212 Perfect duo

He was happy that now that Claire had her moment he could become the hero of the day as he had this small belief that the best should always come last. This was something he picked up from spending a lot of time reading and watching Japanese shows and comics.

"Watch over me, sensei... I shall make you proud!!" Joseph whispered while raising both of his sliced shields.

Ellie and Claire kept watching with disbelief while the boy continued to savor his moment.

"Hey, Ashley..." Ellie said, "what exactly is Joseph's affinity...?"

"From what I could gather... His affinity is the exact opposite of my brother's..." Ashley explained.

"What...?? Doesn't that mean that Xadi is the worst person to teach him?"

"Not exactly... They might have different affinities but the basic rules of learning magic should still apply... Evlin taught you magic right, and the two of you don't have the same affinity either..."

"I guess..." Ellie admitted.

"My brother's affinity is distance... His spells are all designed to help him either keep people away from him or they are ways to keep himself away from people..." Ashley continued, "Joseph's affinity seems to be closeness."

"... What exactly does that mean...?" Ellie asked, still not fully understanding.

"You know how he doesn't feel really connected to his parents and how he always tries to get all the girls to look at him?" Claire interjected.

"Yeah...?"

"Well... His spells seem to be made to make people get closer to him... To help his desire of being the center of attention..."

"..." Ellie still was confused, "how does that work with lighting and fire magic?"

"You'll see..." Ashley commented while smirking.

Joseph looked back to stare at West who was still trying to hold up the portal between the two worlds and threw a few kisses towards her which made the young-looking goddess shiver.

"Keep your eyes on me, my love!! I'm about to mesmerize you with my outstanding magic!!!" Joseph shouted.

"Where did you learn to talk like that...?" Xadi wondered while noticing the young mage using words he never used before.

"I spent all night last night looking up on my phone to make me look cool..." the boy whispered.

"Of course you did..." Xadi replied, "you do have a plan, right?"

"Sure I do!!"

Joseph then released magic energy from his shields and began to charge his fists with electric magic.

"I'm going out there and I'm going to kick some ass!!"

"Oh boy..." the frog plush toy shivered as he wondered if it was a smart choice to stay on top of this kid's head.

"Here comes one!" Xadi alerted.

Joseph turned around and spotted a large bull demon coming right at him with full speed. The boy launched his whips on the bull's horns and began to blast him with an electro-shock.

The beast got burned to death and fell on the ground right as it was about to reach the young man.

"Holy cow, it worked!!" he whispered.

"Wait, what?? What do you mean it worked?? You said you had a plan!!" Xadi complained.

"I- I mean... Aha!! Another one falls before my great mighty!!"

"..."

"Keep your eyes up, sensei!! We're just starting!!" Joseph shouted as he continued to go after more demons and monsters to blast with his lightning magic.

The creatures just kept coming one after another but thanks to Xadi acting like eyes behind his back, Joseph was never caught by surprise no matter where they tried to attack from.

"On your left!!"

"Got it!!"

"Above you!!"

"I see it!!"

"Right behind you!!"

"Right behind me!!"

The toy kept yelling directions and the boy kept following his commands and unleashing his electric whips all over the field. It didn't take long for a pile of fried monsters to start to gather around him.

"Oh, wow, this is actually a breeze..." Joseph commented, surprised with how many monsters he was taking down so fast, "maybe I'm more badass than I imagined..."

"Incoming!!!" Xadi shouted.

"What!?" Joseph gasped and suddenly got hit on the back by something that moved way too fast for him to see, "Guaahh!!"

The boy rolled on the ground from the impact and almost ended up being squashed by a huge demon that was about to step on him by accident.

"Oh!! Mamma!!" he yelled while launching a whip to latch onto a nearby demon and propel himself away from the impact.

Once the demon saw that the boy was grabbing onto him, it tried to raise a weapon to pierce him, but the boy reacted in a panic and just unleashed a blast of electricity through his whip to fry the beast.

"Oh, wow... this was close..." he whispered while cleaning the sweat from his forehead.

Ellie just kept looking at him worried if he would be ok and tried to hold herself from going into the field and taking him out of there before things got dangerous.

"So... His ability is to make electric whips...?" she asked.

"Yeap!" Ashley admitted, "a way to stop people from getting away from him, a way to make him propel himself closer to them, and a way to illuminate his presence in order to make others look at him!"

"Are you sure his affinity isn't just a desire for attention?" Claire commented.

Joseph regained his cool and began to try and get back in the game.

"Ok... Now... What was that thing that hit me from the back, sensei?" he asked, but got no response. "Sensei?"

He touched his head and noticed that Xadi was gone, probably got lost after getting hit by the mysterious attacker.

"Sensei!!!?? Sensei, where are you!!?? Guaahhh!!" he shouted as he felt something smacking his back once again while he was in the middle of looking for his teacher.

He turned around to try and spot it but he couldn't see anything in the chaos of the war.

"Ughh!!!" his back was attacked a third time and made him drop to his knees.

He looked closely and saw something moving beneath the ground, almost like a rabbit from a cartoon.

"There you are!!" he cried as he released his double whips again while aiming at the one moving under the soil.

He felt his lightning making contact with something and started to pull it like a fisherman.

"Come out and show me your ugly face!!!" the boy ordered.

The whips finally succeeded in pulling the creature from the ground and Joseph finally managed to gaze at the demon. It looked like a beautiful girl with the claws of a mole, ears of an armadillo, and the tail of a snake behind her back. Despite all this, though, her actual face was absolutely stunning.

Joseph just kept looking at her and trying to process what he was seeing while holding his chin and wondering if this girl was cute or horrendous, "mmmm... I'm not sure where I stand on this..."

The demon girl just glared at him and began to snarl while revealing her terrifying fangs, making her look like she had the inside mouth of a shark.

"Never mind! I figured it out!!" he yelled in a panic as the girl kept coming closer in an attempt to bite him. He tried to strike her with his whips but she just stabbed her claws into the ground and began to dig beneath it.

Joseph felt the ground shaking and before he could move in time, the girl showed up again like a shark and chewed on his leg.

"Guaaahhhh!!!" he screamed while feeling the pain spreading through his limb.

"Joseph!!" Ellie and Claire cried.

She was about to jump in and save him, which made Mia enlarge her eyes with anticipation, but Detra managed to hold her down at the last moment.

"Young miss!! Not yet!!"

"Let me go!! He's gonna die!!!" Ellie yelled.

"No, he won't!!" Ashley guaranteed, "please, Ellie!! Have faith in him!!"

Ellie stopped struggling and continued to watch Jospeh trying to stand while his leg continued to bleed. He started to charge his palm with energy and closed his wound by burning it a little.

"Ugh!!! It hurts, it hurts!!" he cried.

He felt the ground shaking again and immediately jumped out of the way to avoid having his other leg bitten.

The girl dived into the ground again and hid from his attacks.

"Ugh!!! This is so annoying!! Stay put and let me hit you!!" Joseph complained.

"Aaaaahhh!! Help!!!!" someone screamed behind him.

He turned around and noticed Xadi running for his life while trying to escape from a monster wolf that was set on fire.

Joseph launched his whips on the creature and blasted him with a thunderstrike.

"Oh, thank the gods..." Xadi whispered in relief.

"Sensei, are you allri- Guaahhh!!!" once again the demon girl appeared out of nowhere and attacked the boy before he could finish his line.

"Huuuman fooood!!" she mumbled.

"For crying out loud, just drop dead!!!" he shouted while trying to grab her with his spell, but she simply ran away like always.

"What are you doing?? You let her get away!!" Xadi complained.

"I would like to see you try it!!" the boy angrily replied.

"Gladly!! Give me a piece of your shield."

"A piece of my shield...?" Joseph asked confused.

He then removed a small piece of his sliced mirror-shield and handed it over to Xadi, who just proceeded to come closer to him.

"Remember!! If you can't get to your opponent... You need to be ready for when your opponent comes to you!" the frog doll explained.

"But how??? She could be anywhere!!"

"Just make sure you are ready no matter the direction!" Xadi added while getting on top of Joseph again.

The two felt the ground shaking again and Xadi activated his electric cloak which covered his entire body, as well as Joseph's who was touching him, with a layer of lightning magic and once the demon girl tried to touch them, she was immediately blasted by the energy.

"You still have a long way to go, my foolish apprentice..." Xadi commented.

"So it seems, sensei... So it seems..." Joseph admitted while the two watched the demon dropping dead on the ground.