Thwack! Thunk! Whoosh!
Arlen surveyed the scene before him, his icy blue eyes gleaming with an interested curiosity.
A small figure, a guide with black hair split into two braids, was quickly dodging the attacks of the tall, muscular blonde-haired esper chasing her. Her braids whipped in a frenzy as she leapt backwards and quickly ducked to dodge the oncoming thrust of a heavy punch before parrying a sideways kick.
"Isn't that an interesting sight, Rena?" Arlen remarked, his eyes following the combat through the glass window in front of him.
"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.
While their faces showed no significant expressions outwardly, both of them were surprised. Arlen, Ratha's extroverted S-grade ice mage, and Rena, the guild's one and only S-grade guide, had stopped by to watch the lower-ranking members of their raid team before meeting up with the guild director. As it was for seniors of all organizations, it was good practice and a dutiful responsibility to keep an eye and make sure all the training and preparation for the raid was progressing as expected.
What had shocked them was to see a guide able to keep up with the espers as they conducted their hand-to-hand combat sessions. Espers had physically strong and durable bodies with strength and musculature that made citizen Olympian athletes seem like weak frail children. The ability to punch through concrete or lift a sedan with their bare hands came naturally to espers. While guides also had stronger than normal constitutions and physical stamina compared to the average citizen, the gap between the natural physical ability of an esper and that of a guide was still a large, looming one. 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."
And indeed it made no sense. Sera was currently rolling around, tussling and dodging blows from Julia Agnato. Julia Agnato, the B-rank esper with A-rank skills who had refused to recalculate her ranking because she wanted to stay in the same band as her twin sister Risa.
"A C-rank guide dodging attacks from an A-level esper is pretty 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 in her defense."
* * *
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 thought with a sense of excitement and incredulousness, 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.
This match was at a stalemate. Julia would keep attacking and Sera would keep dodging. It was a war of attrition - betting 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.
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 quite a lot. Even hungry, succubus and incubus needed to work their bodies to obtain sustenance. Like lions, they steadily worked their muscles and energy to hunt down their prey. Even starving, Sera had an indomitable pool of stamina much greater than Julia's. She didn't have to use any of the internal mana she had squirreled away in her core by diligently siphoning off espers.
And when it came to agility? The ability to dodge and run? Well, Sera could do that all day. After all, she had run away to this world after practicing. One did not get good at dodging and ducking from theory. Her instructor had caught her trying to run away from her lessons time and time again. Slowly, over time, Sera had improved on her agility, dodging skills, and ability to read an opponent's moves. After all, he wasn't able to catch her the last time, was he?
So the problem was a simple one, having gotten enough practice in to feel her muscles refamiliarize themselves with action, the next step was winding down the fight in a way that didn't arouse suspicion.
Thwump! Sera dropped her legs, Julia's kick rushing right above her nose. But how am I supposed to take this hit? Julia's really trying to kill me! Sera was trying to take a blow from Julia that made sense, but Julia was attacking with her full power. Any hit from Julia and a real C-rank guide would end up at the infirmary and be incapacitated for days. The damage and the outcome won't line up!
Sera racked her brain. Would causality be fussed if she took a punch easy peasy? She wasn't sure. If only I could just knock her out…
It's not that Sera couldn't throw a punch in Julia's way, it's that it made no sense. What would she do if it lands? It would make no sense for a C-rank guide to knock out a B-rank esper. Sera wasn't confident in her ability to hold back her punches either. After all, her Instructor never held back his and she attacked just as well in return. She was debuffed at 60% right now sure, but she wasn't sure what that amounted to. She hadn't tried yet. If her punch was overly strong, she'd definitely arouse suspicion. And if it was too weak, Julia would take advantage of that opening and pummel her with a move that would also arouse suspicion. Either way, it was going to look suspicious!
She glanced over at Julia who was heaving with an excited gleam in her pink eyes, a crazed smile on her lips. Julia was having a ton of fun. All of Sera's dodging had amped up her prey drive and she hadn't realized that her combat power had been steadily increasing. The more Sera dodged, the more Julia forgot to hold back. She knew something was up with Sera, it made no sense for her stamina and agility to be this good, she'd have to ask her later. But that was the extent of her thoughts, all Julia wanted to do right now was keep chasing the little squirrel 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 on her knees as Julia advanced forward, her thoughts scrambling as she tried to come up with a solution. Should I punch her? Should I take a hit? What should I-ah! Sera had gotten distracted.
Before she could dodge, Julia's fist was barreling towards her face. It's definitely gonna look suspicious!- Sera flinched and squeezed her eyes shut as she braced for impact.
Thud. The impact never came. Sera, confused, opened her eyes to see a man's back in front of her, his blonde hair fluttered gently. Suddenly, Sera felt an intense chill in the air. Like winter had descended. His hand was gripping Julia's wrist which seemed to look frozen solid, ice vapor swirling lazily from it.
"Julia," the voice called out languidly. "What are you doing? If you hit a guide with that much power, you'll really injure them, you know."