NOVPUBPov Elizabeth’s:
I was looking at what Zenos was doing with his Familiars and his would-be Heralds, at first only me and Ynes were here.
But during the next few hours Yara, Caitlyn and Adella joined us, which was a good thing as there were things we weren’t able to see.
Caitlyn showed everyone what Xagar’s ordeal was taking place in a mental space, because all we could see was him standing under Nix’s gaze in his Dragon form.
Caitlyn showed us the kind of ordeal he went through, it was a little disappointing to find out that he is so insecure about himself, he has potential and yet he restricts himself for such ridiculous things by blaming himself instead of creating more constructive goals.
His ordeal was a Spiritual Curse, Nix was really creating a risk for him, I may not have liked the way he resolved it and still Xagar managed to meet the minimum requirement.
Fiona’s ordeal was different, it was something safer done in a true head space, Caitlyn was able to show Fiona, her determination and courage are truly admirable, but I have to question her very direct way of fighting, but in everything else she seemed worthy of approval.
The least intelligent ordeal was Kiara’s, a simple battle should not be used in a test like this, even though it is a battle of armies this type of approach is still questionable.
"I like this Fairy, she knows how to do things." (Adella)
"No, this is all pointless, there was never a way to pass this test and she must have come up with a reason on her own at the time." (I)
"You don’t understand, the test wasn’t about defeating a horde of enemies, it was presenting a scenario that should be possible to win and then turning it into a scenario where defeat was absolute." (Adella)
"She wanted to put Kiara against the wall and see what happened?" (Ynes)
"Yes, in the most desperate situations people show who they truly are, whether it’s a futile attempt to escape, a rational giving up, crying in panic, fighting out of pure anger or going for a last attack with their determination." (Adella)
"An attack of pure anger does not cause fear, but someone with determination attacking is dangerous, they keep their mind working looking for openings and can choose to fall with the enemy." (Adella)
"That’s why I said it was useless." (I)
"Kiara is a fanatic, she doesn’t value her own life when my brother is involved, in her head falling dead in this test or getting the power to stay by Zenos’s side are the only options." (I)
Trying to test a fanatic like Kiara like that was a foolish choice, Layla wasted her time and didn’t discover anything I didn’t already know, Zenos should have performed these tests himself instead of trusting his Familiars.
"You know this from your vast experience, but Layla is young for someone of her position, she wouldn’t notice something like this normally." (Ynes)
"Everyone is wrong, you think that Fairy cares about these things, she just wanted to see how cruel Kiara could be in battle." (Caitlyn)
"The way she massacred the Fairies was devastating, more than once she used herself as bait and devoured the energy of her own indications." (Caitlyn)
"Isn’t that even more obvious?" (Adella)
"What a stupid way to do that…" (Ynes)
"..." (I)
"..." (Yara)
Everyone was talking about the tests our Herald candidates were taking, but the High Priestess of Life has been silent this entire time and I know the reason for that.
"What do you think of these Heralds, Yara?" (I)
"They are acceptable at most, if it weren’t for the power of Chaos guaranteeing that they will become Heralds, then they would die midway through the Ascension process due to their other deficiencies." (Yara)
"I couldn’t say, but why are you so interested in Zaya?" (I)
"You don’t understand the kind of power she has now and the kind of power she will acquire if Zenos turns her into a Herald." (Yara)
"(Life, death and Curse... what about these powers causes such a big reaction in her... wait!)" (I)
"Is your Goddess watching? How long?" (I)
"(As I didn’t notice before...)" (I)
"You do not need to know." (Yara)
"..." (I)
"(What are you doing now Zenos?)" (I)
----------------------
Pov Zenos:
I took Zaya to another floor, but I didn’t use the safe room to teleport us, I used space magic to open a portal directly to a floor where only Wolf-type Monsters exist, with six instincts they will keep their distance from both of us.
I took Zaya directly to a grassy field while letting my Aura free, just as I thought, the Wolves were either keeping their distance or largely fleeing.
"I heard you don’t like fighting." (I)
"Yes, the meaning of fighting is not something I can understand in most cases, that’s because my home was infested with fights and betrayals for ridiculous reasons." (Zaya)
"Then why did you agree to fight me now?" (I)
"Why do I want to test my current power and understand you better?" (Zaya)
"I suppose you wanted something similar with me." (Zaya)
"Yes, I want to understand the nature of your power and your way of thinking, I will achieve both in combat." (I)
"But don’t worry, I won’t attack back." (I)
"You can start whenever you want." (I)
The difference in strength between the two of us isn’t as overwhelming as the difference in strength between me and Kiara, but it’s still too big for this to be considered a battle.
"Then it will be better if we start with hand-to-hand combat." (Zaya)
She moved quickly, followed a straight line towards me, her fist was aiming for my face, but she changed direction halfway, going for my neck with her claws, her other hands were stretched out as she tried to use her claws to cross the side of my body and its tail was trying to go unnoticed to bite my leg.
"(I can feel the death energy in its claws and I smell poison, it must be the snake.)" (I)
I move forward using my hands to hold her wrists and move my head forward so she hits my forehead while my foot steps on the head of the Serpent in her tail.
When her head hit mine I felt the energy of life forming a protective layer around her while a trace of cursed energy tried to enter my forehead after the impact.
I use my Aura to expel her away, making her fall several steps back with her forehead slightly red, her eyes were focused and she didn’t even pay attention to anything against me, it was as if her eyes were trying to see through me.
I remained still and she attacked again, but this time she ducked inches away from me, she aimed her claws at my legs and when I used my knees to push her hands away, she used her tail to wrap around my knee trying to bite, Of course I couldn’t when I used my Aura as a shield serving as another layer of skin.
I tried to kick her, but her body was strangely supple, contorting around my skin, her claw tried to dig into the side of my thigh, but I spun around and used the pressure of a kick to force her away.
But before moving away she tried to kick me in the face, I moved my head just enough to avoid the blow, her speed, however great it was, was still below my speed.
"(Her body moves better and better.)" (I)
In the first attack she was precise in her movements, but she lacked fluidity and flexibility, but now she demonstrated exactly what was missing before, it’s not perfect, but her way of moving her body is strange.
When she walked away, she didn’t stand still and do nothing like before, she accepted her body in the air, laying sideways against the side of a tree before jumping towards me, performing a series of kicks that I defended with the palm of my hands.
As she spins around trying to give a stronger kick, as soon as I try to use my hand to block her blow, she moves her foot to go lower towards my chest.
I use my other hand to hold her foot while her other foot was coming towards my face more specifically aiming at my eyes, being so close she managed to block my vision for milliseconds which she used to move her tail towards my parts intimate, this irritated me a little, making me use an elbow against her leg, making her spin in the air.
I walked away, staying behind and looking at my pants, which had some tears in the most intimate part, even though I hadn’t suffered physical damage, the psychological damage hit hard.
"Did you really need to fight dirty at this level?" (I)
"I learned to fight around the worst people in the universe and surrounded by Evil Gods, your definition of fighting fair seems a little naive to me." (Zaya)
"This is going to be a little more complicated than I thought." (I)
