Alaric sighed, relieved by what he heard the guardian say. Nothing was surprising about the mighty storm gorilla’s reaction to his presence but it would be delusional of him to assume every guardian was bound to react to him the same way.

For now, though, it was the same with almost every guardian he met. One look at him and the guardian would get compelled to bow their heads. There were exceptions and even then he was treated with respect… but he wasn’t complaining.

He was lucky enough that there was more than one guardian that allowed him this ‘misplaced’ devotion.

“What do you mean, no? You’re my guardian,” the girl yelled at the large gorilla.

“Yes… and my loyalty will forever lie with you,” Gurlag responded, his gentle voice rumbling through the air. His lips moved elegantly for a gorilla made up of more muscle than bone and surprisingly, the tusks that protruded out of his maw didn’t impede his speech at all.

“Then grind that pipsqueak to dust,” Crystal replied, pointing once again at Alaric.

“Perhaps choose someone else for me to grind… because he’s the last person I would be fighting. You should listen to me while you have the chance,” Gurlag tried.

“Is he a Favoured? He wouldn’t be the first we’ve met,” Crystal tried.

The gorilla shook his head, “He’s far more than a Favoured. He…” Suddenly, the gorilla went still, then dissolved into thin air, leaving Crystal alone and confused.

Alaric caught a movement through the corner of his eye and turned… but it was only his shadow. [ Alia… I’ve noticed just now that her guardian is capable of speech ] Alaric mentioned.

[ Yes. Gurlag is a powerful one indeed… Just like Apollo ] the guardian replied, then went quiet.

One more thought lingered in Alaric’s mind but he let it settle at the back for now. Perhaps he would ask Crystal if he got the chance.

Without her guardian, Crystal seemed dejected. She’d mentioned she was getting serious right before summoning her guardian but now that the guardian wasn’t helping, her cards had run out, “Can I say I’ve won this duel?”

“Do I look like I’ve lost yet?” the girl replied, wiping a tear from her eye, “I’ll beat you and your guardian. Bring it on, S-class…”

Alaric wanted to chuckle… but kept it in.

‘She’s a feisty one…’ he thought to himself.

Battle wasn’t new to him. People lost and won differently and while some lost honourably, many lost in the most despicable ways. Something about besmirching this girl’s appearance felt wrong to Alaric.

Crystal was beautiful and while her personality turned his gears, he had no desire to harm her, ‘She’s not meant for the battlefield.’

Aether flowed to his hands, obeying his will. The girl readied her wand in preparation for his attack. Suddenly, tens of vines sprouted from the ground in a frantic frenzy that writhed so fast that Crystal was entangled before she had the time to understand what was going on.

The vines chained her to the ground and disarmed her before pulling her arms apart and restraining her in place. “You didn’t set the terms with which someone can win this duel,” Alaric realised, “Is this enough?”

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“You look down on me,” Crystal sighed.

“You don’t look like a fighter to me. You’re feisty, I’ll give you that. But you don’t have a scratch on you. It’s like you’ve been that way since you were born. And don’t tell me it’s because of the Body Tempering Ritual. This is different. If you knew what it was like to fight… you wouldn’t instigate a duel so recklessly,” Alaric responded gently.

He strolled up to her and picked up her wand, “Also, aren’t you too powerful to be using a wand?”

“Shut up… My aether is just difficult for me to control, okay…” the girl argued.

“Why? Can’t your guardian teach you control?” Alaric asked.

“Are you stupid or something? Guardians don’t teach magic,” the girl argued.

Alaric was frozen for a bit. ‘Guardians don’t…’

“If that was a thing, the world would be filled with magic geniuses,” she snapped at him.

“Oh… I knew that,” the boy laughed nervously. This, however, came as a shock. Alia had taught him lots of magic… so much that he didn’t really know the words people chanted when casting spells except when they used the Old Tongue which was considered too hard to master, “What about your Inborn Ability?”

Crystal looked to the side with a complicated expression, expressing mostly sadness, “My Inborn Ability wouldn’t be effective against your Aether Sight.”

“Oh… I see,” he mulled the thought over.

[ Are you trying to give your opponent the advantage? ] Alia wondered.

[ Of course not. I just wanted to know if the fight could have been more interesting… ] The boy was quick to defend himself.

“Why am I still tied up?” Crystal yelled, rousing him from his thoughts.

“You haven’t forfeited the duel yet,” Alaric responded.

“You would expect me to give up in front of all these people? To actually admit to being defeated by a nobody from the Five Hills?” she chuckled.

“Well, you’re the one that didn’t decide on how I was to claim victory. Under normal circumstances, this would be over. Just nod if you concede.

If you don’t, then I’ll just knock you out and claim victory. Considering you’ve never taken a punch that can do that to you, I’ll advise you to forfeit,” Alaric explained.

“You wouldn’t…”

The vines constricted around tighter, bringing her closer to Alaric’s face, “The commonest rules of a duel say a duel ends if one of us concedes defeat or gets knocked unconscious. I don’t think you want to know the pain of the headache that comes after being knocked unconscious. Let’s not forget your body’s a lot stronger than a human’s.”

The girl continued to laugh even louder.

[ Just hit her already, you fool! ]

[ I can’t hit her. ]

[ You hit Darla all the time. What’s so different about this one? ]

[ Well, look at her. Ever since you told me about her loneliness I’ve been looking for ways to befriend her. ]

[ Ugh, you’re so sappy… I’ll help you out just this once. ] the guardian responded, [ Release her bonds and stand above her when she falls. ]

The crowd watching was starting to get bored especially the Seekers. A few of them had started throwing insults to try and incite the pair to start fighting again.

It had been interesting to see the odd use of Shield and Crystal’s infamous Wind Bullets get blocked by a child from the Five Hills… but now, it was all just too boring.

“Are you going to fight or what?” “Stop wasting our time.” “If you’re going to kiss, then get it over with.” “This is a battlefield, not a bedroom.” “Less flirting, more fighting…” and several other phrases that got them going. It got more creative as time went on.

Unsurprisingly, Alaric never heard all these as they were irrelevant to him. What he cared most about was the girl he was just about to release.

The vines holding Crystal up were an extension of his body stemming from the use of his Inborn Ability to imitate Thomper’s power. Letting go of her was as simple as it was to breathe.

With a tug, on whatever part of him was responsible for controlling the vines, they came loose and Crystal fell on her hands and knees.

Freedom felt so good especially when one’s opponent was a softie. Now, she could get her revenge for this humiliation… Before she could move her body, however, an immense pressure enveloped the Tower of Seekers, silencing everyone in a shockwave of fear as a power shot from the boy in all directions.

The flying guardians in the air screeched as the pressure forced them lower as though something made it harder for them to fly.

Power flowed through Alaric’s body, heightening his senses and improving his perception a hundred-fold. He’d never felt like this before… or rather, the last time he’d tried this, his body had felt like bursting into a million tiny pieces.

This time, however, the feeling was different… as though his body was rising to its most powerful state.

A black gauntlet appeared on Alaric’s hand, a testament to the fraction of power he’d borrowed from his guardian.

“YIELD.”