Volume 2. Chapter 1: Tag!

(Yooo, it's me the author! When you see these "***" in a vertical line, it's the beginning of a flash back, and when you see it again it's the end of a flashback. Thank You!)

Chapter: Tag

March 6 x737 E6

Zen Island 10:30 am

It was a bright sunny day on Zen Island, with birds chirping, flying freely and the land creatures doing whatever it is they do. Near the far end of the island stood a giant cave, home to the Emperor Dragon named Volterra. In front of the cave, Ken Granfold and his grandpa August Granfold, stood facing each other.

"So, you broke your second seal I see" August smirked looking at his grandson, a little surprised that he actually needed to. Maybe this new era of mages are stronger than he thought

"At the end of our survival camp, I realised that my current state was still far weaker than a lot of my peers, so I had no choice but to break the second seal" Ken explained, thinking back to how powerless he was compared to Five, who was one of the intruders that attacked them during the final test

"So Mark was right, this new generation of mages are actually quite strong," August said, thinking back to when Mark first suggested enrolling Ken in the academy

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July 8 x727 E6

"August when do you plan on letting Ken leave Zen Island? Cause you can't keep him here forever" Mark said as he cleaned the table

"Well I was thinking when he turns 17 he would be allowed to leave, although I haven't told him yet so keep it between us" August replied

"Well, in that case, you should enrol him into Elenora's Academy of Magicka"

"Hmm I don't know, by the time Ken turns 17 he should be already an expert in the magic hierarch outclassing a lot of students his age even some older than him" August replied

"Well, that would be true if it was back in your time. Nowadays there are a lot of exceptional young mages, so the Magic Hierarchy has gotten stricter at Elenora's Academy of Magicka. It'll also be a great place for him to be able to hang out with people around his age and learn more about magic and the world" Mark said as he finished cleaning the table

"that would give him a new experience and keep him busy hmmm alright I'll enrol him" August replied

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"How are you feeling now that your second seal is broken?" August continued to say out loud

"Well when I first broke the seal, I definitely felt stronger," Ken replied looking at his palm, thinking back to when he broke his second seal.

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Ken took off his jacket and his t-shirt, stripping himself bare-chested. He placed his right hand on his stomach and slowly a black magic circle, with weird scribbles that looked like ancient language and six smaller magic circles around the first, appeared on his stomach

"Didn't think I'd need to open the second gate but here goes nothing?". Ken put his thumb on the second magic circle and twisted his finger like a key, and just like that the second magic circle disappeared and the entire seal started to glow bright blue for a few seconds before stopping. He could feel that his body felt different. it was as if he was in a new and stronger body but at the same time, it felt similar.

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"But I haven't had the chance to try anything yet, so I can't really tell how strong I've gotten" Ken continued to speak

"Good, today we will see how strong you have gotten, by playing tag," August said with a smirk "like always, I'll give you 30 minutes to land one successful hit on me, I won't use any direct attacks, I will only defend, so give it everything you've got" August explained before crossing his arm

"I've played tag with grandpa ever since I was a child and not once have I been able to tag him," Ken said to himself.

"But this time, I'll tag him for sure!". A smirk appeared on Ken's face as he stared down at his grandpa. "Get ready! Because I won't be holding back!"

Using the tips of his foot, Ken sprung himself at August with incredible velocity, this speed was new and due to that Ken couldn't control himself. Ken came tumbling towards August at an uncontrollable speed, August simply sighed before taking a simple step to the side avoiding Ken completely. Ken kept on tumbling until he hit a large tree face first, finally stopping him.

"What the hell was that?" August asked as he watched his grandchild slowly get up rubbing the part of his head that hit the tree

Ken looked at his legs then moved his foot around in a circle motion, before looking up at his grandpa "Looks like I've gotten faster" Ken said with a smirk

"Then you should be able to tag me right!?" August replied, returning a smirk

Ken took both his shoes off, moving his toes around, trying to get used to this newfound speed. Once again using the tips of his foot Ken dashed past his Grandpa at high speed leaving a dust trail in his wake. Ken tried stopping himself but with little control, he slipt and fell on his back.

"Looks like I'll just have to reduce my speed for now," Ken thought to himself as he stood up. "Alright, Grandpa get ready, cause here I come for real now!"

"Volterra: Thundra Dovkel Velsa'' Both of Ken's arms instantly became covered in Volterras dark blue scales, mimicking the Lightning Emperor's arm. Ken clenched both his hands into a tight fist, making red lighting erupt out of them. Ken dashed towards August at great speed but not too fast so he didn't lose control.

Once in range, he threw a heavy right punch surging with red lightning. August sees this coming and with little to no effort he catches the punch, the force behind kens punch was so strong that it caused a huge gust of wind to erupt behind August.

"Not bad, what else you got?" August asked. Altho this punch would seem strong in the eyes of just about anyone but for August it might as well just be a regular punch

August grabbed onto Ken's arm and threw him high into the sky like a rag doll, "Holy shit!" Ken mumbled to himself as he flew high into the sky with no control of his body

Ken continuously moved his body around in mid-air, before finally having control of himself again. While in mid-air Ken raised his left palm towards the sky, creating a red magic circle in front of his left palm. The magic circle was bursting with red lightning, which slowly materialised into a giant lance, made completely out of red lightning.

"Volterra's: Crushing Lance!"

Ken threw the lance down at August with heavy force. This is the same destructive spell that Ken used to defeat the golden robot during the Survival Camp. The lance tore through the sky racing down towards August, August was not fazed, he simply looked up at the spell and raised his right hand towards it.

"If I block that with my bare hands it'll definitely ruin my sleeves…"

The spear clashed against a barrier that August had created between himself and the lance. The force of the lance caused the ground underneath August to crumble, but it could not penetrate the barrier August had created.

"This is quite the spell!" August shouted while keeping the lance at bay "It would take a lot of mana to cast a spell this powerful, but you seem to be unfazed!"

While in mid-air Ken looked at his hands "Last time I used this spell, it damn near drained me...but now my mana hasn't dropped, even in the slightest" Ken said remembering back to the survival camp. "This is great! My mana has gone up a great amount!" Ken continued to say with a grin. Ken was astounded at the amount of mana he received from just unlocking one seal...he wondered how strong his true magic level would be

August clenched his right hand into a tight fist, nullifying the lance and making it disappear, "Come on! At this rate, you won't tag me!" August shouted looking up at his Grandson egging him on

Not only did Ken's mana level increase but his agility, mana recovery, strength, and reflex all increased to a new level, but he was yet to have control over any of them. So not only was he fighting his Grandpa but he was fighting his own body, trying to keep it under control and it was much more difficult than he thought

The rest of the thirty minutes went by with Ken trying his very best to tag his Grandpa. Ken used multiple high-level spells and even though none of them reached August, none of them drained Ken either. Halfway through the fight, Ken started to get frustrated that none of his attacks was landing, he got frustrated to the point that he let his emotions affect his mana output, which only made it easier for August to avoid him.

Thirty minutes was finally over and Ken was unsuccessful. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!!" Ken let out with frustration! Ken was angry with himself, even after gaining such a boost in his mana he was still unable to come close to tagging his grandpa

"How are you feeling Ken?"

"I've drained some mana, but it's still high enough to keep fighting for a day"

"No, I meant your emotions, how are you feeling emotionally?"

"I feel frustrated! Even with my third seal unlocked I wasn't able to tag you….I didn't even come close!"

August let out a sigh, as he gazed at his frustrated Grandson who is normally in high spirits almost all the time "Ken what was the first lesson I taught you?"

"You taught me that Magic and Emotion are two sides of the same coin" Ken replied "You taught me that if you don't have control over your emotions, you will never have complete control of your magic"

"That's right. At the start of our tag, you were in control of your emotions and you made me use barriers to protect myself from most of your attacks, but down the line, you started to get frustrated cause none of your spells was landing, and due to that frustration, I could read you like an open book, you were showing me your next attacks" August explained

August walked over to his Grandson and placed his hand on top of Ken's head before shaking it vigorously, messing up his hair "Don't be too hard on yourself my dear Grandson" August spoke with a soft smile "It might not be this year or the next, but, keep working hard and I promise you will surpass me"

"If you believe I can surpass you, then I won't stop working hard until I do…. no even after I surpass you I will continue to work hard so no one ever surpasses me!" Ken said with a determined look as he gazed up at his Grandpa

"That's the spirit! But for now, the score is 468 to 0 my way" Grandpa said with a smirk "anyways I'm going to take a nap, spend the rest of the day training with the giant lightning lizard in the cave" Grandpa continued to say, referring to Volterra

"It won't be like that for long!" Ken shouted as his Grandpa walked off. Ken clenched his fist and swore he would one day beat his Grandpa. This is something Ken has been saying ever since he was a kid when had first played and lost in a game of tag with his Grandpa, and his mindset has not changed, as August is his biggest obstacle.