The twenty axes flew forward in unison, with twenty blades aiming for twenty different trees.
What Noble didn't have in strength, she would make up for in skill.
In her second Nightmare, she had spent many hours learning how to use her levitation to move multiple objects independently. It had taken a vast amount of concentration and sheer will to make things behave as she wanted.
She had honed the skill in preparation for a battle that never occurred, only to need it later against a much more dangerous foe.
Now with the added Ability of [Weight of Doubt], Noble could manipulate the world around with terrifying precision.
The first axe hit the closest tree with the force of a train, cleaving it without even knocking it from its base. Nineteen more strikes against nineteen more trees gave nineteen identical results.
Then, with barely a gust of wind, twenty trees tumbled to the ground in a cloud of dust.
Dumbstruck, the audience stayed silent for a moment. But then they erupted in cheers–some for the beloved Saint who had been leading them for years and others for the floating upstart with a flair for the dramatic.
Neither lady paid them any heed. They continued on their quest to decimate more of the forest than their companion.
That did not mean they weren't paying attention. Noble was watching the Saint with her second sight while Maelys was keeping an eye on her competitor out of the corner of her eye.
And the coral-haired woman did not like how her blonde competitor was doing. Twenty trees for each of her two or four would put Maelys at a great loss before the time was half over. The determined Saint gritted her teeth and redoubled her efforts.
The air around her looked like a hurricane of wood and steel. Her count grew rapidly, lessening the growth of the gap between them.
While Noble deftly lightened and weighted down each ax to correspond with every swoop, Maelys continued on with sheer force of will.
'She's good.' Noble admitted silently. 'But her form is also sloppy. Has she never chopped wood before?'
Why would a high-born lady have ever needed to cut down trees? Maelys would have had servants to do that. Even after her world fell apart, her soldiers would have completed those menial tasks.
Noble herself had only limited experience with collecting firewood. But she had far too much experience hacking through Nightmare Creatures. While the task wasn't the exact same, the skills of hacking and slashing at vulnerable parts did carry over.
If anything, cutting trees was easier because the target didn't move.
'So why does she look so uncoordinated? Her form is alien to how most humans fight.'
As if feeling Noble's judgment, Maelys let out a scream. Unable to close the ever-widening gap, she released her hold on her human form. White hair covered her body while her teeth and nails lengthened to frightening sizes.
The polar bear released her hold on the axes, tossing them aside like two feathers. Her claws gleamed in the sunlight, sharper than any mundane metal and infinitely more deadly.
Now in her Transcendent form, the Saint was in her element.
Even from a distance, Noble could feel a chill fill the air. Trees were ripped unceremoniously from the ground by their roots, while others were knocked down by the sheer hulk of her torso.
Bark splintered, sending thousands upon thousands of tiny shards falling like rain.
'So that's it.' Noble understood.
Maelys had not become a Saint through the trials of the Spell. She had done so by natural means. If she had done so before the Doom War, then it was possible that she had only ever battled in her transformation, or at least did so as often as she could.
It made sense. The bear's power was truly devastating.
But Noble did not concern herself with what the Saint could and could not do. She moved on to the next phase of her plan.
While Maelys's side of the forest was thrown into disarray, Noble continued her orderly process with the skill of a team of lumberjacks. She had cut her tree, and now they needed to be collected.
The felled trees lifted into the air, each coming in an obedient line toward the waiting Master. The cost of carrying so many objects was immense, but this race was a sprint, not a marathon.
Noble would not hold back.
Summoning her Zenith, Noble lifted it in the air, meeting the first piece of lumber with intent in her eyes. She lopped off the top of the tree with a firm flick of her wrist. Then, changing positions, she made her sword heavier than a boulder and let the law of the guillotine reign.
The trunk cleaved cleanly in two with barely a whisper of splinters. The two halves would not need to be sanded. The Zeniths cut had been smooth and true.
Each half was piled nicely at the edge of the workspace. Soon, many more halves joined the initial pair. Like a one-woman assembly line, Noble cut, cleaved, and collected the logs for the rafts to be constructed.
As the pile of discarded branches in front of her grew, Child of Promise lifted higher from the ground to continue her tireless work.
"Last minute!" Syrce called, the anticipation clear in her voice.
The crowd, which had already been cheering, reached fever-pitch. The two sides could not look more different. The Saint was clearing the forest ravenously and with abandon, while the Master looked like a well-oiled machine.
Feeling the end was near, Noble lowered the axes and spent all her energy on finishing the logs in her cue. Her muscles strained as she hurried at her task. The wood was mundane, but Flint had said that it was also magical. She could feel that power resisting her, yet Noble pressed on.
She had run through her essence at blinding speed, but as long as there was enough for her to keep going, she would.
The old feeling of Queen Bee crept back into her psyche. Noble didn't like to lose. Who would?
So she buckled down and pushed into her speed. Calling forth her Hummingbird's Wings, Noble began to move down the line of trees instead of just waiting for them to come to her. The interminable line of timber was winnowed away by the flitting Master and her hungry blade.
'I can make it,' she told herself. 'Just a few more seconds.'
The pile of finished wood grew faster than the soldiers could process. What would have taken them days or weeks was happening before their eyes in seconds.
Who would come out on top?
"Did you have any idea Bel could do all that?" Helie asked Aether.
The young man shook his head. "It's astonishing."
"Well, I never expected anything less from the Qu–" Flint's side was elbowed by Roan. "from the quickest warrior I've ever seen."
Roan opened his mouth to respond, but just then Syrce took her place on the stump once more. Her voice rang clear, cutting the crowd's cheers to silence them. A single word escaped her lips.
"Time!"