Over the next four months, Zycor would grow much stronger with Aislin's practical training, Aisha’s restraint and magic lessons, along with Adria teaching Zycor about magic herself whenever she was free.

“Hey, Adria,” Aislin started, “A-are you sure this is a good idea?”

The voice of a man spoke up suddenly, “What are ya so worried about? The kids’ll be fine!”

The Adventurers still at the guild had come out to spectate the match. “What are you idiots doing here?” Aislin asked with her usual snarky attitude.

“Hey,” one of the adventurers began, “We have as much of a right to be here as you. We all helped with teaching and training the kid! And we all like him, so what’s the big deal if we wanna watch what he can do?”

Aislin, irritated, scoffed, “Oh boy, look who it is, everyone's FAVORITE person. Hello… Clyde.”

Clyde responded, “Not sure if you should talk to one of the strongest adventurers at the guild like that, unless of course you want to lose again.”

Aislin, about to lose her mind, went to snap back when Adria spoke up, “It’s nice to know that you all get along so well, but we are here for their fight,” Adria points at Zycor and Aisha, “Not yours. So settle down.”

Wanting to live long enough to watch the fight, both Clyde and Aislin formed a temporary cease fire.

Zycor and Aisha stood around 100 feet apart in the field by the guild. Aisha wanted to have a magic-based fight to see how far she had come, so she asked Zycor to have a match with her and for Adria to be the judge. After they agreed, Aisha changed into her adventurer clothes. Adria, being loud enough for the two of them to hear her, “Alright, you kids remember the rules of the fight, right? Use Whatever you have, and the first person to land a direct hit or make their opponent concede wins. Using any magic attack that would kill or seriously harm your opponent is grounds for an immediate loss. Using attacks not magic based will also result in a loss. Do you both understand?”

Zycor and Aisha nodded. Adria took a breath and started to countdown, “Ok… three,”

Zycor got down into a sprinter's stance, and Aisha put her hands out in front of her. “Two,” The tension continued to rise.

“One… Begin!” Adria yelled, finally finishing her countdown.

A swell of lightning magic began to concentrate at the base of Zycor’s feet, and was released with tremendous force, propelling him forward and towards Aisha. Though, it was more like he was riding a track made of electricity than being shot through the air. Aisha immediately began to fire a barrage of smaller fireballs at Zycor in the hope she would be able to halt his rapid advance. Aislin laughed while she commented, “That brat! He is copying the move I used to knock him out instantly all that time ago, hahaha!”

Zycor managed to dodge all of Aisha’s fireballs by applying the same propulsion technique that accelerated him towards Aisha to his palms, using them to adjust his position. Zycor managed to get behind Aisha and launch three separate chains of lightning at her back. Aisha put her hands to the ground and encased herself in rock. The rock tomb was destroyed by the lightning arcs when they impacted, kicking up a lot of dust. Though, the lightning attacks were not strong enough to cause any damage beyond that due to Zycor being held back by the rules.

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“Atta boy kid! Keep piling on the pressure!” one of the cheering adventurers cried.

Suddenly, Zycor’s feet were encased in rock. When the smoke cleared, it was revealed that Aisha had charged up another fireball barrage attack. “Dodge this!” Aisha screamed.

Zycor, thinking about what he should do, muttered to himself, “Well crap.”

Aisha fired the attack at the immobile Zycor, laughing at the thought of her winning their duel. “ATTA GIRL AISHA!” Aislin yelled, cheering her on.

“Don’t give up, kid!” the adventurers all yelled.

At this point, Zycor and Aisha’s fight had become a fight between them as well. Whichever one of them won, would determine who won their fight as well. “I wonder how Zycor will get out of this,” Adria commented.

Her eyes widened and were filled with excitement as she looked at what was happening on the battlefield. Aisha’s laughter began to dim as she heard the crackling of lightning, and when she saw what Zycor was up to, she was awestruck and agitated he didn’t go down. Zycor had begun charging as much magic into his hands as he could muster, and fired four lightning arcs from each of his hands. “No fucking way,” Aisha nervously chuckled.

Normally, that much force would knock anyone over making the attack impossible to aim. But, because his feet were trapped due to Aisha’s earth magic, he had the foothold he needed and was able to remain standing. The lightning bolts impacted the center of each fireball, dispersing their force and neutralized them. The lightning bolts landed all around Aisha, but none close enough to actually hurt her. As she tried to find Zycor through all the dust that was kicked up, there was the sound of lightning crackling from in front of her, and something blitzed past her. Pressing the palm of his right hand to her back, Zycor, huffed, “Check… mate…”

As the dust that was kicked up settled, Aisha had her hands up and had a very pissed expression. “The winner of this fight is Zycor!” Adria announced.

After hearing that, Zycor fell onto his back, out of breath, and out of mana. Aisha, pissed that she lost in such a short amount of time, said, “Dammit! I thought for certain I would last longer, what the hell happened!”

The adventurers all cheered and celebrated as they walked over to Zycor and Aisha. The adventurers cheered all sorts of things, “I knew you had it in you!,” and, “That’s our boy!”

Aislin looked at Aisha and said, “You did really well! And I’m proud of you.” Adria, walking over to Aisha answered the question she had asked herself, “You began celebrating prematurely. and because of that, you let your guard down instead of doubling down or planning on what to do if he somehow dodged.”

Aisha, still angry, but knowing Adria was right, said, “I know, but how was I supposed to know he would do something THAT reckless?!”

Adria looked at her and asked sarcastically, “You really didn’t think he would do something like that?”

After a brief pause, Aisha replied, “Well… no, you are right. I had forgotten how little care he has for his own wellbeing. Or perhaps it’s not a lack of care but understanding…”

Still slightly agitated about the outcome, and being petty, mumbled, “I even waited for him to tire himself out with training too… damn.”

Aislin walked over to Zycor, who was still lying on the ground, and chuckled, “Ha, were you really so upset about the way I beat you all those years ago that you actually spent time to copy me!?”

“Yes.” He stated.

Aislin erupted into laughter upon hearing his answer, finding his matter-of-fact response hilarious. “You crack me up kid, you know that!?” Aislin exclaimed.

Aisha walked over to Zycor, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt with an annoyed expression and said, “You’re coming with me, we are going out to eat and you are buying.”

Zycor looked at Adria and pleaded with her to the best of his ability, “Mama Adria, help me. My allowance alone is not enough to cover her appetite.”

Adria, with a friendly smile, responded, “I hope you enjoy your win!”

As Aisha dragged Zycor towards town, he monotonically yelled, “Noooo.”