Zeph Malston: The Aether Mage

Liliana's heart was thumping in her c.h.e.s.t, the adrenaline coursing through her veins. The world seemed clearer, brighter than before. That wave of force from before almost knocked her out of the ring. This was it, this was what she wanted. Breaking that force wave took a lot of energy, but she had more where that came from. Bending forward, prepared to charge ahead. She could see obstacles he set up with her magic sense. It didn't matter, because she planned to break through them like her grandpa would.

Zeph was shocked for a moment but gathered his wits quickly. If fantasy stories taught him anything, it's that a transformation always came with a power-up. Looking at the little girl's white-haired form, he mentally prepared himself. It seemed like he might have to give it his all if he didn't want to get hurt. The temperature kept dropping, and he realized why Bernard surrounded himself in that burning aura. Changing some of the properties of his spell armor, Zeph started to emit a steady stream of fire magic to combat the cold. A red aura surrounded his body.

After making sure his armor would guard against any freezing magic the little girl threw, Zeph waited. Liliana said it was her turn, but she hadn't moved yet. Instead, she was looking at the shields he placed to hinder her movement. Zeph's multicasting ability vastly improved when he had to ward off the horde of beasts while tied to a pole. Scattering small obstacles like this wasn't that difficult for him now. He saw her smile, and she finally made her move.

The first three shields between the two were broken, as Liliana rammed through them. It was like they were made of paper. As soon he saw her move, Zeph jumped to the side and used telekinesis to gain more distance. He gave up on the little shields and made several hurdle sized barriers to slow the girl down. When Liliana came across those, she jumped and ducked. Her smile grew as she weaved between the obstacles that Zeph was creating.

Zeph continued to run, and she continued to chase. This battle of attrition ended, when a barrier beside Liliana exploded. It was a force grenade Zeph created in the shape of a short wall. When Liliana jumped over it, Zeph made it detonate. The blast sent the girl up in the air. As Liliana was trying reorienting herself, a bolt of lightning slammed into her c.h.e.s.t. She let out a small scream. Her spell armor took the brunt of the blast. But some of the electricity made its way through and gave her a shock. Still in the air, Liliana twisted her body so she could land on her feet. At the same time, she created a freezing bolt of energy and threw it at Zeph.

The blast came at him from an unexpected angle. Zeph tried to dodge but felt his feet were stuck. Looking down, he saw that they were encased in ice and frozen to the stage. He couldn't feel the ice because his heat aura protected him, but the ice didn't stick to his body. Instead, it looked like a frozen boot. He could easily break it, but not in time to dodge the incoming ice blast. Raising his arms in a cross guard, Zeph created a triangle shaped barrier. The bolt of frozen energy hit the point of the barrier and split, being deflected to Zeph's sides.

Liliana landed at the same time Zeph managed to free himself. The two children were panting. Zeph shook his feet, scattering bits of ice.

"I think that's enough, we're both pretty tired right now." He was really hoping the girl would listen.

"No way, especially not when I'm about to win!" Liliana got ready to attack again.

'Of course, she wouldn't.' Zeph sighed

Zeph felt something was off, and finally noticed that the frozen blast that he deflected was designed to create a huge wall of ice. Because he split it and deflected it to his sides, he was now trapped. Liliana rushed forward again, noticing the boy was distracted. She started rapid firing small balls of ice toward him. They flew towards him like a hail of bullets. He created shields to guard and tried to dodge upward. Then he realized it was a trap. The ice balls exploded creating small sheets of ice above him, combining with the walls from earlier. The girl surrounded him in a cave of ice, and there was nowhere for him to run.

'Maybe this is a good thing. If she wins, she might not bug me anymore and I can go inside and play with Rin. Yeah! it's not like I have to win, and I don't really care if I lose.' Zeph internal monologue was interrupted when he heard Bernard shout from the side of the ring.

"If you lose, I'll post that wind weasel video on the weave and link it to your profile on Weshare!"

'Damn old man!' Zeph was cursing Bernard over and over in his mind as Liliana closed in on him. He was already tired, and knew that he needed to wait for the right moment; or he would just waste more magic. The girl was smiling fiercely as she finally got within range of her target. With a glowing blue fist, she sent a punch towards Zeph's face. He managed a haphazard block with his arm, using more power in his spell armor. Another punch went to his stomach, and he didn't react in time.

The force slammed hard into the boy's body and sent him further into the small makeshift cave. The force rippled through his spell armor but didn't break through. He didn't have time to make a counterattack before Liliana appeared in front of him and started throwing a flurry of punches and kicks. Zeph never got into a fight with another person in either of his lives, and he had no experience fighting outside of that month of training. He blocked a few, but the girl's attacks carried freezing magic in every strike. Zeph felt his armor starting to weaken, and the cold was seeping through and invading his body.

Liliana was surprised. It seemed her rival had no training in close combat. That didn't stop her barrage of attacks, now she was sure she could win. The heat around Zeph finally started fading, and her magic was starting to make its way past his armor. 'Just a little more' She said to herself. Her magic reserves were almost empty and she was pushing herself to keep up a constant storm of attacks.

Zeph was getting really frustrated, and he decided to forget about trying to block and put more magic into his spell armor. He focused his magic into his hands and took a fighting stance. Liliana's hits hammered onto his body, but he didn't move. He was spending magic faster than he thought and would be out really soon. This was his last attack.

It was almost like Liliana sensed that and she put all she had left into her next punch. Zeph threw his hands forward pushing everything he had left into a force blast, going so far and dropping his spell armor and using it's magic to fuel the attack. Liliana did the same, surrounding her fist in a swirling icy orb of energy. The wave of force slammed into the girl's outstretched fist, and the two spells collided. The world went white.

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Outside the ring, Bernard and Ronan were smiling ear to ear. The two kids were showing off, and it was really entertaining. Ronan was happy that his granddaughter finally found her match, and Bernard was happy that there was someone around Zeph's skill level he could practice with. The two old friends looked at each other in understanding. The barrier faded, and the two climbed into the arena to retrieve their respective grandchild. Ronan kneeled down and gently picked up Liliana, making sure she was okay. Bernard just flicked his wrist and floated Zeph up into the air.

Ronan looked a little surprised. "You aren't going to check if he's okay?"

"He'll be fine. Even if he was injured, he'll be okay with a little rest." Bernard pointed at the little girl. "She's not the only one with a special constitution."

Ronan looked at the sleeping child in his arms. Her color was coming back to her cheeks, and her white hair was turning a healthy auburn. "Yeah, her atavism showed itself a couple of years ago. She's been afraid to show her friends. She must have really been absorbed in the match." Liliana's atavism was a trait she passed down from her ancestor. Long ago, the progenitor of the Phillips family fell in love with a frost nymph. The mother passed down her affinity for ice magic, and the father passed down his warrior's heart.

Bernard chuckled as he remembered the children's first exchange. That force wave was pretty impressive. "I assume you were going to tell me about it sooner or later?"

"Yeah, it was another reason I insisted we bring her here while things cool down in the capitol. I want to make sure there aren't any adverse side effects caused by her new condition. Right now, she seems to trouble with impulse control." Ronan looked a little worried.

"I noticed. Even you weren't that bad when you were younger. Don't worry; we'll get her sorted out. It's just a part of her she'll need to learn to control. I can develop a few tools to help. It'll give Zeph someone to talk to while we're conducting experiments in the lab." Bernard led them back towards the house as the dueling platform started to sink back into the ground. It disappeared and a soft patch of grass took its place.

"I feel like we're forgetting something," Ronan said while heading inside. Right before the door closed the old men heard a loud "Reow!" Ronan turned and stopped it, and a small kitten ran inside. It stared daggers at the little girl before it jumped at Zeph. The boy was laid down in front of Bernard, floating in the air. Rin landed on his c.h.e.s.t and started l.i.c.k.i.n.g his cheek.

"Don't worry, he's okay." Bernard consoled the kitten.

"Nyeew," She meowed back. Bernard couldn't understand the cat, but he thought she said okay. Rin lied down on Zeph's c.h.e.s.t and stared at the boy's face. She nuzzled against him and fell asleep.

"That's a pretty cute little familiar. It's nice of it to console the boy. Maybe he won't be so sad that he lost." Ronan was staring at the little kitten.

"What do you mean, I'm pretty sure Liliana was the one that lost." Bernard turned and glared at Ronan.

"Either the light from that last attack blinded you, or you need glasses old man. My girl beat your boy fair and square." Ronan glared back.

"I think it's you that has ice in your eyes, Zeph knocked your little snow princess out cold." Bernard gave Ronan a smug smile.

The two old men started to argue more heatedly but were interrupted by a low rumbling noise.

"Rrrrrhrhrhrrh!" Rin was giving the two a nasty look. When they stopped, she closed her eyes and nuzzled Zeph again.

Bernard blinked a couple of times. He looked at Ronan and whispered, "See, she agrees with me."

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