(5 months and 23 days after Klada Disaster)
[Kyrielle's POV]
Together with Lynn, I stood in a large open trench, with the two gigantic cliffs that dwarved us in comparison. We stared down at each other from a distance of about 40 meters away, inside this open trench where no one and nothing can interferes with us.
'Hooo.....' The echoes of the wind could be heard flowing down this large trench.
Winds blew through the valley as if it's a natural choke point for winds to flow through. Our hair danced along the flow of the soothing cool breeze as if flowers in a windy day.
The clear afternoon sky left a scorching sun shining into the valley, leaving no shadows at all inside. I could see Lynn's figure without any trouble, and she could see mine as well.
"Hoo... Hah... Here I come, Lynn!" I said as I fired off the two thrusters behind my back.
'Bwuom!!!' (2x)
____________
(2 hours ago)
After traveling for eight days, we arrived at the next city during noon, at about 1 p.m. We intended to stop here to take a little rest before continuing onwards to Creimland, which is just a few days away.
Just as usual, we arrive at the city gate, did the security inspections, led Lizzie to the stables and headed off to the inn. Once I arrived at the inn, I dropped down onto the bed inside our room....
'Thud!'
"Ahh!.... Finally I can sleep on a soft bed!..."
I stretched my back on the comfortable bed of the inn. It's been too long since I've had a good sleep after all.... sleeping on mud is terrible. The climatehere in the East side of the Continent isn't a desert, so it rains quite frequently. As a result, the soil of the floor in the woods and mountains are usually wet, cold and uncomfortable to be slept on most of the time.
"Yea... Sleeping in the desert was way more comfortable, especially since the desert is usually dry."
"I know right?... So, what should we do now? It's still too early to eat dinner, and we just had lunch not long ago. We can buy our supplies tomorrow, but now we don't have anything to do..."
"I don't know.... How about exploring the city?"
"I don't feel like exploring the city, not when we are going to leave the day after tomorrow anyway.... What's the point?"
"Hmm... Then it'd just be a boring afternoon for us two-"
"Aha! I have an idea, wanna hear it out?"
"Say it."
"Let's go on a monster hunting job! I'm sure the government building here has a lot of those, since Monproximus was just in a war not a month ago. We can earn some coins and help out the people here!"
"A quest from the government building huh?... We have nothing to do anyway so it's a good way to kill time, let's go!"
________________
(3:00 p.m.)
We walked to the government building and looked for suitable quests. We took a kill quest that has a threat level of B- where we need to kill three griffins that have recently nested in the giant valley right outside the city.
Griffins are creatures with a lion's body and an eagle's head, wings and talons. Standing at about 2 meters tall and 3 meters long, it's is a really big, flying lion. Although it's size is much smaller compared to a Giant Eagle or a Dragon, they are still a force to be reckoned with when in numbers.
Not that they'd hold a candle to Lynn or me though. It's child's play to complete B ranked quests for us after all....
It took two hours for the walk, but we went over to the giant valley and explored the entire place. Soon, we found a small cave where a few griffins was seen nested inside. We saw one of the griffin outside the cave, and Lynn quickly killed it.
"Roar!!!"
"Yawn.... Black Spear."
'Bang!'
'Boom!'
With one hit as usual, she annihilated the poor Griffin.
"That's one... Where's the other two?"
"They should be in the cave... Let's go, Kyrie."
"Mmn."
Approaching the big cave opening, we heard animal groans from inside. As we got to the cave opening, I peeked inside the cave and saw 2 pairs of red colored eyes staring back at me from inside the pitch black cave.
'Grrr!!!' (2x) The other two remaining griffins groaned intimidatingly at us from inside the cave once we reached the entrance, where they saw us.
"There they are."
"I'll take care of this, Lynn.... Incinerate Double!"
'Bwuom!!!'
Condensed hot plasma fired out from the crest in front of my hand and flowed into the cave. The cave trapped all of the heat inside just like Aamon's territory expansion, turning the entire cave into a tunnel much much hotter than a furnace.
"Grah!!!" (2x) After burning for a few minutes, not even the body of the griffins could be seen inside the cave. They are all burned into ashes.
"Okay the job's done, good work Kyrie. Let's go back to the city and grab dinner! I want to try out a famous noodle dish from the restaurant in front of the inn."
"Okay. Lead the way."
We both walked away from the still burning cave, and headed back towards the city....
As we both walked on the large empty canyon, cool winds blew at us. This made our hair dance along with the winds, my skirt constantly flipping up and down showing my panties occasionally. Good thing that no men is around....
Lynn opened her mouth and talked out loud.
"What a big and impressive valley... I wondered if there is history here, seeing as how unnatural this canyon seems."
It's true, the canyon is basically a large horizontal rectangular that was carved out from a mountain. Almost like the collateral damage of some Pioneer ranked spell.
"Maybe some legendary dragons or gods fought here and fired out an extremely powerful spell?"
"Maybe. I think my Black Blade End can actually carve out a valley like this, so it isn't entirely impossible this valley to be the collateral damage of a powerful spell."
Hmm... A large empty space without anything important... I think this is the perfect chance to ask Lynn for 'it.' I have been waiting for this chance ever since I grew stronger, after all. As my Master, she'd have to comply to my request right?
"...Lynn. Can I ask for a favor?"
"Hmm? What is it?"
"Can we hold a sparring match here, right now?"
"....Eh? Come again?"
"I want to fight you, right here and right now. You are my master, so you can't reject my request right?"
"....I see. I thought you weren't serious when you say you want to catch up to me someday...."
"I'm serious, Lynn. I don't mean it in a hostile way of course... I just wanted to test out some new abilities on you. Is that fine?"
"Huh, getting confident are you Kyrielle? Please hold back so that you don't accidentally kill me."
"Come on, we both knew that I stand no chance against you in an actual fight... I just want to test out some of my abilities to the full potential."
"I'm cool with that, let's do this then Kyrie!"
____________
(Present)
(3:04 p.m.)
My body is feeling restless, and excitement is making me pump adrenaline all over my body. I knew that if it's her, if I'm fighting against Lynn, I can go all out and test my true limits without holding back. No one has been able to satisfy me for a whole now, that's why I'm so excited.
"Is this distance good enough for you?"
Lynn asked me as she stood about 40 meters away from me.
"Yes! Just before we start, I want to make sure that we are not misunderstanding about anything... First, we are sparring and not fighting for real, but I want you to try to counter my moves as if we are in a real fight. Second, this area will likely be destroyed once we are done, is that good?"
"Well, we don't own this land, and I will try my best not to hurt you during our spar."
"Thank you, Lynn. Is it fine if I go all out?"
"You can. Even if you break my Mana Shield and smash my head into pieces, I'll still regenerate that damage in seconds. Go all out, knock yourself out!"
"Okay... Then I'll be in your care from now on."
I don't need to hold back anymore.... I can finally let loose and go all out.... I can finally destroy to my heart's content.... Just the thought alone excites me even more.
'Shing....' I pulled out my katana from my waist, making a satisfying sound of steel ringing....
I widen my feet apart, and got into a battle stance....
"Hoo... Hah.... Here I come, Lynn!"
Earth, grant me a lance that shall pierces all...
'Bwuom!' (2x) Thruster Dash!
I quickly closed the distance with extreme speed, and swung my blade at her face as I flew past.
'Fwoosh!' 'Lynn ducked backwards right under my slash and dodged the katana while my forward momentum carried me away.... I missed my attack and left myself open.
"Fool! You are wide open to counter attack-"
Earth Spear.
An Earth Spear appeared from behind Lynn's back, and stabbed at her exposed behind.
'Clank!'
The Earth Spear stabbed right at her back but it did not scratch her at all. Instead it made a loud metallic sound as the spear head shatters after slamming into her back.
Anything that is weaker than my Earth Spear doesn't do anything to her shield.... If she was any normal human she'd have died right then and there, but her Mana Shield's defense is insane!
"That was a clever sneak attack but it did nothing. It was a good massage for my sore back, Kyrie."
"Tsk... Save your taunts for later!"
Stabbing my sword into the ground to free up my hands, I extended my two arm and gathered Mana in front.
Quad Charged Forbidden Sun!
'Bang!' One of my strongest Forbidden Sun fired out, with enough power to knock me back in recoil.
Just as the fiery ball of inferno was about hit Lynn, she bursts to the sides with gravity flight and dodged it. After missing it's target, the ball of flames flew for about 200 meters before it exploded....
'Boom!!!'
If I want to hit her, I'll have to do something that can surprise her.... I need to hide my spells!
I hid my hand behind my body and charged up a Mana Bullet from there... As did so, I talked to Lynn to distract her.
"Hey, dodging isn't fair!"
Lynn flew up above the air using gravity magic and hovered above the explosion.
"What? You said to counter your moves as if I'm in a real fight! If you can't hit me then you can't do that in a real fi-"
Mana Bullet!
'Phiuc!'
"Huh?!" She barely saw my bullet coming and raised her hand up to protect her face....
'Clink!!!' The Mana Bullet punched her hand and made a loud metallic sound.... Even the condensed Mana Bullet didn't punch through her Shield, it was one of my stronger magic too!
"How dare you trick me, Kyrielle?! Attacking me before I finished talking is rude!"
"You are dodging, so I have to trick you! Besides, why is your Mana Shield so tough?!"
"Then try harder! What have you done during the past 6 months, all those training I did with you was for naught?! Don't disappoint me now!"
"Tsk..." If I can't hit her with my magic, then I'll have to distract her to set up a magic that could hit her....
Two crests formed behind my shoulder in a V shape, my thruster flight. I picked up my sword in response....
'Bwuom!!!' (2x)
I flew directly at Lynn who is hovering up at the air. She raised her arm and pointed it at me as I flew at her... a blue crest appeared in front of her hand.
'Bang!'
A Black Spear flew directly at my face, and I only dodged it by strafing to the side. She's actually fighting back now, I have to watch out!
Immediately after I dodged the Black Spear, I casted two more thrusters behind me, right into Super Speed Mode. My speed bursts out exponentially, and my sudden speed surprised her yet again.
"That's too fast!"
"Yah!!!"
'Clank!' 'Boom!...'
Using a vertical slash, I slammed her right to the ground. I aimed my thrusters above and bursts downwards....
'Bwuom!!!' (4x)
"Hah!!!"
"Can't hit me again!" Lynn yelled out as she dodged to the side with Gravity magic.
'Boom!!!' I slammed my sword right onto the ground and shattered a large area while making a large crater. This knocks up a huge cloud of dust, covering my entire body, perfect for a sneak attack now.
Quad Charged Forbidden Sun!
________________
[Lynn's POV]
I dodged her attack by dashing to the right and hovered mid air. Amidst the cloud of dusts, a giant red circle formed inside....
"A red circle?... Oh shit!"
It's another god damned Forbidden Sun!
'Bang!"
I dashed to the side but the Forbidden Sun still glance hit my arm as it flew past me, hitting the cliff by the side.
'Boom!!!" The Sun blew up with enough power to break an entire chunk off of the cliff, she's really nuts!
And even though I was actually fighting back, she had deliberately knocked up the cloud of dust to cover up her magic, how clever!
But that wouldn't have damaged me- Huh?...
"...What?..." My Mana Shield cracked?...
This girl... she actually broke my Mana Shield when that Inferno Arch Demon, Aamon can't?
"...Ha... Hahaha!" Kyrielle! You've done it this time now!
______________
[Kyrielle's POV]
Even setting up a trap only glanced hit her... She's really hard to hit because she's very agile with her flight!
"Ha... Hahaha! How interesting!"
She slowly lowered herself down onto the ground after the cloud of dust cleared from the winds blowing it away.
"That one wasn't half bad, Kyrie! But is that all you got? If not, then it'll be time for me to attack you!"
This woman is no doubt the most difficult opponent I've ever faced!
"Haha... Hahaha! How exciting! Lynn, here I come!"
Picking up the sword on the ground, I activated Four Thrusters behind my back in Super Speed mode once again...
Dragonic Burst!
"Hoh? Finally getting serious are you?"
"....Prepare-"
An ominuous red aura covered my body, and my eyes turned into gold color.
'Bwuom!!!' (4x) All thrusters bursts out, accelerating me at a speed akin to a fighter jet.
"-to die!!!"
I bursts forward at Lynn, my entire peripheral vision becomes blurry with my eyes locked onto my target. Activating Dragonic Burst further enhances my Speed, boosting me to almost three times as fast as my normal speed mode.
"Even faster?!"
I slashed my sword at her upon closing the distance....
'Clank!!!' 'Shatter!'
A shattering sound was heard.... did I finally break her Mana Shield with my slash?!
'Boom!' My swing was so powerful that it threw her at the ground with enough force to knock a crater into the ground.
But I'm not done yet! I only have one minute left in this extreme mode!
I deactivated my Dragonic Burst to save Mana, and flew directly at Lynn who is on the ground....
Amidst the dusts that was knocked up by me, four blue lights appeared.
"!" It's magic crests!
'Bang!' (4x) Lynn used quadruple chanting and fired four Black Spears at me simultaneously.
'Bwuom!!!' (4x) Flying in a large angled turn, I circled the entire valley as Lynn fired at me with multiple Black Spears, all of which missed me.
Making a large turn, I faced towards Lynn once again who is still standing on the spot just now. I raised my sword up as I got closer into a position to swing at her once again.
Dragonic Burst!
And then when right I get in melee range, I swung my sword at her face... To my surprise, Lynn flies forward directly at me, with a black colored magic sword on her hand.
"?!" She's willing fighting me in close range?!
'Clank!!!' Our swords collides, she blocked my attack with a sword shaped magic.
"The same trick-"
'Grab!' Lynn grabbed my face with her arm...
"-wouldn't work twice!"
'Boom!!!' Lynn slammed me into the ground with my Thrusters still active, which further increased the damage.
My arm was hit with a sharp pain as I slammed into the floor. My winds were knocked out of my body.
"Urgh!..."
I bounced back up from the recoil, and just as I'm about to land onto the ground....
Thruster Brake!
'Bwuom!'
I was able to stop my momentum.... I can't believe she just grappled and threw me out of my flight!
I lost my sword when I was slammed into the ground.... My Mana is low, about 30% which means only half more minute of Dragonic Burst...
"What's wrong, Kyrie? You can't fight without that tiny needle (sword) of yours?"
"No.... I'm not done yet, Lynn!!!"
Dragonic Burst!
Super Speed Flight.
'Bwuom!!!' (4x)
I bursts forward at Lynn once again. As I got close in range, I deactivated all of my thrusters to free up my casting slots...
I gathered Mana into my left hand as I raise it up into a fist... Four magic crest for Combustion spells gathered in my arm.
"Yah!!!" I punched my fist right at Lynn... She caught my fist with her hand.
"Reversal."
'Boom!!!'
"Argh!!!" The combustion punch blew up towards my body.... The force alone knocked the winds out of me, throwing me backwards once again.
Luckily because I had Dragonic Burst active I gained a really high Fire resistance to my Mana Shield..... Otherwise I would have been burned into ashes right now.
My momentum carried me backwards, I activated my Thrusters Brake.
'Bwuom!'
'Thud!' As I landed on the ground, I looked up at Lynn once again....
"!!!" What I saw instead was.... Death.
Black Spear, a Saint ranked Abyss magic fired towards me. It was so fast and caught me so off guard that I didn't even thought of dodging it.
'Boom!'
As soon as it was about to strike my face it stopped in place, hovering centimeters away from my head. Lynn has the magic control to stop her spell when it was about to hit me.... Such is the ability of one none other than the Magic Pioneer.
The Black Spear disintegrates, and right behind it is Lynn with her hand coming towards my face.....
'Tap!' She flicked my forehead.
"I won, hehe! It's almost dinner time already, don't you want to try out that wheat noodles of this city?"
"I... see.... Let's go...." I was dumb founded.
(3:07 p.m.)
I was completely exhausted from using up most of my Mana... Yet, Lynn only looks like she just had a nice and cozy warm up exercise.
I could come up with multiple different tactics to defeat almost anyone in this world... But I just can't think of any scenario where I'm even close to beating Lynn. Lynn is stronger than me... our power difference isn't even small, she's on an entirely different level from me.
"Lynn... Did you held back...?"
"....A little bit. But it's not important, you actually overcame my expectations by a huge margin."
"...I did?..."
"Here. It's your achievement."
I didn't noticed it when we fought... but I damaged Lynn.
On her right arm, one area of her sleeves were burned off and on her arm is visible burn damage.
On her left arm, a cut wound from my sword was seen.
I had actually damaged her twice.... I damaged Lynn, the Strongest Human twice?!
"I.... I did it!!! I hurted you!" A smile appeared on Lynn's face as I yelled out in big success.
"But don't get cocky, kiddo! I only kept these two wounds around just to show you to cheer you up after losing! Normally these wounds would mean nothing against me, see?"
She channeled her mana onto her wounds, and the wounds closes themselves right before my very eyes with unnatural speed.
"What the hell....?"
"It'd take more than this to even hurt me seriously. But congratulations, you was able to break through my Mana Shield and injure me."
"I..."
"Oh, don't be so dumb founded. You did much better than Aamon, since you actually damaged me."
"I... Thank you so much Lynn!"
"There is no need to thank me, all of it was your own ability. Now, let's head back to the city."
"Mmn!"
She turns around and starts walking towards the city, but she suddenly stopped.
"Oh, and don't forget your sword."
She reached her arm out and used gravity magic to carry my katana back to me....
"Here!"
"Oh, thanks."
I took the katana, wiped it with a piece of cloth, and then sheathed it back in the scabbard by my waist.
"So Kyrie, did you enjoyed the fight? Were you able to try out your best techniques?"
"It was some of the most fun I have ever had! And yes, I was able to let loose my full power on you which is even more fun. But I do have a few questions...."
"Oh? Ask right away."
"What was that 'Reversal' thing you used on me?"
"Hahaha, that was as it name implies, Reversal! Remember the second God ranked magic that I kept secret from you? Aren't you glad that you were able to pushed me far enough to make me use it on you?"
"Haha, I did promise that! But isn't that too weak of a technique to be God ranked?"
"This magic technique is what killed Baal, the Supreme Demon King."
"...What?"
"Yes. I reversed his very own God ranked spell back to him... Chronos Ignis, the Time Lightning. I reversed it back at him and it damn nearly killed both me and him in the process."
"...Can you teach me that Reversal?"
"No. It's impossible for you to learn, there's a reason it's God ranked. You can't comprehend the magic technique itself, just like how you can't comprehend how I use Gravity Magic."
"I see..." No matter how hard I tried, I can't use any Gravity Magic whatsoever. If Lynn is comparing that technique to Gravity, then it must truly be impossible for me to learn.
All that doesn't tchange the fact that after this little duel, my respect of Lynn grew even bigger....
We walked further down the valley... As we walked, I noticed that our fighting had turned much of the Valley into a barren land. Most of the damages done here were made by me missing my Forbidden Suns....
I need to learn how to hold back my spells. I can't destroy everything all the time whenever I fought....
We walked back to the city after a hard fight, where we had our dinner... The dish she talked so much about is just disappointingly normal wheat noodles.
(Chapter end)