Ray and Lilly stand in a field, facing off against each other, the others watching from a distance.
“You ready?”, Ray asks Lilly as he stretches.
“Yeah, don’t hold back on me.”, She says confidently.
Ray smiles, if he wasn’t to hold back... the fight would probably end in seconds which would be boring not to mention the risk of her dying. Using his hand, he indicated that he was ready to fight, Lilly drew her bow and arrow, and Ray drew his sword.
Lilly pulled back the string of her bow, ready to fire her arrow. Ray waited for her to say the name of her skill, after all, according to Lilly, it takes years of training in this world to be able to use casting-less skills or magic, Ray was just a acceptation to this, Ken was a unique monster too, yet he still needed to cast the names of his skills and magic. However, the skill name didn’t come, the arrow turned green with her mana, and she fired a shot that rushed towards him, he could tell it was a low tiered skill, probably piercing shot, Ray effortlessly dodged the arrow, however he was in complete an utter shock,
“You can use casting-less skills... But when.”, Ray said flabbergasted.
Lilly smiled, “I told you not to hold back, I’ve been training since I was a young girl, I am the princess of the northern beast tribe, I have been trying to achieve this for years and finally, I have mastered it. This won’t be as easy as you expect it will be Ray.”.
her arrow glows green and she fires another shot at him, it zooms faster than it used to in the air, Ray goes to dodge, but it then splits into 3 separate arrows, Ray deflects the Arrows with slight effort, its heavier than expected, though, he still hasn’t activated his flame aura.
“I will make you activate your Phoenix power Ray. I will make you acknowledge me as a rival too.”.
She wants again draws her bow, and the green mana around her arrow exploded into a giant Arrow.
“I’ll make you use that power of yours Ray.”.
She releases the arrow. This power, which was impressive when he first saw it against the boss of the dungeon, was even greater, faster and bigger, although the power difference between the 2, Ray knew that if he were to try and tank this without his aura he would be sliced in half, and he didn’t know if he would regenerate if he was to be split in half like that.
Ray activates his flame aura all around his body, raises his blade above his head, copying Claires attack at him, he made sure it had enough power to stop her arrow, but not enough that it would destroy the arrow and slice through Lilly. The wave of flame rushed towards the arrow and collided, there was brief power struggle and then a small explosion
“ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?”.
However there no response. Suddenly there was a glint of light, and a dagger flew towards him, he grabs it, she was being sneaky, she knew she couldn’t out power him, so she’s being sneaky and strategic, hiding in the smoke of the explosion which as slowly enveloping the battle filed.
“Not bad.”, Ray thought to himself.
Standing here, he was a target for Lilly who’s senses at being an archer were superior to his, yet if he was to even the playing field and enter the smoke, he wouldn't, be able to get his baring's. Well, that was if he didn’t possess the power he had, Ray made his flame aura flare, it getting bigger and bigger, hotter and hotter, the heat spreading further and further. A spreading arow flew at him but he deflected it with his sword. Arrows continued to zoom at him which he continued to parry. As the heat rose, so did the smoke, clearing the battlefield, and revealing Lillys location. She had put up a great fight and used her tactics to put Ray in a difficulty and challenging position, unfortunately for her, Ray was able to get around this. Using the built-up power he had used to cause the smoke to clear, he launched over to Lilly within a second, she was unable to react to the sheer speed at which he had appeared. Just as he reached her Ray deactivated his flame aura and grabbed her shoulders pushing her down, as they fell to the ground Lilly stared up at Ray her face going red.
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“How did you... clear the smoke and... and make it so hot.”, She panted.
“My flam aura isn’t Mana its actual fire, so hold the property of fire. Oh, and heat makes smoke rise, so I used my fire to heat up the area to the point where the smoke rose.”.
“I see... so I thought... I had outsmarted you... but it seems you had a... contingency.”.
“Yeah, it was a good strategy, and I was shocked that you mastered casting-less skills, you even forced me to use my powers, you really impressed me. You're a worthy rival to have.”, Ray said smiling, patting her head.
Lilly goes bright red, smoke coming out of her head.
“C-can y-you please g-get off of me now.”, she stuttered.
“Oh yeah, sorry...”, Ray says, also going slightly red.
Everyone runs over to the 2 of them.
“That was so cool.”, Leo says, wagging his tail.
“Way to go, you were so close Lilly.”, Sara says, Sky also nodding her head in agreement.
“Lilly fight with us next.”, Tom says whilst Molly repeatedly pleas behind him
The other 3 children stood there in shock and amazement.
“That was a great fight you 2, you really have come along way Lilly and Ray, the way you use your abilities always shock me.”, Claire says, smiling brightly at the pair of them. Ray and Lilly can’t help but grin, after all, they had just been praised by the mighty sword hero. As for Alex... he was asleep since it was daytime, but they would tell him about it later.
Ray stands up and stretches, “I could do with a wash now.”, Ray says yawning.
“Yeah same... you do remember that the girls are going first, right?”, Lilly says looking at Ray.
“B-but I won, so surely...”.
“That doesn’t matt-”.
“Ok, ok, how about a race? First one to the water gets to go first, 3... 2... 1... GO.”, As Ray begins to run towards the location of the water, Lilly yelling in displeasure, he hears the rushing of feet behind him, as he turns around, he says Claire bulldozing right at him. Ray activates his Flame aura and darts at full speed however Claire catches up, they’re neck and neck and then, Shes ahead and leaves Ray in the dust.
“Fine.... Girls can go first... sorry boys, I have failed you.”.
After each group washes and gets ready, they set off once again on their journey towards the southern beast tribe, this time with no distractions. And as the days go by, nothing exciting particularly happens and then, they see it.
“We’re finally here, the jungle of the southern beast tribe.”, Lilly says, pointing to a giant jungle with trees that tower over 50 meters tall.
The group all gasp in awe, including Ray, he had only ever seen it in the game, but in real life. It truly was amazing.
“Now this is wearing things get dangerous, the monsters that are in this jungle that leads to the southern beast tribe, are extremely powerful and dangerous, this is one of the reasons why the humans haven’t even tried to come here yet and why it's considered a safe haven for Demi-humans, where the meeting was going to take place, it's a giant jungle, but we should be able to get to our destination in about a day or two. Be careful and make sure you stick close to either me, Ray or Claire.”. Lilly said seriously.
The kids nodded, half excited, half scared.