Early in the morning somewhere to the east of the Jua village, a crowd was already gathered in a wide field. There was a stage two meters high at the center of this field. At the two ends of this stage, two boys could be seen seated on stools and surrounded by a few people as if they were boxers in a boxing match. One of these two boys was Mwana.

Currently, Cheza was busy massaging Mwana’s shoulders and giving him pre-fight advice like a boxing coach. “Breathe in, oooh. Breathe out, poof. Are you ready?”

Mwana’s cousin, Fury Jua, was busy fanning his face despite the fact that the sun had not even risen. The fight had not even started so it was impossible for Mwana to be sweaty or to overheat. Apart from Cheza and Fury, Jana was kneeling down on one knee while slapping Mwana’s calves. Seeing the actions of these three, you would think this was a fight already in the final rounds.

“Guys, stop overreacting. You will only increase his anxiety.” Luckily Kia who was standing beside Mwana had a bit of sanity compared to the other children.

“Good luck.” Hearing Kia’s encouragement, Mwana felt as if he could gain a win over anyone.

“Mwana are you ready to lose?” Mwana had stood up with confidence but Maji 1’s piercing voice ruined his mood once again.

Both the fighters had already reached the center of the stage and were ready to fight.

“Is the referee here yet? Please keep people away from the platform and activate a magic barrier. I don’t want them to be destroyed by the shockwaves of my attacks. Only one monkey needs to go down today.” Maji 1 added in an extremely arrogant tone.

“Mister Mea, there’s no need to do so much. I will only need a few seconds to finish this, so you don’t need to trouble yourself. Feel free to relax and maybe just prepare first aid for this roach.” Mwana replied in a cool tone. Although both boys addressed the referee, he was clearly the last thing on their minds.

The referee, Mister Mea, found himself caught in between the shit talking between the two brats. He almost gave up and went back to bed right there. “It is so early in the morning, I could be enjoying a few more minutes in my sweet warm bed yet here I am supervising some brats. Sigh. Just start already!”

“Mwana what did you say? Just a few seconds to finish this? You must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed today.” Maji 1 replied to Mwana’s taunt with a cold laugh while completely ignoring the referee.

‘You will win over me in a few seconds?’

‘Ho!’

Maji 1 was confident in crushing Mwana in this fight. Just like Mwana, he had never slacked off. He trained day and night and in combination with his rich family’s resources, he was confident that his strength had far surpassed Mwana’s.

‘This poor brat, even if he works hard and has some talent, he cannot hope to surpass me. I worked hard, I have talent, and I have something even more important that he doesn’t: resources.’ Maji 1 was confident that at least in terms of Body Forging training, he was near the top of the class, if not the first. Then how could this ‘brat’ speak to him like that? He resolved himself to crush Mwana’s mouth today while simultaneously showing off to everyone else.

Seeing that he had successfully agitated Maji 1, Mwana could not help but fire back “Maybe you are right, I must have been out of my mind to say ‘a few seconds’. That is indeed an exaggeration. Majini, stop yapping and get ready to get packed up in an instant!”

Maji 1 was almost huffing and puffing at this point but seeing Mwana prepare to attack, he also started boosting his own aura. A fiery red aura with crackling arcs of red lightning rose from Mwana’s body colliding against Maji 1’s white-blue flowing aura.

 “Why are you huffing you little demon, can you even withstand one of my punches?” In this aura clash, Mwana chose to agitate his opponent’s emotions to break the stalemate. One’s aura was usually affected by their emotional state.

“You dare you use that insult again?!” Maji 1 could not resist anymore, he stopped raising his aura and immediately launched an attack.

“Sky Tearing Eagle Claw!”

With a shout, Maji 1 shot off towards Mwana as the image of a blue claw formed over his right hand. The claw seemed to tear through the air creating an explosive vacuum wherever it passed. Despite the might of the incoming attack, Mwana did not panic as he was already prepared for this. He unleashed his own technique:

“Imitation Dragon Claw!”

This was not official dragon claw technique that Mwana had learned; instead it was just an imitation of the claw attacks Mwana had witnessed the Green Dragon perform. Most animal or creature-based martial arts were created by observing the creatures the techniques were based on in their natural habitats. Mwana followed the experiences of the Green Dragon up close and witnessed not just its techniques but also its astounding aura. From his experiences in his visions, he was able to imitate a portion of the Green Dragon’s form.

Although this was just the opening clash, a terrifying pressure acted on the surroundings as the air boiled due to the two fighters’ momentum. An instant later, the two claws clashed creating a vacuum of space around the two boy’s hands. The roars of dragons and cries of eagles could be vaguely heard as the shockwaves from the clash spread over the field.

“What tyrannical power!” The audience could not help but be shocked especially those who were Mwana and Maji 1’s age mates. Some of them would have lost on the first clash.

The clash blew the two fighters away some dozen meters but both of them still landed firmly on their feet.

“I won’t give you a chance to breathe!” Before either could even catch their breath, Maji 1 instantly activated his Moon Bracelet and unleashed a wave of Moon Blades. Mwana did not have the time to prepare any other technique and could only retaliate in kind. Moon blades clashed against moon blades but Mwana found himself in a disadvantageous position. This was because Moon blades corresponded to the [Moon Section] of the [Sun and Moon arts] while in Mwana’s case, apart from the [Thunder Route] of the [Lunar Divine Arts], he mainly focused on the [Solar Divine Arts] in the [Sun and Moon Arts]. However, the same way lunar power could be used to condense Moon Blades, solar power could be used to condense Sun Blades.

Mwana did not hesitate anymore and switched to using Sun Blades. He waved his arms vigorously as the multiple condensed semi-circular energy blades slowly changed color from moon-blue to solar-orange.

His disadvantage immediately disappeared and the two fighters became evenly matched. Mwana had a lightning elemental affinity and a fire bloodline affinity thus making his moon blades weaker than his sun blades. As for Maji 1, his elemental affinity and bloodline affinity were both evenly matched making his mastery for both moon blades and water-based techniques extremely high.

Whether a person was more proficient in moon or sun blades usually depended on their elemental affinity and their temperament.

Seeing the stalemate, Maji 1 instantly switched to using Moon Spears launching piercing spear-like bolts of energy towards Mwana like a crazed man. Mwana’s sun blades were swallowed up by the moon spears in the first exchange. The moon spears flew towards Mwana’s figure homing in on him as if intending to turn him into a beehive.

The referee almost stepped in to stop the battle. He knew that while these attacks would not injure Mwana due to the durability of those who had achieved Skin hardening, the attacks would still leave him bleeding. However, before he could intervene, he saw a soft wind coil around Mwana’s feet before the boy flashed meters away.

“An agility magic skill?”

Mwana had used his initial mastery [Linear Wind Spell] to evade the attacks. However as more moon spears shot towards him, he had no choice but to retaliate with his own offensive skills.

“Solar Scorching Fist!”

Mwana shouted loudly while channeling the solar energy in his body towards his fist before punching wildly. His boxing training technique [1000 leaves in one’s palm] was already approaching the 120th leaf mark which made Mwana’s punches look as fast as lightning. On the fighting platform, waves of fist-shaped flames clashed against streams of spear-like energy.

Maji 1 was once again the one to change up his attacks as he unleashed another terrifying technique that sent Mwana flying.

“Cold Moon Spear Technique.” This was an ice element technique driven by Maji 1’s water element affinity and bloodline power.

While still in the air, Mwana quickly defended himself by activating the [Sword Dragon Wave technique] which transformed his aura into a wave of sword energy to defend against and disperse the power of the Cold Moon Spear technique. This Sword Dragon Wave was just a portion of the defensive arts within the [Sword Dragon Mantra] that Mwana had been learning. On the fighting stage, one pursued as another retreated as attacks flew left and right. The sword dragon wave was a defensive attack and had no offensive power which gave Maji 1 an advantage in terms of momentum. 

“Why is Maji 1 so aggressive?” Kia asked worriedly. Although she had never known Maji 1 to be a calm individual, he attacked very aggressively in this fight putting Mwana at a disadvantage as soon as the fight started.

Cheza explained the entire situation from the side as he had known the two boys for a longer time, “Mwana’s insults got under his skin. Maji 1 can brush off anything with a smile on his face but there is one thing he cannot brush off; that is being called a demon.”

“Why?” Fury could not help but ask curiously. However, Cheza noticed the subtle glint in her eye which suggested that she was not asking purely for curiosity’s sake.

“This has to do with their family’s naming history. Majimaji’s name used to be one of the most common and prestigious name in the Pweza family. This name has been in their family for over hundred years but it was not always Majimaji, instead it was Majini. The name is supposed to mean ‘in the water’ but it has another meaning referring to demons and ghosts.  So of course there are people who used the second meaning in a derogatory manner. Back then people did not have as much tolerance as today so the name was changed from Majini to Majimaji.”

Just as Cheza had explained, the real meaning of a name like Jua Majini was ‘the sun that shines in the water’ or ‘the sun in the water’. This could be seen as poetic or even beautiful name if it did not have a double meaning. This name was born from the Pweza family’s water element bloodline.

Just as Cheza finished explaining, another shocking change happened on the fighting stage.

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