True Potential

The crusader and I shouted her name in unison as our jaws dropped. “Amada?!”

Where the heck did she pull that spell from? It looked awfully like her normal Lightning Ray spell, but this one was ten times as powerful.

“That was an amazing display of power, Miss Amada!” the crusader charmingly praised.

Amada carefully inspected her arms for a second, surprised by the power she produced. “Wow, that was awesome! I never would have thought I could cast something so powerful.”

She lowered her hands, causing the yellow mana surrounding her to gradually disappear. Once Amada retracted her hands, the girls ran towards our aid.

I complimented Amada’s impressive spell as she approached us. “I thought you were weak, Amada. Since when did you have something like that in your locker?”

“That was thanks to Naima for using her spell on me,” Amada explained as she pointed to the elf. Naima released a subtle smile and scratched the back of her head, embarrassed by the praise and attention she received.

Anojin butted into the conversation, stating, “Don’t ever say something like that to Miss Amada, you poor excuse of a hero. She is not weak! She’s strong compared to you.”

I rolled my eyes at the scrap of metal. “Oh, great. Her ugly knight in shining armor is here.”

The crusader marched towards me and purposely bumped heads with me. “What’d you say, wannabe hero?”

“You heard me!”

While I bickered with the annoying crusader, Amada glanced over at the enemy, full of anticipation. “I know my lightning ray hit him. But… did it work?”

…

Yuro remained frozen as the aftershocks of the lightning zapped every part of his body. His hair stood on end, and his skin turned into a comically charred, charcoal-like color.

The demon mindlessly spaced out and blinked several times, confused by the surprise attack.

The silence suffocated everyone around, waiting for Captain Yuro’s response. After a couple of seconds, the demon shook off the effects of the lightning spell like a dog shaking its fur.

“Why? Why?! Why is everyone trying to get in the way of our fight?” Yuro complained, clenching his fist in irritation. He gradually cocked his arms along his hips, charging up a scorching strike. “If everyone wants a piece of me… then I’ll happily accept their challenges. Blaze Punch Barrage!”

The demon threw a barrage of air punches. Each attack cut through the air with red mana emitting around it.

The incoming heat from the strikes brought our childish brawl to an end. Amada quickly summoned the crusader. “Anojin.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Anojin hit his cue and equipped his shield. The rest of us quickly scurried behind him. The crusader shielded everyone from the fiery air punches.

The residue of the fire, even after being blocked, still lingered around us. I could feel and smell the tips of my hair burning. Goodbye to any dead hair stands I had left!

While we hid behind Anojin, Naima casually asked me, “Have you figured out how to use your sword yet?”

“No! I’m having trouble with it,” I replied, angry at my own weakness. “I almost had it before… but it was weak compared to the real thing. Channeling it is harder than it looks. Ugh, I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”

“Mhmm… From what I can see, you're probably overthinking it. Remember what I said, you have to meditate.”

Amada looked over her shoulder, her eyes widening. “Are you two really having a training session right now?!”

“Shut it!” I responded. “What other choice do we have?”

“Don’t tell Miss Amada to shut up, you rodent!”

“You shut it too, scrap of metal! Just do your job, lame crusader, and protect us!”

…

I filtered out my surroundings and solely focused on Naima’s instructions. She began to explain as I followed along.

“First things first, Takumi. Calm your nerves. Imagine yourself somewhere peaceful. Visualize the Tri-Carver as an extension of your hand. When you swing your hand, you swing the blade.”

I pictured myself on an all-white terrain. No trees. No animals. Only a bright, sunny sky and a white ground that stretched to the horizon.

I focused my concentration on the slight breeze that cooled me down. Then I would relax my body. I loosened every part of myself, one by one, except for my arm. When I swung my arm inside my head… it surprisingly felt light.

Naima continued to speak. Luckily, her voice was the only sound that entered my terrain. “Once you relax your body. Let your blade guide you. Understand it’s a part of you. Don’t fight back with it. Just let it happen naturally.”

I kept swinging my arm across the open white terrain. The more I moved it, the clearer the sword in my hand became.

While I mindlessly let my arm guide around in my head, the others were occupied with the genuine danger back in the real world.

Our team sat like sitting ducks, betting on Anojin to survive these fire blows. Amada took it upon herself and cast some normal-sized Lightning Ray spells at Captain Yuro.

If Naima amplified her attack, the outcome could have been different. As a result, her spell was overpowered by the fire punches, burning her spells from existence! However, she didn’t allow that to bother her as she persisted in casting her spells.

Yuro couldn’t contain his laughter, watching the team struggle against one person. “Ha, what is this? What’s the holdup? I’m getting bored with this.”

Amada realized the team was at another stalemate. “How much longer is Takumi going to take?” Amada curiously asked over her shoulder, grunting from the excessive use of her magic.

“Shh! He’s working on it,” implied Naima, trying not to disturb my “mini training”.

…

The demon sensed our crusader would not concede. With that in mind, he decided to amplify the power of his fire attacks. Anojin survived this entire time without using his daily block spell. But… he would soon need to use it as Yuro was trying to break his spirit.

As my team defended for their lives, everyone began to hear a horde of shouting approaching the battle. Spells were suddenly shot towards the demon.

It wasn’t Amada or the others? Who was casting those spells?

The fighters turned their attention from where Amada unleashed the powerful spell. No one would have guessed that the elves of Dryd Village would return to the battle. The crowd of elves stood still, large in number, and glared at Captain Yuro.

The strongest warriors of the village let out a war cry, signaling the start of their counterattack. “Get that demon!”

The men and children picked up from where they left off before Yuro escaped from their grasp. They charged into the fight towards our sole enemy. The women supported the fighters on the front lines with long-range attacking spells, which varied in different elements.

Although our group was bewildered by the citizens, they were pleased at their arrival. Anojin and Amada lowered their guard to catch a break.

A group of elves departed from the crowd and headed towards us. One of the male elves seemed to be carrying someone on his back, but the person being escorted was hard to see.

The leader of the small group casually asked, “Are you guys okay?”

“We’re fine.” Naima curiously wondered, “But why are you guys here?”

“Well, we can’t let Mr. Satori and his team have all the glory. It’s our village and we need to protect it. We followed you guys here to help out.”

The leader continued. “Also, while we were on the way, we stumbled upon this little, sleepy elf on the floor. I believe she’s a part of this team.”

Rodi signaled the man standing behind him to show the elf. The man behind Rodi came into clear view. A sleepy Hinabe rested on his shoulders, with drool seeping through her mouth.

“Hinabe!”

The team thanked the elves for returning our team member. They told the elves to simply drop her on the ground. It took a while for the elves to understand the cruelty of their request. Eventually, they gave in and dumped her on the floor. Once they did, they hurried back to the fight.

Hinabe quickly woke up from her slumber after face-planting in the soil. The team caught her up to speed. Afterwards, she decided to quickly heal us of any injuries we had.

…

The elves’ attacks once again only ticked the captain of the demon king’s army. Yuro gradually became agitated by the constant interruptions. “Leave me alone! Your attacks aren’t doing anything!” he shouted.

The citizens ignored his statement and continued the “assault”. My team watched the battle, unsure of the outcome.

After entering the state of rest for a while, I calmly opened my eyes.

Amada sensed my return and called me out. “Oh, Takumi, you’re back! Did you finally figure it out?”

“Yeah… I think so.”

I aimed my focus on the demon. I took a deep breath and relaxed my nerves. Without overthinking it, I let my mana flow naturally and allowed myself to be one with the blade.

The mana in my body smoothly travelled to the Tri-Carver. I felt a condensed amount of mana created in the blade.

As I felt the power in the blade, I lifted it into the air. I took another deep breath. Then, I swung the Tri-Carver with excessive force, chanting its name, “Tri-Carver.”

Once the blade came into contact with the air, the attack produced three powerful slashes, splitting the ground under it. The training finally worked.

The last time I used this strike, the slashes diverted in three different directions. However, this time, all three slashes were traveling in the same direction… straight to Captain Yuro.

…