The boy with brown hair - Part 2

Her voice was calm. Lince then opened his eyes, even though he was afraid of what he might discover. He saw that the wizard had done nothing against him because the princess interrupted his attack.

Not long ago, Naige saw her saber fall near her. Taking advantage of this opportunity, she managed to crawl to retrieve her weapon, getting rid of the roots while the wizard was distracted with the boy. She wouldn't waste this chance. She quickly advanced, passing by the brown-haired boy like a summer breeze, and went to face the wizard, who invoked his magic to stop her.

"This trick won't work anymore!" he shouted.

She struck. The wizard still managed to make a sidestep, but this time, Naige was determined to win. She spun the saber and struck again. Her blade was faster than her opponent, hitting his arm.

The wizard put his hand to the wound and felt it soak with his blood. Realizing it was nothing to worry about, he advanced and struck Naige with his dagger.

Naige was already expecting this, passed by his attack, and counterattacked. The wizard tried to dodge, but he wasn't fast enough to avoid being hit again. The blade struck the right side of his chest, causing a second, slightly more serious injury than the previous one.

"You wench!" the wizard yelled, with a furious gleam in his eyes.

Not only were his eyes furious, but the energy around him was now even more vile and disturbed. Moreover, the amount he exuded would be enough to make even a dozen elite mages recoil.

Ran paled from where she was. She wanted to shout for everyone to run away from that wizard, but even her voice seemed to freeze in her throat before it could come out.

"What an absurd amount of mana," the coachman seemed as impressed as he was frightened when he whispered. "This doesn't look good... we have to help them..."

Ran thought of a plan. If the coachman could create a strong enough barrier around the wizard to hold him for some time, she could use an experimental magic she had been developing for situations like that.

"Listen," after getting the old man's attention, she told him her plan.

"Understood. I can do that. It should be enough to get them out of there..."

Ran nodded.

"I have no choice, Ringel!" the wizard shouted, as if talking to himself. "I'm burning now! I can't control myself anymore! I want to burn them!"

As he didn't feel well enough to use the dagger, he threw the weapon to the ground and decided to use only his magic. After all, he was a mage blessed by the heavens. This time, his hands didn't glow, and there was no magic circle when wind circulated around his body. At the same time, the temperature around the clearing sharply increased. It was the prelude to a pure and destructive magic, being invoked by the uncontrollable wizard.

Both Lince and the princess felt the heat wanting to consume their existences. He, a little unaware of the situation, took time to react. Naige then warned him to move away.

"What's happening?" Lince asked, confused.

"Run as far from him as you can," Naige said.

"And you?"

"Do what I'm telling you. Quickly!"

Naige had no chance of getting close to the wizard with that boiling aura around him. Every time she was about to defeat the wizard, she was hindered by some trick of his. Once again, she felt helpless. She bit her lips in frustration.

However, she needed to do something, and fast. Suddenly, Naige came up with a plan. It would be necessary to use that sooner than she imagined. But she had no other choice. She observed her opponent and prepared herself, waiting for the best moment to act.

The situation on the other side of the road seemed more worrying than before, enough to make the black-clad swordsman lose focus on his fight for the first time.

"That idiot..." he whispered as he briefly looked at the wizard. Then, he turned to Jiro, speaking with a serious expression, "It seems our time here is up, apprentice. It's time for this fight to end."

Suddenly, the black-clad swordsman approached with momentum and delivered a swift blow. Jiro saw only a dark blur coming toward him and felt obliged to stop it at all costs, or he would die. So he did, moved his sword and blocked the blow at the last moment, with the enemy's blade very close to splitting his head in half.

"Very good, apprentice."

Jiro couldn't even blink, his entire body stiffened as they struggled in strength, blade against blade. In this, the swordsman moved his eyes to the swords. Jiro followed his gaze, noticing the damage suffered by his blade. The metal began to crack right where it was pressed, a little more force, and his sword would break into pieces. The swordsman then jumped back, deliberately retreating.

"You really are his apprentice," said the swordsman, with a half-satisfied smile on his face. "It seems you didn't just play around in that place. But you're still not ready..."

"Ready? What are you talking about?"

Instead of answering his question, the black-clad swordsman sheathed the sword on his back. He took the remaining part of his cigarette and put it in his mouth.

"I still don't remember your name, apprentice," he said finally. "Our fight will continue another day. Until then, try not to follow in your master's footsteps."

At that moment, he retreated after seeing the state of his sword. Once again, Jiro had the feeling that he was in a game orchestrated by this swordsman. He was also certain that he wouldn't win in a true fight, even if he had ten lives to try. It was frustrating to realize this.

His former master Nain would have blocked that last blow without any risk and wouldn't have caused damage to the structure of his sword. This meant that he was still far from his master's level. Jiro already knew that, and yet, it was frustrating.

On the other hand, this swordsman was as skillful as his master. That last blow was to show that. And also a test to see at which level he was. In this case, it must not have been a very high score, Jiro pondered, feeling himself sinking deeper into a pit of frustrations.

Even though his opponent claimed that the fight ended in a stalemate, Jiro thought differently. For him, it felt more like a bitter defeat that was hard to swallow. In the beginning, he believed he would only defeat some bandits who didn't know their place, but he never imagined things would develop like this.

However, when he looked at the state of the sword in his hands, he should feel more grateful for how everything ended, Jiro pondered. Then, he gripped the handle of his sword with all his strength and took a deep breath. He didn't want anyone to notice his feeling of frustration, especially the swordsman in front of him.

While Jiro was lost in thought, the swordsman took another thing from his pocket. This time, he threw the object in Jiro's direction.

"Take this."

When Jiro noticed, something spherical and black, reflecting a golden gleam, came toward him. He grabbed the object almost involuntarily.

"What is this sphere?"

"Whether you'll need it or not, that's for you to decide," the swordsman said. "For now, just keep it with you."

Again, the black-clad swordsman gave another vague answer. Jiro then observed the object in the palm of his hand. It was made of some metal different from any other known. It had an obsidian black color over its polished surface, with a weight similar to a hundred swords like the one he held, for something a little larger than a grape. It also seemed to possess some kind of mysterious or magical property.

"Oh, I almost forgot to mention one thing..." the black-clad swordsman continued. "I have a message for you: Calamity said he's looking forward to working with you."

"Calamity? What do you mean?"

However, as he spoke, the black-clad swordsman made an evasive move and withdrew from there with an almost superhuman speed. Jiro saw only an afterimage; the true swordsman was already in another place.

Calamity? Jiro couldn't think of anything else. Just the mention of that name made his mind reel. This changed only when he remembered the princess.