While I snuggle with Babbit I look around the battleground, or rather, what's left of it. The ground is cracked open, covered with ice, some parts are burning and all these craters. Perhaps we went a tiny itsy bitsy over board. But hey, what can you do?

From the corner of my eye I can see Bekkhildr and Charlotte approaching us. I turn around, smiling. Huh? Why are you looking at me like that Charlotte?

"Soooooo? What do you think?" I ask, ignoring Charlottes weird facial expression.

"Well, you certainly did not disappoint!" Bekkhildr exclaims, returning my smile. "Let's discus your battle and what to improve". While speaking cubes of stone pop out from the ground and Bellhildrs makes a gesture for us to sit down. We comply with her wish and take our seats. Well, at least Rowan and I do. Zar can't sit down 'cause, well, he's a deer and Morgana prefers having her body on the ground while resting her head in my lap. Seeing this Balthazar puts his head on my shoulder. Ah, don't look so jealous Rowan.

Suddenly Charlotte appears by my side. Her cheeks are flushed and her eyes shining. What happened to her? I know she's a fan of Bekkhildr but for her to become like this? Well, as long as she's happy...

"Now then" Bekkhildr says, making me direct my attention back to her, "all of you did a splendid job defeating my iron golems. You each have your own strength and weaknesses. For example, lady Ruth" she says, causing me to tense up, "from what I have seen you are able to quickly adapt to different battle scenarios and find your enemies weak spots. Sadly you have little control over your mana and get distracted all too much".

She's right. During the battle I got distracted by my own thoughts and I have never received proper education when it comes to magic. Hopefully I will learn how to control my powers here. I nod to signal that I understand what Bekkhildr is talking about. Seeing this she continues.

"Now I won't take everything up at once since I want to talk about it with you individually. Also, since each of you have different things you have to work with I will assign a mentor that will help you in that specific area, except for lady Ruth. I will be your one and only mentor during this time. Understood?"

"Yes!" we all respond. Hearing this Bekkhildr gives us a vague smile before it's replaced with a serious face.

"You may say that now but I am afraid you don't quite understand. After I assign you with a mentor you will devote yourself to learn everything they know. That means you will be with them at nearly all times-"

"Excuse me lady Bekkhildr" Rowan suddenly says, interrupting Bekkhildr, "but are you implying that we are going to separate?". Huh? Why are you sounding so weird?

"Yes, that is exactly what I am implying"

"B-but I can't do that" Rowan exclaims, standing up from his seat. "I need to be with mistress at all times so that I can protect her!"

"I can assure you, lady Ruth is safe here" Bekkhildr says with a reassuring voice. But Rowan won't listen.

"Mistress needs me! If I am not there then-!". Sigh, this needs to end. Slowly I stand up, drawing the attention to me. "Isn't that right mistre-"

"Rowan, stop" I say with a cold voice, staring into Rowans glowing eyes inside his helmet. I can almost see how Rowan shrinks before me, understanding that now is not the time to argue. "This is an opportunity that we cannot ignore. We can learn so much from this and while we may be apart for some time I am sure the result will be worth it".

"I-I understand mistress" Rowan says after a few seconds pass. He goes down on his knee, bowing his head real deep. "I beg your forgiveness, lady Bekkhildr. I did not think clearly".

"Ah, no problem" Bekkhildr mutters. There seems to be something on her mind. Hmmmm... Meh, no need to ask. "Lady Ruth" she suddenly say, with glint in her eye, "would you mind if we had a quick sparr before we send them off?". Hearing this Charlotte gasps, but she doesn't say anything. Wait, why is she smiling even more now???

"Oh, uhm...". I glance at Bekkhildrs body, or to be precise, her giant muscles. Ah, she could easily swat me like a fly with biceps like those. And I can feel her power, it's incredible! If I were to fight her then, then-! Oh, who am I trying to fool I really wanna fight her! What? It's not that I am becoming a battle maniac it's just that I want to know how big the gap between us is. I want to become stronger and grinding like this is the best way.

"Let's do it!" I finally respond, grinning ear to ear.

"Heh, feisty little thing, aren't you?" Bekkhildrs respond, grinning as well.

After the whole arena is fixed and those who will not fight out of the way, it's finally time for me to battle Bekkhildr. I'm excited but truth to be told, I'm also really nervous. Sure, she reassured me that she wouldn't go all out but jeez, just looking at her sends chills down my spine.

She's standing at least ten meters away from me, adorned in a black sturdy-looking leather armor and iron gloves. But what's really terrifying is the shield she's carrying with her. It's just as long as her and twice as wide, made out of black metal, with the image of a standing bear adorning it. And she doesn't even seem to be bothered by the weight of it!

"Are you ready lady Ruth?" Bekkhildr asks.

"Yes!" I exclaim, trying to sound braver then I actually am.

"Good. When the signal is given the fight will start immediately. As I promised, I won't go all out but I expect you to". Oh, I will. I promise. No need to worry about that. But I need to know her stats. Wisdom of the Sage!

Name: Bekkhildr Berghsdottir

Title: Wrathful Lord of Terror, the Fearless, Champion of the Mountain, Immovable Warrior

Race: Jotun High Lor

Level: 397

HP: 12 745

MP: 300

Vit. 446

Str. 678

Dex. 89

Int. 121

Wis. 202

Char. 107

Luck 34

Current status; No damage, calm

Strengths; High Str. and Vit, fire magic resistance

Weaknesses; Low MP and sensitive towards light magic

Ah, her amount of HP makes me really jealous. Hn? You expected me to cry or something? Nah, after seeing Orethons stats for the first time I stopped being surprised. She's also got way more battle experience than me so never expected to beat her. Ever. But I am just here to spar, not win, so I'm chill. To-ta-lly chill.

Now back to reality. I am going to fight this locomotive so I need to focus. I glance towards Charlotte. Beside her is Rowan and the others, with Babbit seated on Zars head. They are going to watch the fight to see if they can learn something.

"Go mistress go!" Rowan exclaims while making gestures and Zar aids him by flapping his wings. Ah, they're noisy. But it's also cute so I won't complain.

Morgana is with Charlotte and they seem to enjoy each others company. I wonder what they're talking about. Charlotte is the one who's going to announce the start of the match. We will only stop when either I lose or Bekkhildr says it's enough.

Seeing that we both are ready Charlotte stands up and clears her throat.

"Uhum! I hereby commence the spar match between lady Ruth and lord Bekkhildr! Begin!"

The moment the last word leaves her lips I immediately activate Earth Armor and Minor Physical Buff as I take a giant leap backwards. Since she excels in physical attributes I need to put a distance between us so that her attacks won't reach me. If she got any long distance attacks then I can dodge them.

I prepare 10 mana lances and fire them towards Bekkhildr, that remains unmoving. But that ain't all! I also fire three mana spheres for extra explosive power. Of course it doesn't even scratch her but I wanted to at least try.

Hmm, she are not trying to attack. Probably want to observe my skills. Wait. She's starting to walk towards me. Not running, walking. In a slow pace to boot. Ah, so that's it. Bekkhildr wants to intimidate me to see how I react. One thing that I learned during my many year of gaming; nothing is more scary than a calm foe. Well, except for one thing. And that is... a random foe!

I charge towards Bekkhildr (using Fire Step) with a mana sword. But I won't attack her with it. Instead I will pretend I will before I jump over her and attack her from behind instead.

But just as I do Bekkhildr grabs my leg and throws me across the arena. I tumble on the ground for a bit before I halt my progress my forcing the sword down the ground, stopping. Ah, my HP went down by with 2. If I hadn't had Earth armor and Minor Physical Buff I would probably be dead. Bekkhildr, I thought you were gonna go easy on me. Well, she couldn't know about my low, low, looooow HP so I forgive her. But I need to be more careful.

I cast Minor Healing on myself while I analyze situation. Her reflexes were faster than I had thought. Perhaps she realized what I was aiming to do from the start. But you need to fail to succeed so let's keep trying.

Once again I charge towards Bekkhildr but this time I create a Feather Assassin just when we are about to clash while dashing to the side. The Feather Assassin throws itself at Bekkhildr, flattening it's body so that it blocks her entire line of view while I attack. Well, at least that was the point. Instead Bekkhildr grabs it, throw it into the ground and stomp on it, causing it to disappear. Ah, so even when evolved it doesn't stand a chance against her.

Bekkhildr then grab my arm and brings me to her chest where she embrace me. But it's not a warm, friendly hug, no, it's a hug of death! Wait, didn't this happen in that one anime? If I remember correctly it did not work out for the one being hugged. She pretty much died. (AU. Note; Comment if you know the anime!)

Ah, my HP is draining! I need to do something and that is quick. But I can't cast any offensive spells like this! I can only use Fire Breath and-! Oh, that could work.

I give Bekkhildr a wide smile before I take a deep breath and scream, enhancing it using Death Screech. Bekkhildrs eyes widen before she releases me, taking a step backwards. I take this chance to gain some distance and heal myself again.

I glance at at Bekkhildr and notice that she is smiling while giving me an encouraging thumbs up before taking a stance, readying herself for my next attack. Heh... HEHEHE, this is fun! Maybe it's the adrenalin speaking but this is incredible! And even thou I can't win I will make sure to go out with a bang!

I gather mana around me and start making Mana Lance after Mana Lance until I've got at least a hundred of them hovering in the air. It takes massive concentration to even keep them all in place but I am not done yet. Using Mana Manipulation I drag the lances into each other until they form one massive bolt of energy. But it needs to be smaller. I need to concentrate it! Slowly the giant lance start to shrink without losing any of its power. It looks more solid now, as if it's made out of white, luminescent steel.

Ah, I can't hold it like this any longer, I need to release it! Here I go!

The Mana Lance shoots forward, piercing the air, making its way towards Bekkhildr. Seeing this she raises her shield before it hits her. The moment it does a cloud of dust covers the entire arena, blinding me.

H-how did it go? What's happening? And where is Bekkhildr. I can't see her through all this dust. Wait, there's a way to know. I activate Sensor and scan the area. Bekkhildr is... right in front of me.

Suddenly a hand appears through the dust and grab my wrists, pinning me to the wall behind me.

"That was one impressing attack, lady Ruth" Bekkhildr says, giving me an earnest smile.

"Heh, thank you Bekkhildr! I truly enjoyed that fight!" I respond, returning the smile. Bekkhildr lets go of my wrists.

"You did good. I look forward to teaching you!" she says, offering me her hand. Without a single doubt in my mind I grab her hand and shakes it.

"Me too, teacher!"