Mac smiled fondly. He couldn't help but appreciate Ira's awkwardness and the subtle differences between her and Hai in their personalities.
"Ah... hum." Ira opened and closed her mouth repeatedly as she tried to compose herself. Even her majestic wings of fire were threatening to comble on themselves.
It wasn't long before the tribe started to throw words of encouragement around, like parents trying to motivate their children with stage fright during a school play.
Ira, almost succumbing before the pressure, took a deep and exasperated breath that forced her body straight. Even her wings stretched themselves frozen, but due to some mysterious power, Ira still stood there floating above the sea.
"Mac Key Kast!" She screamed with her mighty. Her shout could not compare to Mac's decisiveness and Hai's stubbornness, but there was an ethereal charm and charisma in the will behind her words with the power to captivate anyone there to hear. "I... I challenge you to a duel!"
With a punctuated smile that sharpened his pains, Mac's interest grew. "So you want to challenge me too, huh? Well, how could I possibly- wait, why are you crying again?"
Unfortunately for him, Mac needed to put a hold on his display of arrogance when he realized Ira was possibly an awful crybaby.
"I am so sorry," She tried to swallow her cry as she tried to keep her gaze focused on Mac. "You fought so much already trying to save Hai's tribe from the invaders, and as a result, you sustained such horrible injuries. And yet, after everything, here we are, Hai and I, forcing you into battles to make you do something you do not desire. I am so sorry." Ira burst into tears again.
"Oh, shoot." Mac had to stop himself from instinctively touching his head. That was not the development he expected or hoped. It seemed to him that Hai's "other side" would not make much for a "second phase" to their battle. "I mean, if you don't wanna fight, you don't need to. Hai asked you to fight me, didn't she? Then you can ignore her. After all, this is not your fight."
"But this is my fight also." Ira shook her head as the tears finally stopped running. "Even if I am a different entity from Hai, I share the same appreciation toward you as she does. By my morals and beliefs, I can not allow a hero like you to make a foolish decision and miss the chance to heal your injuries in our Crimson Coast."
Mac waited patiently for Ira to finish with a semi-annoyed expression. He then looked at the sea and realized how close he was to it. So little effort would it take for him to dive into it, yet he stood still. Not only would both Hai and Ira have what they want, but Mac's head injuries and broken arm would more than definitely be healed, if all the healthy and standing tribe behind him proved anything. And who knows, maybe the power of the sea was so strong that it could amend his shattered Small Orbis. There was no reason for Mac to refuse such a simple solution, yet, he had only one answer. "Nah. I'm good." If he had a hat, he would have tipped it.
"But why not?" Ira almost cried again out of frustration. "If you don't mind answering me, of course."
Mac did not try to come up with a reason. He was scared of what he would find. Instead, he shrugged.
Ira stared hopelessly and helplessly. She took another deep breath and tried to give Mac a deep stare. "Then I hope..." Crystal's tears started forming mid-sentence, but she did not stop. "That you will allow me to reaffirm my challenge!"
This time Ira acted seriously, despite the tears running down her cheeks. Mac felt a tinge of threat coming from her, which only worked to gear him up.
"Well, how could I refuse a heartfelt proposal like yours?" The pain felt secondary to him as he rehearsed his previous acceptance. "Bring it on!" Mac opened his arms as if to receive the challenge.
"You are going to fight again?! In this state?!" Miss Florinda, who Mac had forgotten that was still standing behind him, said.
"Hahaha, You have nothing to worry about, miss. I will try to go easier on Ira than I was on Hai." Mac deliberately missed the point.
"No!!! Mac Key Kast, I think Miss Florinda is right." Ira hurridly stuck her hand out as if she had a eureka moment. "You are deeply injured and probably won't be able to fight that well, with all due respect. Again, thank you for fighting for Hai's tribe." She bowed mid-air. "But either way, you should get yourself treated before jumping into a battle this soon. So why don't you take a swim? I already did, so it is only fair that you do it too." Ira inclined her body sideways and gestured with her head towards the sea. She had a forced, innocent smile throughout the whole ordeal. "Then we can fight all you want."
Mac stared with a dumbfounded face. He was genuinely surprised that he found someone somehow less subtle than Hai so soon. It took him a good few seconds to ponder if Ira was just that innocent or if she thought he was just that stupid to fall for her "schemes," if you could call it.
"OH. MY. HEVI!" Mac fake gasped. "Oh, you sleazy little snake. I almost fell for your treacherous plot. I now see that your biggest weapon is your witts. I better be careful moving forward."
"Such shame. You saw through me." Ira sounded genuinely surprised that she had failed to fool Mac. "I am sorry for trying to mislead you, Mac Key Kast. It looks like you really have infinite experience, after all."
"Hmmm... I guess this is what happens when two people share the same mind." Mac saved this comment for himself.
"Mac Key Kast! Apparently, there is no other way to avoid this fight, as I have run out of alternative ideas." Tears continuously run down Ira's cheeks. "But I want to make sure that you understand the situation since I feel like you are taking this situation too lightly. If I win, you will have to heal yourself in the Crimson Coast! Do you agree?"
"I am pretty sure I know what is at stake here. Thank you very much." Mac did not need to stretch, for he was still fresh out of the battle with Hai. "And just as I did with Hai, I accept your terms. As long you accept mine, of course!" He smiled while imagining the exaggerated reaction Ira would have when she realized that she was not the only one betting on something.
"You made a deal with Hai, right? That she would be your companion and travel the world together!" But Ira's reaction was so serene that it threw Mac out of his loop. She had even stopped crying. "So it is nothing more than just that I am also to be made your companion if I lose. I more than proudly accept those terms!"
It was as if the sun somehow got closer. Mac felt the temperature increasing tremendously, forcing his tired body to gush with sweat. His eyes shined like a madman lusting for battle, but his brain still had space for care and morals. He turned his head to scream to Miss Florinda for her to leave the area of the heat, but what he saw made his blood run cold.
While Ira had increased the heat to such a degree that even forced Mac to falter, he could only assume that a frail woman in their hundreds so close to him would be knocking on death's door. But when he looked at her, Miss Florinda seemed fine? It was as if she was not even feeling the venomous warmth as she looked over him with confusion and worry. And there were two possible explications that Mac could formulate. Either those Sun Grow Tribe genes were that strong against heat, or-
Slowly but surely, Mac shifted his head back to take another good look at Ira. She was the exact radiant figure as ever, a short distance away, but who once had the design of a sleeping beauty and then of a crybaby, now there was an entirely different and new face.
There was no trace of disdain or ridicule that Mac could pick up on her now serene and immaculate face aside from the trajectory of early tears left on her cheeks that somehow had not evaporated away. Her half-opened eyes now possessed a more fierce and profound glare, the type someone like Mac could not emulate naturally. It was a characteristic of someone beyond him, of someone more divine.
As if to compete with Ira's harsh heat, Mac felt his blood boiling up for the challenge. He finally realized that even if Ira could not punch as hard as Hai, she would definitely be harder to deal.
"That is some impressive control you got there!" He left his blood to act up. "To only target me with your heat with such precision... I guess you really can't underestimate the power of a Chosen."
"I have to take responsibility for my flames and take the appropriate strides to protect Hai and not betray my morals." Ira acted as moved as a sculpture could ever be. "I cannot commit the same mistake again and- Oh, no, wait! Are you intimidated by my power?" Never mind whenever astral energy she had going on. At some point during her last words, she morphed back to the usual and pure puppy-like Ira when she thought she realized something. "Does that mean that we don't have to battle? Is your infinite experience telling you that you are committing a mistake?"
The hope in Ira's voice and in her eyes almost quelched Mac's bloodlust away. Ok, maybe almost is too strong of a word since he was more excited than ever. How could he not be fired up after all?
It has been so long, this journey of his, where he went from land to land, "searching" for a cure for his Small Orbis that he not desired but so needed. And now there he was, in a precarious situation caused by his good and bad karma, fighting against someone who wanted to help him. And that special someone formed by two beings may have the power necessary to beat his internal problems.
With a rough and dramatic short laughter, Mac raised his broken left arm. "Let me tell you something interesting, Ira." He then used his right arm to touch his left. By using his inner eye, Mac used every sense but vision to ascertain his compromising injury. And with a mixture of precise massages and eccentric muscle movement, he managed to flex his bones back in place. "My infinite experience does not prevent mistakes." Mac gave a thunderous slap. "It only allows me to make mistakes that no one else would be able to."