One week ago, Lore, Kaym and I were tasked by Blax to find a new member for our team. There was an off-chance that Haz Kazama won’t be joining us since he was ranked A and that just means a lot of people have scouted him first. Blax probably did the right thing to have this backup plan just in case.

The three of us decided to recruit another close friend of ours. He was also a classmate of Lore,Hosuke and I. The Manipulator of Gravity, Airi Mortar. Currently a D ranked wizard. Blax said that his power could potentially be a game changer for us if he ever joins us. He was right. Airi’s magic was unstoppable for anyone without prior knowledge of how his magic work. I have seen him use his magic before this but I don’t know how much stronger he have become now.

“Rider, do you think he will want to join The Magic Duel?” Kaym asked me.

I replied to him, “We will make sure he joins it whether he like it or not.”

Lore then said, “Wow, you are on fire today, Rider.”

“Of course I am. The Magic Duel is coming in 2 weeks and we still don’t have enough members for it. We have to get him to join us.” I said as we continued to walk.

We were heading to the meeting place where Airi has appointed. He said that if its related to The Magic Duel then come meet him there. Well considering the meeting place is at a near empty field I can guess what’s coming for us. Hence, the reason I’m all fired up. He issues a test of strength. If he wants one then he better get it. We reached the empty field and saw Airi sitting under a tree on the ground.

We approached him and greeted him, “What’s up, Airi.”

The D ranked wizard then replies, “It is a beautiful day is it not, guys?”

“Indeed it is.” said Lore.

Airi then stood up and brushed off his outfit, “I guess you wanted me to join The Magic Duel, correct?”

“Yeah, you are right.” Kaym nodded.

“For once, someone acknowledges my magic.” Airi said that casually.

He did say it casually but I can tell he was bragging. I really am not sure why he did that but all I know was that I’m totally going to smash that bragging face of his once we're done talking. I really hate people who was all bark and nothing. It reminds me of how my siblings interacted with me. I love them yes but I also hated them. People like that needs to learn a lesson. That was how I always settled things with my siblings.

Airi then continued, “I really planned to join the duel but then I notice that no one is at the same level as I am. So instead, I decided not to join it.”

“So, what you are trying say is that you don’t have any friends?” I initiated my plan to make Airi mad and lose focus.

Airi was however, unfazed by my words, “Friends? My friends are all E and F ranked weaklings. Do you think I would associate with weaklings?”

I revolted back, “We cannot make through a broken bridge alone but we can work together to make our own bridge that connects to our destination, which is the other side.”

“Do you know about how gravity works? How about the great Isaac Newton? Heard of that name before?” Airi asked us.

Lore answered, “You mean the guy who studied about physics?”

“Correct. And do you know what started him to study all of that and become a great person?” Airi continues to question us.

Lore answered again, “Because one day, when he was sitting under an apple tree. An apple fall onto his head. It made him wonder why does the apple fall to the ground.”

Airi nodded happily, “Yes. Yes. You are indeed right, Lore. Based on that story we just heard, I say that gravity is an interesting concept. Wanna know why?”

“How does this relate to what we we're talking?” I asked him back.

As he was about to say it he was bracing for something, “Everything. And I mean everything will one day fall down. Just like your friendship. That’s the apple that fell on my head. It made me realize that I should do this on my own because you guys are just my stepping stone to greatness.”

“If you think you are so good, then why not prove it to me? One on one. Mano a mano.” I challenged him.

Airi then raised the stakes, “How about three on one? That should prove my philosophy and at the same time, crumbles your friendship!”

“Rider, what happened to him? Since when was he so arrogant?” Lore asked me.

I replied, “I am not sure. But all I know is I’m going to teach him a lesson.”

“I wonder what’s the punchline for this misunderstanding.” Kaym shakes his head.

Lore asked, “What do you mean, Kaym?”

Kaym replied to Lore, “Those two idiots always fights. Same as how Blax and Hosuke always fights. Those guys will always have something that they don’t agree and sometimes it will lead to big fights like these.”

“So you are saying, this is just a personal quarrel?” Lore finally figured out and puts his hand on his forehead.

“Yeah. Surprised right?” Kaym said that as he patted the disappointed Lore.

I didn’t heard what they were saying because I immediately transformed to my Sengoku Armor. An Armor that dates back during the warring states of Nihon, The Rising Sun Land. I will definitely going to show him what it means to have friends. I revealed my katana and swung it toward Airi. He dodges it.

“Not so fast, Rider.” Airi stopped him. “I believe Lore needs some prior knowledge about my magic. Care to explain it to him? I’m just giving a chance to you weaklings, you know?”

Airi said that as started to make every trash around the field floats in the air.

“What’s going on?” Lore asked.

I explained Airi’s ability, “Airi’s ability is called, Magnet. A defensive type magic. He can make any objects have magnetic properties. In other words, if he uses it on a foodstall and a car. Those two will collide, causing destruction. Airi knows a lot about positioning so you better be careful of your surroundings.”

“Wait, he can make a lot of things turn magnetic in one go?” Lore asked again.

I continued to explain, “He can only do that if its small. Dangerously enough, he can even combine all of these trash and crush us to another pile of hard trash or a wall. Plus, to make things harder, he can even make himself and us have magnetic properties. It’s going to be hard to reach him if he started to repel himself. It’s like gravity where anything always falls down to the ground because our planet have a strong magnetic field that pulls us down.”

“Alright, I get it. Enough with the science lecture!” Kaym was annoyed.

“It’s not you who is trying to learn you know?” Lore laughs.

Lore then put on his shield and changed his stance to Cover Mode. His shield now can lets out an Infinitum powered shield that looks like a hologram.

“I’ll cover any incoming object that approaches you, Rider!” Lore devised his strategies to me.

“What about me?” Kaym asks.

Then I said, “Kaym, you help me out.”

“Alright then. Devil….TRIGGER!” Kaym turned into his Part-Demon Form.

Both of us charged toward Airi side by side. And like a magnet, we ended up crashing on each other before even reaching Airi. I tried to stand up but now I realised that we are both stuck together like a magnet.

“Great. We are stuck together now. And we even didn’t reach him yet!” I said.

“Yeah, like seriously. What the heck?!” Kaym also exclaims.

“I already used my Magnet on you guys when we were talking just now. Besides, I can now use my Magnet 500 meters away from me!” Airi claimed.

He has gotten a lot stronger than the last time we fought. Lore continues to cover us with any incoming objects. Some objects managed to get through him though. We barely managed to dodge all of those since they are too small for us to notice it coming to us. Kaym and I jumped away from each other. We made sure to stay away from each other since we may be pulled back and crash into each other. Lore’s heavy stance thankfully helped him from moving around too much in this magnetic field.

Kaym used his Devil Blast and shot toward Airi who blocks it with a pile of trash that was then completely destroyed by the blast. As Airi was focusing on Kaym, I approached him and barely tried to swing my sword unto him. I fought back the repelling force that comes out of Airi and pushes through but he finally notices after a few seconds later and jumps away from me.

“That was close, Rider. But not close enough.” said Airi. “How about you try to get away from these?”

Suddenly, an electric pole along with its wire were flying towards us. I managed to dodge the pole but I got caught inside the electric pole together with Kaym. We are now tied together. To make things even worse, Airi thrown a pile of combined metal to a water container. The water inside the container then flowed out and was about to fall down toward us. We are still tied and stuck in these electric pole wire. Can things ever get worse than this other than our electrocution?

Meanwhile, around the same time as we were fighting. Hosuke finally found that one thing that finally changes his life. He finally found an Infinitum crystal together with Blax. I wondered how did that happen…

TO BE CONTINUED