"Eh, he's living," Kaya said a little too casually for Eloise's taste.

Eloise still looked concerned, and she almost jumped into the crater to check, but Ralph stirred then, groaning to show signs of life, but still far too weak to actually move a muscle.

"See?" Kaya said still casual.

She wasn't actually so flippant about the possibility of taking a life. After all, she had never killed anyone. She had just known for certain that Ralph was alive. It was yet another thing she had found herself capable of doing over the past couple of weeks; she could sense life.

As weak as Ralph Eisen currently was, he still had an abundance of life. He was sapped of energy from such an impactful fall but the protective vest he had on had protected him from the worst of the attack.

The fall had earned Kaya a hit which completed an ongoing set that granted her yet another win. But it hadn't really mattered to her whether or not the fall was considered a hit for her or not as long as she got Ralph this prone and temporarily robbed him of his ability to fight just so her lips could curl at the corner in a smirk.

"It would be your pleasure to defeat me huh?" She said to Ralph and scoffed sure he could hear her even if he didn't have the strength to respond.

"You're done?" Aylin asked judging Kaya's words to have a sense of finality to them.

Kaya shrugged.

"I think he's had enough," she said, "Any more and I'd be a bully. Like you."

"Ha ha," Aylin laughed and it was a genuine sound. As was Kaya's smile.

Aylin looked at Eloise then.

"You?" She asked.

"Yeah, no more," Eloise said and folded her arms, shaking her head and sparing a glance at the Recording Crystal orbiting them like she could look directly at her family on the other side of the screen it projected.

"Well, then…" Aylin said and stepped toward Marcus who had sat up and was resting his back against a tree trunk, his eyes wide in horror.

"No," he said thrusting a hand out, "No more!"

Marcus refused to believe anyone else was going as hard as these three ladies had gone today. The sound of Ralph hitting the ground scared him so much, it robbed him of the thought of keeping this Team duel going. And he never wanted it in the first place.

"We yield!" He yelled.

Ralph was in no position to object and keep this going. And following what he just suffered, he probably had the good sense to call it quits now as well. Baler was very much awake but much more content lying on the ground than acknowledging his sister and how brutally he lost to her.

The screen updated.

[Duel Ends!]

Despite how many wins Kaya, Aylin, and Eloise had racked up, they still earned additional points from the vocal yielding of their opponents.

At the end of the tally, Aylin stayed ahead in total wins, Kaya coming a close second and Eloise was more than happy to be third. It meant she had held back on the violence.

"Let's go," Kaya said, and leading the group, they walked away from the clearing.

Eloise hoped they were heading for another Beast habitat but knowing Kaya, she had a feeling more combat was in their future.

As they walked, Eloise focused on the scoring screen, swiping through to hopefully calm herself with the thought that she hadn't excelled that much.

Alas, as far as she could tell, the only two to have more 'Combat Mage Points' than she did were Kaya and Eloise who were apparently the top two so far in results.

At first, Eloise was so taken by surprise at this that she momentarily forgot she was in third place in the entire class and became more focused on the idea that the class might before lacking than she ever thought.

•••

Of course, things are not so simple.

At least that was what Cynthia Kragsten deduced after she stopped looking at the Forest after the entry of the students and joined her fellow Professors to observe the screens.

It was clear that Kaya, Aylin, and Eloise were just freaks of nature at the moment. At least compared to the rest of the First-Years. They had advantages no one in their class could match as far as the Professors had seen.

Every other duel matchup thus far has involved some give and take. Because there is no lasting injury, students are able to shrug off attacks so even if they suffer a few losses, they bounce back and get some wins themselves. This keeps the points tally in check. It keeps the majority of the class on the low side Combat Magic/Mage-Knight points-wise.

Kaya, Aylin, and Eloise were the exception.

Somehow, they got their opponents down and kept up a show of dominance that left no room for resistance. That hadn't happened anywhere else so far.

It might have been possible to dismiss this as a fluke or even Luck had it not happened with all three who had separate matchups where they largely relied only on themselves. The only way all three could have shown such a level of expertise was if their Magic was that much more advanced.

To be honest, Cynthia had expected it to happen with Caius and his team. Especially since he had Delia and Aurelius with him.

Aurelius had proven in class that he was well ahead of his peers in Combat Magic. And while Cynthia was disappointed in Delia, she would never think her sister was weak. Far from it. Cynthia was aware that her sister was formidable as a Mage-Knight in Training, she just believed Delia would do much better as an actual Mage.

In any case, Cynthia had expected this display of dominance from that team. Not a team that included Eloise Nightingale; the girl with an aversion to combat.

"Way to go, Eloise," Lea said with a smile by Cynthia's side.

Unlike Cynthia, Lea had long believed Eloise had potential and she was glad it had gotten to shine both in the pacification of the Burrow-Moles and the duel she had after.

"Hey, what's happening there?" Raoul asked and pointed at one of the many projected screens. It was a screen dedicated to Caius and his team.

At first, Lea and Cynthia looked at the screen with expectation. Lea had enjoyed seeing them use her teachings to pacify Magical Beasts and earn 'Study of Magical Beasts Points' but she was more than hoping to see him in action. Cynthia even more so.

But when the two looked at the screen, they paused in confusion, and then their faces lost some color even though they couldn't quite understand what they were seeing.

But they knew it could only mean one thing; Trouble. And not the kind they had taken the care to prepare for the students.

Neither Cynthia nor Lea could say a word.

Raoul leaned in even more toward the screen.

"Are those…?" he asked unsure of what he was looking at, "Are those horns?"

•••

Eloise finally swiped the score screen away as she felt she had seen and lamented enough about how inadequate the entire class was for letting her get to third place in Combat Magic.

The Team was very close to their next Beast habitat when they all stopped walking at the same time and raised their hands to their hearts in a move that seemed practiced.

They were walking side by side so Kaya looked to her side at Eloise to see that she had made the same action.

"You feel it too?" She asked.

It was like a tug on her heart. The thing that caused the tug was a bit deeper than that though. It was at the very core of her existence; It was her Divine Seed which was now pulsing an irregular beat like a heartbeat, only more insistent and urgent.

Eloise nodded and she opened her mouth to speak but Aylin cut in.

"Caius," she said in more of a whisper.

Aylin was a step behind Kaya and Eloise so the two had to turn a bit to look at her and only now notice that she also had a hand over her heart.

Aylin was staring off into nothing at first but then she noticed the stares and blinked.

"What?" She asked.

Kaya paused. She hadn't realized Caius had given Aylin the Arcane Circle as well and while she normally would have said something, like some snide comment to get a rise out of the Ice Mage in front of her, she just couldn't find it in herself to do it.

The tug on her heart demanded her attention.

"Nothing," she answered Aylin's question and shook her head.

"He's in trouble," Eloise said then, dropping her eyes from Aylin to the ground.

"Or we're in trouble," Aylin said, "This feels like a warning. To stay away."

There was a moment of silence.

Eloise broke it.

"Well, are we going to stay away?" She asked lightly.

"Like hell, we are," Kaya said with a smirk.

"I knew you'd say that," Aylin said with a smile of her own.

Eloise let out a sigh but couldn't keep a smile off her face either.

"Let's go then," she said with quite a bit of enthusiasm,

"Let's find him and get ourselves in trouble."

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