“Oh, I was hoping we run into each other again.” Lyria spoke out, the tip of her rapier pointing towards the draco girl. “But to think you’d try that same trick; you underestimate me lizard.”

The Draco girl looked at her, almost aloof and uninterested. “It’s the most efficient way to deal with fodder, but I guess I’ll have to get a little more hands on with you.”

This hit a nerve with Lyric, her lips twitching as she stared back at her. She brandished rapiers while mana coursed through it. “Fodder you say?” 

“Seems like this fodder will have to put you in your place.” 

The black-haired draco then glanced towards us. Her blue, uncaring eyes scanned through every member of our group. No emotion showed on her face, as if our presence was inconsequential to her, but her demeanor suddenly changed, as if she had seen something she didn’t expect. I traced her eyes back to Enan, and it would seem that he recognized her as well, but by his expression, the sight of this person brought him no joy.

She was quick to recover from this slight break of composure and turned to look at the Lyria once more, a halberd appearing out from whatever rune she had. “Very well. Come, dance with me, and try to keep up.”

Lyria then speak up, eyes still glued to her opponent “Cedric, I’ll have to trust you with my team, her magic is difficult to handle and is very wide ranged, I would say it’s better if I drew her attention while you guys deal with her team.”

Cedric raised his eyebrows, unsure if he should agree. “Are you sure?” 

“Yes, I hate to admit it, but even I can barely keep up with her, and you guys will only hold me back.”

Cedric, satisfied with her answer, withdraws, sword and shield in hand. “Leave The Draco to-.”

Their fight started almost immediately, cutting Cedric off mid-sentence. Mana of their respective affinities flooded in from beyond the clearing, empowering their spells and attacks. Lyria rushed towards her opponent, crossing her rapiers together. She spun around, looking almost like a stone skipping over water. The attack was enough to push the Draco girl back and away from our group.

“They really left,” said one figure opposite us. It was another dwarf with red luscious hair and a large, healthy beard.

 

“Leave the two princesses to themselves and let’s just deal with the others.” Said the golden-haired Draco. His eyes fell onto me the moment he peered at our group.

“Oh I recognize you, to think we would meet again like this.” He said, an unsettling smile creeped upon his face. "I guess I’ll get to discipline you after all.”

His azure blue eyes stared at me amusingly, while he ran his fingers through his blond hair as to brandish his horns, just overall being unnecessarily pompous and dramatic.

He held up his sword toward me as he separated himself from his teammates. “You guys can go ahead. I would like to have a bit of fun myself.”

He continued walking gingerly away from his teammates, gesturing for me to take a stance. I guess he wanted to fight one on one as well. 

“My name is Wang Lingyung, or you could simply call me Julius. Prepare yourself, ape.” 

Almost instantly, golden lighting flashed towards me, the speed almost unperceivable to me, I moved out of the way just barely avoiding the attack. How I dodged that, be it luck or pure instinct, I don’t know, but the attack damned near sent my heart into my throat. 

The site I had just fled was now a small crater, and the figure standing next to it watched on in surprise. Crackling static, the only sound that occupied our stunned silence.

“You actually dodged that?” he muttered. What started out as a confused look turned into amusement as he turned towards me. The clicking of his tongue accompanied each of his steps. “Lucky you, seems like I still haven’t fully mastered this technique, but no matter, it won’t happen again.”

Remember the saying, be careful what you wish for, yeah that was exactly the thought that crossed my mind. A thunder technique that was almost too fast for me to comprehend. I knew at that very moment I was in trouble. 

 “Atsumi, are you ok?” Senna shouted as she ran towards me. But was quickly engaged by the other players. 

“Get out of my way, dickheads,” she groaned, backing away as they charged her.

“I’ll be fine,” I shouted, ensuring her that I’ll be fine. Not that I was confident I would be. 

 

Quickly, I came to my feet, turning quickly to my attacker. By that point, his blade was already near my neck. I quickly raised my Katana to intercept it, but the force was enough to send me tumbling backwards. Seeing this, He chuckled for a moment, clearly delighting to see my struggle.

“Man, you're so light, a little thing like shouldn’t have left your mother’s back.”

The mention of my mother hit a nerve and for a moment, I let my mouth slip.

“Simply annoying, honestly can you shut up for a moment? Or Is running your mouth the only thing you are capable of?” 

His amused look faded quickly, and the look of pure rage took its place. His pale face glowed red and I could clearly see veins spread out over his forehead. It was so prominent I almost thought he would pass out.

“How dare you speak back to me? You really are courting death, you simple thing.”

“Blah blah, just get on with it.” I retorted.

 

He prepared his stance while I chanted the words for a thunderbolt cloak. The others were busy with the enemies, and Lyria had her hands full as well. I had to fight this all the way, or at least long enough so I can get some help. 

 

Activating a flutter in combination with a thunderbolt cloak, I launched myself towards the blonde boy. Our two blades collided in a flurry of pink, red, and gold electrical arcs peppered the surrounding air. He seamlessly parried my downward strike before unleashing an own barrage of sword strikes. His magical arts were strange, erratic and hard to read, a stark contrast from the sacred sky blossom with required lightness, balance and quick fluid motions. I commended his fighting style, as it accurately represented lightning.

 

I was having trouble keeping up even with both thunderbolt cloak and flutter active. He as well was having trouble reading my movements as flutter not only obscures my attacks, giving the effect of my sword disappearing and reappearing but also creates blade echoes made to confuse my opponent.

 

Each of our attacks would only just barely graze each other, me more than him, but his patience wasn’t that great and over time, he became more agitated and less focused. His magical arts, which pushed my reaction time to the limit, slowed down, allowing me more space to breathe, and slowly, I matched his pace.

Parrying one of his now wild strikes, I countered with a simple half wing that left a fairly deep slash in the side of his cheek, the first hit I had landed that wasn’t just a measly scratch. 

He backed away and let out a frustrated howl, face still flushed red with anger. I could almost see steam rising from his forehead. No, this was actually steam. His entire body emitted steam, almost as if his body was overheating and evaporated his own seat. Maybe him slowing down was not because of his short temper, but a drawback from his magical arts.

“Damned wretch, I refuse to accept this. You will pay dearly for disrespecting me.” 

He held his hand out and another of those bright surges of pure energy shot out.

“Thundering Fury magical art flash and bang “

An explosion of light followed by a loud boom shook my nerves. Both my hearing and sight were in disarray. Desperately I tried to focus, but the incessant ringing in my skull was hard to ignore. 

With my sense of mana, I noticed the approach of another attack, so in response I used the Scarlet whirlwind to buy myself some time.

But it was no use as small tiny daggers like collections of lightning mana tore through the wind barrier and sliced through my thigh like a hot knife through butter.

 

I tried to sense they were coming from, but it was too fast to get a proper read of where they were. I was basically singing my sword wildly, hoping to deflect a few of them. 

The maelstrom soon wore off at the same time the barrage of the attacks stopped. I knew at that moment that his next move would be to charge at me. 

So I waited, and in the end it paid off as the moment I got a hint of him entering my space. I slammed my katana into the ground with all my strength, unleashing a bolt of crimson lightning.

 “Damn bitch, that petty trick only delays your defeat,” He said.

 

At this point, my sense of sight and hearing had returned, but the thunderbolt cloak, as well as Flutter, had also worn off. My mana was about halfway spent, but I had to wait a set time before I could use them again. 

Even though I no longer self-destruct while using magical spells and techniques, I could still only use an abysmally small amount of mana before I felt fatigue that rendered me unable to move, not to mention the artificial mana pool could only hold so much filtered mana.

 

Meanwhile, the Draco boy before looked as if he was still raring to go, despite his wheezing breaths. I could tell by his posture that he was preparing for another strike, and he amassed a large amount of mana and Qi into his sword.

“I must admit you’re not complete trash, but a primate can only do so much. “

 

I prepared myself for what was to come. The others were of little help to me. Cedric was busy doing his best to lead the group. Senna was basically on her own. I couldn’t help but chuckle at her disgruntled look as she bobbed and weaved through attacks.

 

I was a mess of sweat and wounds, the simulated blood spilled out of my cuts, the pain just barely dampened. I racked my brain for something to get me out of this situation. Based on the attack amount of mana he was gathering, only one technique I had mastered could defend against it.

 His mana swelled, and I could hear that familiar crackling as golden lightning forced its way into his sword. This would be too fast to dodge. I had to face it head on. For a moment, I thought of using a function of the seal Allan had implemented, but he had forbidden me from using it unless my life was in danger, so I decided against it, only relying on the filtered mana within the seal.

 

After amassing mana for a few seconds, he pointed his sword towards me, as he prepared to open the floodgates. 

“Thundering Fury magical arts Golden Calamity”

I unleashed my strongest attack in response to his.

“Single strike of……

 

“Everyone get away, it’s back!”

Suddenly, a voice rang out into the forest, disrupting our so-called ultimate attack sequence. Looking at the source, I could see it was Lyria. But what was she talking about? She seemed panicked, as if she was being chased by something.

It was then I noticed the massive figure hot on her heels. The draco girl was on the run and well.

 

I was so focused on the fight; I didn’t even notice it approaching. Its antlers ripped through the branches and its body obliterated even the trees that towered over it. It held its spear in hand as if it was about to throw it. But before it could even attack, it locked eyes with me and In that moment, I could have sworn I heard a voice. It was a soft, raspy voice that was almost indistinguishable from your usual forest ambiance. As if the wind had come up close to me and whispered the words into my ear.

“I’ve found you.”