"Damn...I knew Raja said that he was weaker than the demon bear, but this is....". Levi said in a low tone as his eyes instinctually surveyed the results of the battle
A few thirty meters away from where Levi stood, Raja was sprawled on the ground while the demon bear confidently stood over him. The hurricane wolf was covered in wounds, most of which were burn marks, and his previously white and black fur had turned into a mixture of bloody red and soot black.
The outcome was obvious from the start, even Raja himself knew that he was no match for the demon bear as the difference between a B-rank mana beast and those below it was fatal. But what he didn't know was that the difference between the two of them would be this large.
Raja was quite confused. He had fought Alpha quite a few times before and he knew his level of strength compared to the latter...or at least, he thought he did. One thing was for certain though, never once did he lose this badly.
"Was I always this weak? Or where you always this strong?" Raja spoke.
"....." Alpha did not say anything. He just looked at Raja with a complex emotion in his eyes.
".....so you were always holding back on me eh? Even then....". Raja said and Alpha's expression immediately transformed to rage. His brows slanted downwards as he bared his teeth at the injured wolf. Raja's words seemed to have surfaced some very spiteful memories.
His glare hovered on Raja for a few more seconds before the demon bear shook his head.
"You are really a professional in souring my mood. There's no point in letting you live now, good bye old friend". Alpha said as he raised his paw.
"RAJA!!!" Levi screamed from a distance.
The two beings turned their heads to see a black haired boy running towards them, his expression was a mix of desperation and worry.
"Levi...." Raja said in a low tone which was only slightly larger than a whisper.
Levi was scared.
Sacred of losing his training partner. Scared of losing his unofficial teacher, and scared of losing his first ever real freind since reincarnating in this world. The only person who he could freely talk with. Levi didn't care about his race, all he knew was that Raja was a freind of his and Levi wasn't one to let his friends die easily.
"Is that who HE talked about? He seems very peculiar..." Alpha said out loud.
"....."
Levi started using aether. As he ran, he picked up a few pebbles without stopping his momentum and started using aether flow.
"....and his mana is very...peculiar. Hold on, isn't that the same kid with the book I met a few days ago. I see he learnt some new tricks....from you I presume". Alpha said and threw a knowing glance at the half dead wolf.
"No, not at all. It was all thought up by him and him alone." Raja replied.
He pushed aether into each of the rocks, he held one in his hand and said:
"Aether flow: Aether stone catapult".
Levi was also horribly untalented in naming things.
The rock flew at amazing speeds, straight at the Alpha who still had a somewhat confused look on his face. The latter was too busy studying the mysterious 'mana' to notice the danger that the soaring rock posed to him.
After long hours of aether rotation for four days straight, Levi's aether core had advanced to the dark blue stage. This meant that his aether was getting closer to it's original form. The amount of aether that Levi could harness didn't increase, but the quality of the aether definitely did and Levi could feel that his power was a lot stronger than previously.
Before long, the rock crashed into alpha's face with a very disturbing sound of rock hitting flesh.
BAM!
The force of the rock left a mark on Alpha's forehead and the demon bear was a bit pissed by this fact. The pain though was negligeable since Alpha's physique was far superior to Raja's.
The demon bear let out a viscious growl, "GROWL..", but Levi ignored this and prepared yet another attack.
"Aether flow: Stone catapult garage". Levi shouted as he threw all the stones in very quick succession that it seemed as though the rock were all thrown at once. Althought the force behind each of them was reduced by more than half, Levi planned to use quantity to overcome the problem of quality.
But Levi didn't take into account the fact that his enemy was a mana beast.
"Flame wave".
With a single wave of his paw, Alpha cast a spell and powerful red flames appeared as a wave. The wave of fire collided with the incoming pebbles and burned each and every single one of them to oblivion.
'damn it'. Levi thought as his eyes frantically looked around, in search of a makeshift weapon he could use against this thing.
During the time when Levi was distracted, Alpha cast another fire spell. It was the simplest and most basic spell belong to the fire magic affinity, even the average fire mage could cast this spell without a chant.
The glowing ball of fire attracted Levi's attention and he thought, 'was the fire ball always this big'.
He was quite confused at the size since he had seen his sister cast the spell a few times before and it was no bigger than the average human's fist.
This phenomenon was due to what the mages termed as the Mana factor. It was a concept which explained how spells were capable of surpassing their set limits, depending on the amount of mana pumped into it.
With enough mana, a fire spell can surpass it's elemental limitations and even burn a water spell. The same concept comes into play, when certain people cast spells which are much larger or stronger than usual. It all had to do with the amount of mana one could harness, and that was measured in what are referred to as 'layers'. But that is a story for another day.
"Fire ball." Alpha said and a ball of flames the size of the two average people's head hovered in front of the demon bear and with a single gesture, Alpha set the ball of flames in motion.
The spell flew towards Levi at astonishing speeds, but the latter had been undergoing some intense training for the last few days. His physique had gone up by quite a lot.
He easily jumped to the side, avoiding the incoming ball of flames.
"Hmph" Levi proudly snorted as he watched the fire ball speed past him. He had successfully dodged the attack! Or at least, that was what he thought.
'huh?'
Levi couldn't help but think as he watched the ball of fire do a literal 360° turn around a tree and then readjust it's trajectory back towards him.
'sh*t! Is it some kind of homing spell or something?' Levi thought as he ran.
In an attempt to lose the ball of flames, Levi ran around, under and over various things and other obstacles in the vincinity but all to no avail. Eventually, the fireball caught up to him and the resulting impact sent the young man flying.
"Puah!". He shouted as he collided with a tree not to far away.
'was that spell always this powerful' Levi said as he gripped his chest, where the attack had hit him. The fire ball not only had the force of half a dozen men's fists, but the fire properties burned Levi's skin.
His clothes, which had already become rags, had a very large hole at the chest area. And the skin underneath was burnt black.
"Huff...cough..cough.." Levi heaved, coughed and puffed as the tremendous pain assaulted him.
The pain would have easily killed a normal twelve year old, but not our main character.
The pain was excruciating, but Levi after almost two minutes of huffing and coughing, he managed to drag himself up. He looked at the demon bear with eyes that had turned red due to the pain, but emitted an intense killing intent.
'kill!' Was the single thought that rang in his mind. He grit his teeth angrily and clenched his fists so tight that they began to turn white. He was getting mad. He was about to lose control just like back then as his inner madness started bubbling up to the surface.
"I'll kill you!" Levi screamed angrily.
"I would like to see you try". Alpha replied the threat in a mocking tone, which only served to make Levi angrier.
The latter was about to burst into a full blown charge when he was disrupted by the voice of the hurricane wolf.
"Levi!! Calm yourself!!...cough..cough" Raja yelled from afar. He had strained his already tired vocal chords more than necessary with that shout and he was relayed by a dry and bloody coughing session.
But it was worth it. His words reached Levi.
'he is right. I have to stop letting my emotions get the best of me!' was what he thought. Deep down though, he knew that the madness was not merely a case of lack of control. No, it was much more than that.
'i have not yet practiced it but....I have to try'. Levi thought. He suppressed his madness as much as he could and started using aether.
He focused and allowed the aether to flow from his core, to the vessels and then through the pores under his skin. The aether escaped his body and started retreating to the outside world.
'i have to control my output! This is too much'. Levi thought. He had accidentally pushed out too much Aether from his core. He was now realizing the importance of practicing Aether flow.
Levi tried to suck the extra aether back onto his core, but before he could finish, the aether which he set aside for the technique had completely escaped into the atmosphere.
He tried it again, this time using his will to hold on to the useful aether while trying to suck the extra back in. But unfortunately, Levi's aether flow hadn't yet reached such levels and the aether dispersed.
'argh! So damn frustrating'. Levi shouted. Truly, the aether skin wasn't a technique which one could learn on the fly.
"It seems you are having some problems. I would have loved to watch more display from your mana but I have unfinished business to attend to." Alpha said, glancing at Raja and then Levi.
"Fire ball." Alpha said and conjured about a dozen more fire balls and set them in motion towards Levi.
Levi gulped as he watched the dozen fireballs charge straight at him. He looked left and right but realized that the ball of flames would not leave his tail so he just braced himself. He could not do any more than that.
He raised his two arms defensively to block the incoming barrage of flames. But even a toddler could discern that death was what awaited Levi. There was just no way that he could block the force of twelve fireballs with such a pathetic guard.
If things progressed like this, Levi was undoubtedly going to die.
'brace for impact!!' Levi shouted as he shut his eyes tightly.
*Boom!*
Levi heard a sound which was akin to an explosion, but much more quiet. He still did not open his eyes though.
Levi waited and waited and waited some more, but the pain never came. He never felt the excruciating heat of the fire or the powerful force behind the spell. Nothing happened.
'huh? What happened'. Levi thought.
'did I get sent to the other side so fast that I didn't feel the pain?' he asked himself. He opened his eyes slowly. His eyes shook as he hesitantly raised his eye lids, he didn't know what to expect.
'holy cr*p!' Levi thought as the sight in front of him bewildered him.
All around him was a transparent blue barrier. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the barrier was actually made of just water.
"Who in the-" he said out loud, but was cut off before he could even finish.
"Finally opening your eyes eh?" A voice sounded from behind him.
Levi swiftly turned back to face the source of the sound, and his eyes widened at the true identity of the speaker.
"Y-you?" Levi said in a confused tone.
"Huh? Is that any way to greet your older sister?...my dear little brother".
It was Aina, Levi's eledst sister, who had come to his rescue. And she donned a relieved smile on her face.
A/N:
Promise fulfilled!!!