Chương 53: Screw my human limitations

Amelia rushed through the sky.

"Where is he...?" She looked around frantically. Then she spotted something below. A giant flower stood among the trees. And sitting beside it was Ace. Amelia immediately descended. She lowered herself gently, landing beside him. Ace glanced at her.

"What do you want?" Amelia smiled.

"I'm just here to cheer you up!" Ace looked away.

"Well, you can forget about it." His expression hardened.

"I don't need your soppy empathy." Amelia's smile faded slightly.

"Yeah... I know." She sat beside him.

"But I at least need to try." Ace glanced at her.

"We're friends after all, right?" Ace's eyes widened slightly.

"..." He quietly gasped. Amelia continued.

"You're upset because you feel weak." She looked down at the grass.

"To be honest... it's the same with me." Ace looked at her.

"Back when I was living with the Wild West, I had to be strong." Her expression became more serious.

"If I wasn't strong, I couldn't protect my people." She clenched her fist.

"So being weak wasn't an option." Ace remained silent. Amelia sighed.

"But to tell you the truth..." She looked toward the sky.

"I despise fighting." Ace raised an eyebrow.

"You do?"

"Completely." Amelia smiled softly.

"I just prefer peace." She looked toward the horizon.

"That's why I dream of living in a peaceful world." Her eyes sparkled.

"Wouldn't that be great?" Ace stared at her for a moment.

"... That sounds pretty boring." Amelia blinked.

"Excuse me?" Ace shrugged.

"Sounds boring." Amelia puffed her cheeks.

"Well, I guess we have different views on things." She suddenly stood up.

"Alright!" Ace looked up.

"Alright what?" Amelia turned toward him with a determined grin. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

"Let's do this!" Ace frowned.

"Do what?"

"We're going to train." Ace's expression immediately dropped.

"... What?"

"Like, CRAZY hard!" Amelia raised her fist.

"And when we see Mochi again, we're going to impress him with our power!" She pointed dramatically into the distance.

"Even his Dough Demon Form won't be able to stand close to us!" Ace stared at her.

"... Nah." Amelia blinked.

"Hmm?"

"I'm not feeling it." He leaned back against the giant flower.

"I'm tired." Amelia stared at him. Then... She puffed her cheeks.

"C'mon." Ace ignored her.

"Don't be a grouch."

"No." Amelia grabbed the edge of his cloak.

"I won't leave you alone until you do!" Ace looked at her hand.

"... Let go."

"C'mon!" She tugged on his cloak.

"C'mon!" Another tug.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" A vein appeared on Ace's forehead.

"Stop." Amelia continued pulling.

"C'mon!" Another vein appeared.

"Seriously."

"Training!" Another vein.

"Amelia..."

"Training! Training! Training!" Ace finally snapped.

"FINE!" He shot to his feet.

"I'LL DO YOUR STUPID TRAINING, OKAY?!" Amelia froze. Ace pointed at her.

"JUST STOP IT ALREADY!" Amelia's face instantly lit up.

"Yay!" She released his cloak.

"I knew you'd see things my way!" Ace's eye twitched.

"I already regret this." Amelia grinned.

"Too late!" She spread her wings.

"Let's get started!" Ace sighed.

"... This is going to be a long day." But despite himself... A faint smile appeared on his face. Moments passed the two trained for hours til it was dark.. The sun had begun to sink behind the trees. Yet Ace and Amelia were still training. The forest around them had already been turned into a makeshift training ground. Several trees were scorched. Large patches of grass had been flattened. And more than a few craters had appeared in the dirt. Amelia hovered above the ground, flapping her wings steadily.

"Again!" Ace stood across her, breathing heavily.

"You've said that about fifty times already!!."

"And I'll say it fifty more!"

"I may be tired but we won't stop til I see results!" Ace sighed.

"Fine."

"Gosh, you're persistant" He drew both of his swords. Blue flames began crawling along the blades. Amelia watched closely.

"Remember, Your fire isn't just for using alone you can apply it to objects." Ace nodded.

"Yeah. I know that..." He stared at his swords.

"If I can control the flames better... I should be able to combine them with my sword swings."

"Exactly!" Ace took a deep breath. He swung both swords forward.

"Magic Skill!" The flames erupted from the blades.

"INFERNO ROADS!" FWOOOOSH! Two streams of fire shot forward. For a moment, Ace grinned. Then the flames immediately spiralled out of control. BOOOOM! The fire exploded several feet in front of him. Ace was thrown backward.

"GAAH!" He landed on his back. Amelia flew down.

"Ace, are you okay?!" He slowly sat up.

"I'm fine..." Amelia pointed toward the scorched ground.

"Your flames spread apart too much." Ace looked at the destruction.

"Yeah." He stood up.

"I noticed." Amelia crossed her arms.

"You need to keep the flames concentrated around the path of your swords." Ace nodded.

"Alright." He raised his swords again. This time, he focused his magic into both blades. Blue flames gathered around them. He swung.

"Magic Skill: Inferno Roads!" FWOOSH! The flames shot forward. Ace's eyes widened.

"Got it!" But the two streams suddenly collided with each other. BOOM! Ace's hair was blown backward. He stared blankly ahead.

"... Nope..."

"Not it..." Amelia covered her mouth.

"Heh." Ace glared at her.

"Again." He raised his swords. Again. And again. And again. Each attempt ended differently. One blast curved upward. Another slammed into the ground. One completely fizzled out. Another sent Ace flying backward. Amelia watched every attempt.

"You're getting closer I can feel it!" Ace wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Closer isn't good enough for me..." He looked at his swords.

"I need to make it work." He closed his eyes. King's words came back to him. You can get stronger if you just train.. Ace took a slow breath.

"Just train yeah right it ain't that easy pal!" He remembered the moment his flames had launched him into the sky. He remembered how quickly they had accelerated him. Then he remembered his fight with King. His eyes opened.

"I've been treating my fire like a weapon the whole time.." Amelia tilted her head.

"What do you mean?" Ace lowered his swords.

"I'm forcing the flames forward."

"I'm fusing my blades and my flames but I keep treating them both as offensive weapons.."

"It's like firing a gun with another gun.." He looked at the blades.

"But that's not how I use them in this case." Amelia's eyes widened.

"You let the flames move with you."

"Have the flames act as the bullet to your gun!" Ace nodded.

"Exactly." He took his stance.

"This time, I'm not going to treat them the same..." He concentrated. The blue flames slowly wrapped around both swords. They flowed along the blades like streams of liquid fire. Amelia smiled.

"That's it." Ace stepped forward. His grip tightened. Then he slashed both swords forward at the same time.

"MAGIC SKILL..." The flames surged.

"INFERNO ROADS!" FWOOSH! Two enormous streams of blue fire erupted from the blades. Instead of scattering, they travelled forward in two perfectly controlled paths. The flames tore through the forest. Trees were scorched as the attack continued travelling farther and farther. Ace's eyes widened.

"I did it..." Amelia stared in amazement.

"YOU DID IT!"

"WELL DONE!" The two fiery paths finally collided with a massive tree in the distance. The explosion sent smoke rising into the sky. Ace lowered his swords. He was breathing heavily. But he was smiling.

"... Inferno Roads." Amelia ran over to him.

"That was awesome Ace it went all FWOOM and BOOM!" Ace looked at his swords.

"Yeah, foom and boom..."

"But it still needs work.." Amelia blinked.

"You just created a brand new Magic Skill!" Ace shrugged.

"Doesn't mean it's perfect just yet.."

"It's like an infant it needs to grow into an adult.." He looked toward the smoke.

"But..." A confident grin appeared on his face.

"It works and that's all I care about." Amelia smiled.

"See? I told you training would help!" Ace sighed.

"Don't let it go to your head."

"Too late!" She stack her tounge out playfully Ace shook his head.

"Alright then..." He raised his swords again.

"Next course of action..."

"TIME FOR A REMATCH WITH THAT KING GUY!"

"I NEED MY GET BACK!" Amelia's eyes widened.

"You want a rematch?!"

"I need to make it stronger."

"Using it against King withh catch him off guard for sure" Amelia grinned.

"Now that's the spirit, always wanting to grow!" And for the first time since his defeat against King... Ace wasn't thinking about how far behind he was. He was thinking about how far he could go.