Paryl reacted on instinct. Scarlet electricity coated his arm, and he easily deflected a blow meant for the jugular. The elf girl landed, her mask moving slightly.
She was grounded and had no way to counterattack. She couldn't generate power from her hips, as they were turned in the wrong direction. Paryl tested his luck with a stiff jab.
The nimble elf easily slipped on the attack's inside, but her weapon was in an awkward position between the two fighters, and she was too close to use it effectively anyways. She jumped back, disengaging.
Paryl shot a tentative glance towards Indom. The man shrugged.
'Seems like I have to win, alone.'
The woman got into her combat stance. By standard rules of combat, she should have rushed in; however, magic and personal abilities changed that guideline.
It didn't matter if you had a weapon with a 1-meter reach if your opponent could slam a pillar of water that's 40 meters long into you.
In mana combat, if you had a reach advantage, it was better to judge your opponent's arsenal and rush in only if they couldn't counter you.
Paryl didn't know any of that, of course. He started his attack with a large pillar of fire. The elf dodged sideways nimbly, then used air magic to spread the smoke created by the flames.
A white veil descended upon the combatants.
Paryl couldn't see the opponent, nor could he sense her, due to the elf bloodline "Deception."
He waited for the smoke to either thin out or for his opponent to attack. The latter happened first.
Smoke started bending unnaturally, so Paryl immediately struck at the place she'll emerge with a created tail.
His attack went through the smokescreen, not connecting with anything. The elf sent out air magic to make it seem like she'll engage but encircled her opponent.
Paryl managed to jump forwards. Normally, jumping forwards when you didn't know the location of your opponent was tantamount to suicide, but he knew the attack was coming from behind, hearing the elf's footsteps.
The rapier flashed behind the boy, only slicing his upper back mildly.
Paryl grimaced in pain, bit his lower lip to focus, and immediately reacted with his manifested tail. The elf ducked, then used her lower position for additional leg drive, going after the boy's spine. As she sliced forwards, a dragon arm slapped the rapier away.
Paryl held two separate partial transformations, the arm and the tail. He never practiced this, but it came to him instinctively.
The elf staggered back, allowing the boy to shoot out multiple predictable pillars of condensed fire.
The masked elf slipped the first attack by moving her upper body left, dodged the next pillar by ducking, and used air magic to deflect the third one.
She started thrusting at nothing. Air missiles exploded out of the tip of her sword.
Paryl dodged what he could and deflected what he couldn't dodge. There was an issue: his physical endurance. While his mana reservoir in the imprint could hold out for days if needed to, his body couldn't do the same.
If the girl's mana core was large enough to last longer than Paryl's muscles, that would mean death.
Fortunately, she was an elf and didn't have the genetic predisposition for a large core.
It seemed she was bleeding her mana core dry, so she decided to switch it up, launching herself into close quarters.
Mask had a large core for a child her age, roughly 19.7 gigamana. However, she wanted to keep mana in reserve.
That was a devastating mistake, made by overestimating her opponent's physical abilities.
Paryl pulled back into a telegraphed right-hand punch, electricity already enveloping it.
Nobody could see it through the mask, but the girl was smiling.
'What an amateur. Such sloppy, predictable attacks.'
She used her momentum to slash downwards with all her might. Paryl deflected the blow with his arm that was preparing a right, and that momentum pulled him downwards, revealing his back fully.
'Sleep well, child.'
The rapier thrust forwards, aiming to stab the back of his head.
Then, her world spun.
Something crashed into the elf, and she flew sideways. Her rapier bounced on the floor as she slammed into a thick, cement wall.
She barely managed to distribute the mana throughout her body before flying into the hallway wall. Unfortunately, she had been gathering mana for her final strike and didn't protect her chin from whatever had hit her.
She looked around, dazed and disoriented. The girl tried standing up, but her legs gave out underneath her. She had a mild concussion at the moment.
The boy had used momentum pulling him downwards to unleash a devastating spinning back heel kick.
Why was she alive even though she got hit on the chin with a strong attack while unprotected?
The child didn't even have enough time to use a partial transformation, so he just strengthened the leg with the mana present within his mana core. It wasn't nearly as powerful as a fully amplified attack would've been, but it did the job.
The elf removed her mask, then threw up onto the carpet. She tried using mana inscription lights as a crutch to get up, but everything was spinning. She fell down, hitting the floor painfully.
Paryl approached the hurting child. She screamed fearfully:
"Don't touch me! Please! Don't touch me! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
She pulled herself back into the nearest corner, crying. She was terrified of the boy.
"I won't hurt you. Just let me help—"
He reached out towards her, brushing against her arm. She screamed, then pushed him away, trying to hide in the corner.
"Don't touch me! Please!"
Her bangs moved to the side, revealing a bold, branded mark on her forehead. It said one word.
'MEAT'
The girl kept crying.
"I'm sorry! I'm just trying to leave before the Meat Festival! I'm sorry! I needed the money! I'm sorryyyy!"
Paryl had no idea what to do. Luckily, Indom stepped in. He got close to the girl but didn't touch her. The man simply offered her a hand, leaving it up to her whether she'll take it or not.
"Hi there, I'm Ordin. Let me help you up, okay?"
His tone was calm and warm. It wasn't the tone a person would usually take talking to someone who tried to murder their student.
The girl thought about it for a few seconds, then nodded and let him pull her up.
"Now, dear, what's your name?"
The elf looked away shyly.
"I was taken from my parents before my 5th birthday, so I don't have one."
Indom nodded along.
"Okay, then can I call you Mask?"
The girl let out a pitifully quiet:
"Yes..."
"Great, then, Mask, please tell us about this Meat Festival."
Mask looked at Paryl for a few seconds, saying:
"It's the reason everyone is either trying to get a title or leave Lutingen. If you don't leave in time, you'll be nothing more than meat for the nobles."