"What... What was that?"Ronan felt dizzy. The moment the battle ended, the citrus-like scent dispersed, and the scene changed before his very eyes. The seas of lava, the cracks, the heat, all disappeared without leaving a trace, as if the whole thing was nothing but a realistic joke.
"Are you okay?" Terry asked from next to him.
"I"ll be fine." Ronan replied and sighed. "I feel a bit dizzy, but I"ll live."
"Do you need some help?"
"I"ll be fine."
"Alright, if you need something, don"t hesitate to say so." Terry flashed a gentle smile, before turning away to look at the arena below. The woman, Kriemhild, together with Theodore has left the arena after the surprise blow, leaving Venefica and Luna in the arena.
The silence that enveloped the arena showed that the announcer were similarly confused on what happened.
Finally, after several seconds that felt like an eternity, the announcer whistled, attempting to cover the fact that he was confused for a bit.
"That was an unexpected outcome, a B-rank Incarnation defeating an rank with a surprise attack! As per the rules, the win for this last round goes to the audience favorite, Luna and Venefica! The reward of ten thousand points will be deposited as per the rules!"
Most cheered, their screams loud enough to drown out the sounds of displeasure or even the conversation from several groups gathering in the audience seats.
"Hey, Ronan. Say... What do you think?"
"Honestly, that was... A bit anticlimactic." Ronan shrugged. "The battle was a bit on the quicker side."
"Of course, Kriemhild let her guard down, after all."
"What do you mean?"
"That"s for you to discover." Terry hummed. "Wouldn"t want to ruin the surprise."
"Then why bother saying, dammit."
"It might be of use to you, of course. Who knows, you might be able to discover the secret before the day comes."
Terry stood up, his gaze distant.
"We will meet again, Ronan."
--
After walking home to clear his mind, Ronan threw himself on the nearest couch from the front door, sighing after thinking about Terry"s odd behavior. The guy was nice, if a bit cryptic, but there was an odd perfection to his behavior. It was similar to watching a movie or a show, that no matter how realistically one tries to act, there will always be an unrealistic feel to it.
He was pleasant, but everything about him felt… rehea.r.s.ed.
Mere hours after the battle, the internet was abuzz with theories as usual. However, this time, there seems to be several conflicting threads at once, both describing two vastly different versions of what happened. Some described the battle he saw, with the seas of lava and cracked earth before the battle ended and everything came back to what it was.
Others said that the battle ended in mere minutes, all with one slash to take down the old man.
As of this afternoon, the scant amount videos posted seems to corroborate the latter version. However, the damage was done, and the forum is divided into two factions, those who saw the elemental magic, and those who saw nothing but one unfair slash aimed at the old man"s exposed backside.
"Well..."
He swiped the screen on his phone, his thumb hovering over Claire"s contact information. After several minutes of staring at the numbers on the screen, he decided to contact her
He told her all the information he collected about the probable next enemies, and debated with himself to either tell them to be wary about Terry, before finally deciding to shove the matter on the back of his thoughts. Even though he has his suspicions, there was no actual evidence, and undue suspicions would probably hinder them rather than help.
With his phone in hand, he returned back into his room, eager to rest after the day.
--
Claire tossed and turned, the day"s excursion was not enough to tire her out. Since the encounter, for some reason she felt restless, the feeling similar to a persistent slow, rhythmic clawing on a wooden surface. There was a feeling of something, something odd, something similar to an itch from somewhere she couldn"t place...
At last, she woke up.
The first thing she noticed in the darkness of her bedroom is the lack of a figure sleeping on the floor next to her.
"Fiora?"
Even with the less than stellar lighting from the star-shaped nightlight on the desk across the bed, it was clear that the girl has disappeared somewhere in the dead of night.
Now that she"s more or less fully awake, Claire decided to step off from the bed and go outside the room, careful to tiptoe when pa.s.sing through Ivanna"s room. From the window, even with the dim nightlight, Ivanna can be seen sprawled on the bed, one leg hanging from the side.
A bit far from the tables, almost to the corner of the wall, Fiora sat on the floor. Her chain bracelet was lying on the floor next to her, while flames dance on the top of her palm. The flame danced and spun around, forming various swirly shapes, before slowing down and finally forming a tiny golemlike creature made of red crystals and dancing orange flames. The creature has nothing below the waist, instead, a trail of fire and smoke can be seen there.
"Feeling restless even after today?" Claire said, sitting on the chair from the nearby dining table. "You can sit there, if you want. After all, the floor is rather cold. Just be careful." Claire pointed at the chair next to hers.
Fiora played with fire for a few seconds before finally nodding, taking her chain and letting her form return to the familiar ashen girl Claire had gotten familiar with in the short time they spent together.
"Can"t sleep?"
"No, I was merely thinking." Fiora answered, sitting at the chair Claire pointed at a few seconds earlier.
"What happened? Something you… No, something troubling you?"
"Nothing but a feeling, that"s all." Fiora sighed. "It has come to my attention that I might have forgotten some of my techniques."
"What do you mean? You looked fine at the first round."
Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.
Fiora shook her head.
"Even though that might be the case, I was not performing my best. I have recalled one, however I can"t say for certain how much more I lost."
"Take your time, then. There is no real reason to rush. If it helps, would you show it to me? The technique you remembered, I mean."
"You have seen the end result. However, I do not see harm in replicating it once more." Fiora nodded, removing her chain once more. The moment her armor came into existence, it felt like a surge of heat came together and gathered in front of them, forming small embers in the air. The embers all turned into a cloud of swirling fire.
A few moments pa.s.sed, and the top of the small tornado hardened into red crystals, forming a golem with gemlike upper body and a spectral, dancing fire for its lower body. As the golem fully materialized, the heat from the room dropped bit by bit, the tiny creature absorbing the heat and keeping it in.
Not content to keep the creature static, the golem moved and raised both of its fists, the holes around the face moving like it was shouting a battle cry. Even though the hole around where the mouth should be moved the most, not a single peep of sound can be heard.
Afterwards, the golem swung its tiny right fist forward, while moving its mouth as if it was grunting. It was clear, that the gesture would be intimidating in the battlefield, or at least powerful as a message - however, the super deformed look of the stone creature made the expression lean towards the cute side, like a tiny collectible toy capable of movement.
Claire smiled at the little creature.
"I am relieved you seems to enjoy it." Fiora moved the little creature again, and it made an impression of spreading its arms in a big hug.
"It does look really cute." Claire smiled, forcing herself to swallow the upcoming question about the effectiveness of such a technique on the battlefield. "That aside, though. Don"t you feel tired? My head is pounding already." Claire rubbed her forehead.
"I will be fine, you should go first. I will follow later."