Ch.18 Neo and Ruby(3)

Clink!

The sound of two swords colliding is heard as Vayu easily deflects the attack thrown by Neo toward him. With a simple motion of his sword, he pushed Neo back as he looked at him.

"Neo, your moves are too rigid. Try to make them more natural."

Vayu says as he waits for Neo to attack again, after all, his moving itself will be a disadvantage for Neo.

"Understood."

Neo said as he stood up, gripping his sword tightly he charged at Vayu again and was again easily deflected though there was a little improvement.

"Woo, thought you would be good at it, Neo."

Shouted Ruby as she cheered for Neo, well it looked like it anyway but she was most likely happy that Neo was getting beaten up after all she couldn't do that herself without fearing future repercussions.

"Hoo, haa"

Neo takes deep breaths as he concentrates on his sword, letting mana flow throughout his body as he again attacks Vayu.

One strike is deflected but before it is countered turning his body mid-air he attacks again, seeing such a tactic Vayu just smiles as he changes the movement of his sword a little countering the attack of Neo.

He is knocked back again. With this Neo has already lost count of how many times he has been knocked back.

He wipes the sweat from his forehead as he prepares for his next attack, although fatigue has slowly started to appear as he has been training for two hours now.

Good thing a day in this world is 36 hours long and not the 24 hours that was in the previous world.

Vayu also noticed Neo sweat so he put his sword back into the sheath and stopped the training for now.

"Let's take a break for now."

Vayu said as he walked toward Ruby, with a smile on her face Ruby handed him a bottle of water which he took.

"Understood."

Neo said as he sat on the ground collecting his breaths.

"Here."

Ruby said as she rubbed the cold bottle of water on Neo's face.

"Thanks"

Neo said as he took the bottle and started to chug the water.

"Hehe"

Ruby smiled seeing his behavior and then looked at the sword next to him.

Picking it up she did a few slashes at such fast motions that even some afterimages were created.

"Too light."

She complained as she gave the sword back to Neo.

"Ha, why wouldn't a short sword be light to a greatsword wielder like you?"

Neo scoffed as he stood up, after all, she was someone who was personally trained by the "Sword Saint" aka her father.

So even though she is as old as Neo, her rank is that of a middle-stage "Mana Foundation" and her genius in sword even surpasses that of Alicia, Neo's older sister.

However, in exchange, her magic talent is abysmal, due to which even though she has inherited "Sun Core" and "Sun Magic" of the royal family she can mostly use it for enhancement. 

In this world, people can use every type of magic possible if they know the spell but even with that most choose to specialize in a certain element.

So when they reach the "Mana Star" realm they make the mana star of a certain element they choose to specialize on.

But there are exceptions to every rule as some people are already born with a specialized element or even a concept.

One such example is Ruby, the princess of the Solious family, she was born with the concept of the Sun itself as her mana core during birth.

"Well, Greatswords are the best type of sword."

Ruby said in a matter-of-fact tone as she looked at Neo.

"Oh, and what makes you think so?"

"Because My father uses it."

She replied as she gave him a childish smile.

"Sigh, what was I accepting from you anyway."

Neo said as he just sighed in defeat.

"Hey, did you just make fun of me?"

Ruby questioned as she gave Neo a glare.

"Who knows, why don't you try to figure it out with that brain of yours."

Neo replied as he just shrugged his shoulders.

"Is that so."

Ruby said with a smile as her eyes twitched a little. Though it was a smile it was by no means a friendly one as just in that moment Neo sensed danger.

Kicking the ground with full force he dodged the attack thrown at him, dust raised on the place he was in as something slammed on the ground.

With the movement of something big gusts of winds were created as the dust got removed and what came to view can be only described as comical.

After all Ruby, a little girl was wielding a greatsword four times the size of her body, as for where that sword came from the pouch hanging from her waist answers that.

"Hey, hey what is this about."

Neo asks as he backs down a little, gripping his sword tightly as he readies himself for battle.

"Why don't we have a spar?"

Ruby replies with a cute smile as she moves her Greatsword a little and just that movement causes a strong gust of wind to be created.

"Um, how about, No."

Neo says bluntly as he doesn't have any wish to be beaten by a cute little girl with a greatsword.

"Now, now, Neo you can't back out after all you will need lots of training to get used to your sword."

Even hearing his reply she doesn't back down but instead starts to walk closer to him, dragging the greatsword on the ground behind her.

"Hmm,..then how about you hold back your strength up to my current rank."

Neo replies seeing that there is no way out of this predicament.

"But that won't be good training."

Ruby says as she tilts her head sideways, she has a dangerous smile on her face. After all, she finally got a reason to beat Neo up, and although it's due to a childish remark it is still valid.

"Then, how about I treat you to your favorite ice cream." 

Neo tried to bribe her and it worked as she stopped dead on her track.

After making a thinking face for a while she shows two of her fingers as she speaks.

"Two, two different flavors of Ice cream."

"Deal."

Neo quickly accepts.

"Don't forget it, OK."

Ruby says with a smile as she lowers her mana rank and puts it on par with Neo.

Although the match may seem a little more fair now, if you think so you are sorely mistaken, after all, she is still Ruby.

Her sword skill is on par with that of Alicia currently and her physical strength can only be considered monstrous when compared to those of the same rank as herself.

"Well, the Neo be ready, 3..2...1. go."

Ruby started to count down and just as it finished with a single kick to the ground she appeared in front of Neo.

Moving her greatsword as if it didn't even have any weight she attacked Neo with all her might. Neo who came face to face with such an attack had no choice but to block it.

Heavy.

That was the thought that was going through Neo's thoughts as he was pushed back due to the force of the attack.

Even with that Ruby didn't relent as she continued to attack Neo and Neo was barely able to survive it.

It seems Ruby was also holding back her sword skills and just showed enough that Neo was barely able to catch up.

After a while of fighting the battle ended with the victor being Ruby, Neo fell on his back as he collected his breath.

There was some damage to his body due to his being unable to block all of Ruby's attacks.

"I guess I have to train even harder, after all, if not you will catch up to me in no time."

Ruby says as she sits next to where Neo is laying down.

"haa, what makes, haa, you think so?"

Neo asked as he took deep breaths.

"Because you are talented, maybe even more talented than me."

"Now that's an overstatement of my talent."

"You think so, then I just think differently then. After all, you are the coolest person I know after my father and mother."

Ruby says as she turns toward Neo and gives him a beautiful, innocent and charming smile.

Seeing her smile he wasn't able to reply as he just closed his eyes and smiled back at her.