Chapter 13: Things Are Heating Up

As Ace was looking over the details of his new mission, he heard the voice of the guild employee telling him he had finished confirming his payment. Ace grabbed his reward of 20 bronze and started to head towards the exit. Before he went back downstairs into the chaos, he wanted to check his status since his fight with Camael.

STATS:

ACE D. WALKER

LEVEL: 66 (12,480/18,000 EXP)

HEALTH: 500/500

MANA: 13,200/13,200

STR: 296

DEX: 999 (MAX)

INT: 580

WIS: 500

Abilities:

Light Man (Passive):

The user can phase through most attacks by turning part or all of him into light.

Light Beam:

Concentrating light onto a certain point, the user can fire that light at a target. User can manipulate attack to explode or shoot through target silently.

Mirror Reflection:

User can create 'mirrors' made of light and using these mirrors, user can teleport to and from them.

Flashbang:

The user collects a mass of light inside his fist and when thrown at an enemy will explode effectively blinding them for a short period.

Light Drinker:

The user absorbs surrounding light into muscles causing a boost in physical abilities. Maximum of 20% boost. After fifteen minutes, the user will lose the boost and receive a 15% loss of power. Power will be restored after 30 minutes.

Bright Puppet:

Using light refractions, the user can create a clone of himself. Clone(s) follows users command telepathically and can explode when triggered.

FIGHTING LEGACY OF Z: 75% LEARNED

SHOP SKILLS

OBSERVATION HAKI: LEVEL 1

ARMAMENT HAKI: LEVEL 1

CONQUEROR'S HAKI: LEVEL 1

SYSTEM POINTS: 10,000

Ace was happy seeing his current strength and was looking forward to mastering Haki and adding in new abilities to his arsenal. He closed the STATS window and maneuvered his way through the hoard of desperate adventures finally getting back outside. As he stepped outside, he was not surprised to notice that he was being watched. He figured his information was relayed to "Saviors" and they sent someone to find out more about him. He decided to act naturally for the time being and walked to a nearby restaurant and grabbed a table so he could think about his situation while enjoying a good meal.

'The first thing I should do is create a party and complete the assigned mission. With more people helping, I can find out more information about "Saviors" and figure out how to deal with them. I don't want to fight against them again without knowing the full picture. If I act too rash and side with them, they could be worse people than I thought, and I end up being hunted by the people of Obisos. If I don't get enough information and fight the "Saviors", I could end up fighting good people who only want to stop the discrimination held against them. I have to choose a side as well because if I end up staying neutral, I will probably have to fight against both sides.'

Ace decided to start his search for his future party members. Although he had no idea where to start searching. He wanted members who he didn't have to worry about defending, he wanted people he could rely on if he needed the support. Most of the people in this world were far below his expectations and the ones who could meet those expectations were forced into hiding.

It seems that fate was smiling upon him at that moment as an explosion rang out inside the walls of Tarrin. Ace immediately got up from his seat and looked outside to see the castle on the top of the hill destroyed and in flames. He saw some debris flying towards the town, but oddly before the rubble could damage anything it would explode multiple times in the air to the point where only small pebbles were left. Ace looked towards the castle and with his newly obtained Observation Haki he could barely make out a figure on the hill suddenly fly away.

Ace began running in the direction of the figure hoping to catch up to them. He wasn't running his full speed as to not alert his observer and knew that at this pace he would lose sight of the figure. He quickly headed into a nearby ally while creating a 'Bright Puppet' and sent it running ahead of him. As soon as the puppet left the ally he began teleporting and running at full speed now that the puppet was acting as his decoy.

After chasing the figure for quite some time it finally left the air and dived into a nearby forest leaving a convenient trail of fire behind it. As Ace approached where the figure should have landed, he felt the heat rising at a rapid pace. He looked around the forest and was shocked that none of the trees were catching on fire even in this scorching temperature. As the heat reached an almost unbearable level Ace saw a small metal shack sitting near a small body of water. He approached the door of the shack but before he could even knock, the door swung open as he dodged a kick aimed for his head. Ignoring the sense of "déjà vu" he got, he looked at the person who just attacked him.

The figure was a tall slender woman with tan skin. She had orange hair in a long ponytail that swayed like it was a raging fire. She wore light leather armor with no sleeves and wristband guards on both arms.

[Authors note: link for character inspiration

https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/g3quu3/oc_art_pyre_o_mancer_a_fire_genasi_with_a_spark/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf]

The woman looked at Ace slightly impressed by the fact that he dodged her kick. She wasn't sure who the person was but assumed he had come to take her life.

"I'm impressed you were able to find me so quickly."

"Well the trail of fire you leave behind is a big help."

Ace smiled at the woman hoping to convey he meant no harm. He was happy to see no black wings on her back and he could tell she was a good person since he figured she was the one who stopped the debris from hurting any civilians. It seemed he found his first new party member.

"Listen, I'm not here to kill you or anything I just want to talk."

Without responding the woman shot a stream of fire at Ace. He easily dodged the flames landing on a nearby tree branch.

'Although this is not ideal, I guess I'll use this as an opportunity to test her strength.'

Ace knew if he went all out, she wouldn't stand a chance, so he locked all his abilities beside 'Light Beam' and jumped down from the tree getting into a fighting stance.

Deciding to take the initiative the woman flew up into the air and shot multiple explosive fireballs towards Ace. As she tried to see through the dust from the explosion unsure if her attack worked, she saw a beam of light pierce through the dust and head towards her. She dodged the beam but was caught off guard when it exploded behind her pushing her towards the ground. As she tried to recover herself from falling, she managed to see a kick coming towards her out of the corner of her eye. Without enough time to dodge, she quickly twisted her body towards the kick with her arms up guarding her against the attack. Once the kick connected, she was sent tumbling across the ground. As soon as she managed to recover, she fired a larger stream of fire at Ace who jumped up to dodge while shooting a light beam at her. The woman jumped back avoiding the laser beam while also creating some distance. The two stared at each other for a bit before Ace felt a sudden increase in the woman's strength.

"Overheat"

Once she said those words her skin turned a shade of red and her hair stood up making it look even more like a raging fire. Her aura around her exploded in size which even pressured Ace slightly. Not wanting to give her the advantage Ace blinked in front of her throwing a punch at her face. The woman deflected the punch with her arm and sent an uppercut at Ace who could only tilt his head to dodge. Unexpectedly the punch stopped next to Ace's head and shot a massive pillar of fire from the top of her fist. Using this as a distraction the woman suddenly headbutted Ace who couldn't react in time because of losing his focus as well as her unexpected speed increase. After taking the blow, Ace jumped back from the woman and rubbed his forehead which now had a burn mark.

"Not bad. I'd say you definitely pass the test and as much as I would love to continue, I think it's time to end this."

While she was trying to understand what he meant by "test" Ace shot a light beam at her which she easily sidestepped. The moment her feet moved over Ace appeared next to her and sent a horizontal kick at her side. Unable to react from his speed she took the full blow shooting her in the direction of the kick. She didn't get a chance to recover as Ace blocked her path and punched her towards the ground making sure he didn't put too much force into the punch. When the punch hit, she had the air knocked out of her and a small crater formed around her when she hit the ground.

Without much strength left her skin turned back its normal color and her raging fire hair settled down. She coughed a little bit of blood and closed her eyes waiting for this man to kill her. What she heard, however, was something she never expected.

"I want you to join my party."