Swoosh!

The piercing cold wind rage loudly as the branches of the trees swayed roughly by the intense wind, scattering the gathering leaves all around the forest.

Alya and Nikita observed Haruto who was seated while surrounded by a cyclone of wind.

"This is... Spirit arts? The amount of control really is amazing."

Nikita voice her amazement with widened eyes.

When she glances at the water stream flowing downhill from the peak of the mountains top, she instantly noticed how the water was being influenced by Haruto's spirit arts.

Not only was he manipulating the air currents, but also the water currents in the lake as well. While magic allows the users to invoke special phenomenon through the cores connected to the four elemental goddesses, spirit arts allow the users to manipulate the phenomenon of nature through their connection to the spirit itself.

As long as one has a contract to a spirit no matter their rank, it was possible to use spirit arts.

"His compatibility with the arts might be the result of our contract or, perhaps he's just naturally talented in this field?"

Alya wondered, dubiously to herself.

Using her connection to him, Alya narrowed her emerald, green eyes. Despite gazing at Haruto, she wasn't seeing him, instead she was looking directly inside his soul.

Within his soul six orbs continues to rotate in an endless circle with one in the middle. The red orb was the flame core connected to the goddess of fire, Aetna, the blue orb was connected to the goddess of water, Aqua, the green orb was connected to the goddess of wind, Hera and the brown orb was connected to the goddess of earth, Gaea.

The other two additional orbs the black and white orbs were connected to the element of darkness and light. While the element of dark and light magic wasn't connected to any goddess or God it was a rare element few individuals are born with.

Dark magic being the specialty of the demon race, while light magic being the counter part for dark magic.

However, aside the god core that continues to release a divine aura there was now a new core that exists alongside the seven.

It was the spirit core.

(It appeared much sooner than I estimated, no wonder his control is so advanced despite being a beginner.)

Alya sighed, now relief that she had understood the situation. With the appearance of the spirit core, it was much easier for one to manipulate the laws of nature.

Haruto who was still seated within the cyclone of wind shifted his gaze and stared intensely at his hands.

(This is...)

His golden eyes widened faintly, his senses felt stronger, sharper and he felt more connected to the natural elements of the world than he did before.

With his enchanted senses he could vaguely understand how vast the forests were, he could even understand the geography of the land.

(This feeling, is this what nature feels like?)

It was as if his understanding of nature had improved significantly. Soon, the intense wind surrounding his body gradually receded until it had completely faded away.

The lake streaming down the mountains restlessly until now had also regained its natural tranquility.

{Congrats, Haruto your training has only just begun and yet your already able to manipulate the phenomenon of nature so easily.}

While he was observing the surroundings using his enhanced senses Alya sent a telepathic message.

{Yeah, how exactly is my progress so far?}

{It's amazing, you know? Normally it would've taken much longer for someone to form a spirit core, but you managed to do it within a few hours.}

{... How long are you talking about exactly?}

{Who knows, it very from individuals to individuals. However, let me tell you, you are definitely the first spirit art caster to grasp the essence of nature so quickly.}

(Although. You are the incarnation of the god of creation, nature and creation comes hand in hand. Perhaps that's why it was so easy?)

Alya pondered with her hand beneath her chin.

Meanwhile, Nikita's ruby colored eyes shone as her nine tails wagged happily, unable to contain herself she ran towards him.

"M-Master! You finally did it!"

She wrapped her hands around him in a tender hug as she exclaimed.

"Ahaha... Thank you, though I feel my control is still rather lacking."

He responded with a faint smile.

"In that case why not try manipulating some of the basic phenomenon of nature?"

"Mm, yeah maybe I'll try fire and lightning or, perhaps earth?"

Haruto pondered. Meanwhile, Alya furrowed her brow as she saw the buxom figure of Nikita embracing Haruto from the side.

(... Irritating!)

When her eyes were drawn towards a certain part of her body that was overly large, she was unable to hide her irritation any longer.

"Hmph, can't you see you are crushing him with those oversized lumps of fat!"

Alya complained as she grabbed Nikita by the scruff of the neck separating her from Haruto.

"H-Hey, Alya will you stop pulling me!"

Nikita protested about her rough treatment.

"Humph."

Alya snorted.

Watching the two, Haruto showed a faint smile before his expression contorted into seriousness.

(Right, I should test my control over the surroundings... Hm. This is?)

Suddenly, as though noticing something he turned his gaze upwards towards the vast azure skies with squinted eyes. With his heightened senses there was no energy he couldn't detect.

(Although it's faint, I can sense an extremely unpleasant energy in the atmosphere. Strange, I've never felt this kind of energy before. It's like mana but different at the same time.)

Not understanding what he was currently sensing, Haruto wore a dubious look on his face. The energy felt similar to mana, but at the same time there was a clear difference between them.

If he had to give it a distinction, then it was corrupt.

Mana was clean and clear, while this energy felt dirty and polluted.

Such energy was gradually filling the atmosphere.

"... Alya, did something happen while I was meditating?"

With a scrutinizing gaze he glanced towards Alya who was bickering with Nikita.

"Of course you would notice that. Something definitely did happen; I still don't understand the circumstances that had caused it. But it seems the seal placed on the demons is weakening much faster than before."

With a wry smile Alya explained the situation.

However, contrary to her smile Haruto's face contorted into a frown. This definitely wasn't good news to him at all.

"Th-The seal is weakening faster than before, why? We already had little time, but now our time is even less than before."

For a moment his face darkens.

"How much time do we have, Alya?"

Nikita asked as she fixed her silky silver hair with a serious expression.

"Who knows, could be a few months or even less."

She replied, unsure herself.

Considering an irregular situation had occurred it was now impossible to estimate the exact time.

(... Does this mean I have to increase my training; no will my training even be enough anymore?)

With a doubtful look Haruto sighed. The entire situation was troublesome he really didn't want to get involved if necessary but.

(I have no choice. I'll be dragged into the battle between humanity and demons anyway not to mention, the demon lord is going to be a tough opponent. Maybe those heroes would be able to deal with him.)

He pondered, however as though realizing something his eyes shone.

"Maybe that's why those heroes were summoned to this world after being gone for so long."

"Most likely, those elemental goddesses are extremely wary of the demon lord, you could say they are natural enemies of each other."

Alya replied.

"... Why doesn't the four elemental goddesses do anything, wouldn't they be able to face the demon lord if they get involved?"

"That's impossible, with the current instability of the world they can't get too distracted with a fight with the demon lord."

"Oh, would something happen to the world if they decide to join the war?"

"Yes, they are the one in charge of containing the energy within the world core, if they leave then the core would become unstable."

"... I see. It seems the situation is more precarious than I thought."

(... Come to think of it. Those heroes weren't in my dream, I wonder why that is?)

With no way of reaching a conclusion Haruto sighed as though to expel his fatigue.

Without any hesitation Haruto turned on his heels and walked through the overgrowth forest. Alya and Nikita glanced at each other slightly before following along.

After walking for roughly twenty minutes, they had left the forest and entered a vast grassy plain that goes as far as the eyes could see.

The rays of the golden sun shining down from the azure sky as the grassy field rustled along with the blowing wind. The scenery looked extremely beautiful to any onlooker.

"Haruto what are we doing here?"

With a bright smile Alya inquired.

"We are going to do some training."

Haruto said as he glanced at Alya and Nikita who stood behind him.

"Training! Let's do it!"

Nikita's eyes shone as she jumped excitedly from her spot. As a battle junkie just the mere thought of facing a formidable opponent gets her fired up.

"Haruto, you and Nikita should go ahead, I'll observe your control over spirit arts for now."

Alya responded with a serious expression. Unlike the silver fox who were known to be battle crazed Alya wasn't too interested in fighting meaningless battles, especially when it was against her own contractor.

"Yeah, Nikita let's do some light spar. I'll fight you using only spirit arts."

Haruto explained as he gathers distance between them.

"Heh, sure... In that case I'll also fight using all my elements."

With a grin she replied. She was a silver fox who could manipulate both ice and lightning, Haruto showed a wry smile at how difficult this battle will be.

As they got into position Haruto drew the sword sheath at his waist and got into a stance. Meanwhile, Nikita clenched her fists as she prepares herself.

Alya observed the both of them, checking if any of them were ready, after taking several deep breaths Alya lifted her hand.

"Begin!"

She exclaimed.

Whoosh!

At Alya's signal Nikita kicked off the ground launching herself towards Haruto with her fist arched back. Sensing the incoming attack Haruto swung his sword horizontally!

Bang!

A thunderous sound reverberated as her fist struck the blade of his sword!

"Tsk, as expected. Your physical strength really is no joke."

Haruto commented as he staggered backwards from the recoil of her punch.

"It's impressive how the blade of your sword is still intact."

Nikita commented, then she proceeded to attack using her nine silver tails as blades. However, Haruto swung his sword, deflecting each of her tails as they attacked.

(Facing her up close like this is way too troublesome. It's like facing multiple opponents at once.)

Realizing there will be no end to each of her attacks Haruto leapt away, avoiding the nine tails.

"Hmph, do you think I'd let you?"

Nikita smirked as she once again closed the distance between them. Haruto's golden eyes widened as her hand appeared directly before his face releasing freezing cold air through her palm. But without the slightest delay Haruto used spirit arts and created a barrier of flames to surround himself!

The cold air melted away upon making contact with the barrier.

"Tsk, the fire element again."

Nikita bit her lips in frustration. As ice was her main choice of attack fire was without a doubt her greatest weakness.

"Your ice manipulation is really dangerous, if I hadn't been able to use spirit arts, I would've been frozen in a block of ice just now."

Haruto responded. His figure became visible as the barrier of flame gradually dispersed and dissipated into the air.

He wasn't kidding, considering the time it would take to say the incantation to activate the magic spell, he would've definitely been in a tough spot without the chant less spirit arts.

Nikita raised her hand materializing spears of ice; their trajectories were all turned towards Haruto who stood in the distance.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

With a piercing sound, each of the ice spears shot through the air, closing in on Haruto at a tremendous speed. With his senses sharpen Haruto swung his sword, cutting down each of the ice spears as they came.

However, as he was cutting down the ice spears Nikita once again closed in on him from the front. With large number of spears closing in on him along with the approaching Nikita Haruto found himself in a difficult situation.

However, without any sign of panic Haruto cast earth spirit arts and manipulated the soil beneath his feet, creating a large mass of dirt that obstructed Nikita's field of view.

(This... he's manipulating the soil?)

Nikita didn't stop her charge; she partially transformed her delicate hand into her beast form and struck the mass of dirt!

BOOOOM!

With a thunderous sound, the mass of dirt exploded and crumbled upon impact!

The area was filled with scattering dirt and mud which obstructed her vision.

(Tsk, he's using the dust as a smokescreen!)

Nikita deduced. Instead of relying on her eyes her fox ears stood up as she used her keen hearing and listened to the sound of footsteps along with the sound of trampled grass approaching her from behind.

"Hmph, I got you!"

She exclaimed, attacking using her tails. Haruto promptly took evasive maneuvers as her tails filled his vision. With light and graceful footwork, he circled around to her front swinging his sword clad with searing hot flames.

Nikita's fist was clad with electricity as her fist struck the blade of his sword!

BOOOOM!

As a fierce shockwave erupted from the point of impact clearing the obstruction in the surroundings. Both Haruto and Nikita were locked together in a fierce struggle.

"Hahaha! As expected, facing master is really fun!"

Haruto's lips twitches as he felt the heat in her bright crimson eyes.

(So, this is what a battle junkie looks like?)

He felt overwhelmed by her zeal. However, with a heavy stomp of his feet Haruto tried to overturn the situation into his favor as he exerted more strength into his sword, attempting to push her back.

"Ahaha! You're going to challenge me in a contest of strength."

Nikita laughed as though she found the situation funny. The one who lost the contest of strength was Haruto. Nikita took full advantage of her superior strength, then she once again closed in on him from the front. Soon, they both initiated close quarters combat.

With a series of fast hand-movement Haruto and Nikita, both attacked each other from within arm's reach of the other. They both attack while defending each other's strike!

With each blow a loud thundering sound of their hands resounded through the vicinity.

Nikita raised her leg, attempting to land a knee strike into his stomach. However, before her knee could make contact with his stomach Haruto blocked her knee while thrusting his hand outwards.

Nikita clicked her tongue as her stance with her knee raised high had thrown her off balance making it difficult to evade his fist. With no other choice, Nikita also thrusts out her fist.

"... Ngh."

With a small groan Haruto and Nikita both backed away warily of the other. Haruto's fist had struck Nikita's stomach, while Nikita's fist had landed directly onto his cheek. They had both equally suffered damage.