Grey Regen 9

Fighting the urge to roll my eyes, I ran forward, my feet carrying me forward in a zigzag path towards my opponent as I moved between his bombardment.

Just as I reached it, the air in front of me lit up with crackling arcs of lightning, leaping around the edges of another - much larger - gust of wind.

Covering my arms with aether, I spun on my lead foot. Spinning past Darrin's blast while using my aether-covered arms as a conduit to redirect mana, I struck back with a lightning strike of my own.

Darrin raised his forearms in a tight crusade to block my punch. As the retreating ascendant slid back from the impact, the electricity surrounding my arms simply spread like a web of flickering yellow light through its mana-covered body before dissipating.

One of the children screamed in sheer excitement, but Darrin's attention was on my hands, which had streaks of burnt skin branching down my arms.

'That sure looks fun,' Regis said deadpan.

Darrin let his guard down, concern in his eyes as he looked at my hands. “That looks pretty bad. Maybe we should get you - "

I raised a hand that was already healing and his eyes widened as the flesh returned to its naturally pale complexion. "There is no need.”

Although he was still frowning, Darrin took a few steps back and indicated that he was ready once more.