The battle begins! Viraa informs Alissia and the others of a unique method that may help even the odds against Avarice and his group. Meanwhile, Avarice and his group finally begin the final phase of their agenda. Can Alissia and her friends prevail...
"You're holding back," I called to them over the wind. "Stop worrying and give me everything you got—without transforming."
Thankfully, they complied, amplifying their energies in response. My stasis field started to bend inward from their impact points as I began to struggle to keep them at bay.
I noticed Tymon's fist slowly edging closer. Right, he was much more powerful than Michael now. I had to focus more energy on pushing back against him, but, to my utter shock, this weakened the area around Michael's attack, allowing his bright talons to nearly reach me.
Why didn't I think of that? It was like spirit enhancement: focusing energy on one spot would strengthen that area but weaken the rest.
Just as I was about to say "stop," his kick broke through completely and connected, sending me reeling past Tymon and into the far wall.
"Agh!" I called out in pain as I fell to the floor and rolled to my side. I looked down to see my stomach had been burned where the kick touched me. "Crap, I should've used spirit enhancement too."
Fortunately, Tymon's attack was not the one that broke through, Viraa stated.
Michael rushed to my side to heal me. We watched as the burn marks mended themselves and began to fade as Michael tried to apologize.
"I'm alright; I'm not made of glass," I told him. "We need to continue so that I can get better. I don't need you to hold my hand, so don't even think about taking it easy on me. Any damage done, you can heal after."
Michael looked at me, stunned, but he nodded solemnly.
"Of course," he replied, seeing my resolve.
"Okay," Tymon said, appearing over me with another helping hand extended. "In that case, we'll spend the next two months getting you up to fighting standards."
I grinned as I got to my feet.
"Let's go again."
****
The next seven weeks were filled with us pushing each other to our limits as we learned the extent of our new powers. Before we knew it, it was January 22nd, 3046, and Viraa informed us that our time was up.
Everyone had emerged from our training more confident in our abilities. Even I felt like a completely different person than when we started.
"So, today's the day..." I muttered as everyone gathered upstairs in the living area.
"I'd be more excited if I had a better opponent," Arne sulked as they turned on the TV built into the wall to my left. I discovered Arne had a guilty pleasure in watching animal documentaries about lions. A couple of weeks back, Arne had gotten hurt facing me and had to wait until Michael and Za'Fia finished their sparring match against Tymon.
"Someone had to draw the short end," Za'Fia teased. "Although, I have a problem: how am I supposed to fight seriously if my clothes burn away?"
"I could make you some," I offered. "I've been practicing with Construct a lot lately. Making clothes is pretty simple."
"Armor!" Naomi yelled excitedly as she dashed over to cling to Za'Fia. "Make armor like mine; then we can match."
"I'm not sure if armor is suited for everyone," Damien chuckled. He was sitting cross-legged on the edge of the sofa across from us.
"Do you want armor?" I asked Za'Fia.
"So long as I can fight in it, and it doesn't melt or burn, I'm fine with it."
"Yes!" Naomi exclaimed as she lifted and spun Za'Fia around. "We're going to be twins!"
I combined my fair understanding of cindium with certain metals such as steel and even threw in some leather for elasticity to construct a fireproof armor for Za'Fia. It had deep red outlines with a crimson base color. I designed it to be different from Naomi's, which was more of a big one-piece with a cape (that was missing now that I paid attention to it).
Za'Fia's was created with five piece sets: boots, a hip and leg piece that would hug her figure, a torso piece, two gauntlets, two shoulder pieces, and a neck and collarbone piece. I designed it to ensure she'd look fierce and stunning at the same time.
"Here you go," I said as I handed the set to Za'Fia, who quickly changed into it.
When she came out, Naomi shrieked. Even Tymon's eyebrow quivered slightly as she entered the room.
"Not what I had in mind, but it's cute and comfortable. Thanks," Za'Fia expressed as she placed her cloak from my mom on top of it.
"Now what?" she asked.
"Now we go find—"
A sudden high-pitched sound rang from the TV, causing everyone to cover their ears.
"Arne, wha—"
I stopped as I stared at the title written across the screen. In bold letters as part of the breaking news was: GODS AMONG MAN! ANONYMOUS MESSENGER REVEALS HUMANITY'S GREATEST ENEMY!
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Fun fact: Za'Fia, the "Tempered Dragon", was known for being easily agitated, aggressive, and temperamental in her past lives, but today, she tries to control her anger ever since an incident when she was younger. For the most part, she has it under control. For the most part...
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