Triumph

I use Create Fire to make fists of fire rise from the ground. I make them grab the vines holding me and rip them off. I constantly try to Blink away as Layla fires her shot. I barely manage to free myself and Blink away, Blinking twice in my panic. I fall a foot and a half after Blinking and face Layla. She's turned her bow back into a sword and is charging me. I raise my Katana and get an idea. I use the pure elemental attack I got from Enchanting the Mini Hydra Heart onto my Katana. I see my blade gets wrapped in energy the color of rainbows. The colors constantly shift and change, almost in a flowing pattern. Layla either doesn't recognize the energy or ignores it and continues her charge. I brace myself and swing, our blades clashing. Layla's sword starts cracking and shatters. I see her expression of shock and get an idea. I drop my sword and grab her wrist. I pull her and use my other hand to tear her staff away from her. I store it away and take her other wrist while I kick her feet out from under her. She falls and I follow, still holding her wrists. We land with me on top of her and pinning her down. She remains silent and before I can say anything I hear someone clapping behind me.

"Good job Eric." Treena says walking up to us. The barrier that surrounded us is gone. I let go of Layla and get up, reaching out to help her up as well. She takes my hand but pulls me down and pins me. "Layla!" Treena scolds and I see Layla smiling. I don't know why but something about the way she smiles bothers me. I cast Swap on us and immediately take her place. I look down to see her smile get replaced by shock. I stand up while pulling her wrist to pull her up. I also take her staff back out and hand it to her.

"I told you, Layla." Liz says while smiling.

"You didn't tell me he was a monster." Layla says bitterly and I fake a scoff.

"Hey! Rude." I say sarcastically and look at her shocked. She turns to me confused and I hear Liz trying and failing to not laugh. "So." I start before Layla can respond. "Did I pass your test?"

"Nope." Liz answers and I turn to her confused.

"What?" I ask her.

"The test was to find out if Layla could stop you. This is because our request needs you to enter the heart of the forest. So we needed to find out if Layla, our strongest, could stop you if you tried to harm the forest." Treena answers.

"If that's the case, couldn't Liz just make me enter a Pact to not harm the forest?" I ask and Treena opens her mouth to answer but closes it instead.

"I did say that he'd be too strong." Liz says after a moment of silence. "And the Pact would work." She continues.

"I still don't get it. He is strong sure, but I have more mana than him. So how did he beat me?" Layla asks more to herself.

"Because he has access to all Schools of Magic. You may have more mana but he has passive skills and spells from multiple schools. Like his Thought Acceleration from the Mind School and his Blink from the Spacial School." Liz answers and Layla crosses her arms.

"Liz, could you make a Pact with him?" Treena asks and Liz nods. She pulls out her Spacial Pouch and takes out two pieces of paper from within.

"Eric, sign here." She says handing me a pen and pointing to an empty line on the bottom.

"Did you already make them?" Layla asks Liz who nods.

"Like I already told you, you wouldn't be able to beat Eric. So I made these for after." Liz answers

"Why didn't you enter the Pact first?" Layla asks her.

"Because you seemed like you were looking forward to the fight." Liz says and Layla remains silent. I finish signing and the two contacts light up. Instead of turning into a medal or medallion, they disappear.

"Aren't we supposed to get a medal or something?" I ask.

"Not this time. This is a temporary one so we don't get any medals. But if you harm the forest you will still die." Liz answers and I nod.

"Eric, follow me, please. I'll lead you to the heart of the forest." Treena says.

"Sure, why do I need to go to the heart of the forest?" I ask her.

"Right, sorry. A Poison Dragon landed near the heart a few weeks ago. We were able to drive it off quickly, since it was already injured from fighting one of the guilds. But it managed to poison the heart. Normally we could've healed it, but the Dragon had poisoned other areas and we assumed it wasn't able to create a poison strong enough to affect the heart in its injured state. So by the time we noticed the poison had spread itself too deep into the heart." Treena says.

"But why couldn't you heal it? I don't know about poisons but does it being deep into the heart cause it to become harder to cure?"

"No, we could've healed it if we were at our full power but all of us, except for Layla, get our power from the heart of the forest. So the more the poison affects it the weaker we become, and the weaker our healing capabilities are as well."

"So to get this straight, you want me to heal the poison from the forest's heart?" I ask and Treena nods. "Is there a reason you asked me? I heard that the government enters Pacts with you guys. Couldn't you guys go to them?"

"We could but we don't trust them. The government does protect us from other humans but they do it for the materials the forest provides them. And the forest's heart contains many materials vital to it. Many of them are at least Epic grade. Liz even told us that two of them are Mythical grade. But as it stands the government only thinks we have magic wood and plants to give. We'd like to keep it that way." Treena answers and I nod.

"Here we are." Layla says as we approach a door. The doorway is covered in vines and flowers and has long green walls on each side. The wall to its left has a purple tint that's spreading to the door. I look down the wall and see the purple get darker and start emitting a faint mist or fog.