After being congratulated on their win, Ursula and the rest of her team waited as— the late arriving, Prof. Callista healed the losing team and sent them back to the sidelines. Everyone returned— shamefully, except Adrian who had to be taken to the Infirmary due to losing too much blood.
She now patiently waited as Prof. Raizen talked over the loss with Zach and Stella, giving them pointers where they needed them and the ability to reflect on their mistakes.
Prof. Callista threw her a supportive thumbs up from her spot opposite the students in the shade, Ursula smiled and nodded in appreciation before turning to face the students and see who Prof. Raizen planned to pick next.
As she did, she noticed Claude sat at the end of the row of students clenching his jaw and scowling harder than usual.
"What's up with Claude?" Warren asked from beside her just as she noticed it.
"Good question." Ursula replied before walking to the edge of the barrier to be closer to him and the rest of the students.
Maris stood close by, too absorbed in cleaning the blood off her sword to notice them come to a stop next to her.
Once Ursula got Claude's attention, she threw her arms up and mouthed the words, "What?" In an attempt to make him explain the situation.
In response, Claude shook his head dismissively in a way of saying, "It's nothing.", before looking to the ground, hiding his features in the shadows of his long black hair.
Before she could press him further, she noticed the students talking while flicking their heads or pointing their fingers at someone in the field. She stepped closer and listened carefully, expecting to hear them talking about her. Instead, they all had words for someone else on the field.
"...No honor."
"That was so cheap."
"Warren's so incompetent that he needed help from the new girl."
"She's kind of weird dude. I don't know what it is but she's...off."
The students all ridiculed Maris for her somewhat gruesome and tactless way of fighting in Mob while she carelessly stood on the field, checking her sword for any more bits of blood that dirtied its silver sheen.
"They're not even acknowledging how well she did against Adrian! And it's not like having honor when facing the enemy's going to get you anything in the Tangent's." Ursula thought in anger before realizing Claude must've been angry because of how hard it would be for her to make friends after today's events spread to the rest of the first years.
"Your in your head again?" Maris suddenly asked from behind her, snapping her out of her thoughts.
She turned and found Maris looking at her intently as if she'd find her answer somewhere in Ursula's face before she responded.
"Nope. I'm good." Ursula replied with an exhale.
Maris nodded and turned to face where the new Mob would wait in a few minutes. Ursula turned and faced the same direction, rolling her shoulders and neck under the sounds of the students verbally picking apart the new girl. The giant murmuring wave of negativity reminded her of something she forgot to do.
"By the way, good work against Adrian and Zach." She said before fist bumping Maris' arm.
Maris blinked twice in shock before looking over at Ursula. "...Uhm.....Thank you."
***
A few minutes later and the opposite end of the field was lined by four students, ready to fight and happy with their odds of winning.
The Mob's leader was a talented male Swordsman named Percy. He wore the intense confidence he felt on his face in the way of an open smirk while he whispered plans to the rest of his team— consisting of an Assassin and two Knights.
"Alright Ursula, got any more cool plans to give us an advantage? Because we need it." Warren asked.
Ursula looked over the Mob again responding, "We have to get rid of their numbers advantage as soon as possible. Now that you have your bow, you should fire at their Swordsman and Assassin to try and hurt them before they enter."
"What about the Knights?" Maris asked.
"Their defense and Aura's are too developed. We're going to have to fight them anyway, but there's a chance we can deal with the other two through you." Ursula said while pointing at Warren.
Warren gulped loudly before responding, "This is just great. Our chances of winning rest on my shoulders....."
"Have some faith. You did pretty well last match." Ursula said before slapping him in the back and retrieving her axes out of the grass, in preparation for the upcoming fight.
"Alright. Defenders, do you need any healing or will you risk waiting another match?" Prof. Brennan asked.
Ursula looked at her teammates, noticing Maris was completely unscathed and Warren only had a couple cuts on his arms.
"No. We're fine." She replied.
"Very well. Mob are you ready?!" He yelled to the group of students.
"Yes, sir!"
"Defenders?!"
"Ready!"
"Begin!"
The Knights ran to the right in Warren and Maris' direction while the Swordsman and Assassin headed straight for Ursula.
"Ohhhh shi—"
"Warren, focus and go with the plan!" Ursula cut him off, reminding him of what he had to do.
Warren didn't bother with responding and began firing arrows at the Swordsman and Assassin.
Thwip!...Thwip!.....Thwip!
Warren's less than impressive accuracy allowed the two agile students to bound and flip across the field, dodging the arrows with relative ease.
"Keep it up and aim for the legs." Ursula said as they neared.
Warren continued to fire, cursing himself after every miss until a shot hit its mark— more or less.
Thwip!....Thwip.....Shrip!
"Ah!"
Percy made a pained grunt as a stray arrow grazed the side of his leg, slowing him down immensely.
"Finally!" Warren said as he loaded up another arrow.
"Too late." Maris said now that the Mob was only about 15 or so feet away.
Ursula clutched her axes and settled into her fighting stance, eyeing the Swordsman who seemed to choose her as his opponent.
He was the first to enter, raising his smoking hand and sending a ball of fire at her.
Fwoosh!
She dodged only to find another headed straight for her. In response she guarded her face with her forearms while using her Ice to increase her defense.
Shhhhh!!!!
The fireball crashed into her Ice'd arms and erupted in a sizzling cloud of steam from her Ice behind melted.
"OHHHHHHHHH!!!"
The cloud blocked her vision and stopped her from seeing what the students erupted in noise about.
She panicked and swept the cloud away, noticing the Swordsman was no longer in front of her and a person was missing from the barrier.
The sound of swords clashing directed her attention to the fight between Maris and Percy. She also noticed the two Knights stood at the edge of the barrier with their shields raised and their Aura's slowly fading from their bodies like colored steam.
Warren lay unconscious outside of the barrier in front of them.
"Dammit! It was a trap. Percy made everyone think him and the Assassin were going for me so when he split it allowed the Knights to double team Warren....Wait....Assassi—"
Shlck!
She was cut off by a slight stabbing pain erupting from her back.
She reacted on impulse and spun around, kicking the Assassins legs out from under her. The Assassin quickly recovered and limped away only to be replaced by two Knights heading in her direction.
"Maris heads up! Assassin coming your way!" She yelled before dodging one of the Knights using his (Shoulder Charge) Skill.
She sidestepped and spun around, roundhouse kicking the Knights back which only added to his built up momentum and caused him to stumble out of the barrier.
"One down." She thought.
The sound of footsteps caused her to turn around just in time to feel the stinging pain of a sword cutting through her left arm.
Shlck!
"Argh!"
[ 95% HP Remaining. 570/600]
[Berserker's Rage: 60%]
The Knight wasted no time and charged with his shield to try and shove her out of the barrier.
Woo!
Bang!
Ursula leaned into the charge, overpowering the Knight and sending him back a few steps.
Immediately after stunning him, she unleashed a barrage of attacks against his shield with her axes.
The power and repetitiveness of the attacks made it near impossible for him to get in any of his own without bearing the risk of taking an axe blow head on.
Ursula and the Knight eventually switched positions sometime in-between her unrelenting strikes.
Bang!....Bang!....Bang!
His back now faced the barrier and he was getting closer and closer to being pushed out, he could also feel her axes denting his shield with every wild strike she delivered.
Bang!....Bang!...
Suddenly, they stopped. He could hear her breathing heavy uneven breaths as if she was cooling down from a fit of rage— leading him to believe now was his chance to go on the offensive.
He lowered his shield with a confident grin saying, My tur—"
"AAARRRGH!"
He was interrupted by Ursula yelling madly while charging at him, she moved faster than before reaching him in a flash.
The last thing he saw before her fist smashed into his face and knocked his helmet off was her wild pure white eyes.
CRACK!
The Knight flew out of the barrier with his shield, sword and helmet landing nearby.
Ursula turned around just in time to see the Assassin kicking Maris out of the barrier. She blocked the kick, but couldn't fight the power behind it and stumbled out. The two stared at each other for a long time before Maris was taken away by Prof. Callista.
The two remaining members of the Mob focused their attention on the final member of the Defenders.
"How's your back?" The Assassin asked in a muffled tone due to her face mask.
"It's great. You missed." Ursula replied as her eyes faded back to normal and her breathing normalized.
Percy started to laugh quietly as he caused a bright orange flame to shroud his hand.
"What's funny?" Ursula asked as Percy brought the flame to his leg wound and cauterized it.
"Your outnumbered.....and facing two speed based Classes....as a Tank Class. You know you can just walk out of the barrier right?" Percy asked while he rested his long sword on his shoulder.
Ursula shrugged and wiped the blood off her left arm saying, "Eh? I like my odds. Now are we going to keep talking? Or can we fight?"
"Your loss." Percy replied.
[Berserkers Rage: 61%]
[Skill: (Henbane Boost) Active! 15% Damage Reduction.]
[Berserkers Rage: 80%!!!]