My concerns about a painful sparring session didn’t get alleviated when we finally arrived at our destination.

Mostly, it was a standard sparring room. A huge, open area with no impediment, the floor covered in stone, each inch enchanted carefully for extra durability to resist the aggression of the high-leveled combatants, and several wards ready to be activated in case of a danger to prevent death.

Yet, the details shouted to me that it was going to be a painful battle. The level difference between her and my fake identity was already a given, but apparently, that wasn’t enough for her because she had pushed for such an unfair area of battle.

Of course, at a glance, an underground arena with no obstruction seemed like the perfect place to have a fair duel between two high-leveled individuals, but that discounted one important fact. Every small detail of the arena was designed to enhance the advantages of the melee fighter and chip away at the perks of magic.

The size of the arena was the first big problem. It was not exactly small with an area of several hundred square feet area, but for a supernatural warrior, even the longest distance could be covered in less than a second. Combined with the height of the ceiling, just below fifteen feet, a distance that she could easily jump with halfway decent Strength and Speed stats, any movement advantage a mage might establish was completely gone.

The thick enchantments that covered every surface were another challenge, basically ruling out most of the elemental tricks. The earth spells were out directly, but even a glance was enough to show that it would also weaken any water or fire spell that they came into contact with, removing most of the spells that a mage could use for zoning away from the fighter.

So-called security wards were another trap. Ideally, they shouldn’t trigger unless overwhelmingly powerful magic was used, but I had sufficient magical expertise to catch some last-minute adjustments on them. They would go off much easier than advised, wasting the mana of the mage, after which no doubt my opponent suggest that we continue.

The last confirmation about whether it was intentional was the several bottles of healing potions, each brewed freshly as indicated by their magical aura, no doubt there to keep me in fighting shape…

So that she could torture me longer.

I looked at her beautiful face with admiration as she stood at the opposite side of the room, raising a wooden stick — the only thing that could be classified as an advantage for me, as it was much less deadly than a sword or an ax, but I had a suspicion that the only reason she picked was to maximize the pain she inflicted.

“Are you ready?” she asked, doing her best to sound calm, but unable to hide her vicious anticipation, confirming that subterfuge was not one of the skills she had picked.

“No weapon for me?” I asked.

“I’m sure a big man like you wouldn’t need a clutch like that,” she suggested, her smile widening.

“Oh, someone was talking to her friend,” I answered with a wink, watching as her amusement turned into fury.

“Let’s begin,” she growled, and dashed forward without even waiting for an answer.

Damn, I thought even as I started moving, doing my best to stay under the limits of what was reasonable for a high-leveled mage even as I raised my hand, conjuring an arcana shield.

[-128 Mana]

Its purple glow didn’t survive for long, shattering at the impact, her impressive charge more than enough to deal with it — even if I hadn’t designed it to explode in the first place.

It was a shaped explosion, all its strength connecting with her. Yet, it didn’t delay her more than a fraction of a second, which wasn’t enough for the limited version to pull back. Her staff connected to my ribs, hitting hard enough to send me flying, and I hit against the wall.

[-138 HP]

“Try to be more attentive,” she said as she swung her staff, yet, despite sending me flying in a very undignified and painful unassisted flight, she was still angry.

Curious, I thought even as I made a show of standing up very slowly, even as I carefully used my mana remotely to test her soul space, to catch whether she was wearing a disguise. It was the real point of my exploding shield, letting some of my mana stick on her skin, using the broken shield as an excuse in case she had equipped any magical talent.

Yet, a glimpse into her soul space showed she had absolutely no magical talent, making me much more relaxed. So, rather than dispersing my mana, I let it stay in her soul space, getting a more detailed glimpse of her abilities.

She had a very high level, I realized as I started examining her soul space.

Forty-two!

I couldn’t help but feel like it was a waste just to deal with me, because even a casual glance was enough to catch the mana evaporating from her soul space, much faster than not-Delia had been losing it earlier today. Not-Delia probably could have lasted almost a week with her skills — assuming the evaporation rate stayed constant, of course, which was not a given — but I would be greatly surprised if my current opponent could last even for a day.

Either it was a difference between recipients, or their target level made a huge difference. And considering they weren’t always walking around in level forties and fifties, I was willing to bet that it was mainly the latter.

I was deliberately slow in standing up, to give myself time to think, but my opponent clearly had no intention of allowing that. “Ready, big boy?” she growled even as she dashed forward once more, forcing me to gather my mana hurriedly, yet receive the hit before I could actually cast it.

Of course, my shield was too late only because I was hiding my skills, but that didn’t make the tip of her staff burying in my diaphragm any less painful. Yet, it prevented me from using that as an excuse to check her disguise.

[-23 HP]

The attack itself was not too damaging, as she clearly held herself back, but she more than compensated for it by choosing the potentially most powerful point to attack.

… one of the most painful, I corrected as I shifted my leg to prevent her knee from burying into the most sensitive and most important location in my body. I wanted to play along with her revenge fantasy, but I had my limits as well, and that area was at the forefront of that limits. After all, when other men said that it was their most important part, they were talking figuratively.

For me, it was literal.

Of course, defending my crotch in a timely manner didn’t come freely. She had used our closeness to deliver a backhanded slap to me, an insulting move that was also strong enough to send me tumbling away.

“What happened, big boy,” she growled vindictively. “Are you too tired?”

“Kind of,” I murmured even as I pushed myself up to my feet, putting a smile despite the pain I was feeling — even with my endurance, getting that kind of hit from a high leveled warrior, doing her best to deliver as much suffering as she could manage was not free. “Your friend had really exhausted me that morning, begging for more.”

And just like that, her anger, already burning bright, flared even more. This time, she dashed forward even more aggressively, swinging her staff even harder, mixing in occasional punches and kicks as needed, with a particular focus on my crotch.

I didn’t allow her attacks to connect where she was clearly targeting the most, but that left the rest of my body only more vulnerable to her attacks, receiving a great number of attacks. None of them were particularly effective in terms of delivering damage, yet in terms of delivering pain, they were surprisingly effective.

[-103 HP]

Maybe she had a relationship with Delia, or not-Delia, the kind Marianne and Cornelia had before my intervention, and appreciated my involvement just as much as Cornelia had appreciated it in the beginning.

It was worthy to test.

“Come on sweetie, don’t tell me you’re having appropriate relations with Delia—” I suggested even as I dodge, or more accurately, started to suggest as I tried to dodge, only to receive a hit on my face.

Yet, despite the swift hit, I didn’t notice any sudden reaction from her, suggesting that comment had missed wildly. She didn’t even react to my comment as she continued to beat me. I decided to have another try.

“I know you’re trying to protect your friend, but it’s not your fault that she’s a whore—“ I tested, only to be interrupted by a sharp hit of her staff.

One that was much stronger than her other attempts, sending me flying away even as a threatening notification popped in my gaze.

[-216 HP]

And that was with my last-minute correction to reduce the damage. If I had been as weak as I had been acting, that hit had a decent chance of actually killing me — something she realized as well.

“Damn, girl,” I murmured even as I pushed my mana aggressively out to slow my flight.

[-391 Mana]

Or, more accurately, using that as an excuse to flood the room, to check her disguise. Her absolute lack of reaction to my insinuation, combined with her explosive attitude toward the offhanded insult was too suspicious.

Yet, as my mana wrapped around her, checking her disguise, I met with a bigger surprise than I had been expecting…

I was fighting against my dear friend, not-Delia…

[Level: 32 Experience: 499160 / 528000

Strength: 46 Charisma: 63

Precision: 40 Perception: 42

Agility: 40 Manipulation: 45

Speed: 39 Intelligence: 49

Endurance: 39 Wisdom: 51

HP: 6528 / 6528 Mana: 7659 / 8000 ]

SKILLS

Master Melee [100/100]

Master Tantric [100/100]

Master Biomancy [100/100]

Master Elemental [100/100]

Master Arcana [100/100]

Master Subterfuge [100/100]

Master Craft [84/100]

Expert Speech [75/75]

PERKS

Mana Regeneration

Skill Share

Empowerment (0/1)

Teleportation

COMPANIONS

[Cornelia – Level 22/26]

[Helga – Level 22/26]