[ Ratha Guild - Combat Wing, Gymnasium, Floor 1 ]
Thwack! Thunk! Whoosh!
Arlen surveyed the scene before him, his icy blue eyes gleaming with an excited look.
A small figure, a guide with black hair braided into two plaits, darted across the gymnasium, dodging the attacks of the athletic blonde esper chasing her. Her braids whipped wildly as she leapt back, quickly ducking to dodge the oncoming thrust of a heavy punch before parrying a sideways kick.
"Isn't that an interesting sight, Rena?" Arlen remarked, watching the fight through the glass window.
"She's just like you." His eyes shifted to Rena, who was also watching the scene, her deep brown eyes focused on the black-haired Guide with a surprising intensity, her lips pressed in an emotionless line.
Though neither showed it outwardly, both were surprised.
Arlen, Ratha's extroverted S-rank ice mage, and Rena, the guild's one and only S-rank Guide, had stopped by to watch the lower-ranking members of their raid team before meeting up with the Guild Leader.
Like senior members in any hierarchical organization, it was considered both good manners and a duty to keep an eye on preparations and ensure the raid training was progressing as expected.
What had shocked them was seeing a guide able to keep up with the espers during their hand-to-hand combat training.
Espers possessed bodies so strong and durable that even Olympic-level athletes looked frail by comparison. Punching through concrete or lifting a sedan with their bare hands came naturally to them.
Guides, while stronger and more resilient than the average citizen, were still far behind. The gap in natural physical ability between a guide and an esper remained wide.
The only guide that had been able to bridge that gap, becoming the country's first offensive guide on the frontline, was Rena.
"Yeah," Rena said, watching the black-haired woman narrowly dodge a throat chop, "she came in from the most recent hiring cycle for guides. Sera Yun."
"Sera?..." Arlen looked up thoughtfully, tapping his finger on his chin. "Sera? Hmm…? Isn't that the one they call the morale hire?"
"Yeah."
"A morale-hire with agility like that?" Arlen chuckled. "What rank is she?"
"C-rank."
"Well that makes absolutely no sense." Arlen shook his head.
And indeed, it didn't.
Sera was currently rolling across the mat, grappling and dodging blows from Julia Agnato - the B-rank esper with A-rank aptitude who had refused to recalculate her ranking simply to remain in the same band as her twin sister, Risa.
"A C-rank guide dodging attacks from an A-rank esper… that's interesting," Arlen muttered.
"Why isn't she attacking though? I want to know what her offense is like. Rena, do you think she can't attack?"
"She's probably not strong enough to do any damage, she's still a guide," Rena commented. "The moment she goes on the offense, she'll take damage from the opening."
✦ ♡ ✦
Fwoosh!
Sera jerked her head to the right, the wind whistling past her ear as Julia's hand shot past in a vice-like hold.
Julia's not holding back, Sera realized with a mix of excitement and disbelief. She would have crushed my throat just then.
She twisted her body, doing a quick somersault, and leaping back to obtain more distance from the aggressive esper.
The match had reached a stalemate.
Julia would keep attacking and Sera would keep dodging. It was a war of attrition - a challenge to see whose stamina would run out first.
Of course, in natural law, espers naturally had more stamina than guides, Sera would have to eventually lose.
If she was a real guide.
I'll have to make my moves look more sluggish over time somehow, Sera thought. And take an easy hit from Julia and then the ref will call the match.
In terms of stamina, as a succubus, Sera had plenty.
Succubi and incubi were built to hunt for their sustenance. Like lions, they steadily worked their body to hunt down their prey. Even starving, Sera held an indomitable pool of stamina far greater than Julia's.
She didn't even need to tap the small reserve of extra mana she had been quietly siphoning from Espers and storing in her core.
Like money tucked away in savings, Sera converted a small portion of every feeding into mana she could draw on later. Mana naturally regenerated to a baseline over time, but having extra stored away was always useful.
Her reserves were small - the System debuff made sure of that - but it was there nonetheless.
And when it came to agility? The ability to dodge and run?
Sera could do that all day.
After all, she hadn't fled to this world without practice. One didn't learn to dodge, duck, and run from theory alone. Her Instructor had caught her trying to escape from her lessons time and time again. Slowly, little by little, with each failed attempt, Sera had sharpened her agility, her reflexes, and her ability to read an opponent's movements.
After all, he wasn't able to catch her the last time, was he?
So her problem was simple. Her muscles were warmed up now; the only thing left was ending the fight without arousing suspicion.
Thwump!
Sera dropped flat, Julia's kick slicing through the air just above her nose.
But how am I supposed to take that hit? Julia's actually trying to kill me!
Sera was trying to let Julia land a blow that looked believable - but Julia was fighting at full strength. Any solid hit from her would send a real C-rank guide straight to the infirmary for days.
The damage and the outcome wouldn't match.
Sera racked her brain.
Would Causality care if I took a punch a little too easily?
She wasn't sure.
If only I could just knock her out…
It wasn't that Sera couldn't throw a punch at Julia.
The problem was that it made no sense.
What would happen if it landed?
A C-rank guide knocking out a B-rank esper would raise far more questions than it answered.
Sera wasn't confident in her ability to hold back, either.
Her Instructor had never pulled his punches, and she had always been expected to respond in kind. Her power was halved right now, yes - but she had no idea what that actually meant in practice. She hadn't tested it.
If her punch was too strong, she'd draw suspicion. If it was too weak, Julia would exploit the opening and pummel her with something that would send a real C-rank guide straight to the infirmary.
Either way, it would look suspicious.
Sera glanced at Julia.
The B-rank esper was breathing hard now, an excited gleam in her pink eyes and a slightly crazed smile on her lips. Julia was having far too much fun. All of Sera's evasive dodging had triggered her prey drive, and she hadn't even noticed that she was steadily ramping up her own combat output.
The more Sera dodged, the less Julia remembered to hold back.
Something about Sera was clearly strange - her stamina and agility made no sense for her rank - but that was something she could ask about later. Right now, Julia only wanted to keep chasing the little squirrel darting around in front of her.
Julia! Sera screamed internally, trying to signal her with her desperate eyes. You'll kill a guide with that power!
Sera rolled away onto her knees as Julia advanced, her thoughts scrambling for a solution.
Should I punch her? Should I take the hit? What do I–
Ah.
She'd gotten distracted.
Julia's fist was already barreling toward her face.
This is definitely going to look suspicious–
Sera flinched and squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for impact.
Thud.
The impact never came.
Confused, Sera opened her eyes.
A man's back stood in front of her, blonde hair shifting gently in the air. Suddenly, the room felt bitterly cold - as if winter had descended all at once. His hand gripped Julia's wrist, which now looked frozen solid, pale frost creeping across her skin as thin curls of icy vapor drifted upward.
"Esper Julia," the voice drawled languidly.
"What are you doing? If you hit someone with that much power, you'll really injure them, you know."