18

Testing Grounds

Teufel

There were at least half of the mages than there were then, and in Teufel's mind, the mages that left and or opted out of the next stage of the test were probably less inclined to acquire the higher grade; of course as she looked around at the visible faces if each mage around her, they held expressions of ambition and some part eagerness.

This was fine in Teufel's mind, as it allowed the process to move faster and get the day over than putting everyone in some tournament or something that would probably take a good few hours for everyone to take turns on the available testing grounds.

The smaller crowd of mages talked amongst themselves while Teufel was looking around, before Fern beside her spoke up, "Where do you think your mother is?" she questioned with a curious gaze on her face as the young girl looked around.

Teufel turned to look at Fern, and spoke with a frank tone, "Not sure, my best guess is Serie might be pitting herself against my mother. This little second phase of the test is pitting mages that aced their third grade test, and mother is practically beyond the scope of any ordinary mage." she answered. Serie was the next best test for her mother if she wanted to earn her second grade rank, Teufel doubted any of these present mages had it in them to get a win over her mother.

Fern's eyes widened a bit as she looked back at Teufel, "You really think that?" she asked, her eyes glanced around to find any trace of the two elves in question, "I mean, even I don't think I could face mistress Frieren, much less these mages…well…it's not like I've seen them fight yet personally, but the point still stands!"

Teufel nodded in agreement with Fern, "But it's just a guess really." she shrugged, "Serie is probably just talking about putting some handicap on mother to make it fair for the other mage she might face…actually, on second thought…" She made a sour face at the words that came out of her mouth, "That would anathema to the test itself!...maybe Serie really is making mother face against her so that she doesn't wipe out the poor mage she might have faced off against."

With a look of understanding on her face, Fern looked around, observing her surroundings, "There's no way they'd use this place to do the test against each other, right? I mean, Serie is known as the living grimoire, then you have mistress Frieren that fought, survived and won against the demon king along with the other heroes!"

Teufel nodded and asked her fellow mage, "Did Heiter ever tell you much about the fight he and my mother had with the Demon King?" she asked, while earning more curious glances from the mage bystanders, "Surely he told you some bedtime stories or something, right?" she questioned Fern.

Turning her head back to look at her friend, Fern smiled and nodded, "Once actually! He said the fight took almost the whole day to defeat the demon king! He had to use every goddess magic spell he knew! Not to mention he witnessed both his friends Eisen and Himmel fight nonstop!" she answered, before looking at Teufel with another curious gaze, "What about you? Did mistress Frieren ever tell you about her fight with the demon king?" she asked.

Teufel nodded with a focused look, "At least once, she said she was fortunate to have the friends beside her the whole time, though the details of the fight itself were from her perspective. I asked her what sort of spells she used at the time, and the simple answer I got from my mother was 'everything that was useful in the situation'." she shrugged.

"Oh." Fern mused with a certain look of surprise on her face, earning a shrug back from Teufel. Before Teufel and Fern could speak more on the situation any more, most of the mages quieted down as Sense emerged from out of the administration building along with a few other administrative mages that worked there, earning both Fern's and Teufel's attention as they quieted up.

Nowhere was seen neither her mother or Serie, so Teufel's assumptions were beginning to run clear and true. Sense herself held herself a calm look as she walked towards the crowd of mages, her eyes trailing over them before moving on. As Sense closed the distance, she spoke aloud with a calm tone and look on her face, The other mages that walked with her stopped behind her.

"From here on, I will be proctoring the following test. And before you ask, no, My master Serie will not be present." Sense intoned, her facial expression never deviating from the placid look she had on her face.

Teufel was already hearing murmurs break out amongst the mages, while Fern leaned over to her to whisper, "I guess you were right." she said, while earning a nod from Teufel,

Sense continued to talk as her eyes drifted from one end of the crowd to the other, "Due to…the nature and experience Frieren has, as you all no doubt know, was facing the Demon King along with the other heroes and won ,Serie has seen fit to face the mage herself. She knew having Frieren face any of the aspiring third grade mages for their second grade would have been an unfair match." she further explained.

Teufel watched as some mages nodded, while some visibly showed signs of relief. She doubted any one of them actually wanted to face her mother at all for the prize of second grade, but she wasn't sure if any would try and ask for a friendly mage spar, that was a different matter altogether.

Sense then motioned to the side with her arm, "To make this process easy-" one of the mages that came outside with her shuffled forward with a large jar and stood beside where Sense was motioning her arm towards, "Everyone will be pulling out a piece of paper that is in that jar, and will be facing against their respective opponent with the match numbers." she ordered, "When I call out your number, the both of you will step forward and be sent to your respective testing ground." she explained.

After Sense spoke those words, one of the other mages that walked out with her stepped over off to the side, and placed her hands on the ground; the female administrative mage formed a concentrated look on her face, as a large blue circle blipped into view around her hands.

Teufel watched as from out of the testing ground in the far off distance, Two large earthen flat rings emerged, Sense continued to speak as the rings finished emerging, "The goal is this, knock your opponent out of the ring, I will accept no maiming, nor lethal attacks. Any made are clauses for disqualification." She announced with a bit of a glare on her peaceful face.

More hushed murmurs emerged from the crowd, while Sense's focus once more roamed across the crowd. "Please form a line now." she ordered calmly, prompting everyone to get moving, "And please-"

BOOM

Teufel jerked her body a bit, was well as Fern as seen from the corner of her eyes; Teufel also witnessed many of the other mages jerked in surprised as well, and not just them, she saw Sense react a bit violently to, a minute one as she visibility widened her eyes over to the far off mountain in the distance. "Ah…they've already started…" she spoke in a concerned tone.

Everyone's attention even Teufel and Fern tried to look beyond the distance, the distant sound of explosive spells went off from behind the mountain in the distance. Teufel could only ponder and imagine what sort of mage battle her mother was having with Serie.

Frieren

A bit ago

Landing from out of the air with her staff in her hands and ready for the match she was going to have with Serie, Frieren watched as Serie herself gently landed with her bare feet to the ground; Frieren looked around next and noted they were indeed far from the city, Serie had told her where they would be doing this five minute test.

"I am looking forward to see how far you've grown." Serie spoke, earning Frieren's attention as she pulled her attention before over the elf herself, a pleased smirk present on her face as she spoke. "I didn't think you were ready at the time a thousand years ago, but I think now's a good time to see what sort of mage you've developed into, to see the fruit of Flamme's tutorship." she said while reaching into her sleeve, her eyes were focused on where she was reaching, before pulling out a clock with small bells on top of it.

Frieren watched as Serie began winding the clock up, "Really?" she asked, her curiosity leaking into her voice as she spoke with Serie, "I thought you said you wanted to face the Frieren that slayed the Demon King, not the apprentice of Flamme." she asked, confused as to what sort of mage Serie was expecting out of her.

Serie looked up at Frieren as she continued twisting the gears on the back of the clock, "I want to see all that you learned, Frieren, ever since we parted ways on…a bit of a sour note, I could not help but ponder what sort of development you would have through the ages. After all, an elf can be either lazy, or devote themselves to anything with all the time they have…" she answered with a growing smirk.

With a bit of an annoyed look, Frieren expressed back at Serie with a pointed look, "So what, you were lazy for the last few hundred years, and then you decided to go through with doing my master's wish?" she pointed out. Frieren was pretty sure she brought this up before with Serie, but it didn't hurt to nail the comment in against her.

Serie on the other hand expressed a simple smile as she placed the clock down and let it set while keeping her eyes on Frieren, the clock itself had yet start ticking, allowing the conversation between them to continue for a bit further; As Serie stood back up, she spoke with a careless tone, "I was busy collecting grimoires and spells, Frieren, what did you do with your thousand years?" she shot back, while a simple wooden staff of a stick appeared in Serie's hand. One end was pointed while the other was balled up into knotted wood. It looked more like something used by an elderly person to help them stand up.

"Though, speaking from what I know and seen so far…" Serie continued to talk with an amused look, "You became a mother to a half elf, and it was a pleasant surprise to see other half elves as well among those mages earlier." she commented, her amused smile thinned a bit, "Perhaps this age of mankind will be accompanied with the unity of man and elfkind alike. Who knows…" she remarked candidly.

Serie's amused smile formed back to a simple one, as she saw where Frieren's were focused, before Frieren herself looked back at the other elf's face, "Don't mind the staff of mine, just something I have that once belonged to my elder elf." she answered Frieren's questioning gaze.

"Hmm." Frieren acknowledged Serie's answer, as silence settled before them. She started to feel the tense air between them, unsure when the clock would start ticking, be it magical or not, but she had her mana ready and her stance with her staff was just as well, while Serie remained relax in her posture as the both of them stood a few yards away from each other.

Serie was the first to move, as she lifted her free hand up and quickly snapped her fingers, allowing a blue circle to appear around said fingers; the clock itself glowed blue before it began ticking its five minute timer down.