Racheal Wallace

Sweat and dirt blinded my vision just enough that I could barely dodge Ivan's ironclad fist, which in turn scratched my cheek. Before he could send a Jab to my stomach, Hanz swung his ax, which was promptly blocked by Ivan. 

A metallic clank of the ax and gauntlets didn’t help my already disoriented state. Increasing my mana output and focusing the flow to my nervous system, I swung my double-bladed spear toward the back of Ivan’s neck. 

He grabbed my spear blade with his free hand and swiftly spun around, almost kicking the side of my stomach, but I let go of my weapon to narrowly dodge a crippling strike. Hanz took the opportunity to swing his ax down on Ivan's head, which sent a gust of wind that almost sliced me in half; just like every other attack, Ivan dodged any damage besides losing some hair from the wind. 

Frustration overwhelmed me as I raised my output to the max and focused my mana on the spear, which glowed a green aura.  I felt my strength enhanced due to this mysterious force. I blitzed Ivan and swung my spear with such speed I couldn’t even see it. A whooshing sound followed my swing, then soon after, a crashing, booming noise. 

The trees behind Ivan were cut down and toppled over for what seemed to be about twenty meters. Ivan’s eyes widened as a vast gash opened on his cheek.  I breathed heavily and wiped the sweat out of my eyes. While Ivan tried to recollect him after my attack, which seemed to have scared the hardened Russian. 

“Are you trying to kill me? If I didn’t dodge that, I would have been decapitated,” he shouted while walking to me and taking the spear out of my hand, “that’s it for today; I rather keep my life for now.”

“I’m sorry, I just got lost in the heat of the scrimmage.” I retorted, still trying to catch my breath. 

“Just know that your weapon is an S-class weapon, which can cut off a titan's leg at full power.” He continued his lecture, this time taking off his gauntlets and putting them back in their case

“We are done that fast?” Hanz butt in with a sad expression a child would have after being told no more candy.

“We've been going for almost two hours, plus, you don’t want to overexert your suits and body,” Ivan responded. 

I sat by the nearby lake and could feel the backlash of using maximum output. Nausea took over my body, and I threw up before passing out by the lake. 

Ren Vespean

Finally, being able to somewhat keep up with Elizabeth, I matched each of her sword strikes before countering with a shot from my pistol or a swing from my sword. A consent stream of black lighting radiates off my body, allowing me to follow her movement and effectively counter her attacks. 

I blocked her strike to my throat with my pistol pain pulsated from my hand into my head. Still ignoring it, I swung down just for her to dodge the swing, but I pointed the pistol in her direction. Mana gathered at the pistol's barrel to form a lightning bolt. A booming noise filled the area as a bolt of black lightning shot at her, which she, at this point, dodged, to my dismay. 

I followed the shot with a slash from my sword toward her legs, and she countered by stepping on my blade with her left foot. Raising her katana, I instinctively pointed my pistol at her; before either of us could do our “finale” blow, someone called out to her. We both turned our heads and saw Ivan walking towards us, carrying Rachell in his arms, either passed out or sleeping. 

“Your sister pushed herself too hard, so we might have to call training for today.” He said to Elizabeth with a nonchalant attitude. 

“You’re right, and plus, the sun seems to be setting,”  She responded by removing her foot from my blade, “Ren, go get some sleep, and also, nice work today.” 

I was packing up my sword and pistol. Ivan and Joshua walked up to me, with Diana following next to Joshua as he had a limp.

“Hey, do y’all want something?” I asked while cleaning the blade and barrel. 

“Yeah, we want to let you know that these next few weeks will be hell for your body,” Ivan told me; a concerned expression was evident from his eyebrows. 

“And why is that?” I asked confused 

“Divine weapons are powerful but costly they imbue your body with so much mana it could lead to mana poisoning or other injuries related to them,” Joshua answered. 

“Thanks for the heads up, but I should be fine because, for some reason, my body reacts differently to mana,” I told them before heading back to the barracks, “also happened to you, sir?”

“Officer Royal over here went over bored with her weapon.” He responded by looking at her with a playful expression which in turn made her cheeks red. 

“I said I was sorry.” She stammered, not making eye contact with any of us. 

“Well, okay, if there’s nothing else, then I’m leaving, have a good rest of your day.” I waved while walking away. 

Walking to the barracks gave me time to think and take in the scenery of the Iron Turtle at night. A feeling of dread and consequences filled my thoughts, like was I too cold with Racheal about our squad? No, my survival is all I care about right now. Taking a deep sigh I looked up at the stars. My worries seemed to fade for a brief moment.