V chuckled at the comment.
"What about you, Jynx?" he asked the boy with her. The boy was of medium build, wearing a long, traditional-style, brown Asian robe. He had a bald head and wore gauges in both ears. He carried a staff with a blue orb on top.
"I am unsure about the kid. I haven't seen him display magic yet, but his reflexes are impressive to be able to dodge that initial strike like he did. I am interested to see how he handles this. One wrong move could be the end. He is quite the cutie, though."
The man rolled his eyes but nodded, not surprised by the analysis they both gave. In reality, he didn't expect anything less. They were both well-versed in the art of combat.
Haruto immediately summoned his wind beneath him and slowly started to lift off the ground. He hadn't tried this yet and knew this wasn't the best time, but he hoped it would work while Brax was still attempting to recover. He wobbled as he ascended, trying to steady himself.
'He can fly?!'
This was everyone's reaction when they saw Haruto perform this. Some people in the crowd even started to whisper amongst each other. Warlords using items to float or levitate wasn't rare. Certain ones, such as witches, were known for using flying items. But someone using magic by itself to fly was quite rare and difficult. The reason being it consumed a lot of mana and required extreme concentration.
Even Nork and Brax watched in shock as Haruto climbed higher and higher. The man, V, and Jynx watched in slight amazement.
'This kid is quite interesting... What does he plan to do?'
As Haruto ascended, he realized he was quite high up. He started to second-guess himself but knew he had no choice now. If he could dive off a cliff, he could do this! He immediately shifted his body and dived. As Haruto fell, he started to form lightning until it enveloped his hands. Brax, seeing Haruto pick up speed, started to panic and increased his mana even more. He shifted all of it to his hammer and prepared a battle stance.
"That idiot, what is he doing?!" V shouted, sensing the increase in Brax's mana. Brax had already taken a big risk with the half-transformation he forced.
As Haruto got closer, suddenly all of his wind and lightning stopped as well. 'Oh crap, what happened?!' he thought as he started to freefall. Brax, seeing this, started to smile. "Amateur…" he shouted as he released vines from the hammer that shot forward toward Haruto. He lowered his hammer, containing the mana as he sunk down.
Haruto tried to think fast and immediately shot his hands forward, thinking of Superman, and formed a fireball in each hand. What happened next shocked everyone, even Haruto. As he picked up more speed, the fire quickly left his hands and enveloped Haruto's entire body. He became a literal falling fireball! Once in range, Brax, using all of his strength, swung the hammer up with such ferocity it shot a blast of mana energy out toward Haruto. Haruto, seeing this, immediately activated his wind. He seemed to remember wind fed fire and increased the size of the blaze!
As he made contact, the blaze burned completely through the vines and made contact with Brax's hammer.
In that moment, Brax knew he had lost as the hammer completely shattered and Haruto slammed into Brax, causing a huge explosion.
The entire square filled with dust as Jynx immediately put up a barrier, shielding the crowd from the flying shrapnel of stone and debris. Once the massive dust cloud cleared, everyone could see a crater where Brax had stood, and inside were him and Haruto.
Brax was out cold as he suffered his mana setback and took Haruto's hit all at once, instantly knocking him out. It was how he knew he lost. He felt the mana leave his body as soon as Haruto hit his hammer. He didn't know it at the time, but Brax's increased durability from the beast magic was the only thing that saved him. Due to the increased bone density, gravity took over. It caused Haurto to actually fall at a faster rate due to the added mass. If Brax hadn't transformed, he would've died! Haruto slowly began to come to and managed to open his eyes. He realized he was severely injured as he attempted to crawl out of the crater. He knew some of his ribs were possibly broken as he struggled to breathe. He hadn't accounted for the added mass. A grave error.
He took more damage than he realized from the move. Once he was out, he tried to stand and immediately collapsed. He realized a leg must've been broken as well and could feel cuts all over his body.
Nork noticed Haruto's condition and immediately tried to use it to his advantage. "You fucking brat… All you had to do was mind your goddamn business. Now I'm gonna show you what happens when you cross us!" He slowly walked up to Haruto and unsheathed a club. Haruto could barely see and looked up to see Nork grinning a sinister smile. Just as he swung the club, a staff intercepted the club and stopped it in its tracks.
"Oh now, now. That's not very kind of you. Especially to such a beautiful face." The man looked at Haruto and gave a wink, then looked back at Nork. "Be wise now." It was Jynx!
Nork was about to lose his composure. He had been interrupted all day by nobodies and had had enough. He clenched his teeth. "Alright… if that's how it's gonna be." He immediately started to let magic flow out from him until he saw the rank on the armband of Jynx.
"He's… He's a… 2!!!!!"