Cross Worlds

Chapter 45: "The Reason Why"

Five days have passed since Riku failed to beat Raichi. Ever since then he's been focused on exerting as much magical power from his body as possible in an instant. It hasn't been easy in the slightest, after all no one can simply change their fighting style after a single day.

Gina and Haruto help Riku with his magic training, creating the strongest walls of ice and crystal they can muster. Riku fires at the walls again and again, day in and day out. Of course they eventually shatter under the continuous stress, but Riku's goal is to be able to delete them with a single, short, quick burst of power. He gathers as much magic energy he can into his hands, and fires it all in less than a second.

Raichi would, of course, give him advice whenever he saw him training. "It's not that you're weak, but there are going to be times when you're alone and your enemy isn't going to let you just charge up your magic power. You need to be able to hit them hard and hit them fast whenever you want. So, what you need to work on is strengthening your magic power, your magic control, and of course, speed."

These past five days Riku has done nothing but this one thing for training. He trains until he completely burns through the limits of his magic. The next day when his magic had fully recovered, he'd be right back at it. With five days now passed and having done this for several hours and focusing only on one thing, it's no surprise Riku had managed to accomplish what he set out to do.

In an instant, Riku is able to delete even the strongest walls Gina and Haruto can conjure. Even some of the other Teikoki Riku had previously defeated decided to help out with their conjuring abilities, to which Riku was also able to delete their strongest magic in an instant.

"I don't like how much more powerful you've become than me in just a few weeks." Kei looks rather annoyed, for he's quite positive Riku could probably beat him with relative ease now if they were to fight again.

"That's just how awesome Riku is. The day he awakened his magic, he was able to take on and absolutely destroy three professional heroes all on his own!" Haruto has a smug grin as he speaks of Riku's accomplishments.

"Well, I was very angry, and you two along with your parents had tired them out some." Riku says as he pats Gina and Haruto on their heads.

"Don't downplay yourself like that Riku. You're really amazing... Mom and Dad would think so too. They knew it, and we know it, you're going to be one of the most amazing people in the future." Gina states, albeit rather shyly, but there's confidence in her voice whenever she speaks of Riku.

Riku scratches his cheek awkwardly, but smiles. He's happy that he always has these two backing him up. "Thank you, Gina."

"He is rather amazing, beating four of the ten Teikoki in a matter of weeks. I'd like to think I could still give him a run for his money though." Sumira chuckles, patting Riku on the back.

"We can go a round right now if you want." Riku grins at her.

"Shouldn't you save your energy for your fight with me?" Raichi says from the doorway of the training room, making everyone look over. "Artemis' orders, if we're gonna fight it has to be soon. There's a mandatory five day rest period for everyone before the attack on the nobles of any capital." He explains as he steps inside.

"That's three days then, including today..." Riku mutters, closing his eyes and thinking to himself. "If I want to have a match with Eli at least once before the attack, then I need to fight and beat Raichi today." Riku closes his eyes and nods. "How does today sound, Raichi?"

Raichi grins with excitement in his eyes. "Sounds good to me."

"Shame, I suppose it'll have to wait until after the attack for our rematch." Sumira pats Riku on the back. "You'd best stay alive until then, Riku."