"Ha!!!"
Dashing forward with all his might, his sword left a trail of light behind him as Shiro only smiled. Flicking her wrist, she whipped the chains towards him at moderate speeds.
If she used more strength, it may seriously injure Raoul should it hit.
Pivoting on his right foot, Raoul gritted his teeth and started to dodge the chains.
*CLANG CLANG!!!
Colliding against the ground, the chains left a thin layer of ice on the surface.
"Watch out behind!" Jonas called out since he could tell that Raoulâs focus was in front of him rather than behind.
Hearing the shout of his instructor, Raoul quickly turned around just in time to see two blunt spikes stabbing towards him.
Swinging his sword, he barely managed to deflect them which caused him to slide backwards.
"Ssss!" Taking a sharp breath in, he could still feel the vibrations travel through his body from that one attack.
"You know, if you have any skills that can enhance your performance, as long as itâs not a berserk skill, Iâll allow you to use it." Shiro called out while swinging her chains once more.
Nodding his head, Raoul did just as he was told. Stomping down with his right foot, his aura flared outwards as he charged towards her once more.
Just as the chains were about to hit, his body flickered for a moment, resulting in what seems to be the chains phasing through his physical body.
âHou? Interesting.â Shiro thought with a smile.
Snapping her fingers, magic circles surrounded him as blunted ice spikes pierced towards him.
Furrowing his brows, he stabbed the tip of his sword into the ground and drew a circle around him.
"Burst!" He commanded as a wall of pressure exploded out with him in the centre.
Redirecting the spikes for a short moment, he took this opportunity to get closer to Shiro.
"Only 15 more meters to go~" Shiro teased with a soft chuckle.
Snapping her fingers once more, her ice chain shattered into pieces before morphing together once more into daggers. Naturally, they were all blunted as to not hurt him too much.
Flicking her fingers, the daggers swarmed around him, stopping his advance.
âHmm... figures. I was wondering about his restrictions in regards to that skill. Seems like he canât phase through too many objects at once.â Shiro smiled after figuring out his skill.
Sending the daggers to attack him, Shiro made herself an ice chair to sit on for now and crossed her legs with a casual smile.
As for Raoul, he quickly twisted his body and swung his blade at the incoming daggers.
Deflecting some of the daggers back at Shiro, he had to retreat a few steps since most of the daggers were unharmed.
"Wind Walker." He commanded before dashing back in. Using the gaps between the daggers as places where he can use this skill to advance towards Shiro, he soon arrived within a 10 meter range of her.
"Good job on getting this far. However, you should know that mages have strong counter measures for things like this." Shiro smiled.
Flexing her finger, chains appeared in the air and wrapped around Raoul. Since there were more than 5 chains that wrapped around him, he wasnât able to phase though it as he had hoped.
"I suppose thatâs the end of that."
Standing up, she thawed the chains before lending him a hand.
Pulling him up, Shiro walked over to Jonas.
"You might want to work on his gap closers. For mages that are more proficient with their element, itâll be very hard for him to actually land a hit if he canât get close enough. His skill timings need to be worked on too since I would have been taken by surprise should he have used his phase through attacks trick a little better." She evaluated while giving Raoul a side glance.
"I see. I figured as much. In the end, itâs just a bunch of combat experience that he needs." Jonas nodded.
Talking for a little longer, Shiro noticed that Raoul took a moment to think about the fight outside.
âHmm... I might just be nosy but I also want to give him some more advice and see whatâs up.â Shiro mused to herself.
{So thatâs just you being nosy then?} Nimue chuckled.
âOi.â
Excusing herself for a bit, Shiro went to look for Raoul.
Seeing him sitting on a bench while looking up at the sky, Shiro raised an eyebrow before sitting down next to him.
"You seem a bit down, whatâs up?" She asked with a soft chuckle.
"Ah did I? Sorry if I seemed that way, Iâm just thinking back to the fight." Raoul smiled and rubbed the tip of his nose.
"I see. Since Iâm here, tell me what youâre struggling on and Iâll give you some help." Shiro offered.
"Itâs ok, trust me. Iâll be fine after a while." Raoul shook his head since he didnât want to take up too much of her time. To her, he was just a weirdo that offered her a bed after all.
"Are you sure? Iâm staying here for a day anyways so Iâm not really losing much. Plus, itâs not everyday that I come back to New York so it might be the last time that I talk to you ya know? You sure you donât want to capitalise on it?" Shiro asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Haha, if you put it that way, how can I not?" Raoul chuckled.
"See? So whatâs on your mind buddy?" Shiro asked.
"Well itâs just that compared to when I first saw you, youâve made such a huge leap in strength while I went from a random bed giver to a person that can swing his sword relatively well. My improvement seems so stagnant compared to yours." Raoul replied while looking down on his hands.
"Hmm... I understand that and I wonât give you something conceptual like donât compare to others and just compare to yesterdayâs version of yourself. What I will say though is that the best thing for you to do is to just constantly go into simulation battles in the fighters guild or something. Since itâs a simulation, even if you lose, you gain something out of it. Hell, you can also go to the mages guild and fight some mages so that you can widen your horizons." Shiro suggested.
"Because in the end, itâs really just experience that youâre lacking."
"I see. By the way, what did you think of my previous action offering you a bed? Itâs a little embarrassing but Iâve always wondered about that. After all, it was just an impulse on my side." Raoul asked since first impressions were important.
"What do I think? Well itâs definitely left an impression in my head haha. Iâll be honest with you, while I do remember every one that Iâve talked to, there are few that leave more than just that. But you left quite the impression hence why I still remember it quite vividly to this day. Hell, the party even talked about you when we came back to New York because of the impression you left. Donât be dissuaded because youâre a little unique because Iâll tell you what, Iâve never seen anyone else give a girl a bed haha." Shiro chuckled.
"Also, it was quite cute that you offered me a bed. So donât let it bother you too much."
After hearing her impression of him, Raoul seemed to have a weight lifted off his heart as his face brightened up by quite a bit.
"I see. Thank you very much." He replied with a bright smile.
âAiya~ That smileâs quite blinding isnât it?â
{How pure. Heâs a sweet boy.} Iziuel nodded.
{To think a bed giving boy has grown up so much, I feel like a mommy bird watching the chicks fly for the first time.} Nimue nodded.
âBut you werenât there when he gave me the bed.â
{I can imagine ok?} Nimue rolled her eyes.
Talking to him for a bit longer, Shiro bid him goodbye before flickering away into a nearby room.
"You seem to be quite hostile to me. I donât believe Iâve done anything to you?" Shiro asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Grrr... youâre that woman Raoul likes arenât you." A girl replied while glaring at her.
"I suppose so. I donât have an interest in him that way, so donât worry. You can go for him if you want. I suggest starting with combat training. If youâre a mage thatâs better since that is what he needs right now. If you do combat training with him for an extended period of time, some feelings may develop between you if thatâs what you want. If anything, the only feelings he has for me are probably admiration so you donât have to worry so much. But anyways, good luck~" Shiro replied after understanding her situation.
". . . Ah?" The girl paused in confusion. While she may have expected Shiro to not give a damn about her, she didnât expect her to start giving tips on how to get Raoul.
Seeing Shiro flicker away after saying her piece, the girl could only stand there, dumbstruck at her strangeness.
"What the f*ck just happened?"