“You know, I hate you Elves… prissy eco-friendly assholes, and you don’t even have the decency to look bad when you live in trees and shit, what’s wrong with you people?” Basil Gael-oak frowned at the words of the petulant woman fighting him…

Then again, she somehow still referred to Elves as ‘people’ instead of ‘things’ as some xenophobic humans and Sages did. Basil still took offence, but interacting with humans over the years had taught him a bit of their ways.

Basil was never going to understand strange slang like ‘L-O-L’ or ‘dude’ but he was at least learning, as an ambassador was supposed to do.

As he fired another four arrows, breaking the sound barrier four more times, Basil considered that he was engaging in a very unfriendly activity for an ambassador…

Other than an occasional go with the Wild Hunt, Basil hadn’t really been fighting much since the Fae Wars, he was practically a pacifist at this point, but there was a difference between fighting against someone and defending your own life.

“I’m uncertain as to why Elves are superior in so many aspects compared to every other race in existence. I do apologize if that fact hurts your self-esteem though.” Basil responded as he jumped backwards, thankfully dodging the gigantic claw of darkness that almost crushed him.

She seemed mad at his words for some reason… he was just trying to say sorry.

Really, why were humans such strange creatures?

Rather than fret on the peculiarities of a race, Basil instead focused on the fight they were having between the two of them, sharp vision taking in details of his enemy.

The Fae, much like the human Sages, were all capable of using the Six Techniques (or the six Arts as humans called them) and so Basil recognized that the woman he was fighting was someone who had four or five of the Techniques learnt.

She was covered in shadows, black as ink, Basil was pretty sure that it was not actually an Armour but in fact an Aura instead though, because despite acting like Armour when his arrows glanced off of it, it remained fluid, shifting around her.

A particularly powerful Aura then, probably weaker when used for allies, but for her alone it would act as a powerful Armour.

Basil saw no reason why it would be anything but that, there was balance to power in the world, in everything.

Powerful warriors could easily devastate entire landscapes, Basil himself likely capable of turning this boring and disgusting desert into a thriving lush green within a week or two at most…

But rarely would warriors as powerful as Basil engage in such wide spread destruction while fighting each other.

Basil had taken to reading human texts whenever he entered that holy city the Paragon of Light resided in, and a book on physics mentioned pressure, force exerted over an area, using some strange terms such as ‘Newtons’ and ‘Pascals’.

Basil understood but did not understand the naming.

Warriors were essentially beings capable of emitting only a certain amount of ‘Newtons’ but being able to vary their ‘Area’.

A warrior capable of emitting ten thousand Newtons of force could then decide to limit the area of the force to one square metre or ten thousand metres for example.

The former would result in extreme force over a small area and the latter a weak force over a huge area.

The only time the landscape really changed as a result of the attacks between powerful warriors were when the attacks were dodged, or they weren’t properly concentrated, letting some of the force bleed off into the environment around them.

Basil could recall witnessing, as a young sprout, King Oberon once demonstrating archery to newer hopefuls for the Wild Hunt.

Basil could still recall the King stating that he would hit nothing, and yet a tree would fall.

True to his word, using no control of nature, the King fired an arrow, bypassing a tree, yet cutting into it with its wake.

The King then fired another arrow, this time disturbing nothing.

Only upon learning to fight and growing in strength did Basil learn how absurd a feat that was… rather, the first shot was the terrifying one, a group of trees and the King had the arrow hit none and fell one.

To use a previously stated analogy, throwing water onto a page and being able to decide where the page would be dry and vice versa.

Even well into the latter half of his third century Basil still could not achieve such a feat.

Basil’s hand blurred, arrows firing once more while the woman in front of him managed to dodge one while deflecting two more, his eyes narrowing in annoyance.

Balance in power… right… Elves were the greatest archers period, but dodging was much easier when you could see where your opponent was aiming, even if his arrows were too fast for her to dodge, Basil was getting tired of watching the woman block his arrows instead.

Basil kept firing, using the deflected arrows as a focal point for growing new life to the detriment of his opponent, the woman, Jessica, not that Basil knew her name, was powerful and quite acrobatic for someone who seemed so still outside of combat.

Basil finally felt that enough was enough, repeating an action and getting the same result over and over didn’t mean that doing it again would change things.

“I suppose I can’t defeat you in a straight up fight, ashamed as I am to admit it… but we do not fight this way.” Basil stated, firing one more eardrum rupturing shot at the woman, this one knocking her back as he used more force than before, leaving the woman stumbling back before she dropped onto all fours.

She had been fighting like that for a while now, less of her body could be seen like that, it made her a smaller target…

If she did that instinctively, Basil would consider her a combat genius, though he saw no indication of why she would do that, having been fighting standing up until she suddenly folded into that clawing position.

It would not change his victory, Basil determined, as he shrunk his bow into its seed form before he clenched a fist, focusing his power.

“Let nature bloom.” It was not the most threatening war-cry, even an Elf like Basil could admit that… but for the Elves, it was as threatening as it got.

And as if his words were prophetic, a giant oak tree burst from the ground underneath Jessica, hauling her into the air but not doing much damage other than the surprise factor.

And it was as she was falling down to the ground that Jessica realized that it wasn’t just one tree…

She found herself in a forest. She found sand beneath her feet and the forest around her…

“And I’m fighting an Elf… shit…” Jessica cursed out slowly, realizing the reality of the situation.

“I suppose you could be forgiven for thinking you could win. The dead land is not really hospitable to Elves, I can only think of the cave diggers or the barbarians who would enjoy this.” Basil’s voice rang out, echoing somehow through the trees…

Well, echoing to most people, but to Jessica, he might as well have just waved a banner and dropped glitter over himself to reveal his location.

Rushing with a pounce leaving a crater behind her, Jessica used the trees as footholds, moving in a way that would have someone question whether gravity actually had any effect on her.

In actuality it barely did. Her Clad, the Twilight Cloak, allowed her to control the effect gravity had on her and her comrades, with a more powerful effect when used on her alone.

The reason why her Aura could deflect the arrows was because she just increased gravity to a huge extent around her, she couldn’t keep it up but it retarded an arrow so that it was easier to deflect.

Retard means to slow down or delay progress by the way. Using retard as a descriptor for a person was to say that this person ‘retards’ progress around them… so it didn’t actually mean idiot.

Fun fact.

But with a combination of her Twilight Cloak making her lighter, or heavier at will, and her own strength, the result was her landing on the side of trees as if the vertical surface was a horizontal one before jumping to another tree like that, bouncing towards the source of the sound.

“Oh, enhanced senses, even for a warrior of your strength… is it your unique quality or just sheer training?” Jessica’s eyes widened, realizing that Basil was no longer where she thought he was, but she had already jumped towards that direction only for an arrow to fly at her…

From above and behind her?

But his voice wasn’t there… he was throwing her off somehow, making his voice sound from places where he wasn’t.

“Whatever the case may be, it won’t help you…” the arrow impacted, nicking her skin and forcing her to the ground as she spun to make sure she wasn’t with an arrow stuck in her.

“An Elf in the forest is invincible. Perhaps if you had a fire warrior with you, you would be a challenge… no, even then, I’d win.” Jessica looked upwards, glaring at the Elf standing on an unnatural growth leading between two of the trees in the newly created forest.

“Remember, I introduced myself at the beginning? I am Basil Gael-fern, ambassador to the human race. Before I took this role, I was one of the generals of the Wild Hunt. Basil the Ever-flourishing.” It was an obviously flowery title given by the obviously flowery Elves, but Jessica took it at face value.

A titled Elf, a general of their famed Wild Hunt, and as a Wood user, Ever-flourishing could also mean ‘forever growing’… for an Elf, that was a scary title considering that was their racial trait, with their longevity they could dedicate decades to a pursuit whereas human Sages needed to progress to earn those decades.

“Now, woman, welcome to my Fae Land.” With a bow, Basil seeped into the tree, and Jessica realized what was happening, Basil was using the trees to move around while also hiding his movements…

It was a usage of Wood in a way that Jessica had never seen before, even by the powerful Wood user in the Apostle’s group…

Though this movement technique could explain how that annoying ninja found her and Blake when they tried to kidnap one of the other Essence Sages.

Well, that just meant that Jessica had to be creative about killing the Elf, maybe levelling the forest?

Unlikely to happen, he grew this whole place in a desert and she had no idea how strenuous that was for him… not to mention she was a Darkness Sage…

The fact that she was in the desert meant the sun was particularly bright for some reason… but with the trees…

Well, the Elf might have made the environment favour him, but it also boosted her own abilities with the shade.

Now it was just a matter of who could make use of the new terrain better.

The fight from there was a game of cat and mouse, the roles interchanging as Basil hunted down Jessica, only to be forced into hiding whenever she’d retaliate using her manipulation over the shadows created by the very trees he used to travel.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

She was also beginning to track his specific shadow, once in a while she’d turn around and attack or jump out of the way of an arrow before he even released it, reading his location by using his shadow was an impressive technique.

Basil couldn’t help but wonder at the great beings of Light and Darkness, Angels and Demons, and question whether or not fighting a Demon would be similar…

Only humans and beasts had Darkness and Light users, they were respected slightly more by the Fae for their power.

Basil breathed out a heavy sigh as he pulled himself out of another tree, using root-traveling was not very difficult as every Elf learned how to do it at a young age.

Relatively. To an Elf one hundred was practically the early teenage years.

But this fight was very fun, Basil could admit, feeling the smile on his face as he noted his opponents position once more, feeling the tree she stood against…

It truly felt like he was part of the Hunt once more.

The Wild Hunt was considered the ‘special forces’ of the Fae, primarily comprised of Elves with honorary members of other races, there was no human member of the Wild Hunt however.

But despite its reputation, the Wild Hunt was exactly that, a hunting force for the elemental monsters that roamed the lands…

With Jessica’s animal instincts, her enhanced senses and her bestial fighting style…

It was just like fighting one of those monsters. Just like the Hunt.

Basil’s smile was not even noticed by himself as he spoke.

“Woman, what is your name? I wish to know the name of the beast I hunt this day.” Jessica was facing him, having turned the moment he sighed while exiting the tree.

“Jessica. No last name…” Jessica spoke, her growl gone for the moment before she focused, her Twilight Cloak darkening even further around her as her ‘claws’ dug into the sand.

“I see. I think we should end this fight… know that, should you escape, I will see no issue with that.” Basil warned as he raised his bow, getting a tilt of the head in question from Jessica.

“This was a brilliant hunt. I think it would be a shame if you died… mostly because we wouldn’t be able to do this again.” Basil said with a smirk, getting a smirk in return from Jessica.

Had anyone else been around to see this the Elf and Sage would be called out for flirting on the battlefield.

“One last exchange then, before I step out this forest.” Jessica’s confidence was well founded of course.

Neither of the two combatants had used their Manifestations as Elves had those as well (animal companion was how the Fae referred to Manifestations) nor had either of them used their Diversities.

Unfortunately for Basil, all Elves with the exception of their Royalty possessed the same or similar Diversity, which being the Diversity known as ‘Fae Botany’ which basically gave them a huge amount of Diversities in one related to plants.

It was what let Basil create a way to teleport; it was what allowed Basil to make trees with supernatural effects, to create plants that made no sense from a purely scientific standpoint.

Wood Sages could do some of it, but it didn’t come as instinctually to them as it did to Elves.

The Elves all had that Diversity with the exception of Oberon and Titania, so Jessica didn’t need to worry about that from Basil…

But he had to worry about hers, as she smiled, her grin particularly toothy as the ground she touched began to melt…

Darkness as an Element featured poisons, for a reason unknown to many…

But Jessica in particular was quite good with poisons, enough to have a Diversity based on it.

There was a whisper of silence, the hot breeze reminding the two fighters that despite their forest surrounding that they were still in fact within the desert…

And then there was a blur of action.

Were the first years to be around they would all collectively claim to see nothing. The Kazuya pair would be capable of witnessing the moment, but would not be fast enough to properly affect it.

Jessica pounced, rocketing from the caved in floor straight towards Basil…

Basil responded in kind with three arrows, each one booming as they broke the sound barrier, more than that, the very trees around them grew branches which stabbed forward to entangle or kill Jessica.

Jessica, in mid-air, with no traction, should have been incapable of dodging this, and she didn’t…

She ploughed straight through everything, twisting as she cut into her own flesh, splattering her blood around as she laughed, now scratching out at the things attacking her… and they melted around her, Basil wincing from the phantom pains felt through the branches which decayed before him.

Basil was still fast enough to change his bow for a sword made of some kind of crystal, swinging as Jessica reached him.

She landed on the tree behind him, and the moment was complete.

Basil fell to his knee, long gashes across his chest as he coughed blood.

Jessica in contrast turned, her arm wrapped in shadows to keep it from falling off after Basil had cut almost clean through it.

The winner between the two was clear, as Basil turned, looking to Jessica who had a frown on her face, looking from Basil to her limply hanging left arm.

Really, before she coated it in shadow it was basically hanging by a thread of flesh.

“This is going to be a bitch to heal… I don’t feel like fighting anymore.” Jessica cursed, running her other hand through her hair as a circle of fire formed behind her.

Out of the circle fell Blake, wheezing and wounded, leaving Basil and Jessica certain of how that fight went considering Ivan hadn’t returned with Blake.

“Blake… so Ivan’s dead?” Jessica asked, blandly, not having really expected Ivan to survive the moment he entered this fight.

Ivan was strong yeah… but he wasn’t strong like the rest of them.

“Yeah, the Kazuya pair is bullshit. Found out more information on them though, I’m a bad match for the husband but I’d be able to handle the wife next time.” Blake admitted.

“Whatever… ah, we’re in a desert… no wonder they killed Ivan, the wife’s an Earth Sage right?” Jessica asked, getting a nod from Blake before Jessica turning to look at Basil who was looking straight at them.

“…Take us out of here Blake.” Blake looked to the Elf and then to Jessica with surprise written on his features, but said nothing, opening another portal.

“So, should I take us to the target or…” Blake asked, with Jessica looking at Basil… then she smirked.

“Nah, take us close to the boss, this mission’s a bust. We’ve already lost one of our members, forcing their hand will just get the rest of us in this desert killed.” Jessica was always the most dejected member of the Apostle’s crew, one of his most trusted, but lazy.

But when she spoke with authority, you listened. Blake didn’t survive this long going against what Jessica asked of him.

“Very well.” Blake created his next portal, frowning at the energy expense but knowing that he should listen to Jessica in this moment, and stepped through the portal the moment it formed.

As soon as Blake went through the portal, Jessica turned to look at Basil, her eyes lidded in a strange way.

“Next time, I’m killing you, yeah?” Jessica’s smirk was somehow softer as she walked away into the portal, some extra sway in her hips as she left.

Basil just stared for a moment before the portal winked out of existence, and grew a few herbal plants that could help with his healing.

“Humans are confusing.” Basil said aloud, already planning on training when he got back to his home.

As for the reason he came to this desert, that man was defeated by those seventh strata warriors, parents of the other blessed… they would be protected, so Basil had no reason to stay anymore.

As long as they were safe, he didn’t need to worry.

Meanwhile, with the first years, they were most certainly not safe.

“Kick it in the balls!” “Honey, I’m not sure but I don’t think worms have those.” Such was the background commentary as the first years fought the nest leader of the dune wyrms, a four Star Mystic Beast.

The commentary was distracting and annoying, but Hiiro was quick to add that his parents did things like that as a training method.

And because they found it funny, but if you paid attention to it they just got worse.

The nest leader was difficult to fight, and annoying, each member of the S-Class had to fight at their absolute best, only still alive because they watched out for another.

But the fight was definitely difficult. Regardless of how insect/bug type Mystic Beasts was weaker than other types in general, their opponent was still a whole Star above them.

“Spikes!” Hiiro shouted as he jumped backwards, Leah from way behind waving her wand as a shield of water appeared between the youngest Kazuya and the dune wyrm, the spikes slamming into the water and turning to mud, breaking easily while the dune wyrm roared in annoyance.

It was difficult to even hit the thing because it was taking total control over the sand around them, Edward just barely keeping it from sinking them, but he couldn’t stop it from creating massive tendrils of sand which it was using to try and swat them when it wasn’t biting at them.

Case in point, Edward was forced to cross his arms, catching a tendril before he froze it further down, snapping off the tendril of sand and denying the beast control over the sand, only for another to swat Edward from the side, sending him flying.

That was a pretty common occurrence at this point, the only ones who weren’t hit flying would be Leah and Vince, and that was because the dune wyrm was focusing on the closer opponents.

“It’s diving!” Ah, the worst of moments, as the beast moved forward, going into the sand, its massive length burrowing around with the only two capable of tracking it being Hiiro and Edward who could both use Earth.

“Leah, two seconds!” Edward shouted, and Leah ran away from her position, making herself faster by imbuing Wind into her body, reinforcement working overtime as a massive maw erupted from the sand where she was standing just before.

The idea of being caught like that was horrifying the one time Edward left behind a boulder of ice to stop it, only for the dune wyrm to bite straight through the chunk.

Sure, they were more durable at this point, but that looked way too easy to take a chance of surviving on.

Knowing where it was, Vince had already held out another gun, his Wood one, and aimed it at the floor just before the dune wyrm erupted from the ground, thick, thorny vines erupting in a circle around the dune wyrm’s circumference, wrapping and digging into its flesh causing the thing to roar in pain.

This never worked for long, as the sand the vines grew out of suddenly shifted, severing the vines and wrenching them out of the dune wyrm’s flesh.

But just a moment of inactivity was enough to do something, as Vince let loose a barrage of lasers, a very fast Jade and Liza approaching the four Star Mystic Beast from opposing sides, both using a rapier and dagger.

It was a common point for the two, and while Liza was stronger physically, Jade had greater versatility. Quite frankly the two were similar to Hiiro and Edward with Liza being a ‘physical’ fighter like the latter, and Jade being more versatile like the former.

The only reason it wasn’t more pronounced was that Liza was the first ranked of the first years, the strongest despite her high energy consumption, and Jade was lower middle.

If they both had the same position their similarities would be more pronounced, but as it was, Liza was in the upper-middle of three Stars while everyone else in the class was somewhere in the lower tiers of three Stars.

But unlike Edward and Hiiro they didn’t compete, instead choosing to just be supportive of the other, helping one another get better.

Sure, Edward and Hiiro trained together, but Edward didn’t teach Hiiro how to punch better, and Hiiro didn’t try to teach Edward weaponry.

Liza and Jade had a relationship where they could teach the other things like that, it was a bit more open.

So now they worked in sync, the moment the dune wyrm tore the vines out, both leapt forward, Liza moving at high speeds with assistance from Time, and Jade with assistance from Light.

Both struck with their rapiers, digging into the tough flesh of the Mystic Beast as much as they could go, then both used their rapiers as footholds, swinging as if acrobats to stand atop their blades, daggers in hand as they cut into the dune wyrm, now using their daggers as handholds to stay in place while retrieving their rapiers.

After getting their rapiers out from the squeezing muscles of the dune wyrm, the two used the wyrm as foothold, pulling their daggers to dig a shallow gash into the side of the wyrm before jumping away, having needed to because of the wyrm diving.

“Damn that was awesome.” Izuki was heard commenting to his wife over the sound of many a dune wyrm dying outside of the rim they were seated at.

“I know right? You think one of them would be suitable for Hiiro?” Miya’s words and Izuki’s response was unheard over Hiiro warning that the wyrm would be appearing underneath him, and the S-Class getting ready to kill the annoying creature.

Understandable really… the dune wyrm was heavily injured and still fighting as it had at the beginning of the fight.

Much like how Sages could fight through broken bones and injuries, Mystic Beasts also had a greater vitality going through them, making them hardy and difficult to kill.

Using the moment of feeling its movements to get into position, Kazuya rolled away, readying his spear as his parents watched from above, the eruption of the dune wyrm occurred almost as the same time as Kazuya ran and jumped, thrusting forward.

“Oh that looks fun.” Miya commented as Kazuya dug deeply into the Mystic Beast… and was lifted into the air along with its head as it roared, shaking and whipping its head around wildly as Kazuya stood on it, feet planted and using his spear as a handhold.

It really looked like riding a bull or something.

“Oh he looks mad…” Izuki commented, watching as Kazuya frowned, staring at the dune wyrm as he was flung about before he raised his leg, coating it in shadows…

“Doesn’t Darkness govern gravity?” Miya’s question explained everything as Hiiro stomped, the force of his kick physically forcing the dune wyrm to do something like a head bop.

There was a pause as everyone just realized what they saw, except for Hiiro, who raised his foot once more.

“Die.” Hiiro said in his best imitation of Liza’s monotone, stomping once more as the dune wyrm’s head bounced from the force of the hit.

“Die.” Hiiro repeated, once more stomping, causing the dune wyrm to scream as it buckled downwards.

Finally the wyrm had enough, whipping its head backwards, Hiiro removing his spear as he flew off, landing with both feet against the walls of their ringed arena.

“That was pretty awesome. Clearly he’s our son.” Miya crossed her arms and nodded, Izuki nodding along with her words.

Really, with their commentary it didn’t feel like a death match between the first years and this four Star dune wyrm.

“Yeah, it was brilliant except for the part where he got shit-whipped flying.” Izuki bluntly added, raising a glass of wine to clink against his wife’s glass.

Of course they kept wine in their inventory, how else would they have a romantic drink while on missions?

“That, and that they could have actually ended the fight more than once… that move by Hiiro would have been a perfect executing technique.” Izuki’s words were heard by Hiiro who dropped to the floor in a staggered crouch while thinking.

Execution technique… the stomp?

No, Hiiro was well aware that the dune wyrm, while visibly affected by the stomp, it didn’t actually do much damage because the entire dune wyrm was essentially a muscle, blunt damage was good for shaking up internal organs…

Not a lot of those organs in a dune wyrm.

The spear then. But it wasn’t deep enough to cause major damage…

But they could do something like that…

Hiiro moved, running towards Jade and Vince, both gathering at one point while the other four attacked the worm.

“Listen, you two, I have a plan, but we’re going to need quite a bit of Damascus and for that thing to be detained for a moment.” Hiiro warned his friends as Jade sighed.

“I have a stock-pile, the Headmaster recommended I save up metal for later use… it’s difficult to use freely like regular iron and steel, but I can shape it.” Jade admitted while Vince looked to Tony slamming into the side of the giant worm, digging furrows into its flesh with his claws.

“I can hold it for only a moment, if Leah helps along with Jade, we should be able to use C.C to keep it still.” Vince added, using the abbreviation for crowd control to explain.

“That would work quite nicely… so here’s the plan, share it with everyone, don’t shout, the dune wyrm is intelligent despite not being able to talk.” The Kazuya’s above the arena smiled.

The children were learning… this fight would end soon.