Between a Rock and a Ranulf

The group followed Ranulf through the guild to what looked to be a transportation formation, the mage on duty set it to the requested destination then got us to all stand on the platform while he triggered the teleport.

Arriving in a small room elsewhere the group looked around and Ranulf stomped towards the door and opened it to show a set of steps leading up they trudged up the stairs while lead to a trap door, pushing it open took them directly outside in what appeared to be a wooded area.

Looking around curiously they wondered where on earth they were the group looked at Ranulf curiously.

He chuckled at them, "we be in the area between Valent and the Confederacy".

"Oh" they chorused out.

"Neat we are near home maybe we should go visit after Alex beats up the beard?" Anna chirped.

Ranulf spluttered while the others laughed.

"Your grandfather should be arriving shortly we arranged something as a kind of insurance so these idiots don't end up killing each other", Syl calmly said.

"Aye they should be joining us at the testing grounds which is still a we walk way from here. Ranulf nodded then proceeded into the forest and the rest followed him.

After walking through the woods for about half an hour the emerged into a huge barren area devoid of any life although you could make out the forest ringing the area in the distance.

Alex nodded this should be good enough.

The shadow of a dragon fell over them as Zakath arrived with Melli on his back, he landed nearby and Melli dismounted and Zakath reverted to his Human form the duo walked over.

Melli walked up to to Kayla, "You've grown tall my not so little bundle of fluff a smile creeping into the corners of her stoic mask.

"Hi mom long time no see", Kayla gave Melli a hug.

"So did it work" Melli asked.

"Yep" Kayla replied with a slight flush on her grinning face.

"Was it good?".

"Like you wouldn't believe" Kayla replied her blush getting deeper as her ears twitched and tail swayed furiously.

"That's my girl" Melli said as she patted Kayla on the shoulder.

As everyone finished greeting each other Zakath asked Ranulf if he was sure he wanted to go through with this, to which he replied that he was the perfect one to push the boy so he knew how strong he actually was with a nod Zakath turned to Alex.

"Alex, I want you to treat this as a life or death duel if you're not in the right mindset you're going to get seriously hurt".

Alex nodded "I understand gramps".

"Oh, and use your full power no holding back or hiding anything".

"Yes"

Ranulf and Alex began their preparations and soon they stood facing each other about 50 meters apart in the centre of the clearing while the others watched from the tree line.

Ranulf looked like a block of steel, full plate armour wielding a decidedly deadly looking war hammer in one hand a round shield in the other. Alex on the other hand wore normal clothes and no weapons.

"Ye no be wearing any armour boyo?" asked Ranulf

Alex shook his head, "Armour slows me down and impacts my movements too much" he flourished his hands and his twin short swords appeared he lowered his stance and the vibe he gave off changed as he adjusted his mindset mentally prepping himself for what was about to happen.

A dragon's roar signalled the start of the duel.

Ranulf was feeling excited it had been a long time since he felt a sense of danger off someone new, the roar sounded out.

Alex decided to probe from range first he raised his blades and seemed to be tapping the air with them each time a fireball blossomed after 6 fireballs could be seen hovering in the air he pointed his blades at Ranulf and the fireballs launch forwards, flowing as if dancing launched twin air slashes from his blades that were set to curve in at the dwarf from either side.

Ranulf stomped on the ground and a wall of stone shot up directly in the path of the fireballs swinging his war hammer out to the right he destroyed one air blade while he took the other on his shield looking over to where Alex was standing he realized Alex had completely vanished, he heard a faint sound behind him and instinctively twisted around swinging his shield to intercept the attack.

Alex pressed the somewhat off balance Ranulf pushing the advantage his blades dancing, but the dwarfs defence, skill and experience fended off the danger. He coated his blades in electric magic and started firing shocks into the dwarf metal was good conductor after all and the dwarf was covered in it. Suddenly the dwarf slammed one foot on the ground and growled out, "rock skin", and a faint layer of stone emerged across him preventing the shock attacks impacting him.

Alex was getting nowhere fast trying to break through the dwarfs oh so solid defence, his blades weren't going to cut it. Add in the fact that he felt immense pressure from that war hammer and the clever way the dwarf used his shield as a weapon, his blades just weren't the right tools for the job and he didn't have much else his old greatsword would break instantly under the strain. He regretted not getting better gear for the first time. He jumped back and gained some distance his swords vanishing.

Ranulf felt a small tinge of trepidation build in him alongside his excitement as he watched the boy change stances.

Alex released a deep breath then small sparks of lightning encompassed his body and two green wings made of what was seemingly wind burst out of his back. His golden eyes glowed as he looked at Ranulf and a feral grin crept onto his face then he vanished.

Ranulf had no idea where he had gone when suddenly he felt immense pressure from above, he raised his shield instantly years of experience screaming at him as he felt a tremendous impact almost break his arm as fire and flames engulfed him.

Alex flipped away from taking distance once more, he knew that attack wouldn't finish the dwarf so he had to be cautious of counter attacks one smack of that war hammer could potentially end the fight. His lightning armour and wind wings were performing to expectations speeding up his reactions and speed making him more manoeuvrable in the air and the drain on his mana reserve were negligible.

The dust cleared and a slightly ragged Ranulf stood there his shield was mostly destroyed and his armour was blackened all over but still raring to go, Alex feral grin widened. He dashed toward the dwarf using a more normal speed, seeing him coming the dwarf braced. A kick swung in fast from the right a war hammer swung out to intercept, instead of the expected broken leg it felt like hitting a cushion, Alex using precisely placed wind barrier on his leg he used the forced of the war hammer strike to pivot around the other way lowering himself his leg whipped round almost scrapping along the ground just before hit connected with the dwarfs other side he angled the attack upwards to achieve the desired result which was to launch the dwarf into the air.

Ranulf managed to set what was left of his shield to intercept the kick but it made no difference a strong force fired from the boy's attack launched him into the air.

Alex using his full speed easily caught up to the dwarven projectile appearing underneath him, making use of wind steps and wind wings spun and landed his elbow on the dwarf using the same ability he had done with the kick the dwarf shot straight up. Continuing the attack Alex landed blow after blow into the now very disoriented dwarf each attack launching him in a different direction but never letting him fall to the ground. There was absolutely nothing he could do the dwarf couldn't gain purchase to swing his hammer or block he was completely at Alex mercy.

"Ye damn brat I give" Ranulf roared out

When the next attack didn't follow and Ranulf started to fall back down to the ground he heaved a sigh of relief as he felt a current of wind wrap around him slowing his fall and orienting him, they both touched down near the group of observers at the tree line. Alex retracted his wind wings and lightning armour the moment he touched down.

Ranulfs armour was in a ragged state and he wasn't much better, while Alex wasn't injured, he was breathing heavily and sweat soaked his clothes showing he hadn't had as easy time of it as his lack of injuries would make it seem.

"Damn", Alex muttered, "They might not drain much mana but the increased strain on the body is pretty intense, I'm going to be very sore later".

The three girls dashed over with the rest of the group following along behind them, the girls all latched on to Alex making sure he was fine while Kayla asked him to teach her the lightning armour and wings, Alex told her she could use lightning armour but she had no wind affinity so the wings weren't really possible.

"So was that your full power", Zakath questioned as he approached.

"I didn't pull any punches but there is one attack I didn't to use due to its danger" Alex responded with a grin

"Oh, care to demonstrate?"

"Sure thing", he stepped away from everyone and faced the forest his short swords in his hands held loosely arms down, "I call this simply cutter, and I didn't use it for two reasons, the first is it uses about half my mana pool, the second it would have killed Ranulf".

Before the dwarf could even snort Alex raised his blades up above his head crossed together then sharply swung them down, so they rested on their respective sides. Nothing seemed to happen. Everyone looked at Alex in confusion, he just smirked and stomped the ground using a bit of earth magic to send a light tremor through the ground.

Every tree in a line starting from Alex to about 200 meters distant collapsed.

"Its an application of space magic and as far as I've been able to tell it is able to slice through anything, sadly I don't have the control I need to shape it properly so I have to be very careful where I fire it off otherwise I could kill a lot of innocent people".

The group shuddered at the thought of an attack that could be fired off with the simple swing of a blade that had no tell-tale signs it was being used and no known defence

"Well I dunno about you lot but I be needin a drink after that beatin, let's be gettin back to the guild house and finish yer registration off". Ranulf called out.