The Greatest Celestial Summoner

Off toward the edge of the grassy field, Ain looked at the group of children with an unamused expression.

"So… Explain the rules one more time, please…"

"We throw the ball up, and everyone tries to catch it. Then, whoever grabs the ball the fastest has to hit everyone else with the ball to get them out. If someone catches the ball, they get to throw it instead! The last one standing wins!" Kian, the oldest of the group, explained.

'So it's dodgeball with extra steps?'

The game itself wasn't the issue. Regarding kids' games, it seemed relatively fun, at least… But he and Annalise were 2!

Not only them, but the youngest from their group of three were quite young as well. From a glance, Ain guessed she was probably four, maybe five at the oldest.

Kian was a tall boy with dark brown hair, black eyes and a toothy grin. His clothing was of rather high quality but of very simple and practical make.

He wore a dark navy tunic with reinforced stitching, a deep green short-sleeved, almost cropped green vest, and sturdy charcoal trousers. The outfit was completed with a belt, a small pouch, and a thin wristband.

"That… Hardly seems far." Ain contested.

"You don't need to worry! We'll make sure to hold back. Isn't that right, Noah!"

Before he responded, Noah gave Annalise an odd look. She didn't notice, and the other kids didn't think much of leaving, only Ain to wonder about it.

'She hit him with her freakish strength, didn't she?' He hummed inwardly.

It's been a while since he's seen it in action, but her strength was anything but normal, so it didn't seem that unlikely if they let her get the ball intentionally.

"Well. If you hurt them, Mr. Axel will be really mad." Noah shrugged.

Noah, as well as the little girl, Sophia, both had jet-black hair, as they were siblings.

Sophia's hair was slightly shorter than her older brother's, and her eyes were filled with different colors. Her pupils were dark, almost like black holes pulling in the vibrancy of the rest of her eyes. The bottom of her Irises was a bright yellow that faded into orange and red, while the top was a dark blue-ish purple.

She had two bows on either side of her head. She wore a frilled lavender dress with a small buttoned capelet that matched her hair. Her shoes were almost ballet slippers, but not entirely, and a pair of laced stockings covered her legs in their entirety.

Noah's outfit was nowhere near as elaborate, but it fell nicely in between the other two, just like his age. A soft, dirty, light linen blouse with ruffled cuffs, a sleeveless burnt orange tunic, tailored breeches a shade darker than his tunic, and leather boots.

As Ain turned his attention to Annalise, she smiled like an idiot, as usual, and gave Ain a thumbs up.

'I mean… My Mana has grown significantly, so I could probably coat parts of my body to compensate for some physical weakness. Plus, getting in a little exercise before I begin absorbing Anima could be good.'

Reinforcing yourself with Magical Energy was awful. It was just about the most inefficient thing you could ever do. There were some worlds that had refined the art to a passable degree, but even then, it wasn't great.

Mana naturally increased by leaps and bounds in your early years and only stopped around 20 years of age. That being so, Ain's Mana pool was incomparably large compared to two years ago but still tiny in the long run. Traditionally, reinforcing his body with Mana was impossible.

Despite that, if he dispersed Mana from his body, he could more easily catch the ball by slowing it down right before it hit him or launch himself a small distance into the air to increase his jump height.

The question was if he could manage his Mana well enough. He was already using a small amount of mana to stabilize his body. Even using a small amount more would be considerably difficult.

But he lost nothing for trying.

"If someone misses their throw, can you pick up the ball off the ground?" He questioned.

"Nope!" Kian made an X with his arms.

"Only if you catch it!"

Ain nodded.

"Okay! I'll play!" He said, giving the children a wide smile.

He had already given his book to Core, so he was ready.

"Alright! Get in a circle!"

The group got into a circle just barely arm's length of each other… Kian's arm's length. Aside from him, nobody else managed to touch each other. Noah got pretty close but still fell a few inches short.

"Okay. 3… 2… 1… Throw!" Kian shouted before tossing the ball into the air.

Ain and Sophia backed away while the other three vied for the ball. Kian tried to grab it with his superior height but pushed it away with his fingers, accidentally allowing Noah to catch it instead.

Quickly, Annalise and Kian ran in opposite directions. Noah hesitated to pick a target to get out first, with the other two young kids already far away.

While she ran, Annalise seemed like she was going to tumble over herself with every step, but she didn't fall behind Kian.

He looked at Ain for a good five seconds before deciding to go after Sophia, causing the prior to chuckle inwardly.

'He saw I was probably the easiest target but decided not to go for me. At least they're not trying to bully the 2-year-old.'

The older brother took his shot at his younger sister, but she narrowly ducked under it before she kept running, eventually passing Ain.

'Oh no.' Ain thought as he turned around. 

Noah got the ball as quickly as he could and tossed it in the general direction of Ain and Sophia. Luckily, the distance was enough for Ain to step out of the way…

But he didn't.

Without losing his smile, he jumped for the ball. He wasn't confident about catching it at the speed it was currently going, so he let out a small shockwave from his palm, which pushed against the momentum of the ball, slowing it and allowing him to grab it.

"What…" Noah's eyes grew wide, shocked at what he had just seen.

Ain paused to dramatically look at the ball before looking back at Noah. His smile grew.

In retaliation, he ran toward Noah and through the ball, once again aiding it with a minuscule shockwave.

Its speed was still a little slower than Noah's, and Ain tripped over himself, falling face-first into the grass, but he still heard the distinct sound of a leather ball hitting a child's face…

Followed by Kian breaking into laughter.

"Oh, come on, Noah! That's twice in a row!"

"Yeah, yeah…" Noah grumbled.

'Oh, poor kid. Maybe I should've gone for that older boy.' Ain couldn't help but laugh as he spit out dirt from his mouth.