Settle

Outskirts.

Mazuno's Hut.

Appearing from the dust was a girl clad in patched coloured Beast skin. Adepa with her black hair trimmed into a ponytail with an exquisite appearance blessed with perfect curves from her top to bottom and two papaya which were now prominent in her attire was desire invoking even though she was just a little girl who was yet to hit her puberty.

With a grasping motion and a serious face, she materialized a long white blade, pointing it towards a white-haired boy who was currently swallowing hard. His hair was wet with various pieces of wood, dust and broken ice which covered his pale white body. 

One look was enough to read the current situation. 

Mazuno, who had pretty much been stumped by Adepa's watering looks, just shook his head in an attempt to ward off any unnecessary stuff his mind was now making up. From a viewer's position, he seemed to be pretty much blushing from the redness on his face.

Yet that wasn't the truth at all. From using Earth Spark though not for the first time. The mental fatigue he experienced was different from when he had used it unconsciously. Even though, he had yet to awaken physically at that time. His already awakened spirit had manifested Earth Spark to a level pushing him physically to awaken.

So apart from the emotion he was experiencing now he was also exhausted. And from the looks of it, he was sure that the shrine he was pulled into for the second time. Had pretty much drained his Earth Spark. The thing is, at his age, it should have been even impossible to hold his spiritual fortitude in a shrine itself, but he was pretty much free from such limitations even though he was a mere beginner.

With all this, It was pretty obvious to point out that his earlier reflexes and evasion had pushed his mind and body to the point of exhaustion, unable to hide his weariness any longer.

Yet all he did was take a deep breath and look forward with clear eyes.

" Mazuno, as I said, everything is always a game to you. I don't know what to do about you anymore. " Adepa said closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. 

" You know that day. When I was with you, playing catch. I felt really happy. In fact, I have always felt that way with you. But, when I look at you, it feels as if I am some sort of amusement to you, and this thought became solidified when I saw how you interacted with the other children. "Adepa contined while making her way towards Mazuno. Her steps were firm and her face was cold. She wanted Mazuno to know that what happened to them was in any way normal and that ever since that day obvious signs of whether physical, emotional, mental and reproductive had seemingly been raised exponentially. 

And from the words of her mother, she needed to make sure this little guy acknowledged her presence and importance than ever. It didn't matter whether they were children who were not even certified pubertal. She had to make this little guy feel her more intimately. 

" Let's settle this. I don't want to be always running after you, losing to you and being ignored by you. I want to run with you, win with you, and be cherished by you. And the only way is to settle it like you always do. " 

" A GAME you propose then. "

This time it was Mazuno who spoke with a smile plastered on his face. Although he didn't know how everything about Adepa wanting to bathe with him had such a twist. But there was something about this twist that made him happy. 

Fighting for a change was pretty much cool with him. And he wasn't the least bothered about not being in top form. 

The world doesn't care whether you are at full potential when it throws hurdles your way.

Mazuno didn't know why, but ever since he was intelligent enough to speak properly, he felt a certain urgency. The urgency to be ready to protect his mother and now the images of that evil man abusing a woman strengthened this notion of his.

Make due preparation while the sunshines were something that was deep-seated with him.

And now that notion now encompassed not just his mother. He had added Adepa and every single person on this very soil to it.

So with a crack of his fingers, he put forward the rules, emphasizing more on the catch at the end.

" Adepa, I think we should decide on an outcome. Since you have now been so worked up about bathing with me. Then it will be your win if you manage to trap me in your new found ice release in its basic form water. And it will be my win when I also skillfully take off the bead around your leg. The loser will do as the winner says. " Mazuno pointed at the brown beads Adepa was wearing. As he chuckled, maintaining a confident smile. He didn't care much about winning, as he wanted to see what Adepa wanted to put across. 

Yet Mazuno will be shocked at how far the girl's thought has said, reached.

Adepa nodded to Mazuno's words as she swung the Ice Blade to her side with its tip touching the ground.

' Mama said " Tie the knot of the rope earlier before it is taken away from you. " ' She thought as all her Earth Spark circulated smoothly in her body. 

' I will go with the Celestial Moon Manual. Mama showed me. '

With that, a moment of silence ensured accompanied by a wind in the space.

****

Adwumum village.

A substantial number of Spiritualists could be spotted as they made their exit from the village. 

Broken into teams of their own interests and aims dressed in their own style and each with unique auras of their own, they chatted and got themselves acquainted with themselves.

Today's occasion being of utmost important to their spirituality, they made sure to have a proper team to increase their chances of survival.

After all, the dangers the Adwumum Forest presented were no joke.

Yet they still venture in their numbers all for the same thing that takes their lives.

Spiritual Beasts.

Spiritual Beasts to them are a fatal delicacy which holds an allure Spiritualists who seek to reach new heights can't extricate themselves from and for today their very delicacy seems to have made vast movements which they couldn't help but give their very attention to.

Speaking of attention, among the group of Spiritualists was a young man seated on a Boar Spiritual Beast. The young man who held the reins of what seemed to be a ferocious boar looked all around him with an expressionless face and a gaze filled with disinterest. Though his looks were average, his physique and stature was very tall and gave him a strong presence and the gruesome scars on his body made his presence garner whispers from the present Spiritualists with the patched Leopard Beast skin and an exposed chest which had a strange… tattoos on it making him look imposing than his very age.

" Hey! Bro Boateng, do we really have to do this? I mean, come on, we should just focus on hunting Spiritual Beasts at the outer forest. It will certainly raise our Spirituality than chasing an impossible dream of joining an extermination team just because of the words of a Slutty Diviner. Now that I think of it. Did you really have to sleep with that woman?" said another bald young man who also sat on a Boar spiritual beast which, unlike the scarred youth, had a docile presence. And also, unlike the scared youth was slim and had a smooth dark skin with a handsome visage and a pair of brown pupils.

" Keep it down, Nana. Here is not a place to talk about private stuff." Said the scarred young man called Boateng in an unbothered tone.

" Sigh! Anyway, what are we going to do then? " 

" Hunt. And find out about that vision in the sky. After all, it is linked to my fate. " 

" And you had to know all that by sleeping with that Diviner. "

" That was the only way. Besides that, woman's words according to the people around here have always come to pass." Antwi said with a shrug as he folded his arms.

" Tch. Look at you acting as if you weren't smitten by her charms... talking about charms. What are you going to do about the Acheampong clan's little princess? " 

" She's mine. No one can have her. Only I can claim her. By the end of next month, I'll be the man to awaken her spirituality." Boateng declared in an obsessive tone as he pulled the reins, causing the Boar to speed forward.

" Hahaha. Will you look at you? Look at you acting all obsessive. Well, the Candidacy Battle is just a month away. We will see if you will get to carry her to the Golden Boar Hunt. " Nana spoke in an anticipatory voice as he grinned stupidly. ' My brother, you are not the only one who sought out a diviner. But I have to say that the whore of a Diviner is really good at milking youngsters. I can feel my balls are still empty. Dammit! "

****

Bang!!

A powerful punch smashed to the ground as a white-haired boy's attack was evaded by a girl wielding an Ice blade.

Mazuno, with his fist deep within the ground, saw an opened palm pointed at him.

He suddenly saw a surge of water appear out of thin air. As his pale handsome face hardened, his muscles tensing up in an attempt to pull his fist from the ground, only to feel his whole body drenched in water and a freezing sensation seeping through his body.

" Is my win. " Adepa, with a victorious smirk, declared as he poured all her Earth Spark into her ultimate attack. 

Their battle, which began a while ago, had become heated with Mazuno, always with the upper hand, until now. Where the fight was reaching its climax.

" That's too early to DECIDE! " Mazuno roared as his eyes glowed. 

Boom!! 

The ground was blasted into smithereens as dust debris flew into the air. 

" What? " 

Adepa, in a shocked tone, suddenly felt something thrown at her. With her sights hindered by the dust, she hurriedly raised her hands, erecting a wall of ice around her. But the attack she anticipated never came.

" Nothing... " she mumbled to herself as her figure took a rotating posture with her hands directed to her flank. A cold gust of wind suddenly surged as it blew the dust which shrouded her figure. 

But her senses were stirred again.

BANG!! 

The wall of ice around her was smashed into pieces as her now spinning figure came to a stop.

A white-haired figure was swinging towards her with their hands tightly, holding on to a part of the already broken wall.

Before she knew it, the figure had shot, rolling on the now smooth ground made of ice. 

Hands stretched towards her delicate legs. 

Adepa's black pupils trembled with clear signs of exhaustion showing on her face. Yet she immediately hardened it up into one of determination.

' I can't lose. Not today. I will pour everything to cage him in my water. ' 

Mazuno, whose eyes held a victorious glint, suddenly felt something surge below him.

" Shit!! " 

But it was too late.

Pusshhh!!

At the compound before the hut, a group of children watched through the stick fence around the hut in shock. 

A particular child with a tall figure jumped over the fence, running towards the scene.

Looking at each other and looking at their friend who had already jumped over the fence, their faces revealed their follow up action.

Jump.

Hey. Tumi. Wait. 

" Wait for us. " 

Meanwhile Mazuno opened his eyes as he fell, a suffocating feeling in chest.

Blololololol!!

Yes. 

He couldn't breathe.

Hurriedly, he raised his head and witnessed Adepa sinking, her legs frantically paddling in the suffocating water.

AHHH!! 

With a mental scream, he clasps his palm.

[Attained Technique: Devouring Star ]

Just as he finished a steam suddenly surged from the bottom of the cage of water. 

' This is going to be hot. ' he thought while pulling Adepa into his embrace. 

Tumi, who was the first to arrive at the scene, saw the figure of Adepa and Mazuno embracing each other in a cage of water with rising bubbles, his face taking a confused look.

But before he could voice out his confusion, his eyes fell to the bottom of the pool, a shimmering gold spark reflecting in his eyes. 

' What is that? ' 

Behind him, the children who arrived saw the sky above them spark with a golden light as their faces revealed astonishment. 

Their clear and innocent faces suddenly fell on Tumi running towards them with his arms

spread widely.

" RUN! " 

He shouted.

Hmm. 

' Run. What for we came here... Err... ' Their thoughts were shot, lived as their gazes fell on a swelling water cage.

Not Good.

BURST!!