"Who do you think he'll target? Anyone with a bet?"
Marella couldn't hide her playful demeanor. She was floating half a meter above the ground, legs crossed, slowly spinning around. Under normal circumstances, her white pupils might have seemed creepy to anyone, but combined with the smile on her petite face, they had an alluring quality.
"He won't target me; Kled is a smart boy."
Gaelia, standing immediately to Marella's right, lifted her heavy, shiny armor and slammed it back into place, embedding it into the ground under its weight. Her long, curly brown hair was tied in a bun at the back of her head. Her matte light brown skin was unarmored today, exuding a strength that would make anyone nearby think twice before approaching her. Her green velvet patchwork outfit indicated she wasn't ready for battle.
"I place my bet on Marella!"
Emberlyn grinned and made a wave motion with her hands.
"My sweet pudding fell victim to Sylvana. I'm sure he was planning to enjoy this trial. Now he has to choose the weakest among us, and I'm here to console him."
Sylvana and Marella gave Emberlyn, who was teasing them, a blank look. Marella hissed, trying to hide her annoyance.
As the conversation heated up, Aeris and Seraphina sprang into action. Aeris had the best vision among them and her ability to fly was her privilege. Although all but Sylvana envied this ability, Marella, with her limited flying capability, was the most envious. For Aeris, however, she would have preferred to be a bit taller than to be able to fly. Even though the others thought it suited her, she found her height too short.
Seraphina, on the other hand, was the one with the thinnest body among them. Her long, slender legs were a feature the others often talked about. Seraphina's ability was to control electricity and magnetic fields. Today, neither the weather conditions nor the position of the stars were favorable for her. Normally, her other most important ability, speed, was also inefficient today. But her character, in harmony with her abilities, made her just as restless and energetic.
Without getting involved in the others' conversations, they were the first to move. Aeris spotted Kled approaching on his board before Seraphina did. When she slightly bent her knees, dust and dirt began to swirl around her. Her blunt black hair, just above her shoulders, lifted and swayed, while the ends of the red bandages wrapped around her chest and her pants fluttered with the effect of taking off. Her golden eyes seemed to gaze with a longing, as if wanting to embrace, not to fight. It was definitely not in line with her actions or what she was about to do. As she gripped the hilt of her katana with her right hand, she had already taken off with the echo of an explosion. Although she could fly without wings, she would show them today because she knew Kled liked to see them.
Seraphina raised an eyebrow and glanced at the others before suddenly disappearing from sight. Unlike Aeris, her departure was completely silent. Lucina, who had remained silent until then, laughed as if wanting to respond to the surprised looks.
"Did you really think they'd let Kled reach you? Really?"
As she pulled the white wooden staff she held in her right hand towards herself, she leaned on it with her left arm. Her long white hair reached down to her waist and shone as if to showcase her abilities. Among them, only Lucina looked like a mature woman in her 30s. Of course, none of them were younger than 30. They had all been on earth for thousands of years. So much so that the passage of years was only meaningful to them in watching Kled grow.
Emberlyn, turning to Lucina with a sour expression, wanted to continue her teasing from here.
"Haaaahhh!! Said the old witch! I'm sure you're eagerly waiting to throw yourself into Kled's arms."
She eyed Lucina's body-hugging and revealing transparent dress from head to toe.
"You're in shape today, sweetheart."
Gaelia, feeling a bit left out because Emberlyn hadn't teased her, seemed to be sulking.
While the bickering continued, Sylvana, the only one taking the trial seriously, looked in the direction Kled was coming from. Sylvana was responsible for all the training. This wasn't a task given to her, but she was the only one who took it seriously. Although what the others taught was invaluable, she was the one who had put in the most effort since Kled took his first steps as a baby. And now, while the others were inclined to turn this trial into a game, she was the only one who wanted to be completely sure of his training before sending him on his journey.
Yes, Kled might have grown stronger, even capable of handling any problem wherever he went, with his talent and intelligence. Still, she wanted to be sure. She wanted to see how much he would challenge himself...
'The architect of the future, the honorable warrior of humanity...'
***
Kled knew that before Aeris could reach him flying through the air, someone else would suddenly appear right next to him. In fact, he knew the abilities, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities of the seven women in front of him so well that there was no chance of being surprised today. Okay, maybe Sylvana shortening the trial duration to corner him had surprised him a bit, but it was still among the moves he expected.
If there was one thing he was determined about, it was that he would enjoy this trial. Thirty minutes is a long time for many intense fights. Yes, but for Kled, it was a very short time. Today was a grand graduation party where he could play all his cards and turn it into a spectacular show.
'Since you kept the duration so short, then everyone will play with me.'
In a short span, he restructured his strategy, realizing that everything depended on how cleverly he would make his moves. For a brief moment, he thought of his first trial. Even the moment they praised how he had killed that monster much faster than they expected was a slow-motion memory in his mind.
With a swift move, he pulled one of the capsules from his belt with his left hand, and as he pressed the button on it, he had already calculated the activation time in his mind. As he moved swiftly, he discreetly let the capsule slip from his hand, allowing it to fall behind him, and at the same time, he swung the odachi resting on his shoulder in a full circle as he leaped off the board, leaving it behind. From this point on, seeing or hearing would not be enough.
As his feet hit the ground with his speed, he allowed the dust to rise and the earth to kick up, buying a few seconds. He had the wind at his back, and with its effect, he remained within the dust rising from the ground. He grabbed the second socket from his belt, immediately pressing the button to activate it. At the same time, he saw multiple lights flash and then extinguish, followed immediately by a loud rumble and ground shaking. If he had been a tenth of a second slower, the party would have ended before it even began.
With the appearance of the activated shield, lightning bolts struck it, followed immediately by a powerful punch hitting the shield with a loud bang. Seraphina, whom he expected to reach him first, had made a dramatic entrance. Beneath her pure beauty and delicate appearance lay a fierce fighter, and whenever Kled engaged in a fight with her, it gave him goosebumps.
'How could such contrasts exist in the same body?'
Seraphina used her delicate body as a weapon. She always boasted about how she had perfected an ancient Far Eastern martial art with her contributions. Due to her electric attack, her unarmored white-skinned body was shimmering. Her blonde hair was separated into strands, and lightning flashed in her eyes.
When the second and third punches landed on the shield, the explosion sounds echoed in Kled's ears. Everything had happened within a few seconds. Seraphina had kicked up more dust. While calculating his next move, he couldn't see due to the dust, but he considered Aeris, who was next in line, and jumped into the air, spinning around to gain momentum and deactivate the shield.
Trying to find a gap between Seraphina's two punches, he aimed at her head with his shin. Of course, Seraphina was faster than Kled. When she countered his kick with her elbow, a sound explosion occurred.
BAMMMM!!
At that moment, anticipating the next move, he changed his direction without altering his rotation, completing another full turn in the air, and swung the odachi upwards with all his strength.
Aeris, who was just a few seconds behind, had made her aerial entry with her katana. The clash with Kled's intricately calculated odachi occurred right under Seraphina's nose.
ZIIINNNNNN!!!
As Aeris landed in front of Seraphina, who had taken a step back, Kled flew backward from the force of the impact, somersaulting in the air and landing on his feet.
"Wow wow wooww!! Your love is going to kill me!!"
Kled grinned as he looked at the two beauties in front of him. Okay, maybe he had given himself a bit too much credit. Thirty minutes might not really be that short.
BOOOOOMMMMM!!!
Aeris, who was about to attempt another sword strike, paused for a moment, trying to understand what had happened when she heard the explosion sound coming from behind Kled. The dust and smoke had mixed even more with her arrival.
"What are you grinning at..."
Before she could finish her question, a flash of realization mixed with surprise struck the two women's minds. As Kled reflexively dodged to his right and jumped into the air, they saw what was coming. The capsule he had left before jumping off the board had activated, and the magnetic cannonball whizzed past Kled's ear, barely missing him, and hurtled towards the two young women. With quick reflexes, both of them threw themselves in the same direction, landing on top of each other. At the same time, Kled quickly jumped onto the approaching hoverboard and began heading towards the direction where the other five were.
Everything was going according to plan. In the dust and smoke, the others hadn't been able to see what was happening in that brief moment. As Kled disappeared from sight, drawing a wide arc to the right, the cannonball continued on its path. He didn't want Aeris and Seraphina to be out of the game just yet. He could have easily exploited the momentary confusion to take down one of them. But for Kled, today's main goal was to take down Sylvana while everyone was still in the game.