61 Chapter 61: Friendly Spar

"You called for me, father?" Said Eyvor, standing before a large desk filled with papers that Aasveig was reading.

"Yes, I plan to visit the Immortal Elven Empire within a few days for some business, and since they're our allies, it would be good for the next generation to get to know each other." Said Aasveig while setting down a stack of papers in his hand.

"Must I go, father? I've heard rumors that the oldest heir is a boy, and I don't wish to be stared at with his disgusting lust-filled eyes." Replied Eyvor with disgust and hate laced in her voice as she remembered all of her previous interactions with the opposite gender.

"As your father, I wish I could help with that, but unfortunately, that is something you are just going to have to learn to deal with; even if I can stop men from looking at you that way within our kingdom, I won't be able to do so once you leave. However, I'm quite confident that Prince Elif won't look at you like that." Said Aasveig, feeling greatly angered and saddened that his daughter was forced to experience this at such a young age, though he could do nothing as Fairies mature earlier than most species.

"That's not very reassuring, father; even my own cousins would look at me with lust-filled eyes!" Exclaimed Eyvor in slight anger as she sat down on one of the chairs.

"Well, what do you want from me, Eyvor? The Immortal Elven Empire is one of our allies; you'll have to interact with Prince Elif sooner or later, might as well as do it now and get it over with. Besides, Elves take slightly longer to mature fully, so Prince Elif is most likely still not interested in the opposite gender yet." Said Aasveig in exhaustion as he tried his best to convince Eyvor.

"Doesn't matter, father; I still don't wish to interact with this Prince Elif." Declared Eyvor, not budging an inch on her decision.

"Haa, fine, how about this; accompany me to Immortal Elven Empire, and I won't force you to leave the Kingdom until you become of age. Deal?" Declared Aasveig, feeling more exhausted arguing with his daughter than participating in a great battle.

"Hmm, fine, I'll accompany you, father." Said Eyvor happily, since from the moment Aasveig mentioned Immortal Elven Empire, she knew she would be forced to go no matter what, but luckily she did manage to squeeze out a deal with him.

"Good, just make sure to be ready to leave in a few days." Muttered Aasveig, leaning back in the chair, full of exhaustion.

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"Tell me, son, how do you feel knowing you'll get to meet your idol?" Said Nerthus, who had just entered Birger's room and sat down.

"He isn't my idol; he is just someone I respect; there is a clear difference between those two." Answered Birger in annoyance after having halted whatever activity he was doing.

"You say that, but if I'm not wrong, don't you regularly check for information regarding Prince Elif?" Said Nerthus as she looked out the window of their flying carriage.

"There is nothing wrong with being up-to-date when it involves an Immortal hegemony, besides the Immortal Elven Empire is our ally, so I should have a basic understanding of the current heirs to the throne." Replied Birger, putting away some stuff before arriving next to Nerthus and sitting down.

"Hmm, I suppose that's reasonable enough. Now get ready; we are about to arrive at Yggdrasil, and make sure to be respectful; even if we are allies, they're still an Immortal existence." Stated Nerthus as she, along with Birger, stood up and left the room, only to sit down at the front of the carriage and look out the window.

"I understand, mother." Replied Birger as he looked out the window and observed Yggdrasil from below.

'So this is Yggdrasil? It's not much larger than our capital; however, it does carry a different type of beauty.' Thought Birger, specifically eyeing the palace in the distance.

Once we neared the palace, the carriage descended and landed just before the gates. After mother showed the guards our identity, we were quickly allowed entrance into the Royal grounds; however, once we got out of the carriage, I noticed two Fairies standing in the distance, seemingly waiting for us.

"Queen Nerthus, it seems you've taken your sweet time to arrive." Remarked Aasveig with a smirk.

"It's good to see you as well, Patriarch Aasveig, and it seems you also brought company." Replied Nerthus, ignoring Aasveig's remark, and observed Eyvor in the distance.

"That I did, though I must say, it was quite the pain trying to get her to accompany me." Stated Aasveig, the smile on his face slowly fading away as he remembered how he practically forced Eyvor to tag along with him.

"Hmm, that's understandable; I don't know anyone who would wish to spend an extended amount of time with you all alone." Said Nerthus as she mocked him.

"Like you're a better option to spend time with? I would rather get corroded by death Qi before spending an extended period of time with you." Remarked Aasveig with a scoff, causing Birger and Eyvor to give their parents weird looks.

"Hahaha, it truly has been too long, Aasveig." Said Nerthus with a warm smile before walking toward Aasveig and initiating a friendly hug.

"Tell me about it; It's been eons since it was the last time I had truly enjoyed myself; now it's all about trying to improve the Fairy Clan." Said Aasveig with a smile, reciprocating the hug before letting go.

"Now then, as much as I would enjoy catching up, I believe we have something more important to discuss." Said Aasveig as the smile on his face was quickly replaced with a severe expression.

"I concur; let us go and meet with Emperor Marcus and Emperor Maria." Replied Nerthus with an equally severe expression as they both began heading towards the palace while accompanied by two confused children.

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"How shall we determine the winner Prince Elif?" Asked Birger, who was standing at the opposite side of the arena while Eyvor was spectating beside Illumia.

"Hmm, since this is merely a friendly match, how about the first one to get hit? Of course, if that's fine with you?" Said Elif with a smirk.

"I see no problem with that." Said Birger, already thinking of ways to counter Elifs speed.

"Well then, Illumia, start the match whenever you're ready." Said Elif as his friendly demeanor significantly diminished, though weirdly enough, he still had a smile on his face.

"Begin!" Exclaimed Illumia; Elif and Birger instantly started attacking the moment she did so.

Immediately after Illumia started the match, I swiftly vanished from my spot, and just in time, too, as where I was previously standing, there were several vines made of Qi stabbing into the ground. However, that wasn't the end, as they quickly managed to get free before launching themselves at me again.

I found the technique to be quite interesting since while it was considered one technique, Birger seemed capable of individually controlling each vine, making it a very annoying attack to deal with, though it wasn't something I couldn't deal with. Reaching my hand forward at the incoming vines, a giant purple palm manifested itself as it began hurling towards the incoming attack, the vines instead of trying to avoid the attack, decided to stay on their path and clash head-on with the purple palm; however, that was a mistake. The moment they collided, the vines lasted for merely a second before they got obliterated by the palm, barely even causing a scratch on the purple palm.

Looking at Birger, I saw his face full of surprise before he tried attacking me again, this time though, instead of using the vines, an oversized silhouette of a tree made out of Qi manifested around his body, making one believe it to be defensive technique, but the spiked tree roots say otherwise.

"How will you reach me now, Prince Elif?" Said Birger with an uneasy smirk, still internally shocked at Elif's ability to negate one of his strongest attacks casually.

I was going to reply, but out of nowhere, I suddenly got a bad feeling; however, what I found strange was it wasn't because of Birger or the technique he was displaying.

'Let me quickly finish this fight, and I can think about it later.' Thought Elif, scanning his surroundings before eventually focusing back on Birger, only for him to quickly evade a large spiked tree root that came flying at him.

Sending a palm attack toward the tree root that just tried attacking me; however, when they collided, both were consumed by a violent explosion. Luckily the area has been heavily reinforced with formations, so not as much as a slight vibration was felt, though that doesn't mean people still wouldn't be able to see a giant explosion in the distance.

Deciding to quickly finish this fight before father finds out, I launched a powerful palm attack towards Birger; however, all of the tree roots converged around Birger, protecting him, and though I did manage to destroy all the tree roots, my attack was exhausted along with it. Clicking my tongue, I summoned Hokori out from my storage ring, and while still sheathed, I lifted him over my head before quickly slashing down, launching a Heavenly Scar right at him.

The previously destroyed tree roots, which had managed to regenerate, attempted to protect Birger again; however, as I used the Heavenly scar, such hopes were useless. My sword wave cleanly sliced through every tree root, along with the giant tree trunk, before exiting from the back and slamming into the ground, causing a massive smoke cloud to cover the battlefield.

Though Illumia swiftly dissipated the smoke, what came into view was Birger standing in the same spot, injure-free, while a large fissure in the ground was directly next to him.

"It is my lost Prince Elif." Remarked Birger with a sigh as he turned to his left and eyed the giant fissure in the ground.

"That was quite an experience, Prince Birger. How about you, Eyvor, want to have a friendly spar?" Said Elif as his friendly aura reappeared while eyeing the shocked Eyvor.