Chapter 188 - Together (2)

Once he was done talking with Edward, Billy went home and decided to continue his attempts to learn Combo. Considering the cost, the trick should be relatively simple, but he spent another day without succeeding in learning it. He wondered if the problem was the difference in the weapon... that guy had a easy time using a sword with the skill.

"Maybe I should try it with the sword of that guy…" Billy muttered to himself.

"You have been doing something weird," Drew said when he realized that Billy was training. "Training with the sword would be even weirder."

"I am trying to learn the skill that guy used on me," Billy said. "It seems pretty useful and if I combine it with the spear, it probably will become even better."

"Show me the moves that he showed you," Drew said.

Billy nodded since it would be a good idea to have the opinion of someone watching from outside. Billy watched from too close, so he might be missing something. Billy mimicked the moves, but it didn't work. Besides, he couldn't stop the heavy swings before he could finish them.

"He did all these sequences without stopping between them… like had joints made of water," Billy said.

"Hmm, I don't know how, but he must have a lot of strength on his wrists if he could change the direction of the attacks like that," Drew said. "Instead of saying that he changed the motion before finishing, I would say that he started another with a massive push of power from his wrists."

Billy frowned when he heard that… it made sense, but it could be as simple as just putting mana into his wrists like that and use it to start another attack? Billy decided to test it. After pouring some mana into his right wrist, he tried to use Combo, but it didn't work. His strikes got a bit faster and heavier, though.

"What if I make the energy explode when I want to use it?" Billy wondered.

Billy tried that… he made the mana in his wrist boost his entire arm with power. While it wasn't much, it was enough to make the strike end and immediately started another.

You learned Combo.

It grants you the power to use consecutive attacks ignoring the physical effects of the previous ones. Each level grants you one additional hit.

Cost: 02 MP per hit

"Sometimes your capacity to learn scares me…" Drew said and then patted on his back. "Oh, well… let's have dinner. You will have to teach me this later. Even an old dog can learn new tricks."

Billy frowned since that was a saying from Earth, and until now, he didn't remember hearing anything like it. Still, he laughed a little and decided to forget about it. After having dinner with his family, Billy went to sleep feeling pretty proud of himself.

After breakfast the next day, Billy decided to work on his workshop, but then Alexander visited him with the largest smile on his face.

"Well, well, well…" Billy crossed his arms and then said. "Aren't you a fool in love who got what he wanted?"

"I am in a good mood, so I am going to ignore your usual antics and help with your problems," Alexander said.

"A little presumptuous, aren't we?" Billy furrowed his eyebrows. "I have no problems in my life whatsoever."

"You have several girls to apologize to, they went on easy on me and decided to be supportive because of my decision regarding Lily, but whenever I mentioned you, they got really pissed," Alexander said.

"I guess you are lucky fool, then," Billy said. "Or maybe not and used the situation to your advantage."

"That haughty attitude won't help you with them," Alexander said.

"It is not like my life depends on that, so I don't care," Billy said.

"What are we going to do with you…" Alexander said and then facepalmed.

Although he was acting like that, Billy had to think seriously about his next actions. Things worked out with Alexander and Lily, so their party won't be dissolved. Still, apologizing for doing the right thing wasn't something Billy would do. Even if he was wrong, he was too prideful for that. In any case, Alexander insisted that he had to show his face instead of postponing their meeting. At first, he thought he just wanted to show off being lovey-dovey with Lily, if that were the case, he would kick his balls, but Alexander wasn't that type of guy.

After following Alexander, Billy found the others in Edward's backyard. At first, they seemed relieved at seeing Billy completely fine, but soon their expressions darkened, and then they resumed their training.

"The silent treatment again… you guys need to learn new tricks," Billy said.

Aside from Alexander and Lily, who were red with embarrassment just by being close to each other, the others sure looked angry. The silence stayed there for a while, but then Billy decided that he had better things to do.

"Well then, until later," Billy said.

"Billy… where are the apologies?" Alexander asked.

"I don't know, they aren't in my pockets, though," Billy said and then shrugged.

Alexander facepalmed and then sighed. Billy's jokes certainly weren't improving his position. The last time, the girls gave up after a while, but they insisted on their actions for a while longer. After a long lecture, Alexander convinced Billy to say that he was sorry, but as one would expect, he didn't do as planned…

"Hey, guys… I am sorry for leaving you behind on the last mission," Billy said, and then that got everyone's attention since he seemed pretty sincere about it. "I didn't want you guys to dirty your hands with blood in a war… you aren't weak… but I feared that the war would traumatize them… I couldn't bring people like you guys to the frontlines and give our enemies nightmares… your powers even scare me.. The world is better without knowing that terror."