Late Night Dueling

Isaac eventually makes it back to the smithery that Mr. Tross owns with a huge smile on his face as he stares at the smithery he had seen earlier today, but yet felt like he hadn't seen it in a while. As he stares at it, his happy smile is soon replaced with a saddened look, before he turns ands runs in the direction of where Isabella's and his house was, before its destruction. As Isaac stares at the destroyed planks of wood and the broken cobble currently in the spot that used to be the bakery, the memories of his fight against the shadow mage begin to resurface in his mind, how he lead and chased the mage through the forest before eventually killing him then and there and making his way back, only for the bakery to end up in ruins.

"If I had trained harder than I did before, would I have been able to protect mom and Coralia against the both of them at the same time? It doesn't seem realistic, but I went through a change when I took part in the examination today. I might not be able to still completely take on the shadow mage after taking whatever strange liquid he took, but to wear him down wouldn't have been a problem. I need to progress faster and establish myself quicker, I am being discriminated for being born from a average home, in comparison to these rich family magic clans. I can beat the royal kids around me at the moment if needed, but I have to be lowkey otherwise I attract trouble to myself...speaking of trouble". Isaac is cut off from his thoughts as he feels the slightest presence of shadow magic coming towards him at an incredibly fast rate.

Without even looking leaped from the spot he currently narrowly avoiding the flaming teeth of a flaming wolf that radiated shadow energy that showed up at the previous spot he was. Isaac already angry at the current moment saves no time before summoning Assurance into both his hands and holding the blade straight up to the side of him. The wolf begins to to circle around Isaac slowly, as if sizing the prey in its eyes up, looking for the best way to chew Isaac apart for its own lunch. After the sizing up was done, its eyes become somewhat more bloodshot before howling and dashing towards Isaac with greater quickness than before. Not being able to dodge this attack in time, Isaac quickly swings his greatsword building up momentum before clashing it on the claws of the wolf. The wolf was quick on its feet, and while one claw was locked, it positioned its other claw to take Isaac's head off, but a quick parry from Isaac blocks the other claw but pushes him back 15 steps, causing his hands, arms, and legs to be somewhat numb from the vibrations of the impact that were sent into him. As if knowing that it inflicted a small bit of damage, the wolf bares it teeth resembling a chilling smirk before rushing in again, this time into the shadows, circling around Isaac, constantly shifting its position.

"Whatever this thing is, its way to quick in comparison to me". Isaac thinks, slashing apart multiple firebolts that was launched his way, causing small explosions to occur behind him. As a firebolt gets somewhat close, Isaac decides to instead block instead of slashing it apart. An explosion occurs on the spot Isaac was and smoke hides his figure completely from an outside view in. The wolf stands there somewhat dumbly waiting for the smoke to clear, but it looks into the sky as a figure appears from the smoke cloud with a purple knife in hand and sending it right at the wolf.

Isaac's knife travels right in the direction of it's eye, but the wolf dodges at the last second but, suddenly gets cut on its front left leg as a knife is sticking out from it. Causing the wound to begin bleeding. As Isaac lands on the ground he immediately summons more knives and continues to send them hurtling towards the wolf who was trying to dodge the knives but not completely coming out unscathed, the wolf endures more and more wounds as the fight continues, before Isaac ends it by decapitating the head of the wolf using Assurance.

"These things resemble the flamvell wolves but that touch of shadow magic doesn't seem natural, I'll ask Mr. Tross more about it, he should have an idea being a blacksmith. Isaac carries the dead body alongside the head of the flamvell wolf towards the smithery. When Isaac finally arrives, he puts the carcass of the dead wolf near a storage unit where Mr. Tross kept his other animal materials. Isaac who is now at the front door knocks on the front door, and a few minutes later, he is greeted by Ava who smiles at him.

"Hey Ava, did I make it back in time for dinner"? Isaac says with a huge grin on his face, thinking about Isabella's cooked food, always putting him in a good mood even after fighting against something that would haunt any normal 3 year old child in their dreams.

"Yes Isaac, your mom has been in the kitchen alongside Coralia preparing food ever since you went on that errand for my dad. Are you going to tell us about what you have been doing all day Isaac"? She asks in a calm but interested tone.

"I didn't do a lot, but I did have some magical experiences, I'll tell you during dinner". Isaac replies back with a smile as he steps in alongside Ava and heads for the dinner table that he can already see being set by Coralia and Isabella, who both notice him and gather around him. Isabella even going as far to pick him up into the air and swing him around. Isaac who hadn't seen his mom in awhile, doesn't say anything as she keeps hugging him as he didn't want to spoil the mood of everyone one around him.

"Isaac, I'm sure you have had a interesting day, come and tell it at dinner. Coralia and I have been making your favorite because we heard from Mr. Tross you went to do something worth celebrating". Isabella says as she walks over to the table which has been now prepped with an entire feast's worth of delicious food. As Isaac stared at the table, he has a bit of drool coming from his mouth that Isabella wipes with a small handkerchief she had prepared in a pocket from her dress, while chuckling at his reaction to the food. And so, Isaac spent the dinner accounting about all the things that he had seen at the hunter's building, and also described about how he would need to be gone for at the maximum of a week time on his very first mission.

"You went and signed up for a mission without me"!? Coralia says in anger and immediately tries to pounce at Isaac from across the table in anger if not for Mr. Tross grabbing her from midairas she keeps trying to lunge for him. Coralia struggles for a few more seconds before she huffs a sigh in defeat which in turn causes Mr. Tross to slowly lower her back into the seat without even batting an eyelid. Isaac who suddenly comes to a small realization stares at Mr. Tross with a somewhat serious look on his face.

"Mr. Tross, I stumbled across a wolf last night that looked like a flamvell wolf except it was covered in darkness and was able to use both shadow and flame magic. I carried its body over to where you store your animal materials hoping you might know its species or be able to make use out of it. For a split second, Mr. Tross' eyes gain a glint of anger before regaining the calmness he had before, and replies as if the anger present was never there.

"Thanks Isaac, I'll definitely make sure to put it to good use, in fact, I've been in need of a good piece of material for a locket I've been working on. I'm going to head to my workshop as soon as I finish this wonderful dinner Isabella has made". He laughs after saying this, causing Isabella to blush a bit in embarrassment and smiling gratefully. The rest of the night carries on peacefully as Isaac enjoys his dinner and goes to bed to regain energy for the adventure he will be embarking on tomorrow.