Chapter 123: Unexpected change

'Fuck it. Fuck it. Fuck it.'

After a moment of hesitation passed, Fen could only swear at himself in his own mind. Changing the angle at which his fire wings kept him in the air, accompanied by more and more profanities exploding in his mind, the young man stalled his hovering flight, before coating himself with his wings.

Deprived of the force that kept him in the air, in one instant, the young man plummeted down. Once his body reached the maximum speed that a freefall could provide, Fen reached forth with his wings, only to push against the air with them, gaining just a bit more of the speed.

After all, for what he was about to do, speed was the most crucial aspect!

By the time Fen could once again see the quickly growing details of the land below him along with the exact position of the group that dared to invade the garden of the fire flower.

Calculating the right angle of approach as the ground continued to get closer and closer, Fen's hand started burning, as his inner fire started to flow through the core point of one of the intents that created his catalyst.

Stop!

Spreading his wings as wide as he could, the sudden resistance of the air instantly jerked Fen's entire body. Perfectly aware that stalling in place with how fast he was moving right now was impossible or eventually lethal, instead of attempting to land or even hover, Fen used the repairing lift from his wings to arc his flight path, momentarily turning nearly parallel to the ground.

Feeling the blades of grass hitting his cheek for a moment, Fen strained his wings to the maximum, finally regenerating a bit of his height, just in them where his path moved him right above the foreign group!

"Wha…"

Everything happened simply too fast for the three young people to react. All they managed to do in this short window of time when Fen flew above them, was dropping the pieces of a bridge that they were attempting to build. Sadly for them, that was the absolute worst thing to do if they wanted to have any chances at conquering the lake of liquid fire!

"GO!"

Shouting more for the sake of steeling his resolve rather than actually needing to say anything, Fen released the fire that continued to boil around his hands. Unable to get rid of all the flames at once, the young man's fires marked the path that he flew through, instantly showering the entire group with a dense blaze!

With his wings finally angling to allow the young man to regain a bit of height, Fen drifted upwards all the way to the point where his momentum ran out. At this point, while still too high for the comfort of a normal person, Fen used his wings to safely descend back to the ground level. 

Slamming his legs against the ground, the young man bent his knees to soften up his descend a bit, before straightening himself right back up, only to see the group standing powerlessly over the burning mess that used to be their halfway finished bridge.

"You will not harm that flower. If you want to obtain its petals, it's up to you to overcome its challenge."

Fen's words finally shook the group out of their daze. The leader that Fen noticed before instantly riled up, quickly creating fireballs in his hands… Only for the hand of the female placed against his chest to stop his impending attack.

"You do know that it would kill us, do you?"

Speaking up for the very first time, the female moved a few steps forward, as if shielding the rest of her group from any potential Fen's attack.

"It's up to you whether you are ready to pay the price for the petal. I just don't see any reason to allow you to kill all the monsters that are living only thanks to this flower. How is their life worth less than yours?"

Standing his ground without a flinch, Fen lazily replied while actually focusing on the inner fires of his, boiling within his veins. Given how the fight was likely to start at any given moment, there was no way the young man would skip any steps in preparing for it.

"Pick the entire flower? Do you really take us to be that dumb? I know we are not from the Gauna academy, but heck, don't underestimate us!"

It seemed that for some reason, Fen's words managed to rile the girl up. But with her words bringing Fen's attention to this certain topic, the young man couldn't help to get curious about the underlying meaning of it. After all, he joined the Gauna academy himself only because that was the place that was recommended to him, but he knew absolutely nothing about other academies, not to speak about the potential rivalries between them!

"I know nothing about the academy you are from, nor do I care the least bit about it. I'm just here to prevent you from destroying this place just for your selfish desires."

With this statement made, Fen finally allowed his flames to manifest outside of his catalyst, covering his arms all the way to his elbows with fire. Seeing this, the girl only squinted her eyes before pushing at the chest of her companion and stepping forward herself.

"Then we are in a pitch. We need at least two petals, and by standing in our way, you are putting us on the spot."

Racing to Fen's clear declaration of his intent, the girl also allowed her fires to appear, quickly forming them in a shape of a long sword. Putting her weapon in en garde stance, she waited for a moment… only to suddenly skid forward, executing a wide slash from overhead!

"Bad choice."

Feeling the difference between the energy that he commanded and the energy contained within that fire sword of the female, Fen didn't even bother to use his own fiery sword that grew out of his right hand. Condensing his flames within his left hand, the young man made a single step forward, pushing with his hand right against the blade of his opponent!

Clash!

'Fuck…'

Struck by a sudden and unexpected feeling of pain in his left hand, Fen had to use his wings to pull himself away from the range of the girl's attack. As it turned out, the power that she showed while executing the attack, was just a small pebble when compared to the huge boulder of energy that she actually used when her attack connected!

Thankfully, Fen's fires couldn't be scoffed at either. Taking a slight moment to inspect the state of his hand, Fen could see a small slit of his skin being split apart, allowing for his blood to slowly ooze out of the light wound.

"Good trap."

With the pain sobering his mind and finally cleaning his thoughts from the arrogance that the sudden power spike of his induced in him, Fen nodded his head with respect towards the girl. Not bothering with his wound at all, the young man took a proper stance this time, allowing this strange, foreign instinct that appeared once his catalyst finally formed, to take over his moves.

"Thank you."

Smiling in response to Fen's praise, the girl instantly launched herself at him again. This time, her moves were toned down, free from any useless or pointless bits, fully committed to dealing a fatal hit. As she brough her sword down once again, slashing it from over her head, her weapon actually emitted a powerful light, that nearly made me unable to even attempt at blocking or dodging it!

Allowing his body to follow its instincts, Fen felt as if some strange force was moving his limbs. Raising his right hand with the fiery sword equipped in it, Fen simply placed it on the way of the girl's sword. Once even the slightest vibration of his weapon indicated that the weapons clashed, the young man simply allowed for his opponent's sword to slide down the blade of his own weapon. 

By attacking from overheard, the girl simply amassed too much momentum in her weapon for the young man to try to overpower it with the relatively unstable position of his own weapon. Rather than joining in the clash of power, once Fen felt the pressure on his weapon decreasing as he managed to redirect the attack to the side, he actually reached forth with his slightly injured, left arm!

'Wait… What?"

The sudden sensation of softness that appeared around his fingers made it hard for the young man to keep following his instincts!

"Ah!"

When the sudden moan of the girl hit his ears, Fen simply panicked. Given both the feeling underneath the fingers of his left hand and how the girl reacted to it, he would have to be a damned idiot to fail to understand just what he managed to grab right now!

"I'm sorry…"

Backing off with a swing of his wings, Fen finally regained the sight in his eyes only to notice the girl's face already turned completely red… Yet, there was something strange about how she looked at him!

"Two of you, get the fuck out of here. I'm about to go bonkers."

Saying those words with a relatively calm voice, this girl somehow managed to instantly force the two of her companions to back off. 

"Leave this entire area. You don't want to be here once it begins."

There was something definitely strange in the current situation. While the girl's words clearly implied that she was about to go berserk on Fen after his accidental, disgraceful act, there wasn't any sign of hostility in her eyes. More like, she looked at the young man as a predator would look at his prey!

"Yes, my lady."

The calm man from her group was the first one to react. Quickly approaching the man that I took for the leader, he grabbed his hand and pulled him away, quickly leaving the entire area of the Fire Flower influence.

"Now… where were we…"

Turning her head just a bit to check whether her companions really left, this strange girl swiftly regained her composure, once again moving her body to a position from which she could quickly execute any attack she wanted.

"Let me put this straight. I really need to obtain those petals… But form when you touched me, you brute… I think I found a way that will allow the preservation of this place, without the two of us going at each other's throats. Tell me, how far are you willing to go to save this place?"

Maybe several months earlier, Fen would fail to understand what was going on. But given the vivid blush on the girl's face along with how her lips were trembling despite how bold she attempted to appear, it was clear for the young man what this female was hinting at.

And just a single look at both her cute, determined face was enough to push him towards accepting this way out of this strange situation.

"I wouldn't say that doing what I think you have on mind should be considered going too far by any means."

Lowering his sword, Fen looked at the girl with a questioning look. 

Only to see her decompose her sword back into the raw flames, before pulling a few strings on her clothes, only for her dress to fall down to the ground, exposing her entire self.

"Then what are you waiting for? Feeling your flames directly on my skin…"

Seeing how the young man didn't seem to have any further intention of fighting, the girl moved forward, not even attempting to hide her charms or blush. 

"... makes me want to feel it more."

Finally taking the last step, the girl's hands locked themselves behind Fen's neck as she pulled him into a warm embrace.

"Don't worry. I will make you feel it as much as you will desire."