The red thread of fate?

As the three-layer magic formation glowed with a resplendent light a large mass of matter began to take shape several meters above ground casting a large shadow over the surroundings.

The tip of the meteor was pointed towards Alan who stood a few meters away from Elena.

"H-Hey, isn't this a bit much?" Alan's brow twitches as he felt a bit overwhelmed by the huge mass that loomed over his head.

"Are you finally going to start taking me seriously now?" With a chuckle Elena snapped her soft, slender finger, signaling the start of the match.

Swoosh!

The air shuddered as the meteor began its descension!

'Tsk, I have no other option left. Akane!' With little option Alan called out to his most trusted partner.

[Understood!] Her reply was immediate.

Soon, as the giant mass grew larger in his gaze Alan moved swiftly, closing the distance to the descending meteor with his hand arched back.

As Akane's sword form began to take shape, Alan launched himself upwards towards the meteor. "Blood slash!" He bellowed with a wide horizontal swing of his sword.

Swoosh!

A red arc of blood was sent towards the meteor!

BOOOOOM!...

Soon, a deafening sound resounded from the point of impact as a tremendous shockwave erupted from the resulting explosion!

"Kyaa!" Elena deployed a barrier made from magical energy to shield herself from the intense air pressure and debris that was sent flying in all directions.

Similarly, Alan shielded himself with an invisible barrier as he observed the scattering debris flying all around in a semicircle.

As the air exploded the mass of the meteor crumbled into mere bits of dirt and fell to the ground, obstructing the view of the surroundings Alan quickly seize that opportunity to close the distance to Elena in her moment of weakness.

However, Elena had used Magic to sharpen her senses allowing her to sense his approach. With her slender hand outstretched she quickly recited the aria for her spell.

"Flame bullet!" A geometric magic formation appeared, firing multiple bullets of flame several meters in diameter towards the direction Alan was approaching.

Swoosh!

Soon, Alan narrowed his eyes as he saw some area of the dust cloud being blown away and several bullets of flame came shooting out at an impossible speed!

Sensing the incoming attack Alan clad the blade of his sword in spiritual energy cutting down each of the flame bullets as they approach.

"Humph, let's see how long you can keep that up." She exclaimed, as she remotely controlled each of the flame bullets, targeting Alan from multiple angles at once.

[As expected, her ability to control the fire type element is most splendid.] Akane praise from the bottom of her heart.

'I see why she was blessed to be born with the flame body physique. ' Akane thought to herself as she observed everything from within Alan's soul.

"However, I'm curious, why is the flame body physique so unstable. Don't tell me someone did something to her that interfered with the construction of the flame body physique."

Akane placed her finger beneath her chin as she ponders to herself amused with the situation. However, at that moment Alan's voice resounded inside her head.

'Why are you so relaxed, you do notice we are in a difficult situation here, right?' Alan complained in annoyance.

Alan sharpened his senses and took a breath as he observed the trajectory of each of the flame bullets.

With each swing of his sword multiple flame bullets was cut in two halves and exploded as he sets his eyes onto the next.

It was impossible to decern the shape of his blade with the naked eyes as he swung so many times that he created after images one after another.

"Tch, how is he able to predict where each of those flame bullets are going to attack?" Elena wondered as she continued manipulating each of the flame bullets.

Finally, a look of impatience began to appear on her face as a sheen of sweat trickled down her brow.

While her compatibility to the fire type attribute was perfect, remotely controlling so many at once took a huge toll on her magical energy.

It takes a tremendous amount of control and concentration to accurately manipulate so many projectile spells at once.

Even someone like Cassidy, a prodigy of the sun clan would have a hard time controlling so many at once.

'I can't keep this up, he is also closing the distance as he evades my attacks.' With that thought Elena gather the remainder of her flame bullets and combined them into one as they gathered at the center of the magic formation.

A giant ball of crimson flames measuring roughly twenty meters in diameter was fired towards Alan. Not expecting the sudden attack Alan's eyes widened faintly however, despite his initial surprise his body neither hesitated nor cower.

"Blood wall!" He bellowed! And following his command four walls of blood ten meters tall and ten centimeters wide in length suddenly appeared before him, protecting him from the incoming attack.

BOOOOOM!

With a thunderous sound, the flame ball collided with the first blood wall. The wall shuddered as it did its best to resist the ball of flame.

However...

Bang!

The wall crumbled and became droplets of blood as the flame ball made its way towards the second blood wall. With a fierce struggle the second wall of blood also crumbled and fell apart.

However, as it made its way through the blood walls the strength behind the flame ball was gradually being sapped away, becoming weaker and weaker with each distant it traverses.

Noticing that Elena furrowed her brow in displeasure. The flame ball soon struck the last blood wall as it dispersed into the atmosphere and dissipated.

Swoosh!

With a swing of his sword the stirring of the wind resounded fiercely. However, Elena used the side of her hand-held fan to deflect the blade while stepping back to create distance between them.

Unfortunately, Alan had no plans of going easy on her as he stepped forward, once again swinging his sword in a vertical slash.

"Tsk, inferno!" She once again chanted another fire type spell, releasing a blast of flame. At the same time Alan released a slash of blood from the blade of his sword.

Both attacks collided mid-air, exploding with a deafening sound. Elena quickly raised her guard and was about to cast another spell when suddenly she froze in her tracks.

From her neck she felt the tip of a sharp blade being pointed there.

"I guess it's my victory." Alan whispered into her ear from behind. Feeling his breath against her ear Elena shuddered slightly before ultimately sighing, her slender shoulders slumped in dejection.

"It's your win, I yield." She replied, in a faint voice.

"Oh, that's a shock." Alan widened his eyes and raised an eyebrow in a show of surprised. "What?" Elena gently looked back over her shoulder as she asked.

"With that stubborn personality of yours I'm just surprised you would actually admit your defeat."

"What! I am not a child, of course I know when to admit when I lost." She snorted as she looked at him reproachfully.

"Ahaha... I see. You are far more lenient than I thought."

"Now I'm really curious how you see me inside your head." When Alan removed the tip of his blade from her neck Elena moved a meter or so away from him.

"I deeply apologize if I had offended you, lady Elena." Alan said as he bowed his head towards her.

"It's Elena." She suddenly said, as she turned her gaze away from him with slightly flushed cheeks.

"Hm?" Not understanding the meaning behind her words Alan tilted his head in doubt.

"Tsk, just call me Elena. There is no need to add any honorifics to my name." She explained, succinctly.

Alan's eyes widened as he goggles at her before asking hesitantly, "A-Are you sure that's okay?"

"I'm the one who gave you permission, didn't I? And also, you are the young master of the esteem dragon clan, you shouldn't be lowering yourself so easily." Elena peered at his face as she said that.

"Ahaha... Y-Yes, you are correct." Alan scratches his cheeks with an awkward laugh.

While he personally didn't care much about being a young master, it was true that he couldn't be lowering himself to someone so easily.

"By the way, what's up with that sword of yours, how are you able to manipulate blood?" Elena's golden eyes shone as she asked.

"This is my spirit sword and as you guess, it gives me total control over blood." Alan explained.

Although he really didn't want to expose Akane's abilities, since he had used it during their battle he decided it wasn't something he could hide from her anymore.

"A spirit sword capable of manipulating blood, interesting. I didn't think something like that was possible." Elena glanced at the long two-handed silver sword in Alan's hand with deep interest for a moment.

"But I must say, your magical ability really is impressive. Your control is also superb." Alan smiled as he praised her skills sincerely.

"Hmph, of course, I am from the sun clan. So it's only natural that my magical ability is topnotch." Elena declared as she puffed up her chest proudly. However, for a moment a slight frown appeared on her face which naturally didn't go unnoticed from Alan's sharp eyes.

"Is something wrong, lady Elena?"

"Didn't I tell you not to use honorifics when addressing me?" Elena asked, narrowing her golden eyes.

"Ahaha... My apologies, it's a habit." Alan replied.

He had constantly been using honorifics whenever he addressed someone so naturally it became a daily habit of his.

"Not to mention, as my fiancé you and I are deeply connected by an inseparable thread. If we can't even addressed each other naturally won't our relationship become stiff and uncomfortable?" Elena explained, her cheeks blushing faintly.

For a moment Alan was at a loss for words and just continued to stare at her face from a close proximity.

"Indeed, you are correct." Alan said, nodding his head. However, the faint shadow covering her face didn't disappear.

"... Are you okay?" He inquired, cautiously as though to not step on a landmine.

"It's nothing to worry about." Elena said, with a slightly troubled smile.

"..." Alan observed her carefully with a frown, he had a feeling something was definitely not right but decided not to pry any further.

"... Okay, if you say so."

A strange silence fell around them as no one spoke after that.

[Do you want me to give you two some room?] Akane asked with a faint smirk at the corners of her lips.

'Shut up, Akane.' Alan replied to her while maintaining the smile on his face outwardly. However, the current atmosphere was rather stressful on his nerves, so Alan quickly cleared his throat and broke the silence.

"A-Anyway, I'm sure your guards must be panicking about your sudden absence, why don't we search for them?" He suggested.

"Y-Yes." Perhaps she was also feeling embarrassed about the current atmosphere, her voice came out as a shrill squeak. With a smile still adorning his lips Alan grasps her delicate slender hand and went towards the direction of the capital.

With his face turned to the front Alan had naturally failed to notice Elena was glancing at him with slightly surprised eyes when he had taken her hand.

However, that slight surprise eventually contorted into a faint smile as her nerves relaxed. At that moment a red thread was connected to both Alan and Elena spiritual body.

"Oh interesting, so... These two really are fated to be a match made in heaven after all."

Akane who dwelled within Alan's soul observed the thin red thread while chuckling to herself.

There were four different types of threads. Black, white, golden and red.

The black thread is said to be connected to those who are destined to be enemies. While the white thread is connected to those who are destined to form a deep and inseparable friendship.

Gold is a thread that is rarely seen and are connected to those who have a great destiny ahead of them and are meant to make great achievements during their lifetime.

The red thread is something normally invisible to the eyes however, a spiritual lifeform like Akane could naturally see and touch the red thread.

Not many understand the thread, however. It was said that those who are linked with the red thread of fate also known as the red thread of love are deeply connected by fate and are destined to always be together.

The current Alan and Elena weren't close emotionally but upon noticing the red thread of fate Akane deduced things won't stay that way in the future as they gradually closed the gap in their relationship.

'Alan or rather, Ellard was never experienced in love or relationship in the past. Hopefully, in this life he will finally learn there are more things in life besides fighting and serving that woman.' She thought to herself.

She was also really intrigued about the reaction of the goddess and the others when they finally reunited with them again.

There were actually a lot of women who were in love with Ellard in the past.

Unfortunately, he never bats an eye to any of them as he was completely detached from his feelings and uninterested in love.

But now that he was living as Alan and spending so much time with his family of his current life it seems he was gradually starting to reconnect with his emotions.

"... Love, I have no interest in such trivial things. As long as I can swing my sword for that person, as long as I can continue fighting then I am satisfied with my current lifestyle."

Those were the words Ellard had told her back when she had asked him to start a relationship with the opposite sex.

Akane's bright blue eyes flash as she watched Alan who currently had a faint smile at the corners of his lips. For a moment she couldn't help but exhibit a smile of her own.

"Hehehe... How interesting, I can't wait to see how things develop."

Akane was like an eager child wanting to see what happens nexts in her favorite show as she continued to observe the two who were currently walking through the sea of crowd with their arms closely linked together.