Eva - Half Elf Chevalier

Sigurd tossed aside most of the church's knowledge. Instead, searching for himself. He wanted to use only useful memories, like swordsmanship and survival skills.

"Sigurd, are you ready?" Eva asked, her beautiful spear twirling across the air as she flicked the oil from the tip. "This is an easy hunt, but you should still take it seriously."

"Of course," Sigurd said, following her lead as he grasped the devil blade mammon in his hand, twisting the blade as his fingertips rubbed a special oil given to him by Eva across the curved blade. 

'I wonder what effects each ring will have when activated,' Sigurd thought, looking down at the seven rings, six dull along the blade's edge and one emerald green ring on its pommel. "As soon as we are in combat, I want to test the blade's power."

Eva shook her head. "Do not experiment with magic in combat; it is very dangerous. If you overuse it, you will become a monster or, even worse, dead."

"Don't worry; I'm quite skilled," Sigurd replied.

"I hope you're skilled in other ways, too." Her lips curled flirtatiously, sticking out of her tongue as Eva gave a slow nod. Before lifting her spear over her shoulder; while striding towards the north, she marked the tree where they stood, then.

Sigurd followed Eva with shallow breathing, his steps longer and steady while winding through the forest until they came upon a wide river and its shallow crossing. There, they sat and waited. It was still early evening; the air was silent.

"Strange... not a single monster?" Eva tilted her head, her gaze narrowing on the surrounding forest. "They should have been here by now."

"No matter. This is an excellent opportunity for me to use my magic." Sigurd tapped the pommel of his blade, the emerald ring flashing an ominous green before he focused with his eyes closed. 

"What are you doing?" Eva asked, with a confused look as he pointed his sword down towards the ground with the tip touching it gently.

'I want to sense movements, find enemies... follow my desires.'

Sigurd didn't respond to her questions. Instead, he relaxed, feeling serenity flowing through his body as the emerald flame churned at his command. Since he began using magic, he felt envisioning the magic was the most important key.

He once read about a strange item that would send sound waves, constantly forming a sonar to sense his surroundings. Sigurd imagined these sound waves and transferred the image into a reality.

His blade's emerald flames poured down his arm and spread through his palm and fingers, down towards the blade as it absorbed his desires. A feeling of nausea and a painful headache caused his mind to throb while Eva gasped, seeing a stream of blood ooze from his nose.

"Sigurd! Stop! Using magic spells without guidance is deadly!" Eva cried in shock, her face worried as Sigurd's expression did not change. A hard look of determination and focus.

'Find. Me. Monsters.'

Instantly, his mind expanded, reaching beyond the surrounding forest. In Eva's eyes, huge green rings swept towards the forest, pinging in the distance each time.

'Is that.. a creature? Small... around 120 centimetres tall?'

"T-there." Sigurd pointed. "Around five are moving, and their number is increasing."

"This is some sort of illusion or guidance spell?" Eva gasped, her eyes wide in surprise.

"Let us head in this direction." Sigurd grinned, pointing northwards while guiding her away from the shallow river crossing. "It seems like they are amassing over there, possibly in some cave."

Sigurd tried to keep the spell going as he dashed towards the monsters along with Eva, who held her glaive tightly, her azure eyes watching him in awe.

'Keep concentrating. There are more. Another ten?'

"There are many, Eva. We must be ready."

Eva nodded, her expression hardening as she moved to Sigurd's right, her spear low and poised with a strike. Sigurd stepped forward, his left hand sliding along the blade of his sword, feeling comfort flowing through his body as the magic calmed.

'Alright. I should be able to react if attacked. This will be an excellent test. Adjusting to a new weapon and style of fighting. The Devil blade seems to have a vast difference between normal swords.'

Moments passed with no monster attacks in sight. Sigurd became quiet as his fingertips glistened with black and emerald flames.

"Not yet. They are close, Eva."

Suddenly, a high-pitched screech erupted from the trees on the right; Sigurd saw a small black shadow launch itself at Eva from above, its four black limbs extending at her as it attempted to slam into her with gnashing teeth.

'Too slow.'

Sigurd's emerald flames unleashed from his left hand, trailing towards Eva, spiralling in an arc.

"Noctra Burst!" Sigurd roared as the emerald flame condensed into a barrage of beams, each landing before Eva as her eyes widened. She watched in stunned silence as Sigurd's magic launched the monster into the air, its body now frail, a large hole burned through its chest.

"Eva! More are coming!" Sigurd pointed as she snapped out of her daze, the monster now dead at her feet.

"R-right." Eva nodded, her arms trembling as she tried to regain her composure, the spear quivering in her hands. She didn't fear the monster; her eyes watched the residual flames of Sigurd's magic with a sense of terror.

"Is it that impressive? It wasn't difficult to use at all." Sigurd grinned.

'It seems magic is far more significant than I first expected.'

Sigurd studied the wave of monsters that charged at them with quick steps, their faces filled with bloodlust.

As they growled, he felt a sense of exhaustion, realised his accuracy was horrible with the flashy spell, and made a choice for the rest of the training. 'Unless we meet an Agmar, I will only use Noctra shards to practise accuracy and the enchant spell.'

Sigurd lifted his sword, twisting his hips as the monsters approached; they seemed to be a small type of humanoid with dark green skin, simple weapons, and tattered clothes—Goblins.

Eva sprung into action as she launched her spear forward, a glaive not used for piercing but slicing as she danced through the air; similar to the tempering movements, her silver blade cut their limbs like jelly.

Sigurd did not hesitate and joined the fray, forcing himself into combat, his magic naturally filling his arms and legs, increasing his speed as Mammon became lighter in his hand.

With a simple sweep, his heavy broadsword tore apart a goblin from the abdomen before he twisted his wrist and sliced upward, tearing off the head of another monster with the same movement.

'I have plenty of power behind each swing, and Mammon is a worthy blade. I feel my actions are not neat and difficult to control.'

He adjusted his movements as he fought, focusing on control and ensuring he didn't waste mana or stamina. 'A sword extends my body, then magic extends my soul?'

When Sigurd adjusted his control, he became less deadly. Eva's body flickered from one end of the battlefield to another, her eyes flashing blue as she lunged forward like a bull. Sigurd could only shake his head and watch as she danced her way through the enemy, leaving corpses in her wake.

"Not bad!" Eva giggled as she tapped his shoulder, turning back to look at the Sigurd as his lips curved with a sense of accomplishment.

—Emerald Flame!

Sigurd's sword blazed with a green flame as he stepped forward, not wanting to be outdone by Eva with his raven-black six-ring broadsword. "Come at me, you little bastards!"

He could only smile wryly as Eva's body stepped close to his, almost feeling the heat from her skin as she stepped into his weak spot to protect it with ice shards dancing around her glaive. "I'll cover you, handsome."