“*BOOM! *”
Dust were thrown into the air! Sparks of golden red exploded outwards like a firework show. The ground was glowing with heat, most of its upmost layer was molten. The birdman was thrown backwards, his body a foot above the ground.
“FLAME BUTTERFLY!” Another shout was roared with fervour, the bear silhouette appeared in front of the other; punching. The attack shone through the cloud and pushed it away. The blast came in the form of four patterned flame ovals that resembled a butterfly’s wings, a flame red one.
A brown feathered figure flew out of the dust storm, and with him a shattered scythe. The dirt cloud was forcefully cleared by the attack’s aftereffects.
The bearman’s armour had lost the glow infused in the damage marks it had taken. His deceive was cleverly hidden, it wasn’t a wonder that the bird didn’t see it coming. Even though he had the ability to propel himself using fire; demonstrated by his ‘Passion fists’ and his use of thrusters to manipulate his momentum (although inaccurate), he deliberately chose to switch to a defensive stance that made him withstand hundreds of damaging attacks.
Though, with his story’s ability that had made the mistake into a trap. Putting one and two together, Etta (with big help from her flow and instinct) made a conclusion of what is the man’s ability.
‘HUH!? So his ability was to reflect the damage he took. That’s really high risk but high reward!’
And I also put one and two together and conclude that she was a bit smarter when she entered flow, even if not by that much. Just higher than an average monkey-cat hybrid.
“Thank you for the battle.” The bird man had gotten up and bowed to his opponent. The man was wobbling slightly left and right from the injuries he sustained; but in a ritual battle between monks, no bad blood was to be present. That was a rule.
“Thank you for the battle. It was good experience.” The bear dispelled his armour, revealing hundreds of new gashes and blood leaking out of his body.
“*Tap tap , tap tap.” A pair of footsteps was heard from the crowd behind the bird man, “Hey!” a voice pushed through as a pair of beast people came into the scene; a female feline and a skunk male.
“Really! Stop initiating ritual fights just because another monk looked powerful!” The skunk monk yelled at his bird companion. The cat’s hands began glowing a gentle green, healing the wounds he had taken.
This wasn’t the first fight he initiated (and lost) and certainly won’t be the last. His friend was fed up with his brash nature, it had caused lots of collateral damage throughout their entire journey, and that created enemies.
“We are sorry everyone for the disturbance. Please forgive us, my companion here is a battle maniac.” The skunk began bowing and apologizing to the crowd whom journeys were disturbed, and he was especially sorry to the people whom property was—…………...
Etta’s goldfish span attention was already turned somewhere else, she snapped out of her ultra focused state. She rubbed her strained eyes; she hasn’t blinked since the start of the fight. Her heart pumped with excitement from the fight that was already over.
The chef placed a wrap and a couple pieces of copper on the table in front of the little girl, thankfully he had enough foresight to prepare them during the fight. No need to wait any longer.
“Anyway... Ya need to give this letter to ma wife, she practically lives in her workplace. The Scrap Tree.”
‘If only I could go there ma’self, but ‘they’ still hunting ma’ the man thought to himself.
“Yoink.” She yanked the black enveloped letter and her prize with a wild grin.
“Giddy up Etta! To an empty spot near the troupe!” “*Yap! (HEY!)”
The pair rushed back into the crowd, the fox complaining about the disrespect; prompting the girl to shove half of a burrito inside his mouth to shut him up.
“Don’t worry we’ll send her your letter mister!!!!” She yelled over the noise of the crowd as she faded into it. The cook lips turned into a faint smile.
“Haih…... I should close up ma shop, it’s time for a nice good nap. *Yawn*”
Etta stood in a flat field near the cohort’s camp. In front of her is a dead tree, it must've a victim of a plant mage testing his/her abilities. It was warped unnaturally; its body was twisted till it looked like a tied ribbon.
A hairless monkey hopped around excitedly, giggles leaking out of her smile. Her eyes flashed the colours of the rainbow instead of her normal sky blue. She was out of her flow, but still in a kind of trance. Curiosity filled her mind.
“I wonder if I can do it. Can I do it? I should do it. I probably can do it. Let’s just do it, nobody knows if I can do it if I don’t do it.”
Her fox laid a short distance away; observing sleepily. ‘Wasn’t thy leg hurt before? If thou was actually fine, there wasn’t anything forcing me to carry thou.’ Alas, she didn’t hear his message.
A fog of mana clung around her, cladding her with whispers of excitement that filled her ears. They too were excited. Her curiosity and excitement had also infected them, like a friend yawning and making their best friend accidentally yawn.
Her will was contagious.
She hopped around more, running in place at the same time. Repeatedly clenching her hands and relaxing them, doing this motion again and again like a nervous child, but it came from a source of thrill. She at the same time, punched forward repeatedly, not hitting anything but air. She stretched her entire body as she warmed up.
Adrenaline coursed through her body, making her even more exhilarated. It seems that watching such an entertaining fight does wonders to your excitement. Her brain was numb to the pain that her body was feeling, all soreness being pushed out of her attention.
Taking deep breaths, she felt her blood coursing through her body. Memories about the moves those monks used flashing in her head, the way they moved, the way they made mana move, and what were the conditions of the moment.
How was their footwork? Stable and sturdy or was it prepared to dash, or maybe ready to kick? How much strength did they put into the attack? How much power did it probably cost? What position was their body in during that attack? How did their story effect their styles? And lastly, with my body, how do I replicate it?
She was going to replicate their styles, just like she did to all those other people (and monsters). She was going to merge herself with it.
“I want to replicate it, no— I shouldn’t just replicate, I need to do it. Not replicate” There was a fine line between the two, one was borrowing and the other was making it yours.
“Let’s see…. Which should I do.” Instantly she thought of the most impact leaving attack, the flame butterfly, a flashy move. The bear used his last bit of mana to turn it into a finisher, and as a concluder, it boasted damage. Lots of it.
It was easy to see the rule it was built upon, the same general rule (almost) every spell follows. More mana, more power. But this spell took advantage of this fact, it made sure that it maximized the efficiency of the magic, making sure almost no mana leaked from the spell; translating into more damage.
Its four ovals shape also made sure that it had enough area damage to be used in both single combat and multi target combat. It made sure to damage anything in a general location and range. But with that much mana to control and the fact that its and instant spell, the range was randomised and uncontrollable; meaning it is only useful in close combat (unless somebody had enough mental power and agility).
She placed her right foot forward making sure her stance was shoulder wide, placing her left wrist on her waist. Her right arm was outstretched touching the warped tree, in a position one would recognise as a one-inch punch stance; her palm open, but her fingers pointing directly at her target.
She inhaled a deep long breath; she focused her attention at the task at hand. Gathering mana around her hand. Then on the exhale, she punched forward.
“Flame butterfly.” A giant smile encroaching her face.
A loud bang blared followed by the sound of cracking wood. Four ovals of fire shaped like a butterfly manifested itself outwards blasting a chunk of the tree. It was smaller than the bear’s due to the smaller amount of mana used, but still. She succeeded.
A big chunk of the tree was cracked and the dry wood surrounding the impact point caught on fire.
Her chest heaved up and down, straining to catch the air and pull it into her lungs. Her hands felt even more sore, the only reason it wasn’t making her scream was because of the adrenaline coursing in her body. Sweat rolled off her brows, highlighting the satisfied smile on her face.
Her attack was not as stable or as devastating as the monk’s spell, but that was because her magic lacked practice and mana. She only managed to do it with about a fifth of the bear’s mastery, however even that should be enough to fight.
With actual rest and a couple more tries, she should be able to do it regularly and stably. Plus, the reason why it wasn’t as destructive was because the man’s attack was a finisher, as an ender the user would overfill the spell with most of the mana they had left, and usually all of it.
In simple monkey terms, with more rest and tries, she will be able to use the spell normally.
She had learned a special technique that the monk had learned from the temple and perfected over the years, that he worked hard to truly master, by seeing it only once; and she will master it in a couple days.
She had taken the saying ‘monkey see, monkey do’ to another level. Well, she probably is just a hairless ape-cat.
And one more thing, her mana core was still almost empty and it was never disturbed. Nowhere near enough to mix up with the surrounding mana to make them move to her will. She used the spell without costing herself mana; she infected energy with her will without her own mana as an intermediary.
“Now then, how about that spinning kick the bird guy did. What was it again? ‘Wind wheel’?”
“Hmm, but I can’t actually use wind for stronger things, mostly just magic for chores. How about… I change it to fire!”
She without hesitation switched her stance, preparing to bounce into another attack.
“Flame wheel!” With fervour she executed a mid-air spinning kick, taking all her muscles to generate as much momentum as possible.
“OUCH!” However, for now that ability will be a onetime thing. Her spell failed due to the lack of mana. Her shin earned a bright red bruise, with a dash of purple at the most hurt point.
“AAAAHHH!!” She kneeled by pain reflex and rubbed her injury with tears leaking from her eyes. Then her already existing soreness returned with a vengeance, turning her pained screams into mutilated cries of horror. And as if her body was mad at her for making it do so much work without any rest, it executed a final attack.
“Help me Apita!” She reached out to her partner to no avail. For she had disrespected his honour by riding him to and fro, to him this was deserved karma.
“*cramp*” Cramps appeared everywhere on her body, like thin branching glass needles laden with venom did untrained acupuncture on her every muscles. Her body constricted with dread, leaving her sprawled on the ground like a fainted upside-down goat.
It seems that her adrenaline has worn off, leaving her with another world of pain.
“Yip yip (HAHA)” The fox writhed on the ground also, his belly constricting in pain from laughing too much.
Today she learnt a lesson that she would probably forget after a week; always stretch after training, and the common fact that a body needs proper rest. Hopefully she won’t wet herself while being passed out.
Her fox after running out of breath from laughing too much walked to her. Still giggling, he chomped on the back of her collar and dragged her back like a kitten.
