Black Bull Headquarters

[Apollymi]

Strangely enough, Hikage could understand what Artem had to say about the need to eat versus the ability to have fun. In fact, she wanted this job the way she did, so that she didn't have to choose between being able to eat and live, and being able to fight the people she wanted to fight. As such when she approached once more, her knife flying up into the air she was quite surprised to find the turkey leg extended in her direction. She stared at him blankly as she caught her knife and sniffed the air. Another audible rumble was heard from her stomach, but she wasn't sniffing the food, but instead getting a feel for Artem's intentions. Much like a starving animal, she didn't want to be caught off guard, but she had a good feeling this man wouldn't take advantage of the moment. As such, she threw her knife into the ground as a symbol of her peace in this moment. "Arigatou..." she murmured as she took the turkey leg out of his hand and tentatively began gnawing away. This was of course, something done with the swiftness and savagery of an animal which brought about a disgusted sigh from the Vice-Captain of the Black Bulls. "Well, at least it is all making it into her mouth..." she said thinking of the random likeness between this savage girl and the beast man who was handling her initiation. A few moments would see to it that the girl had nothing left in her hand but a turkey leg bone. "That... is better. You're alright, Artem..." the girl said as she kicked her knife up into her hand and hopped backwards. "I'm supposed to hit you right?" she asked, as she began flipping through the pages in her grimoire to get to one which contained her newest spell. Her hand touched the ground and from it rumbled up five small hedgehog creatures with metal spikes on their backs. "Here I come, kufufufufufu~" she giggled meanacingly as she pointed towards Artem causing the small animals to begin spinning in place and she kicked three of them simultaneously into Artem. One aimed at his head, one at his torso and one at his legs while two others moved around with Hikage so she could work within the confines of her rules.

[Bloodedge]

Artem patiently awaited Hikage's decision. In the end, she approached and took the segment of turkey for her own consumption. Artem seemed very satisfied as he watched this girl devour the turkey in a very beast-like manner. "Heh heh!" he laughed through his teeth. When Hikage was done, she was visually and actively at a level Artem could respect and appreciate. More importantly, she had passed a little test that Artem himself had gone without mentioning, and didn't even know he was doing for the sake of Heero's certainty. "Yosh! Empty stomach, empty fight! Gimme all ya' got!" the red-vested male chanted while beckoning toward himself with his gorilla arms.

It seemed Hikage was ready to assault Artem using her own animal-based technique. Five hedgehogs were created using her steel magic. As far as Artem could tell, this girl should have actually been 15. By virtue of this, the acquisition of her grimoire had to be a recent occurrence in the teen's life, so her access to more spells spoke either of skills or hardships, if not both. Artem would have to face her Creation Magic either way. Only three of the five hedgehogs were kicked toward him. As they encroached upon his head, torso and leg in unison, Artem raised his right arm and used his gorilla-like strength to swat all three of them down at once, causing them to drill through the ground a few feet deep.

[Apollymi]

Three simultaneously kicked hedgehogs were swatted away and burrowed into the ground by their inverted force, but Hikage expected this. Her instincts said, she in order to properly hit this man, she had to catch him at the point his guard would be lowest, as such, at the moment where the first three were swatted away, Hikage used her own innate speed to close the gap between herself and Artem, and one could notice she was even faster now than she had been before. 'Wow,' was the thought of the Vice-Captain who was impressed by the girl's speed, and calmed a bit by her apparent display of previously unseen friendliness. Once there she spun into the lad aiming to slash across his chest, with her blade in her left hand from his right shoulder to his left hip. There was power behind this slash unlike her previous attempt. Meanwhile the other to hedgehogs aimed their spinning bodies high and low, at the lads feet and head. By the girl's own approximation he should be hit at least once, as defense on all fronts was usually hard to accomplish. Apparently having properly eaten she could be more tactful and calculating with the use of her own body and those of her summoned creatures.

[Bloodedge]

Artem was at the ready for whatever Hikage came with next. As far as Heero was concerned, this initiation was over. Artem was just a bit different. He didn't simply want to test his new junior; he wanted to get acclimated to her as a potential companion at arms. He couldn't have expected the sudden evolution of tactics in Hikage's next approach. He did however expect the change in her physical capabilities, as one who so strongly believed in the power of fighting on a full stomach. Artem readied himself during her approach by lowering his stance and raising his arms, simultaneously having his eyes wander to each encroaching threat. He determined that Hikage's direct assault would undoubtedly be the most dangerous for him. She had the instincts of a wild beast, making her quite a bit like himself. If he didn't deal with her directly, that very fact could be his undoing. As such, Artem's primary focus in his defensive effort was to raise his right arm to stop Hikage's strike by blocking it at the wrist. At the same time, he leaned forward heavily using his right foot as leverage. He leaned so far forward that one hedgehog flew over him, and his left foot rose up behind him to leave the other assaulting the ground like its deflected brethren from earlier. This defensive and evasive movement also served a build-up of inertia for Artem, as he was able to flex his right arm. Since that very arm was held out against Hikage's wrist, her torso was left exposed enough for Artem to push his right gorilla arm forward with every intention of driving a mighty fist into her abdomen to launch her away once again.

[Apollymi]

Hikage was good at thinking on her feet. Her advanced battle tactic seemed to have made less of an impact than she would have guessed it would have, even so, she didn't pause to think about it too much. Her 'partner' for this particular endeavor, seemed to be just as much of an animal as she was, managing to dodge both the upward and downward spiky creatures she'd previously launched at him. Her eyes narrowed for just a moment as the one flew over his head during their clash and she willed it back towards herself with narrowed eyes. Still she could do nothing about the arm of the lad as he aimed to launch her away from himself once more. His fist would indeed make contact with her abdomen and send her flying, but at the same time that she was launched away, the spiked ball which had previously missed his head swirled back around to his open side aiming to lodge its spinning body there instead, aiming to give the girl the hit she apparently needed. "That... hurt," she mumbled passively, awaiting the results of her final assault.

[Bloodedge]

Artem felt every moment of his magic fist thrusting its way into Hikage's abdomen, until that crucial moment where the forward momentum of the impact pushed her away from him. One thing he found interesting in this encounter was the fact that he hadn't held any proverbial punches. Indeed, the few attacks he'd made against Hikage were full force. He still felt there was much progress being made toward his own victory in the challenge. Perhaps when he beat the green-haired girl into submission, he'd offer her a steak and announce her success in the initiation by virtue of earning his trust. Or perhaps...

"Ugh..." Artem grunted as blood trickled from his mouth down his chin. In the middle of his train of thought related to time spent after the initiation - time yet to come - something happened. He hadn't even righted himself from his own assault before the spiked ball of a hedgehog buried itself in his side, piercing his lower torso multiple times at once. "S-... Sugei. We're gonna get married, you an' me," he said with a large, rather stupid-looking grin as his spell faded from existence.

Just as large as the smile on Artem's face was one of a more devious nature in the expression of Leonis. "Oi, oi... That was a sick move. I was worried before, but maybe we should've kept that fight going in the exam."

[Apollymi]

It seemed that Hikage was successful in her endeavor. And by the time she sat up, she saw blood fall from the mouth of Artem. A wicked smirk crossed the girl's face at this sight, because this fight had indeed been worth having. She seemed to be mostly fine, despite the large fist which had made contact with her torso, though, she felt quite a bit more beaten up than she normally did. Artem's words at the acknowledgement that he'd been hit made the girl's brows raise in confusion. "Married?" she questioned with the quiet tone she normally possessed. "Baka!" these were the words of Raina whose grimoire was now open as she aimed to capture the lad in a bubble of blackish blood. "Ketsueki Kaifuku Mahō: Metsuju no Chigomori Mayu," a large orb of black blood was created around this lad and would aim to heal him of any of his internal and external injuries. "You can't claim a girl you've only just met for marriage!" she explained to him.

Meanwhile, Hikage sat up and turned towards the voice of Leonis who'd also spoken and had a grin more the type she was used to, as such she had a reply for him. "Arigatou, Leonis." she said on the compliment about her move. She'd wondered what sort of thing this lad had been holding out about during the exam, and it'd almost have felt like he was looking down on her, but he'd promised to fight her again once they became Magic Knights. "I don't know why you would have worried.. but you'll have to fight me for real like you promised, and show me what you were hiding..." she said this as her gaze became a glare and those pupils of hers tightened just a bit. There was a fierceness in this girl's visage when she said this as she stood sizing up Leonis. "Yare yare, before all that though, he has to be initiated... I guess I'll be taking him myself..." she said as she released the bubble around Artem. "Move out the way, Klause. Danchou anything in particular I am looking for?" said Raina as she waited for the next lad to take his place, she asked her Captain about this lad, because she was only looking for normal people when she did these sorts of things.

[Bloodedge]

"Heh heh! Yep, marr-" Artem's sentence was cut short by the sudden interruption of Raina. Suddenly, he was encased in a sphere of blood which healed his injuries. "Well fine then, how about you marry me!?" he replied. Whatever the case was, it was totally up for debate how serious Artem was being when he spoke to Hikage, as well as how serious he was being now. Perhaps he was a desperate soul who would accept anyone he found even tolerable.

Leonis continued grinning toward Hikage as she sized him up. He had a few reasons for not using the rest of his abilities, of which he had plenty, in his fight against the girl. Some of them were proved purposeless by the fight he'd just witnessed, but one still remained. Still... the idea of finishing the fight which sparked this unspoken rivalry they shared was enticing. "Don't worry... I'll throw everything I've got at ya' next time. Just don't regret asking for it when the time comes. Until then, enjoy the show," he replied. With that, he moved into the yard to share the space with Raina. In the meantime, Artem vacated the battle space, and Heero looked toward his Vice-Captain with a response consisting only of a lax grin.

[Apollymi]

"Urusai! I have no intention of doing that!" Raina yelled. Even so the girl's face was strangely red and she seemed way more upset about the potential marriage proposal than the other young woman who'd received a proposal. Still, her response implied this wasn't the first time she'd heard something like this and that it was common enough that she didn't much care after a few seconds. Whatever the case, Hikage was busy chatting with her new rival about the fight they could have in the future. He even conceded that he would throw everything he had at her the next time they had a fight, a wide grin passed the girl's face at this news and she seemed content. "Hai hai, I'll hold you to it. Have fun!" this was the girl's send off instead of one about luck. She then went to stand beside their Captain and watch the coming bout. She had a strange feeling about the magic emanating from the red haired young woman, even so, she figured that someone like Leonis would be more than capable of taking care of himself.

"Danchou... you're useless," said the girl frowning. She supposed over all she knew what he was looking for as far as their ranks were concerned. Moreover she was curious as to why an individual from the House Vermilion was taking the Magic Knights Entrance Exam. She couldn't help but look at the boy as her grimoire floated before her with an eerie red glow. Doing so for the first time, created a short sword in her right hand and she smiled at her newest charge. "So, how does a royal end up taking the Magic Knights Entrance Exam?" she asked as she held the sword up and motioned towards herself beckoning the lad to come.

[Bloodedge]

"Haaai!" Leonis responded. He fully understood the lack of a 'good luck' sent his way from Hikage. Just the same, he didn't want such a thing, and getting one from Hikage specifically would seem more insincere than anything. In preparation for the fight to come, he removed his grimoire from its holster and opened it. Nothing would come of this yet though. Instead, Raina decided to question him directly about his presence at the Magic Knights Entrance Exam. Before any words escaped Leonis, he snickered. "How'd I get in, huh? Well... I walked in, had my grimoire checked out, and took the tests." The moment his grimoire's pages stopped flipping, Leonis hopped into the air. His descent was halted by the appearance of his creation spell, which took the form of a great lion made of flames. He stood on the lion's back just behind its mane. "I guess that's not what you wanted though, huh? Basically... why should Hikage over there have to take the exam if I don't? Sounds like a way to breed a bunch of lazy, weak nobles to me. I don't like it. When I get to the top, I'm gonna stand on this lion, and everybody's gonna know I earned my spot! Honō Sōsei Mahō: Reo Ruzēnasu!" By the will of his magic, the lion Leonis stood upon grew to the size of a full-grown elephant. In this state, the lion spewed a huge blast of flames from its mouth, covering the ground to such an extent that it would prove capable of sweeping over and incinerating a platoon of enemies. In this case, its one target was Raina, but... she was Vice-Captain of a Magic Knights squad. If nothing else, Leonis could at least have faith that using a technique with such power would be well-received by someone of such ranking.

[Apollymi]

Raina stared at this ash-blonde man before her. She couldn't help but scoff at the lad's initial answer to her question. Her brows drew together and her eyes which were blue at the time widened in surprise. "Smart ass..." she muttered as she watched the boy hop into the air. She then got to witness something she'd never seen before, the growth of a large flaming lion, which was a form of creation magic. 'Sugoi!' she thought only to have to listen to this lad as he properly explained himself. In this particular case, he apparently saw some disparity in the treatment of nobles and commoners. He'd even apparently taken some sort of liking to his draft mate from the exam. "Sou ka..." she murmured only to see this lad's first offensive spell in action. He went on to surround the grounds around the girl with fire which could easily have decimated an entire platoon. 'So much... power,' she thought as she held her sword out in front of herself. Instead of aiming to cut the flames, a large blood shield was projected from the tip of the weapon cast from the page of her grimoire which had shifted within seconds. "Chikasume no Tate," she said the name of the spell. This was enough to withstand the coming blast all around the girl and open a space around her that the flames could not reach directly.

Meanwhile, Hikage watched the formation of this lad's magic with wide eyes. They sparkled as she took in this expert use of creation magic. "Ano... so that's what he was hiding..." she mumbled only to seem to get excited. "I wanna kick his ass one day!" she said this seemingly excited by the prospect and fully understanding that had their fight gone on any farther earlier in the day she likely would have lost. Of course, this girl's personality would make this a fairly normal reaction.

[Bloodedge]

"Gomen, gomen. I couldn't resist," Leonis said through a chuckle. In the face of the flame blast erupting from his lion's mouth, Raina resorted to a defensive spell capable of dispersing the fire around her. From his high mount, Leonis watched the torrent split where it would have struck the Vice-Captain. 'She didn't give me a goal. Well... whatever,' he thought. Looking at Raina's defense, he wondered how it would fare against something more concentrated - something he happened to be capable of producing with his fine control over his mana. Just as well, he was able to flip his grimoire to another page, and cast another spell without interrupting its predecessor. "Honō Mahō: Soru Rīnea!" A small sphere of concentrated fire was created in front of Leonis. It looked something like a miniature sun, and from it came an intense beam of fire aiming to pierce through Raina's barrier, as well as her left shoulder. Even though this was more laser-like in appearance, it was fire nonetheless, and anything it had contact with would be left with residual flames that could later be manipulated by Leonis. If any of these flames were to be found on Raina's body, Leonis would be aiming to amplify them and burn her entire form without hesitation.

[Apollymi]

A smirk came to the face of this crimson haired lass as she looked to Leonis and took in that she was surrounded by flames. Though this wasn't the worst predicament that she'd ever found herself in, she wasn't at all pleased. And one might have noticed that she didn't actually give him a goal to go after, but first she wanted to see the base of his power. Upon seeing it she smirked, and as the boy turned the page to use a new spell she did the same. "Ketsueki Mahō : Kairai no Chishio.... " she murmured and this would make something strange happen. The body of Artem would be pulled towards her, and he would be forced to simultaneously cast his use of Cheetah Charge and Rhinoceros Armor, with the side effect of causing his eyes to go white and giving him a bit of pain. "Gomen, Klause... let me borrow you for a minute..." she mentioned as if she hadn't already done the thing. If this took the way she wanted it to, it would end with the armored red-vested boy standing in front of her, taking the rest of the penetrating damage and withstanding the subsequent fire after her shield cracked. "Yare yare, that's a bit annoying isn't it? I finally figured out the rule for you though," she said as she took off at breakneck speeds towards the lad and using a deft movement aimed to slip her sword across the center of his body. Her aim to make a gash into his person at his torso from his waist up to his left shoulder. "You have to avoid being hit for 60 seconds. If you do... I can't take control of your body and you pass!~" she chimed seeming to find this hilarious. It would seem that this girl's personality was a bit strange but her power was also particularly unnerving.

Hikage looked with wide eyes as this entire situation played out. When Artem moved her eyes traveled with him and her nostrils flared. 'Sou ka, he's scented with that girl's magic...' she thought, aloud she had but one thing to say. "Creepy." At the utterance of this word, Raina's eyes widened drastically, she was apparently upset with the word used to describe her. Still, Hikage didn't seem worried at all for Leonis' sake. Given what she'd seen of the boy physically, even avoiding direct damage from these two people shouldn't be that hard. He was powerful and the next person that she wanted to fight, and as such, she believed in him.

[Bloodedge]

When Leonis finished waiting to see what became of his assault, he was shocked to witness its victim being the turkey-eating member of the squad from earlier. He certainly hadn't targeted any vital points that would warrant saving someone, and since his spell didn't still make it through to Raina, it obviously wasn't strong enough to be incidentally fatal to such people as these two. Upon closer inspection, Leonis came to surmise that Artem wasn't at all in control of his own actions. Raina's apology to the man gave credence to this as well. Ignoring the burning Artem, Leonis let his attention fall to Raina, who was suddenly at his fore. She spoke of his challenge being the avoidance of her attacks for one minute's time while attacking him in that very moment. His quickest reaction was one that didn't require the use of his grimoire. It was something previously seen in-use by only two people in this group, but now, the others would see it as well - whether they were all conscious at the time or not. At the beginning of Raina's slash, Leonis raised his left hand toward her torso. His fire magic erupted from his hand as an explosion which launched him off the lion and away from Raina. If Raina herself weren't careful, she would also be left in danger of the concussive damage brought about by this explosion, while Leonis continued using this very same technique over and over with alternating hands, using it as a way to sustain a form of pseudo-flight around the area. "Is it alright for you to call my stuff annoying when you take over people's bodies? It's in everything you do, isn't it?"

[Apollymi]

Raina seemed to be having a suddenly good time. Until of course, the lad she was slashing at suddenly rocketed himself away from her using his hand as a canon to do so. Since she was already mid-slash it was all she could do to try and mediate a bit of the damage. She preemptively threw the bubble of healing around herself as she was blasted away. A grin on her face as she was certain her blade had come close to its target. She healed the extra damage to her fore, as she and her bubble moved forward once more. "Of course I can say that I apologized," she said in a matter-of-fact manner. "And yes, in everything I do, no matter what it is... If I catch you, even a little, you're mine," she said. More to this point the pages of her book flipped again. "Ketsueki Sōsei Mahō : Senketsu no Shokeijō," this would create a large pool of bubbling blood beneath them, and it would aim to capture the lad as he moved about. Every time it tried a cross of blood would appear above the ground trying to grab his body pinning it to one place. If she managed this at any point, the lad would be crucified and make contact with the lass' Blood Magic thus granting her access to his body. A chuckle came from Hikage as she watched this, "Still creepy..." she murmured, seeming to find this amazing. Still she was also quite taken by Leonis' movements, even having seen them previously. She as told to enjoy this show so she would, the time limit set on this particular battle seemed to be disappearing rather swiftly, as they were now down to 35 seconds.