The Unbreakable Bow

Aefrine did dare to take a peek...

All he could see was a small head, with a large nostril, a tall straight nose horn, and a massive forehead crowned with at least four large spikes. It was a dinosaur, a relatively small one, but its head was still about the size of Aefrine himself. It was charging at him with all of his four thick legs. His long horn aiming at his chest.

Ok, no way Rudolf doesn't want to kill him this time.

Aefrine wished he could just end it here, and all of his problems would disappear, but life was never that easy. He had to move on and find a solution. That was what he was thinking while being chased by a giant horned lizard. As the ground began shaking more aggressively, the closer the beast got, the boy knew that his only chance was phys magic. He closed his eyes and focused on his legs.

Please work. Please work.

He could feel the hard breath of the monster right behind ...

Please!-

Suddenly, he no longer felt the ground on his feet. But nothing had hit. He opened his eyes. Rudolf was holding him from his cape. And the monster was far from them. The moment his eyes met Rudolf's, he dropped him on the floor.

"Are you trying to suicide?"

He stared at him...

"Of course, not.. why would anyone do that, I mean-"

Rudolf wasn't listening to his nervous reply.

"If you are, then do it in someone's else presence. Seriously, I expected from you a much better strategy to face a styraco than run in a straight line. "

"A styraco? Is that what it is called?"

"Yes. And its name is Stephen. All he seeks is that apple. Don't drop it until I tell. Here he comes. Try to work smarter."

"Eh?!"

He looked, and the animal was charging again. He looked right and left. He went to the poles and went between them, zigzagging his way. It was the closest thing to him. And it was the fastest thing that Aefrine could think of doing. Stephen followed his steps. Indeed, it slowed him down greatly. Even Aefrine was surprised. His negative mood made him believe that the styraco would just destroy the poles in his way, which would also slow him down, even a bit. The luck was again on Aefrine's side when one of Stephen's upper horns got struck in the last pole. However, the pole did not get pulled out of the ground as someone would expect. The poles were definitely stronger than they seemed.

Aefrine didn't waste time. He noticed a giant structure of iron bars, together forming a dome. He needed to hurry up as once his leg was finally on the lowest bar, the dinosaur had already freed itself. Its grumbles are getting even louder with every moment. It was hard climbing the iron dome. He was using one heavy arm while balancing himself with his heavy legs, not to mention the apple, which on its own had some weight in his other arm. Aefrine made it even harder when he decided to try phys magic while climbing. The sun was blinding his eyes, so he just hoped that the next bar would be the last. Finally, on top, he immediately checked on Stephen.

He was about to crash into the dome. His horn got struck, and he ...flipped the whole thing with little effort...

Aefrine hastily adapted and jumped away, trying not to get buried alive under the metal bars that were once his shelter. Still, he was stunned by the strength of Stephen or the weakness of the dome.

No more relying on anything but my damn legs.

He almost dropped the apple.

"Don't let it touch the ground."

Shouted from a distance Rudolf. He was jogging from a distance following Aefrine's movements. The fact that he was faster than him by simply jogging annoyed Aefrine, but it wasn't the time for that. He was now running towards the oxer fences. They were wide but not very high. It was barely low enough for him to duck under it. It did slow him down, but hopefully, Stephen doesn't have a faster method. He was at the fifth fence when he felt the earth shaking softly. Stephen was jumping over the fences.

The boy tricked himself into thinking that the fences were slowing the styraco, but soon he realised after finishing the course that Stephen was already behind him. Aefrine desperately made a full circle turn around the fence, trying to confuse him in some way. It was a stupid idea, but it worked. Stephen slipped.

Next was the monkey bars. They were wide and tall, but as Aefrine got closer, he was trying to figure out how exactly that was supposed to slow Stephen down. Would it turn out the same way with the dome?

There weren't any other options. Stephen is back on his feet. He climbed. It was painful. All his limbs are exhausted. The grumbles were getting louder again. Finally, he managed to get to the top, and he jumped as Stephen struck again. He stretched his hand to the first bar. If the beast failed at throwing him away, he would finish the bars, and if he succeeded, he would use the momentum to get a headstart, not like it would do anything ...

The building did not collapse. Stephen made another strike on the ladder. Aefrine jumped using one hand. The other was holding onto the apple like a baby. He barely could feel his arms. The styraco jumped a bit higher to target Aefrine. As he did, the pain in the boy's arms went away. The apple, and shackles, all became as light as a feather except for the ones on his legs. He completed all the bars with no difficulty compared to everything else he did that morning. As he reached the opposite ladder, the dinosaur went after him directly. Aefrine jumped. His legs hurt so much, he almost fell on his butt.

Nevertheless, he continued running. Or he tried. The pain had returned to all his limbs. Added to that, he felt quite dizzy. He was going to pass out. The only thing near him now was the wall and the iron gate that once sealed the beast.

That was enough for one day.

As he was about to throw the apple away with all his left might. He again could no longer feel his feet touching the ground. And the apple had gone as well. The Duke had thrown it into the gate, and Stephen followed it, disappearing into the darkness. To his relief, Stephen did not come out despite the gate still being wide open.

"So... haha...did I fail?"

"To some degree, yes. May you show me an improper form of phys magic?"

"Eh?"

"You just used phys magic for more than enough to get past the monkey bars. Surely, you can use it on your own now?"

"Wait, really -"

Rudolf had dropped him to the ground again. He stood up and tried doing it again. The aura did appear, but the moment he lost his focus, it had disappeared.

"Good enough for your first day. You should know that until phys magic becomes as easy as eating for you, Stephen will stay as your training partner. And keep in mind that Stephen is a tamed dinosaur. He is trained not to use magic until his rider commands him to do so."

"Wait, dinosaurs can use magic ?"

"Of course, if that was a wild styraco, he would have used phys magic to catch up to you and threw at you a cloud of suffocating dust from its beck. Anyway, this will be enough for you today. Come back tomorrow at the same time. "

"Ok.."

He, with the help of Rudolf, took off his shackles, and his limbs could finally feel free. He still felt the dizziness. Was it from the magic he used?

For the next week, he would play catch with Stephen daily. On the second day, he avoided his past mistakes. It went much easier. And by using phys magic to some extent, it was very easy. That was until he finished the course, expecting Rudolf to save him. The Duke told him to continue.

What was he supposed to continue?

Only a wall faced him, and he was much more dizzy than yesterday. In desperation, he used his bow to get away from the beast's reach. Little did he know that the real monster was Rudolf who jumped very high with no difficulty. After Stephen was back at his place, he probably slapped Aefrine about one hundred times before throwing him very hard on the floor. He ended up feeling ten times worse than the first day.

The third day was a bit different. This time he had given him the axe he had used in his duel with Alma days ago and told him that from now on he would need to carry both the apple and the axe without dropping any one of them, just like in a real battle.

This obviously made it harder than ever. Climbing is no longer an option. But he still managed to keep a decent distance between him and the horns of Stephen by using clever manoeuvres. But in reality, he mostly just runs in circles, trying to make the styraco stumble into everything that he can.

However, after hours of running, the boy got tired despite the usage of phys magic. And the apple slipped from his hand. Rudolf was quick to react. After taking care of Stephen, he gave Aefrine the usual punishment and sent him home.

The fourth day wasn't much of a difference except for Rudolf asking him to use phys magic while counting up to twenty before the chase started,which Aefrine failed to do. The chase went almost exactly as the day before. The boy tried to out-manoeuvre Stephen while the animal never seemed to learn its lesson. However, this time, Aefrine was able to last long enough until Rudolf finally gave him the signal to throw away the apple. After that day's training, he asked the Duke if he could use the axe to defend himself without dropping it, just like in a real battle...

"Sure! If you think you can do something to a styraco with a regular hand axe, then go ahead. Hahaha "

The fifth day's training was so shocking. It made Aefrine panic. The rules didn't change, but all of the equipment was gone. It was just a plain field except for the long fence that divided the yard into two equal areas. It wasn't going to help much. Yet, it was Aefrine's only hope. He didn't even waste time listening to what Rudolf had to say. He went straight for the fence. Rudolf didn't waste any time either, he opened the gate straight away.

Aefrine realised that day that the long fence wasn't a good option. Stephen simply jumped over it. He went to the walls and kicked barrels at him. He only used magic to jump from certain death as he learned that using phys magic for one moment to jump a huge jump is more beneficial than using it all day to run. Using that strategy, he succeeded in finishing the fifth day.

Aefrine's afternoons were more boring that week. Since Alma's training sessions were in those times. He was struck with Berta once again to learn Carthagonien and Celtonic. Neither of the two were happy about this. But by the fifth day, she had told him that he had learnt Carthagonien enough to have a normal conversation, which impressed Alma as she said :

"That is very impressive. You really are a very quick learner, but I still recommend that you learn some hard words just in case. Oh, and don't ignore Celtonic. Most people here speak it only."

The sixth day was special, not because Rudolf told him to show him phys magic and that he was successful but because of what happened after. Rudolf said that he was finally ready.

There was no need for shackles or the axe or even the apple. He told him simply to count up to ten and see if he could catch up to Stephen.

The gate opened, but this time, Stephen came out calmly with a saddle on his neck. Rudolf rode him. He was just too far from the head, so the spikes didn't hurt him and were too near enough, so the giant forehead could be used as a meat shield. He pulled the bridle, and Stephen went charging.

This time, he was much faster. If he had the chased, Aefrine would have been impaled on one of his horns immediately. Aefrine tried to run after it, but the difference in speed was too much. Stephen was definitely using phys magic right now. The boy hastily adapted and switched to his other strategy, which was jumping.

Rudolf said that he only needed to touch Stephen once to finish today's training. Of course, targeting his head was a suicidal option. Aefrine was aiming for the short, thick tail. But what annoyed him the most was that Rudolf was making Stephen go sideways, thus giving Aefrine a taste of his own medicine.

After hours of unfruitful attempts, he stopped in his place, breathing hard. He took a few steps. He looked very dizzy. Rudolf kept riding around him in circles from a safe distance, mocking him. And just as Rudolf took his eyes off him. He immediately jumped as fast as he could, aiming for the belly of the beast. Rudolf took notice and pulled the bridle. Stephen advanced away, but it was too late. Aefrine had managed to touch the tip of the tail. Rudolf stopped and dismounted from the styraco.

"Well done. I didn't expect you to do such a dirty trick. You have become a bit more like Alma."

"Er..sorry..?"

"Anyway, tomorrow will be your final test for basic phys magic. Then, you shall catch up a bit with Alma and learn more advanced spells. You are free to go ."

"Horray," whispered Aefrine.

Later that day, he kept training with phys magic, thinking about the final test. He had completely forgotten about the blob of his soul because there was nothing to do about it. Stephen was a much more serious concern for now. Not to mention, there are some things about his ability that he doesn't himself understand, like why was Ryuji's soul different from every other soul that he had ever listened to. There was Larry ... but he was a skeleton at least...That is why he is simply ignored for the time being anything about the blob that didn't change in any way.

The seventh day arrived. Aefrine was a bit confused. Rudolf was in the middle of the yard. He gave his axe and a very small bow and said: " Are you prepared to duel ?"

"Eh...yes? But who will I be duelling?"

He couldn't see Alma anywhere.

"Who else other than me, of course,"