“I’ll do what I can to hold her here! When you get an opening, head for the exit!” As he continued to protect himself from the high-speed wire attacks, the strain in Rick’s voice was clear.

But Tomochika could tell that Teresa was merely toying with him. As if the evil woman were embracing the role of examiner rather than applicant, she was throwing out attacks that Rick could only just handle. He must have realized he was on very thin ice. Teresa fully understood the limits of his ability and was forcing him to use every last ounce of skill that he possessed. If he let up for a moment, or made a single mistake, it would be over before they could blink.

But with a single word, Yogiri brought the fight to a close.

“Die.”

Rick’s next attack cut cleanly through one of the wires as Teresa collapsed to the floor without a sound.

...

Maintaining the barrier required a collection of souls, so it was necessary for many of those who entered the tower to die. It would have been much more efficient to kill the whole group the moment they entered the tower instead.

“I suppose considering the number of applicants who die, it’s not strange that you’d think I bring them here just for that purpose. But that’s not the point of the trial. The problem is that most of them are pathetically weak, and if they are going to die anyway, we might as well collect their mana for the barrier. So I don’t think a larger number than usual dying off will be much of a problem.”

“Lady Teresa was also among the dead.”

“Why does it matter who died?”

“I understand your sentiment, but the numbers don’t add up. Among the collected spirits, there are none that could be connected to her.”

-Volume 2 pages 70, 73, and 90