Watching Ace's shaken expression, Gern kept his face impassive, but inwardly, he was already bursting with joy, one voice flooding his mind.
It's happening, it's happening! That's the expression!
The exclusive experience of an adult teaching a kid a lesson!
This feeling really is addictive! At that thought, Gern forced down the corners of his mouth and cleared his throat.
He was ready to strike while the iron was hot and impart a few more words of "Gern-style wisdom."
And enjoy the satisfaction of an elder schooling a junior while he was at it.
So he raised a hand, deliberately slowed his speech, and began in a solemn, earnest tone.
"Ace, you..."
But before he could put together the words that came after "you"...
A sly glint suddenly flashed through the eyes of Ace, who had seemed mired in self-doubt just a second earlier!
He hadn't come to Gern to listen to some earnest lecture!
"Hah!" Ace grunted, abruptly flinging his stiff hands forward.
"Firefly: Fire Daruma!"
In an instant, countless tiny yet dazzling points of light, like fireflies,
Burst from his palms like a disturbed swarm of bees, flooding outward!
These little balls of fire nimbly swept around the front and surrounded Gern from every direction, sealing off every avenue of escape.
As he unleashed Fire Daruma, Ace engaged his core and, without pausing at all, flowed into an incredibly swift sideways roll, putting a little distance between himself and Gern.
Just as the roll was about to end, while he was still half crouched, his hands shot up before his chest like lightning.
His index fingers crossed, and a sharply defined cross of light instantly locked onto Gern!
"Cross Fire!!"
Almost at the exact moment the light took shape, a tremendous blaze erupted along its cross-shaped path.
It