[TWS] Chapter 301 – Competitive Testing

It took a moment to recapture everyone’s attention as the girls were deeply involved with their new weapons. But finally, after a few arduous attempts, Cynthia dragged them back to the present. She motioned for the group to follow her and walked out of the forge through a different door.

They entered the area behind the massive tree stump serving as the Spellsongs’ workshop, expecting to see a small testing area similar to the one they had back in Tyrienheim, but more or less the same underground corridor with two passageways greeted them. Slight confusion grew amongst the girls, but Cynthia continued heading towards one of the tunnels and they all quickly caught up to her.

The brief stroll outside was filled with silence, which felt purposeful. Asterios could tell that the queen was fully back to her alternate persona of a palace guard so he guessed that this back area wasn’t exactly exclusive to the smiths. They thankfully stumbled on no one before shortly reaching their destination.

Stopping in front of a sizable wooden gate, Imadil and Cynthia pressed their palms into the carved surface and whispered a few words under their noses. The doors slid open and revealed a massive, rounded hall decorated by countless cuts, holes, bruises, cracks, and all other hints of its main purpose.

As soon as they were all inside and the gate locked up behind their backs, Imadil turned around and clapped his hands thrice. Multiple rainbowy arrays lit up all around and he smiled softly.

“We should be safe here to go all out without worrying about attracting any unnecessary attention,” he began. “These walls withstood the testing of many powerful artifacts and Spellslingers back in the past. From what I know, this chamber has been constructed with the help of the divine sap gifted to our ancestors by the Tree of Life. So, I doubt even you would be able to cause more than a few chips and holes in these reinforcements.”

“It’s unwise to tempt fate with Asterios around.” Tina chuckled quietly. “I dare to assume there weren’t too many True Dragons with multiple bloodlines back in the past.”

“Master could definitely wreck this place if only he wanted!” Miria bounced excitedly with her chin raised up.

“Alright, alright. We didn’t come here to destroy anything. While we shouldn’t hold back, just as Imadil suggested, let’s not make it our goal to cause as much damage to these walls as possible,” Asterios cut in. “So, who is going to go first?”

“Let’s practice some general control first,” Cynthia chimed in.

“General control?” Selene arched a brow at her.

“You managed to establish a connection with your weapons. Now, fully consolidate it by feeding them your blood. After the bond forms, try to revert them to their ring forms. The ability to quickly switch between those is one of the most crucial,” the elf woman explained.

The girls looked between themselves and Asterios before focusing on their artifacts. He went first and made a tiny cut below his wrist, letting a few droplets fall onto his crimson-onyx blade. They sizzled like on a hot surface and were absorbed into the magical metal. He noticed a deeper understanding of the sword in his mind, similar to what he had felt with the Poison Fang in the past, but on a much more complex level.

Then, with a single thought, Asterios turned the blade back into the mystical smoke and flicked his wrist. The magical fumes coiled around his finger, becoming a ring once more. He glanced at the others and everyone seemed to have succeeded in doing the same.

“Great. Now repeat that a bunch of times. You need to become faster. The smoke itself is not solid. A second can make all the difference in blocking an attack amidst an intense battle,” Cynthia added.

They proceeded to practice the transformation under her watchful eyes, listening to occasional words of advice. No one had too much trouble at getting faster and they all soon reached a satisfactory level, receiving the approval of both Spellsongs.

“Perfect.” Cynthia nodded at them. “Before we begin, let me just mention that these artifacts serve as spatial storages too, both in their ring and weapon forms. You can practice that function a bit later, on your own. Now, I think it would be best to pair up for a little spar, don’t you think?”

“How are we going to pick our partners? Draw lots? Pair up?” Silvia asked.

“Let us decide,” Imadil said. “We have a decent grasp on all of you thanks to everything we’ve gone through during the entire crafting process, including the preparations.”

“Good idea.” Asterios nodded. “Make it challenging. It might aid our growth.”

“Precisely.” The man smiled at him knowingly. “Let’s see…”

In just a moment, they all stood in pairs, divided by the elf duo. All except for Asterios.

“What about Master?” Bryn looked at the elves while standing by Grea’s side.

Imadil grinned. “Your Majesty, would you mind? It’s been a while since you personally tested our creations.”

“You are certainly right,” the queen replied with her usual, icy tone. “I shall. I’m very curious about how this unusual batch has turned out.”

“It would be our honor.” He bowed respectfully. “Now, let’s not waste any more time. First pair, step forward. You can begin after we retreat to the side and activate the protective formations. You will know when that happens. And do try to focus on your weapons rather than all your other abilities.”

Miria and Selene smiled at each other eagerly and followed the man’s instructions. A moment later, they stood alone in the middle of the chamber, gazing into each other’s eyes intently. A bright flash reached them from the side and they jumped right to action.

Both girls flicked their wrists and the rings broke into colorful mists. Selene’s blade formed a fraction of a second faster than Miria’s, most likely thanks to all the experience the fox lady had with spiritual energy over the panthergirl. She lunged forward as nine more tails materialized behind her back.

Miria barely managed to form her new shortswords before Selene’s katana tried to pierce into her chest. But, she succeeded, and the flat sides of her crossed blades caught the katana’s pointy end just in time, stopping its sharp tip a hair’s breadth from her torso. She showed a feral grin, flashing her ferocious canines, as the last bits of her body became covered by silky-smooth black fur.

With an aggressive growl, Miria uncrossed her blades, sending Selene flying to the back alongside a powerful shockwave. The fox lady had to shield herself with her katana as a few invisible arcs of spiritual energy chased after her, discernible only thanks to the deep gashes that suddenly appeared in the wall behind her.

In a flash, the panthergirl was on her, pushing herself off the ground with a resounding boom. Selene blocked and parried a storm of strikes aimed at her vulnerable spots, her eyes easily following the lightning-fast slashes coming from her sister-mate. Even though she held her ground, numerous tiny cuts surfaced on the edges of her clothes and uncovered skin as it was plainly impossible to fully neutralize the sharp force following Miria’s attacks.

Miria knew well that those did nothing more than tickle Selene and she growled in frustration. Thankfully, the fox lady broke the stalemate and gave her the opportunity to switch things up. Selene managed to fit a counter into Miria’s barrage and pushed the panthergirl away a few meters with her mighty slash. She immediately traced a half circle with her katana, from left to right, and created a fan of cerulean, spiritual copies of the weapon behind.

Just as she sent them forward, Miria hastily joined her blades by their pommels and extended the hilts. She needed more power rather than speed to compete with Selene’s much bigger and heavier weapon. The ghostly swords rained upon her, but Miria spun her double-edged staff and negated all of them. Strengthening her Mana Coating even further than she had always been able to, she enhanced her legs and arms too, shooting forward like an arrow.

Selene met her wide swing with one of her own and the chamber shook from the force of the impact. Wood splintered on the opposite sides of the arena as both girls utilized their own versions of spiritual sharpening. They reached for Ast’s draconic energy filling their circuits through their bond at the same time, starting to exchange almost equal blows. The air trembled with each contact as more and more gashes appeared in the walls everywhere. Their weapons began to glow with a faint sheen, respectively blue and red, as they pushed themselves more and more.

Then, Selene smirked at Miria and shoved her katana into the ground right after a successful parry to the side. The panthergirl’s eyes widened in shock but it was already too late. The accumulated energy burst out of her sister-mate’s curved blade, exploding in a dome of swirling, light blue mist. Miria was launched backward and rolled off the ground a few times before stopping herself with her weapon.

All her fur stood up as she watched the fox lady take a drawing stance, sliding her blade into the invisible sheath behind the ring made of the fingers of her left hand. In an instant, Miria increased the distance between them even more and rushed forward, gathering more spiritual energy in one of the connected blades just as Selene condensed it in her katana. She leaped forth and forth, spinning herself and her fused shortswords more and more with each jump, soon becoming a whirring, vertical blur.

Selene’s eyes flicked open and flashed with profound light. No one caught the words that left her lips as enormous spiritual chaos accompanied the wide arc of cerulean spiritual energy that rolled off her blade during the lightning-fast horizontal slash.

Miria met the blue arc with her final spin and booming shout, her weapon crossing it with its own, red streak from above. A blinding flash swallowed the entire chamber for a second as the energies clashed against each other, then the walls were bathed in a mix of red and blue. Roaring to the heavens, the panthergirl continued to oppose the vicious arc, unyielding in her desire to cut through it.

After a few good seconds, she sliced through it and her combined blades slammed into the floor, kicking up lots of dust and sending it everywhere to the sides. Something dispersed it in a blink, and she raised her gaze to find Selene’s blade pointing at her neck as the fox lady smiled at her softly.

Drawing it back and letting go of it so it could float behind her back, Selene reached out to the panthergirl. “That was incredible. I did not hold back with that slash. I dare to say, your past self wouldn’t be able to break through it.”

Miria giggled shyly and accepted the help. “I’m still way behind you, Selene. Look how much my arms are shaking.”

“But they are still attached.” Selene chuckled lightly. “That’s worthy of praise.”

Everyone agreed as they neared the pair and Asterios rained accurate compliments onto his lovely feline mate to bring her spirits up after the battle. Both of the girls praised the weapons created by the elves, letting them know that the blades were nothing short of perfect. Then, as they retreated to rest, the second pair stepped forward. Silvia and Tina faced each other off.

The white light flashed once more and both girls started with their own preparations. They materialized their artifacts in a blink. Tina summoned Ori and sent the Shearwater forward to bother Silvia while she worked on the other summoning techniques that required her to draw and create formations.

But, the moment she thought about those, she noticed the patterns inscribed into the top of her gloves moving and rearranging. In just a moment, they formed exactly what she needed to borrow Firo’s scales on her left wrist, and Esil’s wings on her right wrist. She experienced two delicate cuts in her skin and the formations flashed with azure light. Blue and green patterns covered her body as the wings and scales came to be. Everything was finished in a second or two.

In the meanwhile, Silvia covered herself in her slightly draconic spiritual armor and observed Tina’s instant preparations. She had wanted to make use of that brief downtime to begin her dance, but now that her opponent was immediately ready for action, she had to change her plans.

Making a quick pirouette while trailing beautiful shapes with her right hand, she launched a flock of eagles at Ori to counter his assault. Tina’s familiar squeaked in panic and cast Wind Wall to repel the gang of scary predators but it barely affected the flames. Unfortunately, he had to escape into his gate to avoid ending up as a fried chicken, apologizing to his mistress for his failure.

Tina completely didn’t mind and hastily reached for Ast’s energy coursing through her while first focusing on mixing Esil’s and Hydran’s mana together. As the flock of eagles kept approaching her, she clasped her hands, watching the patterns on her gloves shift again, and spread her arms wide. A curtain of water the size of a small tsunami rose from the ground and lurched forward, swallowing the firebirds. It roared loudly as it rolled towards Silvia.

The princess didn’t lose her cool and drew her right fist back, filling the ornamental cuff with mana. Sparks flew out of the amber gem atop it and swirling flames enveloped her forearm like a fiery drill. With a soft grunt, she threw her fist forward and shot a mighty pillar of fire at the rushing wall of water, evaporating a big hole in its center, letting the rest of the deadly liquid pass by her and crash into the edge of the arena.

Amongst the created steam, she noticed Tina taking a weird stance with her legs set wide and her chest puffed out. Spotting the flick of a draconic tail between them and Tina’s open mouth, her eyes widened briefly as a shudder passed through her lithe body. Silvia released the amber gem from its socket in the cuff and instantly brought it forward, letting it float in front of her. Pushing everything she could into it, she made it grow, and soon, a massive, intricate, crystal shield hovered over her entire figure.

The second it finished growing, Tina shot a loud, whizzing jet of pressurized water out of her mouth and the arm-thick pillar crossed the distance in less than a blink, connecting with the amber armament with a mighty tink. Silvia grunted as the force behind it pushed her a step back and she grabbed her right forearm with her left hand to steady it, holding onto the protective technique.

With a labored groan, she tilted the shield just a little bit and redirected the deadly stream, lessening the intense pressure greatly. Knowing that she didn’t have more than a single breath before Tina readjusted her aim, she canceled the current form of the crystal with a snap of her fingers and blinked away just like her father used to.

Appearing right behind Tina, she was already reshaping the amber crystal into a staff and swinging upward with stylish, dance-like movements. But, it looked like Tina had reacted just as quickly and she was turning around at the same time, the pressurized spray cutting through the walls like through butter as she dragged it to the side.

Moments before the sharp line reached Silvia’s hair, the princess’ crystal staff connected with Tina’s chin and slammed the Summoner girl’s mouth shut, canceling the spell. Tina was launched into the air amidst a pillar of fire with a pained cry. Silvia shot after her with a burst of flames underneath her feet and aimed to strike Tina down from above with a spin. Thankfully, Tina surrounded herself with a cocoon of water before the hit landed. Still, she was sent hurtling down and crashed into the ground.

As she recalled the water barrier, she found numerous flaming javelins already waiting for her, hanging above the two of them as Silvia pointed her right hand down at her. Tina chuckled wryly and shook her head. The fire winked out of existence and the princess stepped into the small funnel created by the impact of their clash.

“That was a close one,” she commended. “I almost lost my head twice. That was new, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, it was,” Tina replied, standing up with her help. “I couldn’t do it previously. It’s something I copied from you and Asterios. Yet, it still wasn’t enough to pierce your flames.”

“If it was just my flames, I would be dead right now.” Silvia smiled proudly. “I was able to deflect the stream only thanks to this crystal. Your ingenuity on the battlefield continues to amaze me. I don’t think I know anyone else capable of creating such great opportunities to strike their opponents with a surprise attack.”

Tina did her best to suppress the blush crawling up onto her plump cheeks but failed miserably. They retreated to the side while chatting amongst themselves and discussing their moves. Bryn took care of their faint bruises and cuts before being dragged away to the center by the already buzzing Grea.

“I know this one will end fast, with my ass whipped to oblivion, but let’s have some fun too!” she said with a wide grin.

The flash signaled the start and they materialized their gear. Immediately, Grea whipped her unusual crossbow forward while dropping into a crouch and launched five bolts straight at Bryn’s chest. The Valkyrie extended her hand forward, the gem in her circlet glowing like a miniature sun, and the projectiles pinged off an almost invisible barrier of spiritual energy, discernible only thanks to the ripples in the light yellow structure wherever the bolts connected with it.

Bryn frowned at the demon woman. “How did you—”

But, another barrage of bolts interrupted her, this time exploding with violet smoke the moment they crashed into the spiritual shield. In that short moment before losing her vision, Bryn had managed to catch the sight of something resembling a forearm of pink hue floating by the side of Grea’s long crossbow. It was literally her first time using it, but Grea had already figured out a way to deal with the lack of the autonomous drawing feature of her previous toy.

Nevertheless, Bryn couldn’t remain with her sight obstructed for too long so she recollected herself from the pleasant surprise and dispersed the smoke with a flick of her wrist. At the same time, she gathered her mana and created a javelin of pure light in her grasp. Thanks to her crown, she achieved that feat almost instantly.

Almost instant was also the arrival of another bolt, which she swung to deflect this time. But, that proved to be a mistake as the projectile exploded with bright light the moment her spear collided with its tip. Bryn grunted and closed her eyes, casting a simple healing spell onto them as she continued to deflect more bolts just by the sound they made as they cut through the air.

Raising her eyelids, she found Grea preparing what looked like a spiritually charged shot and she quickly took a defensive stance. The demon woman squealed as the force of her own attack sent her back onto her ass and the mighty projectile surrounded by a pink aura rushed forward. Bryn tensed her lips and swung her spear while transforming its tip into that of a hammer. She deflected the powerful blow with a gasp, taking a step backward.

But, her foot stomped onto something thin before reaching the ground and she took a quick glance down. She was standing on one of Grea’s bolts which somehow hadn’t returned to the owner.

“Gotcha, bitch!” Grea cackled from afar.

Blue sparks raced over the bolt’s shaft and then jumped to five more projectiles stuck in the floor around Bryn. Before she had any time to react, they were all connected and she screamed as an agonizing lightning shot through her entire body. In the corner of her eye, she saw Grea preparing the final shot that would wrap the spar up.

Even though she was completely paralyzed, unable to move a finger, she didn’t give up. Just as Grea released her final shot, Bryn’s gem flashed again and a pillar of light suddenly descended onto the Valkyrie from the ceiling with a loud hum, knocking the bolt out of the air. The lightning enchantment was canceled and she flew into the air with a few graceful flaps.

The light continued to shine onto her, making her entire figure glow with a warm, divine aura. Her wings became covered by translucent armor over their top and the edges, similar to that of Silvia or Selene. Her golden eyes shimmered brightly as she raised her hand above her head. A huge, translucent figure of a beautiful, armored woman, from the waist up, appeared behind her, holding a house-sized spear in her grip. The godly visage drew its arm back in sync with Bryn, preparing to launch the intricate javelin at their target.

Grea’s eyes bulged out at the sight. “Time! Time! I give—”

With a mighty boom, the oversized spear shot toward the waving demon woman, and the entire place rumbled as it crashed into the ground. When the dust finally settled down, it revealed the mighty, golden weapon stuck in the wood right between Grea’s legs, towering over her like a spire of gods.

“I think… I peed myself a little…” Grea snickered awkwardly and fell onto her back.

Asterios and the girls jogged up to her to check their friend’s state and he somehow wormed his way out of the request to check the state of her underwear too, letting them take care of the playful woman since she seemed good enough to be her usual, impish self. As they escorted Grea to the side, he caught the gaze of the queen, now standing near him.

“I guess it’s our turn now.” He smiled to himself.