Defeat's Embrace

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“Damn....I really lost again huh....” Owen mumbled those words to himself, a lingering glint of disappointment now obvious in his down casted eyes.

“That was a good match, I honestly wasn’t expecting that trick you tried to pull at the end there.” Oliver extended his hand to the soggy man now sitting on the edge of the small pond, after being briskly pulled to his feet a sudden shift in his demeanor preceded the temporary suppression of the look of disappointment now in his eyes. “Guess I’ve learned my lesson for good this time, looks like there’s just no getting around you Oliver.”

“I wouldn’t say that, I mean you did come pretty close at the end there. If I’d reacted a second later then who knows how that match just now might have turned out.”

“Spare me the pleasantry, you were hardly even trying, I mean you only used your fire magic just once at the end, it was almost like you forgot about it.” Scratching the back of his head in embarrassment, Oliver’s response to that statement was stark contrast to the answer Owen had been expecting.

“......I wasn’t really trying to go easy on you but....Julia gets really worked up whenever I use those kinds of spells near the house, she went off on a tangent the last time I showed Liam my attributes by the lake, so I was just trying to avoid that.”

Owen’s eyes widened in amazement, he chuckled to himself almost as if to dismiss the inadequacy he’d previously been feeling. “Hah-Hah!!...If you have to hold yourself back like that then it's no wonder you’ve got such proficient control over your elements.”

“Tell me about it.....” That dry reply escaped the bespectacled victor, his voice didn’t sound boastful in the least. The tonality of his words was surprisingly humble given the extraordinary combat prowess he’d displayed only moments earlier. There could only be two reasons supporting the foundation of such modesty – Either he was truly underestimating the depth of his own strength, or he was simply just used to winning.

Patting him on the shoulder, Owen oriented his now dripping body to face the direction of the large stone bridge, freezing for a moment after seeing the three of us spectators now standing before him.

“.....I suppose it wouldn’t make sense if any of you were surprised to see me lose to Oliver, but I was hoping to get some sort of reaction from at least Liam here.”

“Of course dad was going to win, mom never stops talking about how strong he is.”

“Oh, Is that so Julia?” Vreena was hardly trying to mask the sarcasm in her voice anymore.

“W-well it is true....but Liam might be exaggerating the details a bit.” A slight sheen of red had begun to emerge on her cheeks, slowly growing more prominent as the seconds passed. There were no significant changes in Oliver’s expression, but just from a glance I could tell that he felt a great sense of pride in the fact that Julia thought highly of him, after all a thin smile had even begun forming on his lips.

“Heh-heh....this kid is awfully straight forward; I have a hunch he’ll grow up to be an even bigger monster than you.”

“Monster?” My mind had instinctually reacted to that word.

“He didn’t mean that literally, Liam, its just a word they like to throw around.”

“O-ohh...so it can be used like that too....” Julia’s explanation had once again cleared the air for me, but for some reason she was now smiling uncontrollably, as if she found some sort of delight in my own ignorance.

“Well, I suppose it’s about time I head back into the city now but, aren’t you all going to come along too? Judging by the looks of things, you’ll probably have to spend a few nights in one of the inns.” Stepping onto the main road in his now dripping armor, Owen threw that question at us with his vision still locked on the small town in the distance, but the moment he’d mentioned the sorry state of what was once my home, a creeping sense of guilt began washing over me.

“Sorry....”

“Ah! Liam, this isn’t your fault you know, you don’t need to apologize for something like this.” It felt as if Julia had reacted to my solemn demeanor even before I’d completely gotten that word out.

“Shouldn’t I apologize for breaking things?”

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“Yes...but this time's a little different, there's no way you could have intentionally caused your own awakening, and besides nobody was even expecting it to get this bad.” Her assumption just now had only been half true, but I decided to keep quiet about that for now, she would have a hard time believing me either way.

“Mhm, alright mom.”

“Geh- Enough with the sentimentality, are you coming back with us or not?” Vreena dismissively remarked, trying her best to feign indifference in the wake of our brief exchange just now.

“Fufu, Vreena, you don’t have to be so bashful you know, it’s alright to loosen up every once in a while, you’re gonna get wrinkles if you keep acting so grumpy all the time.”

“I've already got wrinkles and stop acting like you’re not the older one here!”

“I told you I'm still a maiden at heart~”

Yet another meaningless conversation had sparked between these two for seemingly no reason at all, given their attitude though I was starting to think that they both enjoyed it to some degree.

~GROWLLL~

An otherworldly bellow began emanating across from us. Turning around revealed the source of it to be none other Owen, now flashing a wide grin after holding his stomach in embarrassment. The odd sound coming from his stomach just now was surprising in and of itself, but what truly stood out to me was the condition his body was currently in, with his last attack, Oliver had slammed his palm directly onto Own’s abdomen, fracturing his armor plate on impact, before following through with a blast of fire that sent him hurtling through the air.

After blows like that, his body should have suffered far greater wounds than what I was now seeing, in fact I was half expecting Julia to step up and heal him after the match but apparently, that wasn’t necessary.

The thin armor plate guarding Owen’s abdomen had in fact been destroyed, right now only fragments of the metallic attire were clinging to his body from his chest down to his solar plexus. Hs abdominals were completely exposed, the only vestiges of the garments that should have been there were the slightly charred ends of his ripped clothing.

And yet, there wasn’t a scratch on him.

His rigid abdominals were seemingly indifferent to all the fearsome blows they’d recently been subjected to – In fact, his entire body had sustained no visible form of injury, even if you chocked up his resilience to Oliver’s last two attacks to nothing more than luck, it still wouldn’t explain why he was completely unscathed. His body was constantly being repelled by Oliver’s wind barrier, and each time he was blown away, the impact sent his armored frame carving a path through the ground; so then how exactly had this man somehow managed to emerge unscathed?

“......am......Liam....”

“Y-Yes mother?”

My absent-minded gaze was abruptly cut off by Julia’s visage now blocking my view, her eyes carried a hint of curiosity and concern. “That’s rare...you’ve never really spaced out like that before, are you alright?”

Her question had initially been a surprise, but it quickly dawned on me that musing over these strange abilities on my own would get me nowhere, this was another world after all, any expertise I previously had would hardly amount to anything here.

“How is he fine after dad beat him up?” Extending a finger towards the beaten knight, it promptly caught the attention of everyone gathered around me.

“Heh-Heh...Good one Liam. I suppose that question is well warranted for those who don’t know you considering the beating you just took.” Vreena sarcastically remarked, clearly enjoying the implications of my question.

“Ohh about that Liam, Owen’s a radical so -” Abruptly cutting off Oliver, the man in question made his way towards me. “That’s a bold question little man, most kids wouldn’t have the guts to speak up to me like that....but I like it! You’ve got spirit!” Judging by the overbearing tone now in his voice, it seems his demeanor had now completely recovered.

“My technique is regeneration. It means I can heal all my wounds almost instantly, so that's why I’m still fine even after your dad defeated me.”

“Should you really go around telling people your own power like that?” Vreena chimed in with a conspicuous tone lining her words.

“It’s fine, he’s just a child and besides the majority of people here already knew that much.”

“Regeneration.....you mean you can heal yourself like mom?”

“Well, my power is a little different, I can only use it on myself so its not as versatile as what your mother can do.” This brief exchange had confirmed one of my biases, now that my core had finally awakened, it was finally time to start making preparations, as with all things, time was of the essence here.

“That’s pretty cool.”

Laughing at that comment, Owen stretched his soggy limbs overhead. “Let’s head back now, shall we?”

“I guess so, are you two ready?” Oliver asked, looking in the direction of our now destroyed house.

“Yeah, let’s go.” Taking my hand in hers, Julia led the march as we headed off towards the small town I’d gotten so used to seeing in the distance.

“‘That's pretty cool’ huh? Where exactly did you hear that?” With her signature smug grin, Julia glanced down at me with expectant eyes.

“From my friend Emma.”