Sorry I'm really late. I've been busy these past couple days, add onto the fact that I couldn't write this chapter for the life of me. Anyway, here's -cough- a father's day special -cough- the chapter!

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Chapter 7: King of the Forest

“You are now officially, novice elementals!” Brent declared, pointing at them. “Novice.”

“Er, Brent…” Lilith’s eyebrows knotted together as she hesitated to tell him her inner thoughts.

“Yes, novice?”

“Well… as a master and senior, aren’t you supposed to teach Eve and I how to discover our element?”

“Hehe… master and senior.. Yes, young fledgling! I, Brent the Spontaneous Genius Who’s Reckless, shall teach you how to find your abilities.” Indeed, that was his title - given to him by the ruler of Nereida himself.

“And how do we do that?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” He snorted. “It’s like science, create a hypothesis - well, no. Don’t do that. Just skip to where you test your “hypothesis” - meaning, use it.”

“Is that why we’re here?” asked Eve, who was previously twirling around randomly.

Currently, the group of three were outside - on the left side of the mountain. The others were on the other side of the mountain, they were to test their abilities and variants. However, there was a chance their arcane elements could be dangerous, therefore they were separated.

All classes were to be postponed until everyone had control over their abilities. After they were controlled, they would take the next step in their lessons and learn more things about their abilities. Also, they had to prepare for the upcoming spirit test that was in a month.

“Of course, why else would I be outside in this heat?” Brent scoffed. “Now, hush. We’re starting classes now.”

“Yes~!”

“Lilith, you start first.”

“What do I do?” she asked.

“What has Ezra taught you?” Brent muttered to himself. “Activate your mana and will it to obey you. It should come to you naturally, hon.”

Lilith breathed in and began to activate her mana - lavender-colored orbs of light surrounded her. A purple magic circle began to assemble by itself in front of her - it was as if someone were writing it one-by-one.

“What’s that?” Eve’s eyes sparkled in excitement as she watched the circle unravel itself before her eyes - it was beautiful. Truly beautiful.

A bright light burst through the circle and radiated fragments of light that were different hues of purple. As the light faded away, a large, pink rabbit stood in its place. It was around 7 feet tall and resembled a stuff toy.

“Greetings, master!” The rabbit talked, its voice sounded like a childish adult. It was awfully cute.

“Wha- hello?” Lilith stared at it in bewilderment.

“My name is Leverett! You may call me what you want!”

“Er… Hi, Leverett.”

“You may call me what you want!” The rabbit repeated again, sounding desperate.

“Then… Rhett, your name shall be Rhett.”

“Oh thank God,” Rhett moaned dramatically, relieved. “I hated that name - who would give the name of a rabbit Leverett? It means young hare, for God’s sake!”

Everyone stared at the talking rabbit with curious looks, as well as surprise, confusion, and understanding (Brent).

“I know how you feel,” Brent sighed exasperated. “How could my parents name me Brent? Something so simple and easy?” He sighed once more, “people these days.”

“I agree, brother,” Rhett sighed.

“Wait a second,” Lilith interrupted. “Not to be rude, but what are you?”

“Huh? You don’t know, and you summoned me?” An awkward, tense silence filled the atmosphere as the rabbit stared at her with a serious gaze. “WAHAHAHA. No wonder why!”

“Eh?”

“HAHA. My name is Leverett, King of the Forest! I’m what you call a familiar. I’m guessing you don’t know much about your powers, eh? My dear master, ah.. Can I call you Lilith?” She nodded. "Well, Lilith, it seems that your element - that’s what humans call it, I think - is summoning!”

“HAHA, NOTHING LESS FROM MY APPRENTICE.” Brent bragged loudly, despite only four(?) of them being present.

“Can you explain to me more about my powers?” Lilith asked.

“You struck, gold, darling. Most of the time, when a person receives a mysterious element, they would have to figure it out on their own. Luckily, you have me! Lev- Rhett!”

Rhett explained that Lilith summoned Rhett, a familiar. She can only have one main familiar - and that is Rhett. A main familiar is the first familiar you summon. It’s a thousand times more efficient to use a main familiar rather than a secondary. When you first try to summon a familiar it automatically chooses the most compatible familiar. Your main familiar would be able to use all of your mana and strength, rather than a fraction of it - what secondaries can only use.

Of course, the stronger you are, the stronger your familiar is, and also the more mana a secondary familiar can use. However, they will never be able to truly use all of your strength.

Also, the stronger you are when you try your first summoning, the stronger the familiar you choose would be. Familiars itself had rankings, from F rank to SSS rank. Rhett was, surprisingly, a B rank summon. However, the ranks of your familiar can rise - they can train the same way humans do.

Brent sighed, “I guess we have another one tagging along for the training sessions.”

“HAHAHA, I’ll be in your care then! Oh, also, Lilith, I can survive and exist in this world without using your mana - it’s just when you use my skills do I use your mana. Also, when I run out of mana, I’ll temporarily disappear from this world to recover it. Hmm… what else is there?” Rhett paused to think, “ah, you can never unsummon me, so let’s get along now, eh? You should try more of your summoning abilities, too. Most summoners receive an extra skill or two to help them along. That’s about it.”

“Thank you, Rhett!” Lilith smiled happily.

Rhett paused and beads of sweat rolled down his face. He stared at the two girls before him and muttered quietly to himself, “nope. No… not into that. Not a pedophile.”

“I guess I should try discovering mine?” Eve sighed, knowing it would probably be a thousand times harder than Lilith to figure her element out. She guessed she wouldn’t have a person to help her.

Meanwhile, Rhett picked up Lilith and placed her on his shoulders. She sighed in content, a new way to transport herself to places. Although, she would now have to worry about gaining weight, as she would walk less.

“Ah, then I’ll be starting now,” Eve tried to recall what Eldrick said about her element - he detected several hints of light element. She concluded her element would resemble the light element.

Eve gathered the mana around her and activated it. Instinctually, she raised her arms and a bright tattoo began to form itself onto her arms, starting from her hands to her shoulders.

“Uwah!” Eve squealed, releasing a burst of mana.

A glowing, transparent, golden-colored “shield” that was around 9 feet tall and wide materialized in front of her. Eve stared curiously at it and began to move her hands, the shield followed her motion.

“Well? Are you going to try anything else?” Brent sighed, tapping his feet.

Eve separated her hands and the shield split in two. This time, it was around 6 feet tall and wide, although it was more transparent than the complete shield. She figured that the more shields she created, the less strong and large it was.

“Is this it?” Eve said dejectedly. “How lame.”

“Fool,” Brent scolded. “You haven’t even touched the surface yet.”

“Then what do you suppose I do?”

“I guess I should help you then,” Brent smirked.

“Huh?”

....

On the other side of the mountain, the boys were actively casting their abilities with no problems. Some even discovered their variants, while others failed to see what theirs were.

Orion was told his element was darkness, making it easy on him, as there were record data on it. He could manipulate it and give shape to darkness. He even learned he could utilize shadows, too.

A surprising ability he had was his shadow transportation skill. He could disappear into the shadows and move around in it and to other shadows. Orion could even hide in another person's shadow.

Caelus, on the other hand, learned of his ability, but not his variant. The sky was a branch of the wind element, allowing him to use some wind abilities. Also, he could float around in the air as if it were nothing.

Ezra told him only a minuscule amount of wind elementals could fly in the air, making him special. He even gave him a speech on how important this ability was.

"Very comfortable, easy to nap in," Caelus commented, floating in the air, disregarding Ezra’s explanation on how flying was very important and should be treasured.

They were told that their powers would continue to be used and activated, as long as they don't run out of mana. Caelus sighed happily, flying took no mana whatsoever.

Kai's element would be the most surprising. It was sound. He could move at the speed of sound and manipulate it itself. If he yelled loudly, he could probably be heard miles away. Kai could mute sound, too. Making it easier for him to get away with things or sneaking off. Though, he still had more to learn about his element.

Ley's element was also very simple. His thunder was purple instead of its regular color. Also, it was more powerful and more complex than a regular one. It could roll on the ground without harming those he wished for it not to harm (he learned that by accidentally releasing thunder on the ground, causing a major panic).

“This is so cool!” Kai yelled, disappearing from one place to the other. As he moved, he left behind an afterimage and a cloud of dirt.

“Careful to not run out of mana,” Ezra told him, “especially if you jump into the sky.”

“I can do that?” Kai paused, stopping for a mere second, only to disappear.

“Wah!” Caelus yelled out in surprise. He was previously lazing around before Kai randomly appeared in front of him - scaring the daylights out of him.

“W-what? But you can’t fly?” Caelus sputtered out.

“Ah, I really can’t,” Kai admitted bluntly, as he dropped to the floor. “But I can do… this!” He kicked the air and appeared before Caelus once more. “Now I can’t lose to you!”

“How?” Caelus frowned, floating in a position where he lied on his stomach with his arms propped up.

“How should I know?” Kai shrugged, falling towards the earth again, but appearing in front of him a second later.

“It’s due to his wind element,” Ley answered. “I’m guessing he uses the wind to push himself at the speed of sound to move from one place to the other. Also, it’s most definitely strong enough to keep himself in the air. Although I speculate that it only comes in bursts of wind - not continuous like Caelus’s.”

“Makes sense,” Caelus agreed.

Thump.

“Huh?” Everyone turned around, searching for the cause of the sound.

Thump, thump, thump. BOOM.

“KYAAAA!” Two distant voices screamed in harmony. However, the voices soon became louder, and louder, and louder, until they saw where it was coming from.

The sky.

“WATCH OUT BELOW!” Eve screamed, descending from the sky with her back towards the ground. She was falling at record speed.

“Eve?!” Everyone yelled, shocked.

Eve flipped around in the sky, so that her head faced towards the ground. She raised her hands in front of her and created a golden, shield-shaped barrier. The barrier hit the ground, causing a large depression and a cloud of dirt. She gracefully stopped moving midair and floated 20 feet above the ground.

Meanwhile, above her a strange-looking rabbit holding a young girl was descending at an even faster rate, and it seemed as if it had no means of stopping.

“Lilith?!” Kai yelled once more, as others were sobering up, he was still in a state of shock.

BOOM.

The rabbit landed on the ground, an even deeper depression than Eve’s barrier formed in the ground. Lilith, on the other hand, casually sat on its shoulders.

“Kai,” she acknowledged nonchalantly.

“I’M COMING.”

“Crap!” Eve cursed, flipping around, “he’s here!” The barrier in front of her split in half and moved below and above her.

A blurred figure teleported on top of Eve’s barrier and punched it, causing a small crack in the shield. Below them, an even greater depression formed on the ground. However, both of Eve’s barrier glowed momentarily and sent the figure flying across the field, while gently propelling Eve higher into the air. This all happened within a few seconds.

“Rhett, attack!” Lilith yelled, getting down from the rabbit.

What’s going on? Everyone, but Ezra and Caelus, stared at the three in confusion.

“Yes, Lilith!” Rhett jumped into the air towards the flying person. He drew his fist back and punched it. The figure grabbed Rhett’s fist and pulled it towards him, simultaneously drawing back his free hand and forming a fist, thrusting it towards Rhett’s face.

Rhett blocked with his free arm, but the force of the punch pushed him away and drove him deep into the ground.

Eve, on the other hand, materialized a hammer and used her barrier to push her towards the figure. She swung back and slammed the hammer down onto the figure. He had no time to dodge, but could only block it with an arm, he plummeted towards the ground.

The figure landed on the ground with grace, only causing a small depression on the ground. However, now that the figure has stopped moving, the party below could now identify who this figure was.

“Whoa, Brent?!” Kai exclaimed, “I thought you were a monster attacking my sisters!”

“Huhu, did I resemble one?” Without giving him time to reply, he said, “of course I did. I’m a strong, yet beautiful monster.”

“What’s going on?” asked Caelus with nonchalance.

“Sorry, kiddo, but I gotta finish this before I explai-”

A rabbit wielding a familiar hammer suddenly attacked Brent, interrupting him. Rhett swung ferociously, a gust of wind forming with every swing.

“Fine!” Brent yelled, running towards Lilith, who had no defenses. Supposedly.

Lilith calmly raised her hand towards Rhett and snapped her finger, switching places with him.

“Wha?!” Brent’s eyes widened in surprise, before calmly kicking the rabbit, who managed to block and was only sent a few feet back.

“Hey, kid! When did you learn about this?!” Brent frowned, not faltering with his attacks against Rhett, the intensity even raised.

“Uh, Rhett told me when we were in the sky!”

“Tch,” Brent glared at the rabbit, he raised his hand and created a small orb of light. A bright flash blinded the rabbit, who, seconds later, was seen flying in the air.

Brent turned his attention towards Eve, who shielded the rabbit from Brent’s barrage of attacks.

“Annoying,” Brent pouted, “this is annoying. Hey, hey, do I have to hold back?”

“Yes,” Ezra immediately affirmed.

“Agh!” Brent let out a shout of frustration. “I’m done.” He lifted both hands into the air and materialized a glowing rope which bound Eve, Lilith, and Rhett together. Brent pulled all three of them together and brought them to down to meet with the rest of the group.

“I hate sparring with apprentices,” Brent sighed. “It’s hard to hold back.”

“Ah, so that wasn’t your true strength,” Eve bluntly revealed her thoughts.

“Of course not! What made you think that?!” Brent gasped, a horrified countenance.

Eve smiled sheepishly, “when I hit you with my hammer, I thought you went down pretty easily.”

Brent scoffed, “sweetie, if I wanted to, I could’ve taken you three down a long time ago.”

“Hey!” Rhett yelled, glaring - at least that’s what they thought he was doing.

“So, care to explain what this is?” asked Ezra, staring at the pink rabbit who blushed and covered his face.

“Kya! This is the most attention I’ve ever gotten!” Rhett giggled.

“Are you a girl?” Eve questioned.

“No! Definitely a man - a man.”

“EHEM. Greetings, friends, family, and master of my master - Lilith,” Rhett bowed. ‘My name is Rhett, previously Leverett. However, please call me Rhett. Please.” He went on to explain what he was and what Lilith’s power was.

“And what was that earlier?” Brent crossed his arms, glaring at the rabbit.

“Oh? The teleporting thing? I had a feeling it was one of Lilith’s abilities - I mean, a voice told me her special abilities when I was summoned.”

“Do I have anything else?” asked Lilith.

“Eh… let’s see… Ah.”

“Well?”

“I can’t remember.”

“What?!” Lilith instinctively yelled, losing her cool.

“Well, I’ll remember as time goes on…” Rhett winked and lightly knocked his head. “Teehee~.”

“...”

“...”

“I want a new familiar.”

“W-wait sorry! I’ll remember, I promise!”

“And what about Eve?” Ezra stared at her with curiosity.

“Vague,” Brent answered. “As of now, she can form a shield-like barrier that rebounds a few hits and can knockback by her will. Also, it has some healing properties - not too strong, though. It can heal a few scratches, but I’m sure it’ll get stronger.”

“And the hammer?”

“Hehehe…” Brent’s face darkened. “That’s a prototype.”

Eve frowned, “the hammer broke.”

“It’s a prototype,” a feminine voice reiterated. Atira smiled, “how was it?”

“Hm… can you make it heavier?”

“Ah? Alright then.”

“That’s no fair,” Kai pouted.

Atira laughed, “don’t worry. I’m making one for all six of you. I only managed to make Eve’s prototype, because I asked her first.”

“What’s Lilith’s weapon?” Kai questioned, tilting his head.

“Here,” Lilith showed them a large book. “I found that bows were not meant for me. Instead I’m using a grimoire Rhett gave me.”

“Hehe, it’s one of the largest collections of spell-type summons,” Rhett bragged. This way, Lilith could use spells to help with combat or fighting against foes.

“I still need to learn them, though,” Lilith frowned. Luckily for her, all of the spells were either one-word incantations or two words. Most took little mana, too.

“Well, I guess we’re done for the day,” Ezra clapped his hands together. “Now about the weapons…”

“I thought you’d never ask,” Atira grinned.

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Thanks for reading! Comment below and tell me what you think/point out any mistakes.

On the side note, apologies for Rhett. Yes, he's supposed to be like that - loud, rambunctious, random, and plain weird in general. Similar to Brent, lol. Well, it's because of these two that this chapter doesn't seem a serious. But then again, I don't think this FF ever has been serious (except for a few times).

First fight scene, hope it wasn't too bad (which I doubt it wasn't). Will -probably... not really - get better in the future, lol.

Note: Yes the bunny is Usa-chan from Ouran, however I slightly edited the image.

Original: http://pre10.deviantart.net/1e6b/th/pre/i/2012/293/7/c/usa_chan_color_by_saya00a-d5ifh18.jpg

Credits to Saya00A

Eve's hammer design made by Stellar (me lol)