Phoenix Flight

Olivia felt herself sink further into the body of water. She didn't fight to stay afloat; instead, she let her weight carry her downward. This was primarily due to the pain she was feeling in her stomach.

She had coated her belly in her mana, but Ken hit just as hard as Davi. The woman's palm strike had pierced past her defense, and Olivia could tell at least one rib was broken.

And so much for trying to preserve her blood dagger; the water ate away at the red weapon and slowly broke it into bits, leaving her wand without its blade. It was just her luck that someone like Ken would show up to fight her. The girl was a serious powerhouse and was practically a shoo-in for the position of Arcane Knight should she be able to pass the final and most crucial test.

'Davi's rules to combat. Rule three: You're going to run into someone stronger than you eventually. This happened to me when I fought Gray. No matter how strong you are or how weak you think your enemies are, assume that you're just a tiny fish in a big pond and there is always a bigger predator waiting to gobble you up. If you run into one, there are two things you can do. The first, and the one I'd suggest, is to run away. It isn't cowardly; it's smart. The second thing you can do should only be done if you aren't able to escape, and that's fight back. You'll either be given a swift defeat if you're lucky, or the predator will be one of the ones that get cocky and let their guard down. If they're the second kind, you can use that to your advantage.'

Davi had made it sound so simple when he explained it to her back when they were stuck in the cell together. He had drilled her on dozens of different exercises and told her what to do if she got into a fight, yet in this moment, none of it seemed to matter because Ken was just that strong.

Even if the woman was cocky, what could be done to defeat her? Slamming a sword into her shoulder hadn't even cut her clothes, due to the sheer density of Ken's mana.

Olivia felt her back finally touch the bottom of the lake. One of her hands still clutched the katana she had stolen from that spiky-haired metal mage. Her other hand reached beneath her shirt and pulled her wand out. Gray had given her wand back the day of the exam, though he had refused to give any of Davi's weapons back.

It was a good thing she did have her wand as well, since her weak magic was even weaker when casting it out of her hands. 

Olivia silently looked at both the wand and the sword and tried to come up with some sort of plan, but she kept blanking. 

A construct made out of magic was more potent than a basic weapon. That meant her blood knife would be a lot sharper and able to hit harder than the metal sword she now held, despite the fact that it was smaller. This was because when boosting a physical object like a sword, a mage would have to pour mana into it to strengthen it. Still, a weapon made out of magic, like her blood knife, was forged from solid mana and already boosted, and could then, in turn, be increased even further by mana. This meant the sword wasn't able to harm Ken, but the knife might be able to, and if it couldn't, her scythe would absolutely be able to harm even Ken's durable skin due to how sharp and deadly it was.

It wouldn't do much good, though.

She didn't have the venom inside of her, so her blood didn't hold the same effect it did in her fight with Garon, and without something like that, her attacks wouldn't be strong enough to down Ken Yuan in one hit. It would take many hits before the girl went down. If Ken realized she had a way to hurt her, Ken would likely take her out in one attack, which meant she needed to finish the fight quickly.

It just seemed like this fight was unwinnable. Ken was just too tough, and her attacks hurt a lot. The girl likely wouldn't go down from one stab, and Olivia doubted she could choke Ken out. 

There was one thing she could try, though…

One single attack. If it didn't take Ken down, then she'd lose for sure.

Olivia tucked her wand back into her shirt, and she finally lifted herself through the water, swimming up. She broke past the surface and took a deep, gasping gulp of air. She had been so busy trying to come up with a plan that she almost let herself drown. That would have been embarrassing.

"Finally." Ken's voice drew Olivia's attention, and she found the red-haired girl standing near the edge of the lake. "I knew you weren't knocked out since my box didn't give me any extra points, but for a moment I thought you couldn't swim or something." Then Ken casually stepped forward. Her foot lit up and glowed with a wave of intense mana, or in this case, chi, and instead of dipping into the water, it touched the surface of the lake as if it were a solid. Olivia's eyes went wide as Ken began to walk toward her, standing on water. "Here. Need a hand?" Ken asked, her smirk growing as she reached Olivia and held a hand out to the white-haired girl.

Traits came in many forms and were sometimes referred to as skills, depending on the person being spoken to. Traits, to put it simply, weren't spells, and they also weren't basic stats. Instead, a Trait was something that a person could do well. 

Most people had basic Traits like Sprint, which was graded on how fast and how long they could run, or Stamina, which was like mana but less magical. When a person practiced something and became proficient enough to make it noteworthy that they could do that thing, they would gain the Trait of whatever skill it was they were practicing. So, if someone practiced throwing a punch, they would gain the trait Hand-to-Hand. Anyone with arms could punch, but it was only after a person became at least semi-decent at it that the Trait would appear.

If a person who practiced punching also eventually learned a martial art, then they'd not only have the Trait for Hand-To-Hand but also a Trait for the type of martial art they had, like how Davi had the Trait Way of Self Iron Martial Arts.

Some traits, however, couldn't be gained naturally through practice and instead were something you'd be born with. Olivia had one such trait. Quick Regeneration was one such Trait and was an ability she got for having the Blood Core. Special Traits were very rare and either came from a person's Core or, in rare cases, their clan. Some Traits, especially the Special ones, could be used with mana, but they weren't spells and didn't need to be spoken aloud.

The trait Ken used was an example of this. Wall-Walker was a basic mana skill anyone could learn if they put enough work in. By focusing her energy on her feet, Ken could defy gravity and walk up walls. Water-Walker was the advanced form of this, and as the name implied, it allowed Ken to walk on water. Gray had used this Trait to stop himself from being sucked into Davi's Shadow Vault, since the properties of the Shadow Magic were similar to water.

"Well?" Ken raised her eyebrow when Olivia remained in the water. "Give me your hand, don't be shy."

Hesitantly, Olivia reached up and took the hand. She regretted it in an instant as Ken's fingers locked around her hand. Ken's smirk turned into a sneer, and the red-haired girl pulled her arm back, dragging Olivia out of the water, and she casually twisted herself and let go, sending Olivia flying through the air once more.

Olivia flew over the wall and spun, unable to control herself as she slammed into the grass field and rolled across it. She barely managed to draw a tight cloak of mana around herself and groaned as her skin became bruised and battered.

"Did you really take my hand?" Ken laughed and began to walk across the water again, heading toward Olivia. She sauntered, swaying from side to side, her eyes staring intently at the downed Olivia. "You know we're fighting, right? You backstabbed that other guy without hesitation, but you fold after getting hit by me once? Are you that useless?"

"I knew you were going to do something like that." Olivia stood back up and ignored the way her bones popped. "I just sort of assume all your actions are bitchy in nature and plan accordingly."

"Okay, smartass, then why'd you take my hand?" Ken frowned.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Olivia pointed her stolen sword at the other girl. "All I'll say is it was for a tactical advantage. I knew you'd throw me. If I didn't take your hand, you'd have just attacked me the moment I tried to swim away, since you'd be offended by my actions."

Ken placed her hands on her hips and looked Olivia up and down. "You wanted to get out of the water because it would harm your blood technique. You're a follower of the Blood-Path, just like old man Feng was. Unlike old man Feng, though, you don't seem to know how to use your Path properly."

"You know someone who also has blood magic?" Olivia said, a little stunned. Ken wasn't speaking in a mocking tone either. In fact, she seemed to be speaking of this Feng guy as if he were important.

"We don't call it magic. That's just some stupid name your dead leader came up with." Ken scowled. "Now you've gone and put me in a bad mood. I think I'll break that pretty face of yours. It's ticking me off." Ken's body glowed orange once more as her mana came rising up. "Try not to go down so quickly this time, okay!"

Olivia knew that Ken was going to come at her quickly, so she decided to capitalize on the only chance she could and instead threw herself forward toward the other girl. She was still sloppy when it came to using mana to boost herself, and she also had improper footing. She had no sort of Sword-Wielding Trait, and that showed since her swing was sloppy.

Like last time, her sword bounced off of Ken's body, dealing no damage. She tried to jump away and dodge the strike she knew was coming, but Ken was way too fast for her to escape. Ken's fist flew out, and the palm struck her where her lung was. The force of the attack rippled out, and Olivia gasped and felt her shoulder nearly dislocate. The ground was knocked out from under her, and she flew back. 

Thankfully, this time she didn't crash down into the water and instead slammed into the hard ground several feet away. Olivia stayed flat on her back and weakly stared up at the blue sky, trying to breathe. 

Ken's attacks weren't just hard-hitting. The girl was coating her hand in so much mana and then shoving that mana out that when she would hit, the energy would course through a person's body and attack them from the inside. 

"You're so boring," Ken whined, and instead of attacking again, she began to stretch. "I was never able to beat old man Feng, but you suck. You walk the same Path he does, and your Chi is so wavy like his, but you two couldn't be any different. The old man is like a snake. Some people think he's like a spider because of the web-like nature of his Chi, but that isn't right. A spider is easy to deal with if you know what you're doing. Feng is different, though. Fighting him is like he's constricting you, wrapping you up tighter and tighter until eventually your bones feel like they're breaking. The next thing you know, you're flat on your ass, and Feng stands above you, spotless and clean, while you lay there in a pool of your own blood, drifting in and out of consciousness."

"Cool story, but I forgot the part where I asked." Olivia finally pushed herself back up. Somehow, she managed to lift her sword and kept her gaze steeled. "You really shouldn't be talking until you've won, you know. As long as I'm still conscious, you haven't gained any more points, and there's a chance I can win."

Ken's eyes narrowed. "Oh yeah? Big talk coming from someone who needs a stick to use her techniques. What happened to it anyway? Did you lose it? I noticed you haven't tried any of your precious 'spells'."

Olivia didn't say anything, and instead, she jumped toward the girl once more. She tried to force all her mana into her arms and struck out. She didn't even wait for the strike to bounce off of Ken before she attempted her next trick. Instead of swinging her sword again or trying to dodge, she did her best to wrap her arms around Ken's neck and hug the other girl, but it didn't work. Her arms didn't even get all the way around Ken's neck before the red-haired girl struck out.

This time, Ken jammed her knee up. Olivia was pressed so close to her that she was able to ram her leg all the way up into the white-haired girl's stomach. The force of the attack caused Olivia to wheeze, but Ken didn't give her a chance to recover. 

Ken grabbed the girl by her hair and yanked her head up, forcing Olivia to look up toward the sky, and then Ken jammed her other arm out, ramming her palm straight into Olivia's heart.

Olivia was unable to stop herself from throwing up this time. The pain was intense, and it hurt. She wasn't actually bleeding, at least not on the outside, but her bones were twisting and snapping with every strike, and her flesh ached so badly. She tumbled across the ground, and this time she didn't get back up.

It just hurt.

It hurt almost as much as the beating she had received from Garon. That had been a life-or-death fight, though. This was just a test. A test that she could fail and still become an Arcane Knight. It was possible to become a Knight, even if you did fail a test or two, so long as you impressed all the captains. That meant if she did black out, she'd still have a shot at making it in if she performed amazingly on the two tests that were waiting for her after this.

The only test that truly mattered, whether a person failed it or not, was the final test, the Test of the Soul, which the king always came up with every year.

If she closed her eyes and drifted to sleep, the pain would stop. She'd be healed the moment she left the simulation and still be able to compete. It would lessen her chances of getting in, but it would be a hell of a lot better than this beating she was taking.

She couldn't settle for that, though…

She would never be able to live with herself if she threw in the towel. The pain might hurt now, and it might be driving her mad, but it was nothing compared to the hatred she'd hold for herself if she allowed herself to give up like this, and so Olivia did the only thing she could do. She stood back up. She spat out a glob of vomit and blood and looked back at the stunned Ken.

"Well? I'm still standing. Guess you still haven't won."

Ken actually took a step back before the red-haired girl caught herself. "What the hell are you?" Ken demanded. "How are you still standing? I held back so I wouldn't stop your heart, but no person could just walk that off. What gives? It doesn't make any sense. Your chi keeps growing. Are you getting better the more beaten down you get? Who are you?"

"Olivia Lot." Olivia readied herself right as Ken came charging toward her. "And this time I mean it when I say that I'm going to be an Arcane Knight!"

Ken's entire body was glowing with her bright orange mana, and she got ready for Olivia's strike, but it never came. The first time, Olivia tried to dodge, and the second time, she tried to wrap her arms around Ken. For this third and final attempt, she devised a different plan. As Ken reached her, Olivia stabbed out and curved her arm, making sure the sword went past Ken's back, missing her. Her other hand then shot out and went around the other side of Ken, grabbing onto the blade. She did this just in time as Ken reached her, and she punched out as hard as she could, ramming her palm directly into Olivia's face.

Olivia could feel her nose shatter and her teeth rattle inside of her mouth. She got the world's worst headache, and her eyes felt like they were about to explode inside of her skull, but she fought through the pain and gripped the handle and the blade of her sword for dear life. All of her mana went to her feet, and as the hit reached her, she angled her legs down, using her heels to try and slow herself from being blasted back. The sword followed with her, but since it was behind Ken, it rammed into the red-haired girl's back. Ken was still too strong, though, and the blade was unable to cut into her.

Olivia felt her palm be sliced open since one of her hands was clutching the sword, but she still didn't let go, and thanks to her brace and Ken's own body, she wasn't blasted back. She had used the sword and Ken's strength to keep herself in place.

Olivia pushed forward as hard as she could and shoved her head off of Ken's arm. Blood was literally gushing down her face, but she didn't care. She slammed herself into Ken and pressed into her as hard as she could, almost in some sort of twisted hug. Then, Olivia struck.

"Row Blood Scythe."

There was a tearing sound, and Olivia felt the front of her shirt tear completely open and rip as a massive, red scythe erupted from the wand hidden in her clothes. The handle of it jammed down and rammed past her side, cutting through it, but the blade grew outward, and Ken's eyes went wide in shock and horror as her right side was sliced open. The blade expanded all the way out, tearing past Ken's muscles and bones, and it went through her back.

The wound was brutal and deadly. The kind that would require immediate healing. It only got worse when Olivia twisted her weapon and pulled it out of Ken's body. Olivia panted and struggled to breathe. Her clothes were a mess, and she had to tie her shirt together just to keep it in place and cover her modesty. She was also forced to lean on her scythe in order to stay standing and had a horrible stab wound in her own side, which was bleeding. That was her second spell, and with all the damage she took, she doubted she could cast a third. Still, no matter how bad she was, it was way better than Ken.

Ken Yuan's face was pale, and the girl was shaking, clutching at her torn-up side, which was gushing blood.

"Give up," Olivia said weakly. "You're going to die if you don't. You lose either way, but if you give up now, the pain will end sooner."

Ken glared up at her, the girl's green eyes full of hate. 

Rossum's people were different from the mages of Estiria. The people of Rossum were born with Cores that worked in a unique way. This was because the culture was built upon gathering spirits. Unlike Estiria or other nations whose people had Magical Cores, Rossum's people could not perform spells in the same way as everyone else. They didn't have the ability to control the elements or alter reality like most mages. They employed techniques to compensate for this, utilizing mana or chi to perform supernatural feats, such as the way Ken sent out her shockwaves.

There was, however, one group of people in Rossum who did possess traditional magic. They could perform spells or advanced techniques, as they called them. These were the Martial Cultivators, Rossum's version of the Arcane Knights. When a person became a Knight, they were given a piece of Haru's mana, significantly boosting them in power. In Rossum, when a person became a Cultivator, they would be allowed to bond with a spirit, and this and only this would allow someone from Rossum to gain a proper Core and utilize their form of spellcasting.

Only Martial Cultivators got this permission, though. Because of that, it was seldom seen outside of Rossum, and any Rossum citizen taking the test was at a severe disadvantage since, while they had mana, they lacked the Cores the other test takers did.

That's why Olivia was completely and utterly shocked when Ken used a spell.

"Row Flame Feel."

It happened faster than Olivia could react to. One moment, Ken was sitting there bleeding out, and then the next, she grabbed at some sort of gourd that had been hanging off her belt. The gourd was heavy-looking and forged from solid iron. Ken uncorked it right as she spoke the spell and her body quite literally erupted in fire. It was red and hot, gushing out and sending a powerful shock wave. Olivia felt her skin burn, and she gasped, stumbling back.

Ken stood up slowly and breathed out. Her hair was on fire and had taken on a golden glow, and her eyes were a bright, fiery red. Steam was rising off of her flesh, and her gut wound was gone, fully healed. From the gourd she held, hot flames gushed out. It kept coming, forming in the air and twisting.

It crackled and hissed and took on a ball-like shape. It got to be the size of a large car and floated perfectly in the air next to Ken. Then, to Olivia's shock, a face began to form on the fire, followed by a head. The ball began to distort and lengthen, and four cat-like legs jutted out of it along with a tail. A mane of fire began to form around the newly created head, and the fire's color distorted and became a deep golden shade, with fiery red eyes blazing out just like Ken herself had.

Standing tall and proud was a lion. One that was easily as tall as a horse and as long as a truck. Its four legs pressed into the ground, and its golden fur flowed in the wind. Olivia felt the lion's red eyes gaze at her, and a deep rumble came from the lion, and she realized it was speaking.

"Lord Ken Yuan, you've summoned me?" The lion bowed its head down.

"I did, Yujin." Ken reached out, and she began to run her fingers through the fur of the lion and casually pointed forward, giving Olivia a cold and unforgiving look. "Kill her. Reduce her to less than ash."

"As you command, my lord." The fire-spirit, also known as Yujin-the-lion, opened his mouth. He howled and then unleashed a massive wave of fire directly toward Olivia, all without casting an actual spell.

Olivia tried to move, but her body wasn't obeying her. Her limbs were heavy and numb, and the only thing keeping her standing was the scythe she still held. The fire came at her, and everything seemed to slow to a crawl.

"Row Shadow Robes."

The flames rammed into Olivia, but they didn't burn her. Instead, she stared down at herself in shock. The fire was being absorbed and pulled into her clothes. No… Not her usual clothes, but instead the outfit she now wore. Shadows had lifted off the ground and wrapped around her body tightly, replacing her torn clothes with a new set of fabric.

The clothes began with her legs, forming long, black boots that reached up to her knees. A skirt formed and replaced her pants, and instead of a shirt, black cloth wrapped around her upper body, creating some sort of dress that left her arms and shoulders exposed—lastly, a pointed, witch-like hat formed on top of her head. Despite the outfit being very tight and showing off way more skin than she would have liked, it somehow kept her entirely safe, mana seeping up over her flesh, and just like with Davi's armor, it absorbed the fire.

The flames died down, and Ken looked just as stunned as Olivia. Olivia stared at her new clothes with wide eyes, feeling a little embarrassed. The skirt was too short for her liking, and it was cold outside.

"Tadaah," Davi said in an emotionless tone, and he was suddenly standing next to Olivia. "I present: sexy witch-girl, Olivia."

"Why the hell do you have this spell? I thought you only had two spells!" Olivia yelled in mild horror. "Also, when the hell did you get here?"

Davi gave a lazy shrug. "I beat up some rich guy and robbed him. While I was going through his pockets, I found his credit card and I wanted to buy some cool stuff with it on the Grimoire app, like how you taught me. I was only able to get one spell, though. You could've warned me how expensive some of them are. I thought this one would give me cool, badass robes, but whoever made it had a witch-girl fetish, I guess." Davi shrugged. "It came in handy just now, at least so it wasn't a total waste of that guy's money."

"Davi! Get me the hell out of this!"

"Well, if I do that, it'll leave you naked," Davi said in his usual blank tone.

"What!"

"Yeah, it destroys the clothes when it turns on; I found that out the hard way." Davi shrugged again. Now that Olivia got a better look at him, she saw that her 'friend' was in new clothes. He had ditched the outfit Gray had given him and instead wore very expensive-looking noble armor. "Oh, yeah, I also totally robbed that guy's clothes after I beat him as well."

"I hate you so much." Olivia sighed and sagged her shoulders in defeat.

Ken and Yujin shared an odd look. "Alright," Ken said slowly. "I'll play along. Who the hell is this guy?"

"Sup. I'm Davi." Davi drew his sword. "Since you have that fire cat, can I join this fight and make it a two-on-two?"

Ken flipped her hair. "Do whatever the hell you want. I could give a rat's ass. I'm going to beat both of you anyway." Her confident smirk returned. "Yujin and I have only ever lost to Feng, so I doubt you can do anything to beat us."

"Davi…" Olivia said, suddenly serious.

"Yeah. I know." Davi didn't look back at her and instead kept his gaze fixed on Ken and the lion. "Any idea how long it'll take you to recover enough to move?"

"A few minutes." Olivia winced and placed her hand on her gut. "My Quick Recovery leveled up a bit, but it's still too slow for something like this."

Davi nodded. "Okay. When you can move at full speed, tell me, and we're going to run like our lives depend on it."

"You don't think you can beat her?"

"I know I can't." Davi's eyes traced Ken up and down. "Out of everyone I've seen today, she's the closest thing to Gray's strength. I don't think someone like her should be here. She's way too strong for this exam."

"It's because of the fire spirit she has," Olivia said quietly. "Only Martial Cultivators should have one. Those guys are all the equivalent of an Arcane Knight. In other words, she's basically already Knight level. Why did they let her take this exam?"

It just wasn't fair, no matter how it was sliced. Ken was too strong.

"You know," Ken said quietly. "I'm being very nice letting this conversation happen." The girl teased. "That said, I'm a little pissed that I got fucking stabbed." Her gaze turned hard. "Yujin."

"Yes, my lord?" The lion asked the now golden-haired woman. 

"Burn them both."

Davi drew his sword, the one he had 'borrowed' from Rowan, and raised it, entering a combat stance. "Olivia."

"Yeah?"

"I'm counting on you," Davi said quietly. "It's up to you. You're going to have to save us." And with those words, he launched himself forward right as the spirit readied its next attack.