'Yup, I am regretting it.'
*BOOM*
Wilhelm thought as he was punched squarely in the chest region and crashed on his back violently on the boulder behind him, breaking it in the process. When the dust settled due to the collision, Wilhelm appeared embedded in the boulder.
"Hmm…your defense was flimsy." Luck commented at Wilhelm's guard without any touch of sympathy in his voice.
"Wh-ouch!...it was not flimsy…you are too strong."
"Stop whining and get back on your feet." Yami said who was relaxing seeing the fight between Luck and Wilhelm. Well…not fight but, Wilhelm getting beaten up by Luck.
At Yami's quip, Wilhelm still sitting on the ground craned his neck at Yami and thought with a grimace, 'Why the hell is he here? Does he not have something better to do? Ever since he is here, he is not even allowing me to heal.'
He was particularly mad about the last bit, but deciding to hold his frustration in knowing the kind of person Yami was, Wilhelm stood up groggily staggering at each movement.
"Mmm…" Wilhelm groaned with pursed lips at which Luck smiled. Something that pissed him off even more.
Snapping his neck in frustration at Yami, Wilhelm voiced his displeasure, "Can I heal now?"
"No."
"Why?!"
"Because it is fun to beat you." Luck quipped to Wilhelm with much more intensity in his voice that did not seem to affect Yami at all, who just stretched in his place lazily and after what seemed like an eternity finally spoke.
"Haah…it seems that the physical training makes your brain a vegetable."
"ಠ_ಠ"
"Fine, fine, don't give me that look." Yami said as his expression changed just a bit from his lacksidial one to some hint of seriousness.
Just a bit.
"You remember when I told Asta about Ki?"
"Yeah, I know that it is noticing a person's body language to predict what they are about to say. What about it?"
"That is 'it'. I told you the same thing when you were training in sword. You are good at hiding and biding your time only to attack when the opportunity presents itself to you.
But in a close combat fight, you are not given an opportunity. You have to create it. Either become slippery enough to dodge every attack or become someone whose attack packs a massive force behind it. Or perhaps you can just have a defense so strong that it in itself becomes an offense, but it all comes down to one thing.
Not hiding and challenging your problems head-on.
This is the reason why Shrimpy and Luck are better than you. Both of them fight and face their problem head-on."
Nodding his head which was still throbbing with pain, Wilhelm said managing to hide the wince on his face.
"I understand-essh!...but…what does this have to with me not even healing myself? It is effective in fight."
Taking a puff of bud, Yami replied to Wilhelm while Luck seeing that Yami was engaged in a conversation with Wilhelm started to look for fish in the water nearby.
"You are not allowed to heal because it is effective."
"Eh?"
"Haah…listen here, kid. Whenever you use magic like your Illusion Magic, Healing Magic, Spatial Magic and any other ranged magic, you are able to use them effectively for one reason.
They provide you with a comfort zone.
This is the reason why you are so much more effective when using your illusions than you are with fighting fair and square. There have been many people who have illusion magic in the past but none of them are able to use it as effectively as you because you are comfortable with it.
Your magic suits your personality. The same is true with healing magic that provides you with comfort."
"Bu-"
"And before you move that smarta*s mouth of yours. Constantly healing yourself is not a way to fight. It is a last resort.
Just as the Bean Pole, if he had been any good he could have beaten me, but because he was weak and relied on healing a lot, we were able to defeat him.
So this training…" Yami continued as he gestured to the battlefield that bore craters from impacts "…is to make you familiarize you with pain. Pain will cause you to avoid getting hurt. Avoiding getting hurt can help to preserve the magic that would have been lost in healing. This magic can in turn be used to attack.
Also, this will stop the bad habit of tanking an attack because if an attack that is far too strong strikes you, it will kill you instantly.
This will help you in sword too."
Hearing Yami's concrete logic, Wilhelm was left without any retorts and could only grumble in displeasure.
"I hate it when you are right…"
"Hmm, an eternity of hating me does not sound good for your health Mr. Creepy." Yami jabbed back which Wilhelm ignored since he was too tired, and turned back to find…
"You got to stop doing that."
…Luck staring right at his face with wide eyes that had an unhidden amount of madness behind them.
"Tell me! Are you going to fight me again? Please! Please! Pretty please!" Luck chirped ignoring Wilhelm's comment.
"I am going to regret this." Wilhelm muttered.
"Yaayy!!" Luck took this as confirmation and his hand crackled with lightning that he swiftly bought down on Wilhelm who immediately used Beast Magic.
Beast Magic: Rhinoceros Amor
*THDRRR*
A cloud of sand kicked up while Luck quickly moved back at an astonishing speed. Quickly the cloud settled and the figure of Wilhelm that had wounds all over his body and was covered with orange aura appeared.
Not giving Wilhelm any moment of respite, Luck rushed in on him.
"Here I come!"
*SHING*
*THUD*
*THUD*
*THUD*
*THUD*
Sounds of Luck crashing into Wilhelm's makeshift armor reverberated all over the ground. Luck kept on attacking Wilhelm who was left to defend against the assault only. This seemed to go on forever and Wilhelm's expression under the armor just kept on worsening.
'This can't…' *THUD* '…go on.' *THUD*
'Focus…focus…focus…'
The same word reverberated in Wilhelm's mind who started to scrutinize Luck but failed to do so because he had to deal with his relentless assault.
But then suddenly he realized something.
'Wait, I should not stay like this. He is not under any illusion, and he is not going to give me an opening. I have to create it myself.'
With a hint of uneasiness, Wilhelm decided to be on the offensive. Looking at Luck who was about to collide with his shield, Wilhelm leaned forward a bit.
Beast Magic: Cheetah Charge
*ZOOM*
With the same speed that disoriented him moments before, Wilhelm shot like a bullet at Luch.
"Heheh! That's the spirit." Luck cackled like a madman as he decided to meet his attack head-on instead of getting away.
In a few parts of a second, both of them were hairs breath away from each other.
Then they collided.
*CRACK*
*BOOM*
Their collision was met with the sound of a thunderous boom, and the part of the ground above which they crashed cracked like a cracker and was flung away in all directions.
"Hey! *COUGH* *COUGH* Stop throwing dirt around and fight like civilized people. Can't a guy get a smoke in peace?" Yami commented as he swatted away the layer of smoke in front of his face, but both Luck and Wilhelm did not pay it any mind and looked at each other with their fist touching the other. Luck had a maniacal smile while Wilhelm looked as if he was barely holding on.
"Hahaha! Again! Let's do that again!" Luck shouted with a chuckle that made Wilhelm shiver and without waiting for a reply from Wilhelm, he disappeared from his spot a distance away and started to accumulate a large amount of mana that showed in the form of lightning.
"Nah, not going to happen." Wilhelm muttered as he instantly brought his hands forward…
Beast Magic: Banishing Whale
…and immediately a gigantic whale made from Beast Magic shot at Luck who remained undeterred. If anything, he became even more excited.
"What the…" Yami spoke looking at the gigantic whale.
"Hahah~ That is what I was waiting for!" Saying this, Luck launched himself at the gigantic magical construct with lightning all around. And then…
*BOOM*
…there was light.
…
"You know kid, this was not what we discussed about." Yami said as he walked over to Wilhelm who was smiling smugly in the direction of one more explosion.
"I know but…I had to do it." Wilhelm spoke in a tone of absolute conviction.
"The reason behind it?"
"To make Luck feel half of the pain I am feeling now.
Everyone will know my pain.
The world shall know pain!
HAHAHAHA!" Wilhelm answered with a face of malice.
Hearing this, Captain Yami waved his hand off with an expression that seemed to say, 'I could care less'.
"Well, it seems you missed even now."
"What do yo-"
*BAM*
Wilhelm's sentence could not be finished as a lightning-clad hand hit him right in the chest knocking all the air inside his lungs, and sent him tumbling in the distance with his back bent over.
*THUD*
"He means me. Seriously, I did not expect you to attack like that." Luck said as he appeared with his clothes having a slight ruffle that might have been caused by wind.
Speaking this, Luck continued to look at Wilhelm who was not even listening as he was knocked out cold.
"But seriously, your attack was strong but it was too slow. It felt as if it was coming in slow motion."
"…"
"You know that he is not in the condition to hear anything, right?"
"Oh…Then would you fight me, Captain?!"
"Sure."
*BAM*
"I win. My drinks are on you."
Yami muttered as he dragged two battered-up people from his squad. One more than the other.
…
"Oh, Capta-Luck! Wilhelm?!" Noelle gasped in surprise as she registered a badly beaten up and swollen up Wilhelm along with Luck, both of whom were creating tracks on the sand due to being dragged on it by Yami.
Vanessa who was beside her along with Asta, too looked at the sight and muttered under her breath with a tired expression, "Haa…why did I expect this?"
"Wilhelm! Don't die!!!" Asta shouted as he ran to Yami who just clicked his tongue and…
"Here."
"Wo-woah!!"
…threw them both at Asta who scrambled to catch.
"What do I do?! They are dead! Bean Pole took revenge on them!"
"Calm down Asta, they are not dead and they were not attacked by the Eye of Midnight Sun." Vanessa said as she casually walked up, looking more torn up about taking care of the two in front of her, but winced a bit seeing the state of Wilhelm.
"Then what happened?" Noelle asked who was not even hiding her worried glances at Wilhelm, which caused Vanessa to grin internally before she squashed it and spoke, "My guess is Wilhelm was attacked by Eye of Crazy Son and Luck was attacked by Mouth of Smoking Cigarettes."
"Eh?" Noelle voiced at the absurdity of the comment, not grasping Vanessa's wordplay.
"Wait! Does that mean that there is the Eye of the Midnight Sun, the Eye of Crazy Son, and the Mouth of Smoking Cigarettes? We have to go and evacuate everyone from the beach." Asta said visibly tensed and was about to charge away when Vanessa tugged at Asta's shirt stopping him from sprinting away.
"Vanessa, let me go, I have to stop them." Asta said with a tone of urgency.
'Aww…he is so cute when he is dumb like that. But…this sight looks more cute.' Vanessa ended her thought as she placed a finger on her lips in a silencing motion and merely pointed to her right.
Asta turned to look in the direction and saw, Wilhelm whose head was placed on Noelle's lap, the latter of whom was sitting on the sound and gently moving her hand with a very thin layer of water. Wilhelm who was being subjected to this action had a comparatively relaxed expression on his face.
"Noelle, what are you doing?" Asta asked, not tensed like before.
Noelle replied to his question without moving her eyes from Wilhelm and kept on caressing his face.
"Stopping Sun from getting his body and cooling it down."
"Why?"
"Because Wilhelm does not like Sun."
'Kya~ Noelle is so cute.'
***
I am back.
Leave power stones.