Aina [2]: Vs Ethan

Shock, that was the emotion everyone including Aina was feeling right now. The fight which they were all hyped up for, ended as soon the whistle was blown. And no, the fight didn't end with fancy swordplay or awesome magic but with a single word.

"Slip" Yep, Ethan made Aina slip off the arena.

"Hey, that's not fair" Aina said after coming out of her shock.

"You were the one that said we should go all out" Ethan trying to hold his laughter.

"Let's go again and this time, no tricks" she said climbing back into the arena.

Ethan just smiled and nodded to the butler, who signaled the match to start. As soon as the butler announced, Aina made her move.

"Entangle" she chanted causing vines to sprout from underneath Ethan, hoping to restrict his movement. She was a nature mage just like Ethan had guessed, and a really powerful one to booth.

Nature was not considered as magic but as laws, and law users are much rarer than multi elemental users. Laws were considered driving forces of the world like space, time, nature and son. Mages capable of controlling these laws were directly considered Kings regardless of their mana ranks.

Ethan expected something like this so he quickly jumped out of the way but before he could use any attack runes, he sensed something moving towards him at high speeds and by instinct, he raised his sword which was done just in time for him to block Aina's incoming attack.

The force that came with the attack caused Ethan to slide back.

"You're holding back" Aina said with a frown.

"No I'm not, it's just that this is my first time fighting with my abilities so it takes getting used to" Ethan replied.

 "Anyway, I think I've gotten the hang of it so, get over here" Ethan said, making a pulling motion.

"Wha-" Aina felt herself being pulled forward.

Ethan used he time they were talking to imprint the [Telekinesis Rune] in her mana, yes, it might seem underhanded, but this was a battle and Aina knew it too. 

Aina quickly figured what Ethan might have done, after all, he already explained to them how he uses runes so she understood that he might be using her mana as a 'medium'. Figuring out what he did was one thing, but countering it was another.

"Damn it" she said, blocking Ethan's attack with her sword.

Ethan was surprised to see that she could still block even when she was being pulled at high speeds. Aina then started circulating her mana trying to disrupt the rune planted in her and surprisingly, it worked, she was able to free herself from his [Telekinesis Rune].

"Well then, [Boost]" he said moving towards her at high speeds.

"Lightning call" she chanted, causing bolts of lightning to strike towards the approaching Ethan. 

Ethan almost effortlessly dodged the attacking lightning, since his speed was doubled with [boost], and quickly approached her performing a slash.

They battled with the sword for a couple of minutes before Aina, seeing that the spar was being needlessly drawn out, decided to end the fight.

"Nature's domain" she said, instantly transforming where they were battling into a big forest. Domains have only ever been used by law mages, which in theory should be possible for other elemental mages. In a domain, the mages were considered gods since they could control everything within it with just 'intent'. 

Although domains grants a huge power boost, it require huge amounts of mana and even Aina with a large mana pool could only maintain it for no more than a minute.

Ethan had to admit, if he didn't take his spar seriously, he might lose. Any normal mage might have instantly given up but not Ethan, this was his chance to push runes to his current limit and he was going to take it.

"Winning might be really hard" Ethan said, looking at the golems that just appeared before him. He quickly jumped out of the way when a one of the golems threw a punch towards him. 

"[Detonate]!" 

The golems exploded but others quickly replaced them, this annoyed Ethan. Although he could keep this up till after her mana runs out but none of their matches had ended that way.

"Damn it, at this rate I can't even get close and I can't use [Telekinesis] since she'll just override it" he said while slashing at the vines trying to entangle him and evading the golems' attack. At this point he had used [Heal] a couple of times to replenish his stamina alongside [Detonate] and [Wind bullet] to attack.

Ethan's brain was working overtime for the first time in a while and it felt great but this couldn't go on, that's when it hit him, he could do what she did but on a larger scale. No, he wasn't trying to create a domain yet, he was trying to disrupt it like she did his rune.

"[Override]" Ethan chanted the new rune he just created.

Aina was thinking of how to end he fight since her mana was almost completely drained and none of her current attacks were working, that's when she felt her connection to her domain abruptly cut and she started feeling lightheaded.

Ethan was surprised the rune actually worked, the forest covering their fighting ground disappeared and before he could prepare to attack Aina, what he saw horrified him.

Standing a few meters from him, blood was dripping from Aina's nose. This was just supposed to be a spar and he got carried away, he knew messing with someone else's mana was dangerous but he was so absorbed that he ignored the consequences and now Aina was hurt.

"Aina!" he rushed towards her and caught her before she fell. Aina, sensing his guilt, smiled at him before she passed out. Ethan quickly created and used the rune [Scan] on her, he sighed in relief when he found out that she was fine, her mana was just a bit chaotic which he solved with [Heal].

Although the guards and servants were worried, they calmed down when Ethan sighing in relief.

"I'll take her to her room" Ethan said, picking her up.

"Yes, master Ethan" the butler replied, ordering he servants to get back to work.

------------------------------------------------

[Rune name: Override]

[Description: Erases the mana signature in spells and replace with the user's mana]

[Condition: Trigger word 'override' must be used]

[Rune name: Scan]

[Description: Searches for any anomaly within an object or being and reports back to the user]

[Condition: Trigger word 'scan' must be used]