Mana Control (2/2)

Max fell to his knees, his breath escaping his body. He hadn't been expecting this time so, with no muscles flexed in preparation, she had managed to make contact with an unprotected stomach. He didnt understand what he did wrong until he mulled over what he had said in his head. Once he figured it out though, he blushed and realized that he may have actually deserved that punch. He didnt blame her for hitting him knowing that he was completely in the wrong, though he honestly didnt regret what he said.

He pushed himself up from the ground with a bit of effort and took deep breaths. "Damn, Mimosa, you sure you didnt get stronger? That punch sure packed a load of power behind it." He rubbed his gut and gave Mimosa a big smile.

This smile actually had a big effect on both the women as each of their hearts began to race. Mimosa reacted visibly with a deep scralet brush staining her cheeks, but Mereleona kept a cool indifferent face, seemingly completely unaffected by it.

"Enough talking," Mimosa murmured as she activated her grimoire. "Just sit down so I can heal those wounds of yours. I also got a question about that magic you just used, was it a reinforcement type spell?"

"Nope," Max said as he sat down in front of her. "Its actually supposed to be a regular attack but I figured that if I just pictured what I wanted the spell to do in my mind, it would happen." He hadnt thought about the ramifications if he happened to be wrong because he had a feeling that hed be right.

"So," Mereleona interrupted before Mimosa could say anything. "What your telling me is that you didnt know if itd work and you played that on a hunch you had? What were you gonna do if it didnt work? That magic was enough to burn your leg to ashes."

Max tapped his chin. "Well I just had a feeling that itd work right if I moved all the mana in my body into just my leg alone. I even activated my grimoire to give my spell more power." He tapped the grimoire next to him as Mimosa activated her spell to heal.

Mereleona frowned. If what he said was true then that meant that he was already a step above the rest of the crowd. She didnt normally train people, preferring to roam the wilds in order to train herself alone. When she did train people however, it was usually with royals that supposedly had monstrous talent. However out of all the kids she'd ever trained, this kid was the first to pick things up so quickly.

"Okay Meme, whats the next test? I got the feeling that we only scratched the surface of mana control. We can hold off on the breast groping until later." He was joking of course but he was still punched once more in the gut. Mimosa grumbled profanities under her breath as Mereleona laughed and opened her grimoire for the first time.

"Well, you should really get this training under way, so you should prepare yourself Max as this time I'm not holding back. Mimosa you might want to take a step back." Mereleona smiled and placed her hands on the ground. "Fire Magic- Fire pillars."

Multiple spots on the ground glowed for a couple of seconds before blasting out a pillar made completely of fire. It spewed into the sky far above Max's head, making him gape in awe, however he didnt get to appreciate them for long as he sensed mana building underneath his feet. He frowned and, instead of running away, he grit his teeth and activated his grimoire using the last spell that belonged to Sound. "Sound magic- Sonic Overload." He focused all the mana into his hands and placed them onto the ground. The vibrations from his hands travelled into the ground. Scientifically speaking, sounds didnt travel very well underground, but this was a world that completely defied science.

There was a rumble, the ground shaking, and for a minute it looked like the spell would succeed in putting out the pillar before it former as the glowing cirlce faded. However, Max jumped to the side as the fire returned and blasted into the sky. Max laughed, clearly amused that his assumption had failed this time, obviously not too bothered by it.

"You won't be able to use any of your tricks this time." Mereleona said with a small smile as a pillar erupted behind her. "I'm using a lot of power for this spell! Now you have to try and catch me while dodging these pillars. The pillars react to me and go wherever I want. Additionally if you get hit with one of these pillars, it wont or even hurt, but it will burn you and the fall back down will most definitely injure you."

Max just barely heard her explanation as he was currently running around trying to avoid the pillars as they constantly blew up around him. However he was a bit too slow on the last fire pillar and was thrown up into the air by the blast of fire, and the fall back down was worse as he crashed into the floor.

The game had begun, one where Max would continue to chase after Mereleon but each time he was close to touching her a blast of fire would knock him in the air like a cannonball. It was basically a game of cat and mouse, with an addition of pillars of fire hitting the cat when he was close to winning. This training kept up until Max crashed down for the 336th time and didnt get back up.

The pillar of flames slowly died down and Mereleona walked over to stand above the now exhausted Max Dwayne. She looked smug and seemed to be enjoying herself as she nudged his side with her foot. "Mimosa, we need you to heal him. Then we're gonna go again. After all the sun has just risen."

Though Max found it rather unbelievable, it had only been two hours since they had come out here. It seemed the training that she had planned for them, or rather for him was completely intense, without even a moment to rest.

As Mimosa ran over, her back forming wings made from plants, Mereleona stood over Max with a grin. "You thought you could just challenge a vice captain and win with only 3 months of training? You're either the bravest man I ever met or the dumbest, but one thing is for sure." She knelt down and placed her face close to his, a smirk on her face. "This is gonna be hell for you. I will break you over and over again until I turn you into the man that I know you can be."

She stood up and tapped her chin, looking as if she had the same habit as Max. "You'll be doing this warmup exercise every day from now on, at least until 3 months are done. Then we will begin the real training, so get up and lets get started. After she's done healing you of course."

Mimosa pressed her hands against Max's chest to begin the healing process. She didnt need to press her hands against his chest to initiate the spell, but doing so allowed her to hear his heartbeat and gave her reassurance that he could pull through this training session.

It took a couple of minutes and most of Mimosa's mana, but Max finally rose back onto his feet. He took a deep breath and gave Mimosa a gentle rub on her head before turning his attention to Mereleona. "Alright MeMe, show me what you got."

"Are You sure Maxy?" Mereleona asked, apparently already adjusted to the nickname and dubbing him with her own. "Your definitely gonna get hurt. There is no ifs or buts about it!!"

Max smiled and gave her a thumbs up. "There is no shame in being weak, it isnt embarassing. The real shame is in staying weak, it's the real embarassment." He had actually stolen that line from Fuegoleon, the one from orginal anime. It wasnt exactly what he said but it was close to it.

"Oh? That was very well said," Mereleona said with a slow clap. "However you'll be singing a different tune once we start out next training. We'll playing a little game."

Max frowned and took a fighting stance. "What game?" He looked around back and forth, readying himself for the unexpected.

"Its called, Mortal Combat. Its simple, use any technique you want and try to beat me. If you win I'll give you myself." She laughed, and could see that he was confused about what she meant. "Don't worry about it Maxy, just come at me. I wanna see what you got!!"

Max activated his grimoire and thougbt about an attack, perparing to give her everything he had. "Get ready Meme, my magic is never giving up!!"