Erika's Turn

-----

Chris and Eric were sitting next to one another while resting, they had been exhausted completely after the fight and they were drinking some fruit juice I had shared with them that my mother had made, it was refreshing and cold when I used the Ice Attribute Spell 'Cooling', that could make drinks colder, which are way more refreshing with this heat.

"Wow, that was amazing, Chris, you've really improved a lot…" said Eric.

"Y-You think so? Heheh… Well, you were not half bad either, Eric. Tough you're still a bit too rough around the edges, maybe you need to practice a bit with me." Said Chris with a cheeky smirk.

Eric grew a bit paler about the prospects of fighting with the brute of Chris.

"N-No thanks, also your fire is super effective against my vines, they would be defeated way too fast! I prefer Blake…" said Eric.

"Eeeeh? You're no fun, Eric! Come on, I'll go easy on you because we are friends!" said Chris with an even more malicious smirk.

"I cannot trust you when you're smiling like a maniac!" said Eric.

"Hahah! Come on! I'll beat you good, so you grow a backbone like Blake says!" said Chris. He began to tickle Eric's belly playfully.

"S-Stop! Don't tickle me!" said Eric.

While the two kids played around, Erika approached me.

"Blake, my turn now! Let's fight!" she said.

"Fight? Ah… you want to fight as well? I didn't planned today to end up becoming a fighting tournament…" I sighed.

"Eeeeh? But you asked who wanted to fight! And you always say that to grow stronger we have to spar a lot and see each other's strengths and weaknesses!" said Erika, reciting my own words.

Truth be told, I was tired. After I had fought the two kids, I really didn't felt like fighting a third time, even less with the fierce Erika, who had grown even stronger now that she realized that her special body is spectacular for fighting closely ranged thanks to being as tough as metal…

Her body is obviously tougher than mine, it feels as if she had already come with a max-leveled low-grade physique from the get-go, so her body strength and defense are clearly high.

Add that to her insane amount of Aether which she had already learned to infuse into her body, and then her own Mana and the tricky Spirit she has, and she becomes a threat that even I must recognize.

Sigh… However, I cannot easily tell her "no" after I ended making her want to fight, despite being a lady, she had grown more and more obsessed with fighting, something that I don't regret doing but that I feel bad of having enforced into her… Her father, who wishes her to become a respectable lady, might not like how much she likes to fight now.

Despite that, Erika is still rather small compared to the other kids, but her body composition, as I said earlier, is very strong.

"Okay… Let's fight, but let's not overextend it for too long. Also, try to use the Aura I've taught you to use, so I can see your progress. I assume you've been practicing it, right?" I asked.

"Yeah! Every day I got the time!" she said.

"Okay then, let's do it." I said.

Erika quickly walked to the other side of the vast grassland, as I looked at her eyes, she was looking at me as well, rather intensively at that. I couldn't tell what she was thinking half the time, sometimes she would seem rather childish and like any other kid her age, and other times, she would end up acting overly mature for the age she seems to give away.

Well, the truth is, Erika is way older due to the age of her soul, she had died several years ago after all, and was then revived into this doll body after her father did a lot of research… so she is technically way older than five years old.

But now, this is not the time to think these things, Erika was in front of me, ready to fight and put all her soul into it, she really wanted to grow stronger, and I respected such a will. Not many people would be so motivated as she is, even less if they had gone through what she had experienced, and even less if they knew they were a doll body…

"I am coming!" she said.

FLASH!

In an instant, the battle began, Erika enhanced her legs with her Aether and her Mana, and rushed towards me while unleashing her Aura at long last.

It had the color of pink and purple, and seemed almost illusory and dreamy, something I had not seen before since my previous life… I see, so she has such elements?

The color of an Aura often shows the elements that a person has the most affinity and is the most proficient with, for example, if you're good with fire, your Aura will be red if you're good with water or ice, your Aura will be blue and azure, and so on…

And these elements, purple and pink, they're most likely… Illusion, Dreams, and Nightmares. These are her main magical elements, which she had yet to even utilize.

CLASH!

Erika clashed against me with her legs. Unlike the legs of Chris or Eric, her legs were incredibly hard, to the point they felt like a log falling over my arms.

CLASH! CLASH!

I tried to defend against her kicks, but they were so strong I was pushed back. I had to go into the offensive if I wanted to stand a chance against her onslaught of kicks.

"Flowing Fist Technique: Star Shower."

FLAAASH!

My fists were suddenly covered by my own Aura of blood, while I also mixed it with my Qi, I moved my hands incredibly fast, like a shower of stars falling over Erika in an instant.

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

"U-Uwaaah…!"

Erika was surprised over my sudden attack, but she quickly regained her composure and counterattacked!

-----