*
"Hiss~" (Sariel)
Losing an arm, her figure vanished. She had the instinct to teleport away before nay more attacks reached her.
" You wanted to convince me of something, didn't you? Or were you probing for something?
You won't get anything out of running away." (Arin)
There was nothing for either side to gain, perhaps this was the result of built up pressure lashing out. The steady ramping of insidious bitterness, nothing too extreme that they would kill each other, but just enough dissatisfaction to fight. Sariel was faster, but Arin was stronger. She had enough strength to trade blows, and with {Barter} even exceed it temporarily.
"You might even be confused. Isn't your strength practically the strongest? Not even large Traces can handle your blows." (Arin)
"?!" (Sariel)
Arin locked eyes with Sariel, despite being behind multiple layers of concrete floors, she could feel Arin's gaze. What was this sensation? It was like being watched, but multiple times more potent. As if a visible pair of eyes was passing through her soul, reading her emotions and thoughts. She teleported once more, she didn't understand how, but there must be some strange method with {Barter} that allowed it.
How could she get around {Barter}? She needed a way to deceive or flee from its detection. It could seemingly do anything, then the limitations would have to be Arin's intelligence and usage capability. If there was a pattern to how Arin thought, maybe she could flout {Barter}.
Since Arin could sense Sariel through the walls, there was no point putting anymore walls between them. Foregoing them completely, she teleported far into the stratosphere, her body kept returning to the same altitude to stay in the air, as she couldn't fly. Her hands laid on her hips as she delved into thought while keeping check on her altitude. From what she could gauge, {Barter} was versatile, the trades it made were unfair and purposefully advantageous for Arin, but even with that the output isn't high.
Arin had really high strength, able to catch and flip a charging Sariel over while being stationary. Yet, she even with the [trades] being unfairly advantageous for her, she couldn't defeat Sariel in a single attack. There was a limit. That would likely be-
Arin appeared behind Sariel, her leg already lifted above her height, showing her immense flexibility. With a single stroke, her leg slammed down onto Sariel's head, sending her crashing towards the ground. The fact that she stopped teleporting showed that she lost consciousness. Arin reached the ground before she did, and spun for another kick to the side, sending Sariel crashing through the fence mesh. After a couple seconds of flying, her body vanished and she was seen standing over the school rooftop.
She smashed through the fence headfirst and was kicked from the top of her head, her skull might have some fractures with blood drenching her forehead, but her eyes remained wide open as it observed Arin. She didn't expect Arin to reach her altitude.
No matter how she looked at it, it truly was unfair. Her ability to swap with anything was absurd enough, but it still looked normal and lacking in comparison to {Barter}. Her body was trained to a higher extent, but physicality was quickly triumphed by Arin's magic skill.
"..." (Sariel)
She stared straight through her bloody forehead, her breathing calmed down and her flesh remained sore. Her head continued to hurt even now, healing was slow because of how much damage it took.
"Are you done with the fight? I won't kill you, it would make Lastia sad." (Arin)
Truthfully, she was a little afraid of accidentally killing Sariel. She knew she was durable, but who knows to what extent? How many hits to the head can she take? She had to be decisive or she will miss her attacks. Sariel was weakened enough that she stood there to catch her breath, Arin was generous enough to let it happen.
Sariel walked closer. No fanciful charge up, she raised her right fist to signal that the fight continued. It wasn't really a fair fight, even if Arin was winning overwhelmingly, she had revealed too much about her ability and she didn't want to kill Sariel on top of that. Right, it was a bout. Neither party intended to walk away with bloodied hands today, the only thing that seemed to be happening is... Arin revealing how she used her magic.
When she reached close enough, Sariel swung her fist. A normal punch, that was all. Then she opened her fist. Arin attempted to catch the fist as usual, but Sariel grabbed onto it instead of smashing her knuckles against her palm. After a blink of an eye, her left leg struck Arin on the neck. She then pulled Arin closer to her and swung their heads together. Even though Sariel was the one with the injured head and would come out of it with more wounds, she struck with everything she had.
Arin with her guard completely down, was knocked out. Her body slammed into the floor with a thud, her combat dress rusted in the second she crashed onto the ground and exploded into specks of light, her original school uniform underneath. Sariel gazed at her intently, watching to see if she really knocked her out cold in one strike.
"... Kukuku, guess my head's tougher!" (Sariel)
She almost lost herself and her objective in the crude jubilation. Arin's skill is limited by her mana pool, Sariel's is the fact that she can't swap with sentient beings with high magic resistance. Perhaps it was more like they exchanged information instead...
"Damn... Can't leave the body here." (Sariel)
What should I do? Wake her up? She would smile to herself if she could work work up the energy to do so, but her body was dead tired. Just like physical exertion, magic worked to consume one's mental exertion and push it to its limits. Meditation might be a valid way to train this aspect, a strengthened mind would allow for a prolonged utilisation of magic. Every little bit of improvement helps in a battle of life and death.
Reluctant, she carried her friend's limp body over her back and began trudging down the stairs connected to the school rooftops. The least she could do was to bring Arin into the infirmary and wait until she woke up.