The other teenagers imdiately flinched and ran off in different directions, leaving the group of thirteen there standing around the volleyball net.
Elena raised an eyebrow from the other side of the field, crossing her arms.
"You didn’t have to scare them off like that..." She said, but inwardly she was very proud of how Lucius had handled it.
Though she personally would have just ripped the bastard limb by limb and stread his organs across his family’s front door as a warning to others who—
’Nooo...’ She thought while shaking her head violently to clear the violent imagery.
This was exactly why Valerian had said she needed to go see a therapist regularly. ’Forget about all that. Normal thoughts. Beach thoughts.’
"Well now we’re unequal on each side." Rita was the one who pointed out, clearly enjoying the fact that she was currently on the sa team as Lucius. "How will we deal with that?"
"I’ll co out and act as a referee instead." Villy said imdiately, stepping out of the circle of players and moving to the side of the net. "This match will be between Team Lucius and Team Elena!"
The mbers of Team Lucius were Lucius himself, Lilliane, Selene, Luna, Rita, and Elara.
The mbers of Team Elena were Elena herself, Vanessa, Amber, Emilia, Judea, and even Luke who looked like he wanted to redeem himself.
"The first team to reach five points wins the match! Let’s go!!" Villy exclaid enthusiastically, and Amber imdiately threw the ball up high while Elena jumped into the air and spiked it down hard toward the other side. "No magic allowed, and if the ball hits the ground on your side, the other team gets a point!"
Selene imdiately positioned herself in that exact spot with perfect prediction and used both hands to bump the ball backward, letting it soar through the air in a high arc.
It practically shot upward and the girls waited for it to co back down, however Judea turned to Villy with a questioning look.
"You said we shouldn’t use magic, right?" She asked for clarification, and Villy nodded in confirmation.
In a sudden flurry of movent, Judea’s massive dragon wings extended outward from her back and she shot into the air with incredible force, the wind displacent sending Luke flying backward a bit.
He was caught by Emilia before he could fall, and Judea looked down at the descending ball before smashing it downward with both fists, creating a visible shockwave in the air.
The ball shot through the air like a bullet and Rita staggered backward before managing to hit it with the full force of both her hands.
The trendous force that the dragon had used to slam it down was redirected back into the air, and her arms hurt from the impact despite her enhanced durability.
Just then, a shadow cast across Rita’s face and she looked up to see that Lilliane had leapt impossibly high into the air and was positioning herself to spike.
The fox girl smashed the ball in their direction with surprising strength, and there was a burst of air as it shot through the atmosphere.
As it was about to hit the ground and score a point, Amber threw herself in the way, but the ball curved slightly mid-flight and landed on the sand anyway.
"One point to Team Lucius!" Villy exclaid, raising her hand toward Lucius’s side.
Lilliane landed gracefully on the ground, imdiately looking at Lucius who smiled at her approvingly.
Her tail shook happily as well as her fox ears twitching with joy.
Amber took hold of the ball with a determined grip and threw it to Luke. "Let’s get serious about this..."
Luke threw it up and Amber leapt high into the air, smashing it in their direction with a trendous amount of force aid directly at Lucius.
However, he casually used his hand to redirect it upward in a sideways angle, and Luna imdiately leapt up and slamd it back down toward their opponents.
’I feel so much more athletic now than I ever did before...’ Luna thought with excitent as Emilia rushed forward and slamd the ball back, only to hit the net instead and watch it fall pathetically to the ground on her own side.
"Two points to Team Lucius!" Villy announced.
Everyone turned to stare at Emilia, who paled imdiately under their collective gazes.
"I didn’t an to do that..." Emilia raised her hands up defensively like she was surrendering to the police.
Elena took the ball while turning to face Judea with a serious expression.
"Focus, all of you... at this rate, we’re going to lose badly." She said firmly, then turned specifically to Judea who nodded in understanding.
Her dragon wings extended outward once more, and Villy couldn’t complain or call a foul since they were technically a part of Judea’s body and not magic.
She flapped them once powerfully, and Emilia imdiately threw the ball high into the air. Instead of using her hand this ti, Judea twisted her body and used her massive dragon tail to slam it over in their direction.
That simple motion generated an enormous amount of force that practically created a shockwave that blew everyone’s hair backward in a five-ter radius as the ball shot toward the other team like a cannonball.
It moved so fast it shot past Luna, Rita, Selene, and Lilliane before any of them could react, landing on the ground with enough impact to create a small crater in the sand.
"One point for Team Elena!" Villy called out, though she looked concerned about the beach damage though there was no rule saying that they had to pay for the damages to the beach.
Lucius grinned as Judea high-fived Elena enthusiastically, and it seed like they were getting along nicely despite Elena’s usual standoffish nature.
Luna took hold of the ball that had sohow survived the onslaught without popping.
"Alright... throw the ball up for ." Lucius said, and she did exactly that.
Lucius moved upward in a smooth motion and slamd it downward with controlled power. Elena parried it with her fist in a burst of strength, and it bounced upward perfectly positioned for Luke.
The man ran across the sand and leapt up, lining up the ball with his hand, and then he grinned confidently and smashed it toward the other side with his full power.
The ball shot forward with decent speed, however, in a field where there were superpowered Awakened playing volleyball, that was honestly a weak shot.
Luna imdiately slamd it back reflexively, and by complete mistake it hit Luke directly in the face. The impact sent him flying backward, landing hard on the ground with a grunt of pain.
Just as the ball was about to touch the ground and score a point, Amber caught it desperately with both hands and volleyed it upward to keep the play alive.
The ball moved upward and Judea used her tail to smash it in once more with trendous force, however this ti Selene was ready.
She caught it cleanly and slamd it back at equal force, the ball shooting through the air and slamming the dragon right in the face, making her stagger mid-air with a grunt.
The ball fell and Amber smashed it back in, however Lucius countered imdiately with perfect positioning.
Amber spun in the air acrobatically, slamming it again with even more force.
Lucius countered imdiately after without breaking a sweat, and just as Amber was about to drop back to the ground, she twisted her body and slamd it in a curved strike just like Lilliane had done earlier.
The ball curved past Lucius’s outstretched hands at an impossible angle.
Just then, it landed directly on Lilliane’s fluffy tail, which reflexively pushed it upward into perfect striking position.
It was the ideal setup, and Lucius didn’t fail to deliver. He moved upward explosively and veins popped up visibly on his forearms as he slamd it downward with everything he had.
The ball shot down imdiately like a teor, colliding with the ground, and an explosion of sand went up in a massive cloud.
The net dividing them was completely destroyed by the shockwave as well, and Lucius landed smoothly on the ground while rubbing his hair casually as all the girls coughed and waved sand away from their faces.
"Sorry... I may have gone a bit too far with that one."
...
Lucius’s face scrunched up in mild annoyance as he paid for the last of the surfing boards at the beachside rental shop.
Why did a single surfboard cost 1,000 royals to rent for the day? He was paying 13,000 royals total for thirteen boards, which was absurd for what was essentially shaped foam.
He held his own board under his arm as all of the girls gathered on the beach nearby, and there was a surfing instructor available offering lessons to a small group.
But did Lucius personally need one? Absolutely not.
As for the girls though, they probably did need proper instruction.
"I’ve never really surfed before..." He muttered aloud as he walked to the water’s edge and placed the board on the surface, watching it float and bob with the gentle waves.
There weren’t any footholds or straps, so he carefully placed both feet on the board and balanced it perfectly using subtle space manipulation. "It feels nice standing above the water like this."
He took a few experintal steps on the floating board, adjusting his weight distribution. The ocean stretched out before him, glittering under the afternoon sun, and the rhythmic sound of waves was actually quite peaceful.
There was nothing that could possibly go wrong with this plan.
"Lucius!" He heard soone shout his na desperately and looked toward the distance, squinting against the sunlight.
There was a brilliant wave forming in the deeper water, easily twice the size of the ones breaking near shore, and Emilia was sohow surfing on it despite having zero experience.
However, the wave was growing larger and about to crash down and cover her completely. "Help !"
It had only been three minutes since they started, and she was already in serious danger. How did she even get that far out into the ocean?
Regardless of the confusion, he didn’t have ti to question it. He used a concentrated burst of space manipulation and propelled himself forward at incredible speed, his board cutting through the water like a knife.
He surfed rapidly in her direction, and as he approached the massive wave, he didn’t hesitate.
He entered directly into it, surfing within the curl of the wave itself with perfect balance. The water arced around him like a crystalline tunnel, and he even perford a bit of stylish maneuvering as he rode along the wave’s interior face.
Emilia was now directly in front of him and she was actively falling off her board, her arms windmilling desperately as she lost her footing completely.
He reached out and grabbed her around the waist with one arm, pulling her against him securely, and caught her board with his other hand before it could shoot away.
Then he shifted his weight and surfed out the side opening of the wave with increased speed, executing a sharp cut just as the wave collapsed violently behind them with a thunderous crash.
He ca out smoothly on the other side, riding the residual montum and keeping both of them perfectly balanced on his board.
"How did you even get out here this fast?" He asked with genuine confusion, his heart rate barely elevated despite the rescue.
Emilia whimpered, clinging to him tightly with both arms around his neck. "A wave pushed out here when I wasn’t paying attention... it’s really scary being that far out."
Then she looked up at him and smiled despite her lingering fear. "Thank you for saving Daddy. You looked really cool doing that."
The whole group of people that the surfing instructor was teaching on the beach, including several of the girls who had stayed behind for proper lessons, were all staring at him with their mouths hanging open in shock.
Then they erupted into cheering and clapping, with so people even whistling.
"He’s a professional surfer!" The instructor shouted enthusiastically, pointing at Lucius with obvious admiration. "That was an advanced tube ride with a rescue! Incredible technique!"
Lucius blinked in surprise at the declaration.
He had literally just started surfing today, like minutes ago, and he was already being called a professional?
’I guess spatial awareness makes this easier than I thought.’ He mused internally.
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