Chương 86: Chapter : 86

Laxmi tossed two more fireballs, one after the other. They flew across the courtyard, lighting up the dark morning sky. Ken shrieked again, diving dramatically onto the hard stone floor. He completely face-planted, sliding on his stomach to avoid the first fireball. He scrambled back up to his feet, his knees knocking together on purpose, and started running in a zig-zag pattern.

"My eyebrows! Please aim away from the face!" Ken cried out, ducking under the second fireball.

"I need my eyebrows to look surprised! This is a highly dangerous workplace! Where is Princess Iris? I want to file a formal complaint!" Naomi dragged her hand down her face, completely losing her patience. This was turning into a pure comedy show. She had honestly expected Ken to at least try to look brave after his heroic moment yesterday. But right now, he was just acting like the same old goofy, completely useless slacker.

"Ken! Stop running in circles!" Naomi commanded, stomping her foot.

"You are just wasting your energy! Stop acting like a clown and fight back!" Ken finally skidded to a halt on the other side of the courtyard. He was completely out of breath, panting heavily with his hands resting on his knees. He looked up at Naomi with giant, innocent puppy-dog eyes.

"Fight back?" Ken asked between heavy breaths.

"With what? Harsh words? I don't have a sword! I just have my bare hands and a very strong desire to go back to bed!"

"Use your magic!" Laxmi cheered, tossing another small flame from hand to hand to keep him on his toes.

"You passed the magic exam in school, right? Show me what you got, farm boy! Give me your best shot!" Ken groaned, standing up straight. The training session was getting way too active for his liking. He realized that if he wanted them to stop throwing fire at him, he was going to have to prove exactly how pathetic his magic really was. He needed to show them a counterattack so completely useless that they would just give up and let him go eat breakfast.

"Fine!" Ken yelled back across the courtyard, puffing out his chest and trying to look as tough as possible. He wiped some fake sweat from his forehead.

"You asked for it! I didn't want to use this because it is highly dangerous, but you leave me no choice! Prepare yourselves for my ultimate counterattack!" Naomi crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow. She didn't believe him for a second, but she was curious to see if he actually had a hidden trick. Laxmi just grinned, stopping her fireballs and waiting to see what he would do. Ken stepped forward, planting his feet wide apart in a completely goofy, exaggerated fighting stance.

He pulled his hands out of his pockets and pointed both of his index fingers directly at Laxmi like two tiny guns. He squinted his left eye really hard, sticking his tongue out of the corner of his mouth like he was trying to aim a sniper rifle. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Behold!" Ken shouted, dragging out the words to sound like an anime hero.

"The Super... Mega... Ultimate... Fire Spark!" Ken squeezed his eyes shut and fired. Pew! Pew! Two tiny, incredibly weak little sparks of blue magic floated out of his fingertips. They were so small they looked like sad little lightning bugs. They drifted lazily across the courtyard, moving at the speed of a falling leaf. Laxmi didn't even move. She just stood there with her hands on her hips, watching the tiny blue sparks float toward her. One of the sparks hit the toe of her combat boot.

It made a tiny sizzle sound and then completely vanished, not even leaving a single mark on the leather. The courtyard was completely silent for three full seconds. Then, Laxmi burst into a massive fit of laughter. She laughed so hard she had to bend over and hold her stomach.

"That's it?!" Laxmi cackled, wiping a tear from her eye.

"That is your ultimate counterattack?! A static shock? Ken, I have sneezed harder than that! My grandmother hits harder than that!" Naomi didn't laugh. She just buried her face in her hands and groaned.

"I cannot believe I woke up early for this. I cannot believe you are the guy who saved my life. You are completely, hopelessly pathetic." Ken dropped his dramatic pose and smiled happily.

"See? I told you! My magic is basically zero. I am not built for the battlefield. I am built for sitting in comfortable chairs and eating snacks. Can we please wrap this up now? The sun is officially up, which means it is breakfast time."

"We are not done yet!" Laxmi yelled, standing back up. Her competitive nature was fully fired up now.

"If you can't hit me with magic, you need to learn how to dodge faster! I am going to turn up the heat just a little bit!"

"Wait, no! Timeout!" Ken panicked, throwing his hands up again. But Laxmi wasn't listening. She wanted to give him a real scare so he would actually try to move his feet properly. She clapped her hands together, creating a much larger, roaring burst of orange fire. She aimed it at the ground right in front of Ken's feet, intentionally missing him, but making sure the explosion would be close enough to scare him into jumping backward. She threw the fireball. Ken saw it coming.

He easily could have stepped out of the way, but running backwards required energy. Instead, he just decided to stand there and make a terrified face. The fireball hit the stone floor exactly two feet in front of Ken. BOOM! It wasn't a deadly explosion, but it was incredibly loud, and it kicked up a massive cloud of thick, black smoke and soot from the old courtyard stones. The smoke completely engulfed Ken, hiding him from view.

"Whoops," Laxmi said, her smile dropping slightly.

"I think I threw that one a little too hard. Hey Ken, are you okay in there?" The thick black smoke slowly cleared away, blowing away in the morning breeze. When the girls finally saw Ken again, Laxmi started laughing so hard she actually fell onto her knees. Even Naomi had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from cracking a smile. Ken was standing in the exact same spot, but he looked absolutely ridiculous. His face was completely covered in thick, dark black soot.

His messy black hair was blown straight back, sticking out wildly like he had just stuck his finger in a light socket. His white undershirt was covered in dark ash. The only clean spots on his entire face were his two sleepy eyes, which were blinking slowly through the mess. He looked exactly like a cartoon character whose dynamite had exploded right in their face. Ken slowly raised his hand and wiped a chunk of black ash off his nose. He let out a long, dry cough. A tiny puff of gray smoke came out of his mouth.