In turn, the Reman dodged with moves as swift as flowing water, proving again and again why he was a candidate for the representative position.
"Then take this!" the lady shouted, creating walls of ice to block the man from approaching her.
During their fight, one question went unanswered. Why would she use the ice she had just learned to control for attacks that could have been done with stone magic? She was, after all, much more used to the latter.
"Woah! He dodged again!"
The answer to such a question had become evident as soon as the two started fighting. The man refused to touch the ice created by Tiva. He would cut any stone thrown at him, redirect any water jet, and he didn't mind melee fights. It was ice alone that he refused to touch.
"I'm not sure what's got you so scared of the cold, but that's the only chance I have at beating you, so I'm going all ow—waaaaaaah!"
Before she could finish her sentence, Tiva felt something touch her back, and she was soon after thrown into the air. Unable to react, the young woman found herself riding on the back on a proud buck.
"Tahu? Weren't you supposed to be…"
As she spoke, Tiva turned her head towards the other youngster fighting a giant of the Reman army. She looked at Nayavu, and understood soon enough why Tahu wasn't by his side.
"EHHHH!?… That's why I can't take my eyes off him! Look at my little brother risking the whole battle for a boy's pride!"
Then Tiva shook her head. Something from what she'd said felt wrong.
"No… A man's pride!"
With a new ally, the girl felt as the table were turning in her favor. As strong as Aurelio was, he had to fight against not only the ice he refused to touch, but also against the thunders brought in by a wonder of the animal reign.
"Okay then! Let's go—waaaaaah!"
The only problem was that this wondrous animal had never fought with anyone but his trusty partner, so he lacked experience when it came to pacing himself.
As such, Tahu who had quickly transformed his body into electricity was even quicker to turn it back to normal, as he felt the girl on top shaking and screaming. Confused, he looked at Tiva, who was rubbing her butt and whining.
"Tahu… I can't control electricity like Nayavu does… Please try not to kill me…"
Ashamed of his lack of tact, Tahu let out a small puff and looked at the hurting girl with big, round eyes.
"Awww~ How can anyone be mad at that? Come on! Let's try something else!" Tiva comforted the animal. Then she made herself a saddle of stone.
"This should be enough to keep me safe, but you also be careful, okay?~" she said with a colored, singing voice. To such a voice the stag stomped the ground with confidence, facing the man who had used this time to prepare his next attack.
The next moment, tens of water jets came their way, the pressure strong enough to cut stone clean in two. In response, Tiva used ice to defend, ice which was once again avoided by the man.
Careful to only turn his horns into energy, Tahu charged forward, a crying voice resounding from his back.
"Slow doooooowwwwwnnnnn!!!" Tiva begged, but for as much as she complained, she kept up with the stag and dodged the water with elegance. The look on her face was almost comical as the girl danced through the jets, but with every move, trust built up within her.
Even so, trust in herself or the animal could not prepare her for Aurelio's next move. A single moment when both of them took their eyes off the general was enough for him to vanish and from one of his water attacks, delivering a strike that could cut them both into pieces.
"At least for a second… give me a break! I can't keep up with both of you!"
Proclaiming thus, the girl that felt herself taken away by the chaotic waves of battle with no way to stop them had to break her limits once more. She had already done it plenty of times in the past months, so what was one more trick?
And that she did. From the very same water jet that Aurelio broke out of, she grabbed a small stream, transformed it into ice, and made herself a sword sturdy enough to parry the blow.
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Once again, Aurelio was left speechless, and so was Tiva, amazed at her new discovery.
Energy ran wild as the two crossed blades, and it only stopped when both sides jumped away from one another.
Right then, during the short respire Tiva obtained for herself, thunder started roaring where there was once a clear sky. The lady looked up, confused by the large shadow cast over the battlefield.
"I guess I've had it easy compared to you…"
Mere minutes had passed since their two fights started, yet in those minutes, the boy whom she'd missed so dearly found a way to change even the weather. Her mouth gaping as she stared at the fight going on high up in the air, Tiva felt warmth filling her chest.
"That's the Nayavu we're all so proud of!" she shouted, hoping that the boy above could hear everyone's words.
"Just be careful not to hit us!… You can hit him though!"
Tiva pointed at Aurelio, whose gaze was also fixed on the sky, reminding Nayavu who was his adversary. In turn, Aurelio showed the palm of his hand to the girl.
"This isn't the moment to continue our scuffle, little girl," Aurelio said, then he pointed both of his palms at the sky, water gathering at the tip of his fingers.
"If I don't take care of this—" he said, but the rest of his words got stuck in his throat.
The water that Aurelio had transmuted for a swift strike froze instantly. The general shook his hands, trying to get rid of the ice, and it was then that Tahu decided to strike.
Landing a strong blow on the man for the first time since the fight had started, the stag puffed in pride.
"Whether you want to continue this fight or not matters little to me," Tiva's soft yet stern voice rang in Aurelio's ears.
"But you won't lay a finger on our hero!"
*****
One by one, clouds gathered about the two rivals. Nayavu—no, Leo flew around them, riding purple lightning and hastening the winds.
Behind him, riding on a jet of water and steam, Giovanni followed the boy, trying to catch him before his plan was complete.
But it was too late.
"Ayanda! You better watch and learn!" the prideful boy shouted, pointing at the clouds he had gotten together.
Far off in the distance, gazing back at him, there stood a powerful woman, a representative, a god, and Nayavu's master. There stood Ayanda, whose proud smile shone all the way to the boy. On this battlefield—no, on this Earth—she was now the most powerful mortal, yet the one she had named next in line was catching up fast.
"Haha! At this pace, you may reach the heavens before me, boy!"
With all he needed at his disposal, Leo was ready to show the Giovanni what he could do. As such, he accelerated, leaving the man to catch up as the boy went beneath the clouds.
"Funny," Leo felt the need to add while staring at the fast-approaching Reman. "From this far away, you really look like that old man."
Once the two were close enough, the boy calmly pointed at the sky. From the tip of his finger, a thin bolt flew into the clouds he had gathered. That thin bold was enough to stir them up, and the prop the boy had prepared started acting as intended.
From such unstable clouds—gathered, created, and stirred with only chaos in mind—there was but one thing that could come out. A storm of lightning and thunder covered the skies, and the one right below it was exactly where he wanted to be.
Nayavu was the perfect fit for such a storm, for nobody but him on that battlefield could control what was brewing there. This small trick was much more than he had ever attempted during his training, and it was proof that this was the boy who could inherit the title of Thunder Representative.
"Very well, old man…"
"Die."
And as that boy swiped down his hand, tens of lightning bolts rained down.
One was enough to make Giovanni fall back. Another ten got deflected by the man's superior control of energy, but ten more followed, and then another ten.
For everyone looking from down below, a show of purple lights lit up the cloudy sky, and between those lights, a small dot fought for its life. That's all the Reman lieutenant was compared to Leo's attack: a dot.
"Don't think for a second that I'm done with you!" the dot screamed.
In truth, Giovanni was doing a stunning job at dodging and blocking, but he was left with no chance to strike back. It was a one-sided fight, one in which strength and agility mattered little in front of the sheer number of attacks Leo launched.
"You can't keep this going forever! You'll reach your limit soon enough!"
The dot wasn't wrong, for blood was now cascading from the boy's nose, and the coughs that followed weren't any more encouraging. Of course, Leo was aware of the danger, and made sure to strike any drop of blood that could have been used against him.
It was a battle against time, because a dot, as small as it may be, was not an easy target to hit. The fight was not over, not as long as Giovanni didn't make a mistake.
"—proud of!" a voice resounded in the boy's head. It was a familiar voice, a voice he had grown up next to.
Looking below him, he saw the source of that voice. It was a girl holding a blade made of ice—a girl who had long forgotten how to frown—and even as she fought the strongest man amongst the Reman forces, she wore the same smile. Nayavu had grown used to it.
Learning from the girl down below, the boy smiled too.
"If she can do all that …"
With every passing second, the sky got brighter. The purple that was some months ago clashing against a blue shade of lightning high up on a mountain was now at the tip of the boy's fingers.
"Why shouldn't I shine just as bright, if not even brighter?"
Below him, a man flying on water jets did his best to stay alive. That man had once taught Leo how to treat a lady, yet not much later, he took that very lady from the boy. That same man hit Nayavu over the head later, or maybe earlier?
It was that same man who stood against the boy time and time again, but this time, that man was too focused to even speak his taunts.
Seeing him like that brought no shade of pity to the boy's gaze. 'He' had long shut such feelings away, sparing no means when it came to dealing with an enemy.
With no word spoken, just the roar of thunder, the boy lit up every atom around him, transforming the sky into what legends may later call a second sun.
It was when that second sun faded away that the fight also ended. The lieutenant who was too busy to speak, left the world without making a sound—evaporating with nobody looking at him in his last moments.