LARA
It has been 4 hours since Draitus and I split up. I hope he is doing well; after all, I couldn't just take him with me. Ever since I arrived in this village, I have been sensing an opponent whose power is on a level of Manifestation, which is the second level after a person has awakened to their powers. For them to reach such a level, they must have trained for close to 5 years, which means my foe is definitely more advanced than the one that Draitus is fighting, especially if we're considering the fact that they were able to blow up 3 houses simultaneously.
I continued rushing to the spot where the explosion was, and when I arrived, I saw the ashes of the houses that remained and a man wearing blue pants, a white T-shirt, and a captain's hat sitting in the area. His posture was calm as his eyes made direct contact with mine. All of a sudden the atmosphere changed; it became cold as if it were in the middle of winter, my body was shaking uncontrollably as if I were too scared to even approach the man. The tension just between us was like on a stormy night where a blizzard was falling, but this is the funny part, because the sun was way hotter than a perfect beach date. I had to ask myself, what is this guy's deal? As I was looking at this soon to be foe, I had to ask him this…
Lara: Are you responsible for what happened here?
Magnestan: How rude of you, young lady. Is this how you greet your elders?
Lara: Who said you're my elder? as far as I'm concerned, you're the enemy I was sent to exterminate.
Magnestan: I see. So they are sending young girls now to do their dirty work, how shameful.
Lara: HMPH
I began activating my power; as usual, my hair turned white, and the ground below my feet froze in an instant. The guy stood up from his chair and drew his daggers; his gaze was still cold, and he kept his annoying calm posture. I thought that sailors were a bunch of brutes, but this guy was different; he didn't lose his calm as he kept a sturdy posture and held those daggers in a punching position. At this moment, I concluded that he was not taking me seriously. There is no way I'm losing to this guy, at least not until I draw out his true power, so I started creating 20 icicles that have a sharp tip at the end and then shot them at him. He dodged and sliced through all of them. I definitely underestimated his speed and reflexes. He dashed towards me, getting ready for a punch, so I created a very thick layer of ice between me and his fist, and he couldn't break that ice. This frustrated him as his face began to look troubled for a moment, but then he returned to his cool, calm, and collected posture that he had ever since I laid eyes on him. Oh, how I would love to see the expression on his face when he loses this match, after all, you cannot expect an ordinary person to beat someone who has powers, and I think that now he finally gets this fact. After all, he was looking at me like someone who had lost his girlfriend to another dude; the killing intent was leaking all over him.
Magenestan: May I ask for your name?
Lara: We are locked in a battle, and all you care about is who I am? Your really strange stranger. Lara is the name of the person who is going to take you down.
Magnestan: I see. My name is Magnestan. I am the captain of the sailors who are rampaging in the city.
Lara: I see, so answer this question. Did you blow up the houses in this area or not?
Magnestan: (he said in a cold voice) I did. However, you don't need to worry; no one was in the houses. In fact, I don't think anyone who is native to this village is even in this village.
Lara: What do you mean by that?
Magnestan: Are you telling me that you don't know? Hmmph, I don't even know what I should expect from a girl who fights first and asks questions later. You see, ever since we started this raid a few days ago, we have been chasing a specific girl who is native to this village. Her name is Terrafix. My higher-ups are interested in her abilities, so we have been trying to locate her for the past few days. The second time we came to raid this place, we found no one. This made us curious because we haven't killed anyone, so we devised a plan to make them come out of hiding. But no matter how hard we try, they still won't even come out. So when I think about it, they must be hiding in the secret library that is only found in this village. This is still only a speculation of cause, but if it's true, then I know why my higher-ups are interested in that girl.
Lara: I see, in that case, all I have to do is make sure you don't get that girl. How about it, MR Captain? Are you willing to fight me seriously now?
Magnestan: It doesn't sound like I have a choice, do I? Either way, I have figured you out, Ms Lara
It was at that moment that the tide of battle began to shift. I watched as Magnestan exhaled slowly and slid both daggers back into their sheaths. The sharp click of metal locking into place echoed through the battlefield, cutting through the eerie silence. His eyes never left mine. If anything, his stare became even more intense. As I stood there, I noticed the air growing hotter with every passing second. Waves of heat rolled across the ground, distorting my vision. Then, without warning, a sword of blinding white flame materialized in his hand. The weapon burned so brightly that it seemed to rival the sun itself. White fire erupted beneath his feet and spread outward with each step he took, scorching the earth and leaving glowing trails in its wake. To anyone watching, it would have looked as though the battle had already been decided.
That was exactly what I wanted him to think.
For the entire fight, I had carefully crafted the illusion that my abilities revolved solely around ice. Every frozen spike, every wall of frost, every shard I launched had reinforced that belief. Magnestan had spent the entire battle adapting to an opponent who controlled cold. He never once questioned it.
As the distance between us closed, I thrust my hand forward and a forest of jagged ice spears erupted from the ground. Magnestan swung his burning blade in a wide arc. The white flames exploded outward, vaporizing the ice before it could reach him. Steam filled the battlefield as he charged straight through the attack. His sword descended toward my shoulder with terrifying speed. I barely raised an ice-forged blade in time to intercept it.
The collision shook the ground.
White flames devoured the ice weapon almost instantly, forcing me backward. Magnestan pressed his advantage relentlessly. His sword became a streak of blinding light as he unleashed a flurry of strikes. Each swing carved molten scars across the battlefield. I countered with frozen shields and spears, but one after another they shattered beneath the overwhelming heat of his weapon.
Magnestan: "Your ice is finished, Lara."
I staggered backward, allowing a hint of desperation to appear on my face.
Lara: "You think so?"
Magnestan lunged forward for the finishing blow. His sword pierced straight through my chest.
Or at least, it should have.
The blade passed through me as though I were a ghost.
For the first time, confusion appeared on his face.
Magnestan: "What?"
The frozen battlefield around us cracked apart. Not from heat. Not from force. From reality itself shifting. The ice coating my body dissolved into shimmering fragments as I stepped through the sword harmlessly.
Lara: "Who said my power was ice?"
In that instant, I released the truth I had hidden from him throughout the entire battle. The ice had never been my power. It had only been a disguise. My true ability was Phase Manipulation—the power to alter the state of matter, energy, and even my own existence. Every construct, every frozen attack, every defensive wall had simply been matter phased into a state that resembled ice.
Magnestan's eyes widened as his certainty vanished.
Lara: "You spent this entire fight preparing for the wrong opponent."
And for the first time since the battle began, Magnestan took a step back.