Chapter 19: A duel.

In the cave, Levi had tried to read the shadow grimoire but was soon reminded that he was at a bottle neck. He still had to complete the chapter objectives and as such, there was no new information for him to check out.

He decided to shove it aside and do some aether rotation.

Levi spent another thirty minutes doing the aether rotation. He could feel his aether moving better and more fluidly, the pain reduced significantly as his mana veins transformed to support his new power source.

After some time, he decided to go outside. He stepped out of the private chamber and through the cave. As he walked, he noticed that there were a smaller number of hurricane wolves inside, it was very suspicious.

'i remeber seeing about twenty wolves last night, but I don't think I have come across five since now and these ones seem tired. Probably due to the night watch shifts. I wonder, did they go somewhere.' Levi thought as he made his way through the cave.

A few more minutes of walking landed him outside the cave where he finally understood why there were only so many hurricane wolves in the den.

Directly outside the den, Levi could see numerous hurricane wolves training. The wolves were practicing their wind magic, a few were even sparring against each other. There were about three wolves who were directing them in his to use their magic, the three wolves had black spots in certain areas of their bodies and seemed stringer than the rest.

Levi looked around somemore and spotted Raja observing the training grounds from where he stood on an elevated platform. His eyes were pinned on his training subjects, but his mind seemed to be elsewhere as he was in deep thoughts.

The wolf somehow felt Levi's gaze as his neck turned to face Levi a few moments later. Levi was a bit surprised, but it soon disappeared from his face as he made his way to the hurricane wolf.

"Hey". Levi said as he reached where Raja was.

"Good morning, Levi. I hope you enjoyed your sleep". Raja asked.

"Good morning, and I did". Levi answered.

After Levi answered, an awkward silence befell upon the two. Two of them were merely doing business, they weren't friends or anything of the sort so they couldn't talked to each other freely. Levi was also not very sociable.

"Levi". Raja broke the ice and called out.

"Hmm?" Levi responded.

Raja turned away from his pack and towards Levi. The ears of his subordinates stood and they listened in closely as they felt that something big was about to happen.

"Have a duel with me". Raja said with a slightly raised voice and immediately, all the hurricane wolves stopped what they were doing, they all looked towards Levi with expectant eyes. The majority seemed to be interested in his capabilities.

It was understandable. After all, woukd the leader go out of his way to cooperate with a weak human?

"Huh? Why the sudden challenge?" Levi asked. A crack almost appeared on his nigh perfect poker face.

"Hmm~ there is something I want to confirm". Raja replied.

Levi started panicking. He knew that he amounted to much right now, he knew that Raja could easily kill him right now since he was still very, very weak. Levi was aware that the blood contract should be able to protect him from such things, but he couldn't confirm if the blood contract was actually active as he did not notice any changes after the contract was established.

Different assumptions starting poping up in his mind.

'does he know?'

'did he already find out?'

'did I give it away with the extra term I added to the agreement yesterday?'

His mind was thrown into a frenzy at the pack leader's sudden proposal. After a few moments, he managed to calm himself down.

'if I fight this guy, I will definitely lose. Running away isn't an option here and he would have eventually found out, he has mana sensing after all. I'll have to bet on the blood contract, I'll let him have it nice and slowly'.

"Listen, Raja. I'm.....not strong, not yet at least. If we fought, then it will definitely end in your victory". Levi said while taking a few steps back, just in case.

"I know". Raja confirmed.

'huh?!'

"Excuse me?" Levi asked,he was very shocked.

"I know that you are weak, I saw your fight against the demon bear after all". Raja explained.

'oh! So YOU were that dark silhouette!' Levi thought as a realization came over him. He was a bit angry at the wolf, since it had been his fault that he even made contact with the Demon bear.

"If you already know, then why do you still want to have a duel?" Levi asked.

"...!!"

There was a brief silence as Raja didn't respond immediately, he was thinking about it.

"Because I feel a.....different sort of mana coming from you. I just want to see it's true capabilities. It doesn't matter if you are weak or not, I won't be able to kill you because of the blood contract, so do you accept?" Raja asked again.

'i really don't want to get my ass kicked, but...'

"Alright. I accept your challenge". Levi finally accepted the duel. He consoled himself by thinking, 'it would be good if I can gain some combat experience from all this.'

"Good". Raja muttered.

"So....when will it happen?" Levi asked.

"It will be happening right now". Raja said.

"Huh? Right now!" Levi unconsciously shouted. He expected it to be soon, but not this soon. He wasn't prepared, not like there was any way for someone like him to prepare for Raja at this point.

"Yes. Do you have a problem with it?"

"N-no, not really".

"Then let's have the bout now". Raja said as he jumped down from the elevated platform and landed firmly on his feet.

'wow! Whoever said only cats land on their feet was a real idiot'. Levi thought as he climbed down from the elevated piece of land.

Levi could no longer argue anymore, what was the point? He had resigned himself to his fate and he wished for it to either end as soon as possible or long enough that he actually gained something from it.

Raja walked up to the centre of the training grounds, where the other wolves had already made room for the duel. Raja drew a circle around the space with his paw and stood inside it, he invited Levi into the space.

The circle had a radius of about fifteen meters.

'sighs..let's just get this over with'. Levi thought as he moved into the circle. He entered the circle and took a very sloppy stance as he faced Raja.

"Standard duel rules. The match ends when one of us falls out of the outlined circle or admits defeat". Raja said and Levi nodded in response.

"Ok then, without further ado..... Begin!" Raja shouted, signifying the duels commencement.

The two fighters just stood there, waiting for each other to make the first move. After some time, Levi yeilded the test of patience and charged straight at Raja, his fists bared.

When he entered range, he swung down his fist at Raja, but the latter easily dodged by sidestepping. Levi wasn't done though, he threw another punch which was also side stepped, and then a kick, but Raja still easily dodged it all.

"Come on, Levi. Surely you can do better than that". Raja said in a mocking tone.

'is this guy actually stupid? Who the hell would still fall for such an old trick?!' Levi thought as he ignored Raja's obvious taunt.

Levi crouched and delivered a leg sweep to his four legged opponent, but Raja just jumped upwards.

'got you! You can't dodge in mid air!' Levi thought as he suddenly threw a fist at Raja who was suspended in mid air.

Raja's eyes went wide as the blow connected and he flew a few steps backwards, still landing on his feet.

'like seriously, who the hell was that bastard!!' Levi thought as he looked at Raja.

The wolf had sustained nearly zero damage from that punch, but it was still a pretty big feat for someone like Levi to actually touch a C- rank mana beast even though the beast was holding back. A lot.

"That was quite the punch". Raja praised and his shook his snout. The punch had barely stung him.

"And yet you were completely unaffected by it". Levi retorted.

A smirk appeared on Raja's face as he said, "hmm~ I think I like you".

'.....is that a compliment?' Levi asked himself.

This time, Raja was the one who charged at Levi. His claws were bared and he pounced on the human. Levi took a step back, dodging the pounce, but he couldn't do anything about the claw attacks which followed.

"Argh!" Levi shouted in pain as claw wounds appeared on his chest. They weren't deep, so he wasn't in any immediate danger, but the situation could get even uglier and he was already on his knees. Raja spaced himself out and circled around the human who was practically a sitting duck.

Raja stared at him for some time before asking, "is this it? Are you done for the day?!"

Levi raised his head to look at the wolf, the contempt practically shone in his eyes. Levi picked up a fist sized rock, which lay on the floor and made his way over to Raja.

"Aaah!!" He shouted as he ran forward, stone in hand.

"Your stance is messed up, and shouting before an attack is an unnecessary waste of energy". Raja reprimanded. He was completely unfazed by the incoming attack.

"Shut up!" Levi shouted as he swung down his hand, attempting to bash Raja's head open with the stone, but the attack was too slow and Raja quickly dodged creating a Five meter wide distance between them.

Levi turned his neck to see Raja's mocking expression and he threw the stone at the wolf.

"Throwing your own weapon? A very dumb move if you ask me". Raja said as he slashed at the incoming stone, instantly destroying it.

Raja flashed a confident grin at his opponent before saying, "well...I'm waiting".

The statement only made Levi angrier but he knew that there wasn't much he could do against a mana beast like Raja.

At this point, Levi was angry, in pain, and the most prominent of them all..... frustrated.

Who wouldn't be? He knew he had the power, heck he could literally feel it within him, but he was still this helpless. He possessed aether, but he didn't know how to use the aether because of a freaking bottle neck.

"Arggh!!" He shouted out in frustration, but Raja thought that he was just angry.

"You need to learn to control your emotions, they will only get in your way!!" Raja advised.

The words failed to reach their listener.

The rage had taken over Levi, he ran forward with his bare fists and once again tried to punch Raja, but the latter just blurred out of Levi's vision and an injury appeared on his shoulder.

The injury was not deep, but not too shallow either. Levi was now losing a good amount of blood, but he seemed to pay it no need. He charged straight at the Raja who had appeared right behind him and got sent flying by a single attack.

He flew backwards, but not so much that he left the circle.

"Argh!!" Levi shouted.

"Levi! You must not let anger control your actions or else you are nothing more than a beast!!" Raja shouted out.

This time, the words reached him. He heard Raja's voice and regained himself, he recalled his actions and looked down at his hands.

'w-what is happening to me? Was I always this emotionally unstable?' he asked himself these questions. He had suddenly become overcome by a madness and he couldn't explain why, for a few moments there he truly became a monster.

He looked at his hands as a certain fear rooted itself in his being. This fear would eventually come back to bite him.

He shook himself out of his reverie and redirected his attention towards the opponent in front of him, he looked at Raja and was suddenly overwhelmed by a feeling of gratefulness.

"Thank you". He muttered in a voice which was only a bit louder than a whisper, but Raja easily picked up on it with his superior senses.

"Oh~. So you can actually say those words, huh?" Raja asked jokingly.

"Of course, I'm not some sort of monster". Levi replied prompting a raised brow from Raja, he immediately understood what the wolf was getting at.

"That was different!" Levi came to his own defense.

"Sure it was". Raja said and ended the small talk there, it was time to get back to their duel.

'i may not know any spells, but I can still use raw aether. Maybe I can do something with that. Maybe I can imbue my muscles or something and make myself stronger'. Levi said inwardly.

He passed aether from his core, through his veins and pores and out of his body all while enduring the pain that came with.

'there it is. The power I came to see'. Raja thought to himself as he seriously studied Levi's 'mana'.

The aether left Levi's body and dissolved into the atmosphere providing him with zero benefits.

'ugh. I'm just wasting precious aether now. There has to be some other way to make use of this thing'. Levi thought for a few more seconds, before an idea flashed in his mind.

He looked around him for any object and saw one a few meters away from where he stood. He took a precautionary glance at his opponent, who just seemed to be studying Levi closely, the wolf made no signs of movement.

Levi sprinted to where the rock was and picked it up. It was small and smooth like a pebble.

'this should work'. He thought as he held the rock in his hands and closed his eyes. He once again pushed aether out from his core, the aether left his pores and started escaping to the atmosphere, but before it could Levi started controlling it.

He halted the aether from escaping into the atmosphere and the next thing he did was quite....unexpected. He forced the aether into the stone. The aether didn't permeated it, just wrapped around it, but Levi could sense the stone growing stronger.

'it worked! I may not be able to imbue it to myself yet, but at least I can imbue it into other objects'. He thought as a smirk appeared on his face.

The onlookers were quite confused as to what was going on as they couldn't sense aether, only Raja could, and it was more of an instinct than anything else.

Levi pumped more aether into the rock, until the blue energy around it became slightly visible.

'this should be enough'. Levi thought as he took a pitching stance. He breathed in and focused on his target before suddenly opening his eyes and throwing the aether infused rock.

*FWOOSH*

The projectile practically tore through the air, with the speed and force of a hundred pound bullet, it was headed straight for Raja. The latter already wasted too much time on being surprised and didn't have enough time left to conjure a proper wind barrier.

The aether infused rock easily tore through his sorry excuse of a barrier and hit the wolf right in between his eyes. The force was so much, it lifted the wolf off the ground and threw him to the ground.

Levi didn't waste any time and sprinted straight to where Raja was. He arrived near him in a few seconds and crouched over him, from there he started spamming blows. Raja couldn't even react as he was too busy trying to find his bearings.

POW!

POW!

POW!

After the third punch, Raja decided that he had enough. Just as Levi was about to throw the fourth blow, Raja used magic.

"Enough". He muttered.

*Boom*

An exploding sound was heard as a powerful wind current pushed Levi backwards and in the blink of an eye the latter had crashed a few meters a away from the circle.

As the dust settled, Levi's face became clearer. He was bleeding from both his nose and mouth, but his eyes were wide in abject shock.

'huh?'

The battle had ended so quickly and it left the young man very perplexed. Confusion was written all over his face as he lay on the floor, stupified.

He knew that Raja was holding back on him, but he didn't expect the difference to be this great. Levi's moth opened as if to say something.

"I.....lost".

Raja, with a single spell, had instantly ended the battle.

AN;

Extra long chap today, almost 3k words!!!

Special thanks once again to my loyal supporters; Halis_eren_balaban, Epic_Buddie123 and DB336. THANKS GUYS!!!