After she was gone, Alen and Azrael sat alongside each other on the floor of the training ground. They maintained a respectable distance and concentrated on something important. They didn’t speak, staying entirely focused on the delicate task in front of them.
Alen raised his finger and wrapped his mana around a small cube, making it float gently in the air. He carefully directed it toward a tall, vertical tower made of small cubes balancing precariously on top of each other.
As he concentrated on reaching the very top in slow motion, Azrael was doing the exact same thing with his own blocks in front of him. Azrael made his cube float in the air, but mistakenly, he lost his patience. His movement was a bit too fast, and losing control of his mana, the cube hit the edge of the one below it. The delicate balance was completely disturbed.
Each and every one of the small cubes came crumbling down, scattering noisily across the floor of the training ground. As all of his hard work was wasted away.
*CLATTER!*
Azrael sighed in pure frustration. His shoulders slumped as he looked at Alen, who managed to successfully place his final cube on top of the other, successfully winning the game.
"Hehe... That is my fourth win..."
Azrael slumped back on the training ground, feeling annoyed after losing to him every single time. He thought that even if he couldn’t defeat Alen in an actual battle, it would be easy to win against him in a game of control like this. He had played these kinds of games since childhood, but he hadn’t expected the wanderer to manage it even better than him. He felt entirely helpless that he couldn’t win against him in anything.
’Damn, I feel humiliated by him. I should have won at least one time...’
Azrael tilted his head up from the floor to meet Alen’s striking eyes.
"Let’s play another round. This time I am surely going to win."
Alen looked at him with a smug look on his face.
"Nah bro, it is the fourth time since you asked me. I think it’s enough time to prove that you can’t win against me. Go train for years, and then come to challenge me again..."
Azrael raised his eyebrow, feeling even more humiliated.
"What do you mean by years? If I just practice for one or two days, I can easily manage to beat you."
"Oh, really?"
A small smile tugged on Alen’s lips. He flicked his finger, and mana rushed out from his body, wrapping around all the scattered cubes. They instantly flew together to form a tower. In less than a few seconds, the structure stood there ready, without a single imbalance.
Azrael’s eyes stayed glued to the tower. Alen had accurately managed to put each and every cube exactly on the center of the ones below, making it look perfectly balanced.
"Damn it, you’re crazy!"
Alen smiled widely as he flicked his wrist, making the tower fall and crumble back to the floor.
"Hehe... Thank you for the compliment..."
Azrael frowned as he looked away, feeling more than just humiliated. For the first time in his life, he felt that he was way weaker than someone his age. Of course, he was entirely unaware that he was comparing himself with a guy who had actually beaten multiple Walkers all by himself.
"It was not a compliment..."
Azrael suddenly remembered the fight he had fought with him earlier. He was genuinely impressed by Alen’s skills and how seamlessly he applied his elements with the spear. His spear technique was incredibly unique, something Azrael hadn’t seen anywhere else. Curiosity piqued his interest as he turned back toward Alen’s face.
"Hey, I like your spear technique... Can you please teach me that?"
Alen gazed at him with a calm face, acting as if his answer was obvious.
"Nope, I can’t teach you... I don’t have the patent to share that technique with anyone else..."
Azrael’s eyes widened as he realized the spear technique Alen just used was not his own creation.
"Wait, if you’re not the one who made that technique, then who did you learn it from? Can you tell me?"
His eyes shone with curiosity. Azrael had always been obsessed with the spear. He hadn’t ever tried to wield another weapon in his entire life. Other people might claimed that the spear was a weapon whose techniques were limited to a certain level, so most Awakeners preferred the sword or other standard weapons. But Azrael was not like those people. He had always believed that there was something that existed beyond what normal people could think of.
No weapon was actually weaker than another weapon; they were all the same. Whatever weapon you tried to master, its limit of mastery depended entirely on you, your thinking, and your comprehension. The weapon itself didn’t have a limit; the people themselves created the limits by thinking they couldn’t go beyond a certain point.
Azrael was always a guy who, rather than forcing himself to learn many different things, chose to learn only one thing on a massive scale. Whatever time he could have given to the mastery of other weapons, he chose to give it to the spear alone. People might call him stupid for doing that, or say he was just wasting his precious time which he can dedicate to learn different new skills, but he didn’t care about what people were going to say. For him, whatever he did was always his own choice. Whether he succeeded or failed, it would be entirely his own fault. Rather than living in regret, he chose to take the chance now so that he wouldn’t feel regret in the future.
Azrael looked at him expectantly, desperately wanting to know who had taught this guy such a bizarre technique—one which he could use seamlessly with many different elements. For any normal spear art, only a chosen base element could be used in the technique. But for Alen’s technique, he was able to use Fire, Wind, Sound, and maybe he could use others too.
"Well, sorry, I can’t reveal who taught me. It’s a secret..."
"Ughh... Don’t be like that! Come on, just tell me. I won’t tell anyone else. Is that person your master? Or your parents? Or maybe one of your friends?"
Alen pursed his lips, thinking about what answer he should give just to shut Azrael’s mouth.
[Hey, answer him that your ’Master’ taught you!]
’Shut up, you little devil. Why are you getting excited and poking into our conversation? Mind your own work.’
[Hey, I am not poking at anything, I just have nothing else to do! Can I come out?]
’Nah, just go to sleep again. Goodnight.’
[Hey, I am not a baby to sleep around all the time!]
’Oh, really?...’
Alen ignored her complaining words as he looked at Azrael. He decided to just go with the flow.
"Well, you can call it that way. My master taught me."
The words felt a little embarrassing to say out loud. Even though he tried to act as if it was nothing, Alen looked away, staring at the empty air with a blank face.
"Hmm, well, if you say so, I would surely like to meet your master..."
"You can’t meet her!" Alen paused midway, realizing the defensive words had slipped from his lips unconsciously without his own will.
Azrael couldn’t help but notice his hasty words, and a teasing smirk grew on his face.
"Hehe... Why are you acting so possessive? I was just talking about meeting her, not stealing your secret girlfriend. Or is your master actually your...? Hmm..."
Alen felt a rush of embarrassment. He channeled his wind magic to the maximum extent and immediately aimed a blast at Azrael’s body.
Since they were seated too close and Azrael was in a relaxed, comfortable position, he had no way of dodging the sudden attack. His body flew away by the gust of wind like a ragdoll, sliding roughly across the ground until he was thrown hard against the training wall.
*CRACK!*
The loud sound of the wall cracking could be heard as a small cloud of dust covered the edge of the room.
"Ouch, that hurts, you f*cking bastard!"
Alen shrugged his shoulders as he stood up, casually dusting off his clothes.
"You deserve it for talking nonsense. I would recommend you learn something from your own girlfriend about when to keep your mouth shut."
Azrael stood up, dusting off the dirt and waving away the cloud of dust before him.
"Cough!... Cough! She is not my girlfriend! And wait a minute, I want to ask, how long have you known Leviya?..."
Alen tilted his head in confusion, not understanding what he was supposed to mean, and answered calmly.
"Just since a few hours ago. Why ask?"
Azrael narrowed his eyes. He felt a slight wave of relief hit him, and his tense shoulders slumped.
’Well, if it is not him, then who could it be?...’
***
[A/N: 5 Chapter Mass Release!
Goal: 1 Dragon/ 150 +GT/ 300+PS]
Time Limit: Within 2 month
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