An Entity Within | Stephen Strange

17 - A Test

Sura pulled on the girl's arm as she stood, hoping to floor Tessa too but the girl promptly dropped into a roll, pivoting sharply to face her opponent again, her brow furrowed, gaze alert and stance solid.

"She's remarkable for one so young." Sura said aloud, "But how can she take us all on?"

At feeling a hand on her shoulder, Tessa grabbed it and moved to throw whoever it was over her shoulder and onto the ground in front of her. Looking down, she saw Luciana glaring up at her suspiciously. The female Master tried to grab the girl's ankles but she stepped away rapidly, only to back into Henry who grabbed her, pinning her arms by her sides. The girl threw her head back as he picked her up off the ground, getting a satisfying groan as he dropped her again, his nose throbbing.

Scrambling away, she then found herself surrounded by Idha, Liam and Ishir. The apprentices lunged at her first, grabbing her arms but Tessa found this only aided her more with her attack on Master Bawa, the muscly sorcerer she didn't know. Having the two hold her steady, she pushed up off the ground, sending a sharp kick to Ishir's chin as she flipped over the apprentices, hooking her arms around their necks and, because of her smaller stature, ended up banging their heads together as she landed behind them. Having not been incapacitated for long, Ishir lunged at her and, as she ducked out of his way, she ran straight into Mordo's path.

Mordo did not wish to harm the girl, even though he could see that she fared well against them but Tessa wasn't going to take any chances; she kicked him in the centre of his torso hard and he fell by Makarov's feet. Once he had fallen, Tessa shared an ecstatic look with the Ancient One who radiated a look that could only be described as looking at Tessa as though she were the apple of her eye.

On the girl ran.

"What is she?" Mordo questioned his watchful masters as he lay there in shock.

Experiencing the same awe, Makarov said, "She's remarkable."

"She is, isn she?" The Ancient One smiled.

Tessa kept evading and defending, tackling and attacking. Even as the apprentices and masters grew tired, her guard didn't drop once, her speed and ease with which she executed her actions remained the same as theirs grew sloppy.

After Mordo had recovered, Liam was thrown at their feet next, "Can we use our sorcery now?"

"No." The Ancient One said curtly, "No sorcery needed - this is sparring only."

Liam shook his head, panting, "But this isn't - "

"Fair? She's one eleven-year-old." Makarov said.

"I understand your frustration, Liam." She chuckled at the Master's statement, "Age doesn't always indicate a certain level of skill, Ivan, so at any point, please, feel free to participate.

"Yes, actually Master Makarov," Liam scoffed as he stood, "Please, feel free to join us in getting our asses handed to us by an eleven-year-old."

"Well..." Ivan observed the beaten and exhausted sorcerers, "You're doing well enough so far, Liam."

The apprentice scoffed and the Ancient One let slip an amused smile.

But as the older apprentices and masters grew frustrated, their impulsive need to use their sorcery grew more. If the girl could take this, then surely she could take the sorcery too, they thought. For the last time, Tessa floored Master Bawa, and as he slammed his fist on the floor, he yelled to the others:

"Bind her!"

The Ancient One stepped forward, about to yell not to, when Makarov gently grabbed her arm, "You wanted to see her limitations - let us see how she deals with this. She's done fantastically so far."