What did Max do?
He put his hands in his pockets, making her more infuriated.
Right as her limbs were at striking range, Audrey intercepted in the nick of time. She grabbed the Hunter's outstretched arm and unleashed a pulse of divine energy that suddenly disrupted her overflowing aura.
"Guah!"
The Hunter backed away unsteadily, her face pale with shock as her power fluctuated downwards. To her, it felt hot but also cooling. Like fire suddenly doused with a bucket of water.
"…What did you do to me?" she gasped, staring at her trembling hands.
She tried to bring the power to her limbs again, but doing so caused an unbearable pain.
"Please don't force yourself," Audrey said calmly. "Your aura was reaching a breaking point. I simply stabilized the flow before it could tear your body apart. You're safe now, but your aura will be unresponsive for a few minutes while it settles. Until then..."
She deliberately left the implication hanging.
Max grinned. "Sheesh so lively. You can't win this fight."
The Hunter opened her mouth to respond, but whatever she intended to say was interrupted by a new voice from the doorway.
"What exactly is happening here?"
The gaunt mage appeared, his magical whip coiled at his side like a sleeping serpent. His eyes widened slightly at the scene before him. His young partner breathing heavily, clearly on the defensive against the two figures.
"I thought you said this would be simple," he remarked dryly.
"They—they're not normal!" the girl protested.
"The Saintess candidate fights like a warrior, and he," she jabbed an accusatory finger at Max, "and he's too damn slippery and is always getting on my nerves!"
The mage's eyes narrowed, studying Max.
"Hmm… Guess the administrator's son wasn't exaggerating about this one."
Max locked eyes with the mage, keeping his composure.
This one is going to be a pain in the ass.
Without wasting time, the mage made his move.
Even with Audrey by my side, is this a level we can take on?
SNAP!
The mage snapped his whip, unfurling the serpent from its sleep. Green energy crackled along its length as it sliced through the air toward Max's chest.
Max dove sideways, rolling behind a set of gears. The whip struck metal instead of flesh, searing a molten line across machinery.
"Hey! Watch the equipment!" Max shouted, feigning indignation to mask his growing concern. "Some of this stuff can't be bought with money you know? Wouldn't your employer be furious if they found out you damaged historical Academy property?"
The mage's lips curled into a thin smile.
"No one knows we're in here. At least… no one that would mind our little mishaps."
"Except I'm not alone."
Max raised a thumb gesture toward Audrey.
"The Saintess candidate has seen everything."
The mage's expression turned malicious.
"You shouldn't be worrying about her. Your concerns should lie... elsewhere."
With a flick of his wrist, he sent the whip curling around the gear housing. The energy pulsed through the metal with a shade of green, heating it instantly.
Max scrambled away as the housing burst apart, sending superheated shards flying across the chamber. A thin line of blood was carved into his arm, but it didn't stop Max's movements.
"Stone Shard!"
Max called out, channeling his meager mana into the spell. Several jagged rock fragments materialized and shot toward the mage.
The man didn't even bother dodging.
A simple flick of his whip was all it took, shattering Max's projectiles into worthless dust long before they could even graze him.
"Weak," the mage said dismissively.
Max didn't respond, already preparing his next spell.
"Earthen Grip!"
The floor beneath the mage's feet softened slightly. It wasn't enough to trap him, but the momentary instability forced him to adjust his stance.
It was exactly what Max had been counting on.
"Quake Step!"
Max slammed his foot down, sending a small tremor through the already destabilized section of floor.
The mage stumbled. He considered it a minor victory because he managed to figure a potential weakness.
The whip requires stable footing to wield effectively.
Meanwhile, Audrey faced off against the teenage Hunter, whose confidence had returned now that her partner had arrived.
"Round two, holy lady," the girl taunted, dropping into a fighting stance.
Audrey brought her hands together, golden magic beginning to coalesce between her palms. "Light—"
"Nope!~"
The Hunter closed the distance with quick speed, delivering a sharp kick to Audrey's wrist that disrupted her casting.
The half-formed spell dissipated in a shower of golden sparks.
"What? But I destabilized your aura!" Audrey exclaimed, blocking a follow-up strike aimed at her throat.
The girl laughed mockingly.
"You let your guard down. Did you think I only fight with aura?"
Not paying heed to her strike blocked, she followed up with a spinning heel kick.
"I've taken down opponents three times my age who relied on their fancy aura techniques. All you did was force me to fight without it for a few minutes."
Audrey altered her stance, transitioning into one of the formal martial forms taught by the Church's Templar trainers. Her movements became smoother and controlled.
The Hunter smirked, recognizing the formal stance.
"Oh, going back to that? Cute form, just like in training. Too bad real fights aren't so clean."
Across the chamber, Max was finding himself increasingly cornered by the mage's attacks. Each crack of the whip was herding him further from Audrey and closer to a section of the room with fewer escape options.
"Lantern Glow!"
The mage flinched instinctively at the sudden flash of bright light, his whip strike going wide.
"Disperse!"
The mage's free hand made a motion that scattered the light.
Max used the momentary distraction to circle around, trying to position himself where he could assist Audrey.
"Harden!" he cast on a broken piece of metal, then flung it toward the teenage Hunter.
The hardened projectile caught the girl in the shoulder just as she was mid-strike against Audrey.
She yelped, shooting a venomous glare at Max.
"What the hell! You're still trying to gang up on me?"
"Really rich coming from you," Max shot back, already preparing another spell.
"Argh! It's a job! I'd be more than enough to—"
Max couldn't properly hear the rest of her words. In his sight came a heavy mechanical component, torn from a hanging chain, swinging like a pendulum, forcing him to hastily duck out of the way.
Whoosh!
Wondering what the hell happened, he looked just in time to see the mage tug his whip away from the object.
"Don't let him get to your head. Or you will end up feral like the Administrator's son."
The teenage girl glared, but said nothing. Instead, she muttered under her breath about how everyone always treated her like a child.
Max, though stumbling, thought he was safe, but unknowingly the evasion put him exactly where the mage wanted.
"Binding Lash!" the mage chanted.
This time the mage hit his mark, sending the lash to coil around Max's weakened ankle. Searing pain shot up his leg as the mage yanked hard, slamming Max onto the stone floor.
"Audrey!" Max called out in a strained voice.
He was stuck trying to free his leg from the burning coil.
Audrey immediately attempted to disengage from the Hunter, golden magic gathering at her fingertips. "
Divine—"
The teenage Hunter hopped onto the opportunity, delivering a vicious uppercut that connected solidly with Audrey's jaw.
BAM!
The Saintess candidate tumbled, her spell fizzling out.
"You really don't learn, do you? Spellcasting takes time. Time I won't give you."
She followed with a relentless combination.
Delivering a jab to the ribs, an elbow strike that caught Audrey's temple, and finally a sweeping kick that took Audrey's legs out from under her. The Saintess candidate went down hard, amber-gold eyes unfocused as she struggled to regain herself.
"Your formal training is not bad."
The young teenage Hunter stood over Audrey.
"But as expected from a Saintess candidate..."
She giggled.
"A sheltered princess~"
Across the chamber, the mage dragged Max closer, the whip still wrapped around his ankle. Max clawed at the stone floor, his fingers bloodying as he tried to fight back against the pull.
"You've led us on quite a chase. Admirably resourceful for someone with your limited capabilities. But at the end of the day, you two are just fledglings who haven't seen the real world yet."
With a grunt of effort, Max managed to grab a broken gear tooth. He swung it desperately at the whip, striking where the magical power seemed weakest.
The mage reinforced the whip with a surge of power, the green energy intensifying.
"Keen sense. But too telegraphed."
Max's attack failed, the gear tooth barely making contact before spinning from his grasp. The mage continued to pull him closer.
The teenage Hunter kicked Audrey in the side, eliciting a pained gasp.
"Stay down if you know what's good for you."
But Audrey wasn't finished.
Despite the ringing in her head, she managed to prepare a spell while on the floor. Golden light pulsed outward in a rippling wave.
"Divine Repulsion!" she gasped.
The Hunter was caught off-guard, the wave of force throwing her backward several feet. She hit the ground rolling but sprang back to her feet almost immediately, eyes narrowed with anger.
"So you do have some tricks. Let's finish this."
She charged at Audrey, who was raising unsteadily back up again.
At this point, Audrey had no choice, but to bring forth a special technique.