“Well? Let’s go!” Alex exclaimed as he pointed his blade at Crane who stood still. “So his power is to use the wind. How the heck can I even touch him if he has the power of wind?” He thought with panic in his mental voice while externally he smiled, showing his shark-toothed smile that faltered for but a moment.

“I’ve already made my first move.” Valentine lowered his arms as the winds vanished and the sand swirling around him flew away. “Now...your move.”

“That’s his first move? Damnit. My plan was to get him closer or something.” His plan was falling apart as he stomped his foot on the ground with the dry desert floor cracking. Halfway stomping he summoned his boots that were already enchanted with the boost enchantment. “Boost!” He leaped forward with an explosive dash as Alex swung his blade down on Valentine.

Right before the Ares’s very eyes, he saw how he moved; Fluid like a cool breeze, swift as gust. The man avoided his strike with what seemed like a simple sidestep and grabbed onto Alex’s paralyzed arm, using the force of his speed to make the two pivot like someone turning around quickly using a pole bar; But in this case, the bar is holding the runner.

Alex was dumbfounded and blinked at what happened, he's facing the other way, he glanced at the arm where Valentine grabbed him and peered back at Crane who appeared unfazed by what Alex did. “Sloppy,” Crane said. “I’ll give you credit for having creativity, but that ingenuity is all you have.”

Alex grits his teeth, flicking his wrist in an attempt to make his hands move. Quickly he realized there was no point. The only difference was the slight twitch at the elbow due to the strain of trying to move the stunned limb.

Alex switched weapons, shifting to a rapier made of light. Turning around he rushed forward to assault Crane with a flurry of thrusts, stomping with each step to give his thrusts more force and impact.

Crane evaded his flurry of strikes with ease. Stepping back, shifting his body from left to right to avoid each strike. “Poor footwork and attacking with reckless abandon. What you’re doing will leave you with several, vulnerable openings.” Crane retorted as the former Guildmaster went low and swept his leg under Alex’s.

“W-woah—!” Alex stopped his assault and tumbled down before being grabbed by the back of his shirt, getting caught mid-fall by Valentine. “H-huh?” He looked at Crane, confused. “...Why did you-?”

“Very exploitable openings I might add.” Suddenly, Alex felt a harsh gust of wind blowing on his face, mixed with the desert sand. The force was so strong that the sand mixed with the gust was leaving scratches and small cuts across his face as Crane lets go of Alex, making him kiss the sandy ground.

“Oof—!” He pushed himself with one arm, causing him to lie on his back and staring at the desert sky.

He’s toying with you. Would you like to use me and cut him? I will surprise him by eating his winds as you thrust me upon his chest and feast on him from within.

“Not gonna happen. He’s Human.” His rapier's still with him, picking it up and stabbing the ground to help himself stand. He replaced his weapon again, switching from a rapier to a spear made of fire. “So are you going to keep criticizing how I fight?” Alex hoped he was going to keep doing that just so he could bide time and plan how to get close and grab him.

“It depends on how awful your performance is.” Crane stood still, watching Alex. His eyes cold and calculative. “Fire?” Against a wind user?” Crane raised his brow.

Alex shook his head in response to his question and quickly threw the spear down on the ground in front of them. “Blast!” He exclaimed as a blast of sand and smoke covered the area, screening the vision between the two.

Alex quickly created a staff of light and dashed through the smokescreen. “Take this!” Alex cried out through the smoke. Halfway dashing he swung his staff, aiming to strike for Crane’s head.

Then, the smoke cleared in an instant with a harsh blow of the wind. Alex, face-to-face with Crane as their eyes meet. It felt like the world slowed down and paused at this moment. “Don’t scream while trying a sneak attack.” Crane stated, the world slowly coming back to speed as Alex was blasted with a sharp gust of wind.

“Agh!” Alex cried out, shielding his eyes with his arm. The air was too intense, too strong and controlled. He was still mid-dash, being kept afloat by the harsh bellows while being sliced by blade-like winds. Slowly he was being pushed away and assaulted with cuts by a final mighty gust with a force equivalent to being run over by a speeding motorcycle.

“Khagh—!” Alex heaved out, feeling the air being pushed out of his lungs as he was sent flying, harshly rolling to a stop on the ground 4 meters away from Crane. He dropped his spear while being flung away and the weapon turned to white dust.

“...Haaa—!” Alex gasped, coughing as he slowly recovered. “...Cough! No—hchk! Noted…” Alex looked at his arms, he’s a mess. His whole front body was covered in cuts, His face having dried lacerations with sand caked across his features as it absorbed the blood. His clothes were coated in slices and slits with thin yet deep cuts that were bleeding and staining his white shirt. “I’m already this hurt and I barely even touched or hurt him.”

“Haven’t touched or hurt him” Crane interjected, which Alex grunted in annoyance at. He had been grabbed, swept, blasted with blade-like winds, and had the air in his lungs pushed out while feeling like he got run over by a charging horse.

Worst of all, this man wasn’t being cocky, no. He was scolding him; lecturing his movements and fighting like a dance teacher. Alex rolled his shoulders “Think! What can I do? Screw it. I’ll throw whatever I have in this fight, anything just to get close to him and grab him once!”

There is always—

“NOT YOU!” He mentally snapped, looking down on the ground for a moment before sighing. “...Sorry. I didn’t mean to yell.”

Accepted. For a proper apology, you must live throughout this fight and feed me food.

“...That’s a promise.” Alex lifted his arm up high, summoning 5-no...10-no!...20! 20 blades made of fire and light circling around him and aiming at Crane. “Sword…” He threw his arm out, the palm of his hand aimed at Crane. “Barrage!”

The swords all came at him one at a time, and were coming at Crane with quick speed. Crane looked to the flying swords and raised his hand. “Now you’re just messing with me.” His voice not portraying disappointment and bitterness, instead laced with irritation because of Alex’s foolish actions; he hadn’t learned the lesson.

But before he could use the wind to knock away the flying swords, they exploded halfway in a burst of sparkling, lingering light caused by broken fragments of the light and fire swords. The unity of the two Essences enhancing the brightness.

“A distraction?” He shielded his eyes from the bright light and threw his arm up to get rid of the blinding light with a simple gust of wind. Once cleared, Crane faced an incoming spear of fire coming for his chest. “...Predictable.” He deflected the spear aside with his wind, redirecting it to the side to see it fly away.

But upon closer inspection, the end of the spear had small thrusters on the side, and at the bottom of the spear were chains wrapped around the end. His eyes trailed where the chains were going and in front of him, was Alex. The boy’s hand was wrapped around with the chains of the spear as he had a determined, toothy grin.

Alex threw his head back, an orange transparent helmet made of fire was made, the back of it had a large thruster. The thruster let out an explosive pulse, instantly pushing his head back, throwing his helmeted forehead against Crane’s, making a loud, explosive crash.

The whole desert grew silent, the only noise was the echo of Alex’s headbutt. Everything was still with the only thing moving to be the hat flying from Crane’s head due to the force of the explosive headbutt Alex had delivered.

Lisa, who was taking care of an unconscious Fitz, witnessed the whole fight from the beginning to now. She stiffened in disbelief at that moment. The untouchable Crane Valentine, the man who could dodge live fire as easily as a fly slipped between one’s fingers, was struck in the head by a kid who was only barely good at fighting, one who couldn’t even hold a candle to her boss.

There was a moment’s pause in which the desert fell almost completely silent. The winds ceased, leaving only the uncomfortable shuffling of Crane's guard and Alex’s heavy panting.

Lisa raised her gun from her position by the unconscious Fitz before Crane raised his left hand without looking in her direction to cease.

His head was tilted back, staring up at the sky. He still stood tall, his feet not even shifting from their position upon being struck. He breathed in the fresh air, it was a nice day out. Then, as suddenly as it began, the silence stopped. The wind kicked up once more, blowing Crane’s hair rapidly in the gales.

His hand shot forward, with a speed unlike his movements before, and the back of it cracked with a sharpness upon Alex's cheek. This time with several times more power than any before, though he was still obviously holding back. Alex still had his head, right?

Though... It hit with a sound like Thunder.

It was an instant, Crane’s swift backhand shattered through Alex’s helmet as the boy’s head was forced the other way, knocking him instantly to the ground. If it weren’t for his helmet he would’ve had his skin and bits of his cheek torn apart as though they were rubbed raw on a high-speed belt sander.

Where Alex was struck, he temporarily lost his ability to hear. Hearing only a blurring ringing noise through his left ear. His cheek was beyond bruised, it was eviscerated and the backhand alone left tears and cuts from the blow of Crane’s attack.

His head was still attached but his left side felt so heavy that he couldn’t lift it all, like half of his face was asleep and couldn’t respond to what his brain was telling it to do.

Alex was very much conscious, heaving and panting. He was lucky that he wasn’t processing the excruciating pain on his side, thinking Crane backhanded him so hard that his brain numbed half of his face.

As for Crane, there was the tiniest trickle as a single crimson line dripped into the sand from his forehead. He didn't bother wiping it away as he gestured with a finger, which brought his hat flying back to his head where he placed it firmly. "You've died so many times over today I can hardly keep track." He eyed him oddly. "Stay down this time."

You are running out of stamina, you have wasted most of your power to show off a useless spectacle to only strike his head. It would have been effective on someone else, but not him. You are grievously injured, your brain was forced to make the left side of your head unconscious from the impact alone.

“You’re sounding a bit monotonous there, Peina…” As he was nearing to being unconscious he still had the mental energy to snark. “Damnit. I should’ve grabbed his shoulder and planted the bug there…”

As I am connected to you, I am able to read your vitals and physical state. When you struck his head, you were momentarily paused, processing feelings of euphoria and excitement; you celebrated too early that you forgot to grab him.

“Now I know you’re mocking me by just reading my Vitals with your sass. I’m preparing something so please be quiet for now.”

...Understood.

“This is your defeat.” Crane stated. He walked towards the heaving, panting Ares who was finally succumbing to his injuries. “Do you have another scroll with you? I doubt Slater would send you here without one.”

“Huff...haghh...” Alex couldn’t respond. His body reaching its physical limit. In his head, he’s mentally arguing with his sword along with forcing his body to move and fight! “Stand up, body! Stand up and fight! Just move, a twitch! Stop panting and grab Crane!”

“I’m not hearing anything from you, Alex. Has your body finally succumbed to the pain?” He looked down on him and stopped walking. “I expected you to quit when I threw you away the first time.” Crane squats down beside the young Ares. “But you kept on persisting, using all that power to get a single hit.”

“I will hand it to you, I haven’t been hit for a very long time. I can’t remember the last time a person made me bleed.” He shrugs. “You even aimed for my head. I’ll give you points for that.” A point out of the many mistakes that prevented him from passing.

“Move, body, move! I need to grab him to make this work.”

Crane momentarily turned to Lisa. “Has Fitz woken up yet?” He saw her helmet shake no. “Put him inside, start the Jeep, we're leaving soon.” Crane felt something grab his leg, it was a weak grab, but it’s also a grab that he can practically feel the foolishness seeping off of.

“You’re very stubborn aren’t you, Alex?” He looked down to see the half-conscious Ares, looking up at him with one open eye, his sharp teeth in full display to form a struggling frown.

“D-damn right I’m stubborn! I’m not gonna lose that easily!” The skies above darkened, Was it a cloud blocking the sun? This desert barely has any clouds, that Crane knows for sure as he looked up to see a giant flaming sword. 50 feet above in the sky and cartoonishly large.

Crane remembered Julius’s wife who had such an ability, throwing enormous weapons like toy darts. “Special move: Infernal Smite!” He previously did this move against his parents on a previous name, modifying the sword to break and rain down shards of sword-like needles on his parents.

The blade was dropped, coming down against them as Alex forced himself to smile as if he’s preparing to sacrifice himself to at least mortally damage Crane or burn him in the process.

Crane looked down at Alex with simple disappointment on his face, even shaking it in disapproval at the ability alone. “What did I say about fire, Alex?” The very tip of the blade was coming down directly on top of his head.

But before it came into contact with him, the whole blade died into pure nothingness. What’s left of the fire weakly exploding outwards like a heatwave, the only thing burning was his hat, which he removed to pat out the flames.

“Listen to lapses in your opponent’s judgement. They may reveal weaknesses or, in this case, resistances. Wind doesn’t always make fire stronger. Figure out why.” Crane looks down at his hat which now had a scorch mark along the side, sighing softly. “This was my favorite hat.”

Crane kicked off Alex’s hand and simply stomped his foot between his elbows, crushing the arm until he heard a loud pop, knowing he has dislocated his arm. Was he angry that his favorite hat was burned? No. It’s simple discipline, scolding a child for repeating a mistake despite being told what to do properly.

“AGH!—” Alex managed to cry out as his only functioning limb has been dislocated, he stared at his arm, the ground underneath had cracks caused by the force of Crane’s step. “This! This is the most unbearable pain I’ve ever had, worse than being lariat’d by my dad.”

Valentine readjusted his scorched hat, pulling out something from his pocket, a vial. It contained a clear and transparent liquid that had a look similar to water. “Here.” He dropped it in front of Alex, the wind making its descent gentle and soft. “Once the paralysis wears off drink this to recover. It’s better than health potions.”

Crane knelt down and used the wind to slowly lift Alex’s head to look him dead in the eye. “This is your only warning, Alex. Go back to your family. It’s bad enough they only have one child to continue your family line. I don’t want them to lose another one...not by my hands. Never…”

His look was intimidating, fear-inducing, yet concerned and worried. He gently dropped Alex down and stood up. Crane walked away from him, entering the jeep and he and his soldiers drove off, leaving the injured Alex by himself.