As the Ice Leopard dashed towards Gabriel, Luca and Michelle both screamed, “FATHER!!”, “DAD!!”. The paws extended forward, and its jaw opened wide. Both fangs and claws are coated with energy and ice. Gabriel's body could not be seen from their angle since the creature's body got in the way of their vision. As the leopard closed its mouth, sure to have reached its prey, it felt nothing between its fangs. Using the momentum from the attack, the leopard gained distance once again. Looking back, it saw the man standing in the same position.
The beast circled Gabriel again, slowly, studying its opponent and trying to understand what had happened. There was no rationality behind its reasoning. It took the leopard a single second to use a similar strategy.
This time, it was faster than before. The energy surrounding its body increased by a lot. Wind started to accumulate around the creature as its speed grew more and more.
Jonas was the only one who kept his face intact, looking from the sides. Bryn, Luca and Michelle worried about Gabriel’s well-being.
Gabriel used every fraction of his time to prepare as the creature struck fast, evading at the last moment.
“If you are not taking me seriously, you’ll have a hard time…” said Gabriel as his body twisted out of the leopard’s mouth, punching its lower jaw with enough strength to send the animal rolling on the snow.
The creature rolled a few times before regaining its balance. Standing up, she shook her head and roared as she ran towards Gabriel. This time, it didn’t circle or feint any movement. It went straight for the kill. As the creature ran, its eyes increased in brightness. When it did, 3 Ice darts started to form around its body.
“It seems you are angry about something, good! So am I.” said Gabriel, looking at the incoming creature. He started to run towards the beast as well. His mana covered himself again; this time, the layer was thicker and its color was white. As he ran, no words left his mouth, neither did he move his hands, but tree wind blades formed around him.
Both of them released their spells as the distance was almost nonexistent. The Ice darts exploded as the wind from the blades dispersed as they hit one another. Meanwhile, the leopard almost at Gabriel's reach sidestepped to its right as a sharp pillar made of ice rose from the ground and aimed at Gabriel’s ribs.
His reaction was quick. Noticing the creature had sidestepped, he focused his energy on the opposite side and forearms, creating an almost opaque white energy shield. When the pillar appeared, he focused the energy on where it was aimed and braced for impact.
Exciting! This ability was beyond my expectations! Freely manipulating the elements is rare for regular magical beasts without intelligence. It is a shame that it will want to hunt for Luca after the loss of its child.
The ice hit Gabriel’s armor, reinforced by his energy, and threw him to the side. At that moment, a paw as big as his head, similarly coated with bright blue energy, slashed at his chest. His forearms took the strike head-on. The iced claw hit Gabriel’s armor, generating a high-pitched sound. As his legs trembled, a small crater appeared on the snow beneath Gabriel’s feet. He held for as long as possible, but his position was not the best for a battle of strength. It was his turn to be catapulted out of the impact zone, hitting snow and rocks as he hit a tree on the edge of the clearing.
The leopard's smug face could be seen as it stopped moving, waiting to see if Gabriel had survived the strike.
“Uncle Jonas, is father going to be okay??” asked Michelle, as she understood that the blur sent flying at the tree was her father.
“You hear that, Gabriel? You are making your children worried…” Jonas screamed. “Do not worry, Michelle, your father is strong, remember?” he patted her head, calming her breath.
Gabriel rose from the rubble of broken rocks and tree branches. He began to bounce in place, and as the speed at which he jumped increased, his energy release skyrocketed. The smile on his face displayed his true feelings. He looked at the Leopard standing there, watching him. As his feet touched the ground beneath the snow, he bolted. His speed was similar to the leopards.
The creature recognized the opponent's strength and used its energy to increase its speed. Both clashed a bit closer to where Gabriel stood prior. The clash created shockwaves that cleared the remaining snow on top of the nearby leaves. Both were so fast that they deflected each other's blows upon hitting and landed far from the impact. Their feet barely touched the ground as they once again sprinted towards each other.
It was hard to follow with their eyes, but the onlookers saw snow patches flying every time they struck. Pillars of sharpened ice blades appeared sometimes, but Gabriel was ready for those, unlike before. At one point, both realized it would become a stamina battle if things didn’t change. The Leopard stopped for a second before rushing towards Gabriel once again. The sudden change also made Gabriel stop, bouncing in place as he looked at the creature.
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Looking at the man jumping up and down, Bryn had difficulty believing what he was looking at. It was much different from the fight between Jonas and Daniel. If Jonas was nearly as close to what Gabriel was showing, it was similar to comparing a pebble and a boulder.
The leopard stayed still as the energy around it displayed changes. Bryn could not perceive the changes, but he knew something was happening. Snow started to form and swirl around the leopard. As it focused more and more, one of its eyes became white and the amount of energy and snow surrounding it started to grow exponentially. Tufts of fur began to change color from white to light blue.
It just keeps surprising me. What a fantastic beast. Unfortunately, that is not good. If it finished its evolution, I’d be in trouble. It's time to end this. Gabriel thought as he raised both arms, and a sword materialized between his hands. A black blade with a white fuller and central ridge, about a foot wide, with a white stone inlaid on the black material as the tip of the hilt. Above his hands, the crossguard was the embodiment of his emblem. A lion on each side created the base from where the blade stood. A winged shield embraced Gabriel’s hands and protected them. As the sword appeared, Gabriel's energy started to accumulate around it. First, the energy was white, but black spots gradually appeared. As the black spots grew, a black flame materialized from the cross guard, and the white energy sparkled, transforming into white lightning flicking around the blade. The black flame and white thunder were so dense that even Bryn sensed their power.
Despite taking time to describe, it happened in an instant. Gabriel brought both hands to his chest. He took a single step forward with his left leg, turning the sword parallel to the ground and pointing at the leopard.
The creature, crazed by the power surge within itself, didn’t care about the changes in Gabriel. Nothing would stop it from destroying the man.
Both dashed forward with all they had, vaporizing the snow on their path. The speed at which both attacked was so great that a shockwave occurred simply from their sprint.
The leopard took a page from Gabriel’s book and condensed his energy on its fangs and claws before striking. The impact created a flash so strong that neither of the kids could keep their eyes open.
Still with their eyes closed, “Did father win Uncle Jonas?.. Uncle Jonas?” asked Luca as the brightness diminished.
At the center of the clearing, Gabriel was on one knee. His swords crept into the ground as his hands held the hilt upside down. He looked up to the heavens as the smile on his face faded. There was no sign of the Ice Leopard. Around Gabriel, there was only a vast area where only ash remained.
The remaining leopards howled in pain, realizing their alpha was no more. Their leader was the stronghold that allowed their position on the mountain range to solidify, but that was the way of nature. Only the powerful survived. Looking at them, Gabriel stored his sword on his spacial ring as if saying it was enough.
The creatures lowered their heads as they ran to the inner region of the mountain range, taking the corpse of the young ice leopard with them.
At this point, his children were running towards him already. Michelle was not in shock anymore, so her speed was considerably faster than that of the injured Luca. She tackled her father, crying, “Dad, I was so scared for you two!”.
“There is no need to worry, we are fine, can’t you see?” said Gabriel, storying his battle armor, and in his plain clothes he waved his arms to Michelle.
“Father, what technique was that?” Luca asked exactly what Bryn was thinking.
“It is too early for you to learn it. What matters is that we are ok…”
Gabriel’s answer dispirited Luca, but it had the opposite effect on Bryn. His smile grew as his breathing increased speed. The fight he witnessed was so intense he could only now feel his emotions properly.
That is it. That is the power I need to achieve. It is possible to surpass all limits I ever thought. My mind must break the mental barriers I have from earth. I’ll use everything to become as strong as Gabriel. I’ll get you back, Mom. Bryn thought.
Gabriel recognized the thirst for power in Bryn’s eyes. He approached the faun and said, “How about we return to the village? I think it was enough excitement for today.”
All three agreed. Jonas was silent, looking at the region where Gabriel had unleashed his skills.
“Jonas, let’s go.” said Gabriel as he put Michelle over his head and Luca in his arms. The man stored his red armor as the group started to walk back.
The group was silent for a while, so Bryn tried to converse. “Mr. Gabriel, Mr. Jonas, can everyone learn magic?” he asked.
“There is no boundary to learning magic, Bryn. But one's talent for it and how far they can push it is much different.” said Gabriel.
“How can one learn magic?”
“As with any other skill, you must reach the prerequisites to unlock part of it. The only obvious requirement is to have at least ten status points on intelligence. From there, you can already start learning magic. But that is too little to do anything meaningful.”
I’ll have to level up a few more times before achieving ten on intelligence. But I should go for it as fast as possible nonetheless. If I can reach it before leaving the village with Kwame and the rest, I can train magic during our travels. Bryn thought.
“Dad, you are teaching me magic, but I can’t do what you and the magical beast did! Teach me, please!” Michelle said, holding his head and putting hers before his eyes.
“I told your brother… You two have much to grow before you can do anything like that. An Ice leopard is considered a rare-level magical beast… Like the last one, some can control more than one of their naturally attuned elements. These are considered super-rare. That is why it was so strong; it used wind and ice.”
“Mr. Gabriel, can people use all elements?”
“Nothing stops you from learning all of them, Bryn. It is just that people don’t see the point of focusing and evolving all their skills on every single element. It takes too much time, and abilities become a more critical pillar of your strength as you grow…” said Gabriel.
“We are almost at the village, everyone; how about we leave the magical talk for tomorrow? Let's enjoy a good dinner from Mr. Lysander?” said Jonas.
“I agree. I’ll take Luca to heal. We’ll meet at Lysander’s.” said Gabriel before separating each person to a side. He looked at Bryn and said, “As soon as you reach ten intelligence, we talk more. You should focus on getting levels and creating the foundations for your future strengths. How you fight is entirely up to you.”
His words left Bryn wondering that the answer to where he should put his status points would not be with them but within Bryn himself.