Tibaut and Elizabeth were staring each other down under the blazing sun. After her tantrum yesterday, she woke up bright and early to test Tibaut's strength (blow off some steam by kicking his ass).

"Before we start Tibaut I am curious what spells you have," Elizabeth asked

"I mean, in terms of offence, I can only do fireballs" he responded.

Elizabeth immediately dropped her stance. "Seriously?" She asked.

Tibaut, somewhat confused by her response, showed her something else he could do with fire magic, however, it was more of a party trick than something useful for combat. Tibaut then started to draw a line in the air with fire. "What do you think of that?" He stated.

Elizabeth immediately buried her head between her palms. She eventually perked back up, with a fresh look and asked

"Oh, so you're primarily a martial artist?"

"I mean, I know some moves," he said while showing off a few kicks and punches.

Elizabeth then pulled out a martial arts tome that seemed incredibly familiar.

"So how far have you gotten into this?" She asked expectantly.

"I gleam it every now and then for anything useful" he responded.

"Can you summon ki yet?" She asked.

"What's that?" He asked back.

Elizabeth then crouched on the ground and had her head in her palms. Her groaning was audible even to Tibaut. ("It can't be,") she thought, ("there's no way,") she thought. When the thought ("I was killed by this man") came into her head, tears started to roll down her cheek. She asked one more question hoping to get an answer that'd make her feel better. "Do you know defensive magic?"

Seeing her in her current state all Tibaut could do was turn his face away from her and respond "I could learn".

That response opened the floodgates and she was now full-on bawling. "I'm a Saint damnit! How'd I lose to him?" She said as her tears were now flowing across her face like a river.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Tibaut tried to comfort her but it was all in nought as her waterworks continued for over an hour.

After her little episode, Elizabeth brought Tibaut to a room in the mansion to have a discussion.

"First off, you're telling me you have a tome of the martial king yet you can't summon ki?" Elizabeth flips through the pages and finds a page mentioning ki and continues "Right here it even states how you should use ki with techniques shown."

"I'm going, to be honest, I thought ki was another name for mana." He spoke bluntly. "At least that explains why I couldn't do any of the flashy-looking moves."

Hearing this sentence Elizabeth tried her damndest not to strangle him to death there and then. She gritted her teeth and responded "Is that right? Happy to help."

"By the way, are you a martial artist? You are pretty good with a sword." He asked trying to lighten the mood.

Elizabeth's face loosened and she responded "While there are sword arts that use ki out there, mine is one that is used in tandem with magic."

"The only magic I've seen you use is healing though." He responded.

She pointed her finger towards him. "Watch. I'll now summon a light breeze with this finger." She stated. While he did not feel a cool breeze on his face, he did notice something wet on his face. Although when he wiped it off he soon realized what it was. It was her blood. He looked at her finger and was shocked.

Within a fraction of a second her otherwise normal finger was broken entirely. "Due to some recent changes within me, any non-healing magic I use is too much for my body. So for the time being until my body is strong enough to handle it, I will have to do without" She told him. She then threw three books at him.

"Oww, what the h-"

"Figure out what you're good at. I'll be outside training if you need me." She said as she promptly left the room while making sure to hide the fact she was clutching her finger. One of the books was the martial arts tome however the other were new. The first was a book called "Mastering Your Element" and the other was "Fundamentals of Defensive Magic".

"Ugh, I feel like I'm back in high school" he sighed while looking at them. "Guess I'll start with the "mastering your elements" one."

What Tibaut originally thought was going to be a pain was actually quite interesting. It spoke of various ways one can form their magic with enough practice or talent. One thing he took particular note of, was a part of the book that stated "Of those blessed with magic, none may be a master of all".

It was essentially stated that if one were to be talented in a certain magic, say for instance fire, they would not be as talented in any magic opposed to it such as ice or water. Sure enough, when he tried to summon a ball of water it was barely smaller than his hand. "While that seems kinda obvious, it is nice to know." He thought to himself.

After he had read half the book, Tibaut decided it was time to put his knowledge to use. He first started by modifying his fireballs. "Alright, first I'll try with the shape" he then began to try and flatten it. Slowly but surely the ball was being squashed down. "Heh, this is easy," he thought to himself.

"Hey, what's up?" asked Vanessa.

"Oh noth-"*BOOM*

but before he could respond he lost focus on the flat circle in front of him.