"To the center you two, let's see you pour your skills in a duel" master Benjamin spoke, his eyes darting from Jules to Elise and a smile planted on his face.
"Yes master" Elise replied obediently in an instant.
"Wait....huh?" Jules turned to the master with widened eyes.
"These two, in a duel?" Chris asked with raised brows.
"Oh no" Anne facepalmed, as if already predicting the tragic outcome of the duel.
"It is what you're seeing right now" the master shrugged with an innocent expression, he then placed both arms on his waist as if feeling proud over his decision.
Jules, Chris and Anne stood still and stared at the master blankly. 'Of course he'd say that'
Anne then moved closer to master Benjamin "But master, why Elise?. You know...she's....." She spoke in more of a whisper but was then cut short by him.
"Which is exactly why Jules should have his first battle with her" he said.
"Hmm, I won't argue with you then" Anne let out a sigh.
Jules who was still in a totally confused state looked straight to see Elise already standing at a distance of the battle ground. 'Wait, is this really happening?!' he thought to himself and remained standing in his spot as master Benjamin and the other two moved away from him slowly as well.
"Buddy is so screwed" Chris heaved a breath and began to bite on his fingers as if panicking.
"Chill dude, Jules is very strong.....and I'm pretty sure Elise is gonna take is easy on him. I mean she's definitely not gonna use her aura....oh my God!" Anne gasped.
Elise had a finger pointed out. Her shining blue aura surrounded her like a twisted snake.
"Is she being for real right now?!" Anne exclaimed.
"Master, she's not gonna use her ability is she?" Chris turned to master Benjamin with a worried expression.
"Come on kids, what's the fun in that?. I mean Jules is gonna make use of his ability too" his lips curled up into a half smile, a smile they all knew too well. This middle aged dude was a psycho.
Jules froze, 'Uhhh...what is that?!!' He thought in both surprise and fear. The shining blue air surrounded Elise creating a beautiful yet terrifying image.
'She's not gonna attack me with that thing right?' He thought but contrary to his hopes...
Whoosh! Slash! Elise had arrived in front of him and slashed the air with great force sending him tumbling backwards in three rolls.
"Ahhh...ow!" Jules winced in pain.
"I didn't even touch you. How pathetic" she scorned. She took few steps backwards and waited patiently till he made an effort to stand up.
"Give me all you've got" She spoke with a dead serious expression.
Jules coughed and sighed frustratedly. 'Never thought I'd have to fight the girl I like but....'
'Feel it' he inhaled.
'Release it' he exhaled and released his aura immediately. The brown air surrounding him and making him feel 10 times more agitated and powerful.
"Woah! The clash between brown and blue. I'm invested!" Anne spoke in excitement.
"Well I'm not" Chris's teeth chattered in anxiety.
"Oh come on, it's a friendly battle" Anne rolled her eyes. "At least I think so..."
Everyone turned to stare at the two figures standing face to face in the middle of the battle ground. Their auras fiery and intense.
Jules had his fist balled and stretched out as if ready to partake in boxing. 'What do I do? What do I do? Do I attack her? Do I run towards her and punch her? But that'd be too cruel right....wait she's way too strong for me to think such...oh goodness, this is too frustrating' his mind was in a frenzy.
Not giving him time to think any further, Elise zoomed towards him and kicked him on the stomach.
Ack! 'Wait, the pain is gone' Jules slid backwards from her sudden attack but came to a halt at that very moment. Indeed due to his ability, his entire body was strong as well allowing him to sustain way less damage than an average human being would from attacks.
Before Jules could take a breather once more, a whoosh of shining blue aura came his way and Jules reflexly reacted by punching it. To his surprise, he managed to actually attack it, allowing Elise to retract.
"Wait, I can attack your aura?" Jules asked in total surprise. He had used his fist though and Elise practically fought with coloured air.
"As long as your aura is released, you can do as much as touch my aura, grab it or whatever. It's my ability after all" Elise shrugged. She found answering him to be quite a hassle but it would do him no good if he didn't understand the ability of his team mate.
"Wow, that's so cool" Jules's eyes lit up in both astonishment and happiness over the fact that he now learnt something new about Elise.
"What are you smiling about?" Elise asked with a bland expression.
"O..oh it's nothing" Jules chuckled.
"What are they talking about?" Chris asked.
"I have no idea, you think I've got super hearing or something?" Anne replied in exasperation.
"No of course you don't, only people who have ears could possess that ability" Chris rolled his eyes.
"What did you say?" Anne raised her fist ready to punch Chris but the master stopped them just in time.
"Cut it out kids, things are getting interesting" He spoke
"I thought Jules would've passed out by now or something" Anne's attention drifted back to the two people at the middle of the battle ground.
"You're underestimating my best friend right there, he's the strongest man in the world you know" Chris's lips curved into a smug smile.
"In physical strength that is and there's no way he's the strongest man in the world. Also, weren't you being all scared just a few seconds ago?" Anne scoffed.
"Tch, I chose to remain silent" Chris huffed.
'Jules is indeed very strong but Elise is holding back as well' Master Benjamin sighed at the thought.
Jules stood in a fighting stance, his eyes focused on Elise so he wouldn't miss her next move. He decided to focus on defense as he couldn't bring himself to attack first and Elise was indeed putting up a fight.
"Ha" Elise sighed. "I'll admit you're not so weak" She said, "But it'd do you no good to just stand there and do nothing" she added, her tone and expression remained as serious as ever.
"Come on, attack"
Jules gulped. 'Yeah, that's right. I was bound to do it at some point' he thought. He placed his entire focus on her, trying to point out the best time to attack.
In that instant, he ran towards her and attempted to punch her by the.....collarbone?
"Too slow" Elise instantly said, she then reached out her arm to twist his wrist and flipped him over but Jules reflexly flipped once again thereby kicking her arm away to releasing his wrist from her grasp.
"Woah, this is intense" Anne said with widened eyes.
'I knew she'd dodge that' Jules thought whilst panting.
"You knew I'd dodge that!" Elise yelled in interrogation.
'Oh boy, she caught me' Jules froze.
"Aura manipulation, sliding subjects" Elise chanted with her eyes closed and once again, her aura slowly transformed into another shape. This time it morphed into a set of four ropes viscously coming his way.
POW! POW! POW! Slide.....Jules reacted by punching them away and sliding backwards to avoid them but they kept coming. Soon, one slid towards his legs and wrapped around his ankle making him lose his balance and fall to the floor. Another rushed past his wrist and tore off his sleeves.
"Woah, it's almost like a blade" he gasped. He tried standing up but couldn't as the rope like aura thingy was still wrapped around his ankle and soon enough, he noticed he was slowly being dragged towards Elise. 'What the....' he just couldn't understand her ability.
The moment he was now right in front of Elise, she walked closer to him and place her leg on his chest. "You hid your aura" She spoke.
"Wait, really?" Jules looked all over his body and noticed how his aura was gone and his chest felt much heavier. How come he hadn't noticed it?, did he...perhaps lose focus while being dragged by Elise's ability?
"I win" Elise sighed. "As annoying as it is, you still haven't unleashed your full potential" she said. "We'll have a rematch once you've mastered your energy core and trained better" she added. "Tch" she lifted her leg away from him, kicked his arm and walked away.
"Ha, I predicted this" master Benjamin let out a sigh.
'Why make me fight him when he knows nothing?!' Elise thought in exasperation as she walked out of the battle ground.
"Why make me fight him when he knows nothing" The master chuckled faintly after uttering those words.
"Huh?" Anne stared at him in confusion.
"It's probably what Elise is thinking right now" he chuckled even more
"Buddy!!" Chris yelled and ran towards Jules.
"You're not hurt, are you?" He asked and assisted Jules in slowly lifting up his body.
"Oh, I'm fine" Jules reassured. He then reached out his finger to touch his lips and noticed a red substance on it...."Oh, blood"
"You're obviously not fine" Chris said
"Curse you Elise!" he angrily turned to the direction Elise had walked out from.
"You don't have to say that, I mean...it's part of my training after all" Jules said abruptly.
"Exactly, I'm glad you get it Jules" master Benjamin said as both he and Anne walked towards them.
"Now, have you figured out what you're lacking?" He asked.
"Yeah" Jules sighed. 'I got ahead of myself after passing a few phases...' he thought, "I can't control my energy core while in a real fight" He said with a dimmed expression.
"So, what you're lacking is focus huh?" Anne spoke in deep thought. "I guess I wouldn't get it as I've never been in that situation" She added.
"And why's that?" Jules looked up at her with intense curiosity. He now had a fair knowledge about Elise's ability, might as well know more about Anne's too.
"Oh, my ability doesn't require too much focus. It's more of an impulsive thing, hehe" Anne chuckled.
"And...what's your ability?" Jules finally laid out that question.
"I see" Anne smirked. In that instant, she swiftly lifted up two guns out of nowhere.
"Ahhh!" Jules yelled in surprise.
"Chill dude" Anne laughed.
"You always have to be so extra" Chris said sarcastically.
"How is this being extra?" Anne glared at him and lifted up her gun towards his head.
"Umm...." Jules tried to speak as the two seemed to be preoccupied in their little banter.
"Oh right, as I was saying" Anne smiled and Chris could only roll his eyes further
"I generate energy bullets" she said.
"Energy bullets?" Jules repeated both words in deep thought. "Wait, is that like....regular bullets but with aura infused in them?" He could roughly guess what she meant. He couldn't help but be astonished, every one of these abilities always seemed to surprise him.
"I guess you could say that but...they're not regular bullets" Anne said. "My energy creates them" she added. "It's like a never ending ammo, as long as I've got a gun" she smiled.
"Wow" Jules said.
"Amazing, I know" Anne smiled even further.
"That's nothing, wait till you hear about my ability buddy" Chris said.
"My aura...."
"Alright, that's enough" master Benjamin grabbed Chris by the shirt and cut him short instantly.
"Hey!" Chris pouted
"It's getting late, I need to have a little chat with Jules before you all get to go home" He said with a stern expression. "Jules" he called out.
Jules could only nod and follow after him as they walked towards one of the rooms in the headquarters. This was the area with a few mats placed at different corners and a bigger one on a small podium with a table. It was the silent training room, or as one would call it _The meditation room_.
"Ha" Master Benjamin sighed. "Indeed you're making progress but I'm sure you now realize why I set up that duel with Elise earlier" he said.
Jules could roughly guess why. "Yeah, I know" he replied.
"I'm not putting pressure on you, you've only been a saviour for a few days so your progression rate is pretty normal or rather fast I'd say" he smiled. "But it's been a while since I've sensed a dark associate at any of the landmarks" he turned to Jules with a serious expression this time.
"L..landmarks?" Jules stammered with furrowed brows.
"You'll get to know about those later" the master spoke. "Keep up the good work Jules" he said, "Another mission may commence soon so I want you to prepare for that...because this time, you're gonna be fighting" He added.
Jules walked down his neighborhood in deep thought, he had just said his goodbyes to Chris for the day and was on his way home but couldn't help but get reminded of his conversation with the master earlier.
'That's right, I'm a saviour now so I'm definitely gonna be fighting these dark associates' he thought. 'And who knows how strong the next one may be' he sighed.
'Oh yeah, mum's gonna be back tonight! I can't wait to tell her all about school and my new friends' his expression lightened up instantly and he seemed to have forgotten all about his previous worries.
During that time, he arrived home and swiftly opened the gate and door which led inside. "I'm back!" He announced to the residents of the house.
"Oh Jules, you're here" Charlotte came rushing down with a smile on her face.
"Yeah..I umm..was playing games with Chris so I came later than usual" he quickly thought up a lie. "Where's mum?" He asked.
"Oh" Charlotte looked down and sighed. "Sorry Jules, she won't be making it today. She had some important business to attend to and...."
"Oh" Jules cut her short and stared down with a dimmed expression. "I see" he said.
"Sorry...Jules" Charlotte sighed.
"Why're you apologizing?" Jules laughed faintly. "I'll be in my room then, good night sis" He said and walked up towards his room instantly.
"Is...he okay?" Charlotte wondered. "Lately, he's been acting different"
'Of course she wouldn't make it, what was I thinking' Jules sighed frustratedly and collapsed on his bed closing his eyes afterwards and letting his worries drown in his sleep.
THE NEXT DAY....
It was a weekend so Jules woke up about two hours later than he usually does on a weekday. The sun shone brightly for a saturday morning casting it's light into the curtains by his window.
Jules yawned and reached out to grab the first thing he touches on a saturday morning....his phone.
DING! A notification popped up the moment he opened it. He stared at the screen in curiosity and noticed a message from one person, Chris. He immediately rushed to check it out.
(Chris) : Buddy, come over to headquarters now. It's an emergency!.
Jules wondered what the situation could be and it didn't take long before another message popped up.
(Chris) : It's a mission
"Huh?!" He gasped.