บท 155: New Challenger!
A few more days pass while Michael and his group were making preparation to move. He himself was continuing his training with his Spirits while Ralf was busy elsewhere, and he spent a good portion of his time helping Tiffania with her magic, specifically, meditation and magical control that he'd learnt from Rhasta.
Michael wanted to leave as soon as they were ready as it was impossible to tell if Derflinger would still be in Tristain when they finally arrived. He'd made too many changes to cannon, so anything could happen, from the shop owner simply moving shop to safer lands, to a random collector buying Derflinger out of interest of its particular 'uniqueness'.
Before they leave however, they do one more round around Yumar to buy as many supplies, clothes, and backup weapons they might need, storing it all in his inventory, which was proving its utility every time they travelled.
With that said and done, they hop atop Ralf's dragon familiar and start flying South West, towards the country of Tristain. It was a bit awkward flying through Germania's air space since the country was on the edge of war, but Ralf had mapped out a route that'd go around most settlements and guarded areas.
Still, that didn't mean they were unlucky at some points, being spotted by Germanian patrols who shouted at them to come down and report their identities, which they ignored of course.
Everything was going perfectly well... Until it wasn't. A couple miles away from Tristain's border, the group noticed a shadow in the distance, and once it got closer, Michael was finally able to identify just what it was... A blue dragon.
"Er, guys? We've got company." Michael mutters, wondering why the approaching beast looked familiar.
Ralf shrugs, "Yes, we see it... What I don't see is whether it's an enemy or not." he replies, not wanting to jump to a conclusion and create enemies out of nothing.
Unfortunately, despite Ralf's best intentions with slowing down their speed and waiting for the other rider to approach, things rarely turned out for the best. The blue dragon matched their speed as it flew next to them, allowing their short blue-haired rider to look over each of them with an analytic edge.
"Tabitha?" Michael mutters, surprised to see her so far from the magic academy. "What're you doing here?" he loudly asks over the heavy winds of flight.
She doesn't say anything however, instead just revealing her staff and making a small chant before flicking it at the group.
"Shit!" Ralf exclaims as he forces his dragon to suddenly descend, noticing the hostility from Tabitha. This turns out to be a wise decision as a barrage of visible air blades punch through their previous location, something that'd undoubtedly killed them all. And left any still alive falling to their doom.
"Tabitha! What the fuck!?" Michael exclaims as he tightens his grip on Ralf's dragon, making sure Tiffania wasn't at risk of falling off either.
The blue-haired girl still doesn't reply however, her dragon proves to be the faster flier as it easily manoeuvres above, around, and blow Ralf's dragon with ridiculous speeds. Again, she goes to cast another spell but Ralf has his dragon perform a barrel roll and descend even further, Tiffania casting Ash Wall to prevent their enemy from following.
Tabitha just easily blows the ash wall apart with some torrid wind however, continuing her pursuit like a demon-possessed. Michael throws down a couple of Smoke Screens that temporarily silence Tabitha as she tries to go through them, giving the group some reprieve, but it's only temporary.
Now that he wasn't forced to dodge Tabitha's attacks, Ralf looks over his shoulder and casts a dozen small homing fireballs that follow the girl like heat-seeking missiles. This gets her off of their tail for a moment, but Tabitha's dragonflies up before turning mid-air and breathing fire at the spells, easily destroying them.
"Who is this girl!? She's stronger than most of the Albion Dragon Knights!" Ralf exclaims, shocked that this girl was so powerful at such an age.
"She's from the Tristain academy! Look, just land somewhere, I'll see if I can talk some sense into her..." he shouts, knowing that while he did have some leverage, he'd need to convince the girl that he was worth trusting.
Tiffania nods, "I think we should! Maybe this is all a misunderstanding...?"
Ralf grumbles under his breath, "Whatever, we'll see how well that goes in a minute."
With that, the group start descending towards the nearest sand dune, landing upon it as Michael jumps off and runs towards the approaching Tabitha with his arms raised in surrender. "Hold on a second!"
...
Michael chews his lip while hoping that Tabitha would be willing to talk, grimacing slightly as the girl and her dragon flies just above him before circling around, hovering nearby within speaking distance.
"What?" the girl asks in the same emotionless drawl he remembered from both the anime and the magic academy. All the while keeping her staff trained on him.
"Why are you attacking us!? We've done nothing to you as far as I know!?" he retorts, wanting to know how and why she was pursuing them. He knew she was essentially a suicide soldier under the control of the King of Gallia, which might be a reason since Sheffield wanted him dead too... But then again, she might just be trying to avenge Guiche as well, as unlikely as that was.
Tabitha just shakes her head, "Orders."
Michael squints at the fact that he had the King of Gallia's attention, but smiles anyway since it was as expected. "Your uncle, the King of Gallia, I suppose?" he casually says, causing her eyes to widen slightly at the revelation of such knowledge.
"H-how?" she asks, shocked that he'd know such secretive information. Not only that she'd been ordered by him, but that he was also her uncle, something no one but a select few should know since she changed her identity.
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