As I turned to look at the twins, they looked at me, attracted by the slamming noise that came from the doors. Both of them were smaller than they once were, now shorter by a foot when compared to when they first got their elemental bodies. After I took a few steps into the room, Jonathan stood up and waved toward me.
"It's nice to see you to," I nodded as I stopped a few meters away from them, "I hope everything has been okay with you two?"
Jonathan nodded.
"Good," I sighed in relief. Although Aros wasn't likely to lie, I couldn't get the same sense of honesty from him as I could from Jonathan, "Aros tells me you'll both be able to speak in a week or so. Does that sound right?"
Jonathan nodded once more, this time with a smile on his face. I returned his smile with one of my own before nodding.
"Good, good," I said, "I'm looking forward to talking with you once you unlock your voice. For now, I have to check up on Silfang and the others. We've found an adventurer that got separated from the group, so I can't stay long."
As I turned around to leave the room, Jonathan stepped forward and reached out to me. I froze and turned toward him, confused.
"What?" I asked as I looked toward Jonathan. For a moment, Jonathan stared at me with a confused expression. His inability to speak proved to be bothersome at this moment, so he tried to convey his intentions through a mixture of badly acted hand signs and improvised charades. Eventually, his intentions were made clear as he brought his hands into fists before holding his arms out in front of him. I felt myself smile as I saw Jonathan's fists clasp together, my body turned away from the door as I accepted his challenge, "Sure, let's fight."
As soon as I spoke, Evelyn walked a few steps away from me while Jonathan and I centered ourselves a decent distance away from each other. Jonathan bent his knees and brought his fists to his side. At the same time, the flames surrounding his forearms began to rise a few inches in the air, almost as if they were breathing. As he prepared for the fight, I did the same while bending my own knees and bringing my hands into the air.
Jonathan looked at my sword, confused, but didn't point or make any gestures to express his confusion. Instead he turned back to look into my eyes, then made the first charge. Jonathan was fast, much faster than I had expected, so I quickly pushed against the ground as I flung myself back.
Jonathan flew through the air as well, though it was only for a moment. He landed in the spot I had been just a moment ago, then slammed his fist into the floor. The white tile quickly cracked under the force of his attack, but I wasn't concerned about the damages. As I sailed through the air, I repositioned my feet to easily catch myself upon my landing as I created two wisps of flame to use as ammo in my next attack.
Once I felt the white tile hit the soles of my feet, I shuffled my toes to slow down my speed, then swung my arms through the air like a conductor would while controlling the waves of a symphony. The wisps of flames, which were created in a calm and relaxing manner, suddenly grew in size and brightness as they both flew into my arms. I created a trail of fire as my fingers swam through the air before my right fist struck forward, launching the flames like a catapult at Jonathan.
My attack was much stronger than I would've been able to accomplish normally, thanks to my recent accomplishment of reaching tier two of my『 Flame Manipulation 』skill set.
『 Flame Manipulation (TIER 2): In ancient times, Dragons ruled the world through power and oppression. They were masters of combat, flight, and magic. Thanks to your efforts, the skills『 Combat Expertise 』and『 Dragon Fire 』have combined to form『 Flame Manipulation 』, a series of skills that dragons used in their early days. The Dragon Fire that runs deep in your blood has begun to surface itself through your combat, providing complete flame immunity to you and your subordinates, though this is only the beginning of your journey to rediscover what the dragon race has lost. All physical attacks have become engrained with magic, allowing for a bonus of +400% Damage and a -70% MP cost when using any fire-based attacks 』
Previously, the bonuses I got from the skill were +200% DMG and a -40% MP cost. Now that most of my MP was being saved, my attacks were able to last much longer and they were much stronger. Each of my attacks, which was an ordinary punch, now felt almost as strong as when I used『 Fire Cyclone 』.
Jonathan, who was immune to fire, wasn't able to resist the force my attack carried behind it. By the time my attack reached him, he had straightened his posture and managed to find me after realizing his initial attack didn't land.
By the time his eyes met mine, my attack landed, causing him to flinch in pain as his entire body was pushed back. For a moment, my attack seemed to be too powerful for Jonathan to fight against, but he quickly regained his composure and began to fight back against the attack. He pushed it to the side, costing his balance as he redirected the attack.
I took this moment to attack as I struck my other fist forward, creating a second burst of flames that flew toward Jonathan with the speed of an arrow. At the same time, I twisted my body to allow my right hand to surf through the air as I created another stream of calm fire to serve as ammunition for my next attack.
Jonathan swiftly regained his balance but took too long. By the time he was able to look at me again, my second attack landed against him, this time striking against the upper area of his chest. Jonathan's entire body was flipped backward and the ball of flames that I sent forward was launched into the ceiling.
Jonathan managed to pull off an entire flip before landing on his stomach while slamming his legs in a painful way. Fortunately, Jonathan wasn't restricted by the body of a human, so his legs were just fine.
"C'mon, Jonathan," I taunted, "you've been training all week, yet this is the best you can show me?"
Jonathan pushed himself away from the ground as he carried a frustrated expression. He looked back at me as he rested upon his knee. I smiled, then sent another attack in his direction. Jonathan watched it come closer to him, then he quickly dodged to the side, though he landed on his side. My attack missed him completely, but I didn't care.
I struck once again, using my magic to send a fourth ball of scorching flames in his direction. Jonathan quickly dodged to the side again, this time doing so without losing his balance. He quickly pushed himself to his feet once again, then began a mad dash in my direction.
I sent out another two balls of fire, but Jonathan weaved through them like he had seen their trajectory before I even fired them towards him. Then, once he gained another ten yards between us, I jumped backward to create more distance between us.
Once I was in the air, I created another two balls of fire before sending them in Jonathan's direction. Jonathan ignored them as they appeared in the air like threatening meteors, instead choosing to continue his dash in my direction. As he moved, some parts of his form blurred and shifted, like his outline wasn't permanent. By now, he had gotten familiar with my attack, so I decided to change things up. Before I landed on the floor, I used another attack I was planning to use.
As I ran my fingers through the air, creating a trail of fire behind them, I continued the trail for another few centimeters before quickly grasping onto the end of the trail. By the time my fingers touched the flames, my feet had reached the ground.
Jonathan was almost upon me, so I decided to act fast. With the long stream of fire in my hands, I quickly gave it form, causing the upper half of it to fall against the floor. A makeshift whip rested in my hand, though it only had the flexibility of a whip. Its appearance was more like a dull blade that an apprentice blacksmith had created during practice.
I was lucky that I wasn't using it to cut anything. As Jonathan reached me, I stepped to the side and used my fire whip to strike his abdomen. Jonathan used his arms to block, but his entire body was launched back a meter or two as the force of my whip landed against him. I heard a loud crack in the air as Jonathan was pushed back, but thought nothing of it.
I looked at Jonathan in surprise as the distance I created between us grew larger than I expected, but I quickly redirected my attention to the fight at hand as I brought my arm into the air once again. I then slammed the whip into Jonathan's shoulder. Thankfully the whip was long enough to cross the distance, though only just barely.
Jonathan's entire body tilted as my attack landed against him. He found himself forced to one knee, but I didn't have time to celebrate. As soon as the whip landed against Jonathan, I felt a stinging pain in my arm. I had felt something similar to it once before, though I was only a young fool back then.
My arm was broken, probably by using my whip too hard. I quickly shifted the whip to my other hand as I began to ignore the pain in my forearm. Before Jonathan could recover, I used the whip to launch an attack against his chest, though Jonathan easily caught the whip and used it as a rope to bring me closer to him.
My body complied, easily lifted off of the ground as a force as strong as gravity pulled me toward Jonathan. Both of my arms were out of commission, as one was being pulled by Jonathan while the other was broken.
As my body got closer to Jonathan's, I saw him pull up one of his fists in preparation for a strong strike. In retaliation, I did the only thing I could've. I brought up my leg, striking against Jonathan's elbow at an awkward angle. Jonathan let go of the whip, surprised, which gave me enough time to launch another attack.
I brought my leg to the ground before using my other leg to attack by launching my heel into his head after a short spin. My heel landed against his cheek, causing Jonathan to shudder to his side. He landed on his arm, his mind dazed.
I looked at my arm, frustrated in my haste for victory. While using the whip, I attacked with too much energy. One of the attacks must've been too strong for me to safely perform. I was lucky that I had strong healing, or I would've found myself injured for several weeks.
My arm was already beginning to swell. I couldn't see any bones sticking out of the skin, luckily, though I had no doubt that the mess behind my skin was gruesome and nasty. I looked back at Jonathan, who was still dazed on the floor, before satisfyingly calling this fight a victory.
"Alright, I think it's time to head back, now," I muttered as I turned away from Jonathan, "Good game."