56 Targeted (1/2)
”Whatever do you mean?” Blinking her eyes innocently, Natalia refused to admit her actions. Lookingher complete shamelessness, Greyson felt his eyes twitching. Alright, he lost. Her skin was just THAT thick.
Continuing to run around in the forest, Greyson soon came across his chance. Lucius actually was the one who found this for him. The kitten had run off to who knows where at one point, but when he came back, he brought wonderful news with him. He had found a Lyra family. Lyra were fierce beasts that were extremely protective of their own. Remembering Greyson's predicament, Lucius had lured the mother Lyra in his direction so that Natalia would kill her and become the target of the rest of the family. During this time, Greyson could slip off and run away. Eyes lighting up, Greyson felt like he saw the light at the end of the tunnel. However, soon the happiness turned to conflict.
”What level are the rest of the Lyra at? Lyra are highly coveted magic beasts because of their intelligence and high level bloodline. Won't leaving her like this put her in danger?”
”All of their levels are around your level or below, so while she might have a tough time. No immediate danger should come to her.” Lucius knew that Greyson was still worried, so he tried to reassure him. Keeping silent, Greyson decided to just go with it. He could see the beautiful white horse-like creature that approached. Knowing the moment had come, he started to attack the Lyra. Feeling the threat, the mother reacted with summoning an ice wall. Unfazed, Greyson shot out fire arrows breaking apart the wall and then restrained the beast with the shadows. Preparing to take the final cut with Genesis, just as he expected, Natalia shot in with a sudden wind blade that cut down the Lyra before him. Letting at a tragic wail upon its demise, the loud hoof beats started to echo in the direction of Greyson and Natalia.
Grinning that the plan was working, he laughed before waving goodbye to Natalia. Whose response was confusion until she could finally see the approaching stampede of Lyra. Fading into the shadow, Greyson quickly escaped as far away as possible.
”Hey! Wai...” Seeing that the target of her amusement had run off just ditching her, Natalia stomped her feet in frustration before glaring at the Lyra that had surrounded her.
”It's all your fault!”
Thus, began the tragedy of the poor used Lyra...
...
Once confident that Natalia would not be able to follow him, Greyson was like a fish in water while hunting in the forest. After escaping, he took advantage of the second day to get enough magic cores to pass the first stage. Of course, he didn't stop there and continued harvesting cores to sell later. Reminded of his times at Black Hollow Forest, Greyson continued running around almost losing track of the time. By the time the third day had rolled around, Greyson was reminded by Lucius and started to head back to the direction of the starting point.
”Grey, watch out!” Lucius suddenly sent out a mental warning.
Reacting out of pure instinct, Greyson drew Genesis when he finally felt the incoming threat. A loud clang rang out as sword made contact with the hidden dagger. Noticing the path of the dagger was aimed towards his heart, Greyson could feel the chill of death run down his spine. However, after this momentary shock came unbridled anger. Who was trying to kill him?! Sending out a blast of wind, the trees within a 5 meter radius were cut down. A black figure hidden in one of the trees spat blood before being sent flying. Reflexes kicking in, though, he flipped in mid-air and landed on his feet. Greyson burst off into the figures direction, while the attacker decided to run away after his surprise attack had failed.
”Stop!” Greyson snarled angrily. Waving his arm, the shadows surrounding the figure jumped up and tried to secure the person in place. To his surprise, the figure fazed right through the shadows as if they had no effect. A dark element magician? Without thinking further, Greyson instead used the familiar Water Cage spell. Glittering a pretty blue, Greyson summoned the snow from the ground which melted to water and enveloped the fleeing attacker. Caught in the water ball, the figure pulled out a dark and cold looking dagger and the dark element around it sliced right through the water. His spell broken so violently, Greyson held his chest as he could feel the blood flow up after the rebound from his magic. Becoming even more determined, he drew Genesis as the sword glowed green with his eyes. Slashing down, a violent wind blade followed his sword's cut and flew towards the still running figure. The threat of the wind slash upon him, the dark magician held up his dagger and produced a sheen black shield, however, it was cracked underneath the pressure of Greyson's Wind Blade. The remnants of Greyson's spell managed to hit the person and left a long cut across the man's torso.
Coughing up blood, the figure could no longer run. Catching up to the attacker finally, Greyson could look closely at his features. The boy was around his age if not a little older with dark brown hair and red eyes. Although debilitated, the boy continued glaring at Greyson with enmity.
”Who are you? Why would you target me? It's one thing to attack me but it's another to try to kill me. Didn't you hear what the Head Examiner had said about killing other contestants?”
Hearing my words, the boy just sneered without any remorse.
”I saw Natalia following some disgusting thing around and felt that you were growing too arrogant, not knowing your place. Why she would fall to such a situation where she would interact with you is also beyond me.”
”Just for that?” Greyson felt like pounding his chest and stomping his foot at the immense misunderstanding that had taken place. Take her then! It's not like Greyson wanted her around. Getting arrogant? I was practically begging that great personage to stop taking out her wrath on me.
”Well, I could care less about your reasons, however, attacking me like that means you must pay up. I obviously can't kill you. So I'll just beat you up until I am satisfied.” Itching to vent all his frustration and anger that had built up, Greyson realized the best punching bag had delivered himself on a silver plate. Cracking his fists, he began approaching.
Finally the boy showed fear as he backed away while still holding his bleeding chest.