Chie observed, as was in her nature. She watched each other candidate- Rivka, Crystal and Selma- perform feats beyond her. '
How?' she thought. '
How does it come so naturally to them?'
Chie had her arms crossed from the start, her face neutral as she kept her gaze fixated on the trials. Even so, if an attentive eye looked her way it'd notice Chie squeezing her arm every-so-often in the middle of the team's performances. Each of them positively shined as they dispatched their enemies effortlessly. Chie doubted she could do the same; up to now, the other three had been looking out for her. She didn't-
couldn't do much on her own. Today, though, she was going to have to prove herself. Prove herself to Rivka and Crystal, standing not far from her, the three of them observing Selma's rampage down below. '
Selma looks like she's having fun...' Chie continued being lost in thought. She glanced to her side. '
Crystal and Rivka too. All of them enjoyed themselves...'
Selma didn't take long to finish up. The shockwave of Selma's axe crashing down on the last remaining enemy gave birth to a loud crash that could be heard even within the safe confines of their observational window. Whoever was on the other end of that earpiece she worse must not have had a fun time with that.
The living mountain of a girl returned to the group soon after her display. Naturally she'd already transformed back to her usual self. Selma was in high spirits; It's no surprise after the showing she gave. "That was amazing, Selma!" Chie complimented her, much the same she'd complimented the other two. A few more superficial pleasantries escaped her lips. It wasn't like Chie didn't feel happy for Selma, but she couldn't muster much more than shallow words of praise. Chie was full of doubts about herself, ever as she had been, and it affected even her ability to be truly happy for others. Even if she should be overjoyed her friends are doing so well, the envy in her heart had taken deep roots. Chie couldn't think about it for too long; after all, her name was called not long after Selma's return. "Yes, I'll be right there!" the girl replied, hurrying off towards the designated practice location. Chie heard her fellow candidates encourage her. The words didn't truly register, though.
She didn't have the time to appreciate their feelings.
The air was thick at Chie's spot. Even before the Nox levels were lowered for her, she could feel its oppressive aura. Maybe it was some remaining pollution of the previous trials, maybe it was her nerves. Either way, only one thing mattered: this intense pressure. It made her feel miserable and sick, much like the surgery had done to her. Something buzzed in her earpiece. "Three. Two. One..."
It was beginning. The floodgates were opened ever-so-gently, to let the ambient dark creep in. Every little bit of Nox that reached Chie came paired with a haze that filled her head. The city-scape had already been ruined, even moreso after Selma's display, but her nox-addled mind turned the devastated imagery into a more desolate and pitiable sight than it had been before. Chie grit her teeth and clutched her head with one hand.
'
Endure it.'
Dark creatures formed from masses of corruption swirling around in the area. Sharp pains shot through Chie's entire body.
'
Endure it...'
Chie peered at her enemies through her fingers. They looked human,
too human for her liking. Before she thought they were terrorists, but now she knows they're just monsters. It's fine. She didn't need to be scared of them anymore. The prospective Ars Magi's body started to shake. Her breathing became ragged, she could feel the sweat forming on her skin. One of the monsters saw their chance to strike upon witnessing Chie's damaged form.
'
ENDURE IT!'
Chie's armagus reacted in the nick of time to save her skin. It shone- as they do- with a light bright enough to stun even the mindless automaton which tried to dig its claws into Chie. She could feel the corruption being changed-
reshaped- into something entirely new. It wrapped around her head, fingers, legs, chest... Chie didn't have time to admire herself, but she knew
something had changed about her. Unfortunately, as brief as her transformation was, the nox creatures weren't thrown off for long either. Chie jumped back, just barely fast enough to dodge a claw of the front-most one. Well,
those were different at least. The ones from before had normal hands, but these monsters were built to kill. Their figures were more slender with claws long enough to reach halfway down to the floor. These were built to
kill.
Unfortunately, it wasn't alone. Two- no,
three more of the same creature had formed around Chie. God only knows if any appeared where she couldn't see them. The situation was unbelievably bad, despite being able to think with a much larger degree of clarity now that the fuzz in her head was gotten rid of. '
What do I do?!' Chie thought to herself, mildly panicked, as she continued to just barely scrape by the attacks coming from multiple directions. She hadn't even summoned her Gladius yet- not that she knew how- to strike back at them with. Fight or flight kicked in full-force. Chie was surrounded and needed to get out of there first before doing or even
thinking of anything else. She made a dash straight for one of the creatures. Moving her body sideways, she narrowly avoided what would otherwise have been a really nasty strike. Then-
*SLAP*...the palm of her hand made contact with the creature's face, stunning it as she took her chance to dash past it. Of course, the others were still hot on her heels, but at least they were
behind instead of in front of her now.
'
Think of something! Think of something!'
Chie tried to feel the nox around her, letting it envelop her being as she siphoned it through her armagus. She couldn't keep running, yet she stockpiled and stockpiled until...
"
STOP!"
...she released it in one big burst, creating a strong field of gravity to pin her and the creatures both to the ground. She couldn't keep on her two legs, going down on her knees from the sheer force of what she'd created, but at least now Chie had a little time. Powering through it, Chie tried to gather the nox around her again. She managed to pry her two hands off the ground for long enough to let it collect in their palms, gaining a new shape. Two chakrams, one for each hand. Their sharp edges didn't dig into Chie's skin, which was a good thing, because the pair had no handle to grip. She was hoping for something a little more, well,
conventional, but at this point the girl was glad to have anything to fight back with at all. The creatures of nox were slowly rising onto their feet, fighting through Chie's field, so it was time to go on the offense. "Release!"
As soon as the force dispersed, Chie jumped back and tossed out one of her new toys. Her aim was clumsy, but the surprise timing caught one of the four creatures off-guard for long enough to not be able to dodge the strike. The weapon sliced clean into its side, not enough for a mortal wound, but it brought it back down to its knees. She could worry about finishing it off later; the other three had to be neutralized first. The chakram she tossed out didn't keep going in the direction it was thrown in but instead pulled to the side and then back to Chie.
'
A boomerang effect!'
Chie caught her chakram on its return. She defensively held them in front of her, parrying one of the creatures' lunge through dumb luck. She took the opportunity to slice it at close-range, putting enough force behind her strike to finish it off in one blow. The monster recoiled in pain and dispersed into thin air. '
They're weak! I can do this!' Chie thought to herself, the girl's confidence surging. She dashed away again, focusing. She gathered nox to create a singular point ahead of her with lowered gravity. She dashed for it, desperately, and the moment she reached her goal, kicked off the ground in an attempted backflip. The lowered resistance helped her to get airborne. Her stunt was dumb, reckless and unpractised. Despite that, whether it was through luck or the power gained from her transformation, Chie managed to control herself mid-air well enough to toss her two weapons behind her. They spun around, digging into and killing yet another assailant, as Chie started to go in freefall behind the other one.
'
...No! Damnit!'
Unfortunately, not having a natural talent for acrobatics, Chie couldn't quite manage to stick the landing. Instead of coming down clean on her feet, Chie had overshot her jump and slammed onto the street with her back. The two chakrams dug into the pavement next to the candidate magi, one to each side. Desperately, Chie pushed herself somewhat straight with one of her arms. She quickly threw out the other, free arm in front of her. The remaining nox creature attempted to lunge at her, but the girl was quick enough to create another focused point of increased gravity right before it managed to reach. Using so much of the same, unpracticed magic in such short intervals was mildly exhausting, but Chie didn't have another option to choose from. The humanoid slammed into the floor before it could reach Chie. It tried to push itself off, making some progress initially, but Chie kept increasing the pressure. She felt herself starting to be pulled into the centre as the point became heavier and started to exert its influence. The creature's figure snapped against the stone, being unable to move as cracks formed underneath it. The monster couldn't muster the strength needed to break free anymore.
"And... stay down!" Chie said, clenching her fist. The nox creature's body dispersed into thin air, unable to withstand the sheer force it had been pressed down into the pavement with. Chie slowly undid her handiwork, gradually reversing the effect of the gravity field. As she did, she breathed a sigh of relief. 'I did it...' she thought to herself, letting her body relax.
Then she felt a sharp pain shoot through her back.
"AAUGH!" she screamed out, instinctively grabbing one of her chakrams and rolling forward. Her now-hazy eyes looked back, seeing the first creature she had injured towering over her. Even though it was limping, its claws were dripping with
her blood. Chie weakly tossed her chakram at it, the effort enough to slice clean through and disperse the adversary into thin air. Chie got to her feet, albeit unsteadily and held herself as she breathed heavily.
"It hurts...!" she complained to herself. She stretched her arm a little, just barely managing to reach the wound with the tips of her fingers. It stung, obviously, and when she pulled her hand back she saw red. Argh, she was such a
mess! Why couldn't Chie do anything right? The other three must think her to be pathetic. She had to transform and hurry back to get it treated. She didn't know how long she was going to be able to keep upright with a nasty gash in her back.
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