Rine dragged his body across the dirt as he evaded another one of the magician's punches.

‘This is not how magicians fight.’ He thought as he was being pummeled with a flurry of punches. The wind surrounding her fists placed even more pressure on him, and he barely had any time to breathe.

Her method of fighting was simple, she boosted her physical attributes with magic and preceded to beat the ever-loving hell out of Rine. Both being around the same tender age, their fight could be seen as a simple bare-fisted brawl that any child would get into.

But to Rine, this ordeal was hellish to say the least, his body groaned and ached as each and every punch drilled straight into his bones. Every time he tried to utter a casting, she would punch his mouth. His lips were swollen and bleeding, and his jaw hurt to move. He felt his teeth rattle in their places, and a few of them even came loose.

Amy was in no better shape. She felt woozy from the blood loss, and her origin was right about to bottom out. The least demanding spell she could use and still fight effectively was {boost} but even that was wearing out. Still, she should at least take this maggot out with her, just as her owner wished.

She stopped the onslaught and began chanting the words to a spell out loud.

Rine saw this as his chance as he began to mutter the words to {Fireball}, but he didn’t get far before Amy kicked him in the jaw. He glared viciously at her only to be met with a hollow, uncaring pair of eyes.

A deep sense of helplessness bubbled up from within him. ‘Is this the end of my life?’ He wondered as he felt the magician’s swirling origin. ‘Even though she is running on fumes, that little bit she is using is significantly larger than my entire reserve.’

As Amy neared the completion of her spell, he once more thought of his parents. Was he really so worthless as to be thrown away? He thought of his kind grandfather that would always try his best for the sake of a worthless Rine. He thought of the kind villagers, the innocent children and finally he thought of the old man. The first person to offer him a route towards his goal. Was it not Rine that told him he would do whatever it takes? Was it not him that told him he’d fight anyone? Yet here he was, about to die a dog’s death.

‘No!’ He thought

‘I won’t go out like this.’ Mustering every last bit of strength, he rested his hand on a familiar shortsword hanging by his side.

Why did a magician fight form afar? Because the secret to their weakness can only be uncovered up close.

When was a magician the weakest? Right before a spell’s ignition.

Rine waited for Amy to complete her chanting, as he started a chanting of his own.

A swirling mass of wind and origin gathered around Amy’s palm. This spell was one taught to her by Triste. However, whereas Triste could complete the spell as easily as breathing, Amy had to prepare amply before casting it.

{Wind Slash- But before she could ignite the spell, she felt a searing pain radiate from her leg. Looking down she saw a short sword sticking out of her calf.

She decided to ignore the pain and continue, but before she could, she realized her mistake ‘The sword was a distraction.’

Rine suddenly raised his woozy body as he shoved his injured arm towards Amy’s chest. His pointer finger pierced the hole left behind by Cort’s gun.

Amy’s shrill screen rung within the forest.

“You bastard.” Amy’s bloodshot eyes glared at him with killing intent but he did not care and simply shoved his good palm at her face “{Fireball}!” A blazing ball of fire erupted as Amy’s face was inches away from his palm.

“AHHHH!” Amy screamed as her body was flung backward, but before she could get away, Rine secretly pulled the sword out of her leg.

Taking a couple of steps back, Amy removed the hand covering her face. A charred mass of flesh was revealed underneath. Her once pretty eyebrows were now replaced with seared flesh. Her cherry lips now bled profusely and her eye started releasing a milky white fluid.

“I-I am sorry.” Rine stammered as he stumbled to his feet. He felt drained in every aspect.

“You...You..” Amy felt her once pretty face, wondering if she was dreaming. Killing intent bellowed from within her as origin once more began to gather at her palms.

Rine felt his knees buckle at the pressure, and his eyes grew bleary with exhaustion, but he had already decided.

“HAAA!” Surprising both Amy and himself, he charged towards the magician, sword at hand.

Amy could not care less as she completed her spell and yelled “{Wind Slash}!” A small current of air was expelled from her palm as it hunted him down.

Rine did not stop or alter his charge, as he knew this was his last chance, one foot after the other he ran towards Amy. The current of wind hit him squarely on the shoulders, cutting him deeply. But as a reward for his reckless actions, he managed to pierce the magician’s heart with Silva’s sword.

The two stood leaning against each other as each felt the gravity of their respective situations. Their blood fell from their bodies and mixed together as it grouped on the floor.

“This… is ….for Silva!” He twisted the blade.

Amy looked him in the eyes, as a mixture of emotion fluttered through them. Sadness, confusion, despair, grief, surprise.

She raised her hand as she weakly slapped his face.

She slumped over as she heaved her last breath.

Rine stood, supporting his enemy’s corpse. After a few seconds, he shrugged her off. She fell to the ground as her hood came off her head.

He stared at her once pretty face as the cold reality of what he had done came crashing down. She was as young as him. What did she do to deserve this? Silva flashed through his mind. ‘But was this really the way to do it?’ This girl had a family… maybe even a sibling, people that cared for her. And yet here she was. Dead to the world.

Rine’s blurry vision grew even blurrier as tears poured down his eyes. Weakness filled his being as he dropped to his knees. He softly touched the corpse’s face as he pleaded, more to himself than to her.

“Forgive me, I am sorry, please. I am sorry, so sorry.”

His wails of sadness and grief seemed to fill every nook and cranny of the forest.

“What have I done?”

…………………………………………

“My turn.” Cort said antagonistically. In his hand, he carried what looked to be a remote controller.

Triste slowed her pace as she warily paid attention to her surroundings.

But cort did not give her much time. “Dance!” He said as he brandished his handgun and fired off the rest of the bullets in his magazine.

The woman’s face curled in annoyance as she swiftly moved between the projectiles. She began to murmur once more.

“No no. I can’t let you do that.” Cort said as he pressed on of the buttons on the controller.

A sense of danger came over Triste as she retreated quickly.

“Too late.” Cort continued to say despite knowing she wouldn’t understand.

A large explosion shook the trees as one of the many explosions Cort hid set off.

Whatever remained of Triste’s barrier shattered completely from the force. An oppressive force pushed her away as she loudly smacked against a hard tree. She felt a couple of bones break as her flesh tore open.

Despite the grizzly situation, she remained calm and merely started casting another spell. Ripping herself out of the tree she said loudly “{Nature’s remorse}”.

Cort reloaded his gun as he watched the scene before him, there was little he could do to her in this situation and she knew that. Due to the nature of the bombs, no two could be placed near each other, and she seemed to know that.

Soft bursts of wind lightly ruffled her robes as her hair danced wildly. The wind seemed to enter her wounds and it seeped into her bones slowly mending them. He observed with an interested expression as her open wounds healed at an astonishing rate.

‘Powerful, wily, and beautiful.’ His heart was sent a flutter at the almost holy appearance of this woman. Had she appeared in his world, she would have been regarded as a goddess worth worshiping.

‘Too bad I’ll have to kill her’ He sighed with regret.

Sticking a small device to a rock he picked up from the ground, he stood up and bounced the rock on his hand.

Seemingly done with her repairs, the healing winds disappeared as she stood beside the tree with an unblemished appearance. She looked breathtaking despite her ripped robes.

‘Or maybe because of them.’ Cort thought amused. He threw the rock in her direction with a solid throw.

Triste, seeing that it was a mere rock, opted to ignore it and instead focused on the youth. At first, she thought of this fight as nothing but a method of avenging Amy, but it was only after the last attack that she realized her life was on the line.

Feeling her origin reserves, she decisively laid out the best method of killing him. As the rock neared her face, she reflected it away from her using the winds that surrounded her. But the rock did not travel far before it exploded in a small, yet dense manner. Another Shockwave hit her face as she was pushed further away.

Finally feeling his wounds stabilize, Cort chased after her as he fired bullet after bullet from his gun. Triste dodged the bullets as she sent out sharp currents of wind.

Cort knew that he could not dodge these currents, so he twisted his body to the side as the wind currents deeply embedded themselves into the side of his rib cage, and arm. He flung another rock at the woman.

Triste noticed the rock and felt a slight sense of panic as she hurriedly cast another spell. “{Repel}” Heavy winds pushed away everything around her, including the rock. But after noticing that the rock did not react in any way, she grew angry as she knew she had been tricked.

Cort managed to get behind her as he readied his shotgun once more. A large sound echoed out as he squeezed the trigger tightly.

Recognizing this attack, Triste darted to the side. Having predicted this, Cort threw another rock at her.

Triste grew frantic as she quickly tried to assess the true nature of the rock. Deciding to risk it, she smacked the rock away. Thankfully it proved to only be a rock as it had no reaction to her attack.

“It’s not the rock you should be worrying about.” Cort said as he pressed the button on his controller again.

Another tree exploded as pieces of bark turned to shrapnel.

New wounds appeared on Triste’s body as wooden shrapnel scored her skin. She stopped moving as she began to cast {Nature’s remorse} again.

But a group of rocks prevented her from finishing as they made their way towards her.

Watching the rocks approach her, she realized an absurd fact. This entire match had been controlled by her opponent. From location to pace she danced at the palm of his hands like a good little puppet

She grew angrier with each passing moment. “Enough! {Soar}!”

The winds that had been ever-present as they swirled around her attached themselves to her back. Slowly the form of wings started to appear. “{Repel}” she said as she took care of the rocks.

Her majestic wings flapped, and before the rocks had a chance to explode she launched herself upwards in a magnificent burst of speed. Suddenly she became a part of the skies and her peerless appearance, coupled with the heavenly wings made her look like an angel.

Cort ignored the sounds of explosions as he watched the scene with great surprise.

Triste lifted her arm above her head as she began to chant her first real attack spell. Her origin quickly drained as she reached her limits, but thankfully she had just enough to complete the spell. Origin molded itself into the model she had pictured in her head as the words to her casting came to a close.

Under the moon’s divine light a solemn maiden with angelic wings conjured forth a simple-looking spear from the elements.

Seeing such an astonishing sight left Cort breathless. He could feel her anger and determination through this attack. He knew that this would be the strongest and the last.

For the final time that night, he reached into his bag and pulled out one of his final cards. A syringe filled with an unnaturally colored liquid. Cort never thought he’d use this. Yes, this was the most perilous fight he ever had. But that was not the reason he had for using it.

“You may not understand me, but I genuinely respect you, magician. This was a good fight.” He stuck the syringe into his arm and felt the contents empty into his blood. His skin turned bronze in color as his muscles grew denser. All the hairs in his body stood up as goose flesh broke out. Adrenaline coursed through his veins and he felt invincible.

[Root’s latest and greatest. A serum that pushes your body towards its absolute limit. With this, you can live out your dream of shattering mountains with your fist and causing earthquakes with every footstep. Take this and you’ll be unrivaled in hand to hand combat. A quick warning though, you will most definitely regret it later.]

A random memory popped into his mind. One of Root’s renowned transmutation scientists delivered his spiel with all the gusto of a young boy showing off his greatest makeshift invention yet.

Though, to this day, he had no idea why the scientist elected to give his speech to a group of guinea pigs who had no choice in the matter.

Like a taut bow, the magician arched her body and prepared to throw the spear.

Cort’s pupils dilated as time slowed to a crawl.

He could see every minuscule detail the magician's figure had to offer.

As if she was Zeus dolling out divine punishment, she released the spear with righteous fury all while a majestic voice announced to the heavens “{Arkin’s Might}”

A single streak of light broke through the hazy clouds of reality as Cort saw the undeniably beautiful spear come towards him.

‘This is a fine way to die.’ And for the first time since coming to this world, he smiled a genuine smile.

…………………………………………