*DUN DUN DUN!*
Luck and Ray stood at a distance from each other in the clearing. Both facing the other, their hands at ready on their sides, waiting for the other to make a move first. From Reio knows where, a tumbleweed rolled from between them.
The rest of the Squad members sat off to the side, each wearing glasses that they got from magna after threatening him, and eating popcorn the Charmy's Sheep was handing out.
Ray felt a nerve tick in his forehead. 'Are these guys for real!? I'm gonna be fighting for my squad position here against an mentally derailed opponent, and they're watching like its a movie!?!? Also, who tf brought that tumble weed here? arent they supposed to only appear in the desert regions?'
"Hey! Hey! Hey!! Are you ready? I'm coming!" Luck yelled from across the clearing.
Ray shook his head and refocused his derailed thoughts, giving luck a small smirk while replying, "Ready as can be." Saying that, He summoned his kojaku from his left hand and activated Hirenkyaku.
*CRACKLE CRACKLE CRACKLE!*
*BZZT!*
Luck's smile brightened as Ray drew his weapon. His hands and legs get enveloped in lightning, sparking and charring the ground beside it. Without a word he launches himself at Ray.
*BOOM!*
Ray activates Soul Sight as he retreats using Hirenkyaku, somersaulting through the air and landing on his feet, a few meters away from the crater that had now formed in the place he was before.
"You call that fast? I've seen slugs with more spark!" Ray taunted as drew and fired in quick succession.
*WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!*
Luck Dodged the incoming arrows and closed the distance with terrifying accuracy.
Ray frowned to himself and shot a well-placed arrow, that momentarily blocked Luck's vision. Ray used that Brief Moment to rush towards Luck.
*SLASH!*
Luck swatted the Arrow and saw Ray rushing at him. He grinned, Raised his claws, And Slashed. but hit empty air. Ray had somersaulted over him, His Bow drawn and a Heilig Pfeil already formed on the bowstring, aimed at Luck's exposed back. He smirked lightly and let it loose, While using Hirenkyaku to close the distance between him and Luck. He Dispelled his bow and drew the Seele schneider.
*BOOM!*
*CRACK.*
Luck Blocked The heilig pfeil with his lighting covered gauntlets, but the blow was increadibly heavy. The Heilig Pfeil is unlike the normal arrows that Ray was using before. Before, the arrows were nothing more that straight sticks made of Reishi. But the Heilig Pfeil is a more complex type of arrow. The Heilig Pfeil is made by intervineing multiple strands of Reishi, which if used alone could each make a normal arrow. The Heilig Pfeil is made of 10 such Strands, making it stronger, faster and more destructive than the ones before.
*BZZT!*
*CLANG CLANG CLANG!*
Luck's eyes widened as he was caught off guard. Ray had predicted this and hence drew in for a close combat bout, when Luck was at his weakest. I.e. His lightning gauntlet was unfunctional. Ray Slashed at Luck, grazing his cheek as Luck dodged the blow, slowly returning to his crazed self. Ray pushed his advantage, Trading blows for slashes with Luck.
*WHOOSH!*
However, when he saw Luck forming the lightning gauntlets once more, He retreated rapidly, using Hirenkyaku, launching Reishi arrows to cover his retreat. They stood like that, facing each other and recovering their stamina while slowly circling each other.
*DUN DUN DUNN!*
"All that lightning, but still can't hit me? Guess it's just for show!" Ray Taunted once more, as he launched an arrow to test the waters.
Luck took the bait. "Lightning magic: Lightning Circus!"
*CRACKLE CRACKLE CRACKLE!*
*BZZT*
Lightning coiled around him unnaturally, then exploded outwards, scorching the ground around luck and creating a kind of lightning powered forcefield that attacked everything in a 2 meter radius around Luck, indiscriminately.
{A/N: Except for Luck himself lol. Also, this is a spell I made up on the spot. Its not used in the manga or the anime.}
Ray gulped at the sight and scrambled to create distance between him and Luck, While Luck pursued him. Ray didn't bother trying to slow him down by launching arrows, since they were gonna be charred to oblivion before they even reached him. and also because that would mean a waste of Reishi.
*WHOOSH! WHOOSH!*
Ray ran, luck chased. The sight was intriguing, comedic even, like an extremely obnoxious, blue colored cat with a name starting with T chasing an orange colored mouse with a name starting with J.
This Went on for a few moments when Luck finally caught up, as Ray accidently slipped on a loose pebble. His lightning 'cloak' was dangerously close. Finral Scrambled to open a portal to save Ray, when he did something no one expected. Using Hirenkyaku, He stepped on Air, propelling himself outside the lightning circus's range.
"Close Call..." Ray muttered as he collected himself. He had found a weakness while he was observing the lightning field through his soul sight. During the battle, the thin rectangular glasses made of reishi had formed around his eyes.
*WHOOSH!*
He drew his bow and a Heilig Pfeil. This one, however was extra thick. Luck Took the challange head on, rushing towards Ray, with perfect trust in his lightning cloak.
Ray let it loose. The Heilig Pfeil Screamed through the air as it missed Luck, completely.
This confused everyone. Ray dispelled the kojaku and drew his Seele schneider parrying blows from Luck while he gritted his teeth and took the lightning around Luck head on.
*BZZT, CRACKLE!*
*CLANG CLANG CLANG!"
*WHOOSH!*
Thats when the spectators saw it. The Heilig Pfeil that had supposedly 'missed' Luck completely was zeroing in on his now exposed back. This was the weakness Ray had noticed. When anything comes into the lightning circus spell's radius, all the Lightning nodes releasing lightning from Luck's body, zero in on the Magic power within the 'intruder'. It was stated in the manga that all things have magic in them. I.e. Even non-living things like roadside rocks.
Anyways, Due to this, Once the lightning zero's In on the 'intruder', there other parts of the body remain exposed. Ray violated that very weakness. By tanking the Lightning using his own body, he created an opening in Luck's defenses and attacked With his Fake Shot.
*CLANG CLANG CLANG!*
*Splat!*
Luck also noticed the arrow coming for him and tried to back off, to avoid it. But Ray attacked relentlessly, slashing at him from left, right and centre. Keeping him in the same spot. At the last moment, Luck twisted his body, the arrow, instead of piercing his back, now drew a deep gash on luck's Left arm.
This shocked everyone present. Yami included. Heck, He was so shocked, his cigarette dropped from his Half open mouth. Luck's smile Widened and he Launched himself at Ray again. But Yami managed to collect himself in time and Yelled,
"That's enough Luck! He has passed!" Yami yelled as he suddenly appeared in Luck's path, forcing Luck to Stop abruptly. "Not Fair captain Yami! Things were just about to get good!" Luck complained. But ray had had enough. His entire body was twitching, his hands were shaking and barely holding on to the Seele schneider. Heck, it was a miracle that he was even standing.
*CLATTER!*
"Shut up you damn berserker!" Ray yelled at Luck. The Seele schneider slipped from his grasp and fell to the ground, before dissolving into reishi particles. This was followed by Ray himself as he Fainted on his feet and fell face-first on the ground. Or rather, before that could happen, Yami Grabbed him.
He Picked Ray up and slung him over his shoulder and carried him towards the HQ and away from the clearing while saying,
"Party's over brats. Go do some Actual Work." Saying this he walked off towards the HQ, with Ray slung over his shoulders like a sack of nomotatos. Once inside, Yami took him to a room in the living quarters and laid him there. Then left, after tasking Finral to call a healer from the capital to heal him.
In Ray's room, an anti-bird landed on the windowsill, then hopped inside, and onto the bedside table, looking at Ray's condition with unrestrained Worry. The bird flew to the bed and landed beside Ray's head, settling down there as it fell into a soft sleep.
__2 Days Later__
Ray woke up 2 days, with an headache, sore body, and hunger gnawing at him. his charred, scorched and electrified burns had been healed by a healer 2 days ago. He stretched himself, to get rid of the soreness and then Changed into new clothed, unaware of an anti-bird hiding behind his pillow on the bed, watching with a visible blush on its face.
Once done, he headed outside, towards the direction from which most noise come. When he stepped into the dining hall, All chatting and goofing around froze. The black bulls members looked at him in surprise before continueing what they were doing before he arrived. He walked over to asta's side and sat down.
"Morning Sleepy-sta" Ray greeted Asta
"Good Morning Ray! How are your Wounds? Are they alright? Did you get enough rest?" He fired off questions in a rant.
"Shut up Dumbass. Try not worsen my headache. But other than that, I'm all healed." He said, turning his head slightly to look at the girl sitting on asta's left, looking visibly uncomfortable at asta's closeness to him.
The young woman had a slender build and pink eyes. She possessed long, silver-colored hair, which was tied in pigtails, with her center bangs over her forehead. Additionally, she wore a sleeveless, backless, short purple dress covered by a silver-colored blazer. The blazer had a backless design with sleeves attached at the back that extended slightly beyond her elbows with gold-colored cuffs.
He Turned to look at the girl and asked Asta,
"So, Who's this? I don't recall seeing her the day-before."
Asta looked at Noelle and then back at Ray. "Ray, this is Noelle Silva, a royal front the capital. And also our comrade. By the way, she has amazing magic power!" He said.
Ray nodded his head and then dug into the food, eating like a starved man who hadn't had food in two days.
Once done, he got up and headed outside to exercise, while he formulated a plan in his mind.
'Our first mission won't come for the next 2 weeks. I can use this time to create different variants of heilig pfeil and maybe kill some vacuans as well.'
*KABOOOOOM!*
Suddenly, an explosion rang out from the forest. Ray turned towards the explosion, startled. There, he saw it. A figure with extremely distorted features and a hole in it's chest lay in the crater formed by the explosion.
In front of his eyes, it dissolved into purple particles and flew deeper into the forest. With out hesitation, Ray pursued the trail. It lead to him to and open clearing where a figure clad in an dark blue colored garment stood. The figure was facing a group of similar grotesquely distorted faced vacuans as one he saw earlier.
The closest vacuan charged at the figure When...
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_Author's Address_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
Guys, the update schedule might get a bit delayed, as I'm entering my exams period for the next 2 weeks. I'll be able to upload the chapter on wednesday (not confirmed), but i cant promise chapters on the weekends. Extremely sorry for the inconvenience caused in absolutely destroying your link and connect with the story by pulling this damn 'hiastus' ahhh shi-.
anyways, wish me luck!