Over confidence

A day before Sheyken and Falgur came out of the Trial Forest, he was looking up at the vanishing stars in the sky as the sun was about to rise. It was his turn to keep watch as Falgur slept on a tree branch. They had packed their tents but sleeping on the ground was asking for a surprise attack so they had opted to spend their nights in the safety of the trees.

He had wanted to start teaching Falgur his sword techniques but training in the forest was something even he was not crazy enough to try. The past weeks had been going great as they had hunted a substantial amount of beast. The only difference with the beast from that part of the forest then that of Finisrepo's was that these beasts seemed weak but came at a much frequent rate to them with many in a pack. They were not that hard to kill with Falgurs speed helping to keep many at bay while Sheyken and Plot Armor would go through them like a hot knife through butter.

He had to again praise Plot Armor as he was the difference-maker in every hunt. Falgur killed many but could only make shallow wounds to those with thick skin and had the reflexes to guard attacks aiming for their weaker parts such as the eyes, ears, and belly. Sheyken was being surprised though on how first Falgur would adapt to every situation and knew when to be the aggressor or keep back and guard his blind spot so he could focus on one beast at a time when they would be surrounded.

He had to admit that they complimented each other well and he would go as far as to say perfectly as Falgur was almost always playing the support role like it was his job and never getting in his way.

On that particular morning, as he stopped Falgur from falling from his tree branch and kept him secure by surrounding him with his telekinesis, he thought of how far he had come and sighed after thinking about Falgur being his brother. He thought about how he was going to have to stop this boy who was clearly blossoming into a playboy from being killed by angry parents and especially protective brothers. He compared him to Beak-hyun and laughed to himself at how they were so different from one another.

After those thoughts, he thought about Apophis as it had been some time since he thought about him. As soon as he did, he realized something. That he had not checked his status as he remembered that he had a one-use skill and another one that also had a bizarre name.

'Death - Will activate automatically when you need it the most and can only be activated once.

Protector- Skill has evolved for the third time. It will activate automatically when you need it the most and can only be activated once. - This skill will evolve according to your emotions and power level until the day it is activated.'

He was surprised when he read the words that were in front of him.

'Protector? evolved for the third time? What does that mean and why does it not show me the second name it had evolved in before this?'

His mind was at sixes and sevens on what to make of the second skill. He made a note to always check on it as he might miss something imported about it if he just let it be. He wondered why Apophis did not even tell him how the two worked.

As the sun showed itself, he removed his shield around Falgur, and before a minute was up, he fell down from the tree waking up halfway down from his fall with his arms flapping everywhere but then landed like a movie star with a pose as he hit the ground. He looked up like he was going to assassinate Sheyken if he got the chance that day.

'Is this idiot sleeping like he is in his bedroom and with no worries at all because he knows I'm next to him?'

Sheyken thought as he took out the last of the dishes from a person Falgur did not want to see a frying pan next to but whose cooking made him salivate. After climbing the tree again and eating, they went on their way as they were going back to Senjira starting that day. They went to a river stream that they heard nearby and could not believe with they found. Two Vatagroes where as lazy as they would be as one of them was out of the water with its black skin basking in the sun and the other facing the other direction still in the water.

They had not seen a beast they both knew from the time they entered the forest and seeing these two, with Sheyken having had killed one with ease, they were hyped up to have to hunt something the Finis knew and some feared. This made Sheyken forget that two mage apprentices who almost died fighting just one and with one of them losing their arm.

They formed a strategy. Sheyken explained how he killed his first Vatagroes and that he was going to do the same this time but with the added knowledge he now had about these beasts it was safer than the last time he assassinated one. The only part he was unsure about was that they would have to fight the one in the water head-on. Falgur was hyped. His father had told him about these beasts and had warned him about them, but having Sheyken who had killed one saying it would be a piece of cake made him confident.

They went into action with Falgur focusing on the Vatagroes that was in the water. Sheyken found a rock as big as the last one he had thrown that last time and got into position. Just like before, he threw it high up in the air and followed after it. just like last time, as soon as the rock was about to hit its head, its scales moved automatically piece by piece and chopped the rock into pieces as a small dust cloud formed.

What Sheyken failed to understand was that during the last time he successfully assassinated the one he did, the sun was right above him making it quickly close its eyes as it looked up as its eye met the bright sun. This time around it was morning and the sun was still not high up yet. It saw him as it looked up late since it was lazy to see what was going on when the rock was destroyed. It panicked after seeing someone above and close to it in the air about to slice it with something.

Having panicked, fortunately for Sheyken since it deemed him to be close to its mouth, it did not send its scales to do to him what they had done to the rock a moment ago. It turned and opened its mouth sideways as it welcomed a gift from the heavens.

Sheyken seeing this was surprised by the deferent reaction this time but rejoiced in his luck as he knew if he had to deal with its scales it was going to be a different story. He used his skill 'Maneuver' on his body and changed his position whiles in midair, positioning his body perfectly with its neck.

"Splash!"

That was the sound of him landing in the shallow water as the Vatagroes was laying close to the river. Its head had been separated from its body and Sheyken quickly moved out of the way to avoid its blood. Not wasting time, he quickly absorbed the body into Ruby with its blood still gushing out of its open neck. He had no time to absorb the head though as his Intuition sent him alarm bells.

He looked at where the second one was supposed to be but it was not there and instead steam was rising up from the water where it was. It appeared right in front of his eyes as it had just manifested itself there. Its scales collided with Plot Armor as his Intuition was in full gear and the scales had come at him like a chainsaw.

"Ta, ta, ta, ta....'

That was the sound he heard until the last one hit Plot Armor and a wide-open mouth about to slam shut and bite his head off. He knew it was late as he closed his eyes and hoped his defensive field could handle its biting force. He opened his eyes with Falgur screaming with both of them in the air as they crushed into the water far from the Vatagroes.

Falgur having witnessed his awesome assassination had seen the water around the second Vatagroes instantly boil than it vanishing. If it was someone else, they would have thought it had teleported to Sheyken's side but with Falgur's Blessing allowing him to move at an unusually fast speed, his eyes had adjusted to moving at such speeds over the years of his training while he was underground.

He saw it leaping from the water as it took another step on top of the surface of the water when it was halfway from Sheyken with the surface it had stepped on instantly boiling. Just like that, it had reached Sheykens position in one leap and one stride. He was watching all this while he ran to Sheyken's side as he knew what it wanted to do.

He jumped at almost the same time it was about to close its mouth on Sheyken, grabbing him as he knocked him out of the way. He screamed as a tooth tore through his back with the entrance wound being deeper as it entered right before they got out of the way. They crushed into the water thereafter.

Sheyken thanking him for the save in his mind quickly got up as scales came flying in, trying to chop him up. Using 'Maneuver' at full force and Plot Armor, he was managing to keep up with the speed of the scales. The Vatagroes had followed suit as it tried to ram its head onto Falgur but he was too fast for it to keep up. He dodged it but his Sicapugi only gave a deep scratch as he tried to cut it while the hand holding the dagger got scorched by the heat from its skin. Sheyken seeing this as he blocked the scales knew they had to switch.

After failing in its attempt on ramming Falgur, it looked at him as the air around it turned extremely hot and he saw the space around it being distorted by the heat. It vanished again from Sheykens eyes and he looked to where Falgur was, expecting it to appear next to him. His eyebrows went up as he saw Falgur looking in his direction as he heard him yell out.

"You right side!"

He turned to his right just like Falgur had yelled out and having trained in using his force while his defensive field was active and making progress in it, he slowed down the scales that he had been dealing with to avoid being cut as he saw the Vatagroes appearing and ramming its body onto him as the Vatadustria had done to the lion-like beast. He managed to block its body ramming onto him with Plot Armor, but he was sent flying onto a large tree that almost feel as he uncontrollably rammed into it.

He felt his ribs crack and could not feel his right hand and shoulder. Knowing it was not time to check his injuries, he stood up as the Vatagroes was right on his tale. It was faster than it looked. He smiled as he saw Falgur easily dealing with his scales as this was what he wanted in the first place. It got closer as he now held Plot Armor with his left hand feeling confident. He thanked his master for all the hard training that made him have confidence while having to use his weaker hand.

He ran to it which surprised the Vantagroes as it thought it had the upper hand, thinking he would try to run. As it opened its mouth to try and bite Sheyken, he stepped to the side and cut the side of its mouth while it was still open. It quickly closed its mouth from the pain but when it looked to where Sheyken was, it did not see him. He had jumped as soon as he finished cutting it. A long sword went in its skull and into its brain as it continued all the way down piecing its mouth.

The scales that Falgur was dealing with fell down as it dropped onto the ground. That spelled the end of the fight and Sheyken now knew why two mages apprentices were almost killed by one. If he was fighting one alone, he had all the confidence in the world that he would have died.

He took Plot Armor out of its skull as the heat around it was still intense and absorbed it into Ruby. He then went by Falgur who was sitting down looking worse for wear. He told him to lay on his stomach so he could see his back.

"Damn!"

He said as he could see Falgurs exposed spine with the skin missing and a wound stretching from it to a deeper wound by his side.

"Damn man, I think I almost had to wipe your arse for the rest of my life. You almost lost a part of your spine."

Falgur laughed.

"I am sure my hands still would have worked if I lost it dummy, but I do not know about walking. Why did you just put that image in my head just after we almost died. Now I can't get read of the image in my mind."

They both laughed as Sheyken quickly took out some sort of bandages from the beg that Ningal had given him and applied the oil on them then wrapped it around his wound and burnt hand. They then quickly left the area after Ruby absorbed the scales and the other head.

Those events were playing in their minds as they looked at a magnificent armor that you could not tell apart from Shadow in their room as Salina left them. They looked in awe at a dagger, short sword, and something that they could only call a sword's handle.

Taking their eyes off of the weapons as Falgur pulled up a paper which he touched for the first time in his life, Sheyken quickly took it from him wanting to feel its texture. This quickly turned into a small squabble between the two as they fought to have the chance to feel a paper's texture.

It ended with it on Falgur's hands as they were both on the floor looking up to the ceiling.

"Brother, I wish we had our armor before almost losing our lives to those damn Vatagroes."

Falgur said while Sheyken kept quiet as it was his overconfidence that almost got them killed this time.