The Mysterious Black Magician

"Go Crimson! Defeat that dummy!"

Crimson was stupify.

Cinde got excited from what Ella said and started cheering Crimson. Her voice was so loud that it reached his ears even though there was a sound absorption spell in the room.

He was wondering what was happening to her. In any case, he needed to concentrate.

The boss tier dummy created 4 spheres on top of its palm.

Yman noticed something from it. Without waiting for a second, he secretly sent out one of his scout bees and let it hover above.

The spheres on top of the palm of the boss were encircling like planets around the sun.. The bigger sphere acted as the sun while the smaller ones were its orbiting planets.

But Yman noticed something unbelievable about them. Those spheres were just bubbles! But they were not simple bubbles.

Yman's musing came to a halt when Sistela whispered a warning.

The enemy threw the bubbles at him. He stepped back out of reflex but he regretted his decision.

Because the bubbles didn't proceed to him. It stopped in mid-air and hovered! Yman glimpsed at it with doubt.

Weirdly, the bubbles stayed there without doing anything.

Then his ears picked a slight sound of air movement. It was a kind of sound that was caused by a high-speed movement. Although Cinde was causing a loud noise, his concentration in the fight was unhindered. He quickly returned his gaze to the front.

As expected the enemy was hastily dashing towards him.

In a split second, another high-pitched sound resounded.

Then it was followed by consecutive collisions of sword and fin.

(TIIINNNGGG!!!)

A louder collision rang out when both of them sent a much powerful strike.

"Hmm, they both are physically equal…" Rea commented. She was wondering how Crimson got so much physical strength. After all, the boss tier dummy was physically strong.

Seeing that they were equal in terms of strength, they both leaped back at the same time to cut the deadlock.

Now they were 10 meters away from each other. 

He saw the boss dummy lift its other arm. Then another fin blade grew on its forearm.

"Sistela, notify me when that object above us made a weird movement," he earnestly asked his Deity.

<Okay!>

After she nodded, he noticed the enemy was already rushing towards him.

"Now it has two fin blades, eh," he thought then glimpsed on the gladius sword in his hand. The repeated collision caused its edge to be disheveled.

Looks like he needed another one, huh. The gladius sword helped him a lot in his fights. But he knew that everything has a corresponding ending.

Seeing that the enemy was now using two fin blades. He summoned a dagger in his left hand.

Now he too was holding two swords. A dagger in his left and a sword in his right.

Yman intercepts the fast-approaching enemy. In just a matter of split-second when another rapid collision of consecutive strikes enveloped the whole room.

It was even fiercer now than before because both of them were wielding two weapons at the same time.

Their blades cried out every time their weapons met each other.

Cinde was already stopped with her cheering and now was gaping while watching the super fast-paced fight. Even Rea could not hide the bewilderment she felt.

They could not even count for how many times their weapons had collided. And all their ears could pick was the repeated ear-piercing high-pitch tone of metal scrapping.

"I wonder how Crimson had so much stamina to stay in the fight for long," Cinde suddenly commented.

"Well, he's a mysterious freak I guess," Rea replied.

Cinde gawked at Ella's reply.

Behind the glass window, the fight was still ongoing. They too were wondering what those spheres were hovering in the air.

For some reason, it stayed there for a minute already.

The Dummy boss was waving its hand to slice his challenger.

The blades on its forearms were seemingly gleaming every time it slashed the air. It had a bluish color that was seemingly made from ocean water.

No, it is!

He noticed his gladius sword turned rusty out of a sudden!

'Could it be, those fin blades aren't just ordinary blades that are made of water?'

<It has a corrosion effect against metal, partner!>

Unfortunately, Yman's gladius sword was just an ordinary sword and doesn't have any resistance against it.

At the moment, his gladius sword seemed like it took a big leap of time.

Yman summoned the crimson mana and coated the gladius to extend its life for a little. And he summoned his Deity's mana without permission to coat the dagger.

"What, two types of mana? Crimson can use two different types of mana?"

Cinde was dumbfounded when she saw the two different colors of magical energy coating his weapons.

"Well, humans can use their Deity's mana as well. And in addition to their own, it would be two types in total."

"Ah, i-is that so?" She forgot that Crimson was a human and not a Demihuman like them.

Yman kicked the floor and engaged in exchange once again.

Ting ting ting ting ting…!

Both of them received damages and cuts. But thanks to their healing ability. They healed in an instant the wounds they received.

He bent his body backward to dodge the horizontal slash, coming from his left. Then he sent a kick, but the enemy was able to step back.

Yman twitched his brow. The boss had become more careful.

The next second, 

<Partner, something was happening above!>

Sistela suddenly screamed.

Yman took a quick glimpse and saw at the corner of his eyes that the sphere bubbles increase their size.

A moment later, he noticed the boss hastily move away.

Yman had a bad premonition about it. He wonde11red what it was. Regardless, he needed to stay away from it too.

However,

<Partner, it's coming closer to us!> Sistela screamed.

"What!?" Yman uttered in surprise. "A homing type?"

Just after saying it, one of the spheres shot towards him. Then it was followed by the thunderous explosion. A cloud of smoke blossomed after.

Cinde wasn't able to hold herself and stood from her seat.

"Calm down," Rea muttered. After all, it was only a training room. He would respawn outside the door when he died inside. After all, inside the room was a combination of high-level magic with the addition of restoration, illusion, and other high-level spells. All of these were prepared to make this training pavilion a safe training ground and a challenging one.

However, Rea could not find Crimson outside the door. She was certain that he was hit by that explosion.

Without waiting for the smoke to dissipate, another sphere came falling towards the cloud of smoke. Then it was followed by another one.

Cinde was holding his breath.

Rea was acting cool, but deep inside she was worried about him. She was even gripping the hem of her dress without her knowing.

She only wanted to act aloft in front of him. After all, she was a princess! And that guy was just a poor thief who likes taking advantage of his victim's belongings.

And he was a battle freak. And sometimes he had random attitudes. And although he was a mysterious person that was masking his real self, she knew that he was a person she could depend on. Especially in her current situation in which random group of people was trying to abduct her.

Sometimes, she wished to live as a normal girl. But Rea also believed that her Grace Htraerea would not give her this kind of life if she wasn't capable of it. Since she was the intended one who possessed this body and soul. All she had to do was to overcome all the hardship that was coming to her.

It was also the reason why she chose him over other stronger people in the adventurers guild.

Because he was a person that only had an issue with money, and she didn't feel any lustful thought from him towards her -- which she mostly felt from other people when they gaze at her. Though she started to feel down about it.

For once, she wondered why she wasn't happy that she could not feel any feeling of desire from him towards her.

Maybe it was just her illusion. She denied the thought that she was starting to develop a passive feeling towards him.

After all, he was the type of person who could easily lie. And he had no restraint of doing bad things for the sake of gaining money.

She believed he wasn't an ideal man. Although Rea was saying it in her mind, something within her was contradicting this thought of her.

She didn't know what was happening to her. Perhaps she misunderstood herself. Maybe it wasn't a passive feeling. 

While Rea was busy musing and couldn't come up with understanding to herself. Beside her, Cinde was stunned while watching the fight.