TBATE| The Walking Catastrophe

Chapter 24 - The Phoenix and the Leviathan

Aqua Pov

"So what, we just wait here like a pair of dumbasses until the Lances show up?" I asked Uto as the two of us lurked in the darkness of the barn.

"It's for dramatic effect kid, just play along."

I rolled my eyes in the pitch-black darkness of the room, confident that Uto hadn't seen as we lounged around, waiting.

"So, which one do you want?" I said, breaking the awkward silence that had built up while we idly stood by.

He visibly quivered in excitement and I could see his pupils dilate ever so slightly, "I want Leywin."

"Alright then, I'll make sure to try and get the rain coming as quickly as possible so that you can use the shadows from the overcast clouds."

Despite the fact that he already planned to lure his opponent into a massive shadow, if the two took the fight out of there somehow, he would need my rain.

"That's why I love fighting with you kid." Uto slapped me in the back before he sat down and stewed in his own anticipation.

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Eventually, after almost an hour of being bored out of my mind waiting, I could hear the sounds of shouting and rapid mana fluctuation.

I stood stiffly, preparing for my first actual fight of the war.

Finally, when Uto deemed it time, he walked out into the light as I stayed.

I could hear him speaking with a few people, and I left out the back of the building, about a couple hundred feet away from where Uto would be fighting Arthur Leywin.

I began to manipulate the atmosphere, high up in the clouds, releasing so much pressure that my opponent would be able to find me without any trouble.

I was only left waiting for a minute or so when I finally saw the man...or thing that I was supposed to be fighting.

He stood a few inches taller than me and he confidently approached, his aura like a stifling volcano seconds before erupting.

I now understood that our information was utterly inaccurate.

Summoning my trident, I buried it into the ground as I fixed my posture and steeled my resolve. This person wasn't a silver-core mage like I had been told. They possessed a white core...and one more developed than mine at that. And to top it off, he wore an exquisite set of armor that covered every inch of his athletically framed body.

His armor was something that I instantly figured out to be of Asuran descent, and while it was beautifully stunning and equally imposing, I could tell that it wasn't of quite as good quality as my trusty trident.

Watching my opponent stride toward me adorned in his sleek, black body armor, I willed my own set of armor to form around me covering me from head to toe.

I couldn't see what he looked like, or how old he was, but judging by his presence alone, I could tell he was dangerous.

"So, are we going to just jump straight into this or what?" He said, his voice sounding unnaturally muffled from under his metallic armor.

"I think I'd enjoy a chat for a minute," I replied, hoping to stall for time while I manipulated the atmosphere.

Despite his face being covered, I could almost picture the sneer covered across his hidden face, "I'm not an idiot, I can tell what you're doing."

Without warning, he burst forward, his swift movement empowered by two extremely potent explosions as he sent a hulking blast of normal-looking fire at me.