Fighting Leads To Discovery

“Okay Reiken. I’m good to go!” Isara said, as her hands shook on her sword. She could only think about the man that almost killed her in the cold snow, wondering if Reiken was stronger than him. Not even the help of the fairies could sense the man quick enough before she got saved. Like a hyena prancing around the desert in front of its prey that was 100 meters away. Cocky, yet confident.

‘Snap out of it Isara. You’ve got this. Stick to the plan,’ she told herself, trying to prepare mentally for this fight.

“You got this, Isara!” Welpen yelled out.

Isara stood ready on the snowy field. Reiken took a stance with his fists, no sword in hand. Both Sayaka’s stepped up to the line to start the match.

‘Wait. Wh-What? H-He’s not using a sword,’ she thought.

Sayaka shouted out, “Start!”

The three fairies emerged from the sword at the moment Sayaka spoke. Ine chanted out, “Level Trembler!” The ground beneath them crumbled and cracked, throwing them both off balance. However, Isara avoided the cracks in the ice and rocks that flew from her own ability. Liz chanted, “RainBuster! Fairy Dust!” Dark clouds appeared from nowhere and poured down heavy rain. Each droplet weighed more than a pound, but was as small as a penny. Small flakes of fairy dust crossed paths with Reiken who hadn’t made a move and was levitating slightly above the ground along with Isara who now had all three fairies merged with her. “Spirit Embodiment!”

The appearance she had taken up before took over her once again. She pointed her sword at Reiken. “Light of Rasten!” Sharp white blades of light shot towards the man at a fast pace.

“Interesting…” He whispered to himself while he evaded the lights with ease almost as if he was teleporting. Liz called out from inside Isara’s body. ‘Isara! The fairy dust should have kicked in by now. Go! Now!’

“Okay!”

“Guardian Spirit: Level 4, Catastrophe’s End!” From underneath the surface, a human sized fairy in gold plated armor and a golden helmet emerged. In both hands, long gold blades with no handles. He grabbed the blades, and stuck them in the ground and waited for Isara’s signal.

“Now! Benzo! Spirit Connection!” The mana from Isara’s fairies shot out into Benzo’s body. His blades lit up in a division of colors. From top to bottom, red, blue, green, and gold. The mana transferred along the ground before shooting up at Reiken in waves of mana. He jumped back and moved around yet again to avoid the ongoing attack. Benzo pointed the blades at Reiken. “Make your move…Peasant.”

Reiken: “Oh? Isara, you didn’t tell me your servant had a mouth on him. Fine, I’ll play for a bit. I’ll show you the difference in our strength even at 10 percent.”

Benzo rushed towards Reiken to slice his torso on both sides. Reiken stopped the blades with 1 finger on each hand and headbutted Benzo’s armor, shattering it to pieces. Behind the mask was nothing, but a flame of golden mana connecting the armor together.

“Big talk for a puppet.”

Reiken unleashed punches upon punches on Benzo’s armor, first creating cracks and then shattering sections of it until it was completely gone and just a silhouette of mana remained in a human like figure.

“Isara!” Reiken yelled out. “This fight is between us. If that is what you have to resort to, then I’ll end this quickly.”

Isara began to cry, almost falling to her knees, but realized that she would’ve lost if she had dropped to her knees, and remained upright. She yelled out crying, “Th-That’s not fair! You didn’t fight fair! All you did was stand there and avoid my attacks. I put everything I had into that and…and…you mocked me!”

Reiken stood in one spot, but gradually walked towards Isara. “Listen to me…You get nowhere in life complaining about what could’ve been. There is merit among the strong and it’s natural that the weak ask the strong for help. But…You cannot make demands if you’re not willing to risk your own life for what you believe in, even in a fight like this where you’re fighting for someone. Even though death isn’t physically on the line, you still shoulder a burden.”

He walked up to Isara and put his hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, but you los…”

Isara looked up at Reiken smiling. “Got you.” He turned around to see Benzo’s swords flying at him. “Pointless.” Reiken raised his hand and created a blue circular barrier around his body. The swords reached the barrier and turned invisible.

“What?” Reiken questioned out loud.

Benzo shot all his mana towards the barrier as it split on each side going near Isara. As Reiken turned around, the golden mana forced its way into Isara’s hands, creating the same blades that Benzo had before. She rushed towards the barrier with her sword in her teeth and threw all 3 swords at the barrier. Sparks flew from the edges and crushed the barrier Reiken was holding up and sliced a piece of his clothing that he was wearing. He jumped back away from Isara laughing and putting his hand on his forehead.

“Hahaha. Ahahaha. Sorry. Sorry. It’s been a long time since someone has even cut my clothing or even got close to me in a fight. I guess 10 percent might’ve been too little…Ahh, I would love to do this again, maybe even at 12% next time. Sorry kid, but we got to end this.”

Before Reiken made a move, Sayaka confirmed that Isara had not won because she didn’t physically touch Reiken. “The playing field is still on. Continue the battle.”

Reiken darted towards Isara and she went to swing all 3 blades again, but as she went to do this, she blinked and her knees had touched the ground. Reiken had his hand on her shoulder and was behind her.

“Wh-What happened?”

Reiken: “Sorry, Isara. Playtime is over. I like to think I’m a pretty nice guy and that I’ve earned my strength the right way, but I can’t purposely lose to others just because they are fighting for something important. I have my own things to fight for too.”

He walked in front of her and kneeled down with her. In a serious tone, he spoke again. “Come back. I don’t mean tomorrow or the next day or the next day. I mean in a few years. You said this man you wanted to save won’t escape where he is. I’m assuming that means he won’t die either while he is there. Gain strength and come back to challenge me. Then, and only then, will I accept your request. You have a long road ahead of you. Rest up, kid. Oh, and stop relying on your fairies. You used nothing but their help in that fight. One day you might not have them to help you. Have confidence in yourself the same way you have confidence in them. Next time you come back here, I will have met my goals too. I will hold a spot for you in the world I’m trying to create.”

Reiken walked away with the 4 others from his castle. Isara stretched out her hand and went to speak, but couldn’t speak a word. “I…I…I…I”

Her mana dispersed. She went back to her original form. Welpen ran over to comfort her. “Isara…A-Are you okay? Come on. Let’s go back to my house. You can sleep for as long as you want there.”

“I’m…fineee,” she said, but clearly was the opposite even in Welpen’s innocent mind.

She fainted on the rigid battlefield of snow and rock unable to hear or see anything with her mana depleted.

Welpen: “Isara? Isara!”

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Welpen took up the girl and turned his back on the group behind him. He cried and went to speak, but held back his frustration and continued forward. He walked down the snowy hills until arriving back at his house. Welpen led Isara to his bed and shut the door.

“Clara…Clara? Are you here Clara?” No response at all. “I guess not. Hmm…Maybe I should make some food for her, but I don’t know how to cook. I know! I’ll go buy some food. There should be some pre-made Takoyaki. Wait, Clara didn’t leave me any money. Agh. Do I just leave her be right now? I think she will be okay. I’ll wait at the table until she comes down. I got all day and night. Get better, Isara. I’ll be waiting.”

The sun went down and the moon lit up the night sky. Welpen began to doze off. ‘N-No…No, no, no. I can’t fall asleep. I have…to…wait for…Isara.” He fell asleep at the table. By the time he woke, bright shades of light shone through the glass window.

‘Huh? It’s morning already? Wait, Isara!’

“Isara!” he yelled out, as he ran up the stairs searching for her. He opened the door. “Isara, are you bette…Isara?” Nobody was in the room. “Isara!” He ran back downstairs and searched the whole house before going outside. “Isara! Where are you? Isara!”

A man wheeling a wheelbarrow with seed in it passed by. “Hey! Have you seen a young girl with black hair?”

“Sorry son. I just left my house not so long ago. You’re the first person I’ve seen today.”

‘Agh! Isara, where are you?’ he screamed in his mind.

Welpen ran down the hill to the main square to find Lihard. “Lihard! Hey! Have you seen Isara?”

“Not since yesterday when you brought her here. Why? Is she missing? What’s going on?” Welpen rambled quickly. “A lot happened and I took her to my house. She slept and I fell asleep by accident and then I went to see her and she was gone!”

“Hmm. Okay. Okay. Calm down. She should be easily trackable with the star symbol on her hand. Even regular people should be able to find where she is. Let me give it a shot.”

Lihard looked at the circular symbol on his hand that resonated with his eyes in the same silver color. “Hmph. I can’t see her at all. Have you tried it yet?”

“No, I hadn’t even thought about it. I was running around looking for her. Let’s see…”

Welpen tried the same technique, but saw nothing. “I don’t see her.”

“Well, you could go to the king. He would definitely know, but Welpen…”

“What?”

“If we both don’t see her through the sixth sense technique, then she has probably already left this city.” Welpen began to shed tears at the thought of it, but wiped them away quickly. Deep down he knew that this was the likeliest outcome, but he tried to ignore it. His mind twitched as he thought hard. Welpen was young. He had never had to think about anything that serious, but it was like a bug drawn to a light. He had made a decision right then and there without thinking twice. A tunnel in his mind appeared. A railroad leading into a pitch black tunnel. A small white light showed at the end of the tunnel. A goal that Welpen had in mind. Finding Isara was his only task, even though he didn't know what was to come.

“Lihard. Sorry. I probably won’t see you again for a while.”

“Huh? Wh-What do you mean? What are you going to do, Welpen?”

“I’m going after her. I’m going after Isara.”

“Woah, woah, woah. No, no, no, no. What about Clara? What about the king? How are you going to survive out there on your own? You’re not skilled enough Welpen, and you know this.”

“I don’t care. My friend is out there and she is sad. I should’ve helped her more before. M-Maybe she left because of me,” he whispered at the end so that Lihard couldn’t hear it. ‘She’s going after the 3 master blacksmiths no doubt. Her eyes from before…She wants strength and she wants to do it with her weapon by herself. That idiot. Why doesn’t she just ask for help? I shouldn’t have said anything about the blacksmiths…Tch! Not like she wouldn’t have learned about them anyways eventually. Maybe I did a good thing at the end of the day,’ he thought.

“Welpen. Listen. If Isara left, then she had a good reason. I’m not going to tell you what to do, but I would at least let Clara know you are leaving. Let me get you a sword just in case. Hold on.”

Lihard returned in a minute holding an interesting looking sword. The handle had a golden dragon with red eyes and the blade spiraled upwards in a gold coated Sulner. “This is forged from two rare swords called Dragonsphere and Quelpond. The rarity is still rare, but this is number 11 out of 542, so it’s definitely a lot stronger than most of these. It’s called Dragonquel. I used a Luck Chaplet to increase the odds. The abilities are listed, but it might take you some time to get used to it, especially since you had affinity for Earth magic more than anything. Regardless, you should be able to use the abilities without issue. Just keep training and it should come easily.”

“Yes! I will! Thank you, Lihard. You’re the best blacksmith ever. I don’t care about those stupid master blacksmiths. You’re better than them.”

Lihard laughed out loud really hard and the townspeople even looked at him.

“Thanks kid. Maybe I can get to their level one day. After all, we create the limits set on ourselves, don't we now? Oh. One more thing…Here.”

Lihard handed Welpen a small potion. It had 3 drops of liquid in it. He poured one drop on Welpen. “This is a potion made by a witch. I got it a long time ago and have been trying to use it to craft swords, but everytime I try to do it, the drop respawns back into the bottle. It creates a certain type of armor around you. I don’t know how effective it is to be honest, but I trust this witch with my life, so hopefully this works. It’s made from chaplets. You will grow out of it, but it should be strong enough at least. It’s coated in Sulner too and I was able to forge 5 half holes around it. 2 by the chest, one in the middle, and 2 on the lower stomach. You can put chaplets in here if you want to and it will increase the defense depending on the type of chaplet obviously, but you can also store them there in case your bag doesn’t hold as much as you’d like. I know you're greedy like that.”

They both laughed again.

“I can’t say if you take that off that the holes will remain there though. Throughout 5 years of crafting, that was the best I could do to the armor.”

“Thank you Lihard! I promise you I’ll come back stronger than ever and with Isara. No matter how long it takes…If I can’t find Clara, please tell her I’ll miss her and I’ll return one day.”

“Of course. Goodluck, Welpen. I’ll miss you too. Now go. Go explore this big world.” Welpen ran away with his new sword and armor. Lihard started to cry. ‘Good luck kid,’ he thought to himself.

“Bye bye!”

‘Now, wait for me Isara. I’ll catch up to you. I want to hear what you’re thinking.’

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Welpen ran to the spatial door without telling anyone else, not even Clara like he promised. He knew that she wouldn’t let him go, but did feel bad about lying to Lihard. He walked through to the other town. Nobody questioned his new appearance as he walked past the guards and to the front gate before someone eventually asked a question.

“Hey kid, state your name and where you’re going.”

“Welpen Agatsuma.”

“Where are you headed?” “I’m going to find someone important to me to bring her back here.”

“You realize that your sixth sense symbol will be removed the instant you walk out, right?”

“Yes, that’s fine.”

“Okay. Sign this and you can be on your way. Good luck out there. Getting down the hills is already hell in itself.”

The other guards laughed.

“You won’t make it 2 days out there kid. I wouldn’t sign that if I were you.”

“I don’t care what you think. You’re just afraid to go and try something different. You don’t have anything to fight for, loser. I have someone to find. BLAH!”

“Huh? What did you call me?” Another guard budged in. “Hey, hey. Arnold, it’s okay. Let the kid do what he wants.” He shoved the guard out of the way. “No. You don’t get to insult me like that little boy. How about I teach you some manners before you head out?” He laughed and licked his lips. ‘Well, I guess this is a good time to test out some of these abilities. Don’t be scared. He’s trying to get in your head.’

“Dragon’s Breath!”

The dragon’s mouth on the handle opened and the eyes turned bright red. A large flame shot out at the man. He could only look at the fire and quiver in fear. “I-I’m g-gonna die.” The other guards launched themselves in front of the fire with their shields dissipating the fire.

“Y-You Bastard! I’ll kill you for that idiot kid! Ahh!”

The guards pushed Arnold on the ground and held him there. One of them turned towards Welpen. “Go. Leave before we have to put you in confinement for assault. Without these shields made by Lihard, we would’ve been dead. We could lock you away for a long time, but to be fair, Arnold started that, so we are going to ignore what was done here. Go!”

Welpen nodded and ran out the front gate into the abyss. ‘Wow Lihard. You make some pretty cool things.’

A large unknown and undiscovered world awaited him. ‘Finding Isara is going to be like finding a needle in a haystack. I don’t care though. I’m coming, Isara! Wait for me!’