Tailwind

The trio were currently on the further southeastern outskirts of Oasis, where the desert sands blew hot winds that would've scorched ordinary humans, but since they all have Ice Orb necklaces and all sorts of various protective barriers to block the environmental hazards, the three of them can stay within the area safely.

Once the two young women moved and flew away from Kaff and each gathered their respective energies, he stood in place and erected a simple white barrier all around his body.

They were supposed to have a good and nice talk, but before the boy Croff and the prisoner he held went out, he suddenly suggested something with the following words:

"Why don't you go and settle these things with fighting? Master told me that good friends fight, but they would still be able to mend their relationship in the end."

With Arc's consistent thirst for battle and testing her limits, compared to sparring with Yona who always gave her a hard time that always ended in a curbstomping, she always tried to invite Kaff into sparring sessions, as she really couldn't always go over half her power when against usual enemies.

The whale was a different matter, though.

It was on the level of a Grandmaster, and with an unknown enemy that threatened to harm everyone, it was understood that it was better for Kaff to fight the massive beast alone, for he had the necessary power to deal with such an enemy even when alone.

It also decreased the risk for her sister, Ellie, especially if he haven't had to think about others while fighting.

Arc knew that her skills were more suited for attacking similarly sized opponents, while Kaff's powers are mutable which made him adapt to any situation.

This was also why she always wanted to spar with him, so that she could improve herself if by chance an enemy with an unpredictable combat prowess were to somehow entangled with her with no choice but to fight.

Going back to what Croff said earlier, they went out of the city to lower the casualties that might possibly get implicated in their fight.

Since they were all almost at the Grandmaster level of power, no one knew how much damage they can deal.

"Should we really do this?" Kaff asked the two as his barrier slowly thickened.

Dorother didn't even reply and instead started to chant, that took Kaff's attention as he observed the spell that Dorother planned to cast.

This was actually the first time that he'll be against her, and he thought that he should hold back for a bit and gauge their strength.

Little did he know that she planned to try her own limits as well, as with most Vates. They strive for improvement, and alike their studies, leave very few options to chance. Since Kaff left, she tried to reach her limits as well while she planned how to escape from her own home.

"Be careful, Kaff!"

Two golden circles of light, one bigger than the other, overlapped and glowed with a brilliance that slightly blinded Kaff's vision even when it was from a distance. His eyelids narrowed into thin slits and could only add more power into his barrier on instinct.

Like how the winds parted when it flowed against something it could not move, Dorother's attack, a somewhat spiralling coil of light which let out a high pitch sound that pierced through winds, only dispersed within a few seconds after slamming towards Kaff's white barrier.

"Stop cheating!" She blurted out with a small pout on her lips.

"I didn't even attack yet-----"

He was not able to finish his sentence as Arc suddenly appeared towards his side, sent her orange sword ,and sliced towards his barrier, slightly tearing through it yet with minimal damage.

"You've gotten stronger?"

"Actually, yes. So let's just talk like we planned, okay?"

He spoke as if he didn't felt any of the multiple missiles made of golden light as it barraged towards him right after Arc stepped back from her own attack. Three also didn't give Kaff any breathing time, but the attacks she made were more like raindrops hitting a large rock.

"Three! Don't you have a better spell? Are the Vates this weak?"

Arc's provocation towards Dorother probably worked, as they both saw a vein slightly propping up from her forehead.

"Looks like this kid is really strong. I'll probably have to use more of my recently learned spells."

Dorother started casting at the same time she talked, and it made Kaff bitterly smile in response after he saw what Dorother did.

"Oh my..."

Even Arc was dumbfounded when she saw Dorother's magical construct that also started to spin in a few breaths of time.

"You copied my Origin Screw!?"

"What, you also copied this, right? It's just my own version of your version!"

Her eyes narrowed and she let out a faint smile which was unable to be seen from the golden lights that converged towards the drill that spun faster the more it gathered source power.

"Let's see if you can pierce through my barrier then!"

Kaff only smiled instead, and almost looked like a smirk when he opened his arms wide against Dorother's attack that was about to be launched---to which only got faster when he provoked her with his words and gestures.

"This... is for your father!"

"Huh?"

Arc and Kaff became confused and Dorother fired the Vates' source power-infused drill that made even Arc blow away for a few meters in midair. The sole spinning itself gathered even a few of the hot winds and sand that were already flying towards the drill from the surroundings, and it became larger as it came towards Kaff, who had only a second to block.

He only reflexively brought out his Origin Blade and activated the Four Swirls all around his body and gradually decreased the volumes of force that threatened his life---

*sssccccccrrrrrrr*

The golden source energies dispersed bit by bit until everything disintegrated into thin air, leaving only the winds and sand that also got blown away after Kaff gave a final wave of his sword, sending out a small shockwave that bursted out from his whole body.

"That... that was the best I could do. Miss, only you could probably give him a spanking."

"Meh, stop calling me miss, I'm still young. Just call me sis just like everyone does-----except for this guy."

After the full attack sequence ended, Arc charged more of Natural Energy within herself, and channeled a lot of white light towards the hilt of the sword, which somehow made the whole sword glow in a more orange light.

Kaff's expression became hesitant as sweat started to appear on his back, his eyes uneasy, and a pinkie finger slightly twitched on the left open hand.

"You're really raring to go now, eh?..."

The orange light that came from her sword hadn't been used until now, and she only used it once and that was only after Yona left. Arc was so excited at that time that after casually sending out a slash towards the trees, everything that obstructed got sliced wherever it passed, making her front become bare land.

The streak of light was even sharply visible that it only ended after cutting off half of a small hill that was luckily there and finally let the trees live in peace.

Using it meant that every attack she made will be on the level of a Grandmaster, and the only drawback was that she wouldn't be able to use it again after four days of rest.

The orange light enveloped Arc's whole body and flared a bit, slowly having the illusion that she was part of the hot air within the desert.

The sun was also still slightly high at this time, yet her orange glow still made her stand out from the surroundings.

"Here. I. Go!"

Kaff instantly used his Origin Sight to increase the speed of perception that he could see and move, and Arc was already in front of him, her two hands above her head and what seemed to be a slow strike was actually so fast that the slice was already done before the light showed her movement.

His barrier still blocked the attack, as expected yet it was also broken just like that. The sound of glass breaking along with a heavy thump resounded through their surroundings.

"Tsk. Missed."

She knew that she hit squarely on his shoulder yet she called it a miss which only made Kaff a bit scared of her Aunt which was now trying to fly everywhere as she tried to match Kaff's movements.

From afar, it looked like there were stars exploding everywhere, but from where Dorother floated, it looked like two people were trying to outspeed each other. One made a slashing motion, only to hit an afterimage which seemed like they were immortals that transcended the speed of light.

It was also probably because that the heat of the desert at the highest point of the two suns were generating so much heat they almost looked like mirages as they tried to attack, parry, dodge, and clash with their respective weapons.

Of course, what Yona gave Arc was proven to be extremely durable from the countless trials that it had been through, even if she didn't infused Natural Energy within, yet it still gave Kaff's blade a lot of chipping which restored whenever Kaff made the opportunity to dodge.

"Heheh. More, more, more!!"

Arc was starting to speed up faster, quicker, her strikes becoming more rapid as time passed. It's one of the movement speed techniques that Meltor somehow tried to teach her, which could only be done after a certain level of mastery of the sword and feet.

Kaff could only click his tongue in dismay, and prepare himself for a beating after Arc finally depletes his Origin. It would take long, for about fifteen minutes which was enough to boil a kettle of water.

Of course, he didn't let that happen and also employed a new version of his Origin Sight-----that fused with Soul Control.

Because of instinct, he suddenly included Soul Control within his eyes and the result provided to be overwhelming.

He can now suddenly see a few glimpses where energies could possibly pass by based from the minute details he could observe from Arc's attacks, which were showed to his eyes like small strings of blue light that disappeared in a bit.

To his current situation, that was enough.

He continued to block a few more strikes yet he also began to form a red sword of light, to which he kept pumping Origin into.

Just like a stuffed toy that got inserted with a lot of cotton, the sword experienced a swell before Kaff suppressed it and still continued to pump more of the red wisps of light from his hands.

Arc saw what he was doing and stopped, before she also did her own version of the technique that Kaff used.

White light gathered from her own body and into the orange sword, and at the same time, the two of them became different colored pillars of light that threatened to reach the heavens in a single moment.

The same time the pillars disappeared, was when the countless same amount of swords appeared all around them.

Their eyes were currently locked towards each other and both smiled, before the barrage of swords rained everywhere and hit each other like two swarms of different colonies of bees fought each other to death.

The red colored sword light streaks were starting to dwindle in numbers and the white ones were starting to dominated and Kaff's expression slowly became bitter as he held up the side of his head.

Arc didn't fare well either as her lips started to pale for a bit, but it was not alike the past where she had to rely on her own blood to strengthen the swords that she currently released.

The number of swords on Kaff's side finally went down to a single one, and before the incoming swords came for him, he swiped a large red sword that seemed to appear out of nowhere, and wiped out above half of the remaining swords.

One more sweep remained before he finally took out everything, but was unable to.

The use of Soul Control on his eyes finally took its toll and made him disperse everything he just did and returned the remnant energies or Origin that swirled towards his body and ended with a light puff of wind.

Arc saw this and also dispersed everything, before flying near Kaff and took him into her arms.

Lastly, Three was only slightly dumbfounded on the distance and flew closer to them... hesitant for a bit as she repeatedly changed her glance between the two.

"Come here, you shy girl."

Arc beckoned and Three quickly flew towards them, joining the group.

The three stayed for a while like that in midair without words.

The shadows they casted changed in angle at last before Kaff asked Dorother a question which also made Arc curious.

"What was that about Dad? You actually knew him?"