We were in the forest when Chae jumped out of the bushes, yelling as she did. She shot ice shards towards me. I dodged them easily and smiled.
"Gotta try harder than that Chae~!" I teased as I destroyed a few of the shards, crushing one with my hand after catching it mid-air. It had been 4 months since we had arrived in this country, and within these 5 months Chae's power had grown drastically. Nora sat in a tree, watching us from afar and rooting for Chae who was attacking me with everything she had.
"Cmon Chae! Get him! You got this!" Nora yelled as she waved towards us. Chae then manipulated the blood from a swarm of bugs. The bugs exploded, only leaving the deep red blood behind, which Chae manipulated, giving them the form of thin needles.
"Blood Magic: Blood Needles!" Chae yelled as she waved her hand towards me. In an instant the needles were flying towards me at a speed close to the speed of light. No matter how fast they were it wouldn't be a problem for me to dodge but just then I was surrounded by an ice dome, spikes made of ice filled the room leaving me no place to run as they seemingly stabbed me, piercing all my limbs. As if that wasn't enough the blood needles slipped through the cracks in the ice dome left by Chae intentionally. Her creativity was magnificent, she jumped up with a bright smile as she was about to celebrate her victory against me but no matter how smart she was it was unfair. I was technically a cheat character. Her face turned to one of shock as the ice dome melted completely, revealing my new state completely surrounded in flames which were ignited by the use of my fire magic. I had also used my own blood magic to stop the needles mid-air. Since my magic was stronger I was able to counter-manipulate her spells, turning them against her. Could I have done the same by manipulating the dome? Fuck yeah. But what fun would it be if everything was so damn easy all the time? I sent the blood needles flying back towards her, amplifying them with water magic to increase the liquidation and then I proceed to amplify them again with lightning magic in order to give her a little shock. Chae impressively dodges a couple of blood needles yet one of them hits her in the arm, paralysing her arm temporarily. I then grin and use my wind magic to create little sharp disks of air that I throw at her.
"What will you do now genius?!" I yell at Chae, curious of her next move. Chae's eyes widen but without hesitation she creates an ice wall the block the wind, which leaves a few cracks on the wall, then Chae proceeded to push the wall to me. I grinned, enjoying the power she was showcasing.
"Show me Chae! Is this all you got?!" I yelled. Blessed Ability: Total Defence activated, allowing me to tank 99% of any attack. Could I have done something else in order to avoid the remaining 1%? Yes, but it would be too boring. Just as the wall crashed into me and was crushed my eyes widened at what I saw. It was Chae, she had created a giant block of ice, then she had shaped it into a sort of triangle to make it pointy an sharp yet stronger than a basic shard. I smiled, not expecting her to be able to create such a large attack. It was very impressive. Chae started rotating the spike at high speeds, giving it a dangerous amount of momentum. It came flying at me, faster than the speed of light. Her true potential had awakened. What could I do? I couldn't tank it, that would be too boring and using a Blessed Ability would be too unfair. I pointed my fingers at it in the shape of a gun and... bang.
I shot a stroke of lighting right through the middle with such precision that it cracked, no, shattered into a million pieces. What happened left Chae in shock, her last effort attack didn't work.
"W-What-? How...? That's not possible!" Chae said, slightly tearing up as she accepted her defeat. I walked up to her and placed a hand on her head, ruffling her hair a bit.
"Look Chae, you did great. All I'm going to say is, that was one of the most powerful attacks I have seen." I said softly, Chae's eyes widened.
"There is no one currently alive on this planet who could stop that attack other than me. It was comparable to the Demon Kings attacks. Raise your head Chae, you're currently one of the strongest beings on this planet. And congratulations, you clearly surpassed your past self." As I said these words, Chae teared up. She hugged me tightly.
"Thank you, Master Michael." She said softly. Nora was clapping her hands as she watched from afar. Chae looked up at her.
"Congrats Chae, that was a wonderful performance! Work on your defence and I'd say you will be in the top 10 strongest beings on this planet easily and with experience you'd easily reach the top 5!" Nora said. Chae smiled widely.
"I promise, I will!" Chae said. Soon after we went back to our rooms, on our way we were greeted by Queen Mano.
"I heard you had finished for today?" Mano asked. I smiled and placed my hand on Chae's head.
"Yeah. In fact I think her training is complete, shes a fast learner. Faster than I was." I said proudly. Mano smiled happily.
"Then I suppose we should celebrate! I'll get a feast ready!" Queen Mano said as she clapped her hands, a happy and grateful smile on her face. I looked down at Chae who was smiling and then Nora jumped up and down.
"Yes! That is gonna be lovely! I'm starving!" Nora yelled. I then looked at Queen Mano.
"Sorry for my partners childish acts, my queen. And thank you, the feast would be a good way to celebrate Chae's improvement." I said which made Nora pout and start punching me because I called her childish. Queen Mano couldn't hold her laugh and Chae giggled softly.
Later that night we sat at the feast, a lot of nobles and even civilians were present. Even the soldiers were having a good time, drinking and eating. As we ate, Chae who was sitting on my left looked up at me.
"Master, does this mean I can come on missions with you?" Chae asked, I could feel the excitement in her quiet whispers.
"Look Chae, you're strong but I can't let you on this dangerous mission. And you also need to protect this kingdom as anything might happen at anytime." As I talked I could feel Chae tense up.
"But I'm strong-" Before Chae could finish I cut her off.
"No 'buts' Chae. I know you're strong and I promise to bring you by my side when you grow up, understood?" I said. Chae looked down, slightly hurt that her power wasn't acknowledged.
"Okay..." Chae whispered quietly before slowly getting up and going outside. She sat under a tree, worried that she would be forgotten.
"Don't worry, he'll keep his promise. Or I might even come back for your strength myself." Someone said. Chae looked up and saw Nora sitting in the tree as she spoke.
"You feel the need to prove yourself, but before proving anything to him first you should prove to yourself that you're good enough." Nora said as she jumped off the tree. Nora then stroked Chae's hair.
"Don't sweat it, you still have time to grow. Anyways I'm gonna have some dessert." Nora said before walking off towards the feast.
"Thank you..." Chae mumbled as she sat, feeling a bit more content with the situation now. As she sat, she saw a cat. A black cat.
End Chapter.