"How about a practice battle?"

"With you?"

"Yeah, with me. I'm the strongest magic user around after all. Why not test your mettle against me? If you can't win, then you're still far away from defeating Tina."

And thus, this is how I end up standing face to face against Morgan in the valley, with me controlling the girl elf's body.

"Yay! Go Master go! Don't lose to her!"

...With her screaming into my ears internally.

I suppose this didn't happen back then because the other consciousness was just a little chicken.

"Watch my movement carefully and learn!" I order her. I intend to make her be able to fight independently without my orders.

"Of course Master, you don't have to tell me that! I'm always watching you after all!"

...Well, that doesn't sound disturbing at all.

I never have really tried this body before, seeing how I left it to the Viola all the time. But now, after I tried doing some movement with it, I notice how light it is compared to my original body. It's certainly more of an agile type over my original body's strength type.

And, the most important thing is, how I flash my panties at the slightest movement I do.

Really, why must the elves make their skirts so short? Are they a race of exhibitionists or something?

Oh well, who cares anyway? I just feel the feeling of my dress lifting up a little bit disturbing, that's all.

And there's the matter with the panties. Morgan said it was designed to fit the way the elves intended them to be. True, what I saw with the five elves I've eaten, they were pretty tight, but I doubt they were this tight. They are so tight I feel this strange, bothersome tingling feeling on my crotch while wearing it. I don't know how Viola doesn't complain about it.

"Well, Master, at first I wanted to complain but after wearing it for some time, it began to feel good!"

Ah, thank you for the clarification, Viola.

...Wait, you can hear my thoughts?

"Of course, Master! I can hear it loud and clear!"

T-this is only when I occupy your body, right?

"Yes, Master! Our consciousness occupy the same space after all!"

Whew, dodged a bullet there. I thought my privacy is gone forever.

"What's the matter, Master? You can trust Viola with any secrets you have! I won't tell everyone!"

Oh, shut up, slave! I don't trust you that much yet!

"Hyaaa, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please don't be angry, Master!"

I can somehow sense she's sobbing inside my head, even though she's just a consciousness.

This is really weird.

Oh well, enough about that. Time to focus my thoughts to the battlefield.

I see Morgan standing proudly at some distance away from me. She's still as beautiful as ever, but now I sense a sinister presence accompanying that beauty. She really is ready for battle, I suppose.

I begin by casting [Wind Walk}. Using its speed, I back away as far as possible as long as I can still see her in my sights.

"Retreating first? Wise move. You know you're outclassed in terms of raw strength so you put as much distance as you can between us." Morgan explains. "However..."

She claps her hands together and instantly a flurry of arrows made out of darkness appear in front of her. They all go straight towards me.

I clap my hands back, casting [Barrier] to block all the arrows. It does the job but it shatters soon afterwards, not being able to stay solid after absorbing so many blows from her spell.

"Pretty good. You know how to use one of the basic defenses of a mage against other mage's projectiles. Unfortunately, not every attack magic is that straightforward."

She claps her hand once again. This time however, no arrows appear. Instead, a shadow crawls right underneath her, elongating itself towards where I am.

I can't possibly block a shadow I just run away from it. Too bad its speed is much faster than mine even with my [Wind Walk] active.

My last resort is to jump into the air to avoid it.

And that is what it has expected me to do.

It surges out from the ground when it is right underneath me. It manifests into a sword, with its sharp edge going straight at me.

I cast [Rock Body] just in time so that my left foot can land safely on its tip. Now I'm standing on it like a ballerina, with my other foot right up the air as I try to keep my balance.

I bet my panties are really exposed right now.

...Wait, why am I thinking about my panties at this critical time? Get it together, dammit!

"Wonderful! You seem to have flexibility, something rarely any mage ever possesses," Morgan praises me.

I jump forward, off the sword which disappears soon afterwards, landing on my two hands before doing a flip to exchange them with my feet. Wow, this body really is agile.

Time for me to attack. I cast an intermediate level fire spell, sending a fire pillar straight towards Morgan.

"Come on now. You know that won't work on me."

She blocks my spell with a simple [Barrier] of her own.

Just like what I've expected.

While she is blocking my fire spell, I've cast two other spells towards her; one of wind and one of lightning. They are angled differently, so she has to cast two [Barrier] spells to block them completely. And there's simply no time for that.

"Clever! But not clever enough!"

She spreads her arms, one for each spells. And somehow she summons two barriers right at the end of her palms, blocking my attacks perfectly.

"H-hey, how did you-- You don't even use your clapping movement!" I say in astonishment.

"Why, didn't one of my books tell you about the advanced way of casting? This time I only use a single hand for a spell. Sure, it raises the mana cost considerably but it's definitely handy in a pinch."

I think back to my studies. Hmm, I think I've heard about that before...

"Anyway, now it's time for you to learn how to handle close combat as a mage. Now I shall fight you like a warrior instead of a fellow magician like I've been doing so far."

Out of nowhere, she manifests a sword made out of darkness on her right hand. It doesn't even have a solid form. It's more like a wiggling mass of darkness shaped like a sword.

And then, she charges towards me with an impressive speed.

Crap, I'm not ready at all!