Elijah's morning was going a lot differently than he couldve imagined.
Granted, from the beginning, the world maintained a sense of spontaneous chaos which would throw a wrench into anything he couldve anticipated.
Considering the fact that only a day at most had passed since his arrival, and in that time: his life was threatened more times than he could count, he got a job, technically became royalty, discovered magic, lost a finger then regrew said finger—
In a sense, literally anything could be expected to happen at this point, since everything was so unpredictable.
However,of all the things, what surprised him most of all was having belladonna at his doorsteps.
Not in a million years would he imagine, the most beautiful woman in the cosmos— a literal princess— would seek him out first thing in the morning.
Everything else, seemed reasonably possible in comparison.
The princess, was apparently in need of a demonstration. In fact, she seemed particularly eager for one.
Not only had she come for him personally ; instead of having him summoned, the pace at which she was currently leading him to a training area, was the dead giveaway.
Elijah, who had always been a slow walker, could only lag behind as she stormed ahead— her lustrous,long,golden hair flailing in the wind behind her.
It wasn't much longer before they reached the training area.
It was an open spaced room, the ground was covered in square stone tiles and the beautiful blue sky visibly loomed over it.
The sun was still rising, so Elijah could admire the sky's Beauty without suffering it's blinding assault.
He took a deep breath and smiled as the breathtaking fresh air surged up his nostrils. The untainted,unpolluted air could only be described as otherworldly.
His smile got wider realizing how rich the mana in the open air was. After gathering and circulating all night, he had become more attuned with its presence.
He continued to look around. Training dummies littered the place, the ones broken and damaged far exceeding the ones intact
There was an armory close to the entrance. It housed a myriad of weapons— mostly swords of all kinds: wooden, steel and even golden. They had a wide variety of lengths, shapes and sizes.
Around the back of the training area was a washroom for cleaning up after a workout no doubt.
Belladonna stood in the center of the training area, silently watching Elijah as he looked around.
While she hadn't said anything, her impatience was obvious.
"Ahem.."
Noticing her gaze, Elijah cleared his throat and faced her.
"I hereby present your demonstration my lady" he began, fighting the unbearable cringe he felt everytime he spoke this formally.
"However, though Im certain your anticipation is high, I'll start by giving you a personal introduction to magic; since you missed the demonstration yesterday."
She responded with a nod, eyes beaming with excitement.
"Magic is the product of using mana, to carry out your will"
Elijah wasn't certain how accurate his explanations and definitions were in the technicality of it all, however, he was going to spout his interpretations as facts regardless. Who would be the wiser?
" It is both the force behind the strength that allows you to swing a blade and the blade itself" he continued.
"Mana, meanwhile, is the blood that flows through the body, the skeleton that supports it, the very muscles deep within that allows you to grip the blade and move your hand. It is the body. Just as a bodiless hand can't hope to swing a sword, it's impossible to wield magic without mana."
He paused for a second expecting some kinda response, however, she just plainly stood there.
'Tough crowd' he thought to himself.
However, he knew he had her undivided attention, knew she was trying her to learn something in the process. yet… what she was really interested in seeing, was the physical demonstration.
Elijah was initially no different, until he painfully came to understand it: getting a grasp on the theory was just as important. If he had done so previously, there would be no need for him to now be struggling to pull random bullshit explanations from his rear end.
He sighed then added in finality. "luckily, mana is very abundant in the surroundings and readily accessible to everyone. All you need do is call on it— as you'd call on oxygen for your lungs."
Elijah closed his eyes and began drawing in the mana from his surroundings. He then raised his finger, and soon enough a flame bagan dancing on it defiantly against the morning breeze.
"Woah" overwhelmed by a childlike sense of amazement, the word escaped her lips on its own, however, she quickly covered her mouth in embarrassment and composed herself.
"This is truly remarkable indeed. I wonder when I'll be able to do it too" She eventually responded "what else can you show me?"
'She wants more?? Thats all I got!'
Elijah was mentally screaming, he wasn't necessarily mad at belladonna for asking;it was a reasonable question.
He was more angry at himself for not thinking ahead and preparing something else. He couldn't go around just showing his one trick forever after all.
Trying not to let his inner turmoil show, he replied " Im afraid thats all I can show you… at this time my lady"
His heart sank even more seeing the look of disappointment on her face in response.
She sighed, "Thats alright. Im impressed by this much already. Truly unprecedented. I must say though… as intriguing as this all is,if this is all there is to magic, it's extremely impractical for battle."
"Such ignorance!"
The words were intended to be Elijah's thoughts, but judging by belladonna's reaction ; a surprised narrow of the eyes and head tilt,Followed by a slight amused smile.
It was obvious they were said aloud.
Elijah's eyes widen in shock, he opened his mouth to explain, but was interrupted
"Ignorance you say…" she began, speaking neutrally unoffended by Elijah's remark.
"Five seconds. That's how long it took you to create those flames…
Ten. That's the number of times i couldve killed you before they appeared.
And—
Above all else
the flames weren't significant enough to cause a threat. In conclusion, it's leaving yourself vulnerable to dying 10 times over—–for nothing."
There was no form of condescension or insult in her tone. She was simply stating a obvious fact
Elijah couldn't help being irritated.
She was right, but also… completely wrong!she merely lacked perspective on Magic's true capabilities, thats what is causing the misunderstanding.
The fact that it was just a misunderstanding, Only increased his frustration.
"Dont misunderstand this small scale demonstration as the full extent of magic, You just dont understand its capabilities like I do"
"Im by no means saying it's not capable, it's amazing, just not suited for combat. If a wooden knife without edge fails to cut steel, making the same knife into a long sword wouldn't increase its odds. Doesnt mean it's useless, there are plenty other functions ",she replied
"Youre wrong about magic." He retorted,Barely giving her a chance to finish.
Belladonna stood in contemplation for a while, then walked over to the armory.
"How about this then…" she paused weighing her words before setting them free. "…your wooden sword versus mine"
Elijah, fully riled up from his frustration, jumped at the chance and accepted.
'I'll show you'
She went ahead and picked up the shortest wooden sword she could find, then gestured at Elijah, encouraging him to choose his weapon.
His choice ended up being a wooden shield.
Lacking any form of training In weapon mastery, choosing anything else would've been impractical.
They made their choices and returned to the center.
As he walked over, Elijah's nerves started to kick in. His heart started pounding and His hands sweating
He said he'd show her but show her what exactly? He had never fought a day in his life.
Equipping the shield to his left hand, Elijah stopped at his mark and stared directly at belladonna.
'Why are we fighting? this is so stupid.' He thought to himself examining her reaction to make sure he didn't say it aloud.
"What are the conditions?" He asked
Belladonna thought for a while. "We begin when you start to do your magic and fight Until our point is proven"
Elijah chuckled, " so be it"
' Im so screwed'
Elijah wasn't stupid enough to think it was a sure win because his opponent was a girl. He didn't know her skill level but he knew she was a fighter and he was not. Even if she was a rookie, she'd be better than him
They stood silently facing each other
One second passed,
Then two
Eventually, Elijah finally committed and began.
He took a deep breath and closed his ey-
Boom!
Before his eyelids could properly touch, there was a crackling sound of wood splitting apart as the shield exploded into a rain of splinters.
The powerful shockwave from the blow ate through the shield, then spread throughout his hand. Flinging his hand backwards.
"Dead." Rang belladonna's voice " closing your eyes in front of an opponent is akin to asking for death"
Elijah remained silent, but his mind was loud. He, however, quickly pierced his torrential thoughts and focused on only two—
She intentionally aimed for his shield, meaning he really would've died if it was a real battle
And
A blow like that would've totally wrecked the old him which meant one thing…
He was still benefiting from the overwhelming strength he felt meditating last night.
'All right then, let's see what I can do.'
Before belladonna could get out of range, he sprung forward aiming to grab her hands.
His speed startled her for a second but she quickly read his movements and responded
Whooosh!
Sounded her blade singing in the wind as she swung it in a wide arch after him.
Elijah instinctively dodged under, improvising his earlier spring for the hand into a dive for the legs.
Knowing that would've been his next move, belladonna was already gracefully in the air jumping out of reach to avoid his tackle.
But, Elijah wasn't playing around. As soon as he hit the stone tiles, he was back up chasing after belladonna— only for his face to be greeted by the bottom of her shoes. He crashed into the stone floor once more.
His advantage had run out, the small vestige of power that remained were now fully exhausted.
Breathing heavily;he stood up. Taking a deep breath to calm his racing mind.
'I need to figure something out' he thought to himself
Not even two seconds later a realization hit him ' who decided my eyes need to be closed to gather mana? Im such an idiot.
He stood there, eyes wide open staring down his opponent while searching for the sensation he enjoyed so much.
It wasn't hard to find, he could sense mana a lot easier now.
He started walking, mind becoming sharper body becoming stronger as he circulated mana.
Without holding up his finger first, he lit it then showed it to belladonna
"Seems I can do it before you kill me 10 times after all"
Belladonna smiled, then, without skipping a beat, charged at him. Simultaneously Elijah rushed at her too.
The wooden sword swung at him once more only to be dodged casually.
He followed up with a counterattack, she dodged as well, only barely.
Though his technique was sloppy. Elijah was now faster and stronger than belladonna and was getting stronger.
He stared her down like a beast, both now only fighting on instinct.
Belladonna being the true beast of the two felt truly threatened by the stare, by the sense of suddenly feeling inferior and for a second forgot it was a mere sparing match
Like a speeding train she was upon Elijah, blade already looming over his head to split him apart down the middle.
Even with his enhanced speed there was no dodging it.
Instinctively he held a hand up to block it
Belladonna realized it was too much power and tried to slow it down. Too late. He was dead.
Bang!
The blade slammed into his left hand and it shattered into a million pieces. Wood splinters rained down
"Wha-?" Belladonna was relieved but also quite surprised.
Despite being only a wooden sword, despite her holding back at the last second, that was enough power to turn a boulder to dust
Behind the scattered splinters, Elijah's eyes pierced her screaming with murderous
Intent
And the tool to carry it out, his right hand blazing with a trail of fire behind, aiming to scorch her beautiful face burning a hole straight through.
Distracted by the fact Elijah had survived her own attack, belladonna let her guard down and was now wide open and Elijah caught up to his actions too late
As certain death loomed over her head all she could do was close her eyes
"Thats quite enough now." A Commanding voice boomed through the training hall
They both opened their eyes to see Alazard standing in the middle of the battle, eyes piercing Elijah as he held back his blazing hand.