Sweat rolled off Nikolai's brow as he dashed backwards with graceful footwork, putting distance between him and his opponent. The battle had been going on pretty long, and he was running out of magical power, his concentration starting to slip at regular intervals.
Once he had moved far enough back to touch the shadows of the arena, he used his magic to sink into the shadows.
Right as his opponent was blitzing towards him, Nikolai thought to himself, "Momentum will make it difficult for her to change or respond immediately." sure of his victory. He popped out from behind his opponent, utilizing her own shadow, aiming a vicious roundhouse kick at the back of her head with his leg cloaked in Shadow armor, made of magic, covering from the knee down to his right foot.
"Too predictable!", he heard her say as she angled her body just enough for the kick to miss. As the momentum spun Nikolai's body around, he felt her grab his other leg. "Oh shit!", he thought as he felt his body jerking violently forward towards the ground in front of his opponent. As he was heading towards the ground, he turned his own shadow into a soft, cushion-like surface that negated most of the impact, but it didn't matter because as he rolled over to face his opponent and counter-attack, he felt her foot slam into his chest, pinning him to the ground.
He saw her standing over him, a lethal lightning charge aimed right at his face, ready to fire at any moment.
Smiling sheepishly, Nikolai put his hands up. "I surrender.", he said. As soon as he did so, he felt the pressure being removed from his chest and saw his opponent extend her hand to help him up. When his hand made contact with hers, powerful healing magic surged through his body, taking away all his pain and injuries and even cleaning his training outfit and body, all in an instant.
As soon as he stood back up, Nikolai cracked his neck and did a few stretches before turning to face the woman.
The woman was strikingly beautiful, otherworldly so, with long black hair, bright golden eyes, and blood red lips. Her skin was pale and seemed to slightly glow, and her hourglass figure was voluptuous in all the right places. She wore a dark black, kimono-like dress with white trim and white flowers on it, with a plunging neckline. She was barefoot, but she was flawlessly clean, the elements never seeming to touch her body or clothes, as if it would break some primordial law to dirty her person.
This was Aurora, the Empress of Light, a primordial ranked spirit embodying one of the concepts of universal existence, and she was also Nikolai's contract spirit.
"How are you so damn strong?", Nikolai asked her. "I thought your power was supposed to be limited right now because you are contracted to someone weaker than you.", he continued.
Aurora gave him an amused smile before answering, "Just because I can't draw on 99 percent of my power doesn't mean I don't still have eons of experience."
"You're that old?", he quipped on reflex.
Suddenly, he was sent flying to the other side of the training arena, crashing into the wall. Getting up and shaking the dust off himself, he stood up and looked over at Aurora with a slight smirk on his now painfully stinging face. "Okay, I deserved that one.", he said as he gazed at her beautiful face that was caught somewhere between wanting to laugh and wanting to frown. Nikolai started laughing, and after a couple of seconds, Aurora let out an amused giggle, an enchanting sound full of grace.
Using the shadows, Nikolai teleported to her side and put his arm around her shoulder. "You should probably laugh more often.", he said, looking at her with his signature lazy smile.
Aurora regained her composure before she responded, "You should take training more seriously. Talent and massive mana reserves alone won't always be enough." As she spoke, she gently removed his arm from his shoulders and held his hand, letting magic flow from it into his body to heal him while looking into his dark purple eyes. Squeezing his hand once, she stepped away, breaking eye contact, and stood next to him with regal grace.
Her face then became expressionless, and an air of noble authority seemed to surround her.
Startled at the sudden change in behavior, he soon learned the reason for it. The space a few feet in front of them suddenly twisted, and a red rift formed in the air. A man stepped out of the rift. Nikolai let out an audible groan. "Not this asshole," he said out loud as the man stepped out of the rift and it closed behind him, disappearing as it did so.
"Is that any way to speak to your brother?", the man asked sternly.
This man was Adrian Tolvaj, the second prince of the Tolvaj Empire, one of the most powerful empires on the continent, and Nikolai's older brother. His rotund body was dressed in full finery: in a white silk shirt with the family crest emblazoned upon it in black and gold. The crest was an ornate black 'T' with vines growing around it and a pouch of coins spilling gold at the base of the 'T' with two ornate daggers crossed behind the black 'T'. He also wore a dark red cloak with golden trim and a pure gold clasp. He had a sword at his hip that looked way too extravagant to be even remotely functional as a weapon, held in what looked like a demon leather scabbard.
He was wearing black Cloud Panther skin pants and soft-looking boots that seemed to be made out of the same material. A ring adorned each of his fingers, and his long blonde hair had been neatly styled to fall gently down his shoulders. His green eyes contrasted against his pale skin, looking at Nikolai with annoyance while sneaking nervous glances at Aurora.
"Don't antagonize him.", Aurora told him through the telepathic link they used in the presence of other people.
"He's already antagonized me with that look in his eye.", Nikolai telepathically communicated back before giving his brother his full attention. "Are you going to keep staring at me like the vegetables mother forces you to eat? Or are you going to say something?", Nikolai asked, letting his annoyance show clearly in his voice.
Adrian's chubby face immediately became red in anger. "How dare you speak to your brother in this manner!" he said, flames beginning to dance around his body.
Despite his appearance, Adrian was no pushover. He was a very talented fire mage, and despite his faults, he was very dedicated to the study of it. Many people in the past have made the mistake of assuming he was weak or lazy because of his appearance. Nikolai secretly admired that about him, although he would never admit it out loud, as he fought constantly with Adrian due to philosophical differences.
Adrian believed that those born of power and wealth should naturally stand above others and always be the ruling class, but Nikolai took after his mother and believed that everything should be based on merit and even a vagabond should be given a chance to improve their life and their standing. Their family's ancestors were thieves, assassins, and vagabonds after all, before the forming of their Noble House and building the Tolvaj empire, so why shouldn't others be given the same chance? In his mind, it just made sense. This way of thinking and his disregard for all forms of status, as well as his carefree and unrestrained personality, had led to him receiving the title of The Maverick Prince.
"No one is inherently better than anyone, you arrogant prick, and you interrupted my training, which is very annoying, so I'll say whatever the hell I want.", Nikolai responded while crossing his arms and frowning.
Adrian glared at him for a moment before taking a deep breath and calming down. His face returned to normal, and the flames surrounding him disappeared. "I'm not here to fight with you, little brother." he said calmly, relaxing his stance.
Nikolai uncrossed his arms and relaxed as well. At the end of the day, despite their wildly different personalities and world views, they both loved their family. It was the thing that they had always found that they could respect about each other and build common ground upon.
"Okay, brother, so why are you here?", Nikolai asked as he conjured a chair made from his shadow and sat down, which caused Adrian's eyes to briefly flash with annoyance once more at his brother's disregard for formality or decorum before answering.
"The Crown Prince has asked me to inform you that your coming of age party will be this evening. He said, and I quote, 'That crazy bastard has probably forgotten his own birthday again, so go remind him!'"
Nikolai slumped in his chair and groaned loudly in what Adrian perceived as a very undignified manner.
Nikolai had, in fact, completely forgotten that today was his 16th birthday, marking him officially as an adult, which meant an extravagant party was to be thrown, which would include an official ceremony where he would be expected to give a speech in front of all the important guests. All of this sounded like pure torture to Nikolai, who absolutely despised being the center of attention and extravagant noble parties.
After wallowing in his own despair for a few moments, he heaved a great sigh and looked at his brother before speaking. "Can't I just go into the city and have my party with the citizens? The parties they throw are way more fun anyway."
Adrian's face twisted in horror. "Absolutely not!", he responded. "And quite frankly, I don't understand why you sneak off to mingle among the commoners in the first place! It's behavior unbecoming of your noble standing!", Adrian said.
Nikolai looked at Adrian as if Adrian were a complete idiot and Nikolai was feeling great pity for him before stating in a tone that suggested he was stating the obvious, "Because they are way more fun than stuffy noble pricks."
Adrian was utterly stunned by his brother's response for a moment, and then he heaved a deep sigh. "I've delivered the message." he said, creating a rift behind him. "Make sure you are prepared for this evening. Goodbye, brother.", He said before stepping into the rift and disappearing along with it.
Nikolai stared at the space where his brother was a moment ago and said out loud, "I've always wondered how he teleports with fire magic."
Aurora answered him almost immediately. "He links two heat signatures in different locations with his magic and then attunes his body to them so he can ride the connection between the two points." she said.
Nikolai looked at her astonished. "Elemental magic can do shit like that?", he asked.
"If the wielder is talented and creative enough, even elemental magic can do a lot more than you would expect.", she responded.
A small smile lit up Nikolai's face as he was secretly proud of his brother. After a moment, Nikolai stood up and stretched, and then turned towards Aurora.
"No bruises or anything, right? I'm still as handsome as ever?", he asked, cocking his head slightly and giving her his signature lazy smile.
Aurora gave him a quick once over with her eyes before saying with an amused smile, "Yep, still handsome and no bruises."
She wasn't wrong. Nikolai had not even finished growing yet, and he was already 6 ft tall. His slightly tan skin was flawless. He had sharp features and a strong jaw line. He was lean and had very defined muscle with long dark black hair and dark purple eyes. His black shirt and black pants he used for training were form fitting and looked good on him.
Nikolai smiled brightly at her and turned towards the exit of the training arena and started walking. "Alright, let's go get prepared for an evening of fucking torture!",
Nikolai said with mock enthusiasm as he walked.
Aurora walked alongside him as she smiled and thought to herself, "Never a dull moment with him around. The Maverick Prince indeed."