Garden Of The Abyss

"--That was a close one. Try again."

As if he didn\'t just swoop in like a bolt of lightning, Sirius turned to him with a reassuring smile, fixing his messy bangs, combing them up above his forehead.

"Try again? I nearly died just now!"

"Died? I\'ve had your back this entire time, just be more careful next time."

"--Why do I have to fight it? You clearly are strong enough to take care of it on your own...I\'m not risking my life just for some points in a game that doesn\'t even have a reward. I don\'t have that same "lust for battle" like the rest of you."

A troubled look came over Sirius\' face after hearing Ren\'s disapproval, watching as the elder giant slowly stood itself back up.

"Looks like I\'ve finally seen your true colors."

"--?"

"Since I\'ve met you--you\'ve carried this hot-headed "can-do" attitude with you everywhere, even when you complained, you still followed through with what was asked of you. But...I could tell from your eyes that the "Ren" I was seeing was just a boy trying to act tough."

"...I don\'t get it. What\'re you talking about? We\'re in the middle of a fight right now!"

"Oh, are we? It seems like you\'ve given up."

Sirius lost his usual frivolity, looking back at Ren with his glacial irises, emitting an unapproachable coldness.

"--I…"

"Ren, you have to be prepared to put your life on the line with every battle. All you\'ve done until now is fight out of fear, flailing your sword around like a maiden in distress--hoping in the back of your mind for me or anyone else to save you from your battles. Fight to win--meet your opponent on equal footing, no, surpass their thirst for victory. If you can look forward and smile at the prospect at a battle, then your grip on your sword will never loosen, your heart will never cave into the fear--you will win."

Hearing these words that spoke the unveiled truth, Ren realized this was the result of Sirius\' time spent with him--watching as he battled, hunted--Sirius was using this time to understand him and help him to improve.

"Just say the word and I\'ll save you from this giant. However, if you want to fight--then stand up straight and hold your sword up, now!"

There was no other choice for him but to lift his sword, looking past his companion as his sights set onto the approaching giant.

Stepping into the arena with the elder giant made him realize the one thing he had missed in his training--experience. It didn\'t matter how many times he practiced the same spell, flinging it against trees, at the end of the day--the only way to truly grow was through real battle.

--Right now...even that monster is fighting for his life. What right do I have to challenge him if I\'m scared of pain, let alone death? Treat every opponent as if they\'re my equal--no, that\'s not good enough. Every fight should be as if I\'m fighting for my life.

"Hey, scaly! Yeah, I\'m talking to you! Let\'s start round two already! Don\'t worry, my friend there won\'t be interrupting us this time."

As if understanding his words, the elder giant lowered its stance--summoning forth a well of mana as violet flames coiled around its body.

"Fight like my life is on the line, huh? Let\'s put that to the test, shall we?"

Entering a gambit of his own, Ren deactivated his reinforcement and raised his hand to the air as mana began to condense in the air. The nearby clouds that hung above the mountain peak circled around the arena of rock and dirt, spectating the battle between the green Outlander and the withered colossus.

"Why would he deactivate his reinforcement?" Sirius thought to himself as he watched the upcoming battle closely, "--I see! Brother, you\'re a crazy bastard. Don\'t make me regret lifting you up with those words!"

Using none of his mana reserved to maintain his reinforcement, Ren now had full control of his magical power--he planned to end the fight with one attack.

"Dunkel: Piercer!"

A spear devoid of a physical form, made of dark energy formed above his hand. He watched the giant who stood his ground, focusing a spell of his own as the gravel floor began to rumble from the clash of magical energy.

"Times three--!"

The singular spear was now accompanied by two more of the same. Holding triple the usual amount of thin piercers generated by the spell held more of a challenge, causing his arm to shake as he stabilized the trajectory of the spears.

If not for the sensation of solid ground beneath the soles of his feet, he surely would have succumbed to the overwhelming pressure of the triple-cast spell.

--It\'s raw magical energy surpasses mine...by a lot, but it doesn\'t matter!

A roar unleashed from the old colossus as its arms raised into the air, unleashing a tunnel of violent, destructive flames of violet towards Ren. The raging inferno cried out, carving through the grit below, cascading towards him as it yearned for his destruction.

"Go--!"

With a swing of his arm, Ren launched the shadow-formed spears directly through the purple flames--pushing apart the form of the spiral inferno.

--Even if his raw magic is more powerful, that\'s all it is! He\'s just throwing his magic around without thinking, without proper spells! Its constitution is weak!

Watching those flames inch closer to Ren was a nerve wracking sight for Sirius, not knowing what his partner had in mind.

"Araphel: Detonation!"

Closing his fist, the spears buried within the mass of flames broke into explosions of dark energy, the force of which blasted apart the incoming flames before they could reach Ren. As the flames cleared, the giant was left stunned for a moment as the shockwave from the chain explosion pelted against his scales.

"--Got you!"

One of the spears wasn\'t detonated, flying forward once more with a clear path before stabbing through the giant\'s torso. The thick, protective scales acted like armor for the giant, causing the dark spear to stop before in its path before becoming fatal.

However, looking at Ren\'s thrilled smile, Sirius knew this was all something that had crossed his mind. The colossal mage grabbed onto the black lance, gripping onto it as it rejected his touch--burning and shocking his scales as he desperately attempted to pull it out from his body.

--Once more!

"Aprahel: Detonation!"

The spear lodged in the giant\'s natural armor lost its form, bubbling up before releasing an explosion of dark mana. With a direct line inside the giant, the explosion erupted from within the colossal being as well, instantly proving fatal as it likely vaporized its internal organs.

Or so he had thought. Even as the smell of its own ash-turned flesh coated the winds, the giant led itself forward with its thundering footfalls.

"Even that wasn\'t enough?!"

"Now isn\'t the time to be surprised. Finish what you started."

"--Right."

He stopped himself from asking anymore questions, all that mattered was achieving victory and avoiding failure. The two rivals that met on the gravel field of combat ran on fumes, noticing this by his own brittle reserves of stamina and the even more sluggish than usual movements of the shaman.

Activating his reinforcement once more to engage the giant, the dissipation of fear and manifestation of confidence guided his step with utmost dexterity. Attempting to reduce him to a pile of ash, the elder giant raised its massive palm forward, releasing a roar of fire that guided itself towards Ren with deadly intent.

--Predictable.

A simple spin of his body allowed him to not only avoid the incoming barrage of heat but gain an advantageous position, as he reared his blade back, aiming his sights on the colossal being\'s scaly forearm. The collision of the edge of his sword against the giant\'s appendage planted itself in his mind as an absolute, allowing himself to see no other future but his attack landing.

This trust in his own self led his blade to strike down without any hesitation to dull its sharpness, dismembering the titan with the swift slash. Separated from the limb that allowed it to conjure flames, the giant\'s flames came to a halt as it could do nothing but watch as his speedy opponent followed up with the next attack.

"--Dunkel: Slicer!"

Given an opening, the slash extended and amplified by magical energy swept itself across the giant\'s body.

Slowly, the lifeless, steaming shaman fell backwards against the gravel, picking up a wave of dust as it landed with a resounding thud.

"--I...I did it!"

Ren threw his fist into the air with a smile that told of his victorious moment, huffing heavily after releasing the continuous spells.

"--That you did. You took down a sixty-pointer."

"Sixty? Don\'t you mean thirty?"

The bashful look on Sirius\' face as Ren attempted to correct him quickly told of the man\'s untold truth. Sirius scratched his cheek, avoiding Ren\'s gaze as he coughed to cover his reluctance to answer.

"It was a sixty-pointer?! You had me fight something double as dangerous as I thought?"

"--And you won. I don\'t see the problem here. If I told you it was sixty from the get-go, then you probably would\'ve crapped yourself the moment you saw it."

It was like being lied to about going to the park when instead you were being sent to the dentist\'s office for an appointment--for a moment, he felt betrayed, but he was too overjoyed about his victory to be angry.

"So now do you understand that "lust for battle" you berated us all for having?

It was a question that didn\'t require a verbal answer--as the wide smile stretched across the young man\'s face was yelling enough of the excitement he felt.

"Yeah."