CH806 Amy’s Perspective

“If this is all you’re good for it looks like you’ll lose another student.”

Did Vasta have a student before Jake?

Based on the way she reacted during her fight, it was clear the answer was yes and that whatever happened, it hadn’t ended well, something the woman she’d known since arriving on that world had never touched on in their time together but apparently still cut deep enough to leave a psychological blow when it was brought up during her fight, nearly bringing things to an early end that left its impact for the rest of their duel.

It was something Amy couldn’t help but want to ask about, even if she was trying to suppress her feelings. All too soon it would be her turn, she needed her head in the game for what looked certain to be a struggle, with the mage she knew left bleeding and beaten by the end, even if she’d come out on top.

But I have until Thera’s done at least. Just a little more time to prepare.

It was what she told herself as the other girl went out, a part of her curious about how such a clash would turn out for someone who held so much power and getting a non-answer as it ended before it could even start. Amy blinked and the second match was done, Thera’s copy left unseen to her and Thera herself looking almost disappointed as she was ferried back to her cell.

“I feel like I should have been able to defend against that,” Amy heard her mutter, her friend not seeing why it had been so easy when it was an attack that Thera herself thought her replica should have been able to handle but there wasn’t going to be an answer for her and there was nothing for Amy to add to whatever complicated feelings may have been left from such an easy victory after what they’d all first witnessed. Her own time was up so much sooner than expected and with Thera returned, her own cell opened, letting her walk out to face herself.

A part of her couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if she just didn’t step into the glowing patch of the platform but didn’t pursue that curiosity in the end. Even if she held no hope that her own fight would go as smoothly as the last, she wanted to get it over with the best she could, even if it was already going to be harder than it needed to.

After seeing how Vasta did, not getting Ben to break out to turn things into a two-on-one really does feel like such a bad choice but… Well, I can’t let someone else carry me through this entire thing.

She already accidentally dumped her feelings about how little she’d contributed to the tower on Ben once, she couldn’t just immediately try to get someone else’s help again for her trial when it was going to be as much of a place for her to improve as anything else. She’d seen the skill of Vasta’s copy and wanted to know the level her own would hold, so prepared as she could be, she held forth the spear in her hand and waited a beat for her duplicate to arrive, throwing herself into the fight the moment she did.

With her weapon held forth, her aim was for a quick kill but it was obvious from the start that her own battle was going to be more comparable to Vasta’s than Thera’s, with her duplicate’s spear expertly parrying her own while continuing forward in her thrust, one hand taken off her weapon to throw a punch empowered by her augmentation that the real Amy only barely dodged, feeling the force of the blow that just barely missed her face, and combined with what she’d seen in the first fight, it was an easy choice to set up her augmentation to behave defensively.

A power that used mana in a way that could be considered a limited form of magic, it was able to be applied to her weapons and her body to exhibit various effects but as the first holder of the non-affinitied version of the skill, there’d been a steep learning curve for figuring out what she could and couldn’t do with it, an issue she still struggled with as she’d explore her power, even if then and there she decided to keep it simple.

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Strengthen her body and weapon, strengthen her defense as well and she’d hoped that would be enough to deal with the brute of the blows, even as one thing became clear.

While it seemed like Vasta’s copy was a little better than the original, the gulph Amy was feeling with her own was all the greater as its kicks and punches were mixed into the regular spear arts she’d learned, with what she’d thought was going to be a jab from the others weapon turning into an elbow strike and getting her in the ribs after she’d dodged, leaving a pain in her incomparable to what it should have been with the precautions she’d taken as an answer came to her.

Was that… Magic nullification?