"3...2...1...GO!"
Xylvia and I both ran at full speed to each other. She didn't have a weapon, but she does have a much more composed mind than I do. Scratching her with my sword was going to be tricky.
"AQUA SCYTHE." Xylvia chanted.
Two scythes of water were summoned from her red magic circle. She immediately started "swinging" them at me.
"GROUND BARRIER." I chanted.
A 200 centimeter wall of rock formed in front of me and blocked Xylvia's attack. I didn't have much experience with earth magic attacks, but I was pretty familiar with it's defense. And earth magic defense is the toughest kind of defense you can have. Plus, any kind of earth magic doesn't get summoned from your magic circle. You just need to be in contact with the ground.
"AQUA SHOT." I chanted.
About twenty or so bullet-sized balls of water formed and all shot at Xylvia. They all reached their target, but Xylvia "swung" her scythes all over the place and managed to deflect all of them. A trail of bright glowing water was left behind from those "swings".
"FLAME SHOT." Xylvia chanted.
This time, about eighteen bullet-sized balls of fire were summoned from her red magic circle. This chant was kind of like the AQUA SHOT chant, except fire magic was a lot more deadly than water magic. Water magic is the best way to fight against it, but if your opponent had more control over their fire magic than you do with your water magic then you're done for. And Xylvia really loves to play with fire.
I quickly drew my sword and chanted another GROUND BARRIER. I could've chanted a water shield, but I didn't have enough trust in my water magic defense. It was too weak against Xylvia's fire attacks, which were extremely powerful. I'm just glad that she didn't ever train with the FIRE BLADES.
"FIRE BLADES." Xylvia chanted.
Goddamnit.
Xylvia now had water scythes and fire blades at her command. Back then, she would always head out somewhere to "do something". I never really paid much attention to it, but now I knew. She would train herself to get better control of her magic. Even if I had a greater magic affinity than she did, all that matters is control.
She started "swinging" the sharp weapons at me. I did whatever I could to deflect them away. I did whatever I could to summon my Dark Flame Magic. I thought of the most sadistic things that I could ever think of. Tearing the hooded figure limb from limb. Stabbing that Gray guy into nothing but a bloody mess. Slicing the throats of those Army of Darkness members. It was quite disturbing, but even so I felt myself smiling.
The dark flame engulfed me as well as my sword. It surrounded me with a flame as black as midnight. I then charged with all the will I had left in me.
"LET MY MAGIC BE ONE WITH MY BLADE." I chanted.
I remembered the kind of chant that Leonna did to kill those wolves a while ago. I don't remember the exact words that she said, but it was good enough to work. A glow of bright blue started to surround my blade. The dark flame still surrounded it, but the sword completely changed it's color. When I was a close enough to Xylvia, I swung my sword down at her. She dodged it pretty easily and kept swinging her water and fire weapons. I did all I could to keep them at bay. It was like I was having a deadly dance with fire and water.
"You've gotten pretty strong Hiro." Xylvia said.
"Well...I had to...get...stronger so that...I could...protect you..." I said while deflecting the blades.
When I was able to knock the blades far enough away, I went back to charging Xylvia. I got close enough to swing my sword at her, but then I had an idea. I held the sword with one hand and started to swing down at her, but then I stopped and used my other hand to grab her chest. It worked...but only up to that point.
"Even on the battlefield you're quite honest." Xylvia said with a chuckle.
"Eh?"
Xylvia grabbed my hand that was on her breast and pulled me to her. Then, she flipped me over and held a broken tree branch to my cheek.
"Looks like I'm stronger." she said with a cheerful smile.
Then, she slid the branch across my cheek and left a small scratch. It was deep enough to let some blood drizzle out though.
"Well done Xylvia," Leonna said. "You win this match."
"Why did Hiro grab me out of no where?" Xylvia asked.
"Well...y-you see...h-he used that same trick on me...and...it kind of...worked..." Leonna said fidgeting with her fingers and blushing.
"I see."
Xylvia looked at me like I was a dog begging to be fed.
"Well, I guess you got to do what you got to do in order to survive in the war. Bet remember Hiro, that trick will never work on me. In fact, I encourage you to do that to me more. And not just on the battlefield either."
I, then, started to look at her like she was a dog begging to be fed.