected, Lyssia appeared right in front of her. The slash that Lyssia made was quickly blocked by Mirea. A thin smile appeared on Lyssia's face. Mirea did not stop there. She immediately flowed Mana into her sword. Quickly she moved forward and made another slash.
Mirea's aura became stronger. The ground under her shook and waves of magic energy filled the sword she was holding.
"Please forgive me, Miss, but I will..."
Trrriing!
One second later, the sword that Mirea was holding was thrown away, and the tip of the branch was already in front of her neck. Mirea's face turned pale. For a moment she saw her own death. Her legs went weak and she fell not long after. She knelt on both knees. Her eyes were half empty.
Lyssia pulled back the branch she was holding and turned her body around. She walked away from Mirea. "You have already made me believe enough. From today on, you will be the leader of this squad. Do not make me disappointed. Train hard so you will not be defeated easily."
Mirea heard that. She looked at Lyssia's back with deep admiration. For a moment she felt confident, but that confidence was crushed one second later.
Mirea clenched the ground under her knees. Her fingers were shaking, not because of fear, but because of a feeling she had never felt before.
She had lost.
But because of that, she was chosen.
"Leader?" she whispered softly.
The other demi human girls looked at her with wide eyes. They were relieved to see that Mirea was not killed by Lyssia. Even though Lyssia was the youngest among them, Mirea was the most talented and indeed worthy.
Mirea slowly stood up. She bowed toward Lyssia who was facing away from her.
"I will not disappoint you or Master Takuya."
Inside her chest, something like a small fire began to burn. Not power, but determination.
**
Takuya saw all of that. He had only been a spectator since earlier. He did not get involved. According to Lyssia, a supreme leader should indeed be like that. His job was only to give orders and observe. It had been two days since they started their journey to the south. Their destination was an area that used to be a demi human territory.
They would go there to save as many demi humans as possible to become servants. That was Takuya's goal, but for Lyssia it was different. In her view, her master was planning to build a big organization to defeat the followers of the ninth evil king.
"Will Lyssia keep doing this? Somehow I feel she has become too serious about all the lies I told," Takuya muttered.
He scratched his head. Then he shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever. That is also good for me."