Playfulness?

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The clashing of steel resounded. Lillian's slashes of her sword were constantly countered by Xander's metal fist. However, that didn't imply that Xander's own attacks were also working.

For while Xander was parrying her strikes, she was dancing around his flurry of punches. This had begun to take a slight toll on her already poor stamina. It didn't help that she was quite tired before they engaged in battle.

Lillian snuck a glance towards Testrie and couldn't help but grimace at her current predicament. She had thought about retreating, but she doubted she could since Testrie's affinity for space and mastery over it was perhaps enough to form portals to prevent her escape. (2)

'Troubling indeed...' She thought before having to dodge another swing from Xander. Using this chance, she increased the distance between them to briefly take a break before having to dodge another punch.

Xander's persistence to close the gap between them had rendered her unable to manifest any sort of water projectiles. If this keeps up, she is sure she is going to become fatigued enough to be left helpless and unable to avoid his attacks.

That was... if a certain necklace's enchantment didn't kick in...

'H-huh?' Amidst her dodging, she suddenly felt her body tilt back and fall. She had somehow tripped on a rock. This, however, worked in her favour.

Xander, while in a punching motion, watched as she fell. Fortunately for Lillian, he was unable to take advantage of this. He watched as Lillian raised her injured hand to him and once again shot out another drill.

He clenched his jaw, gritting his teeth, and watched as it travelled towards his abdomen. The sense of danger flashed inside his mind before blinking away as he saw a portal swallow it.

Lillian scowled at this. She gripped the hilt of her sword and swiped it towards his side. (2)

Xander stepped back, quickly backing away from Lillian while glancing at his stomach. He had been unable to completely dodge her attack as a small line of blood bled out and stained his clothes.

"Dang... you actually got me... here I thought I would draw the first blood..."

He patted his stomach while watching Lillian push herself up from the ground.

Lillian shrugged.

"I just got lucky."

"Maybe so... but I have to admit, you are so far the most skilled person I have faced in this exam. And that says a lot considering how many I—"

COUGH!

Xander's eyes drifted towards Testrie, who gave quite a conspicuous cough. His lips morphed into a wry smile as he reworded his sentence.

"I mean... we eliminated."

"Is that so...? Well, I'm glad I made quite a good impression."

Xander nodded - moments later, he made a mad dash towards her. His fists were ready to be shot out again like cannon balls in a cannon. However, Lillian had rapidly launched a blast of water towards his way, knocking him back and causing him to tumble all the way to Testrie's feet.

Xander looked up and smiled. His eyes traced the outline of Testrie's face before making contact with her eyes that were scrutinising him.

"Hey."

"... You really should stop messing around now, Xander."

With a groan, he got off the floor and dusted himself off, "Can't let me have fun, can you?" He cracked his neck.

He then asked:

"How's that mana of yours?"

Testrie scowled, "Low... you know my element is very costly. Try to dodge more."

Xander just chuckled, "Oh, come on! You make it sound like I'm trying not to on purpose."

"You are!"

"Maybe, but—"

"Where did she go?"

"Huh?"

Xander looked at the spot where Testrie's finger was pointing and saw that the white-haired girl he had just been fighting had suddenly disappeared. He looked left and right - all he saw were rocks from the beach lined up around them.

Had the girl run away?

Xander frowned, sighing in disappointment. Some people he had faced in the exam had tried to escape him just before their elimination. Although he couldn't blame them since they weren't quite on par with him in strength, it was still a bit disappointing.

That was until...

"Puah... ack!" The taste of iron filled his mouth, a red liquid leaving and dripping out of it. Why had blood suddenly erupted from inside his mouth? Looking down, he saw a damaged blade coming through his chest.

Slowly craning his head back, he couldn't help but grin as he saw who was behind him. "You didn't run after all..." His teeth dyed red in his blood as his eyes met Lillian's, who stared back with amusement.

Earlier, when she had knocked away Xander and saw they were distracted from conversing with one another, she hid behind the massive stones around them and made her way around.

"For someone who likes fighting so much. You have a serious habit of letting down your guard a lot."

Lillian ripped her sword out from his back and jumped back, dodging a slash from Testrie's rapier. Xander fell to the ground on his knees, panting heavily, his blood leaking profusely out his chest.

Testrie stood near Xander, her eyes flaring with concern and worry. Xander continued to stare down at the slit in his chest, he smiled self-deprecatingly, "I guess I do..."

He then looked up towards Testrie, "You mind passing me that potion?"

"..." Testrie pushed up the bridge of her glasses with a guilty expression, "I don't have enough mana to form another portal. I already used it for my rapier."

"Ah... I see... not much we can do then..." With a grunt, he pushed himself off the ground. He then felt the gauntlets weighing slightly more than they usually did. With another sigh, he took them off.

THUD! THUD!

"All we can do is take her out and hope she drops another mana potion..." Xander got back into a stance, along with Testrie.

Lillian, listening in on their conversation, smiled and summoned a certain bottle in her hand that caused both of their eyes to target immediately. She dangled it in between her thumb and index with a taunting look on her face.

It was another mana potion, just exactly what they needed. And unlike Lillian's previous one, this one was filled to the brim with it, sealed with a cork.

"You talking about this~? This is my last one~ oh, what would you do if I drank it right now? I'm quite low on mana, too, you know~." She moved the cork of the bottle to her mouth and playfully bit into it. (10)

She then began to make a few small tugs at the cork. (3)

The two of them, realising she might actually drink it if they lingered, decided to waste time no longer and charged towards her.