Taisetsuna made a forward jump with a downward slash aimed at Nozomu’s head. Before he even had the time to think about something, his body moved. The buckler went up to stop the sword, and the left fist went straight at Taisetsuna’s face, taking her by surprise. A kick in her left leg ruined her balance, and the buckler went straight at her neck.

She stopped it at the last minute with her sword and made a big smile to the surprised Nozomu with her nose all red from his punch, “See? What did I tell you? Muscle memory! Another round?”

Nozomu backed away with a puzzled look plastered on his face, and for the next ten minutes, he reacted without thinking to stop Taisetsuna’s attacks. Finally, he signalled her to stop, and he sat on the ground to catch his breath.

Taisetsuna sat next to him with a big smile, “At least you are not hopeless! It’s nice seeing you moving like you used to, even if your eyes and manners are different.”

“Uff… I am tired… Well, this was interesting, to say the least. Let me catch my breath, I want to try something.”

Taisetsuna put her sword on the ground next to her, and took a few deep breaths with her eyes closed, waiting for him. Nozomu removed the gauntlets and put them near the buckler. He then asked her to make a small Wind Tornado on her hands, which he then touched and saw it dissipating. He asked her to do another one, and after approaching, he blew at it and saw it disappearing again.

Nozomu frowned and asked Taisetsuna to make another one on the ground, that he then spit at it, noticing that it dissipated as well.

Taisetsuna asked, puzzled by his silence, “What’s the matter? You are thinking about something weird, right?”

Nozomu got up and crossed his arms while looking at her, “No, I want to know how exactly I do this. Judging by what happened, I think that even if I pee on a Wind Tornado, it will dissipate as well. Really weird. I wonder if I am able to use this ability from a distance, to stop a Mage from throwing something at me.”

“Yeah, we already tried that, it doesn’t work.”

She then made another Wind Tornado on the ground, and Nozomu crouched near it. Taisetsuna made it twist and turn, and Nozomu slowly approached his hand.

He mumbled while his hand was getting near the edge of the Tornado, “Come here… let me grab you… come to me, pretty Magic…”

Nozomu was focused on his will to grab the Wind Tornado, and surprisingly, it was attracted to his hand instead of dissipating. Taisetsuna quickly approached in silence, and they both stared at the glowing Magic that was quickly changing. From the normal white glow of unused Magic, it was turning into a cloud of darkness and white over Nozomu’s open palm, and both colours mingled together as if they were fighting for power. Taisetsuna felt the hair on the back of her neck rising, and even her tail was reacting to it, trembling non-stop.

She stuttered with scared eyes, “Y-you better get rid of it! T-throw it away!”

Nozomu threw the strange cloud into the air with as much strength as he could, and when it exploded at almost ten meters high, the shock wave hit them, making them roll on the ground a few times. The two Unicorns protected themselves behind a Fire Wall that ‘Furnace’ created, and Nozomu raised his head and looked at the dizzy Taisetsuna when the shock wave went past them.

“Are you alright? What the heck was that?”

A frightened Taisetsuna answered, “I don’t know, you never did that before! How were you able to catch my Magic and change it like that?”

“I… I am not sure. I just thought about grabbing it, instead of dissipating it. Is this something that another person can do, or is it just me?”

“I never heard about anyone able to make Magic turn into a weird dark and white cloud! Maybe it’s better if you don’t do that ever again. I am still trembling! That was scary!”

Nozomu got up again and shook his head, “No, I think I need to get used to this. I don’t want to make another exploding cloud inadvertently and hurt myself, or someone else. I need to understand this and learn how to use and control it. Make another Wind Tornado, let me try again.”

Taisetsuna bit her lower lip, and she then made another Wind Tornado, but a smaller one. Nozomu reached out to it without approaching, and while thinking about grabbing the Magic as he did previously, they saw the Wind Tornado going to his hand, and the same dark and white cloud appeared over his palm. He then looked at a rock at a distance and threw the cloud at it, and he fell to the ground while covering his head, as protection from the blast. Taisetsuna imitated him, and before their eyes, the dark cloud hit the rock and it exploded, scattering tiny pieces of rock everywhere. The shock wave was smaller that time, but still enough to mess up their hair, even at that distance.

Nozomu sat on the floor with wide-open eyes, “Now was easier! I may be getting the hang of this thing! Do another one, but bigger! I want to see how strong the blast can be!”

Taisetsuna pointed to a big rock nearby, “Probably better if we go hide behind that. That way we can have some kind of protection if the explosion is too powerful.”

Nozomu looked at the two neighing Unicorns that were angry because of all the noise, “Better if we take them with us, right?”

“Yeah, Furnace can even protect us if that rock is destroyed with the blast.”

When they were behind the rock with the two angry-looking Unicorns, Taisetsuna made a big Wind Tornado, the biggest she could manage, with almost five meters high. Nozomu pointed his open palm at it and concentrated on his will to gather it. Again, the Magic went to his hand, and a big cloud was on his open hand that he concentrated with sheer willpower. When it was almost the size of his fist and the dark Magic was competing again with the white Magic, he threw the ball the farthest he could. They peeked from behind the rock and saw the explosion on the ground raising a dusty mushroom as if it was a small nuclear explosion. When the shock wave went in all directions, they immediately hid behind the rock, and ‘Furnace’ made a Fire Wall around them. The shock wave went past them, and when ‘Furnace’ dissipated the protection, Taisetsuna looked around at all the devastation. There was not even one leaf of grass or stone on the ground, only dust. Even the rock where they hid was not there anymore. The limits of the forest were different, and a few trees disappeared while others bent. She quickly faced the Orphanage that was at a bigger distance than the forest and saw that it was still standing, but some trees nearby lost a few branches.

She gulped and placed both hands on Nozomu’s shoulders, “Can we stop now? This was way too dangerous! I don’t know how you did it, but never do this again!”

“Maybe it’s better if you make a smaller Wind Tornado. I am getting used to this, you saw how I could even compress the cloud? I suppose I don’t need to fear if the cloud explodes in my hand, but the shock wave might hurt me more than that strange Magic. Better yet, can we try with Fire Magic? I want to see if it works with different types, and I need to learn how to control this.”

Taisetsuna slowly nodded. Even if she was afraid of the strong explosions, he was right. It was indeed better if he learned how to control that strange Magic, or he could hurt himself or someone if he wasn’t careful.

They tested with small Fire Tornados and even a tiny Electrical Ball that ‘Rampage’ made. Every time Nozomu gathered the Magic in his hand, the dark and white cloud appeared, and he threw it, making it explode a few meters from them.

After the tenth explosion he spoke while looking at his open hands, “This is indeed very destructive. Better if I save it as a last resort because I can easily kill someone with it. That wouldn’t be very good for me, it could attract a lot more attention than I need. I wonder if instead of a cloud that I need to throw, I can make some sort of blast facing forward, like if it was a laser. Maybe on another day because you don’t look very happy with the idea of more tests.”

Taisetsuna was turning pale as he was speaking, and she said with a trembling voice, “Yeah, it’s better if we go back, we need to check the damages in the Orphanage and fix it before the Priest returns. Probably better if we don’t tell him about this. Heck, I don’t have any idea how we could explain what you did! Even I don’t understand it!”

“Me neither, because I didn’t feel anything different when I was doing it, I was just concentrating on my desire to gather the Magic. Maybe I can disguise this if I shout ‘Wind Blast’ when I throw another ball, perhaps I can fool the people around me into thinking that I can use Wind Magic.”

Taisetsuna answered while grabbing the mane of her Unicorn, “That can only work if you throw the ball fast enough and no one sees what you did, but I suppose it could. Let’s go, before the Priest arrives.”

As they were riding to the Orphanage, Taisetsuna kept on thinking that her childhood friend was more different than he was two days ago. Not only did his eyes look different, but he spoke more seriously than he ever did, and now he could even make a strange and extremely destructive new Magic. She glanced at him and saw him lost in deep thoughts, and she decided there and then to keep a close watch over him, to make sure he didn’t cause any trouble with the eagerness of being able to use Magic, even in that strange way, by catching other people’s Magic and changing it.

When they finally reached the Orphanage, Nozomu jumped from the Unicorn and quickly gathered the branches on the floor while Taisetsuna went inside, to search for damages. Nozomu made a pile of all the branches, and when she returned, she used a few Wind Slashes against the pile, slicing it into smaller pieces that they put in the logs storage.

After gathering the few scattered leaves, they sat on the porch’s bench and Taisetsuna said after stretching her arms, “I guess the explosion only shook the building because there were a few books that fell from the shelves in the living room and some cups on the ground of the kitchen, nothing more. Maybe it’s better if we go check the farm animals and feed them. I am betting the cows won’t give milk for a few days, and the chickens are probably too scared to lay eggs any time soon!”

Nozomu spoke as he was getting up and pulling her, “In my defence, I can say I wasn’t counting on such a huge explosion. It seems the explosions I can make are directly proportional to the amount of Magic I can gather. My dispersing Magic ability was rare enough, and now with this one, I suppose I will be even more valuable to a criminal group or a country.”

Taisetsuna followed him in silence to the left side of the Orphanage where the chicken hens were, thinking that he was right about the need to keep his abilities secret.