Kurai returned after a long while, his black clothes displaying several whitened snow patches. Entering the Adventurer's Guild he glanced around, his expression turning to one of confusion on what he saw. "What is going on?" He questioned as he walked towards the group.
Fi sat beside Opal, who seemed to be clinging onto Kesshō. "Opal has been begging Kesshō to duel once," Fi sighed.
"I am not begging," Opal argued. "It's only natural for two exceptionally gifted fighters to duel when they cross paths."
"I don't need to fight you," Kesshō answered in a quiet whisper.
"On the other hand its very unnatural for someone like you to decline a duel." Opal pointed out as she poked Kesshō's face.
Kesshō stood up, shoving Opal slightly to the side before walking to Kurai. "I do agree with you," Kesshō replied, "it is only natural for two exceptionally gifted fighters to duel when they meet. I am not as gifted as you, so I don't see a point to this duel you desire."
"You shouldn't believe you will lose before the battle even begins." Opal replied as she stood up.
Kesshō turned her face half towards Opal as she reached Kurai. "I never said I would lose, training is not being gifted." She replied before turning back to Kurai, letting out a low purr as she buried her face in his clothes.
"If it's just about skill then you can't be so certain." Opal argued, stepping forward. "Fight me, and see for yourself, I didn't expect you to be so arrogant."
Kurai sighed as he rolled his eyes. "Your entire kingdom is in panic and your family has been killed, and even then, you are worried about a duel."
"Kurai!" Fi exclaimed as she stood up. "You are jumping to conclusions here." She turned to him, her eyes still looking at the ground. "It's best to not say harsh things unless you know what's going on inside someone else's mind, or else it could make the situation much worse."
Fi wrapped her arms around Opal and pulled her closer into an embrace. "You shouldn't try to ignore your problems either, they won't just disappear if you don't look at them, it's best to face them sooner than later, they would only become worse if left for later. No need to worry either, I will take care of much of it, you just have to do as much as I told you to. As for why you wanted a duel, no need to worry about not being strong enough to protect others yet, you are already stronger than most, don't push yourself too much at this age."
Teardrops shone in Opal's eyes as she looked at Fi, wiping them with her arm a few moments later. "Fine," she replied, "forgive me for earlier."
"Sorry, for being too harsh, if it seemed that way." Kesshō mumbled before turning back around.
Kurai patted Kesshō on the head with a smile. "My apologies for my words too, I should have thought them through more.
"Now that everyone has apologized, I believe it's time for you all to depart." Fi clapped her hands with a smile. "I will take care of things here, but I am counting on you all for the rest, don't disappoint me and take good care of both the kids, or I will kill you myself."
"Funny that you think you can," Kurai scoffed.
"Why are we departing at night?" Opal inquired as she glanced between the two.
"We are travelling in a wagon, it would be better for us to rest on the way than delaying." Kurai explained as he opened the door of the guild. "While you are with me you are my responsibility. No need to worry, I won't let anything happen to you, and don't worry about this place, Fi might seem like a child but she is old enough to take care of this."
"I do not seem like a child, I am not that short." Fi growled as she clenched her fists.
Opal nodded, following Kurai and Kesshō as they exited the guild, glancing back at Fi. Fi warmly smiled at her, nodding her head after a few moments, reassuring Opal everything would turn out alright. Walking out of the gate Opal followed the duo to a wagon standing not far from the guild. She climbed in behind Kurai and Kesshō, easily jumping the height much like them. Kurai spoke with the man driving the wagon, a very old man, and handed him a bag of coins before sitting back down in peace.
They departed at sunset, the darkness setting in fast as the sun dived beyond the horizon. All three of them were sitting calmly, neither saying anything, all keeping their thoughts to themselves. Kurai sat at the furthest corner from the wagon's entrance, his eyes closed. Kesshō sat right at the edge of the entrance, staring at all the passing objects. Opal sat between them, but on the opposite side, her head drooping and her eyes closing.
As Opal yawned the wagon stopped abruptly, shaking slightly and startling all three of them. Kurai's eyes snapped open and Kesshō jumped outside without wasting a single moment. Opal followed after them, exiting right behind Kurai. Kesshō stood on the top of the wagon, having jumped there to have a clear view of the surroundings.
Even without getting to higher ground Opal could easily survey her surroundings. They stopped on a dirt road in the middle of the woods, the earth covered in a layer of snow, trees dotted around the dirt road, and one massive log blocking the path. Though barely, Opal could see bright dots of many colors glowing between the dark trees, slowly moving and steadily growing larger and brighter.
Kesshō spread her wings, bright patterns resembling the shape of eyes lighting up in a Blue-pink glow on all four of them. A bird-like pattern lit up on her chest, resembling the shape of a face when viewed with the four wings. Her tails showcased similar patterns as they waved around when she turned. As a pair of dots reached at the border of the tree cover Kesshō snarled at it, causing it to retreat back into the darkness.
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"What is she doing?" Opal questioned. "And why is she not attacking?"
"A threat display," Kurai answered, "to scare them away if possible. I don't believe it would work however, they might need some more persuasion, do you think you can persuade them?"
"I don't have glowing lights." Opal shrugged, not understanding how she would do a threat display.
Kurai rolled his eyes at her with a sigh. "Not what I meant, but nevermind," he sighed. "Kesshō, light it up."
Two plumes of flames appeared at the ends of Kesshō's lips as she turned her face up towards the sky. Opening her jaws she unleashed a wide inferno of blue-pink flames into the sky, lighting up the entire area in a blue-pink glow, allowing Opal to see the attackers with ease. The wolves growled, seemingly in pain, before disappearing into a wisp of black smoke.
"Wolves can do that?" Opal gasped.
"No, those are not ordinary wolves, they are Shadow Wolves." Kurai corrected as he climbed back into the wagon. "They are simple monsters, not normal animals like most other wolf species."
Opal followed behind him, but Kesshō remained on the roof of the wagon for a while as they continued ahead, the log blocking the path already having disappeared somehow. Three of her tails hung freely over the wagon's entrance, seemingly observing everything going on inside, but Opal knew tails weren't capable of such a thing.
After some time the tails emanated a low rattling sound, right before a loud crash from above. Opal thought the wagon got crushed under a boulder for a moment, though she also realised they were in the middle of a forest and far away from any mountains. She glimpsed large pieces of stone falling around the wagon, startling and shocking her. As Kurai jumped out of the wagon she followed behind him, standing beside him and following his eyes to what he noticed.
Massive would have been an understatement for the colossal Frost Giant standing in front of them, it's light blue leather-like skin displaying the symbols of their language, and it's humanoid figure giving away it's identity, even to Opal who only ever heard of them. The darkness of the night made it near impossible to notice unless someone knew where to look. The giant's left arm appeared to be carrying a giant axe, it's right holding some sort of a black object. Opening it's massive mouth it swallowed the object, seemingly the corpse of a black furred wolf, before turning towards the wagon again, standing some distance away still.
"Stay where you are." Kurai ordered the driver and Opal as he stepped forward. "Kesshō?" Kesshō let out a low growl in response as she crossed her legs and sat down on top of the wagon. "What do you mean no?" Kurai questioned. "I know what you want here but we can't risk her life, just wait and you will see in due time."
"Why do I feel like I am being hated by every living thing since becoming a human again," Opal whimpered.
"Look what you did now." Kurai sighed as he clutched his head.
Opal stepped to the side as a giant boulder landed where she and Kurai stood, blowing a cloud of snow from its force. Kesshō did not appear bothered in the slightest, only the position of her tails having changed, now pointing slightly upwards and behind her.
"Give us some time to sort this out, imbecile." Kurai spat, standing with the giant boulder lifted by just one of his hands.
The giant stared in surprise, shocked at his unnatural strength, and seemingly amused to find someone that strong. It picked up another boulder with its free hand, throwing it towards Kurai with all his strength. Kurai flung the boulder in his hand towards the giant as well, both the boulders smashing into each other in the air and bouncing off to the sides, landing harmlessly a long distance away.
The giant closed the remaining distance with a couple leaps, jumping up and arcing his axe towards Kurai with all his strength. The blade smashed into the earth, blowing a gust of stormy wind, knocking Opal off her feet and nearly toppling over the wagon, only held in place by Kesshō's tails which were embedded in the ground.
When the dust settled, Kurai still appeared to be unbothered, the blade of the giant's axe held in his hand. Startled, the giant applied more force, but to no avail, roaring in anger as it realised nothing changed even with all his strength. Kurai flicked his arm upwards, sending the axe in an arc and causing the giant to tumble backwards. After dusting his hands and clothes he turned back to Kesshō, the two simply staring at each other for a short while.
"You wanted a duel with Kesshō right?" Kurai inquired, turning back to Opal.
Opal nodded after raising her brow at the sudden question, having gotten up already, standing just a short distance from Kurai.
"She wants you to show her that you are worthy of the duel you desire." Kurai replied as he looked at the giant, already back on it's feet and prepared to attack.
"Simple task for me." Opal shrugged with a smirk as she slowly walked towards the giant.
"Need a sword?" Kurai inquired as Kesshō lifted her katana to give Opal.
"Not required." Opal replied as she extended her arm to her side, an orb of bright light appearing in her palm. "Trino." The orb turned bright red as it exploded forwards, taking the shape of a katana, the light dying out after a few moments, leaving the weapon grasped in Opal's hand as she dashed ahead.
The katana's handle seemed to be made of interwoven black and crimson fabric, seperated from the blade by an obsidian-black oval handguard. Bright red flame patterns extended from the handguard up to the tip of the katana, glowing slightly as Opal channeled a small amount of mana through the weapon.
The giant also charged towards her, leaping into the air and smashing it's axe down on the ground, shattering the earth as the blade embedded in the ground, causing chunks of the ground to be flung upwards. Opal easily moved out of the way of the axe, though she still ended up in the debris that went airborne. Placing her legs on a piece of debris she pushed off it, barely dodging the giant's arm as it swung towards her, it's other arm being used to pull out the axe.
The giant roared in pain, blood trickling down it's wrist as his hand passed Opal. Opal landed back at the ground safely, having used wind magic to slow her descent, and flicked the giant's navy-blue blood off her katana. The giant smashed it's axe down at her with all its force using just one hand. Dashing forward at full speed Sapphire dodged the axe's blade as she brought her katana close to herself.
Her katana ignited as Opal kicked off the ground, flames of all colors roaring on the blade. Spinning in the air Opal performed a wide slash, creating a ring of flames centred around her, cutting the handle of the axe and decapitating the giant in one single attack. She landed back safely as the giant's body crashed on the ground behind her, blowing a cloud of snow.
Appearing out of the snow cloud she shook her head and dusted her clothes to remove the snow from them, but the whiteness of the snow refused to leave her hair and clothes. She heard a light sound of snow crunching under someone's foot, causing her to turn. Stopping a short distance away from Opal, Kesshō unsheathed her katana and pointed it towards Opal. Kurai stood some distance behind her, right beside the wagon. Opal looked to him confusion, simply receiving a shrug.
"You wanted to duel.” Kesshō reminded as she tilted her head.
"Oh, that's what this is. Certainly then." Opal replied as she took the same stance, pointing her katana towards Kesshō.
Kesshō's eyes inspected Opal, the slight amounts of black weaving between the white sea, an orb glowing at her heart, changing colors every second. The white flowed downwards at Opal's chest, the black slowly flowing towards her arms and legs in a seemingly constant loop.
"I see," Kesshō mumbled to herself.