IV - Aqua: The Aqua Mare

As the morning sunlight shines through his windows, Sora wakes up and lets out a soft yawn.

Just like every morning, he wakes up, brushes his teeth, washes his face, eats a simple breakfast that he made for himself, changes his clothes, and prepares for school.

Even though the drills are the same, there’s something different, starting from this morning.

Sora: “Oh, I almost forgot.”

After changing into his school uniform and carrying his school bag, he picks up a sword with its blade covered by a scabbard that Haruka gifted to him yesterday, a welcome gift for joining the Mana Hazard Response Agency, or the MHRA.

The Genesis Engine, well, that’s what they called it.

Sora: “I’m going out.”

Sora opens his eyes and steps out into a new world, a world where he will become the knight of his dreams.

***

Sora, as usual, was walking to Maho Academy, his school.

???: “Sora!”

He hears a voice calling out to him. Turning back, he spotted Akiha, his childhood friend.

Akiha catches up to him and slaps him on the back as she pants.

Akiha: “You are walking faster than usual! I almost couldn’t catch up to you!”

Sora: “Maybe it’s because of this? It made me faster and stronger than usual.”

Sora laughs softly and glances at the blade he’s carrying.

Akiha: “Oh. You’re seriously gonna carry this out with you every single day?”

Sora: “Well… Ms. Haruka told me to… I have no choice.”

As their conversation filled with laughter, they continued their journey to school.

Akiha: “So… Did you tell your parents anything about this? And the MHRA?”

Akiha said as she pointed at the blade that was hanging on Sora’s side.

Sora: “Of course not. I don’t know if I can even say… And even if I wanted to, they are always busy with work, so I had no chance.”

As they walked, Sora suddenly thought of something.

Sora: “Talking about family… How are your parents… And Principal Senzaki?”

Akiha: “Same as yours, busy with work as usual. And as for my brother… Well, he’s finding ways to improve things at Maho Academy. Since the Mares are on the rise…”

Akiha stops her tracks for a moment and gazes at the bright sun.

Akiha: “You know… I really look up to my older brother. Even though he’s unable to become the Senzaki family’s successor due to being coreless, he’s able to stay strong and rise to the top… Becoming a successful principal of our school.”

Sora smiles.

Sora: “For people like me… He’s a huge role model—”

Suddenly, a loud shriek blasted in the air before Sora could finish.

Hearing the shriek, Sora and Akiha nodded at each other before rushing towards where the sound came from.

They entered their school gates, and both of them widened their eyes.

Sora: “A Mare…! But the school has a mana barrier… How?”

The Mare was shaped like a human, but slightly distorted. It’s wobbling around, crashing onto random things as students and teachers start running away, trying not to slip on the slippery floor.

On its chest, there’s a bright blue circular object attached.

Akiha: “Isn’t that… The Aqua core!? Fused with a Mare?”

Sora drew his blade and took out the Ignis core from his pocket. But before he could set it in the sword, Akiha signals him to stop.

Akiha: “Sora… You haven’t mastered the Engine’s powers yet. If you transform here… Well, we don’t want you to get injured or exhausted in the morning.”

Once, then again, her bracelet pulsed, getting hotter with each pulse. Fire formed in her hands in an instant, hardening into a sword.

Akiha: “Let me handle this. Help me call Haruka for backup. Since it’s not a very good matchup for me… I’ll stall some time.”

Sora hesitates. He wants to help his friend, but he has no choice but to comply.

Akiha breathes and rushes forward with her blade. Before the Mare could react, Akiha lands a clean slash, splitting the Mare into 2.

The Mare’s parts burst into water and reform back into their original state. Akiha glances at her arms. As expected, the sword was extinguished.

Ignis, or fire, is a really weak magical affinity when against Aqua.

Of course, Ignis can defeat Aqua if the magic user is insanely strong.

But… Akiha is not yet at that level, despite being considered a prodigy.

Since a straight-up element battle won’t work, then…

Akiha: “ —Maybe a battle of speed might work.”

Akiha squats, positioning herself into a running position, but with her arms back.

Akiha: “Time to try out a move I’ve been practising!”

Flames burst through her palms, which sends her flying forward.

If she’s fast enough, she could grab the Aqua core, defeating the Aqua Mare and most likely completing their mission.

Akiha: “I’m taking that!”

Akiha’s arm reaches out, her fingers coming in contact with the core.

However, things are never that easy.

Akiha: “Huh?”

She gasps as her arms pass through the core and the body.

She flew through it and landed on the wet ground with a loud thud on her face.

Akiha: “Ow…”

Akiha tries getting up, but has some trouble due to the slippery floors.

Akiha: “Wait… Am I drenched? Don’t tell me…”

Before Akiha could react, the waters on the ground started swirling around her.

Akiha: “Shit… I fell into its trap!”

The Aqua Mare smirks at her as the swirling waters start taking on the shape of multiple daggers, ready to charge and pierce her body anytime.

Akiha shuts her eyes in fear, expecting to get stabbed by the water daggers.

However, after a few seconds, she realized that nothing had touched her at all. She opened her eyes slowly and saw the back of a young man, carrying a drawn sword.

Akiha: “Sora!”

Sora: “I’ve already contacted them, and it seems like you need some help.”

Akiha wants to deny it and say something like “You shouldn’t transform yet!” But nothing came out of her mouth.

Sora took out the Ignis core and set it on the sword.

Set! Ignis!

Sora: “Let’s do this.”

Sora presses the button, and fireballs start fusing with him, transforming him into the blazing knight.

Synchronization complete. Ignis mode activated.

Sora rushes forward, swinging his sword onto the Aqua Mare. The Mare releases a puddle of water resembling a shield and successfully blocks the attack.

Akiha: “Sora, due to the element affinity, we definitely can’t win. Just don’t use fire attacks and try stalling until backup arrives!”

Sora: “Alright!”

Sora starts swinging his blade at the Mare, quickly and ruthlessly. The Mare summons shield-like shapes of liquid, blocking every single slash Sora swung.

As Sora was swinging his blade, he realized that the Aqua Mare, who did not dodge Akiha’s attacks and just let them pass through, why are they blocking his swings, when it could just let the attacks go through and regenerate.

That’s where Sora decided, maybe all he needed to stop it was to land a swing at it.

Sora increases his speed, swinging his blade faster and more recklessly. Until…

Sora: “Ow…!”

Sora’s right arm started bleeding after trying to slam his arm at the Mare and getting his arm slashed in the process.

The Mare was slightly confused. Why would Sora do that, when he got a blade that could deal it damage?

Sora: “Gotcha…!”

Sora swung his blade upwards with his left arm, the arm that was not holding the blade just a few moments ago.

Sora: “You’re mine…!”

The Mare let out a scream, causing a huge shockwave that caused Sora to fly back and slam onto the wet grounds.

Sora: “Damn it…! I was close…”

Before Sora got up onto his legs, the Aqua Mare slowly approached him, as its arm twitched and morphed into a dragon’s head.

Akiha: “Sora, watch out!”

Before the Mare could strike, its “Dragon arm” suddenly flew back, splashing onto the ground.

The Mare tried regenerating, but it seems like nothing was forming back.

Sora and Akiha turned back and saw a blonde man with glasses in a lab coat, holding an odd-looking gun that looked huge but small at the same time.

Akiha: “... Mr Kaito!”

Sora: “You know him?”

The man Akiha called Kaito smugs and tosses something to Sora.

Sora grabs it. The item was shaped like a small circle, bright yellow with some mini bubbles in it, and it had an… Oily texture?

Sora: “What the hell is this? It looks like a core… But it’s definitely not!”

Kaito: “Sora Minami. Or should I say… The vessel.”

Sora’s eyes widened slightly. But before he could open his mouth and say anything, Kaito continued to speak.

Kaito: “We will save introductions for later, but now I would like you to try out my latest invention. The pseudo core with the elemental affinity of… Oil!”

Sora blinked twice, his jaw half-open.

Sora: “... Element affinity of… Oil?”