Rion exhaled softly and tightened his grip around the shaft of his dark spear.
His aura stirred and slithered towards the tip of the spear, and he hurled it towards the cliff.
Swoosh!
The spear cried and drove into the cliff.
Thk!
He turned towards Dora with a prideful grin stretching across his face.
A knowing chuckle escaped her, and she thought, ’I like this childish Rion more than that grumpy, serious Rion.’
He was also having his own thoughts, but they varied greatly from hers.
’Would I feel the same with her as I felt with the spear?’
Whenever he used Heaven’s Vector on an object, his aura formed an instant connection between him and the projectile, and that connection made him feel as if the projectile was a part of his self.
However, he had never tried Heaven’s Vector on a living being, so he didn’t know how the skill would react.
There was also a possibility that worried him greatly.
’What if it didn’t work?’
The whole plan was based on his skill working on her, but if it didn’t work, she would be sent crashing into the cliff.
Just as he was about to sink deeper into his thoughts, she grumbled,
"How long are you going to make me wait?"
He stared into her garnet eyes and said, "I’ll shield you with my aura so you won’t get hurt."
She frowned. "Hmm? Are you looking down on me? Just so you remember, I’ve trained all my life to kill those Kareth, and you think this stupid cliff can hurt me? There is no way in hell!"
He didn’t know if she was saying that to him or to herself.
She could also understand the danger of failure to reach the spear, after all.
Her confident words lessened his worries even if slightly, but they didn’t vanish.
Yet he still had to go through with this dangerous and flawed plan.
He needed that herb to create the medicine that would help her awaken her aura, and once she awakened her aura, he wouldn’t have to fear her getting cursed while scouting the edge of the purple fog forest.
He clenched his fist in resolve, ’I’ll make sure to save her before anything happens," and took a deep breath before he mumbled, "Let’s do this."
She gave a serious nod and took a deep breath to calm her fears.
’I can do this!’ She steeled herself as she took a few steps back and dashed towards him.
Tak-Tak-Tak!
Just as she reached him, he grasped her wrist, and his aura flooded out to shield her body.
Trrr!
She frowned, but before she could voice her complaint, he yanked her towards the spear.
Woosh!
"AHHH—! HAHA!" She flew towards the cliff while screaming and laughing in both fright and excitement. At the same moment, Rion felt everything she was feeling.
"Hah..." he gasped as her fear, excitement, love and trust flooded into his mind.
A beautiful smile took hold of his lips, and he mumbled heartily, "You are really the dumber one..."
Dora reached the spear, and her eyes widened as she was dangerously off to the side, her lips parted to scream.
But before she could even let out a voice, the aura around her moved under the control of Heaven’s Vector and adjusted her to the side.
"Hah!" She gasped and wobbled, but before she could fall off the spear, she grasped the branch and pulled herself closer to the cliff.
She took a few deep breaths to calm her furiously beating heart and muttered with a scared and dumbfounded look, "What was that...?"
At the same time, the aura around her dissipated.
Rion frowned as the connection ended and focused on the matter at hand.
"Get the herb!" He shouted.
She tightened her grip around the branch and took out her dagger with her free hand.
She dug her dagger into the side of the thick branch and slowly turned towards the side to look for the herb.
A few moments later, she found the herb and collected it.
Suddenly, a thought struck her head, and she shouted, "Wait! How am I going to come down?!"
He walked closer to the cliff and said while lifting both of his hands, "Just jump down! I’ll grab you!"
She looked down at him and pulled her dagger before taking a careful step towards the end of the spear.
But just as the weight shifted, the spear trembled slightly, and she slipped.
"AHHHHH!" A scream left her as she fell from the spear, and her eyes closed in fright.
Her thoughts spiralled darkly, but before her body could touch the hard ground, Rion caught her.
She yelped and opened her eyes to his worried face just a few inches away from hers.
"Are you alright? Did you get hurt? Why aren’t you saying anything? Oi?!" He asked, his worry deepening with each unanswered question.
She blinked a few times before she burst into laughter and remarked, "Haha! Stop shouting in my ear. You dummy!"
He exhaled in relief and stared at her giggling face with a sweet smile.
Her laughter halted, and she stared back at his face.
Both of them stared into each other’s eyes, their warm breath brushed off their faces, but before things could escalate further, Rion stepped back and said, "Let’s go... the sun is about to set."
She bit her lips and looked at him with reluctant eyes before pointing her finger at his spear. "What about your spear?"
Instead of answering, he walked right under his spear and lifted his right fist.
Swish!
All of his remaining aura moved towards his fist, and his fist landed on the side of the cliff.
Thud!
Crk-crk-crk!
Dust and stone fell as deep, serpentine cracks appeared all over the surface of the cliff.
The cracks soon reached the spear, and it plummeted down towards the ground.
He walked over to the spear and pulled it out from the ground before muttering with a grin, "Here."
Dora didn’t reply as all she could do was stare at the cracked cliff in utter disbelief.