(General POV)
(A few hours later)
Ais rushed forward with Desperate poised as she violently thrust the Durandal weapon at her opponent. Lyze simply stood there and parried with one hand using Excalibur. The holy sword held easily against the 'unbreakable' weapon as Lyze's arms moved faster than Ais could perceive.
The way they were fighting was rather resemblant of the time Ais was challenged by Ottar in Sword Oratoria. Lyze stood still as Ais slashed and weaved her blade into sword patterns that would have appeared complicated to the normal eye.
Yet Lyze did not even have to keep his eyes on Desperate as he continued to hold her gaze and nonchalantly deflect her blows. Then with a vicious sweep of his own, he sent her flying back with the force of his swing even though she'd blocked it. Her heels dug ruts deep into the ground of the courtyard.
Once Ais steadied herself she rushed him again and this time he ran towards her. Or rather (while he could fly, he didn't actually do it here) he moved so fast that it seemed like he was flying at her. Ais was prepared as she raised her sword to meet him as he paused in front of her.
She lashed out expecting him to parry again but he suddenly vanished from her sight by swiftly moving to the side and then reappearing behind her. As she turned, she found the sole of his new set of boots smash into her face with almost enough force to knock her out.
Grit and sand scratched at her face as the boot slid over her skin and she was sent spinning into the air and then onto her side. Without even any room left to breathe, she saw Lyze swinging his sword down as if he meant to behead her. She rolled out of the way as he land and attempted to swivel on her hands and return the favour by kicking him in the face.
Again without looking, he grabbed her foot and harshly pulled as he slung her across the courtyard. Ais smashed into the wall with not enough force to break it as Bara had done but cracks spread out all around her on it. Ais coughed up up some saliva before shaking her head to rid it of the ringing.
"Tempest!" She said as green swirling winds as she blasted off towards him with a sharp increase in speed.
Lyze stood still again, unmoved by this display as he set his timer down. As soon as she was withing sufficient range, he thrust out with Excalibur and the points of their two weapons hit each other cleanly, creating a sort of sword lock where both parties had to push their weapon forwards to gain ground over the other.
Except that Ais was the only one pushing as Lyze's arm stayed completely still. He pushed her sword aside and with a confusing twirl, he batted the side of her head with the flat of his blade. She responded by trying to swing back and he leaned out of the way as Desperate's sharp edge missed him by a hair's breadth.
Most people would assume that he'd only barely escaped it but the truth was that Lyze intentionally only moved back enough for the sword to miss him him before he righted himself again. No wasted movements. They then began a dance of strokes with their blades as the different styles became obvious.
Soldiers would have fumed with jealousy at the sight of these two children possessing raw power that could easily cleave any soldier and their armour in two. But even though they both possessed remarkable strength, this was a battle of skill.
Ais appeared to use large motions in part to compensate for the height difference but also because she seemed to concentrate most of her power into them. Lyze's hand movements were small and nimble with only enough strength in them to keep his hands sturdy with each collision.
But when HE used large motions, Ais would find herself overwhelmed by such superior strength that a few times she nearly found her weapon ripped out of her hand. Their styles were complete opposites of each other. She tried to kick him upside the head but he ducked and pivoted behind her.
With the momentum of his turn, he kicked her back at the base of her spine. The force of his kick made her back arch as she sailed forwards into the grass. Ais grit her teeth in pain as she stood up and momentarily shook her head to get the grass out of her hair.
"Ariel!" She said as the green winds came to her again.
Lyze responded in kind by gesturing with his free hand and a barrier of swirling winds surrounded him as well. The key difference was that instead of swirling ropes of green light, his winds looked to be like air filled with dust and earth giving it a brown look overall. But the fact it was wind magic was unmistakeable and Ais gave him a wide-eyed stare.
"You can use wind magic as well?"
"Of course. It's one of the easiest magics to master as I just have to imagine air moving."
"But you never told me."
"You never asked. Let's whose wind magic is better shall we?" He smirked and held out the hand he used to summon it.
She saw small spirals of his wind form out of the ground and spin towards her at high speed. She stood her ground and held as they smashed into her Ariel, the two wind magics fighting hard against each other, seemingly desperate to prove which was superior on their own will.
"Rising Tornado!" She heard Lyze shout and suddenly beneath her, a much larger twister erupted from the ground. It engulfed her own ball of wind magic as the courtyard was filled with a howling gale. Ais found solace in the fact that even though she was off her feet, the winds of the tornado had not yet made it past her own wind barrier.
Her instincts flared as she looked up to see Lyze rocketing down at her from the sky with his Excalibur pointed right at her. She held up Desperate in the nick of time as the weapons collided again for perhaps the hundred thousandth time in this fight. Sparks flew off the connection and Ais envied Lyze for a moment s she felt some of the material pester at her eyes.
The force of Lyze's divebomb pushed her cocoon towards the ground while also dispersing his own tornado at the same time. A little mushroom cloud formed before Ais seemingly backflipped out of the smokescreen. Not a millisecond later, Lyze followed her with his weapon drawn as they met each other again in a flurry of slashes which created noises throughout the area.
They were so engrossed in their battle they didn't notice (well Lyze did thanks to 'Thread' but he ignored it) that Loki and the executives as well as Lili who was better now had gathered at the doorway observing them.
"Those two are getting along rather well, don't you think?" Gareth said.
"They sure are." Finn said. "Just look at the expression on Ais's face. She's having fun."
"And Lyzie's face is stone cold as ever." Loki bemoaned. "Doesn't he show at least a little emotion in a fight?"
"It's like they become each other's opposites in battle." Riveria commented. "He becomes the emotionless one while Ais shows a myriad of emotions on her own face that she's otherwise reluctant to show."
"Goes to prove what I said about him having a good effect on her." Gareth nodded in approval. "I wonder if this is indicative of anything."
"Hah." Finn laughed. "It's a little bit early for that sort of thing to happen between them. They're both too young and they need to gain a form of emotional stability first. Luckily, I'd say they are both on the road to recovery given the kind of energy they seem to be putting into this battle."
"You can't deny though that the lad likes her. I mean look at him, he's always happier when she's with him."
"I suppose." Finn said.
Loki grumbled about something which was surprising because at the first mention of this subject, she would have raved about somebody stealing away her cute little 'Aisy-poo'. But as was habitual with her executives they ignored her and instead focused on the fight in front of them.
"Ais still hasn't broken out of the habit of fighting like she's up against a monster." Riveria said. "Lyze is owning her."
"Well he is a talented swordsman." Finn said. "Noir says that Lyze in fact nearly matches his own skill despite his inexperience. He reckons that as soon as Lyze gains the raw power, he'll soon be able to overpower the old man."
"Wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't already have that raw power." Gareth said. "He packs quite a punch now according to Bara. He gave her a nasty clip on the jaw and it's still aching."
"I'm not so sure." Loki said. "Old Noir and Bara still have a good bit of muscle on them. I reckon that if Lyzie maxes out his strength stats or he levels up now, he'll gain that raw power. We know that he can hit above his level from his fight with Ottar."
Lili's eyes widened. "Um, when did this happen?" She asked timidly.
"Not that long ago." Loki replied as she looked down at the little Pallum. "What are you planning to do now Lil'Bit?"
"Well master Lyze asked that I be his supporter and now that I'm better, I'm determined to do that." Lili said.
"Is that so?" Finn said. "Well I hope that you treat him well then miss Lili. I'm sure you've seen his attitude towards criminals now and it wouldn't do to go cheating him like a lot of supporters do."
"I wouldn't dream of it sir." Lili bowed. "I owe him my life. He took care of my medicine and my food as well as my bedding. I wouldn't dream of cheating him."
"That's good to hear." Riveria said as she narrowed her eyes. "We understand that situations in your Familia is quite horrible at the moment. Lyze has shared from his own experiences the conditions there. As such we have decided you can stay here provided you behave yourself and adhere to the rules."
Lili looked up at her in shock.
"B-But why. I'm just a P-Pallum form another Familia. Wouldn't I be intruding?"
"I'd like to have a word with Soma before you go back." Loki said seriously as a mischievous grin appeared on her face. "Lyzie gave me some really dirty secrets of that Familia today and I intend to have a little fun with them. Besides, he seems to like you for some reason. Like Mama said, behave and you're welcome here."
Lili was stumped as this was such an unusual occurrence, there was nothing to say in reply. All she could do was bow er tiny head and thank them profusely.
Lyze and Ais's battle was coming to a close soon as Ais pulled out her trump card. She jumped back a bit to clear some ground as Ariel flared to life again as she shouted an infamous phrase.
"Lil Rafaga!" She shouted as she became an arrow of wind magic that was hurtling towards the boy.
Lyze flipped Excalibur and invoked another infamous phrase.
"Full Counter!"
Ais came to a startling halt as her attack was reflected. But Lyze did so at an angle that sent the attack elsewhere and not back at her. Ais gulped as she found Excalibur's tip an inch from her throat, which signalled the end of the fight.
Loki clapped her hands as she approached the two
"Well done kids! That was simply amazing. I can tell you've both gotten stronger."
"That we have." Lyze said as he helped Ais stand properly. He turned to the girl in question. "You've improved your footwork but you still fight like you're facing a monster. We'll have to work on that."
"Yes." She nodded as her face went back to normal. "Thank you for the spar."
"Now where are you going Loki?" Lyze asked.
"I'm off to the Denatus."
"Now!"
"Well I am a bit early. It's scheduled tomorrow for the fourth day of winter but I decided to go tonight for certain things."
"Probably to get the first pounce on the drinks knowing you. The Denatus is merely an excuse for you to mess around while you decide on ridiculous names for us." Lyze rolled his eyes.
"We'll be deciding your name as well Lyzie."
"Yes I'm well aware." He said before he stopped and thought for a moment on something she said. "Wait, you said that it's scheduled on the fourth which is tomorrow right?"
"I said that, yes."
"Then that means today is the third?"
"...yes."
Lyze slapped his face as he realized what was bugging him earlier today. He knew he'd forgotten something but this? Damn he was an idiot."
"What's wrong kid?" Gareth asked as he and the others came closer.
"Yeah. Is everything okay? You don't seem too happy." Finn said.
"Of course I'm not happy." Lyze muttered loud enough for them to hear before taking his hand off his face and sighing.
"Why not?" Loki asked.
"Because I completely forgot what today was. I was unconscious for the last two days so it completely slipped my mind."
"And what is today?" Ais asked curious.
Lyze smiled wryly as he addressed them all. "It's my birthday. Today, I am officially nine years old."
...
"SERIOUSLY? HOW DID YOU FORGET THAT!!!?" They all chorused.
"Well forget about going to the Denatus then!" Loki exclaimed happily.
"Yeah! We have a birthday boy to celebrate." Gareth grinned.
Riveria sighed. "I guess that means we're all headed to one place then?"
"AYE." Came the chorus.
"Well, I suppose it's extra special if we get to celebrate Lyze's first birthday with us in the Loki Familia. We should invite some of the others too." Finn said.
"You do that!" Loki shouted as she pushed Lyze by his shoulders out the gates a she tried to process everything that was moving too fast. "We are headed to Mama Mia's. There'll be extra drinks round tonight!"
"As if that is not what you say every time we go there." Riveria rolled her eyes. "And of course we're left with the clean-up. Oh well, it's Lyze's special day so I guess I shouldn't complain as much."
"That you shouldn't." Gareth grinned. "Birthdays are an entirely different matter. Lyze is one more step to becoming a man!"
"I pray your influence does not make him a man any quicker than he should be." Riveria glared at him. "I still haven't forgotten about what the two of you did 'that' night."
Finn and Gareth rubbed the back of their heads sheepishly. Lili just stared between them, not willing to say anything.
Some ways across the street though, she was being spied on by a fat raccoon man who narrowed his eyes before disappearing back into the alleyway he'd come from.
His mission was going to be harder than he thought.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comment and Review!
Read a few chapters ahead on my Patreon:
Patreon/ Vulkizaro_Zoromi
For commissions:
Ko-Fi/ vulkizarozoromi