9 The struggle

*Boom*

The forest had never been so quiet before. Asher was panting because of the battle with the golden howlers, but he couldn't believe his eyes. "Is this a gun?" he muttered.

Elijah, who just ran away a little while ago, came back running. Nobody was more surprised than her when she saw that Aiden was holding a gun.

Alex was holding his face. Even when blood was flowing on the side of his face, he couldn't believe it. The actual situation of his wound could not be seen, but the water mana was trying to heal his wound as soon as it appeared.

[The host attacked a senior officer on duty. The host will face the charges after the mission has ended.]

Aiden acted like he couldn't hear it, but he was more surprised that he missed it. His right hand had already been wounded by the night howler. And now he was bleeding from the place between his thumb and index finger due to his inexperienced handling.

'Didn't you tell me it was accurate within 25 metres?' He was sure that the distance between them was less than 10, but he still missed it.

[The host has no prior knowledge of the use of this firearm. High recoil makes it harder for beginners to control.]

'I missed it. So what? If one-shot is not enough then…'

*Kaboom*

Another shot made the forest shake. Asher and Elijah were stunned, not knowing how to respond.

Alex, on the other hand, was calm. As soon as he saw movement in Aiden's bloody hand, he jumped out of the way. And the shot missed its target.

Aiden was unable to hold the gun, to begin with, and the blood made it worse. The gun left his hand as soon as he pulled the trigger and sent the bullet to its unknown destination.

"What are you doing there? Do you want to kill me?" Alex yelled in outrage.

"Do you have any questions about this?" Aiden retaliated in rage. He was a bit shocked when the gun slipped out of his hand, but he decided to attack with his bare hands.

Alex never expected the situation to turn out that way. Even before he could stand on his leg, Aiden had already landed three blows on him. He was about to land the fourth, but he was sent to fly with a burst of water mana.

Alex was struggling to stand up. The bleeding on the side of his face had stopped. Now he's missing an ear.

Three water rings formed from the water mana and began to rotate around Alex like a gyroscope. His eyes were red, his fist clenched tight. Before turning to Elijah, he looked at Aiden, "YOU? I am..."

"You're going to die," Aiden yelled at him as he punched. But the second ring deflected it before the punch could reach its final destination. Alex took the opportunity to kick Aiden, sending him down to the ground.

"No one will die. Listen to me. "Alex yelled.

"Huh!" Aiden jumped back on his feet before charging at him again, "Can you say for sure that nobody is going to die?"

[Skill [Reduce Drag] activated. Mana used:1/ 20 min. Remaining Mana: 62]

[Skill [Wind Skin] activated. Mana used:2/ 20 min. Remaining Mana: 60]

"Listen to me, darn it." Alex jumped back, as many droplets of water were condensed around him. "It wasn't me."

"What the hell are you talking about, Alex?" His speed improved with [Reduce Drag]. Before Alex could say anything Aiden appeared before him.

[Skill [Air Punch] activated. Mana used:1. Remaining Mana: 59]

Alex was out of reach even with [Air Punch]. The radius of the outer ring, protecting Alex, was almost two meters in diameter. Although Aiden was able to bypass it, the second ring stopped all of his attacks.

With the water spear appearing on Alex's side, Aiden jumped back to get out of his range. As soon as he took a step back, [Water Bullet] grazed on the side of his stomach.

Yet the attack did not stop there. Almost 20 bullets, formed around Alex, kept raining down on Aiden. Aiden didn't have a chance to attack as more bullets, and a few [Water Missile] were forming behind Alex.

"Listen to me, Aiden, I didn't do it," Alex yelled after breathing.

Aiden, on the other hand, had a hard time avoiding the barrage of bullets. [Wind Skin] reduced the efficiency of all the bullets that had scratched him. However, the wounds were still piled up.

"What the hell didn't you do, Alex?" Even if he jumped back and forth, his voice was steady. He spared no effort to listen to the words of Alex, but Aiden's eyes continued to observe Alex's movements, without losing a single hand gesture.

[Skill [Wind Burst] activated. Mana used:2. Remaining Mana: 57]

[Skill [Wind Burst] activated. Mana used:2. Remaining Mana: 55]

The first one sent him to his left, where the density of the [Water Bullet] was lower. And as soon as his heel touched the ground, another [Wind Burst] propelled him forward.

'You can't send the [Water Bullet] backwards, can you? 'Aiden was smiling in his heart. 'At the last moment, you can tweak the angle slightly, but you can't turn it around and attack at the back.'

Yet his happiness did not last long. He had to move away as soon as he landed, as the new set of new [Water Bullet] had already formed, and...

[Skill [Wind Burst] activated. Mana used:2. Remaining Mana: 53]

If the [Wind Burst] had not been used at the last moment, the water missile would have taken a large chunk of him.

"What the hell are you doing, Asher? Help me." Alex's sudden cry frightened Asher. A moment of hesitation, before he ran to Elijah.

"Stop it, Aiden." Asher shouted, holding his dagger at her throat, "If you don't stop, Elijah will get hurt."

There was a pin-drop of silence. Aiden was stopped on his way, and the bullet stopped in the air, too. Aiden turned to Alex, with veins bulging on his forehead.

"What…" Alex couldn't voice his surprise, before… *Boom*

Asher has been sent flying. Looking at the [Vortex], the intermediate grade spell around Elijah, a smile appeared on Aiden's face.

But when Elijah looked at him, her face was serious, "I don't know what you're doing, Aiden. But I'm going to support you. "Elijah's voice didn't waver a bit.

Her voice became softer, "I grew up fighting with you. Don't worry about me. "She smiled at Aiden, and her face was serious again.

She was walking towards Asher. He was visibly shocked by Elijah's quick retaliation. He started to pick up mana in his hand behind his back. Several [Fireball] were soon thrown at her.

Alas, with [Vortex] still rotating around her, none of them could touch her.

"It's my turn right now" [Wind Blades] continued to form on her hand as she threw it at Asher.

Even if they had been trained together, Elijah and Aiden were two very different types of mages. Aiden cultivates the Eastern faith and is good at close combat. Whereas, at a very young age, Elijah used the western cultivation system and condensed her mana heart.

The weapon she used was a wand with a tiny Wind crystal. While some western mage is skilled in both long-distance combat and close battle, she has been a traditional long-distance mage.

But that didn't make her any weaker. None of the [Fireball] could have reached the vortex. [Fire Bolt] might be stopping her on the track, but that was it. It wasn't able to penetrate.

The [Wind Blade] took its form over her head and was sent to Asher with the wave of her wand.

Asher tried to run away, but he stumbled and fell to the ground. This was the step that saved his life. The [Wind Blade] just grazed past his hair and sliced the tree in half.

Unfortunately, the tree fell by its weight. Asher looked at Elijah again, it was nothing but fear. He knew she was weak in close combat, so he ran into the forest without hesitation, and Elijah followed him.

"Maybe Asher is with her, too."

Even if Elijah was fighting with Asher, Aiden never stopped attacking Alex. On the other hand, Alex tried his best to explain that he did not know why Asher attacked Elijah, but all of it fell to deaf ears.

"Hahaha," Aiden couldn't help being sarcastic at the moment. "If you want to lie, please make it credible."

"You son of a bitch, believe me when I say that. It was Elijah who was trying to kill you. She's the one who's trying to kill you, she's the one who's stopped giving you the serum. She gave you the poison."

It was hard for him to breathe with the constant attacks of the [Water Bullet]. He still said, "Why? Does she want to make a mana stone out of me?"

Alex was surprised for a moment before he understood it all," Yes, Yes. Did you know that?"

Planet 'Will' had a dedicated mana stone harvesting industry. It's all been through mining. But the stronghold did not stop researching a way to make mana stone.

And one of them succeeded. They were able to make animals. And the industry was booming. But words spread that mana stone made of humans has a higher rate of amplification than others.

Without hesitation, The Federation has made it illegal to harvest mana stone from humans, and even the mana stone harvesting of animals has been carried out under an appropriate licence. But where there is light, there is darkness, too.

Aiden jumped back as he crouched down to breathe. Even if the [Water Bullet] and [Water Missile] were above him, Alex didn't attack.

"Tell me, Alex. If you knew all about it then, why didn't you stop it? "Even without looking at him, Aiden spoke.

"That's because she had a letter from Dessert Base 3, with the permission of the Federation." But the intended words never came out. In the blink of an eye, Aiden attacked.

[Skill [Wind Gale] activated. Mana used:15. Remaining Mana: 38]

"Fu*k," the curse escaped his mouth unintentionally, as he sent all the mana projectile to Aiden.

Once the [Wind Gale] had accelerated, Aiden could not control the direction of his movement. That made him an easy target. But...

[Skill [Wind Burst] activated. Mana used:2. Remaining Mana: 36]

[Skill [Wind Burst] activated. Mana used:2. Remaining Mana: 34]

[Skill [Wind Burst] activated. Mana used:2. Remaining Mana: 32]

...

...

His breathing stopped as mana circulated through his brain and eyes. Strengthening his awareness of the peak, he continued to cast [Wind Burst]. He was so precise that he was dodging most of them with minimal movement.

He crouched on the ground again as soon as he had escaped all of them. Alex knew what was going to happen next, but the new [Water Bullet] has not yet been formed. He grabbed his spear tighter, and ...

[Skill [Wind Gale] activated. Mana used:15. Remaining Mana: 11]

He accelerated straight towards Alex. The spear was aimed at him, the three rings were revolving fast but Aiden was faster.

[Skill [Air Spike] activated. Mana used:1. Remaining Mana: 10]

The skill that he generally used on his foot now had created a sharp cone from his fist as it slammed on Alex's chest.

*Puchi*

Blood scattered all over. A good piece of meat was taken from his shoulder by a spear of water. Aiden crossed the outer two rings. The inner ring, however, was small and rotated faster.

It landed a heavy blow to his chest. In the fight with the night howler, he was wounded, and the blow made it worse. He coughed up a mouthful of blood, but he was happy in his heart, 'I succeeded.'

Alas! His excitement was short-lived.

"What is this thing?" His scream forced him to cough more blood. Well, that doesn't worry him a lot. His hand, with the help of [Air Punching], had drilled through Alex's chest. It wasn't Alex, though.

'The water clone? 'He wanted to jump back as soon as he understood, but it was too late. The ring collapsed around him, enclosing him in a thin shell of water. And it was quickly filling up.

"Listen to me, I didn't want to kill you." Alex's voice sounded in the shell, "Elijah wanted to..."

Aiden didn't have time to listen to him. He was struggling to break free. The water was already at his waist, and he's going to drown in a few breaths, 'I've got to escape.'

[Skill [Air Spike] activated. Mana used:1. Remaining Mana: 9]

[Skill [Wind Scythe] activated. Mana used:3. Remaining Mana: 6]

Yet none of them has been useful. "Listen to me, we need to stop fighting now. You didn't die until now, we might be able to find a way to save you."

"Why don't you first undo the water bubble. "Aiden growled like a mad beast. For a moment, he didn't stop fighting. Unable to break the bubble, he directed all his mana to his head and eyes, trying to find the weakness of the spell.

"You forced me to ..." that was the last word Aiden had heard before he drowned. Surrounded by water from all sides, Aiden was unable to absorb more mana of wind, yet he directed all his mana to his lungs.

*Kuukh*

Alex vomited a mouthful of blood outside the water bubble. His eyes were sad as he watched Aiden's struggle grow slower and slower with each breath.

Inside the bubble, quietness returned as Aiden's body continued to float. Somewhere in the void of silence, a notification arose.

[The host has…