Phoenix Flight

Davi knew going into this fight that he was at a disadvantage. His scar was burning, and he could feel a large amount of mana coming off the golden-haired girl before him. He had never been good at sensing mana or reading it, but every hair on his body was standing up. Whoever or whatever Ken Yuan was, she was a dangerous individual.

It didn't help that he wasn't at full strength. He had already gone through two big battles and had been stabbed, cut, drowned, slammed around, and much more. His chest had a sword-sized hole in it where his heart was, and he had been forced to use a lot of mana to fight off Ashley and Rowan.

It didn't help that he couldn't fight at his full strength either. Not just because he lacked his armor, but also because he didn't have a proper sword. The weapon Rowan used was nice, but he was used to bigger, heavier blades and not a short sword, which felt awkwardly small in his hands. Even so, though it was an enchanted weapon, it was having an effect on him. 

The effect of the blade seeped into his muscles, and Davi could feel them swelling slightly, as supernatural power was being added to his own strength. The sword was making him stronger and sturdier, empowering him with its own magic. It wasn't a powerful effect, and it couldn't do anything else, but it meant he'd at least be hitting harder than he usually would.

As Davi approached Ken, he couldn't help but curse the fact that he wasn't able to use his armor. It wasn't just because of the fact that the captains were watching; against an opponent like Ken, he was willing to risk it, but Olivia being here was holding him back.

His Efficiency was grade D-, which meant his control and usage of his spells wasn't the best. Some mages could have dozens of constructs up at the same time, but he couldn't. He was limited to just one, and since he was maintaining Olivia's clothes, he could no longer activate his armor spell without dropping the mana he had on her. Doing that would leave Olivia butt-naked, and he had a feeling she wouldn't be happy about that. Not to mention the amount of fire Ken was unleashing and the injuries Olivia now had; if she weren't covered in the shadow robes, she'd surely burn to ash in an instant.

All of this was to say, Davi knew he was going to really struggle in this fight.

"Burn him," Ken announced.

"As you command, my lord." Yujin puffed up, the lion opening his mouth as wide as he could. A wave of intense heat came blasting out, scorching the ground and rolling out toward Davi. It was so fierce and bright, and even before the fire reached him, Davi could feel his flesh starting to sizzle.

Davi bathed himself in his mana, and he focused most of it into his legs. He threw himself to the right, narrowly dodging the wave of fire, but Yujin simply cocked his head to the side and began to turn, the wave following his movement. Davi was forced to run, escaping the rapidly approaching fire.

"Look at him run." Ken mused. "He's pretty fast for such a big guy."

"What even is that thing?" He called out. He ran in a circle, unable to get closer to Ken, who remained in the center of the field, keeping her arms folded while the lion blasted away. Thankfully, Olivia had managed to be out of the danger zone, being in a spot far enough away where the fire wouldn't reach her. "It used a spell without saying anything, so it's got to be a monster, right?"

"Yujin is no monster," Ken said, offended. "You're right in thinking that he's not a human. Unlike other people, he has no need to announce the names of his techniques. He's just going to keep attacking without pause. It makes me wonder who will reach their limit. Can you outlast Yujin's chi, or will your stamina run dry?"

Davi kept running as fast as he could, looping around the battlefield, all the while the fire was hot on his trail. At this point, he had circled the entire area twice now, and his feet were starting to hurt since the ground was ablaze. He was also left completely confused by what Yujin was.

Some mages could make constructs that they could then fire their spells out of, but the way Ken was speaking, it made it sound like Yujin was using his own mana and not her own. Not to mention, when a mage wanted their construct to cast a spell, that mage would have to use the spell themselves and channel it through the construct they made. Ken didn't do that, though, and instead had given a single order, which the creature had obeyed without question. 

It was some sort of sentient monster that Ken had summoned out of the gourd that was willingly working for the Rossum fighter.

"Are you seriously planning on running until you get tired?" Ken asked, growing bored. "If that's the case, I'll assist Yujin and end this quickly."

Davi didn't react to the taunt and instead held the arm holding the sword out. There had been a reason he ran in a circle. It was impossible to approach since the fire grew larger the closer it got to Yujin and Ken, and running away wouldn't do any good, as that would risk Ken getting annoyed and taking Olivia out. That meant if he couldn't go forward or backward, there was only one spot he could go.

"Row Shadow Vault." Davi stopped and waited until the fire was just about to hit him before he dropped into his now open vault. 

For once, he was glad it was so cold because it instantly wiped away the burning sensation that had been dancing across his flesh. All around him was the inky black void, and above him was the opening to his vault. In the real world, his shadow would remain behind when he did this, so if someone paid attention, they'd be able to tell something was wrong. That was why he normally only jumped into his vault when he was surrounded by other shadows that he could connect to, something he lacked this time; however, Yujin's flames had left the ground totally scorched and black, allowing his lone shadow to blend in.

Above him, Davi could hear the fire die down, followed by Ken's grunts and the sound of ash being stomped on. "He stopped?" Ken's voice muttered out. "Did he think he would be sturdy enough to survive the fire blast? Nothing of him is left, not even his bones. Way to go, Yujin."

"Thank you, my lord."

Davi tensed up. The footsteps were getting closer and closer, and then right when he felt his shadow grow and connect with a lesser one, he struck. He blasted up through his vault entrance sword first and instantly was met with a wave of pain as Ken's palm connected with his face.

The fiery-haired girl spun the moment he came flying out and dodged his strike. Her palm soared out and connected with his face so hard he was slapped out of his vault and tumbled to the ground. "Nice try! I'm not stupid; I heard you scream the word 'shadow.' Obviously, you were casting a spell!" Ken said flatly. "I didn't expect you to come flying out of the ground like that, but I knew you'd try something, so I focused all my chi into my brain and eyes in order to greatly boost my reaction speed," Ken smirked and placed her thumb to her head. "A neat trick, right?"

Davi frowned and stood back up. He held his sword out but stopped when he saw Yujin stand above Ken once more, the lion staring down at him. The girl had her usual sickly sweet smirk and cocked her head to the side right as Yujin opened his mouth. The fire came blasting out again, but this time, he was a lot closer to it. "Row Shadow Vault!"

"Trying to escape into your shadows again?" Ken frowned and watched as the fire erupted forward, blocking sight of Davi. She waved her hand, and Yujin stopped, waiting for her next order. "That won't work. I'm faster than you." Ken called out, glaring down at the ground. "You can't win by sneak attacking me—"

Yujin let out a sudden cry of pain. Despite being made out of fire, he had a solid physical form, one that was suddenly sliced into from above him as Davi came crashing down from the sky, sword first. He hadn't opened his vault and instead used the fire blocking Ken's view as a chance to jump into the sky as far as he could and catch the girl off guard.

"Yujin!" Ken cried out. Davi was now standing on the large lion, using the truck-sized creature as a foothold so he could drive his sword further into its back. "No! Get off him, you bastard!" Ken rocketed forward and jumped toward Davi, slapping out with her palm, but Davi was ready for it and tore his blade out and dodged the strike, leaping off the injured monster. 

Yujin let out a groan, and the lion smashed down into the ground. His wound was starting to fix itself, but it was slow, and it was clear that the damage had taken a serious toll on the spirit.

Ken stared at the lion, a mix of emotions coursing through her eyes, before she growled and glared back at Davi. "How dare you!"

Davi didn't miss a beat and took his chance to strike. He raised one of his arms and revealed several jagged needles that he had swiped off of Ashley. He then coated his arm in mana and sent them blasting toward Ken. The girl was fast enough to block them and did so easily, covering her palms in mana, which allowed her to smack the needles out of the air, but it was Davi's next attack that caught her off guard. He threw his sword as hard as he could, using it like a spear. He wasn't aiming for her, though, and instead sent it flying toward the downed Yujin.

"No!" Ken threw herself in front of the lion. Usually, she'd be able to block such a strike with ease, but deflecting the needles had stolen her reaction time. Her chi was also unable to simply deflect Davi's mana, which was wild and chaotic. The sword stabbed into Ken's stomach as she used her own body as a shield.

"My Lord!" Yujin cried out.

Ken winced from the pain, but she fought through it and glared up at Davi, who was sprinting toward her. Davi lifted his hand up and pointed his palm out toward her and Yujin. "Row Shadow Beam." He announced loud enough for Ken to hear. Ken flinched and threw her arms up, ready for the spell, but it never came. Instead, Davi reached her and threw his fist out, punching directly into the handle of the sword that was inside of her.

Ken spat up blood, and her eyes went wide. She tried to throw a proper strike out toward Davi, but he dodged past her, and then, to her horror, he slammed his foot out directly into the head of Yujin. Yujin howled in pain as his eye was stomped on. Ken screamed again and went to attack Davi once more as he raised his leg up, but it was a feint, and Davi instead twisted his body and dodged Ken's palm strike. His hand grabbed the sword handle poking out of her and twisted it, ripping through her stomach and spilling more of her blood.

Ken crashed to the ground and gasped, clutching at her gut wound. She went to cast a healing technique on herself like she did the last time Olivia cut her, but in the moment she was down, Davi got back to attacking Yujin and slammed his sword down into the creature's neck. Ken roared and ignored her own healing, throwing herself back at Davi and tackling him away from her friend.

Under any other circumstances, Ken should have absolutely won with minimal effort; however, she was cocky and hadn't used her full power right from the start. This is what led to her being sliced open by Ken. That had forced her to power up, but that just gave Ken another weakness, which Davi was now exploiting. 

He honestly hadn't expected her reaction when he first targeted the lion. It had been done simply to try and get rid of the weakest link, since he could tell that Ken was way stronger than the beast she had with her. The way Ken had acted, however, after he stabbed the lion, made him shift his plan. It was dirty, it was cruel, it was even downright a little evil, but the woman had shown a weakness in a fight, and that was much worse than being a cheater in Davi's eyes. He had made sure Olivia could escape the battlefield and recover, specifically so he wouldn't be busy having to risk his life and save her. That was something Ken didn't do, though. The girl allowed her companion to be injured, and because she genuinely cared for the monster, she was even willing to take hits in its place. Her weakness was so bad that she even threw caution to the wind and wasn't healing herself, instead throwing punch after punch down at Davi.

Davi could eat a punch, though. He took it to the face and countered by wrapping an arm around Ken. His other arm angled his sword down, and he tried to bring it down onto her head and take her out, but his arm suddenly stopped. 

Just as Ken was willing to risk her life to save Yujin, so too was Yujin willing to risk his to save Ken. The lion's mouth was open, and a thread of hot fire gushed out, wrapping around Davi's wrist. It burned into his hand, and Davi winced.

Ken used that as her chance, and she broke out of Davi's hold and rolled off of him. She panted and clasped her hands together. "Row Flame Feel!" Fire and steam gushed out of her stomach wound, which faded and sealed shut. 

Davi wasn't concerned by that, though, since he was facing bigger troubles. The fire around his arm grew more intense, and it tugged, and the next thing he knew, the hand holding the sword was burned clean off. The wound was sealed shut, so he didn't have to worry about blood loss, but he was now down a hand.

'Sieg's rules to combat. Rule four: Hey, Davi, sometimes it didn't matter how cocky the enemy you were facing was or how many weaknesses they had that you could exploit. Some people are just way too powerful, and no matter what you do, you'll lose.'

Ken was one such person. "Row Flame Fist." Ken's arms were set ablaze in bright golden fire, and she surged toward Davi. Her palm struck out, the first strike efficiently burning through Davi's chestplate and shirt, and her second strike went straight through him, piercing past his stomach and back and coming out the other side. Ken didn't stop at just one severe wound, though. She ripped her flaming arm out of Davi's stomach and slammed her leg into his, walloping him so hard she shattered his leg and sent him flying away.

Davi rolled across the field, and he groaned. Maybe if he had been at full strength, he'd be able to win. Maybe if he had busted his armor out when he should have, he'd be able to win. Maybe if his Vault had all his proper weapons, he'd be able to win.

There was no point in wondering about maybes, though.

The fact was that he lost. He still wasn't strong enough. He was still lacking what was needed to truly be powerful. Ken was just too strong for him. Her fire wasn't something he could deal with, which only angered him, for surely the dragon's flames would be much hotter.

"I'll admit, you almost got me." Ken chuckled. The fire on her arms died out. "You're clever like Feng, but nowhere near strong enough to use that mind. I've seen plenty of guys like you, though. Let me guess, you fought through a couple of ruins, slayed some spirits, and were able to beat other martial artists with ease, and you let all of that get to your head?"

"Yeah, yeah, big fish, small pond. I've said it before and had it said to me." Davi pushed himself up with his elbows and managed to get into a kneeling position. 

"You're quite confident still, even though you're about to die." Ken cocked her head to the side. "I know we're in a simulation and this death won't mean anything, but for you to keep your cool despite the pain you must be feeling? You're a little more interesting than I first thought, but to be honest, you're not as good as the white-haired girl. I'd much rather have her all to myself."

"Well, too bad, she's mine." Davi shook his head. "I already called dibs. Her mana is… Well, it caught my interest."

Ken giggled and began to walk forward slowly. "Well, for what it's worth, you do have an eye for treasure. Did you even tell her that you're interested only because of the feel of her chi? I doubt many people recognize it for what it is, but I've been around one of 'her kind' thanks to Feng, so I know the stench when it pops up. You're aware of it too. The chi of a dragon clings heavily to her."

Davi shrugged. "Speaking of awareness, you know I was never trying to win this fight, right?" His remaining hand grabbed a large fistful of dirt, which he threw out toward Ken. She stepped to the side, but then he pointed his palm back out toward her. "Row Shadow Ball!"

Even knowing it might be a fake spell, Ken still was forced to put her guard up just in case a real attack came her way, or worse, Yujin's way. Nothing came through, and she growled, but before she could react, a scream came from above.

"Davi!"

Ken looked up just in time to see a flash of red as Olivia came crashing to the ground. The witch-girl wasn't alone either. Wrapped around her waist was a large, winged boa constrictor made out of blood. The tail of the snake was curled around Olivia's back, and as she came down, she wrapped her arms around Davi's arm and barely managed to pick him up. Ken went to jump toward them, but Davi used another spell.

"Row Shadow Vault." Ken's foot slipped as Davi's shadow briefly touched her own. It caused her to lose her footing, allowing the winged snake to lift up into the air, carrying both Davi and Ken off. Davi's shadow disconnected from Ken's as it got too far, allowing Ken to move again, but just like Davi, Ken had a limited number of spells, none of which were range-based.

"Yujin!" Ken yelled out, but she stopped when she saw her lion wasn't in any good shape still. Ken cursed and looked back at the snake, which was carrying Davi and Olivia. They were both forty meters off the ground and rapidly rising. She could jump that high, but she'd be at a disadvantage since either mage could attack her while she was midair, and if either of them had a ranged spell, there'd be nothing she could do. "Whatever." Ken huffed and walked over to Yujin. "Yujin, are you okay?"

"I'll manage, my lord." The lion tried to stand but stumbled to a halt.

Ken shook her head and slowly grabbed the gourd at her side. "Rest. I'm sorry for pushing you too far." Her gourd glowed, and the lion was pulled back into it. As soon as it faded, her hair and eyes returned to their standard reddish-brown and green color, and the fire around her died down. Ken let out a sigh and looked back at where the blood-snake was. It was far, far away now. "Those two were kind of cute." Ken finally smiled again. "I want them."

Up in the sky, Olivia struggled to hold onto Davi. She had recovered a bit, but this was her third spell, so she was already at her limit.

"How can you make a flying creature?" Davi asked, a little stunned.

"A lot of practice over the week," Olivia grunted out as she struggled not to barf. "Kept casting it over and over again in my cell after I finished the training you told me to do. The only reason it's working now is that I had a lot of time to build it. On the fly in a battle, I won't be able to do this." The construct was different from the one Ken had. She had to actively control and fuel this one with her own mana, and it couldn't think or act for itself. It was basically just her scythe or knife, but in the form of a snake. "I always wanted to fly, but it's so hard making something actively defy gravity. I kept trying to make a bird, like a hawk or something, but that never worked. So, I decided to try something else. I heard about a winged snake monster, and for some reason, that one worked—and yep, that's it, that's my limit."

There was a 'popping' sound, and the snake suddenly erupted, sending blood out everywhere. Davi and Olivia rapidly dropped from the ground and crashed down into a rocky field near a set of mountains that Olivia had been flying toward. Davi landed first and slammed into his back.

"Ow." He said flatly.

Olivia came down next and landed on her feet. Unfortunately, both her ankles snapped and shattered, and she crashed down next to Davi, screaming in pain.

Olivia whimpered and slowly managed to roll herself over onto her back, lying on the ground next to Davi. "How many points do you have?" She asked weakly.

"Two. Actually, maybe it's one; that talking head might still be alive. You?"

"One." Olivia let out a tired sigh. "So much for doing well in the first exam."

"Well, look on the bright side, if any of the captains are pervs, you'll impress them for wearing such a revealing outfit—"

"I'm only in this because of you!" Olivia cried out.

"My bad."

Olivia stared up at the sky in silence. Eventually, she spoke again. "Are we weak?" She asked.

"Maybe." Davi mused for a moment. "Or, maybe Ken is just freakishly strong. Who really knows? It doesn't matter, though. We gave it our best shot."

"I guess. I kind of wish I did a bit better, though." Olivia admitted sheepishly. "I'll just need to do really well on the other two tests, though."

"That's the spirit." Davi nudged her with his shoulder. 

He then stopped when he heard the sound of gravel crunching. Both he and Olivia looked up and found that someone had made their way over to them. It was a dark-haired girl who was short and dressed in a maid's outfit.

Sera, the final guard of Rowan, was clutching Rowan's severed head—the head that was glaring down at Davi.

"You have got to be shitting me," Davi said, taken aback. "Really?"

"Do it, Sera." Rowan hissed.

Casually, Sera tossed the head into the air above Davi and Olivia and used her spell. "Row Size Alter."

The head expanded to the size of a large boulder and came crashing down onto the two of them.

And that was how Davi and Olivia failed the first exam.