"You're not wrong, Ragna's affinity is indeed the life element… I thought this would put your disciple in difficulty, but he was able to recover quickly enough, I even think I should praise his spell casting, I have seen many rookie wizards and witches who take more than twice as long to do in comparison." Mei didn't help to say what was on her mind, she was sure that if Blake wasn't a runic, he would also have a good talent in the field of magic.
"Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised even if Blake is a magician in secret, ufufu." Shino laughed unconsciously at the situation as she continued expressing her thoughts. "Hmm... I can tell those leeks are really vegetables, but the runic ability that Ragna used made them as strong as steel, and the small edge that was generated on them caused them to become quite a unique pair of double swords."
Mei nodded approvingly at Shino's explanation; it wasn't strange to her that she could unravel the mysteries of Ragna's ability just by looking at it a little.
"You're right, it still amazes me that a boy his age could create such an interesting runic ability."
"What…? Master, what did you just say?" Now it was Shino's turn to think that she had misheard, her master was the same as her, and she was not one of those people who blatantly lied, which made her think that she had misheard.
"Oh, we can talk with calm later, it seems that the climax of the battle is about to begin."
…
Returning to the field, Ragna's swords were coming down on Blake again, but before they hit its target, a bronze shield had appeared to prevent that from happening.
Blake was forced back again because of the attack, he felt his arm tremble slightly, and now he realized that, indeed, Ragna had activated his own runic ability since that pink aura had not disappeared from that pair of leeks.
It was obvious that the real battle would come next and it would be foolish of him to keep trying to engage Ragna with his wooly fighting style, so in addition to pulling out his shield to ward off the sudden attack, in his other hand, he began to materialize his new sword and to appear in everyone's sight.
…
Both Sakuya and Shino's eyes widened in surprise when they saw Blake's new weapon, from the blue handle to the entire bright red blade they could feel the same feeling that made it undeniable what it was about.
"Oh, an elemental weapon, I never would have imagined that you would give something so valuable to your little disciple, it seems that I'm not the only one who has high expectations about the future." Mei peered at the short sword in Blake's hand as she nodded in agreement.
Elemental weapons weren't something unknown to the world, but that didn't mean they were something that could be seen every day, some people even said they were harder to find than runic abilities or even more valuable.
Any runic lucky enough to get one of these would see their combat strength increased due to their characteristics, each of them was special in that they had the aspect of dealing damage with the elemental attribute they are imbued with, plus many of them they had some unique ability that could always be what decides the battle at a critical moment if the opponent doesn't know clearly what it is.
On top of all that, the reason why they are valuable is that they can only be created by blacksmiths who have reached a very high level in this field, for that same reason, many runics would bother the dwarf blacksmiths of the Raidu continent many times so that they would make them some of these precious weapons, but almost always this ended in a rejection to the misfortune of the impatient runics.
All this was enough for Mei to be somewhat expectant; she had only needed to take a look to know that the attribute of the weapon that Blake possessed was the element of darkness, but not knowing what it did exactly, she hoped that Ragna would not be caught off guard.
Shino didn't know what to say, she didn't know that Blake had something like that either, she would make sure to ask him later where he got it, but at that moment, she felt a little happy that Blake had saved that surprise. She was still worried that the strength displayed by Ragna would be enough to overwhelm him, but now nothing was truly clear.
…
Back on the battlefield, Ragna appreciated Blake's weapon, he was not ignorant about how special it was, his father had many of these weapons at home and was aware of the hidden abilities they can have, so he returned to his fighting stance as he lunged at Blake once more.
Ragna's leeks cut through the air leaving a sharp sound in their path, Blake could clearly see the direction of them, and, using his short sword skill, he had no trouble blocking the attack that went straight for his head.
Incredibly, a couple of sparks could be seen coming from the impact between his weapons, before Blake would be forced to take several steps back, but now it seemed that there was a tie between the two boys.
That match didn't last long once both of them jumped back increasing the distance, a few beads of sweat were falling down their foreheads indicating that they were putting enough effort into their movements.
Ragna hadn't stopped using his runic ability to make his leeks simulate a pair of swords, he was aware that he didn't spend too much runic energy while using it, but he couldn't sustain it for too long periods either, he wanted to end the battle fast enough, but Blake was no simple match.
He was thinking of some strategy to surprise Blake, but before any ideas occurred to him, he realized the state of his leeks. It seemed that time had finished with them since the green color of these had turned into a completely dark one, a strange liquid flowed from them and Ragna unconsciously released them.
He was thinking about the reason for all that, but when that smell reached his nose, everything became quite clear at the same time that he realized that maybe he should show his ace up his sleeve.
[Progress… Saved.]