"Huh, what... ?" Hai felt she heard something wrong.
"As I said, I have lived infinite lives infinite times," Mac gloated, seemingly enjoying talking about himself. "It is kinda my stick, the infinite experience thingy."
Hai almost lost control of her flames due to the confusion, but they still flowed strongly through her hands. What Mac had said was probably the most outlandish thing since they met, so insane, in fact, that there was not a single cell in her that believed in him. Her horizons had been expanded but not by that much.
"Good for you, I guess." Hai could not bother entertaining Mac anymore. She briefly held her breath as she focused on the flame on her closed hands and pointed them at him.
When Hai opened her hands, a breathtaking ball of fire came at an incredible speed. The attack was similar to her usual while still lacking in heat. But the unnatural brightness was blinding to the ordinary eyes! And with her eyes half-closed, Hai could tell how devastating it could be on contact, even without the burning aspect. "I really can do this!" She thought when she realized that the speed of her attack had also improved.
The overwhelming ball of fire partially covered Mac's shape from Hai's view but with his face still in sight. With her display of strength and danger, she was confident that Mac could not hide an expression of terror or at least shock. But that was not what she saw. Instead, with his face entirely illuminated by her own move, she saw glee in that smile.
Even with his movement fully enlightened by the burneless fire, Hai could barely follow what Mac did. With no hesitation nor doubt, Mac's only good arm reacted like a whip, landing on the side of the ball before it reached him. In a moment, his body went from complete stilt to immense speed. Hai watched as Mac swiftly slid on the sand to the side, leisurely avoiding her most treacherous attack.
"You actually increased your power since we fought last night?" He said while he flinched his right fist. "Pretty neat."
The ball of fire traveled above the sand until it lost momentum and crashed. The mountain of sand raised behind Mac sent shivers down the spine of every tribal there present.
Hai furrowed with uneasiness. Despite being disappointed that Mac dodged a surprise attack, she was not surprised. She had already seen him triumphing while severely disadvantaged a handful of times. "He really has a lot of experience," Hai concluded their most significant difference. She knew that even if she had ten times her strength, she would still be unable to do what Mac did to the invaders. "But that doesn't mean he has infinity experience!" She assured herself of what she believed was blatant.
The battle was only starting! Hai was not going to be discouraged so early! She began to think about her next move, but her rawness proved too much of a deficiency. Before any answer came to her, Mac dashed towards her unannounced.
It was almost a bit funny to Hai how her courage and confidence unceremoniously left her body when Mac neared. He was only a single boy her age, but somehow his silhouette was terrifying, almost overwhelming.
Hai desperately grasped for her weakened will to stand her ground. If she faltered now, there was no hope for victory.
The turmoil in her mind, albeit contained, strained her ability to dodge for a brief and essential second. Mac already was too close, or at least inside arm-reach.
With the rest of his body seemingly frozen, Mac's right arm moved through the wind too fast for Hai to follow. "It is not like a blade," She would remember in the future. "It is more like a lash, plainly simple and light to the eyes, but dangerous and impactful to the touch."
The punch would completely obliterate Hai's features if it collided, considering the strength and techniques Mac showed her and his enemies. Although luckily for her, the dashing fist halted mere inches from her forehead. Hai could barely comprehend the level of control behind such sharp restraint.
Her forcefully opened eyes lingered on Mac's hand for too long. It was long enough for her to notice the avoidable and childish flick.
Hai aloofly stepped back as the flick worked as a trigger to give her a strong sense of deja vu. She fought her dreadful feelings as Hai worried she was as helpless against Mac now as she was the first time they fought.
"Is that enough for you?" Mac said as he left his arm hovering in the air, only fueling the anxious flame inside Hai's head. "Just like last time, you can not do much against me. Our levels are too far apart."
The taunt, combined with his annoying smile, worked Hai up a little, and unlike usual, she gladly allowed the heat to fester inside her. With the unwelcoming emotions melting away, Hai felt confidence rekindling despite the odds.
With her mind focused on the battle, Hai realized an advantage: Mac was too close. Close enough for her flames to hit him, especially now that he was distracted by his own inflated ego.
As Hai tightened her wrist against her hips, she accumulated energy for another attack. It was too sudden for a gigantic ball of fire like before, but Hai thought she could at least break a few ribs with hyper-condensed fist-sized flame balls.
The attack came out fast and unexpectedly, but Mac reacted quicker and, somehow, more unexpectedly. The conceited brat managed to evade her quick shots by twisting his body and getting uncomfortably close to Hai. He even had to raise his arm high to buy himself some space.
"What quick thinking you got there," Mac calmly said as he looked down at her while Hai watched the results of her "quick thinking," aimlessly scrambling away. For the first time in her life, she noticed she had an ego only because it was damaged.
Hai refused to be the first to step back while Mac dangled in her personal space. "For how long are you gonna stay here?" She tried him as she accumulated power in her hands for a grander attack that would hit this time. She needed to buy just a little more time. She needed to act like her focus was in another place.
"Hm... I don't know." He said. "How long will it take for you to charge your next move?"
While almost tearing up, Hai stepped back in frustration, but before she could get away, Mac bent his raised arm and hit her nose with the tip of his elbow. The attack was awkward and poorly executed, causing no real damage other than mild discomfort. Although, you could not say the same about the move that soon followed after.
It was a sharp, drilling kick that collided with her stomach. Hai was not like Mac to be able to dodge a point-blank attack just like that. She was sent backward and almost fell to her knees due to the pain.
Even after ten seconds, the ache lingered and burned as if the kick had perforated the flesh. Hai shivered when she thought how much worse it was for her people when the invaders had harmed them with their spears. With the taste of blood in her mouth, Hai obstinately stared back at Mac. He had refused to finish her off while she was seemingly defenseless, toddling in misery.
It was a shame, Hai thought, that he had not stepped closer, for he would not have been able to evade her next fire attack. Hai had no idea she had the mental defenses to keep such control of her powers while in pain. She was getting stronger.
While both her hands threatened to explode as she reached her limit, Hai wanted to blast Mac away with the amplest ball of flame she could muster. But the contractions in her interior forced a realization on her. Mac is too fast! If his punches are like a whip, his kicks are like lightning. He would be able to escape her, she did not know how, but she knew he would. Instead of wallowing in despair, Hai tried to find a different approach. She needed to think outside of the box. "Outside the box, huh."
And then it stroked her. It was a wild idea that she was eager to try. Hai wanted to worry if Mac's chaoticism rubbed off on her, but there was no time for that now. She avidly raised her arms to the sky, sharpening the pain in her tummy, but she smiled either way with excitement.
Instantly, a gigantic fireball appeared above Hai. It was as if the sun had descended. Some of the tribal even started to run away in fear, while some stared in a stupor. Even Mac was slightly taken aback, with his usual smile twitching.
Unlike most of Hai's moves, this fireball was barely spheric, as she had trouble keeping its form. The amalgamation of heatless fire hovered in the air, constantly shaping itself as if trying to find a consistent formation. It was almost like it was alive.
"You like it?" Hai screamed at Mac proudly. "I think I will call it Sun Grow!"
"That is cool and all, but..." He had to cover his eyes with his right arm to shield his vision from the overwhelming light. "You can't just make a bigger fireball and give it such a nice name. It is just too wasteful for a move that is not that different from your others."
Hai usually would be disappointed in Mac's lackluster reaction. However, this time, she was too excited to execute her plan to care about what Mac thought. Especially since she was secure, she would prove him wrong in a few moments.
As Sun Grow started to escape her grasp due to its massive scale and the strength required to keep it in the air, Hai brought the whole thing down at a slow but threatening pace.
Mac danced backward in response. He easily dodged where the overgrown fireball landed. Unfortunately, Mac was not nearly far enough to avoid the jests of sand that arose from the impact. He swiftly turned his body so the elevated beach would not harm his face or his broken arm.
Almost forced to collapse into the ground, Mac managed to find his stance and confront the sand shower, seemingly undisturbed and unchanged. The dirt that got to his precious hair did bother him, though. Arani also complained, as it somehow got grains of sand in each of its eight eyes.
Mac tapped the sand away from his hair while Arani also tried to clean its own home that just happened to be Mac's hair. He had to give it to Hai this time. She somehow got him! In his heavily disturbed mind, having his hair dirtied was worse than having a broken arm plus the side of his skull cracked.
"But that sure was wasteful," He commented while swabbing his hair. Mac wondered how much energy Hai had left after such a disastrous attack. He waited for the Sun Grow to dissipate to see her. "Maybe I should end this now. I had my fun." His face was completely expressionless as he continued to wipe his hair.
He waited for a few seconds before he realized something: The Sun Grow was showing no signs of dissipating. From what he observed from Hai's unusual condensed flames, they would start to diminish after contact, or at least after they lost momentum, but yet, there stood Sun Grow. And since the gigantic ball of fire continued to morph its shape, it gave the impression that it was alive.
"Is this a type of allegory for your tribe or something?" Mac screamed as he circulated the now harmless attack, but he did not find Hai on the other side.
At first, he thought Hai was going around the other side of the Sun Grow to avoid him, but then he noticed the expression of the few tribals that stayed. Some of them were in the position to see the other side of the Sun Grow, but they showed no signs of seeing a weakened young girl trying to avoid her opponent. Instead, they stared at Mac and back at the still-strong ball of fire, with their mouth opened wide but unable to pronounce a sound.
"They saw something." His experience told him as his mind went into gear trying to find a solution. It was barely a second, but he had already guessed what had happened. Since Hai was not on the other side of the Sun Grow, there was only one place where she could have hidden.
And as if a reward for his deduction, multiple shots of fire erupted from the Sun Grow, which he barely avoided due to how close he was.
Mac smiled so much that his skull started to arch again. He was genuinely impressed that Hai could come up with such a trick. She had actually built her own fortress mid-combat!