Sebastian’s stoic face slightly shifts.

  He jumps into the air, hastily flying towards me.

  I bring up my shield.

  CLANK!

  Guh… What's with this guy’s strength?!

  My forearms start to ache, I push back and throw a right ssh towards his abdomen.

  A miss.

  He nds and charges forward, unching a head on swing.

  SMASH!

  If I was just a bit te at jumping backwards there, I would’ve been crushed!

  I raise my sword.

  The edges of the bde slowly fill with water.

  Swinging the sword forward, a vertical projectile of water shoots out.

  Sebastian slightly swings his hammer, a sudden wave of hot heat flows my direction, evaporating the projectile.

  I nd on the ground, then regain my stance.

  He brushes his bangs upwards, exposing his forehead. “Water magic. I’ve been looking forward to fighting another water affinity user,” says Sebastian.

  “It’s a bit of the opposite for me haha…” I say.

  “I guess you’re not wrong. There’s a lot more fire affinity magic users out there than there is water in this kingdom. I’ll say this though. My fire magic is a lot hotter than your average fire magic user,” Sebastian says with a bnk smile.

  “Thanks for telling me,” I reply half heartedly. I really can’t read his face at all… I guess that’s what being born a Noble does to you.

  “I will ask you once again. Are you sure you do not want to take up my offer of going easy on you, Xavier?”

  “Nah, give me all you got!” I reply with a big smile.

  “Again, you’re an interesting one,” he replies with a slight smile.

  Now that's more like it, Sebastian!

  “Here I come then,” Sebastian says.

  “Ready when you ar-”

  A singur red-orange spark appears out of thin air to the right of me.

  Huh?

  I immediately look back at Sebastian.

  We lock eyes.

  His left hand stuck mid-way in a snapping motion.

  “Fire Creation Magic: Crackle,” he says with a bnk smile.

  Snap.

  My field of vision fills with bright red-orange sparks flickering into existence one after another. The sounds of fire crackling follow.

  KABOOM!

  Close! I barely managed to block that explosion!

  My uniform’s fabric frantically panics as a strong pressure of wind pushes against me.

  I take a deep breath.

  A cloud of dust surrounds me.

  The beating of my heart increases, my right arm tightens its grip to the shield handle.

  Stay calm!

  I take a deep breath.

  Dad, you told me that gambling in battle is a bad habit, but I’m going to have to do it.

  I pnt my shield in front.

  “Sebastian! This is what you’re going to do, right?!” I shout.

  The cloud of dust in front of me opens up circurly - not entirely dispersing.

  There he is!

  We lock eyes.

  Time it!

  His head on attack slowly comes towards my shield.

  “Water Protection Magic: Reflect!”

  I parry his attack - CLANK! - sending his hammer flying backwards.

  His face twists in surprise.

  I grit my teeth and flex my muscles, throwing a right hook to his chest.

  Contact.

  Sebastian's face audibly spits out saliva.

  “GRAHHHH!” I loudly grunt.

  I send Sebastian tumbling away.

  His hammer nds right next to him.

  I step forward through the settling dust.

  Crack!

  A thin crack forms in the green crystal attached to Sebastian's headgear.

  “I’m gd I took that gamble,” I say.

  Sebastian gets up and grabs his hammer.

  “Probably should have expected someone with a shield to be able to parry my attack. A small mistake on my part,” he says.

  He brushes off the sand dust on him and looks at me.

  “Fire Creation Magic: Crackle.”

  Snap.

  Red-orange sparks flicker into existence.

  That attack again!

  I jump backwards.

  KABOOM!

  Step, step, step, step.

  Footsteps rush to my right. I turn toward the sound.

  Snap.

  KABOOM!

  I block the explosion, then jump back and break into a run.

  So that’s how it works, he needs to snap his fingers. But how far is his casting range? I need to figure that out.

  Snap.

  KABOOM!

  The loud noise of explosions follows behind me.

  I abruptly stop, then throw out a water projectile at Sebastian's direction.

  Snap.

  KABOOM!

  He counters the projectile with his explosion attack.

  I break into a run, then throw out two water projectiles.

  Snap.

  KABOOM!

  A counter.

  Sebastian dodges the second projectile, still keeping up his run.

  I think I’ve figured it out.

  Looking ahead, I see a broken building made out of sandstone.

  I screech into pce, feeling the uneven sandstone ground rubbing along my shoes.

  I turn around.

  Sebastian stands a distance away.

  Ah, he got me. Looks like I was too distracted figuring out his explosion attack… Well, I guess this is the perfect spot for me to test out my theory.

  I flip my sword upside down, the tip facing the ground, then bring it up front.

  I stab it into the ground, then close my eyes. The cold feeling of the air conditioned wind caresses my face and runs along my clothing.

  Imagine a waterfall.

  Water begins spilling out the edges of the sword, running along the ground.

  I feel my ankles cool as the water makes contact.

  I open my eyes then look at Sebastian’s direction.

  The water flowing towards his direction evaporates, as the rest of the water circles around him.

  I was right. He has some sort of heat barrier up around him.

  I smirk.

  “Looks like I got you figured out, Sebastian! As long as I don’t stand within the range of your heat barrier - or whatever it’s called - you won’t be able to cast that annoying explosion attack on me,” I say confidently. Also, he didn’t cast that explosion attack when I stopped. It really does look like he can only cast it if I’m a few feet away from him.

  “I got to commend you for figuring that out. However,” He stops mid sentence.

  The water flowing out touches his ankles.

  “I had a different pn in mind, and you walked right into it, Xavier,” he finishes.

  He two hands his hammer.

  “You gave me enough time to amplify my hammer. I’m going to finish this in one attack right now, Xavier!” Sebastian shouts. “Fire Encasing Magic:”

  I have a bad feeling about this!

  Leaving my sword stuck in the ground - still creating water - I pnt my shield up front.

  “Water Protection Magic: Cascade Shield!” I shout.

  The edges of my shield mechanically open, allowing for the water on the ground to engulf the shield’s surface, adding multiple yers of protection. Then three other rger shields made out of water appear up front, one by one. in front of one another.

  “Hellfire,” Sebastian casts.

  Orange-yellow fmes eat the head of his hammer.

  The water around him earlier immediately evaporates, following the slow melting of the sandstone ground below him..

  My field of vision fills with only the colors of yellow and orange.

  He takes a step.

  Boom!

  Sebastian flies towards me at high velocity.

  I grit my teeth.

  He breaks through the water shields in front and meets me.

  We lock eyes.

  CLASH!

  Heavy! Just how much force is there?!

  My arms begin to ache.

  I pnt down my feet, pushing.

  “GRAHHH!” I grunt loudly, feeling my voice box shake.

  The yer of water protection peeling off the shield spshes onto my face, cooling down the heat radiating from Sebastian’s side.

  Crack!

  I look at the green crystal attached to my headgear, there’s a slight fracture.

  Am I taking damage from the heat? Of course I won’t feel it! The combat uniforms really are powerful, aren’t they! If I don’t end this csh, it’s over for me!

  “Give it up, Xavier. You can’t do anything,” says Sebastian.

  “Heh, sorry, but I have friends watching me right now. Ain’t no way I’m giving up that easily!”

  “Well, suit yourself,” he says with an expressionless face.

  It’s getting even heavier and hotter?!

  He forces me to take a step back, slightly disrupting my footing.

  Crack!

  The green crystal’s fracture slightly increases in size.

  “GAHHH!” I grunt, pushing back.

  Damn it! Damn it! I’m beginning to slip! Once he breaks off that st yer of protection, there’s no way I will be able to hold him back!

  My arms and legs ache in pain.

  If I don’t do anything here, it’s over for me!

  I attempt to reach for my sword.

  Cnk!

  I feel Sebastian’s attack touch my shield’s direct surface.

  “It’s over, Xavier,” says Sebastian.

  My arms give out.

  “There will always be someone stronger than you out there, Xavier. But, that just means you can get even stronger! After all, just look at me!”

  Dad, now I understand. Wish I could’ve spent one st time sparring with you before you passed.

  My vision blurs.

  Boom!

  ……

  ….

  …

  ..

  .

  “Ugh…” I cough. My head aches.

  Crack! Shatter!

  It’s in shambles, looks like this is my loss, huh.

  A piece of wood from the already broken building smashes onto the sandstone ground in front of me.

  I hear footsteps coming towards me.

  I slowly bring up my hand, seeing blue fractures around my fingertips and palm.

  Right, I get teleported out of here if I lose.

  The footsteps stop.

  I y my hand back down.

  I look up, Sebastian stands there.

  “You’re strong, Xavier.”

  Hah… I’m strong… huh…

  My consciousness…

  Is fading…

  I can’t…

  Keep…

  My…

  Eyes…

  Open…