264 Silver flames
Its black flames were smothered by the silver flames and extinguished as soon as they left the wings. Ash and Loke began to fall a second later, unable to flap their wings to fly as they were engulfed in flames.
They couldn’t see their surroundings and were unable to differentiate between up and down, so they could only fall helplessly. The mystic flames of the black hawks were not hot and only burned energy, even the silver flames were no exception to the rule.
The two falling youths were not burned, although their bodies were collapsed and severely injured internally. Loke’s condition worsened the moment he ran out of mana, leaving him at the same status as Ash.
As he fell, Ash twisted the tachi in his hands and hurled it away, along with Loke’s short swords. Even without being able to see, he grabbed Loke by the wings and moved behind him, so that the black hawk fell headlong to the ground and he could use it to break his fall.
Loke tried to get rid of Ash on his back, but he couldn’t hit him in the back and the ground reached him before he could think of a solution.
But before he could touch the ground and die an agonizing death, a pillar of black flame appeared around him and engulfed the silver fire, nullifying Ash’s ability in an instant.
A float spell prevented them from touching the ground and the flames disappeared and a blast of wind separated the two to prevent them from fighting further.
“The battle is over, Ash is the victor!” One of several black hawk referees screamed as he landed between the two youths. He had delayed his announcement in hopes that Loke would turn the tide of battle at the last second, but he couldn’t stall any longer.
Not with the clan master’s gaze focused on his back and the constant bloodlust he exuded.
.....
“Wait, that’s wrong! I can still fight!” Loke screamed as he got to his feet, but his knees gave out and he fell to the ground as he vomited blood. The internal wounds only got worse as her body was forced to come to a sudden stop from a free fall, her organs being pressed and against her bones and almost breaking.
Ash was in a similar position, but he was smiling deeply as he clenched his fists in victory, happy tears almost running down his eyes.
This fight was important to him, because it would prove his power and allow him to join the army, his only chance to gain achievements for himself and try to improve his position in the clan.
“Looks like I won our bet, colleagues. I hope you honor your words and hand me my prize by the end of the day.” The clan master spoke, but the other beastmen were too incredulous to hear him.
He flew over to where Ash was and took out a high grade healing potion from his storage item and offered it to him gently.
“Congratulations son, you did it.” He made Ash drink the potion and the young beastmen collapsed from exhaustion. The master looked at him with pride that his son had managed to win and had achieved something with his own hands.
“I’ll let you rest for now, you deserve it. Leave the rest to me.” The master lifted Ash’s body and carried it to the recovery rooms where mages with an affinity for light waited for the battles to end to heal the injured youths.
*************
A few hours later, in the middle of the night.
After being completely healed to perfect condition, the clan master took Ash back to the master’s mansion at the top of the mountain.
Normally, young men who won their duels would receive congratulations from the top beastmen in the clan, as well as receiving awards and promises of high positions in the army, but Ash was hurt too badly and the important beastmen despised Ash and would hate the idea of ??praising him up front from others.
Ash would still receive his awards and a position in the army, but unfortunately he wouldn’t have the pleasure of seeing those who hated him so much being forced to praise them.
‘Hmm...what happened?’ Ash thought as he slowly woke up, but his body was still exhausted from the fight and the effort of healing so he couldn’t move.
His eyelids were heavy and he was barely able to open them, but his vision was blurry and he wasn’t able to recognize anything.
‘Did I win the fight? Yes, I remember hearing the referee declaring my victory, but what happened next? I remember my dad showing up and offering me a potion and...’ Ash thought and suddenly panicked, trying to get up only to feel sore muscles.
“Don’t try to get up yet, son. The doctors said you pushed your body beyond its limits, so even healing magic couldn’t recover your tiredness.” The clan master spoke as he placed his hand on Ash’s shoulder and forced him to lie down.
“By the way, congratulations on your victory. It was a big blow to those arrogant to defeat the best young warrior using your silver flames.” He spoke with an amused smile, remembering the expressions of disgust and embarrassment on the faces of the beastmen in the audience.
“I was also able to make a lot of profit thanks to your victory, so we all win.” He took out various magic weapons from his dimensional ring, displaying his newly acquired treasures.
“!” Ash’s eyes widened in surprise after his vision adjusted enough to recognize the weapons in front of him. He looked at his father in disbelief, silently wondering how he managed to get his hands on those weapons.
The clan master briefly explained his wager with the other important figures in the clan and how by taking their weapons he had made most of them his mortal enemies.
Ash tried to say something about his father’s recklessness, but the latter just dismissed it as nonsense.
“Those bastards decided to gamble on my son’s defeat as if it were a game, so they deserve to become my enemies. Let those bastards keep hating me and if they try anything, I’ll deal with them personally.” The clan master crossed his arms and snorted irritably like a bull.
“Father…” Ash whispered in a cracked, hoarse voice, feeling touched by his father’s attitude as his eyes filled with tears.
“Besides, I was sure that you would be able to win this battle by surprising him with your silver flames, so I was confident of earning some easy money.” The master grinned greedily as he boasted, making Ash swallow his emotional words back.
“And then? What happens to me now?” Ash asked as he stopped ignoring the blue elephant in the room. He knew he would join the army after that, but in which division of the army was a big question mark.
There were different divisions in the army, such as the regular army, the mage unit, fast attack units, medic units and etc...
“About that, I’m having a hard time deciding where we should allocate it.” The master spoke while frowning deeply.
“Why? Haven’t I already proven myself to be the best of the new generation?” Ash asked indignantly, thinking that the clan’s army members were sabotaging his entry into the army even after winning the duel.
“No, that’s not the problem. Although many refuse to admit it out of pride and stubbornness, everyone has already recognized its strength.” The master shook his head, noticing the doubt in his son’s eyes. He was silent for a few minutes, looking for the right words to break the news to his son.
“Unfortunately, the main problem still remains. As you are unable to control your flames, it is difficult to assign you to a high position, as our army makes use of our flames in our tactics and you would be unable to be a part it.” The master spoke as gently as he could, but Ash clenched his fists in rage with what little strength he could muster.
“So what I did was in vain?” Ash asked angrily.
“No, but it will be impossible for you to join our clan’s army. However, I thought of a way to solve the problem while discussing your situation with the rest of the clan.” The master spoke cryptically, as if he didn’t agree with his own plan.
Ash looked desperately at his father and urged him to continue, forcing the old man to sigh and continue talking.
“I plan to send it as an tribute to the sky wing clan.” He explained his plan, surprising Ash. All secondary clans had the custom of sending members of their own clan to their respective main clan, as a way of demonstrating their loyalty.
The smaller clans would send members of their respective specialties, in the case of the Black Feathers clan, Mages and Warriors.
The Black Feathers clan usually sent out common beastmen warriors with a few powerful warriors, so it wouldn’t be a problem to include Ash after he won the duels.