Cold Water

When the course of the flowers was disturbed, I turned around in time to grab the girl's arm. As I pulled her out of the flowers, I tried again in stabbing her in the abdomen. It didn't work as I grabbed hold of the wrong arm and she tried to stab my head instead.

I released her arm and the whirlwind of flowers vanished, leaving us at a distance apart. I could hardly catch a break as her Aura started to glow once more. I stood guard once more and prepared for a crash. She propelled herself towards me, creating a dent in the ground below.

"Flower Dance; Stage One. Malevolence Of Lobelia" chanted the cute Mage.

Her spear glowed and broke apart into so many pieces, turning into flower petals of the Lobelia flower. A swarm surrounded me and caged me in. And unlike the previous swarm, these petals can cut. Her spear was occasionally poking in, so I've got that to handle.

How a girl looking so light and petite manage to create such a large crater in the ground, I will never know. However, what I do know, is that I better find my next move fast, or else I'm about to find out what it's like to be inside of an activating blender.

I took in a deep breath and decided that it would be time for experimenting. Thrusting my sword into the petals, I allowed my body and blade to coordinate with the flowers' movement. When I got used to the movement, a slanted circular rotation, I immediately called out the spell I created.

"Cascada: Mixed Moon. Lobelia Wave Whiplash!" I yelled, changing the course of the petals.

From a beautiful cage of violet, the attack changed into sapphire blue, starting from my blade. Each petal was coated with water which had streams connected. With my arm across my chest and the blade slightly away from my face, I leaped from the ground and somersaulted towards the Mage.

The blade felt heavy as if I was trying to haul a bucket load of hair as a whip. If this was back in my previous life, my arms would've surely been torn off. Even if I was the type to wield a longsword with just one hand, I needed both to support the weight of the spell on the blade.

Or else the spell was going to vanish halfway and I'll get to meet the pearly gates very soon. Leaping into the air and gaining momentum while dispersing the weight into the wind helped in delivering the winning cut. But it only wounded her arms.

She'd taken the full attack by throwing away her spear and using her arms to protect herself. Why the hell would she do that?! When the dust cleared, her arms were bleeding massively. I was shocked but not worried as she was slowly beginning to heal herself.

I looked at my hands, which were still holding onto my blade. By now, the petals and water were gone. I wanted to ask her some questions but before I could do so, she stabbed the staff into the ground. Flowers blossomed everywhere and engulfed her.

A massive explosion occurred and when the debris was cleared, she was gone. Why must all these Mages or creatures attack me out of nowhere and then vanish? Makes me think that I was tripping on some mushrooms. Unless the soup was...

"Notice. There were no hallucinogens found within the soup you had ingested."

Ah... Comfort in knowing that I had friends to help me on my journeys. Slightly helpful than being left all alone in the middle of a forest. Oh, yea, who was the Mage?

"Notice. Finished analyzing the Mage from before. She is known as the Spearman Pillar of the Barren Pillars, a department within the Mages' Group; the Arks. She is the daughter of an unnamed Insect Mage and a Poison Mage named 'Matthew Pond'."

"She uses the Flower Element, an Element created by one of the Valkyries. She was part of the human experimentation within the Albion Domain, mainly finding cures using humans. Her name is Rina 'Rie' Vermillion. Also known as the Butterfly Mage."

It was Rina... It was such a pity that I couldn't get her to use her wings. Then again, perhaps it wasn't a very good time as I tried to rupture her solar plexus on numerous occasions during that ten-minute fight. I would have probably torn those wings off.

Can't believe I was starting to get pissed off at fighting such a beautiful and cute girl... Had she not switched to using the Flower Element, I would've surely ended up fatally wounding her. I've always had this habit. If a duel lasts more than five minutes and I was pushed back, my mind warps.