Chapter 115

Cormac had thrown the sword with enough force that it would land miles away from the forest, he watched the sword spin through the air high into the sky, but then out of nowhere a very large bird grabbed the sword in its beak and stopped it from flying away. On the other end, Thane who was inches away from sinking his claws in Ron's face was kicked in his ribs very hard out of nowhere and he hurled through the air and slammed into the trees.

The bird dropped the sword right before Isanna's feat. Ron opened his eyes and found Derek looking at the scene below him. Ron jerked in surprise when Fiona landed right beside him on the branch and smiled.

"Wait, you are awake then who is controlling the bird?" Ron asked.

"Me, I mean he is intelligent and wants to help me, I just send a message to him about what to do and he does it, I prefer it actually, I didn't like the aspect of forcing them to do what I want, I will give him food in exchange for his help later," she said.

Their opponents were the ones now who looked unsure and pissed. Thane was having trouble standing up, Isanna had her sword back and enough time to recharge it with mana which she had been building up till now.

Cormac attacked Derek but Derek was too fast for him and he easily dodged his tail and punched him in the face and then grabbing his horns threw him where Thane was lying.

Isanna was finally able to land damage on the snake, her sword cut through the green scales and the snake started bleeding from all the cuts Isanna was slowly and slowly making on it. The snake grew more frustrated and its movements got more erratic spraying posion everywhere but Isanna could easily control the air and stop it from touching her skin.

Lysandra slowly transformed back as the pain increased and the cuts on her body remained the same size as she got smaller forcing her to retreat to her companions.

Isanna joined Derek while keeping an eye on the half-breeds.

"What are we doing with them?" Derek asked.

"I have an idea, " she said.

Isanna went to them and, using her affinity for air and light made a rope of energy that tied around the three in a circle. Cormac glared at her.

"This should keep them from following us, " said Isanna.

Ash got up early the next morning, Celia had prepared a very delicious breakfast for him. Ash said goodbye to the two and left their house. Sasha had told him to be at the temple in the morning. Ash reached the temple as the sun was just starting to rise. Sasha and Yuri were at the front steps, but another Amazon was with them. She looked a little bit different, she had an aura of maturity around him although she looked like the others the way she dressed and kept her hair too told him this must be an elder Amazon from the village that was near here.

Ash approached them and the older Amazon turned her eyes on him.

"Mother, this is Ash Blake, Ash this is my mother, Sovanna," said Yuri introducing her mother to him. Ash was at first surprised but then he could see the resemblance in the two amazons, Yuri's mother had a similar tall build to her. 

"So, this is the human male who Yuva was talking about, and Sasha you have been training him?" Sovanna asked.

"Yes, Mother," said Sasha surprising Ash even more. He was sure Sasha and Yuri weren't sisters. 

"This troubles me, no man ever before has received our teaching and learned our way of fighting, the goddess must approve he is worthy," said Sovanna.

"It's okay Mother, he has plenty of times proved that he has the heart of a warrior," said Yuri. 

"Yes, and there are scars on his body to prove that, in the forest yesterday too he killed a mud rhino," added Sasha.

"Doesn't matter, humans were never weak, they have killed plenty of strong opponents before, it's the strength of heart that I am talking about, if he is to learn our secrets then he must pass the trial of fire," said Sovanna.

"What is that?" Sasha asked, exactly what Ash wanted to know because it didn't sound too good. 

"It's nothing bad don't worry I won't break your man girls, he will just fight with me and show me what he has learned," said Sovanna.

"What? But you haven't picked a weapon in decades?" said Yuri.

"Then he should have an advantage, now give me your Gada," said Sovanna, Yuri handed her the Gada. Ash hadn't faced the Gada ever, the weapon itself looked very intimidating and even more so in Sovanna's hand, it had enough weight and hardness that Ash was sure one hit and half the bones in his body would break. Ash felt stupid taking out his sword against the Gada, it could probably just break the blade in one hit. Ash did the traditional greeting before the fight that Lufina had taught him. Sovanna didn't seem angry or too serious, she was looking at his stance and at him like she was just measuring him which made him feel better, this wasn't a real fight he just needed to show her his ability, he speed, strength, and fighting forms. To get the fear of the Gada out of his mind he started releasing mana out of his body covering his whole body, this would protect him from major injuries, would make him tire much faster but he wasn't expecting the fight to go too long, so using lightning step he started the first attack on Sovanna, a simple vertical strike just to show her his speed and power, she blocked it by the handle of the Gada, she then easily pushed the sword back making him take a few steps back too because after all, she was much powerful than him, but the man he was releasing had increased his strength as well so when Sovanna whirled the Gada around and hit him in the side, he blocked it with his sword and shoulder, taking the whole brunt of the impact, his feet slid a few inches to the side, he knew it was nowhere near the actual power of the Gada but it still felt really good to block a weapon which was almost the size of his torso. 

Sovanna was fighting slowly, Ash got plenty of time to show her the forms that he had been practicing, his hands and arms were moving perfectly making the right curves exactly like Sasha and Lufina had taught him. Sovanna was dancing alongside him, her movements and attacks were weird, they fit very nicely with his forms as if they were complementing to each other, every time he was about to switch to the next form, she moved accordingly almost making his body move on its own. It was like they were dancing rather than fighting. Ash was at his last form the most advanced one he had learned yet, he focused and completed it with precision when it ended he stopped moving thinking that Sovanna would too, but she suddenly did a last swirl, it was too fast than her other movements till now. Ash was again hit in the side by the Gada, this time it was hard enough that he went flying but before he hit the ground he fell unconscious. 

When he again opened his eyes, his side was hurting slightly but not too bad, the large amount of mana had saved him. His body was moving he realized slightly up and down like he was on a cart, he sat up to see he was indeed in a cart. He looked outside and saw a completely different view from the Amazon village, they were going uphill and the trees had changed and the surroundings had changed, he could look very far into the horizon, it was all very beautiful. Yuri and Sasha were walking beside the cart.

"You finally woke up," said Sasha.

"How long was I out? Where are we?" he asked.

"You were out cold for five hours, we have long left the city behind, it's the first part of our journey to the five-head meeting," replied Yuri.

Ash was first shocked to hear how long he had slept, he didn't feel that he was hit that hard.

"So, I guess I passed your mother's test?" he asked.

"No, the test has just started," said Sasha.

"What are you talking about?" asked Ash and he realized with a great surprise there was indeed something different about him, it felt like he was missing something inside his stomach, it took him a moment to realize he couldn't bring out his mana, he pushed hard and hard but he couldn't do it, he couldn't use magic anymore.