Chapter 9

~Omni pov~

One whole year has passed since Cid has broken through the orange stage of his Mana core. Now he's in the light orange stage and is facing against Tusk who is holding the orb of Avarice

The reason for this is since Tusk is the most magical orientated shadow soldier in Cid's possession, he's the perfect opponent to test out his magic skills.

And with that Cid has gotten Tusk to agree to fight him and now they both stand face to face .

Cid then surrounded himself with lightning both inside and outside further enhancing his speed and reaction time.

A streak of lighting and the ground caving in was all that was left as soon as Cid rushed towards Tusk.

Tusk seeing his little master coming just held the orb that further enhanced his magic and said "Hymn of protection" as soon as those words left his mouth he was soon surrounded by a protective barrier.

And as soon as the barrier was conjured the sound of thunder was soon followed which was produced by Cid's fist making contact with the barrier.

And as they collided a gust of wind soon spread due to the force of the collision.

To some of Cid's weaker shadows it just looked like Cid surrounded himself in electricity which was quickly followed by thunder. Seeing their master being the main cause for such an event they just cheered with their hands in the air.

Tusk seeing his master make contact with the barrier said "Hymn of slumber" which then started draining Cid of his stamina.

Cid feeling his stamina draining just backed away. He then stuck out his hand slightly and conjured a 3 large drills from the ground and started to make them spin. Due to the speed of the spinning the black drills started turning bright red showing just how fast it was turning.

He then launched them towards Tusk and as they made contact with the barrier it just shattered.

*Tink*

*shatter*

And as the drills made it through the barrier two landed on the shoulders of Tusk while the last one made its way through his stomach leaving a hole which you can see through.

Using Mana from black heart Tusk's body soon regenerated to peak condition like nothing ever happened.

Tusk using the orb of Avarice just started using his gravity magic making it hard for his opponent to move, it was to the point where Cid  was on his hands and knees

Cid then tried to use a bit of his own gravity making it lighter for himself. Thanks to his own gravity magic he was able to get back up but just slightly as Cid was still slouched over from the pressure of Tusk's gravity magic

Tusk while still holding the orb just said "Hymn of the Blazing Fire" and as those words came out of his mouth the space around him started to get surrounded by fire balls which were quickly thrown towards Cid in a quick motion

Cid was just standing there while looking at the fire ball approaching, Tusk who saw his Monarch just standing there got a worry expression seeing him doing nothing.

His worry soon increased as he saw the fireball making contact with Cid.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

As the multiple fireballs made contact a large amount of dust soon covered the area

And as the dust cleared Cid's form can be seen flickering on and off until it disappeared completely.

The original Cid soon appeared right infront of Tusk with a wind made sword.

And with a victorious expression Cid swung his sword cleaving Tusks head off.

Cid seeing his Victory just turned to the other shadows and smile with a index finger swiping his nose and with a cheeky expression said "Light projections for the win"

Seeing their Monarch come out victorious from the sparring sessions the place was then filled with boisterous cheers from everyone even from Tusk who was back together once again.

"WOOOOOOOAHHHHHH" ×1,000+

Some were even shouting "THAT'S OUR LIEGE"

And just like that the night soon passed and it was morning.

The first thing Claire did as soon as she saw Cid was drag him outside. She then gave him a sword and started marching infront of him.

"As your older sister it's my duty to teach some stuff as well so today we're going bandit hunting in the forest" she said while holding her sword upward

She then continued "swordsmanship is best learned through combat experience, the baldie was blabbering about about it while indulging in dandyism. He was talking about the scarface bandits that have been lurking in the forest recently.

And we're going to defeat them, but worry not little brother big sis is here for you".

She then soon started bragging as we got inside the forest. "Everybody was talking about how easily I could beat your everyday bandit since I won the young knights competition"

"You only won cause I didn't want to participate" Cid said with a deadpan expression

Which cause Claire to pout.

While she was pouting towards Cid's direction she did not noticing the bandit that snuck right behind her.

And as the scarface bandit was behind her it spoke "Huh!? Why are there brats here?"

Cid and Claire were both the surrounded the rest of the bandits that came out "What? are they lost or something"

Another bandit soon responded "And there's 2 of them, I bet we can make a killing with them"

Hearing them Claire gains a cold look on her face, ever since she started sparring with Cid she has learned to always keep a calm mindset in such situations.

She didn't even let scarface continue talking and attacked him right away pushing him back slightly.

Scarface seeing this just gained a slightly surprise expression "Well aren't you well taught, capturing you just might be a bit of fun."

He then turned to the rest of the bandits "While I take care of this little brat capture the other one"

Claire hearing this just got angrier but with gritted teeth ask "Can you handle yourself Cid"

Cid while watching the entire enteraction just had a bored expression on his face and just nodded but then he realized Claire couldn't see him as she was still watching her opponent so he just said "Although you couldn't see it I nodded"

Claire hearing him just nodded back and rushed towards scarface and started to attack him which caused scarface to retaliate and attack Claire back with the same intensity.

Slash after slash both of them kept getting injured until Claire pushed scarface sword out of the way and sent a final slash right across his chest causing him to fall face forward and into the ground.

Seeing her opponent defeated Claire gained a proud expression and turned back to help Cid out but what she saw left her speechless.

All the bandits where just in a pile ontop of each other with their neck slit wide open and Cid sitting in the middle of it with his hands on his knees and his head slightly down waiting for Claire to finish.

She then waved to Cid and with a face full of a large bright smile said "Look Cid, I did it, I'm strong enough to actually take a bandit all on my own" she just continued waving and smiling looking at her brother hoping to see a proud expression on his face

But what she saw was just his face with a disappointed look while shaking his head and sighing

She then gained a confused expression and as she was about to express her confusion she felt a great pain shot through her from her back causing her to scream in pain

"ARRGGGGHHH"

and as the pain appeared she soon started losing consciousness and as she was falling she managed to get a look at the figure who cause her such pain.

It was scarface...

He faked his death to get Claire to lower her guard and attack at the right moment. Seeing her down and out he slowly turned to Cid who was looking at him with an emotionless expression while sitting on the piles of bodies.

Scarface opened his mouth to speak but was quickly shut down as Cid slowly lifted his pointer finger at him

As the words were about to leave his mouth Cid's finger turned into a light purple color and shot right through the middle of his head killing him in one shot.

Cid then slowly got up from his supposed throne of dead bodies and made his way to Claire and as he arrived he knelt down slightly and started to heal all of her wounds.

He then got up slowly and looked around the place, which was quickly followed by him slowly lifting his palm up a little and. His eyes then glowed a deep purple color devoid of emotions and with an emotionless voice he said

"Come forth and serve"

And as those words left his mouth the shadows of the dead bodies soon started to shake as beings made entirely out of shadows came forth and knelt down in one knee as soon as they saw their now Monarch.