Akiol yawned as he rested upon Givale's back. As she flew across the sky he could sense excitement linger around her, "I didn't know you would be this excited to meet her again."
'I want her to see my progress!'
Currently they were flying to meet up with Opportunity and Ryolu. Akiol had been conversing with Opportunity through their messaging app to schedule a meet up. Although he did have an alternate reason for his actions. He wanted Givale to learn how to fight as a Dragon.
There was no way for Akiol to know how Dragons fight. Especially not in A World's Legacy. The best he could do was teach her how to fight in her human form, anything beyond that was out of his grasp. Hopefully Ryolu wouldn't mind giving some tips, otherwise Givale would be more human-like than Dragon when fighting.
As they coasted through the air Mira raised his hand to feel the wind push against him. Akiol poked him and said, "Careful, don't want you to fall."
"This feels so nice! You can do this all the time Givale?"
'Only recently! But now I can rule the skies!'
Akiol laughed, "Good luck on that, I'm sure there are plenty who will want to stop you!"
'They can try!'
Tilting downwards Givale picked up speed. Air began to whistle as they descended. Focusing his vision Akiol spotted their destination, "A little left Givale!"
She rotated and began to move in the guided direction. As they descended the figure of a green Dragon began to come into vision. It looked up towards them and opened its jaw slightly. Givale roared in excitement, "Mom!"
Akiol reached towards Mira, "Let's jump off here!"
Mira reached for his hand and the two jumped off. As they fell to the sky the two Dragons began to circle in the air. Watching in amazement Mira exclaimed, "Givale is so much smaller!"
"That's granted!"
Mana swirled around the two as their descent slowed. Landing softly Akiol told Mira, "You can explore if you wish, take Stars with you."
'What!' -Stars
"I'd like to talk with Opportunity in private for a bit."
'I see how it is. Come along Mira! We're going to find all the cool things.'
Mira tilted his head, "Isn't it me who's going to carry you around?"
'. . .'
Akiol slipped Stars off and handed the sword to Mira. Slipping it onto his back Mira then slightly bowed, "I'll be off Akiol-Sensei!"
"Don't get into trouble!"
Mira quickly took off, with Akiol's tutoring his footwork was massively improved. Thanks to this Mira was far faster than before, although Akiol found Givale to be the faster one between the two.
"I see you've undergone quite the change."
Akiol turned towards Opportunity—she had been standing quietly the whole time. After a brief examination Akiol was thoroughly impressed. Compared to before, the Opportunity in front of him was vastly different. She now truly gave off the air of an expert. Just by standing Akiol could feel a threat lingering around her, "As have you, you're certainly more dangerous than before."
Opportunity laughed faintly, "I now realize just how crazy your level is, how do you manage to look so ordinary?"
"Practice."
"Why wouldn't it be?"
"Is this what the Tower did to you?"
"No, this is from something else. Although the Tower did help a lot."
Akiol looked towards Ryolu who was flying with Givale, "Looks like the final reward remained as great as ever."
"Ryolu has been a fantastic friend and partner. It's mostly thanks to her I got this far to begin with. Which brings me to my next point, who are you?"
"I've been asked that a lot. But coming from you it's quite different, what exactly do you mean?"
"There's been a lot I went through. Battles, training, life and death situations, you name it. Time and time again I grew as a fighter. Each time I seem to gain a clearer vision on what you're capable of. I watched the video with your fight against Dot."
Opportunity's expression grew serious, "It was then I began to question whether or not you're truly my brother. Even if you broke off contact for a while, that time period wasn't enough to explain your ability to fight. I've been with you most of your life, you have zero experience in fighting."
"So what conclusion did you come to?"
"Either you're a massive genius and you've been wasting your potential this whole time. Or you're not my brother. So I am asking you here—and I want you to answer me honestly—who are you?"
Akiol remained still for a moment. He figured a time like this would come eventually. Yet he wasn't entirely sure how to answer the question. Telling the truth might lead to unforeseen consequences, but so will lying. Additionally it would pain him to lie to Opportunity, if anything James' family deserved to know the truth. However his mission, the one given to him by the Gods, it wasn't something he could tell so easily.
So he was left with a choice: Does he tell the truth or lie?
Akiol made a decision. Under Opportunity's prying eyes he shook his head, "That conversation isn't meant for this kind of environment."
She paused for a moment before nodding, "Fine, we can arrange a meeting then."
"Just let me know, I'll tell you the truth. As much as I can at least."
"I can only hope you will."
For now Akiol decided to delay it until he gathered his thoughts. After learning that a few developers like to spectate his adventures he became more cautious about what he talks about. Telling the truth out in the middle of nowhere was asking for trouble. With the atmosphere becoming a tad awkward, Akiol turned his attention to the two Dragons.
It was amusing, for two legendary beasts to be a calming and ordinary sight for him. A vast majority of the Playerbase probably hadn't seen a Dragon themselves. Though they most likely have seen pictures online.
As he watched Givale suddenly spoke through the Link, 'I want to fight her!'
Both Opportunity and Akiol coughed in surprise, Opportunity received a similar message from Ryolu by the looks of things. Two Dragons fighting would be a destructive even, even if they are limited to Second Stage. So Akiol tried to tone things down a notch, 'Maybe another time, let's not cause a lot of destruction okay?'
'Don't worry! We agreed to fight in human form to prevent that!' -Givale
Great, now his argument against the idea was torn apart. Thankfully the idea wasn't too bad, fighting against Ryolu would be a good experience for Givale. So with a sigh he responded, 'Okay, but don't go too far, I'll stop you if I have to.'
'Okay!' -Givale
Givale landed onto the ground and morphed into her human form. Ryolu landed nearby and did the same. As she adjusted her long sleeve shirt Ryolu asked, "You positive of this? Challenging a Dragon is a matter of putting your pride on the line. Because of it I won't be holding back."
"Positive!"
"Good. I'll allow you to make the first move."
Givale unsheathed her two daggers, her feet sliding against the dirt into a stance. Ryolu raised an eyebrow, "Oh? I wasn't expecting you to be trained this well."
"Akiol is a firm teacher."
"Well, that kid is pretty skilled-"
Shooting forward Givale aimed her dagger at Ryolu's throat. A stream of space following behind her attack. Ryolu lifted a hand and gently guided it away, then her hand flickered as she threw a punch. Givale moved her arm and blocked the attack. Gritting her teeth she flipped through the air, the force behind the punch was enough to knock her back. The moment she landed she dashed forward again!
Thin needles made of her magic formed behind her and shot forward. Ryolu swirled mana around her palm and knocked these away. Then, the galaxy that formed by Givale's previous attack exploded. The miniature stars made Ryolu retreat in surprise.
Givale dashed through the explosion and stabbed forward. Lifting her hand Ryolu caught the blade between two fingers, "I'm impressed! To think you could do so much within so little time."
Swinging forward Givale kicked her legs towards Ryolu's stomach. This was blocked with ease, but gave Givale the opportunity she was fishing for! Sheathing her other dagger she caused a ball of her magic to form within her palm. Balling her hand into a fist the magic encompassed it. She then punched forward, "Gotcha!"
"Not quite."
The magic disappeared from Givale's hand and her punch was caught with ease. Ryolu flipped Givale in the air and threw her upwards. Mana swirled as Givale slowed her ascent. Sheathing her other dagger she formed a bow made of mana. Creating some distance she shot forward several arrows.
"I can see you're more used to the bow!"
Claws made of poison appeared around Ryolu and swiped at the arrows. Cutting them in half Givale watched as her magic failed to explode and instead dissipated. Clicking her tongue she shot forward several more arrows.
Ryolu cut these down as well, "Don't rely too much on your own magic. Dragons have long since found out ways to eliminate magic coming towards them."
Throwing away her bow she grabbed her daggers. Running forward a streak of space formed behind her weapons. She dashed side to side as she closed the distance. Ryolu watched calmly, raising her hands to react accordingly. Givale's figure flickered and afterimages began to slowly form.
Ryolu raised an eyebrow, "This is his footwork!"
Givale appeared above Ryolu and spun like a saw blade. As she descended her daggers came into contact with a wall of poison. With a faint smile on her face Givale moved at an incredible speed towards Ryolu's back. Slashing with her two daggers she felt certain in her heart that she would be the first to land a clean blow!
Ryolu moved at a much faster speed, kicking upwards she landed the first blow onto Givale's chin. Holding her hands out a Gundao made of poison formed within her hands. Spinning it she cut a ball of Givale's magic behind her.
Givale had attempted a two way attack! Leaving a slow moving magic ball behind the wall of poison! However Ryolu saw through this easily!
Landing with a thud Givale groaned, "Ow!"
Ryolu dusted off her clothes, "I think that's enough, you are incredibly skilled."
"Not enough."
"You'll continue to grow. Especially alongside that slime, he seems to have an interesting fate."
Givale got up and rubbed her chin, "I'll beat you next time!"
"Looking forward to it."