Chapter 442 441: One...



"Alright brats. One at a time now. Let me get a taste of your mettle, so that I can understand what I need to beat out of you... and what I need to temper with each of you. Now come!"

Her scythe rested menacingly on her shoulder, and the black furred Wolf grinned at each of us as she stopped a few feet away.

We looked at one another before I stepped forwards, deciding to allow myself to be the 'sacrifice' so that the other two may learn something from my guaranteed defeat.

Lady Fenryas looked me over, her eyes roaming my body as she took in every minute detail about me - I could tell that the woman wasn't looking at me with lust, as she seemed more dismissive of my curvy frame then appreciative.

She mainly seemed more caring of how I handled the two daggers in my hands, as well as how I distributed the weight that my body gave me.

When I approached her, she stabbed her scythe into the ground like before, her arms dangling loosely by her side as she said "Come, little pup. Show me what I have to work with..."

Hefting the heavy Protective Fang in my right hand, I spun the Shatter Fang in my left and shot forwards, slashing towards her stomach with Shatter and stabbing at her throat with Protective.

With what I had seen from her battles earlier, I wasn't afraid about using sharpened blades against a woman with 'unguarded' flesh like Lady Fenryas, which made her smirk.

"Good! You've some backbone to you... even the beginning of a fang! Some speed too. Not too shabby, little pup!"

Her hand shot forwards and slapped my wrist to the side, sending Protective off harmlessly past her neck while she tucked in her abs and arched herself back slightly, causing Shatter to miss her as well.

Since her hand was already close by, she smirked as she jabbed her palm forwards, hitting me in the face and forcing me to stagger backwards.

My nose audibly cracked, and I felt my vision blur as pain exploded throughout my head, blood pouring from my now broken nose.

However, I had felt worse pain - though this still hurt like a bitch - so I managed to rally myself after that brief moment of pain and return to the fight.

Lady Fenryas just grinned some more as she waited for me to return to the fight, likely using that as another test to see just how strong my will to fight was.

Raising my blades once more, I swiftly cast a healing spell on myself before activating the tattoo on my left arm, numbing my body instantly as I charged at her.

Her grin faded slightly at that, though there was a complicated light in her silver eye as she blocked another of my attacks, using her palms to smack my daggers away from her body.

"Foundation... not too bad. Utilization of mana in a fight... admirable. Weapons and skills... above average. Mentality... good. Alright little pup, you might be worth something after all. Ice Magic too; gives you versatility and unpredictability with multiple different attacks. However..."

Both her hands swatted my daggers away once more, knocking them free from my hands - and in the process breaking my wrists - before her hand enveloped my face as she lifted me off the ground, her features still.

"That tattoo... don't rely on it. You've already broken your wrist with the first block of mine, and yet you couldn't feel it. Any further and you might have caused irreparable damage to yourself, all in a spar. Perhaps your mentality for wanting to fight is teetering on being self harming... Not good. Understand me, pup? Use that tattoo in bursts. Never leave it on longer than a few seconds. Time it with the worst of your injuries - like that broken nose of yours - and enable yourself to surprise an opponent after that. A moment is all you need to win a fight. Nothing more."

She released me and watched as I collapsed to the ground, her words making me drop the tattoo as I prepared to analyze what I needed to fix in depth.

That, of course, was a mistake.

Waves of sharp, insufferable pain washed over me from my nose and my wrists, and I held in a cry as my vision blurred instantly.

My mind was momentarily shaken from the sheer amount of agony I felt, my senses slowly dissipating as my body focused entirely on the pain.

When I managed to get a healing spell out, I nearly cried out again as I felt my bones slowly knitting themselves back together, which made the Demon Wolf above me click her tongue.

"Bright, but also rather stupid sometimes. At least the rest of you is good... You pass, pup. You've potential for something great, if only you get some of your idiocy and naivety beaten out of you. Next!"

She left me on the ground, my mind barely comprehending her words as I focused on not fainting from the throbbing pains of my wounds.

Blood dripped down onto the ground in front of me, and my wrists had already swelled up and had begun to turn a deep red, my body trying its hardest to heal my injuries naturally.

Pained gasps escaped my lips as I sat up, looking over to where Lady Fenryas was slowly approaching Anput, who had shifted her metal rod into a standard blade.

Blinking the tears out of my eyes, I eventually managed to heal my broken bones and get myself back into a functional state as I stumbled over towards the side, clearing out the training grounds to give Anput and Jahi some room to spar.

The rest of the Knights were slowly stirring, their own wounds causing the training grounds to be filled with groans and sharp inhales of breath as they all stumbled towards one another, checking on their comrades.

Nirinia collapsed beside me, wincing as she held her ribs, while the Marquess came over a few moments later, her head held in her hands as she stumbled through the training grounds.

Everyone was injured, but each of us looked towards Lady Fenryas as we watched the ongoing spar.