Ursa Major

[From now on, I'll be referring to sunbringers of the grand chiefs bloodline as noble sunbringers, and sunbringers not of that bloodline as common sunbringers.]

As Ray sprinted through the village towards the Southern Entrance, he paid no mind to the many buildings to his sides that he passed, which had become but a blur due to his extreme speeds.

Ray stopped directly in front of the Southern Entrance, which had mahogany doors identical to those of the Northern Entrance. Two guards were stationed by the doors, one to the left and one to the right. Ray bowed his head to the guards before speaking.

"Thank you for your service." He said, before beginning to sprint once again, outside of the village.

The guards didn't respond, standing there emotionlessly as they watched Ray run until he was out of their sight.

As soon as he was roughly 500 meters outside of the village, Ray saw a figure standing in the middle of the road another 300 meters in front of him.

"Who could that be…" He said to himself wonderingly, before breaking into a cold sweat once he recognized exactly who the figure was.

"You're kidding me…" Said Ray in shock, stopping ten meters in front of the figure.

The figure was an extremely tall Common Sunbringer with light, ice-blue hair that shone as it reflected the moonlight coming down from above. On his left side was a white sheathe with intricate dark blue patterns depicting the sun and the moon, and on his right was a black holster containing a black pistol. The sheathe was empty, meaning he had already drawn his sword.

Without even turning around, the figure disappeared in a blur of white and blue. Ray quickly twisted his body around, drawing his new sword from its sheath and bringing it up to block an incoming horizontal slash aimed straight at his neck.

CLANG!

The sound of swords colliding could be heard as Ray was pushed back by a few meters due to the weight of the blow he had blocked.

Ray looked up to see the figure standing right in front of him, their dark blue eyes aimed directly towards Ray with an emotionless expression on their face.

"I'm disappointed, Ray. You reacted to that attack two times slower than you usually would have, meaning that you were most likely caught off guard by my appearance. Had you reacted quicker, you wouldn't have been pushed back as far, and may have even been able to follow up with a counterattack." Said the figure in a deep voice with an unmasked tone of disappointment.

"It's great to see you too, teach." Grimaced Ray, as his hands had gone numb from the previous attack.

"No longer am I your teacher, Ray. From now on, you are to refer to me as General Ursa. Do you copy?" Said Ursa, beginning to slowly walk towards Ray, who had begun to glare towards him.

"Yes, sir." Said Ray, bringing his sword out in front of him in a ready stance, watching closely as Ursa approached him.

Ray lurched forwards, thrusting his sword towards Ursa's abdomen, to which Ursa responded by effortlessly smacking Ray's blade aside with his own and thrusting his sword forwards, aiming to pierce through Ray's shoulder.

Ray jumped aside, narrowly dodging the incoming blade by just a few centimeters. However, as soon as he landed, Ray saw that Ursa had begun his next attack, slashing horizontally towards Ray's upper left thigh.

Ray jumped backwards while grunting in pain due to the blade having formed a deep cut in his left thigh, causing him to begin bleeding profusely. Ray jumped backwards before sticking his pointer finger where the sword had cut him, singeing his exposed insides to prevent further blood loss.

With the stench of burning flesh now permeating the air, Ray brought his right arm upwards and pointed it towards Ursa, palm first.

"Interesting… I hadn't thought that you had reached the level where you are able to fire energy blasts." Said Ursa in a slightly interested voice. "Let's see what you're capable of."

In front of Ray's palm, a white ball of energy and flames began to form. The ball gradually expanded, with it's white-hot flames licking at his hand. Ray brought up his left hand and placed it on the upper part of his right arm, with the ball beginning to expand at a quicker rate than before.

Ray brought his hands to his sides, leaving in front of him a giant white ball of energy. Ray took a deep breath before stepping into the ball, his entire body becoming surrounded by its energy.

The ball quickly began to reform around the shape of Ray's body, and a giant flash of light came unexpectedly with an explosion of energy.

Ray now had black, tattoo-like markings running down the sides of his arms and neck, and the horizontal slits in his cheeks changed color, going from what was formerly a bright yellow color to a deep shade of crimson that caused the rest of his face to have somewhat of a red glow. Ray once again brought his sword forwards into a ready stance, preparing to intercept any attacks that were thrown at him.

When he saw this, Ursa's eyes went wide with delight as a smirk creeped upon his face.

"Maybe this won't be so much of a chore after all. Let's kick things up a notch."

As he said this, Ursa blitzed Ray, moving at speeds much faster than he had been at before. Ursa jabbed with his sword so rapidly at Ray that it looked like a solid wall of pointy metallic death. However, Ray was now able to react to these movements, and responded by parrying each blow that Ursa gave with one of his own.

As Ursa and Ray kept on swinging away, Ray began to notice something in Ursa.

*Each time he jabs his sword, he creates a blind spot in his vision because of the way he turns his body. I can exploit that if I dodge one of his jabs instead of parrying and draw his attention to my blade by throwing it in the air, while going in for a punch to his head.* Thought Ray, still having his hands full with parrying Ursa's sword. However, a few moments later, Ursa jabbed towards him. It was his chance!

Ray ducked under the approaching sword before throwing his own blade up in front of Ursa's face. Ursa paid no attention to Ray, his eyes completely focused on the airborne blade in front of him. Ray shot up, aiming a hook at the right side of Ursa's head.

However, just before Ray's fist connected with Ursa's face, Ursa disappeared from Ray's line of sight. Ray turned around rapidly, trying to look for where Ursa had gone.

"Up here, novice." Said Ursa with a smile, tapping the top of Ray's head with his foot as he levitated midair. Before Ray could even react, Ursa aimed his sword directly at Ray's scalp and thrusted it downwards. Ray could only watch in horror as Ursa's sword approached his head, unable to move out of the way quickly enough.

Suddenly, Ray felt his body being thrown backwards. He yelped in surprise as he hit the ground butt first a few meters back.

"Ow!" Said Ray, rubbing his behind, as he looked up to where he had just been standing a few moments ago, his eyes wide open in surprise as he saw a familiar face.

Crouching downwards beneath the weight of Ursa's blade was a middle-aged Common Sunbringer with wavy, auburn hair and verdant leaf-green eyes. In his right hand was a transparent emerald green blade made of a crystal-like material, which caused the ground to appear green as the moonlight coming down from above shone through it.

"Helios!?" Exclaimed Ray in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Helios jumped up and slashed his sword horizontally towards Ursa's midsection. Ursa barely had any time to react as he was blown backwards due to the strength from Helios's swing.

"Ray, I was supposed to be the second fighter, but I couldn't bring myself to fight my own best friend's child to prevent him from achieving his dreams." Said Helios, looking back at Ray with a caring expression in his eyes. "Go on. I'm sure the last fighter really wants to see you badly. And if you ever see your dad, tell him I say hi."

Ray looked at Helios for a few moments, contemplating what he said, before his realization dawned upon him. He ran over to get his sword from the ground near Helios.

"Thanks a lot, Helios. I'll make sure to tell him that for you." Said Ray before sprinting off along the path, leaving Helios standing directly across from a livid Ursa.