ARTHURPOV
"Uh...sir? I am just 5. You really think I can fight you?"
I tried to calm down the imposing man infront of me. Even if I were to master all elements right now I couldn't possibly defeat this guy.
Calling him one of the strongest in the entire kingdom won't be an exaggeration. I still don't have the proper grasp of this world and Aegis is years ahead of me.
I was hoping that if I managed to make Aegis realise that I was still a child, he would drop the idea of fighting me, but to my dissappointment his eyes didn't show a hint of dropping the idea to fight.
"That's right." Aegis sighed as he continued to speak, "That's exactly why I have to hold back my strength, in order to not kill you."
"Please calm down and think-?!"
I gave one last attempt to reverse his mind, that's when I suddenly felt a blade of mana approaching me.
I instinctively cloaked my body with lightning in order to dodge. But even then, it managed to graze my cheeks causing a small cut.
Aegis walked towards me. Subtle yet confident.
The dark Fishmen fins around his arms grew larger and sharp depending on how much mana he poured into it.
"Good decision on dodging it. As expected, you have quick reflexes and judgement." Aegis said, his voice genuinely surprised.
I looked back and the sight I saw made me shiver in fear. All the trees behind me had been slashed cleanly and that blade of mana left a huge crack in the mountain walls.
If that attack had hit me directly, I would be in God's arms right now.
"If you have realised what's going on now, then prepare to prove yourself, successor of Sylphira." Aegis cracked his knuckles as he got ready to test me.
In my previous world, very few individuals used this stance. Only people who have high flexibility could manage to pull this form of.
And this man infront of me probably had the perfect Serpent Stream stance, I've ever seen.
His body low in a crouched position with one foot forward and the other grounded for stability. His arms loose and flexible like a snake but the muscles in his body made it look even more threatening.
This stance was specifically made for people with high flexibility. It's a stance which allows an individual to dodge attacks with minimal movement and counter them from unexpected angles.
"You ready, kid? Here I come." Aegis announced before he could attack.
In just a blink of an eye, Aegis had manage to close the distance between us.
Even with my body still cloaked with lightning was not fast enough to keep up with Aegis speed alone.
I barely had any time to grab my wooden sword before Aegis closed the distance.
Firemagic: Embershot
I shot countless small balls of fire from the tip of my wooden sword but Aegis managed to dodge all of them with the bare movement.
I smirked knowing what kind of danger, I had put myself into
While I was lost in my thoughts, again in a flash Aegis spawned infront of me and gave me a Jumping Knee strike right to the side of my stomach.
With just 1 kick, I was sent flying miles away until I was blocked by a large tree. When that kick connected, I could feel that Aegis holded back alot of his strength and yet, I was sent flying.
"Pathetic." Aegis called out as he walked out of the bushes.
I hated this feeling of someone looking down on me. I thought I had gotten used to it but I guess that was not the case.
I got back up on my feet and clenched my sword as I dashed towards him to strike with my sword. Aegis blocked my sword with his fins alone. To him, his fins were his strongest weapon.
WaterMagic: TidalSlash
I sent a wave of blade like arc of water with the swing of my sword but even that wasn't enough. This magic was on the intermediate level but it just took a stroke of his palms to completely dissipate my attack.
I got more and more desperate. I still couldn't even land a hit on him while he continuosly managed to negate all my attacks.
I had forgotten this feeling.
This feeling of complete hopelessness. Ever since, I reincarnated I thought of myself as some main character straight from anime but this is reality.
Its just by luck that I managed to reincarnate here in this world and managed to recover all my memories from the past world.
It's just by luck that I was born with this so called Beast Core that Aegis spoke of.
The truth is, I am just a character who happened to be born. Up until now, I was just protecting my parents as if I am the main character but in reality, am just some random character who was struggling to even survive. That's exactly why I need to change myself. I am not special.
That naive thinking can only get me so far if there are beings even stronger than him. I need to get stronger and stronger until noone can dare to mess with me.
"Do you give up, kid?" Aegis asked snapping me back from my thoughts.
WaterMagic: GeyserBurst
I enchanted another intermediate spell on Aegis while his guard was still down.
A wave of water vapour cracked and rose from the ground just below Aegis.
Aegis was said to be a prodigy even among the 4 kingdoms and he is one of the strongest Fishman in history despite his young age of just 18. He obviously sensed that a wave of water vapour was coming.
But I didn't use it with only desperation. I had a plan.
Lightningmagic: LightningKris
I conjured a bolt of lightning in the air which immediately attacked Aegis but the fishman had caught my lightning with just his bare hands in the mid air.
"Boring."
Before I could react, Aegis appeared behind me.
Crack!!
A devastating punch to my spine sent pain ripping through my body, as I felt my bones shattering under the force.
"Aaghhh-!!" I screamed in pain as my left hand was now immobile with that last punch.
But I didn't want to give up just yet. Sometimes even a 1% chance is enough to defeat someone who is much powerful and experienced than you.
"Am surprised you mastered 3 elements already at just at the age of 5." Aegis walked, his eyes dissappointed and angry.
"Get up," Aegis ordered his voice now deep as if he was giving me a last chance to prove myself.
I knocked my head on the ground as I got up to take my stance.
SweetBreezeStance.
This is a stance which I learned from my previous world when I used to take my swordsman tutoring.
A very versatile stance which allowed me to transition between offence and defence.
"That's a unique stance but in all honesty, am more surprised at the fact that you mastered 3 elements already. I wonder if that's your own talent or is it the power of Sylphira?" Aegis asked, with a tiny of curiosity in his eyes despite being dissappointed.
"Try to find it out on your own." I replied, my eyes now serious than ever.
"Then shall we put an end to this fight, Arthur Varen?" Aegis asked, as he crouched down fueling his fins with mana more.
"Sure." I replied, as I launched forward, flames wrapping around my damaged sword.