Point-of-View: Siert Huet

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  "Good luck," I said to Azeria, my opponent, before adding, "But I do not plan to lose."

  That's right……I need to be more confident, even if I have to pretend a bit to do so. That last Quest was a disaster, but it had a silver lining for me, I was able to get over so many of my psychological issues that were holding me back……I could still feel that they were there, deep down inside me, but unlike before, I could ignore then, at least to an extent.

  "Huh? What, you think I'm weaker than you?" She responded with a frown and a raised eyebrow.

  "O-oh, no, th-that's not what I-I meant at all! I, um, d-didn't mean to offend."

  "Stop! Don't go back to being all stuttery, I was only kidding!" She interrupted in alarm, before adding as I began to say something, "And don't apologize!"

  How did she know that I was about to……? Well, it doesn't matter, she's right……I can't go back to the way I used to be……I need to move forward……I can win this……I need to believe that, because……I'm not weak anymore. And not just because of the True Anima Mode.

  "Alright, then……let's begin," I remarked, taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling as I transformed.

  White fur sprouted all over me, my arms growing more muscular as my fingernails extended into claws, fur covering my face as my nose and mouth extended out into a snout, my teeth growing longer and sharper.

  As I formed three water tails to start with, she began to transform too……like me, she had also awakened her True Anima during the last Quest……I should be careful, she's probably more powerful than I am, since she already had Dark Magic, or Karma, inside her before awakening her True Anima……but it doesn't matter, I plan to win regardless……

  Just because someone is stronger, it doesn't guarantee their victory……after all, Rai and Key defeated Rion, who is a fair bit stronger than the both of them are……I can definitely win this. Looks like she was done transforming too……like me, her face had changed, her mouth and nose turning into a snout, her right side covered in black fur while her left side was covered in orange fur.

  She got down on all fours, as streaks of black and and orange flames swirling around her as she got ready to pounce. I braced myself for her strike and formed seven more tails, for a total of ten. She then leapt forward straight at me rapidly, so fast that she was little more than a blur to my eyes……but I could manage to just about barely follow her movements.

  I whipped two of my tails at her, which she nimbly evaded, before I slammed four more of my tails straight down at her. She swiftly sprang up to avoid my strike and blasting out a massive black and orange fireball at me. I used my remaining tails to swiftly block the incoming flames, which was just barely enough to absorb the impact, the five tails I used evaporating and creating a massive screen of steam between us.

  She then blasted a barrage of fireballs at me, which I narrowly evaded by jumping around and dodging, as she landed and sprinted towards me on all fours rapidly, the ground below her melting. She's going to use her Lava Magic, this is bad……oh, her combined Fire and Earth Magic had been officially registered as Lava Magic a few weeks ago, just like Water Magic had Ice Magic and Steam Magic.

  I almost definitely have more raw strength than her, but she has more speed and her burning attacks will cause a lot of damage, so she will have the advantage if she gets into close-range. I need to strike her with my water tails with enough force to teleport her out. I formed more tails to replace the ones that got evaporated, again for a total of ten, sharpening the edges and forming water spikes all over the lengths of my tails.

  I then rapidly whipped and drove them towards her in quick succession, she swiftly evaded and dodged, but was just barely avoiding my attacks, which grazed her a few times, on her right shoulder, left side, left thigh and right calf. But they were little more than scratches, because the intense heat she was emitting evaporated my water spikes before they could pierce too deep.

  Her speed and reaction time is incredible, and the way she moves and fights feels so……instinctive and wild, yet controlled. She's even stronger than I thought. I only have one more option up my sleeve……to throw everything I've got at her!

  I formed a total of fifteen tails, my maximum, and then extending them to their maximum length of twenty meters, before combining them into one, massive tail and slamming it down with as much force as I could generate. My most powerful attack, Whip Waterfall!

  Even with her speed, this attack is too wide for her to jump away from or dodge. My attack slammed down onto the ground with a resounding impact right as she tore up a piece of the ground and raised it up, the protective barrier around the room preventing the floor from shattering, spreading the impact throughout the room, cracks appearing all over the barrier, and the safety barrier cracking severely.

  She was able to melt and tear up the ground because the protective barrier only absorbed physical impact, it didn't actually protect the floor or walls from being touched or heated. But that chunk she tore up wasn't going to be enough to shield her from my attack.

  Did she get teleported out? I don't see her anywhere. Damn it, that last attack drained me, I don't have enough Mana to maintain more than two tails anymore. Suddenly, a pillar of flames burst out from my massive combined tails as I began to retract it into two tails, and as the flames cleared, she came into sight. No way, she's okay……it looked like her left shoulder was dislocated, but other than that, she was fine.

  She had formed a shield of lava over her, that must have evaporated most of the water above her……so that's why she tore up the floor……and now, the floor around her was melting into lava as well, as she crouched on all fours, or rather, on threes since her left shoulder was dislocated, an arrow of lava forming next to her.

  She then shot towards me, a bit slower than before, but still very fast. I swung my last two water tails at her as swiftly as I could, but she was able to evade them, closing in and firing the lava arrow towards me, which I was unable to dodge, and got teleported out.

  Damn it……she beat me. How frustrating, she had the advantage the whole time. I wanted to win. As the barrier got taken down, she walked over to me, pushing her shoulder back into place with a wince of pain……

  "Hey, you were pretty tough……I though it was over for me when you slammed that mass of water down at me. I want to fight you again sometime."

  "Oh, um……thanks. Y-yeah, I want to fight you again too, you're really fast and strong," I replied, standing back up.

  "Thanks……and I look forward to next time."

  Yeah, next time, I'll win……

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  Point-of-View: Azyl Roake

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  This kind of training doesn't really work for me……but everyone else is taking it so seriously that I don't really have the heart to back out. What a pain. And my opponent is Ekai, so I can't really go easy either. Also, what was with this and the previous duel, they were both between Fire and Water Magic users, I don't like fighting Fire Magic users because they make me sweat, and I mean that literally……I don't like sweating.

  "Are you ready?" Ekai called out, as the barrier activated around us.

  He's pretty fast, so I better use Water Mapping to keep track of his movements, I can set it up throughout the floor within the safety barrier in a couple of seconds……there, done.

  "Sure, come at me whenever," I replied, forming some large icicles around me.

  He nodded and unleashed his True Anima Mode, flames violently swirling around him……that's a lot of heat, maintaining my Water Mapping is going to be tricky. He then shot towards me rapidly, I swiftly responded by sending a massive wave of ice barreling towards him, dozens of spikes forming as it closed in on him.

  He took a deep breath and blasted out a large, scorching fireball from his mouth, melting my ice and blazing towards me. I quickly pointed my hand forward and fired out a massive blast of water, canceling out his flames and causing a steam explosion, a bit of which reached me……ow, that really stings. And worse, I've lost sight of him……he must have dissipated the flames around him.

  Oh, right, my Water Mapping……I don't use it often, so I almost forgot that I'd put it in place. There, found him. He suddenly sprang up and appeared to my left, flames forming in his hands. Good thing I saw him coming, or I'd be in trouble……I swiftly formed a rising pillar of ice straight up at his midsection. Right before it could strike, he twisted his body across to the side in mid-air, narrowly evading the ice and then stepping on the side of it and leaping off it.

  He sprang away as I fired a barrage of icicles at him, evading them closely. He then surrounded himself with intense flames, melting my attacks as they reached him. I formed a massive ice hammer and slammed it down towards him, he swiftly intensified the flames further, melting through it before it could strike him.

  Suddenly, flames exploded all around him, expanding and swirling rapidly……that's his fire tornado attack, he's trying to fill the space around him with flames, expanding the twisting flames to the point where I won't be able to evade……pretty good, but that's not enough to stop me.

  Here goes, Icicle Forest Bloom!

  As fast as I could, I formed massive, towering icicles, which each branched out into more icicles, rapidly filling the space……I'll form them faster than he can melt my ice, that way, the melted ice will weaken his flames and the newly formed ice will make more progress towards him……

  The flames are spreading towards me, but I've almost pierced through with my ice……uh-oh, I might have underestimated him a bit, the flames are closing in on me, looks like he's no longer focusing on spinning the flame tornado, and is instead diverting more flames my way……but that makes less resistance against my ice, so……!

  I let out a sigh of relief as the flames suddenly stopped and dissipated, my ice reaching him before his flames reached me and the barrier teleporting him out. I'm sweating like crazy……that got absolutely sweltering, that's way too much heat for an enclosed space, it was hard to breathe at times.

  That was closer than I'd have liked……well, lesson learnt, try to finish off an opponent as quickly as possible before they can use a powerful attack. Maybe this training was going to be more useful than I thought, after all……

  It really hasn't been that long since the Vampires attacked, and then there was the fight between Kuro and Shiro recently……and now, there's another impending attack to wait for, huh……man, what a pain……

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  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

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