27 Victorious (1/2)
When Maria called out to Ruby, rings of red luminance fire covered her body as her mind briefly flashbacked to that week of training she underwent. How she was caught by surprise when she and Ruby first performed a convergence together, though she was unaware of what it was called at the time before Ruby explained it to her.
Celestial Convergence was when a Celestial Summon and its master merged together, granting that magician the same abilities as the Celestial Summon. Though, not all Celestial Magicians could successfully perform this spell as sometimes the magician's body was unable to handle the strain of merging with a celestial being. Those who could were noted to be some of the lucky few, even though those who could, sometimes experienced difficulty maintaining the merging.
'Master, your current limit in this form is only five minutes. So I advise you that it's best that you wrap things up quickly.' Maria could hear Ruby's voice in her head, taking a stance as her attire, even her hairstyle, greatly resembled the Celestial Spirit's, and she summoned Ruby's dual fans in her hands. Maria was unaware that instead of her natural emerald eyes, they had changed to a bright red like rubies.
”I know.”
This change in Maria caught a certain number of people's attention such as her friends. Mai was so hyped up that she was shaking Julian by the collar of his shirt. ”Julian, did you see that?! Maria transformed! She's so cool now! You got this Maria! Ma-ri-a! Ma-ri-a!” Mai took her poms-poms and started cheering, ignoring the questioning stares and glares the students were aiming her way.
”Maa, our dear Maria-chan is just full of surprises isn't she, Ri-chan?” cheekily asked Akihito, though when he turned towards his best friend he was not expecting the starry-eyed flushed gaze he was giving Maria.
”Oi! Oi! Ri-chan, isn't it a little too early to be falling for chibi-chan?” he playfully teased his best friend, who looked at him and said,
”...But she's so adorable.”
”Ri-chan, you're moving way too fast; take two step backs.”Akihito lightly slapped Richard's arm, who tried to regain his composure.
”Don't be mistaken, I'm simply stating a fact,” he said with flushed cheeks, eyes permanently glued onto Maria.
Regaining a cool expression on his face, Richard shot his cousin an uninterested stare. ”What is there to watch? No matter how much he improves, he will always be beneath me.”
”Ri-chan, so cold.” Akihito shuddered from the coldness of Richard, even though he was expecting such a reaction. Seeing how the two cousins did not share a close relationship if anything it was the opposite.
”Tch, so weak. Augue!” In the Crown Prince's hands, a huge ball of fire formed that he threw towards the beast, followed up with a second spell.
”Fulgur Percutite!” A strike of lightning fell down from the sky and struck the beast; this double spell attack resulted in him being victorious. The Crown Prince gloated from his victory and was about to make his way off stage, only to pause and shoot a glance over towards Maria, who was up against a Drunk Fire Monkey.
”Fancy clothes won't make you win,” he muttered before taking his leave.
The Drunk Fire Monkey that she was up against took a drink of the bottle of booze it was holding, and afterward, shot fireballs from its mouth. Using the dual fans in her hands, Maria sliced all the fireballs that came her way in half.
Only to come face to face with the beast itself, who moved so quickly that only in the last second was she fast enough to dodge the flame punch it aimed at her face. Suddenly Maria found herself once again dodging fireballs and the beast's fire punches. In the back of her head, a part of her couldn't help but question,
'Just how can this monkey fight so well without dropping his bottle of booze?! Though I must say, all that training back at Zeke Forest is finally paying off, seeing how if this was the old me, my face would already be fried off.' Despite the monkey's drunkness, its agility and speed were no joke.
The Drunk Fire Monkey shot another attack of fires balls at Maria, and they consumed her, earning a worried yell from both Maria and Julian. The beast was once again about to take another swing of its booze, only to have Maria flying from out of the blaze, dual fans in her hands, a grin stretched across her face.
”Oh, no ya don't! Uguns Tornado!” She swung her dual fans towards the beast, unleashing a tornado of flames from underneath its feet, leaving it with no exit to escape and defeated. Seeing this, Maria was reminded of when she defeated the Water Horn Ram with this very same attack.
”Gotta feel sorta grateful for that horrifying experience those two put me through.” By those two, Maria was hinting at her grandfather and mother, the same ones who came up with the crazy idea of leaving a six-year-old alone in a forest of beasts.
Yes, they were considered weak, but for a person like Maria, whose original soul came from a world where creatures possessing supernatural abilities were only in myths, anime, and television shows, it was like leaving her alone with a forest full of hungry lions.