[Arc 1]Chapter 7

Ais Wallenstein's POV

We're already back from the latest expedition. I looked at the sky and then sighed. 'I need to become stronger.', I hardened my will even further. I need to avenge them.

"Hey~ Ais!", Tiona called out to me.

I turned my eyes towards her as she was calling me.

"Mhm?", I titled my head.

"Don't you think that there's less attention than usual?", she inquired.

"Oh."

Oh. Now that I realise it, there's usually more people that surround us when we come back from an expedition, but this time there's clearly much less.

"True. It is strange.", Riviera commented.

"Muu~ how dare they ignore Ais? Oh, wait should I be happy...", Lefiya began to mutter something again.

While my fellow Loki Familia members were discussing the reason, Finn decided to calm everyone down. Afterall, it's not often that our expeditions are ignored.

"Now, now, calm down. We'll find out eventually.--", Finn stated however a moment later everyone heard something.

"Come on quick! Today's Phaes' last day of training, we can't miss it!", a bunch of children shouted to another group of children.

"Wait up!", the slower group of children replied as they hurried towards their direction.

"Phaes?", I heard Finn mutter.

"A new adventurer, maybe?", Tione guessed.

Hmm... I'm also intrigued about this.

"You all happy for a small detour?", Finn asked us.

Hmm... am I? I have a good feeling about this... It's as if I'm going to visit an old friend, but I'm pretty sure I've never heard or seen of anyone named 'Phaes' before.

To Finn's question everyone readily agreed, even the most exhausted of us.

"It's probably just a trash being trash.", Bete mocked.

"So I guess your not coming?", Riviera inquired.

"Who's not coming? I just said it's trash being trash, not that I'm not coming along.

While Bete and Riviera were having their arguments - mostly Riviera scolding Bete - I noticed that Finn was questioning a child.

"What are you rushing ahead for?", Finn asked a small child.

"Sheesh... You don't even know about Phaes? Your stupider than me!", the girl looked smug as she mocked Finn. I could see Finn's eye twitching, I could also see Tione ready her blade for some reason.

"And who is this Phaes?", Finn asked.

"Phaes is Phaes!", the girl called out.

"Could you be a bit more specific?", he asked.

"Hmm...", the girl thought to herself as she tilted her head.

"Phaes is the coolest, the most hardworking, the most handsome, the most powerful, the best blacksmith in Orario!", the girl praised this 'Phaes' with every complement her small mind could muster.

Riviera and Bete who stopped arguing, listened in on their conversation, and as well as everyone else.

"Hmm? Do you know where we can find this 'Phaes'?", Finn inquired, which made the girl look at him as if he were a bug.

This involuntarily made everyone react in some way or form. Riviera looked highly intrigued, Bete looked annoyed - as usual - and gave a scowl, Gareth, opened his eyes in shock, Lefiya's mouth opened in an O shape and the Hiryute twins seemed as if they wanted blood, I had all my attention focused on them, and Finn looked as if someone killed his pet.

Finn gave a dark smile, and asked another question:

"Can you please give me the location?", Finn threatened with a scary smile.

"Y-you can find him at the Hostess Of Fertility, pleashe don't hurt me~.", the girl looked as if she were on the verge of tears, which made the surroundings spread rumours amongst themselves.

Finn noticed this and gave his business smile and patted her head.

"Thank you."

As soon as Finn was away from her we could all see a new side of Finn. It was scary. We all know that Finn's goal is to become a beacon of light for all Pallum, however seeing his hardwork instantly becoming overcome by someone he's never even heard of may have been too much for him.

"Let's go.", Finn ordered us. Riviera sighed and decided to follow Finn's lead, which made us all follow him involuntarily.

After a while of walking we finally arrived.

"It's the last battle!", someone called out.

Everyone in the Loki Famila who was intrigued - including me - decided to enter the bar and made our way towards where the crowd was. It was around a garden, but what they were looking at wasn't the flowers but the people inside the garden.

I looked around and I noticed that we weren't the only familia here. There were over 15 different familias spectating, and when Finn noticed this he bit his lip and decided to spectate too.

I looked at the garden and noticed two people. The first was a waitress - I believe her name was Ryu - and the other was a young boy.

The boy had black hair that slightly reached his shoulders, and sea-blue eyes. He was muscular for his age, which obviously was 11 or 12. The clothing he wore was a standard white shirt with sleeves and black pants which had lines running down them. As a side note, he also wore standard leather shoes.

However, there was something that enraptured me at that moment. It was his blue eyes. It's familiar, but I don't know where I've seen them before. It feels like I've seen them in a time before I was even aware.

"Are you ready, Phaes?", Ryu asked the boy.

"Yep.", the boy with an old cat's eyes replied.

BANG

I heard the ground shake as Ryu took a lunge towards the boy.

"Then let us begin!"

The boy couldn't speak back as he was defending from Ryu's assault. I was sure that the boy was going to lose any minute now, however that all was a false preconception.

BANG

A blue light dominated the garden as both fighters were blow backwards. However, they both landed in different manners. Ryu landed by flipping backwards, but the boy landed by...

BANG BANG BANG

-Using more of that destructive blue light to forcefully change his position.

Once he had successfully landed, I saw him grab a piece of dirt and scrunch it up, then he threw it like he was throwing a ball.

The opponent dodged the ball of dirt, however that was a diversion. The boy used more of the blue light, but this time it was beneath his shoes to propel himself faster towards Ryu.

Ryu was taken by surprise, as you could clearly see her panic for a second, however another second later you could see her eyes steel themselves.

Ryu kicked towards the boy, however the boy did some sneaky maneuvers to wrap around Ryu like a snake and then he held his sword towards Ryu, but that wasn't the end.

You could see more blue light form something like a barrier, and this entrapped both of them in one space. Ryu headbutted the boy which blasted him towards the barrier, however before he could hit the barrier he summoned more blue light from his palm and fired towards Ryu.

The blue light coincided with Ryu and sent her flying toward the other part of the barrier. They both crashed into the barrier and an electrifying sound erupted, from the looks of it both opponents were injured.

However, the elf got up much more quicker and tried to kick the boy once again. Before the kick could land the boy rolled like a spring roll, then blasted himself lightly in the air which gave him the opportunity to fight on two feet once again.

This time, the two engaged in utter swordsmanship. They both carried refined weapons, which I haven't ever seen before and their swordsmanship clearly matched the ethereal nature of their sword's beauty.

Their swordsplay was absolutely amazing, it was as if watching a dance. It reminds me of the times I spent watching papa swing his sword before fighting that dragon. I hate to admit it, but their swordsmanship far outranks mine.

The boy mixed kicks and spins in his swordsplay while the waitress mixed kicks and flips in her swordsplay.

I took a glance at the surroundings and saw that everyone was enraptured by the happenstance that was occurring. Finn nodded his head as if he just found a rival, Riviera looked on in interest, Lefiya had her mouth opened in astonishment, the Hiryute sisters opened their eyes as wide as possible and Bete looked speechless.

Other than my familia I could see that the other familias were also enraptured. The Artemis Familia which was an all female familia were all speechless, the Apollo Familia seemed as if they had something to report and... even Freya Familia's King was here. He was also smiling.

BANG BANG BAAAAAAANG

My attention was drawn back to the battle as I saw the boy use more of that blue light to attack, Manoeuvre, and defend against Ryu. It was clear that he was exhausted and that Ryu could still continue for another day or so, however the boy didn't give up. He visibly pushed himself past his limits.

CRACK CRACRACK

It all ended when the boy's sword broke.

"Hehehe... time to get serious!", the boy shouted.

"I'm not going to hold back either."

They both were standing opposite to each other from quite a distance away. 'How can he continue without a weapon?', I questioned, however that question was soon answered.

BAAAANG THRWAAAASH

Another blue light shone and this time it manifested in the shape of a sword. It was a long sword from appearance, that was made from pure mana.

"B-but that's not--!", Lefiya wanted to state something about this, however I finished it for her.

"-possible."

Hence, I would like to rephrase my earlier statement. It didn't end when the boy's sword broke, that's when it all started.