A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

The battle rapidly intensified. Forced to use two swords to defend against four sabres and a polearm, Astrid needed to rely on a combination of her armour and intelligent use of her afterimages to keep herself in the fight.

She'd realised the shadow clone's attacks weren't strong enough to pierce her armour, so she was using that to her advantage and focusing on fending off Zohran and Nasir themselves.

Unfortunately, she couldn't simply ignore the clone. With her armour being focused on agility rather than defence, it had plenty of openings and consisted of both metal and leather-like parts. She had to constantly twist her body to ensure the clone's attacks landed on the metal parts of her armour.

Clang Clang Clang

They were locked in close-combat like this for several minutes. Nasir and Zohran tried desperately to break through Astrid's defence, but found it harrowing. Astrid never attacked during this time, but her focused eyes and excited grin never faltered. Her footwork was graceful, the movements of her swords determined.

She was obviously on the back foot and yet, the duo was unable to make significant progress. They were slowly getting familiar with her defences in the hopes of piercing it, but their opponent wouldn't be that easy.

Astrid's grin widened, her swords suddenly speeding up. "You two aren't bad," she grunted in between movements. "But you're too rigid! Adapt! Overcome! Don't be a slave to your techniques! Be their master!"

Just as she said that, her swords flashed and her movements changed. Suddenly, the defensive wall of movement her opponents had gotten used to changed completely. Defensive parries suddenly came from entirely different directions. Instantly, their slowly growing advantage wasn't only obliterated, but it threw them off.

They faltered just a little, and Astrid immediately capitalised. She spun on her axis in the same movement as deflecting Zohran's sabres, before kicking him hard in the chest, and then spinning through to parry Nasir's polearm. All the while, she ensured the clone's attacks landed correctly.

Zohran stumbled back with a growl, his assault broken. At the same time, Nasir's weapon veered far off-course, causing him to stagger. Astrid didn't try to take advantage, however. Instead, she turned to the shadow clone and rapidly sliced it apart with a combination of swords and afterimages. Without help, this clone was defenceless in front of her.

"Frick…!" Erik heard Zahra curse softly, her eyes wide, locked onto Astrid's display. A proud smirk spread across his lips in response.

Where Emma, Emily, and Elora all busied themselves with things beside training, Astrid was different. When she was done training her body and advancing her runes, she would spend any time left either by sparring, or training her technique. That was what she loved. It made her Erik's undisputed strongest wife, and she was proud of that position.

Unfortunately, she could only be her own teacher, but she did have access to a treasure trove of techniques through Elora's eidetic memory, and the library in Erik's dimension.

In fact, her technique game was already reaching Erik's level, and he'd enjoyed lessons from a hammer master back on Söl.

'It's fine if she overtakes me on pure technique, though,' he thought to himself calmly. 'I'd even encourage it. The stronger she is, the better.' A small smile appeared. 'It's not like I'm worried. I have plenty of other advantages to make sure I don't lose in our little power struggle…'

After Astrid dispatched the clone, she turned back to her main two opponents and tauntingly pointed her weapon at them.

After recovering from her counter, Nasir and Zohran looked at her sombrely. So far, no one had suffered any major wounds. Zohran and Astrid sported some cuts, but nothing that would impair their ability to fight.

Naturally, the fight wasn't done yet. So far, neither Zohran nor Nasir had shown of their abilities too much, but it looked like this was going to chance.

First, Nasir huffed and stomped the ground. Red-hot rocks immediately started crawling up his legs until most of his body was covered in magma armour. Then, he twirled his spear and stabbed it into the ground. A wall of magma spewed forth from the sandy ground and surged towards Astrid.

At the same time, Zohran howled, which sounded like a high-pitched werewolf, and his transformed, furry body lit up with shadowy runes. He charged her again, but now, his body flickered a little, as if phasing in-and-out of shadows.

Astrid snorted. First, she swung her swords and forcefully cut herself a harmless path through the wall of magma, then she engaged Zohran again.

They clashed, but Astrid quickly noticed the effect of his phasing. Zohran now defended only against half of Astrid's attacks, but the ones she was supposed to land touched neither hair nor hide. She frowned, but instinctively knew this had to be costing him a lot of energy.

At the same time, Nasir charged from the side, his weapon having once again turned into a spear. The previous clash resumed—now without the clone, but with powerful abilities.

Astrid soon realised that Nasir's new armour made him a little slower, but also meant she had to put real force behind a blow if she wanted to pierce into his flesh.

She soon started getting into trouble. Although she didn't have the clone to deal with now, Zohran and Nasir had become far more aggressive. Astrid had an easier time landing blows, but they didn't really do anything, and the recklessness of her opponents brought them closer and closer to landing a hit of their own.

Still, Astrid remained calm and in her element. She was enjoying herself, and that was all that mattered.

Clang Clang Clang

The battle continued until someone finally landed the first hit.

The spear headed for Astrid's shoulder. She barely swatted it away with her sword. But then, pain erupted from her side. Snarling, showing her vampiric teeth, she glared at Zohran who'd finally managed to create a bloody smear on her pale skin.

The werejackal wasn't intimidated, grinning at her instead. Without delay, he attempted to do the same thing with his other saber.

But Astrid had one more surprise for them.