Chapter 98 - Unwanted Activation

"Get up and fight, then."

Luken said with a proud smile on his face.

The white haired Slayer swiftly got back on his feet.

With a smirk also on his face, Yin called forth the black lightning and enchanted his feet and fists with it.

The cacophony of lightning crackling was heard all around the place.

Oliver looked in amazement.

"Shiny, right?"

Suna asked the baby panda, to which the latter nodded happily.

Yin now held out both his palms in a motion that was obviously ending in a clap.

The Commander just left him to do so, curious as to what kind of skill he was about to pull out.

"Nix Eyes : Black Burst!"

Yin's speed was as fast as lightning.

He circled around the Commander and got to his back.

With his hand cocked up, Yin started his offense by throwing out a punch to the Commander.

In the slow motion sequence that this event had happened, Yin swore he saw the Commander tilt his head around.

"W-What kind of reflexes does this man possess?"

He thought to himself.

A large boom which sent dust particles and small pebbles flying all across the area was heard.

Luken had successfully parried Yin's attack.

"Never make your attacks and offensive moves so easily predictable, Yin."

The Commander said with the same smirk he wore just a few minutes ago.

"How was that predictable? You are just a hundred times stronger than I am!"

Yin replied.

"Woah, this is the first time I have seen you exhibit the same attitude in practice like Zach." He circled his hands around his mouth indicating a 'whispering' motion towards Yin. "A sore loser."

Yin picked up a rock with his other hand without the Commander noticing.

He rushed forward with the same speed he did earlier.

Only this time, he threw the rock towards the Commander and had it decay as it was in the air, in hopes of affecting the Commander's visual perception.

It looked as if it had in fact worked, but Yin was quickly proven wrong.

The C Rank Slayer revved up his right foot for a kick towards the Commander's abdomen.

Luken had covered his eyes and defended it from being hurled at with the ashes of the rock.

Yin hit something soft, he thought it was a direct hit against Luken.

His smile slowly turned into a look of discontentment as he saw that the Commander used his other palm to pull out his grimoire and had casted a spell in front of him.

The spell was some kind of water wall, although it was not rock solid, it was made that way.

Water Wall was a simple beginner spell that Water Slayers could begin to cast at the youngest of ages.

But with the Commander's Wall, it was fortified, not its hardness, but the ability to retain its 'stickiness.'

Yin realized it far too late.

His foot was stuck to the elastic Water Wall.

"Shit. I can't get my foot out of this thing, what the hell is this?"

"It is quite a simple spell, but you know, it is always effective. Well, one cannot cast a Water Wall with this caliber as I do. Under normal circumstances, let us say a low rank Water Slayer were to have tried to block your kick with this spell, his Water Wall would be destroyed with your kick's impact, no question about it."

"So, why the hell is my feet still stuck?!"

Luken let out a chuckle.

"Oh, boy. He is showing off, isn't he?"

Suna asked Gavin.

The latter simply sighed and closed his eyes.

"Yeah, that might seem to be the case, Suna."

Zachary was absorbing every little information about their movements as always.

He tapped the Serpent Summoner lightly on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Oh, do you mean to ask me something about what's going on, Zach?"

The Serpent Summoner asked.

"Actually, Gavin, yeah. Do spells from grimoires get stronger as your Anima cells do? Do they come hand in hand? I am sure I heard the Commander say that the Water Wall he just casted was an entry level spell but even Yin in his Nix Eyes could not force his way out of it…"

Zach was confused.

"Ah. Yes, about that. First of all, Zach. I would like to apologize for not being there to teach you the basics of using your grimoire. If the mission was not as important was it was, I would have opted not to go, but it kind of was of the utmost importance. So, sorry for that."

"N-No need to apologize at all, Gavin. I firmly believe that was much more important than teaching a rookie how to cast spells anyway. Besides, Kai was here to teach me. As crass as he was, he still taught me how to unlock the Azure fire that I had within me."

Zach said.

"How come you have never experienced casting blue flames ever since you were a kid, Zach?"

Suna asked while she was playing with Oliver.

"I-I do not know."

Zach stammered on his words.

While they were talking, Yin had broken loose from the Commander's Water Wall.

And the two of them were exchanging blows.

Every single time Yin got hit, he tried to take it and then hurl another attack back at the Commander.

"That is a pretty bold strategy, Yin. But if I were to be fighting you seriously now, you would have no consciousness left in you to even pull that kind of stuff off."

Luken's cockiness was showing.

But Yin knew that the Commander was right.

Gavin cleared his throat to answer Zach's concerns.

"Well, Zachary, let us put it this way. Suppose a Fire Slayer casts a normal fireball, and he is like, err, let's say B Rank for the sake of the argument. His fireball would be a solid one, it would inflict heavy damage upon impact to whoever or whatever the target was. But, once you have someone like Kai Xin, an S Rank Fire Slayer, cast the same spell, the exact same Fireball, it would be far stronger than the one that the B Rank Slayer had casted."

Zach nodded and was absorbing what Gavin was saying.

"I see, so Anima cells really do scale with your casted spells, is that right?"

Gavin raised his eyebrows.

"That is correct, Zach. The stronger your Anima Cells are, the more impactful and intense your spells will be. Yet this does come at a cost, since your spells are stronger, you will have to exert more effort, energy, and stamina to cast it. Do you get me?"

"Right. Yes, I do, Gavin. Thank you for making that clear to me."

Suna gazed at the sky above.

"If I had Anima cells, I wonder what my affinity would be?"

She asked.

Suna was not asking in a petty way to gather sympathy or whatnot, she was perfectly fine being the way that she is. She just asked in an innocent 'what-if' scenario.

"You would most definitely have the Earth affinity, Suna."

Gavin said.

"Definitely Earth, no question about it."

Zach concurred.

"Why is that?"

"It just seems to suit you well, Earth affinity has some of the best pound for pound spells that you can cast, it would be perfect on you."

That was Gavin's answer.

"Because you are a knucklehead."

Said Zach.

"What'd you say?!"

Suna reacted.

Both Gavin and Zachary laughed it off.

The Commander and Yin's sparring ended as were the rookie was far too exhausted to stand up.

His Nix Eyes had deactivated long ago.

"Seems like you can't maintain that form for long, Yin. Is that right?"

"Yeah, that is about it. My eyes start to bleed if I do it for too long."

Luken extended his hand to help Yin up.

"You good?"

"Y-Yeah, I am alright."

Yin grabbed the Commander's hand. But something was about to go wrong.

The System's powers had activated without Yin noticing it.

Luckily for Luken, he was wearing gloves.

He immediately pulled out his hand and removed his gloves with a water spell.

"Yikes. That was close."

Gavin, Suna, and Zachary ran towards them.

"A-Are you alright, Commander?"

"Sir Luken, is your hand okay?"

Both Suna and Zachary were concerned.

Just seeing what Yin's decay touch could do to things as solid as trees and rocks, and what it could have possibly done to a normal person's hand.

"I-I did not mean to do that, sir. B-Believe me…"

Yin was panicking.

"Relax, Yin boy. I know you did not mean to turn me into ashes or dust or whatever I would have been had I not been reacting fast enough. Accidents happen all the time in sparring sessions!"

Luken was nonchalant.

"How did you touch your gloves without your hand being affected by it?"

Suna asked.

"Simple. I focused all of my Anima cells into my hand which removed the gloves, thus making the decay ineffective against it. But still, I could feel the Anima cells slowly die from the contact, that is how potent and quick acting it was."

The Commander retorted.