Paimon's woe

3. Paimon's dilemma

Aether was dumbstrucked by the sudden turn of events.

"What did you just said?"

"I-I said, let's spar. Who knows you might get in danger when you travel there, r-right?" she said while fidgeting.

"Could it be that you are worried?"

Keqing frozed up a little, and after a few seconds, she muttered,
"y-yes.. I mean, it's normal to be worried for one's own friend, nothing more!"

Watching her, the only thing that comes to mind is,

"cute"

Of course he wouldn't say that out loud. If he did, we would probably be electrocuted and become food for Timmie's pigeons by now.

"Well, I accept your challenge."

She widened her eyes, surprised. But she was happy about it. A little giddy as well.

That said, they probably need to find a hut to put Paimon in there to rest. Luckily, there's one not too far from where they are.

After they reached there, Aether put Paimon on a bench with his bag as a pillow for her. He would've liked to give a more comfortable pillow, but he currently don't have one. His bag will do for now.

"Okay, the rules are simple. We'll use these wooden katanas for our sparring session. Use of elemental powers and visions are allowed."

Elemental powers are allowed? This will be interesting, he thought.

The session is about to start

"3"

"2"

"1"

As soon as she finished counting, she teleported behind Aether and slashed her katana.

"Urgh!" he somehow managed to turn around and blew her away with Palm Vortex. She went flying, pretty far away too, but as soon as her feet touched the ground, she dashed forward.

He knew at first glance that he can't let this sequence repeat as she attacks really fast. He charged forward and slashed his katana, but was parried by her.

They traded blows on equal footing. Both of their swordsmanship are equally skilled. There doesn't seem to be any obvious openings.

"Now!"

He suddenly used Palm Vortex, but to his surprise, she wasn't there.

Everything went quiet for a second. Just where could she went off to?

But then, he heard something above him. Without much thought, he quickly moved aside.

A loud purple thunder struck towards the ground, resulting in sand being blown everywhere. After the dust has cleared, he saw her holding the wooden katana.

"Not bad, but I'll take the win from now on."

The surrounding is darker. He can feel the electrical energy coming from her vision. The aura it sends out is terrifying. If a person has never experienced anything like this, then they would definetely pull out the white flag by now.

But not him.

"Gust, Surge!"

A big tornado capable of destroying the jade chamber was sent out.

Watching this, she shot out a purple thunderbolt, trying to fight power with power.

At this point, the wooden katana that she bought from her house would be useless, she thought.