A dog made of flame headed straight for him. Donatello brings his sword down and cuts it in two, but the heat scatters, blinding him for a moment.
Donatello continues forward, unfazed. Nichole meets him head on. The two exchange a flurry of strikes. Both sides push forward relentlessly, Donatello overpowered her at the last strike.
I guess the difference between someone who just picked a sword and someone who has been using it for some time is different, Nichole sheaths her sword, and holds out her wand.
"Oh, gonna stop fighting like a swordsman?"
"I can't win in a sword fight against you, but maybe magic can," her wand turns into a long staff, "Flame release, max output," a small circle manifested and a large amount of flame flared in front of her.
Just like professor taught me, shape it using telekinesis, the flames calmed down before condensing into an arrow. She points the flaming arrow at Donatello.
That's it Nichole, show me more, I will defeat you too, Donatello held up his sword as he closed his eyes.
"What's he doing?" Aileen asked Finn who seemed to understand what was happening.
Finn leans onto the rail, "It's his family's special technique where they spread their mana on a metre radius around themselves, and use qi to concentrate and strike anything that enters the one meter radius."
He's spreading mana around him, I can see it, Nichole flicks her palm. The flaming arrows head towards him at threatening speed.
"Crimson Veil," he brings his sword down. The force alongside the sword crashes into the arrow, splitting it apart into smaller pieces.
"I give up," Nichole raises her hand looking at the judge.
"Winner, Donatello, five points," the judge announced.
"That was a little too boring," Donatello walks towards her, "you could have done a bit better."
"I'm not strong enough, but I will defeat you, next time."
"Next time? There is no next time, buhaha," Donatello laughed manically.
"Uh, what are you, some kind of third-rate extra?"
...
If I concentrate mana around my eyes and adjust it to the frequency of the muons around me, I should be... Ha, it works, Thomas looked at the wall, and was able to see through it.
This is what the pervert told me of, so let's see what's wrong with him, his pupils turned deep blue as he looked at Jack.
What!? What's wrong with him? Thomas looked at Jack, stunned at the sight, 'how is he living?'
When Thomas used the muons to look into Jack, he saw something that should be unexplainable. Broken circuits and an immeasurable amount of cold energy.
What the fuck?!
...
"Ready..."
Huo Xióng, he is strong, and not someone I can take lightly, but I'd say I can beat him, in my last life I couldn't even hold a candle to him, but today I will defeat him.
"Begin."
The boy walked towards Finn as he slowly unsheathed his swords. Finn slowly moves towards him, slightly chanting unnoticeably.
"The body is but a vessel, if it loses essence, it is nothing but a corpse," Finn lightly mumbled, the shadow beneath his feet growing almost a meter long, "fallen foe, I require thy aid."
What's that? Xióng pulled out both of his blades as he prepared to strike Finn.
A puff of black smoke arose from his shadow, before a claw appeared and a large white furred wolf walked out of his shadow. The white furred wolf had a large cut on its left side stitched together by a blue thread. It had similar cuts on one its shoulder and its chest, but the most outstanding wound was around its neck.
"What is that?" the children all gasped together, looking at each other in confusion at the grotesque creature.
"It's the wolf we had killed," Nichole instinctively gripped her arm, "I can't believe he picked that thing."
"Is this necromancy?" Donatello asked.
Aileen smacked him on his head, "Idiot, necromancy cannot be performed by anyone below three-star, it's just corpse control."
"So that's the Spiritwalker field, the thing looks more horrifying than what it was that night," Nichole looked at it without taking off her eyes, noticing how the wolf's blue eyes were similar to predatory red eyes from the night.
"That's an interesting trick, I guess I'll have to match your grit," his coats his entire body and his swords with his mana.
It was originally a Niwolf, but the parasite gave it a Glacial attribute, and even after its death, the Glacial attribute was ingrained in its body, so now I can use it.
The wolf opens its mouth and gathers a gust of wind, and shoots it. A large icicle shard form and finds itself heading for Xióng.
Xióng twists his body and slices through the shard, sending it scattering. He lunges forward, aiming to finish off Finn, but his strike is intercepted by the undead wolf.
A shockwave spreads across the ground as the strikes collide. Xióng steadies himself and rotates his body, completely partying the wolf's strike and landing a kick on its head.
The wolf is pushed back a few feet but is left immobile as Finn looks at the creature unmoving.
Shit, my control over it isn't that great, Finn draws his katana and stops Xióng's advances, I have to try to get it back, but he interlocks the two swords and pulls it off Finn's hands.
"Is that all, special admission?" Xióng mocked him as he swung his sword for the finishing strike.
"Not quite," Finn muttered, an icicle shard almost crashing into Xióng. He brings up both his sword in time and blocks the shard, but the force pushes him off.
"I have to admit, that was a great move, pretending to lose control," Xióng got back on his feet, slightly smiling as he walked towards him.
Finn smiles awkwardly, But I wasn't pretending, I did lose control. He picks up his sword and prepares for another assault.
"Black Winter: Blue Pheasant's tears," Finn lunges forward this time, only to be met by his swords, pushing him back.
Even with memories of countless fights, my body won't move the way I won't, and it's interfering with my own thoughts.
The two clash once again, and Xióng tries to take out his blade once more, but Finn switches the sword from a slash to a thrust forcing him to retreat.
A shard of ice appears before Xióng, but he counters it bringing up the sword at the perfect time, but Finn finds the opening and rushes forward for a straight thrust.
"Your movements are way too sloppy," Xióng swings his left blade with immense force. Fin instinctively brings up his sword and blocks it, but the force travels up his hand, rendering him immobile for a second.
"Fuck..." Finn cursed as Xióng was about to bring his blade in for the finishing strike. Just as he brought his hand back for the slash, another icicle shard strikes his sword, sending it flying.
Finn uses the split second to swing the katana now that he was preoccupied and had lost one sword.
Finn swings his sword and bypasses his defence, bringing the sword to stop right before his neck.
"Winner, Finn, five points."
"That was amazing," Finn extended his hand for a shake, his voice tinted with respect.
"Same to you, although control your pup a bit more," Xióng accepts his hand, glancing at the wolf spinning around chasing its tail.
...
How can you still be alive with this kind of damage, isn't that basically a moving corpse, is it because of the extreme cold, if it's cold then I can... Thomas puts his hand on Jack's shoulders, "Hey, I'm going out, later."
"Alright."
'Damn, why is his body so cold?'
Thomas walked off, the sight stuck on his head. He tries to imagine the pain that comes along with such a condition.
"If it's cold... Charla!"
_________________________
"Hey when did you turn that into your corpse?" Nichole pulled at Finn's collar.
"After I had my Spiritwalker class, the professor told me I had a high affinity for the field. She taught me how to use a corpse."
"That's good, but why did you stitch it all up with thread, it looked like its head was about to fall off, eww, thinking about it creeps me out," Nichole feigned disgust.
"Oh, is it that nasty, I suppose I'll cover him up," Finn laughed it off.
"What?" a loud sound of a woman's surprised reaction could be heard.
Nichole and Finn slowed their steps as they got closer to the door, pressing their ear against the door to listen.
"He was that sick?"
"He's beyond sick, it would have been better if I knew of some method to fix it, and there aren't many solutions for it either."
"While the Black Lotus could work in theory, it'll need one more thing to work, a Frost Lily."
"Come on we shouldn't be peeping," Nichole slowly walks off with Finn following her.
"I asked Jonathan if he wanted the lotus."
Nichole and Finn freeze, realising the sick person the two were talking about was...
Professor!?
Old man!?
The two go back to listening...
"He told me it's too much of a loss for me."
"Classic," the man chuckled.
"I'll get the item," the man seemed to have concluded the conversation, walking towards the door.
Thomas opens the door only to be surprised by two familiar faces, one he's seen up close and one he'd seen from afar.
"What is it?" Thomas let's out a smile.
"What's wrong with him?" Finn asks him outright.
Thomas tries to dodge the question, "Who?" He clearly knew who they were talking about but refused to let them in.
"You know what we're talking about, sir?" Nichole speaks, her voice unusually serious.
"I have no idea what you two are talking about," Thomas walks off.
Finn and Nichole watch the man walk off without uttering a word, his stoic self hiding the truth.
They nod to each other before running up at him. Nichole jumps up and aims for a kick to his head. Thomas without even turning back, grabs her by the leg and gently drops her to the floor.
Finn ambushes him from behind, but Thomas yet again with minimal movement, grabs him and puts on the floor, locking both his arms behind him.
"What's up with you two?" Thomas groaned in annoyance, as he saw Nichole get back up.
"Nothing, we're just testing your reflex, what's wrong?" Finn grinned.
Nichole throws a punch straight for his face, but Thomas grabs her fist and pulls her down for a lock, putting her down beside Finn.
"You too, huh?" Finn laughed.
Nichole let out a wide chuckle, "You got caught first,"
"Let's try again when he lets us go," Finn smirked.
"Alright."
"Fine, stop I'll tell you," Thomas let's go the two as he got back up.
"What do you mean, professor?" Nichole teased him for hiding the truth earlier.
"He's sick," Thomas finally agrees to the two, "he's very sick."
"And?" the two asked together.
"And?" Thomas replied in confusion.
"What are you going to do about it?" Finn looks at him.
"There is a herb called frost lily, and I was going to buy it from a bidding happening tonight, but the price is going to be way too much, afterall a Frost Lily is a very rare herb."
"Aren't you super rich?" Nichole adds to it.
"I was, but I kind of lost my earnings of the month in some activities," he rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.
"Gambling?"
"Sex?"
"Drugs?"
"Stop it!" Thomas yells at the children teasing him each turn.
"Let's just steal it," Nichole pulls back a strand of her hair.
Thomas and Finn turn to her, an unknown expression taking over.
Thomas whispers to Finn, "Hey, what did you do to her?"
Finn whispers back, "Nothing!"
"Enough mumbling, it's a heist tonight," Nichole pulls away Finn and walks off.
"Ah, professor, meet us at the fourth bench from the entrance."
"I'll be there at seven," Thomas watched the odd pair of kids walk away after suggesting the most bizzare idea. "Is this what young ones are like these days or is it for you, Jonathan?"
After she pulled him off to a distance, Nichole turns back and looks directly into Finn's eyes, "We can't mess up, his life is at stake, and the fact that he didn't tell us is pissing me off, but we'll ask him about it after we complete this."
"We'll ask him together," Finn smiles.
"Get your gun, and do you have any other corpses?"
"I suppose I could ask the professor for one."
"Then I'll retrieve the gun for you, why don't you go get that corpse?"
"Alright," Nichole lets go of Finn and walk off into the opposite direction.
"Hey, the smithy's the other way."
Nichole awkwardly turns around and walks off.
"Haha, but a corpse..."
_________________________
"A pistol for Finn Zen Tenebrion," Nichole called out standing in front of a forge, peeping into the open door.
"Come in, the order's ready," a voice came from inside.
"Alright," Nichole walks in and is marveled at the various weapons inside. A particular gun grabs her attention, "Dear sir, how much for that?"
"Hundred ryū."
_________________________
"A corpse? My student has gotten quite daring, hasn't he?" a sweet voice came from a pale looking woman.
"Yes, mam. It's urgent," Finn sat in front of her.
_________________________
"Who are you guys?" the man on the floor asked panicking at the burning sight besides him while looking at the three asked individuals posing in front of him.
"Oh, who are we?" a girl's voice came out first.
Followed by a boy's, "We are the..."
The man in the centre completed the sentence, "Genderless Transcendents."
_________________________