Chapitre 23: Zephyr versus Tiona
In a stable within the Twilight Manor, a young man with blue hair could be seen tending to a stallion taller than most people.
"Noir, you're growing up to be big and strong." Zephyr combed Noir's mane, the stallion neighing in delight.
"When I found you, you were barely my height. Now you're almost a full grown horse." Zephyr fed the horse a stalk of carrots and went to go on his day.
As he entered the manor, he got greeted by the plentiful amount of Adventurers that were either training, chatting, or doing their duties.
"Oh, Zephyr. Good Morning." Loki greeted Zephyr with a yawn.
'God's sleep?' was the first thing on Zephyr's mind, as the Goddess went on to meet a group of girls who were chatting.
The goddess groped the first person she got her hands on.
"Oh, would you look at this~ You sure are growing steadily." The Goddess shamefully groped the girl with a lustful expression, Zephyr separated the Goddess from the group of girls as he dragged her to a couch to calm down.
The group of girls gave him suggestive winks and words of admiration from saving them from a feral goddess.
Well, that was everyday shenanigans in the Loki Familia, a weirdo goddess, and a weirdo family.
"Captain~!" A female voice shouted out, Tione, one of the amazonian twins clung herself to Finn.
A wry smile formed on Finn's face as the girl pestered him to marry her and give her strong children.
"Zephyr!" Another amazonian shouted out, this time Tiona. The girl tackled Zephyr as he was once again stuck in a bear hug.
"Calm down, Tiona." Zephyr patted the girl's back, the strength of Tiona not bothering him anymore due to leveling up.
"Listen, listen, Zephyr! Ais smiled at me today!" Tiona beamed as the golden haired girl that was behind them looked away.
Finn smiled at the interaction of the three star children of the Familia. "Ais has gotten better at expressing emotions huh.."
"Indeed, but it still needs a lot of work. She can smile now, but she still has a naturally aloof aura around her, as well as her usual stoic face." Riveria sighed as she arrived next to Finn, "She used to be like a doll."
—————
The day continued as breakfast arrived. The dining hall was lively as almost all the members were present today.
"Finn, let's celebrate Zephyr's rank up tonight." Loki leaned towards the peacefully eating Finn.
"Hm, that's a good idea. We could go 'That' place." Finn smiled at his goddess, the smile making the love-struck girl, who was Tione almost faint
"That place?" Zephyr tilted his head, was it a special restaurant of something? He knew that Rank Up's more often than not celebrated, especially here in the Loki Familia where camaraderie is very important.
Zephyr finished his breakfast as he went to the training grounds with Tiona.
"Heh~? Now that you leveled up you want to get revenge from all the beatings I gave you?" Tiona teasingly taunted him.
"Revenge? No, a proper duel. So, don't hold back." Zephyr unsheathed his sword, implying that this was gonna be a serious duel.
Tiona herself supported a dual dagger style as both readied both of their stances. Zephyr's aura flared as he enhanced himself, his aura went through a quality improvement as from just coating his body, thus making him glow a faint blue, it now felt alive, it wriggled, it flared, it now felt like a proper aura. [A/N: Think of Dragon Ball and how their ki erupts when they charge up or go serious.]
And next he enveloped his blade, as the Aura coated the blade, the blade turned into a makeshift light saber as the blade glowed, the aura also spiralled around the blade forming a flame like aura around it.
"Zephyr, you look so cool and flashy right now!" Tiona's eyes twinkled as she Zephyr transform.
"Thanks, but that won't make go easy on you, Tiona." Zephyr readied his stance once again, followed by Tiona.
"That's what I'm talking about!" Tiona charged towards Zephyr while wielding her daggers.
Zephyr anticipated it as he attacked just when Tiona reached him.
Tiona defended against Zephyr's blade but she was knocked back, the attack riled up Tiona even more as she charged at Zephyr once again, this time delivering a flurry of strong and fast attacks.
Zephyr defended against most of them, with some being to graze his cloths and cheek, as he also delivered his own whirlwind of strikes, each one heavier and faster than the last.
The two were tied in a battle of attrition as frankly, both were equal in almost everything with Tiona having the advantage of strength and endurance and Zephyr with speed.
Tiona relentlessly assulted Zephyr with her strong attacks with Zephyr countering them with attacks of his own.
Zephyr jumped back to gain distance and delivered an wave of aura towards Tiona who was caught off guard from the sudden long range attack, but she was still an experienced fighter as she skillfully defended against it with a cross guard.
Tiona's arms slightly trembled as the attack almost made her arms numb, a wry smile forming on her face.
But Zephyr didn't let the opportunity pass as he reached Tiona instantly, delivering a punch towards her face, Tiona tried defending against it using her arm but it was a feint, Tiona was hit by a nasty kick on her sides as she was sent flying.
Tiona coughed up saliva as she pinned to the wall. But then a maniacal grin spread around her face, she quickly used the wall as footing as she jumped Zephyr.
Zephyr knew this all too well, she was like her sister. She was also, a Berserker.
Tiona attacks became heavier as Zephyr had some trouble parrying them, she got faster and stronger each time Zephyr landed a hit on her.
Faced with such an adversary Zephyr knew what the best course of action was.
He delivered a horizontal slash towards waist, Tiona naturally used her Daggers to stop the attack but Zephyr wanted that as he knocked back for several meters.
Zephyr took on a stance as he focused his power and Aura on his legs, with one powerful dash, he left behind a vortex of ethereal blue aura as he instantly reached Tiona.
He gripped his sword and placed it below his left hip, Tiona instinctively tried to defend against the upcoming attack.
Zephyr slashed upward, an arc of blue was left behind from the swords path as Tiona's daggers flew from her hands.
Zephyr stepped on Tiona's stomach, making her stumble down as he pointed his neck close to her neck.
"I win." Zephyr smiled at Tiona who still had a sword pointed to her neck.
The shocked expression on Tiona's face was slowly replaced with a beautiful smile as she looked at Zephyr's face. "Umu!"
———[Chapter End]———
A/N: How was the fight? Anything I need to improve or any missed details?
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone