we were given an empty lot to fight, quite big if you ask me but the police weren't against it, I'm surprised he was okay with it.
"I'll be refereeing your match since I'm the only one capable of translating, I do hope that you're okay with that Ron"
the one I'm fighting in this duel is the person called Liliya Rosa, Rin gave me tips to fight her which was the worst decision she could make, now I know her weaknesses and movements.
「are you okay with this Liliya?」
「yeah, sorry for troubling you Rin, I know I asked you to escort us to a good place but this happened...」
「no! everything's fine! actually I'm happy I get to see you fight again but, do restrain a bit, I doubt in a thousand years that he could defeat you, quite literally too」
they've been talking in their own language again...
"Damn it when will the fight start?!"
"a-ah! s-sorry. anyway, let the fight begin!"
this is easy, I know she's the weakest of the group, she said so herself!
"Fireball! Wind Gale!"
the elements began to mix forming a combination, flaming phoenix. petals dispersed and polluted the air and weakened the flame-wind magic, the flame phoenix was evaporated
"H-How!"
"you forgot already huh? The waltz of the dancing petals is a combination skill that can mix with any element and cause infliction, the petals were given an attribute of water so that skill of yours was useless"
"useless huh? then taste this! flaming devil dust!"
a small tornado of flame formed from his fingers making a horizontal tornado
"your petals are useless to this! even with water, it will all burn down!"
"idiot..."
the tornado simply turned into a speck of normal devil dust and dispersed with the petals reforming
"H-How!"
"is that the only question you're capable of asking? Liliya's Petals are the same as Mythril... well almost, it's a petal of our world with the ability to resist even the harshest of temperatures"
"you didn't tell me that!"
"oh? I didn't? must've missed it, anyway I'm currently taking a picture right now with Osiria so mind if you pipe down?"
that girl... damn you all!
"if fire magic won't work then I'll use this! Thunder roar!"
Lightning struck Ron inflicting himself,
"Hehe, thunder roar makes me move ten times faster, it's my special skill that I have hidden from my friends if we ever fight, you better watch out!"
Ron tried to confuse Liliya with extremely fast movements, his lightning-quick footwork was as if he was forming after-images of himself. two, three, six after-images were on the field.
「aunt Rin, is mother in trouble?」
「do you not believe in your mother?」
「no, I believe mommy will win」
「well, from an amateur, a one on one fight with him might be troublesome, even for me or the soldier- I mean your playmates, but if it's your mother then I do think she'll win. experience is key in this kind of fight, so you better train like your mother to become strong like her」
「mm. I will be strong like mama and papa!」
「good girl, good girl!」
the petals began to sway vigorously and shake sporadically, even with Ron's fast footwork, he wasn't able to determine where his enemy was
"W-what the-"
Ron missed a large strike making him stumble to his knees and Liliya immediately aimed at his neck
"Ahem. with this, the winner of the duel is Liliya Rosa. now, Ron, I do believe that you finally understand our strength, right?"
I lost... I didn't get hurt and I lost...
"no... I refuse to back down from this! I haven't ev-"
a slice formed from Ron, no it was multiple hollow cuts. none of them were fatal but even this was torture
"A-AAHHHH! T-THAT HURTS!"
「L-Liliya... since when?」
「he wasn't backing down... so I used the petals」
「you're getting scarier every day you know that?」
"J-jeez... for Liliya to be like this is unheard of, anyway stand up, don't even think that that amount of pain is enough to kill, I'd show you my sketchbook but... it's on the other side... anyway I believe a lection is mandatory, this is a good way to train Little Lily too"
after the bout, Aishah and Lin came only to see Ron with tons of wounds
"R-Ron! what happened!"
"I'll tell you what happened, stupidity, that's what happened... *sigh* I told you to never fight them at your status didn't I? now look at you"
"S-Shut up! This is nothing!"
"Aishah... don't follow his footsteps, alright? you're the only one with a normal understanding compared to him also... why do you sound like a girl? your name that is"
"haha... long story... anyway I can't believe I'm able to see miss Rin again!"
"Ahh... who are you again?"
a bit heartbroken, Aishah introduced to her again while Lin was lifting Naoya"
"L-let go of me, traitor!"
"I'll carry you to my friend's house, for now, it's just near here, anyway what are you guys going to do?"
"hmm... well considering that he's the only one who has the resolve to fight from your report... I guess we can continue to sightsee a bit more..."
「what do you guys think? still wanna sightsee?」
「yeah, let me call Naoya for a bit, how about you Osiria?」
Osiria yawned and both of them chuckled
「well I guess that's the decision... the island's a bit too far for travel with a sleeping child so I think we'll rest here for now」
"well, I guess that's that... hey Lin, do you know-... drat... sorry but Aishah, that's a girly name... do you know a hotel nearby here?"
"I think I found one near here, I don't mind escorting you girls there but... am I allowed?"
"Sure, no one seems to mind, guide us please"
. . .
. .
"Ouch! that hurts!"
"you're strong you can handle this amount of pain right?"
"Are you an ass or something- OW!"
"who do you think is injured here? anyway thanks for allowing us to borrow your house Nick"
a guy with a thin, frail body was with them,
"it's fine, although, I'm asking this right now, [alvmy'emer]"
"ahh... so you want to talk to her? alright"
they began to spout nonsense... are they like them!?
"oy, Lin, you were really one of them?"
"hah? that's stupid, you know pretty well how we grew up in the same neighborhood right!?"
yeah... stupid question... but how could she speak like them?
a few minutes go by and they finally finished their conversation
"[olvarior] well... thanks for your visit... although I don't like him controlling me..."
"haha, me neither, I don't understand a single thing but at least they can translate it for us"
"Agreed... to the troubled pairs"
"you two going to celebrate or patch me up?"
"haahh... you're already patched up, anyway we need Nick to introduce himself. Nick, it's your stage"
"fine then... I'm Nick Punay, my magic is unlike the normal so I don't use it, pleased to meet you"
"same here, so you're the same as Lin?"
"somewhat yeah, but I don't converse with them it's best to say I'm in the neutral..."
"bullshit Nick, you seem to like the person with Rin the time they were on tv"
"n-no! I don't know what you're talking about"
"I'll be looking for Aishah, I'll see myself out"
"sure, his in a hotel near here"
"hmm? how'd you know that?"
. . .
. .
.
a hotel near here huh?... is this it? oh, it's Aishah
"Ron! over here!"
I walked where he was, right in the entrance of the hotel
"yo, they didn't do anything to you right?"
"what!? of course not! miss Rin would never harm a person!"
"I doubt that, anyway we're leaving"
"What? you're staying?"
"well... it's a one in a million chance of meeting her since she's the only celebrity with awesome magic"
well... if you put it that way... maybe I can learn from them...
"I guess you're not as dense as last time, good"
Rin, the girl with a bun on her hair interrupted our conversation
"we have time, I heard from Lin that there's a private place for people who wants to escape from reality and turn it into the fantasy they like, it's quite amusing how humanity is still like this, well even in the other world it was the same"
"a place where people escape reality? what's that? a computer cafe?"
"probably? I don't know but we don't have a reason to go there, Liliya's with little Lily and I really don't like leaving them like that so go ask Lin about it"
well... we really don't have a reason to venture right now... we'd simply be going around aimlessly and we won't get stronger like that...
"then we'll consider it, what about you Aishah?"
"me? I'll probably stay with them, I still have tons of questions"
"I don't mind a companion to talk with, I mostly draw when I have nothing to do so if it's fine with you then you can come right in"
"I'll leave you all to it then, I'm going back to Lin for now"
I wonder what they were talking about...
. . .
. .
"Hey Lin! wait, where is she?"
all I see is Nick watching tv... does this kid has nothing to do?
"sorry... she's currently on her way back, why'd you came back?"
"I came here to ask about something Rin said... I think she said something about 'a way to escape reality' or some shit like that... do you know a place?"
"hmm... a way to escape reality huh... a computer cafe?"
I knew it would be a computer cafe, I mean what else could it b- FUCK OFF!
"yeah... you're expression's telling me everything... Honestly, I haven't visited that place in a long time, I'll guide you guys there for price"
"negotiating like that huh... then how heavy is it?"
"simple, I don't need money but monster loot, you see, the monsters here are way scarier than some of the monsters from different nations, the monster I'm talking about is the Abat, it's a half bodied human with bloodshot eyes and abnormally long and sharp fingers. but thanks to the mana here they can run amok within the crowds"
"wait... you tell me those but I haven't seen monsters like that"
in fact, I haven't seen a single monster here in this city, I don't even think there could be any
"The problem with that is that they blend in with the crowd, the only way to spot them is when they reveal themselves in the night, their half lower body stays so that's easy picking but the upper half flies and is dangerous, it's really fast and thanks to magic, it can deliver sharp punishing wind slices to its enemies. so, are you going to do it or no?"
if it's a subjugation quest then...
"I'll do it! but if that's so then how can I even spot them? I know they reveal they're true identities in the night but where do they spawn? is there some kind of pattern?"
"too bad, they're extremely unpredictable and smart, I'll be going with you but as a witness, I can't have you lying on me now can I?"
well... that's plan b down... looks like I have no choice on this...
"it's a deal then? we'll start at dusk, right when those Abat show themselves... they do have another name but I forgot... so best to explain it rather than say the name outright"
I nod and I began to look around and search some people, I even ask some cops and they deny that they have found some things, if I asked this question in people before the whole war started then I'd be looked at like an idiot that lost its mind