Lightning Speed

Finn spent a while on the spot, stretching and carefully testing every part of her body.

She was the most knowledgeable about self-care among the group. Since she'd joined, the others had mentioned that injuries had gone down.

"There's this automatic boost whenever I move. Normally, having your acceleration change on you would throw off your whole sense of balance, but this feels weirdly natural… Like it's always been this way."

"That's how a spirit's blessing works. But for it to feel natural from the start, your compatibility really must be exceptional. I'm envious. Spirits will cooperate with elves, but they never take a strong liking to us."

"Is that how it works?"

"According to the spirits, elves are already strong from birth, so there's no point in lending us power. They prefer humans, who have more room to grow."

That explained why the Fire Elemental had taken to Orleans. But if that were the only reason, far more people should have received blessings.

There had to be other criteria at play.

After all, if room for growth were the deciding factor, the weakest person here was undoubtedly Yohane the merchant.

He'd lose to even the gentle Orleans without putting up a fight.

And yet, not a single spirit he'd encountered had ever granted Yohane a blessing.

There had to be a reason.

"Room to grow, huh. That almost sounds condescending coming from an elf, but knowing you, it's probably not meant as a slight… Well, if they're offering, I'll take it."

Finn finished her seated stretches and stood up.

"That said, my senses haven't fully caught up yet. So, Alexia, spar with me. Bare hands."

"Me? Wouldn't Azu be better? She's got sharper eyes."

"You're sturdier. Azu's all offense and evasion. If I land a clean hit, I'll break her bones."

"The way you say that makes it sound like I'm bulkier than Azu. It's just that I layer magical power over my body for defense. And look at this outfit."

She fluttered the hem of her dress armor.

The key areas were properly reinforced, and the fabric itself was high-quality enough to be far from fragile.

Her way of taking a little dig at him, probably.

But he happened to know that Alexia was actually quite fond of that outfit.

For all her constant grumbling about it, she'd apparently been spotted removing the armor plates and posing in front of the mirror. More than once.

She had enough of an allowance to buy clothes for fashion's sake, so it wasn't a case of making do.

She'd grown to like it after all.

When he stared at her, Alexia flinched slightly.

"Wh-what? You have something to say?"

Her glare was sharp and her tone aggressive, but it looked more like embarrassment to him.

"Whatever. Fine, come on. I'll humor you."

Alexia widened her stance, clenched both fists, and dropped into a fighting posture.

Just that was enough to shift the atmosphere.

The air tightened, heavy with pressure.

Finn, by contrast, stood relaxed and natural.

Her arms hung loose at her sides, and the subtle rise and fall of her chest showed she was breathing lightly.

Ready to move at any moment.

He backed away with Azu and the others, thinking it was too dangerous to stay close.

Evalin seemed interested in the fight too, settling onto a tree stump to watch.

Alexia inched forward, closing the distance.

In their usual sparring back at the yard, Alexia won more often. But how would this go?

In the space of a single blink, Finn's right foot slammed into Alexia's side.

Her left arm had almost made it in time, but not quite. She'd reacted, but pure speed had beaten her.

The kick connected flush with her ribs.

It looked painful just watching, but Alexia's face showed no sign of distress.

Just as Finn had said, attacks without hidden weapons or short blades couldn't deal real damage to Alexia.

Unbelievable. A kick like that would have shattered multiple ribs on anyone else.

Alexia tried to grab the foot planted in her side, but Finn slipped away before she could.

As if returning the favor, Finn followed up with an upward kick to her chin from the opposite leg.

Alexia anticipated and blocked that one, but it left her side wide open, and another kick landed in the exact same spot.

From Yohane's perspective, he could only tell what Finn had done after she'd already finished moving.

He leaned over to Azu, who was watching intently, and whispered.

"Can you follow Finn's movements, Azu?"

"Barely… But there are moments where I lose sight of her. It's frustrating, but if I fought her right now, there'd be a point where I couldn't block and she'd get me. It's not just speed, the power behind her strikes has gone up tremendously too."

Alexia's body bent slightly at the waist.

That last hit had packed real force.

"That one actually hurt."

A fist cut through empty air.

Finn was finding her rhythm, and her attacks clearly increased in frequency. Alexia seemed to be managing only to guard her vitals.

After taking several hits, Alexia wiped a trace of blood from her lip.

Her lips were curved into a smile.

… Her eyes were dead serious. All that punishment from Finn had lit her fighting instinct.

Bare hands or not, things could go wrong fast.

The moment he tried to call out, Finn kicked the air.

She was well out of Alexia's range, and the intent was unclear.

A stray leaf drifted between them and split cleanly in two.

Finn had apparently generated an invisible blade of air.

"Hmph."

The instant he thought that was going too far, Alexia seized the air blade in her right hand and crushed it.

The surface of her skin split slightly, and that was it.

Alexia fixed Finn with a triumphant look.

"My win. That counts as a weapon. If you're going to use that, I'm using magic."

"Fine, fine. You win. I just thought I might be able to pull it off and it worked. With barely any magical power, no less."

Elza gave an oh my and healed Alexia's injuries.

Then Finn's.

It seemed she'd pushed her body too hard.

She'd strained her tendons.

A true draw where both sides took their lumps.