"But, I’d rather not argue with you right now, Adri. I’m more focused on Cultivation." Disappearing once more, he left Adrastia unable to reply.
"Well, I can’t say she wasn’t. A little annoying. But, I’ll just wait and see if she stays the same."
Sighing once, he reached the training area for Royal Guard trainees. Entering, Minerva sat in the corner, looking at a book titled [Basics of Esoteric Path]. Walking over, she looked up, facing him. "Hm? What is it, Caelus?"
"Ah, I want to know, is it okay if we spar right now? I just want to see how much I’ve grown in the past month."
"Perhaps, I’m not as busy as I was before, plus I would love to see how much you’ve changed as well."
Minerva got up, closed her book, and slowly made it disappear into tiny blue cubes.
"Did you have to do an effect?" Caelus turned away, even though he liked how it looked; it felt a little much, since she could’ve just made it disappear instead. "Unless she doesn’t know how to do that, this is another world; they don’t think like me."
"Yes. I like the flare of it disappearing like that." Following Caelus, they entered the Arena. Minerva kept a distance, facing Caelus now, her hands crossed as she waited for Caelus to act. "Well, what are you waiting for? Start with an attack."
Noticing a change in the air, she jumped to the side as a thin slash flew by, cutting through the ground and glass ceiling.
Keeping her focus on Caelus, she launched herself forward, her hand flying towards his chest. Caelus shifted his body and threw a kick at her head while his chest moved to the right, giving him enough space for it to miss and slam into her head.
Launched to the side, she rolled on the ground before using that to jump up and regain her balance. Mist formed, disappearing once more. Standing behind him, she punched right at his back, connecting and launching him away, though his tail, in a panic, wrapped around her leg, dragging her with him.
Getting up just as quickly as Minerva, he turned to face her, pointing his finger to the left, sending multiple Rends towards Minerva, being stronger than what he used in the first spar, so the cuts weren’t shallow and caused actual damage, but it wasn’t too much.
Minerva shifted to the left, having misjudged for a split second that he was pointing right. Though her body knew. The rend crashed into her as she felt deeper cuts, and a sting of pain grew into something similar to getting hit by a truck. "So he’s gauging for me, well, that’s better than before. Dammit, this hurts."
Caelus gave her no time to recover; he shifted his stance to one similar to the one before. His hand flew forward, balled into a fist, and he slammed it right into her chin, though he didn’t open it, not because it would hurt; he knew she would survive and brush off. They weren’t trying to kill each other. But because he felt it would be too bloody.
Jumping back as Minerva flew up. Finally, she regained composure, taking this more seriously. She pushed herself back in the air, staying afloat.
Noticing something was wrong, her body began failing her as she constantly regenerated, hence wasting Mana. Rushing to Caelus, she slammed into him, yet as Caelus lifted a shield to block her advance, he saw it was just a piece of stone, which made him let go of Erosion because he had lost focus on where she was.
"Shit-"
Turning around, he watched her approach, sending a kick up, he moved his hand to try and block it once more, though it felt weird, something warm on her leg, only then, the leg burst into plasma, moving at her full speed. Caelus still had to accelerate; he was sent flying right into the wall.
Getting out of the rubble, Caelus dusted off all the tiny particles from the destroyed debris. Looking ahead, Minerva was ready to punch his face, though, right before it made Contact-
"PARADOX MOVEMENT!"
Pausing in place, she tried to move even more, trying to brute force past it. However, Caelus gave her no time, punching her right in the chest as he created a Rupture in space, sending her flying across the Arena.
The wall broke as she flew past the Arena; Rupture, instead of simply rupturing space, bypassed it entirely. Hitting directly at the entity he wanted to hit. Without touching any of the defenses.
[Ninety Two Percent of Mana is conserved, and you have successfully landed three physical attacks on her. Two more left.]
Flying ahead, Caelus went head-on to Minerva’s location, sensing her approaching. Caelus Repositioned Himself in the air, adding rotational kinetic energy to his body. On top of his normal movement, he made his next attack even more powerful. Due to the small correction, he had increased his own base speed by ten percent.
"DRACONIC OVERDRIVE"
As soon as he spoke, Minerva moved her hand forward as she caught his legs, feeling no damage, only for her to be launched back a few meters due to the force passing a few seconds later. Though she’d readied herself, the force was stronger than she anticipated.
Twisting his body as Minerva kept her grip, he pulled her with him, due to his weight being higher than what his body showed. It threw Minerva off balance, successfully making her let go of him.
"Okay, you want to take this to the sky so we can do more?"
"Of course, I would love to go... All out."
Jumping up, Minerva stayed in the sky, right between the end of the planet’s atmosphere and space itself. Of which Caelus followed, Ready to continue fighting. Minerva flew forward, her hand swung to his right, only for it to completely switch. Having committed to the block, he tried to twist his body. She had anticipated it. Shifting her arm into a grab, holding his hand and throwing him to the side, launching a blast of Mana, one which burned incredibly bright.
"OW THAT- Okay, she wasn’t lying when she said all out."
The burn marks persisted on his body, though Caelus slowly shed that skin so he could heal. His scales, on the other hand, were heat-resistant enough that they didn’t seem affected.
Looking to the side, Minerva approached, her legs wrapping around his neck, though she was pulled off as his tail panicked and smacked into her head, knocking her to the side.
[All Conditions have been met. You have unlocked the Draconic Martial Manual.]
Looking at Minerva, she turned to him and swung her hand, a blade of Mana as it cut his skin, reaching to the inner area of his chest, almost touching his stomach. As soon as it did, his blood began leaking down. Taking a moment, he realized this as his body healed itself back incredibly quickly.
"Okay, calm. I think we can call the spar off now."
"Really? I was just getting started. But, fair enough, I felt something change, though, so I’ll have to investigate soon."
"I see. Well, best of luck with that-"
[Progress in Martial Arts 18%]
"Hm, so I’ve made progress, well, that’s good, but I still need a lot to work on... I guess actually fighting would help with it. But now I can finally focus on Alchemy."
Taking a moment to look at his hand, his tail swung around, almost as if it were frustrated, hence its erratic motion.
"Ah. Yes, I still need to talk more with Tellus and Sol. I need to get better at talking."
Blinking once, he flew down, landing on the Empire’s pathways. He’d already seen this place, looking at the homes. The architecture was different from what he’d first assumed; it was mixed with hints of German Architecture, though completely alien to Earth in every other aspect.
"Oh, Caelus, you’re finally back. Did you go back to training?"
"Ah, yeah, I did, though it was mostly to get better at something other than my techniques. But... I won’t be telling at least here."
"Well, at least you’re learning. But I won’t ask, I did hear you told Adrastia that we went on our first date, right?"
"Yeah, I loved the look on her face, though."
"Alright, fine, just make sure not to reveal it to anyone else yet, maybe once we actually get together."
"Makes sense, well, I do need to know, have you gotten better at using your sword? Also, speaking of it, do you have any name for it?"
"I’ve gotten considerably better, though, it was because of a small mistake I overlooked. I had assumed such was a natural feature of the stance I used, since nothing is truly perfect in every aspect of what it is made for."
Caelus hadn’t replied; hearing what she said, he waited to see if she would continue.
"Though I have to say the method of using the sword they teach others and students is incredibly bad, as the sword techniques aren’t good in the slightest, I had to take a few years just to grow out of the basic swings I used to do." Pausing for a moment, she ran through her memories.
"Ah, also, the techniques they make everyone use aren’t very good for actual combat when it comes to a one-to-one, though it makes sense, since teaching even higher-level techniques would mean giving out secrets to basically anyone."
Caelus noticed an unknown presence. Compared to other cultivators, this wasn’t like any of the ones he’d seen before. It was faintly familiar, though still different enough that he couldn’t tell who it was. His eye shifted to the person standing close by, listening to Tellus speak.
"I think it’s best if we continue talking about this later, Tellus. After all, did you say you shouldn’t reveal certain things to others?"
"Oh! Wait, why didn’t you say earlier!" A pout from her as she turned to him, glaring with annoyance.
"Well, fine, at least you listened." A sigh of relief. "Unlike everyone else I talk to, they stop talking as soon as I go rambling... Even Minerva."
"That’s the least I could do, though I would’ve liked to actually... You know, engage with it. I know nothing about the Empire or how the Valoria path works." A soft chuckle as he looked at her, somewhat embarrassed. But he didn’t hide the expression.
"Why... Is he so honest? It’s not bad. He’s himself; he doesn’t even care what other people think. Dragons are like, honestly, I wish I could see."
"Hm? You thinking of something to do, Tellus? We could go out and see the snow, or does the cold bother you?"
"I can handle the cold well enough, Caelus, but I’d rather not go out at least right now, while a war is occurring, but I think we could go and try playing some games, you know- Wait. Okay, well, you don’t do something like that." Points to a board with about fifty pieces, each different and shown to serve a different purpose.
"Ah shit, I forgot the name of the game... Think Tellus, think-" Her eyes changed, becoming half lidded as she went to thinking what the game even was. Though she wasn’t even paying attention to her surroundings, until Caelus’s tail smacked her in the face.
"Hey, focus again, we’re in public, not your bedroom."
[Oooh, quick, say something like you want to-]
"Aphro, please, don’t give me a headache. I’m trying to focus on the person watching us."
[Fineee, alright, have your couple of times, I guess.]
"Well, shall we go? I would rather we discuss this inside your home. Instead of, you know, the middle of the street, where people can unintentionally hear you."
"Ah, sorry, I keep forgetting." Tellus turned away, hiding her embarrassment, not wanting to look anything lower than she wanted to be seen as.