POW!
Reina's world spun.
Her body slammed backward like a fired cannonball.
She crashed into a thick tree trunk with such force the entire thing cracked cleanly down the middle.
The upper half tipped backward before splitting apart, crashing into the ground with a dull but heavy thud.
She slid down what remained of the trunk, hit the dirt, and exhaled sharply.
Coppery warmth immediately filled her mouth and she wiped the blood off her lip with the back of her hand.
"What the fuck?" she snapped as she glared at the person that attacked her, The voice changing rune was still active on her chest so her voice sounded like that of a young man. "It's a simple search… so why are you trying to kill me?"
Her tone was flat, annoyed, and filled with the kind of exhaustion someone felt after dealing with too many men in too few days… They were really getting annoying.
The attacker stepped through the clearing with their boots crunching on leaves.
Jerry Morcant.
He was brown-haired, blue-eyed and muscular as well. In Reina's opinion, he was handsome in a "rich boy with emotional issues" kind of way. Not that she was ever interested in him in the first place.
And exactly as stupid as he looked.
His glare held pure venom.
"I just don't like how you look," Jerry hissed. "And besides, Sir Rowan did say we could attack each other, right? I'll just break your legs or something."
Reina blinked once as she wondered why he was attacking her.
"…I didn't know people attacked others because of their looks, Jerry."
She rose to her feet and her long silver hair slipping loose from its tie, cascading over her shoulders.
'I love my hair…' She thought but the more she looked at Jerry, the more her eye twitched and her patience thinned…
"Or," she continued dryly, "is it the fact that your crush is now engaged to me?"
Jerry's pupils shrank.
A vein popped on his forehead and his jaw clenched, not only that but his mana spiked explosively.
"How was I supposed to know she liked guys with long hair better?!" he shouted, wind magic swirling violently around his arm like a miniature cyclone.
"I don't know," Reina deadpanned. "Maybe because she said it like three times."
These guys didn't listen to what a girl wanted and complained when they didn't get it… She hated trying to talk to them.
He raised his hand higher and wind spiraled around his fingers making the ground trembled beneath him.
"I'm gonna beat you until I get tired," Jerry snarled. "I don't give a fuck about the Unique Item."
Reina inhaled deeply.
Her breath exited in a soft mist, the temperature around her dropping instantly.
"I guess we'll just have to fight then."
Internally, her thoughts were far less composed.
'I swear guys do too much,' she groaned mentally. 'Jerry… Ren… all of them. Fighting each other because a girl didn't pick them. Do they not have shame? Self-respect? Hobbies? Literally anything else?'
Her annoyance crystallized into ice in her palms.
WHOOM…
"Bang."
Jerry fired the first shot.
A compressed bullet of wind exploded from his fingertips, shredding through the air.
Reina moved just slightly to the right like a ghost…
The projectile slammed into the remnants of the tree behind her with a BOOM, tearing it apart.
'His control over wind is still unmatched,' she noted, there was a reason why this musclehead was known as a prodigy of wind magic. 'He can blast my ice apart… so I'll have to end it fast. I really fucking hate wind mages.'
Jerry wasn't done.
He fired again.
And again.
"Bang… Bang… Bang…"
Wind bullets shot from every angle, streaks of violent pressure that ripped through the forest.
Trees exploded one by one. Soil erupted into deep pits. Leaves whipped around wildly as the entire clearing transformed into a battlefield.
Reina sprinted forward with her feet barely touching the ground and ice mana flickering around her in thin wisps.
Jerry stepped forward with his arm outstretched.
"Wind whip."
Mana condensed in his hand, then snapped outward…
CRACK!
A whip made entirely of slicing wind extended several meters, cutting the ground in a long, deep trench.
Reina dodged expertly, flipping sideways and landing lightly on her feet.
But the force of the swing had left a scar through the earth itself.
'He's getting stronger,' Reina thought, leaping into the air. 'Fine then.'
She arched high above him… purposely exposing herself, making her silhouette the perfect target.
Jerry's lips twisted into a smirk.
"Foo—"
He never finished the word.
Because in that instant, Reina unleashed a fully condensed wave of ice magic she had been storing in her core.
SHOOOOOOOM!
A beam of pale blue energy blasted forward, engulfing Jerry entirely.
The temperature dropped instantly.
Frost blanketed everything within several meters.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK… FOOM
A colossal block of ice formed around Jerry.
His body froze in place with his limbs locked and torso completely immobilized.
Only his head remained free and he was furious.
'I… can't feel wind,' Jerry realized in panic.
Reina descended from the air like a meteor.
She twisted her body mid-fall… and mana concentrated in her heel then she slammed down with a kick strong enough to crumble stone.
KRAAAAACK!
The ice block fractured on impact and Jerry's head snapped sideways. He was losing consciousness…
But the last spark of his overinflated ego refused to die quietly.
He gathered the final reserves of his wind magic…
"RRRAAAAAAAHH—!"
BOOOOOOOM!
A huge burst of wind exploded outward.
Reina was caught completely off-guard.
'Fuck—!'
Her body rocketed backward, thrown like a ragdoll through the clearing with enough force to make her lose consciousness.
And then…
She was caught… perfectly.
Reina's unconscious form collapsed into Ren Crowhurst's arms.
Ren had been stretching with his hands above his head when something heavy crashed into him.
'The fuck?' Ren blinked, staring down at the silver-haired boy unconscious in his arms.
…
Time passed.
Reina gradually woke up on a soft bed of moss and grass with warm sunlight filtering through the canopy above.
Her head throbbed slightly, but anything was better than face-planting into a tree again.
She groaned and sat up.
'Did I fall here after Jerry attacked?' she wondered, rubbing her temples.
Then she blinked.
Because sitting directly in front of her and staring right at her with the intensity of a tax collector was Ren Crowhurst.
Reina's heart dropped.
Why…
Was…
He…
Here?
Ren leaned forward casually.
"Listen…" he said calmly.
Reina stiffened.
Ren looked her dead in the eyes.
"I know you're a girl."
Her entire world shattered.