Chapter 57: Bad matchup


    My body felt like it was broken all over as pain racked every part of it. It was a bit hard to keep my concentration as I breathed in the water mana, and slowly breathed out letting itplete a cycle inside my body. Slowly but surely, the difort became more tolerable as I opened my eyes.


    Once I did, I took a nce at the four tall pirs surrounding the arenas, the adults all had their attention on the second area where At the blue dragonness, and Linyss the pink one were probably fighting at, due to the peculiar bowl shape arenas I was unable to make out what was happening in the other side.


    Curious, I carefully moved my limbs to make sure that there was no hidden injury left nor any difort, with that taken care of, I hastily jumped to the air and made my way unto the pir where my grandfather was situated.


    To my dismay, the pir was not particrlyrge. My grandfather''s impressive figure was already taking all the ce avable. As if sensing my hesitation while I hovered in the air above him, grandfather used his mana to gently guide me down to the top of his head.


    "The little ones'' fight is almost over," He said as soon as Inded. I threw the second arena a casual nce, from my current point of view it was easy to see the entire thing. ''No wonder they are sitting in this ce,'' I inwardly mumbled in understanding.


    At and Linyss''s fight was reaching its climax. To my ultimate surprise, Linyss the pink dragonness was on the defensive with bloodied scales, while At seemed rtively unharmed. Various small puddles of water were left across the stage.


    ''That''s unexpected,'' I thought, Linyss was strong I knew that for a fact because I saw how she easily tamed Ember. Her sneak attack was very dangerous as well, had it not been after my naming ceremony then I had no doubt I would havepletely missed it.


    ''Then again why is she losing to At?'' I wondered. At was strong, I could see that as sheunched an onught of attacks on Linyss. She casually wielded water mana as if it was a hammer, and continuously hammered at the pink dragonness, sending her flying across the stage.


    ''Her control over the water mana is not very impressive though,'' I mumbled, At was forcing the water to obey her which prevented the mana from showcasing its full potential as water was never meant to obey.


    ''But was Linyss always this weak?'' I frowned, I watched carefully as she summoned a pink shield to stop At''s attack only for it to copse after one blow, sending her flying through the air and into the other side of the stage.


    ''She''s toying with her,'' I mumbled with a groan, still confused at the whole fight. My grandfather must have noticed since he spoke. "You seem puzzled Aether?" He asked, his voice carrying a hint of a smile.


    ''Yes grandfather, I don''t understand how Linyss is so weak now, is she acting that way to lower At''s guard? Even so, it doesn''t make any sense to sustain so many injuries...'' I admitted that I had no clue about what was happening.


    Grandfather simply listened to me talk before he nodded, after which he began to exin. "You are only seeing with your mortal eye Aether, observe the flow of the mana, I''m sure you can see it as well if you try," He said.


    With a frown, I slowly willed my heart energy into my eyes. The world blinked as multiple colors assaulted my vision, suddenly everything seemed so bright and colorful as countless colors danced around me. I moved my gaze to the fight below only for my eyes to widen in surprise.


    "Do you see it?" Asked my grandfather. I simply nodded in reply. ''I do,'' Below, At''s mana was like a river pounding at Linyss, raw and strong. It seemed unstoppable as it hammered on her feeble mana.


    While At''s mana appeared like a raging river, Linyss''s one seemed more like a gentle flower. There was just noparing the two since both werepletely different. It was not like Linyss was not trying to retaliate, quite the opposite! I was shocked to see countless almost invisible strands of pink mana, simr to the ones she sent against me shooting towards At.


    The weirdest part about the whole matter was At''s reaction to it, she lookedpletely unaffected by it, almost as if she was immune. All of Linyss''s mananded true on their target, but none had the desirable effect of stopping the rampaging water dragonness.


    ''Why is it not working? It''s not like Linyss''s attacks are weak, quite the opposite!'' I turned to my grandfather who had an all-knowing smile on his face, without moving his gaze from the battle, he exined.


    "Little pink''s power is a very rare one, any sort of magic that allows you to tamper with your opponent''s emotions is extremely dangerous and you should always be wary of those types the most," He first said with a serious tone before continuing.


    "Then again, it''s not like they are invincible. They like all the others have a weakness, especially when they are young. Their magic is very weak against members of the same sex, especially during their childhood periods, that''s why little blue over there is having the time of her life," He added with a chuckle.


    ''But isn''t that kind of unfair?'' I unconsciously asked, not expecting much of an answer. Yet at that, grandfather suddenly turned serious as he replied.


    "Nothing is fair Aether, be sure to remember that. The sooner you realize it, the better. Life does not have any obligations to be fair to you, it does not revolve around you, do you think your matchup with little Ember was fair to him? No, but that''s just the way things are. If you don''t like it, then the only thing you can do is get stronger, strong enough that you no longer need to bother about bad matchups and whatnot, remember well Aether, the only thing that you can truly rely on is yourself, never forget that!'' Said, my grandfather.


    I was momentarily surprised as I was not expecting him to say so much. Yet for some reason, his words kept repeating in my mind. To get stronger...He had a point, In my previous fight against Ember, I was the one holding the advantage due to our elements, it was a bad matchup for him.


    ''But then against grandfather, none of that truly matters,'' I mumbled as I recalled his mes evaporating my water magic without giving me any chance to retaliate. I had a lot to think about as I kept repeating his words.


    ''Why do I want to get stronger?'' I wondered, I did not have an exact goal in mind. If it was before, I would have been content with simply being reincarnated as a dragon, yet the more time I spend in this ce, the more my perspective on certain things changes.


    ''I still want to see a lot of things, I want to visit new ces, meet new dragons, and different races, and for that to happen, I guess my only option is to get stronger,'' I mumbled with my resolution rekindled.