The flame body physique

Back inside the central park, Alan and Elena sat together as they continued to converse pleasantly with each other. After a moment of silence, she finally asks the question she was most curious about.

"Why are you out here by yourself alone, anyway?" While they were talking, she had used detection magic to find his guards, but she couldn't find anyone around them who could be his guards for a distance of one hundred meters.

Even when she had expanded her senses, she still couldn't find any traces of the aura distinctive to the dragon clan. Normally, it would be unthinkable for the heir of one of the three great clans to be moving around alone.

'Well, it's not like I'm one to talk.' She thought as she notices she was also in the same boat. Hearing her question Alan laughed slightly while scratching his cheeks.

"Actually, I had come to the capital with sister Trisa and sister Suzu but after I saw the explosion you had caused, I slipped away to go check."

'Thinking back on it running away without saying a word might have been a little too rash of me.' A somewhat bitter smile appeared on his face as he thought of the scolding he would receive once he returned.

"Trisa and Suzu... Oh, those maids' sisters from the dragon clan." As she was pondering about the matter, she recalled the black-haired young women dressed in maid attire from the dragon clan when she had visited before.

"So, you went unnoticed while being with those two, how irresponsible of them."

"... There is nothing irresponsible about them. Hiding my presence and running away was something easy for me, you know."

"Oh, is that so... Does this mean you are confident you could easily escape my perception then?"

"Are you forgetting you didn't even notice my presence beside you until I had allowed myself to be detected by you?" Alan's lips curved upwards as he said that.

"Y-You, are you mocking me?" Her brow twitches as she asked, "Oh, of course not. I'm just being honest." Alan responded cordially. However, Elena's brow furrowed in displeasure.

There was something about his choice of speech that really annoyed her.

It was as if he was looking at a small child and not someone of his equal. "Very well why don't we test that then?" She suddenly proposed.

"Eh, test... Test what exactly?" He asked confused.

"Let's have a mock battle. If you actually think you can escape my perception then something like this should be simple for you, no?" Elena took out her hand-held fan and covered the bottom portion of her mouth as she observed Alan.

'This could also serve to test whether you are worthy of being my fiancé, or not.' Her golden eyes gleamed as that thought flash through her mind.

[Fufufu... Someone is rather fired up. Are you going to accept?] Akane's melodious voice resounded inside his head.

'Hmm... This could be a good opportunity to test the magic of the sun clan. I hear they are all powerful mages I'm curious what type of spell they have up their sleeve.' A faint smile appeared at the corners of Alan's lips as he extended his hand towards her.

Elena observed his outstretched hand for a moment before extending hers in return. Once their hand had made contact something unnatural happened. "Ngh." Alan widened his eyes as he found himself inside a scorching world.

The air was thick with the scent of smoke as magma spewed out of the land. "Th-This is?"

For a moment he even found it difficult to gather breath from his lungs.

However, at that moment his spiritual body physique suddenly activated on its own as an obscure connection was formed between the spiritual body physique and an unknown energy.

"Hey, Alan what's wrong? You suddenly blanked out." Elena called out to him in a anxious voice, she could feel his hand becoming sweaty as he stared out into space.

"Ah." As though coming back to his senses Alan let out a strange noise and sat back onto the bench. "Seriously, what's wrong with you?" As she notices how pale his complexion was becoming her expression gradually contorted into full seriousness.

However, whether her voice had reached him or not was unclear as Alan's green, emerald pupils shook slightly. 'Akane was that?'

[Yeah, it wasn't your imagination. This girl actually has the flame body physique, and it seems extremely unstable. If you're spiritual body physique didn't activate when it did your soul would have been completely disintegrated.] Akane responded sternly.

After taking several deep breaths to calm himself, Alan peered closely at Elena's face before asking. "Do you by any chance know of the existence of physiques used to strengthen the physical body?" He inquired.

There were two types of body physiques that existed. That was the body physique to increase the strength of the physical body, and one to enhance the magical energy of the user.

The spiritual body physique was a dual type physique as it not only strengthens his physical body, but also increased his control over spiritual energy.

Meanwhile, the flame body physique was a special physique used to enhance the fire attribute of its user.

"... Physiques used to strengthen the physical body. I have read of their existence, but I have not come across anyone capable of using any, even my grandfather saw those as nothing but a legend." Elena replied, curiously tilting her head.

She had a faint suspicion that he didn't suddenly bring up the topic of physique for no reason which left her confused.

"I see... You have not seen any, does this mean there isn't anyone in the sun clan with a body physique, then?" He questioned further. "None that I'm aware of... What's with the sudden mention of body physiques?" She inquired, narrowing her eyes skeptically.

".... It's nothing. I was just curious." He replied with a faint smile.

'Does this mean she has the flame body physique while not being aware of it herself?' Alan's emerald eyes shone as that thought came to his mind.

[Most likely, she probably didn't have to go through the process of constructing the body physique like you did, perhaps this physique is one she was born with. In other words, it was a natural physique not like the one you had to create yourself.] Akane's tone was slightly incredulous as she said that.

Being born with a physique was something normally unnatural as the physique was too strong with the body of a small child.

Most infants who were born with a physique usually never live to reach the age of three as their soul would collapse from the pressure of the physique.

"And yet this girl actually survived for so long and didn't even notice she had the flame body physique... There is definitely something abnormal about her." Akane mumbled to herself as she observed Elena inside Alan's soul.

She wanted to take a look at Elena's soul with her spirit eyes but decided against doing so as her physique would obstruct her vision.

Being the owner of the flame body physique meant that Elena's affinity to the fire type attribute was going to be amplified.

"No, perhaps she obtained the flame body physique precisely because she had already possessed great affinity to the fire type attribute since birth." Akane mumbled to herself. It was similar to how Alan was highly compatible with the spiritual body physique because of his talent in manipulating spiritual energy, Elena's talent was probably not inferior to Alan in the terms of the manipulation of energy.

[It's ironic how your future wife turns out to be a monster. Just like you.] Akane chuckled to herself as she uttered those words.

"Is something wrong?" Unable to contain her curiosity anymore she narrowed her sharp eyes as she asked. "... Like I said before, it's nothing to worry about." He shook his head with a faint smile.

'If she doesn't know about it then I'm sure there is a reason behind it. According to Akane, its also unstable as well.' He thought inwardly, while maintaining his smile.

"Anyway, are you going to accept my challenge, or not?" She peered at him closely awaiting his answer. "S-Sure... Let's go someplace else." He responded with a nod. He was really curious about the strength of the flame body physique.

...

Soon, the both of them relocated at a clearing where no one else was in sight.

"So, what are the rules of this match?"

"It's simple, we shall face each other using our own means of attacking, the only rule is that death is prohibited. Even if we sustain some minor injuries, we should be fine with a bit of healing magic." With her hand-held fan clutch tightly in her hand she explained.

"I see... The only rule is that no death is allowed, very well in that case I will allow you to make the first strike." He said as he made a gesture with his hand, it was a signal for her to attack him whenever she is ready.

"Hmph, are you by any chance underestimating me?" With a mocking smirk at the corners of her lips she asked. "Of course not, I'm not foolish enough to underestimate my opponents." He responded calmly.

"Oya, is that so? Well then let's see how you deal with this, flame bullet!" As she extended her hand and pointed the end of her fan towards him several mini sized magic formations appeared before her, firing several bullets of flame towards him at blinding speed.

Swoosh!

Alan's eyes widened faintly as he saw the bullets approaching him at an impossible speed. However, his mild surprised only lasted for an instant as he quickly saw through the rapidly approaching bullets and made evasive maneuvers to avoid them.

The flame bullets all drew irregular arc through the air as they flew swiftly, targeting him from different angles.

However, with impressive footwork, Alan skillfully evaded the bullets of flame while with his hand clad in spiritual energy he struck down the ones that were impossible to dodge, at the same time he was gradually closing the distance to Elena.

"Humph, if evading is all you can do then you can forget about defeating me." She exclaimed controlling the bullets of flame.

As Alan drew closer, he was surprised to see the bullets he had already evaded closing in on him from behind. 'I see... Her skill had already reached the level where she can easily control all the bullets she had already fired. This might actually be fun.' At that moment a fierce gleam shone through his eyes as his lips contorted into a smirk.

[... As expected of the one who had received the title 'ruler of battlefield' when it comes to a battle you quickly reverted back to your old self.] Akane commented.

As the bullets closed in on him from all possible direction Alan strengthen his body using his spiritual energy, not only did his physical body strengthened by a slightly fair amount his speed also increased slightly. He had already activated the body strengthening technique of the dragon clan.

Bang! Bang! Bang!...

The bullets all collided with the spot where he had stood mere seconds ago, colliding with the earth. The bullets all raised a cloud of dust as the earth was gouge out from the impact!

However, Elena's expression changed slightly, and out of pure instincts she quickly twisted her body to the side narrowly evading Alan's fist. "Oh, not bad you actually evaded my attack."

"... Why aren't you using your spirit sword?" She questioned as she swung her fan, Alan quickly leapt back evading the slash by a mere inch.

"You are still underestimating me; the dragon clan are known for their great mastery over the spirit sword, but you haven't even summoned yours since we started." She said with furrowed brow.

In other words, he wasn't taking her seriously at all. "..." Alan kept his silence with a frown, he didn't want to expose Akane out in the open like this, so he had decided not to summon her.

"If you are not going to take me seriously then... I'll just have to give you a reason to." Her voice became colder as she said that.

Soon, the temperature of the surroundings increased drastically!

A faint smile appeared at the corners of her luscious red lips as her golden eyes gleamed viciously.

With an elegant movement of her slender hand the fan in her possession opened out completely with a flop.

"... Allow me to show you an advanced spell, meteor assault."

As she chanted the aria for the spell a three-layer magic formation appeared roughly thirty meters above ground.