The upperclassmen grimaced at the dignified way Leonie responded.
“All right, everyone, are you ready? Ready, set—begin!”
Just in the nick of time, the professor gave the signal to start the class.
“Time to give you whelps a reality check.”
“Yeah, right—just try not to cry too hard after you lose to us!” I said.
We glared at each other, our prey in our sights and our fists at the ready.
“Leonie, how do you want to attack?”
“You go after Ein, Ruchika. Your Gluttony skill should have good compatibility with him. I’ll take on Flicka.”
“So taking advantage of their respective characteristics. Got it, got it.”
“…Ha. Our characteristics, huh?” said Ein.
“Are you two still going on about that crap?” said Flicka.
“Huh?”
I wasn’t sure what they were getting at.
“The idea of ‘characteristics’ is nothing but a label. What it really comes down to in a fight is how well you can use your Gear.”
“In the end, your own ability will do all the talking.”
“Just watch and learn—,” said Ein, starting to recite a magic spell and getting into his battle stance. He raised his staff above his head as he infused it with mana.
“Ruchika, wide-range ice spell incoming, underfoot!”
Leonie shouted out what I assumed was a prediction from her Gear. An instant later, the ground beneath our feet was covered in ice, just like she had said.
“I’ll dispel it. Give me a moment—”
“It’s okay, I can handle this,” I said, interrupting Leonie.
“Huh?”
Paying the ice no mind, I took off toward Ein.
“?!”
A look of surprise spread over his face; my footsteps weren’t impeded by the ice in the least.
Though, I really learned this trick from Leonie.
During the entrance exam, Leonie had used a Float spell to run across Muddy Soil. I was just doing the same thing she had. I closed in on Ein, dashing across the ice, using platforms of stiffened air as my footholds.
“—I figured you’d try something like that.”
“—!”
I heard a voice come from the side. I slid my body backward at an angle as I felt a large, sweeping kick mow past me. Though I was able to dodge it, that definitely would have left a mark had I taken a direct hit.
“Gluttony, was it? That thing where you eat your opponent’s battle aura and mana? With an ability like that, it’s obvious you’d go after Ein.”
It was Flicka, trying to obstruct me.
“But you know, I don’t think I’ll let you get away with something so convenient today. In a real fight, your Gear decides who you fight against anyway.”
Saying this, Flicka started hurling attacks at me. Swift punches, powerful kicks, and grappling throws—she came at me with a variety of techniques. She wasn’t making it easy for me. I could tell she was used to fighting.
“Ruchika!”
“Hold it, Momma’s girl. You’ll be squaring off against me.”
As Leonie sensed I was at a disadvantage and ran in to help, Ein got in her way.
“You know, there’s one thing I just can’t stand,” Ein said.
“…And what is that?” asked Leonie.
“The rules at the Hero Institute are as strict as they come. Everyone here learns to endure them and to discipline themselves in turn.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“Oh really…? In that case—”
Ein readied his staff for an attack.
“—you should know some daughter of a hero who needed special treatment to get in doesn’t deserve to be here!”
“—!”
While anyone would have expected him to follow up with a magical attack, Ein unexpectedly performed what looked like a physical attack instead, swinging his staff at Leonie. Taken by surprise, Leonie reacted too late. She fumbled her sword as she rushed to swing back at him and sliced the air. In the meantime, Ein slipped his staff into the space between, slamming her directly in the stomach.
“Ugh…!”
The next moment, Leonie went flying backward. Ein must have hit her with a magical attack at point-blank. Her body came soaring toward me, and I rushed to catch her in my arms.
“Welcome back!”
“…It seems this fight won’t be so straightforward after all,” Leonie commented to me, catching her breath.
—Shall I assist you now?
No, I don’t think it’s gonna help.
—Actually, I agree.
Then why did you ask?!
—What can I say? I have a mischievous streak.
I was seriously starting to think this Gear might be broken.
“All right, we’re back to square one. What should we do?” I asked.
“These two have more experience than we do in battles using Gear. I’m not sure we have what it takes to go up against them,” Leonie breathed out a weak response.
“Should we just give up and apologize, then?”
“No… I want you to lend me your strength.”
“Sure thing, but how?”
“Ruchika, have you ever heard of a ‘chess problem’?”
“Yeah. But I’m no good at that kind of thing.”
“This situation is the same as a chess problem. We need to find a way to put them into checkmate.”
Leonie whispered her plan to me in a low voice.
“Hey, you over there, how long are you planning on keeping us waiting?”
“Sorry about that,” said Leonie.
“Hmph…you ready to give us some more entertainment?”
“Sure—how’s this for entertainment?!” I said.
I released the energy I had been secretly building up in my feet and took off toward the two upperclassmen.
“She’s fast—!” said Ein.
“Ein!”
I aimed a punch at Ein. Just like before, Flicka cut in, attempting to compensate for his late response, but her movements weren’t as leisurely as they had been last time.
“Why, you… You were holding back before?!” I said.
“It’s hard for me to get excited about some regular, boring fight. But since you’ve started to make it interesting, I thought I’d kick it up a notch.”
“Ugh…she’s too fast…!”
I switched gears, prioritizing the number and speed of my attacks over their power. I was aiming for Ein. As a mage, he basically had no way to stop me from using Gluttony. Flicka would be forced to be his backup, and in the end, I’d be able to tie up both of our opponents at the same time.
“You think you can take on the two of us at once? Do you think this is a game—?!”
“Ein, don’t let your guard down! C-100’s not playing around!”
As I exchanged blows with Flicka, I made sure to make passes at Ein every time I noticed an opening. They had me tied up now, but I was confident I’d be able to push through them both on my own.
And besides, I wasn’t alone.
“Leonie, I’m almost ready!”
“Okay!”
As soon as I gave Leonie my signal, I grabbed Flicka by the arm, put her in an armlock, and threw her.
“Wahhh!”
No matter how good a martial artist you are, you need the stability of your lower body to support your agile movements. And when you’re flying through the air, your body doesn’t move like you expect it to. While Leonie took care of Flicka as the girl was airborne, I would thwart any magical assistance from Ein. Then we would go after Ein and put our opponents in checkmate.
We had them cornered—or so we thought.
“Aren’t you ashamed to be fighting alongside one of the demons who killed your mother?!”
“—!”
Flicka’s anguished insult disrupted Leonie’s focus as she slashed her sword. It was only an instant, not even a second long. But that instant was our downfall.
“Hah!”
“Kyaaa?!”
The second Leonie’s sword wavered, Flicka, still hanging upside down in midair, knocked it back with the heel of her palm. Then Flicka took the sword and used it to spin in the air, turning her body in the air and landing a powerful kick into Leonie. My teammate collapsed on the spot.
“Leonie?!”
“You left yourself wide-open!”
“—!”
I was immediately distracted by Leonie’s injury. And there was no way Ein was going to let that fatal gap in my defenses go unpunished.
“Glu—”
“Not so fast!”
Predicting that a magic attack would be coming next, I got ready to use my Gluttony ability, but Ein’s next strike was a physical blow from his staff instead. For a mage, the move was unexpectedly strong, and it hit me directly in the pit of my stomach. Unable to breathe, I fell to the ground.
“That was a simple physical attack, delivered with nothing but physical enhancement magic. Your Gluttony or whatever shouldn’t apply to something like this, huh?”
He was right. Gluttony wouldn’t be able to feed off attacks of that kind.
“You surprised us for a minute there, but I guess that’s all you’ve got?”
“You’re both such pushovers. You’re nowhere near ready to fight us with that kind of attitude.”
The pair started spewing insults again, as if to look down on us. I hated to admit it, but they did have us beat this time. And the real reason we lost was because Leonie and I hadn’t built enough trust between us.
“…You win.”
Leonie said this with a tone of frustration. And I was even more frustrated that it was my fault she had to say such a thing.
“Why don’t you just quit already, you fakes?”
“Posers like you will never be able to call yourselves heroes.”
They were giving me a mouthful, but I had nothing to say in response. While I didn’t think the gap in our abilities was that big, it was true that Leonie and I weren’t completely up to snuff.
For a while after that, Leonie wouldn’t even look me in the eye.