Chapter CIII - The Council President (part 2)

I stepped out of the charred tree calmly and unscathed. Meanwhile, the red flames are eating away the tree behind me at a relatively high speed. The bright and beautiful scene of red burning tree roots captured everyone's eyes.

"Don't you think you are a bad matchup for me? Wood and fire and all..."

"Yes. That's exactly why I have more wood."

ZZZRRRTTTTTT!!!!!!!

She lifted her arms towards me again, and a bunch of roots came striking from the ground. I was able to dodge them, but from the looks of it, those roots aren't for slithering and grabbing someone. They are meant to stab.

"Oh, dear."

I mumbled as I leaped away, but the president didn't let me breathe. She casted more wooden spikes under my feet. 

ZRT!!

Feeling how the ground crumbled, I leaped away, but one of the wooden roots was able to capture me.

Not just on me. Wooden roots are coming out from the ground around her as well. It slowly envelopes her surroundings until it closes her off completely by making a giant tree, the same thing she did to me. 

Why does she need to trap herself...?

BAARRR!!!!!!!

I used my fire magic's fireballs to destroy the root and got away from it. I didn't use firebombs because that will just be an overkill for these little roots.

After landing on the ground, I stared at the giant tree in front of me. Inside of it is the student council president, doing god knows what.

I looked inside using heightened senses, and somehow… I understand.

The magic energy circulation inside that giant tree is extremely powerful. They are all focusing on one specific spot, which most likely is where the president is at.

She is powering up… at an insane speed.

"Oh... Someone is getting serious."

I need to strike her… before she finishes.

I augmented my fist with fire magic, and then I leaped forward very quickly. With a single punch, I shall knock Milly out of her tree.

But, she finished much quicker than I thought.

BAAAARRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!...

…?

… What…?

I slowly got up from the crater that I somehow made on the ground. My confused gaze is turned upwards, towards the top of the giant tree. 

I got hit...? How...?

There stood a single female, cladded in a beautiful shining natural wooden armor all over her body and limbs. 

Consisted of roots, leaves, and branches, her wooden armor goes all the way until her head. Now, she had a really cool looking crown made out of leaves and sticks, which I think don't really suit her waving orange hair. 

On her hand is a sword made out of wood. And on the handle, a bunch of leaves covering the sword's guard. And seeing the wooden sword, I can tell that it is nothing like the wooden training swords that the Office had at the back arena.

Her whole body is cladded in a bright lime aura, and all of those aura and pressure are directed straight at me.

Her appearance may be ridiculous with all the wood and leaves, but her magic energy is insanely powerful. Her pressure is leaking open like an uncontrolled lid. Right now, I can tell. 

A full body augmentation of the nature magic, akin to what Jonus used against me back then. 

At this very moment, Milly is as powerful as a White ranked adventurer.

"I'm getting serious here, Rize… So, you might as well go serious as well."

She lifted the sword and pointed it down towards me. I stared at the powerful enemy in front of me and thought about how I should beat her.

Then, an idea came across my mind.

It's about time I try it, huh?

I lifted my right arm upwards, and I imagined holding a sword… 

A sword of shadow.

So far, nothing happened. I closed my eyes and imagined deeper. How the sword looks like, how it felt after holding it, and where I am making it.

I want… a sword…

VWOOMM...!!!!

And just like that, a shadow began to fluctuate crazily on top of my hand. The shadow slowly grew larger and lengthened itself, and it slowly formed a sword. 

The shadow sword is just as long as my original knight's sword, and it looks exactly like it too.

This feels... perfect.

"Oh? You are a dual element?"

Milly commented after seeing the shadow sword, and I simply chuckled while pointing the tip of the blade at her.

Seeing that her entire body is cladded in a powerful aura, I too released the same amount of energy as her. I enchanted my body with magic energy, but I didn't use the amount I'm used to using. I used the amount around the same as the one she is emitting.

And this much is at least half of my usual one.

The two pressures are pushing each other in the arena, and it causes a massive havoc in both the air and the environment.

The ground around us started to crack, and even the ceilings started to shake and drop dust. The spectators panicked as to how these two idiots have such powerful pressures, but they have no plans to run.

They want to watch… how this turns out.

"Wow… You can go serious too…"

She said to me as she jumped down from the top of the tree. 

BAR!!!!!!!

The poor ground where she landed immediately got destroyed from her landing. That simply shows how heavy her wooden armor is, and how powerful it can support her movements.

Oh god... 

This might be a good experience for me.

A while back, I had the chance to stand face to face against an experienced White ranked adventurer, Jonus, who was capable of augmenting his whole body in a burning blue flame. His magic was extremely powerful, and I would've had the best sparring experience that I truly needed.

But, it was halted, because the building couldn't stand the pressure that was released.

Now, I finally had a chance to do it all again, without worrying that the building is going to collapse. Against someone similarly powerful, though slightly different because she owns a nature magic.

This is a chance... I cannot miss.

Milly and I stared at each other for a few seconds while grinning, and then we both rushed at each other like a blur. 

DAARRR!!!!!!!

BAARRR!!!!!!!!

KLANG!!!!!!!

BAAAARRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The sound of two conjured swords clashing on one another can be heard throughout the arena, and even the area outside. It was so powerful, that they don't sound like swords clashing anymore, but more like a series of explosions due to how powerful and fast they are.

Every now and then, a giant fire explosion occurred thanks to my fire magic. The explosion can be heard all the way to the students' dorms, which gets them questioning what is happening in the gymnasium.

What is currently happening… is something they are very much regretting to miss.

DARR!!

BAARRR!!!!

ZRRTTT!!!!!

In the arena, neither me nor Milly is letting up. The two of us kept increasing our speed more and more, and she moved pretty fast with those roots on her body. Aside from that, her sudden creation of roots from the ground is also quite annoying.

The entire arena is just filled with roots and flames, as well as smokes from the burning trees. Our chemistry was so bad that the entire ceiling was already covered in black smoke.

Milly… She is using the full body augmentation for natural magic, a bit of a similar case to Jonus's. The roots on her body work like a battery for magic energy, which means she can go on like this for another hour and she will be fine.

But against me, that's the wrong move.

I started increasing my speed a little bit more. She was about to slash my neck while having her body in the air, but I was able to duck really fast. And from this position, I put more energy to my feet and purposely threw myself upward.

ZWOOOMMMMM!!!!!!

Now I'm fifteen meters above ground. I looked down and casted a regular sized firebomb at her. 

All this time I've been using a small firebomb that was the size of a ping pong ball, while my regular size is the size of a basketball.

So, this firebomb… is so much more powerful than what she is expecting.

Milly can immediately tell that this attack is bigger than before, so she quickly summons tons of roots from the ground and forms a thick dome of wood, to protect herself from the upcoming explosion.

I know for a fact that from this distance, the firebomb wouldn't be able to penetrate her defenses. It's wood and all, but it's still insanely sturdy.

So, I retracted the magic. 

As soon as I dropped down, I recreated the magic from the side. But instead of a firebomb, I tried a different shape this time.

The concept is the same, but instead of exploding all the energy inside all at once, I simply opened one part of the lid and let the energy come out from that opening.

An Intermediate tier fire blaze.

How will your defenses fare against this, Milly?

VWOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The fire blaze destroyed the roots at close range. When she saw the flames burning from the side, the roots on her body quickly reacted and covered the front side of her body to protect from the explosion.

But, it was too late.

BAAARRRRRRR!!!!!!!!

In an instant, the powerful explosion arrived at her body, and she got blown away to the walls by the powerful flames.