POV: Rai Shinsei
In ten minutes, Aria declared that she'll defeat me.
At first, her declaration seemed to be nothing more than a delusion born from arrogance and yet, her delusion slowly morphed into a reality as not only did her every move exude confidence, but her erratic adjustments in order to match my own style of combat left me on edge as I was struggling to adapt appropriately.
With only five minutes remaining, Aria's Aspectual Power had increased significantly, alarming me as the two of us engaged in an exchange of hand-to-hand combat, but in this exchange, our speed was relatively the same as despite me having the advantage of experience in overall power, Aria used my hesitation to land an effective attack on her against me as I was subconsciously afraid to accidentally hurt her, allowing her to momentarily overwhelm me with a spree of attacks as I narrowingly weaved through her every attack before finding an opportunity to break away from her.
She's changed.
Any doubt that she once had is now gone as her eyes are solely set on winning against me.
"I'll show you how serious I am about my dream."
Alright, Aria.
I received the message you longed to convey, so out of respect for you, I'll match your resolve.
Upon Aria's advance, I absorbed the lightning crackling around me as my Aspectual Force vanished while my senses heightened to its utmost limit, causing Aria to hesitate in place as this time, I had no intention of playing around with her anymore as I vanished from her sight and appeared behind her, urging her to turn around and raise her guard out of desperation, but in the instant she realized her mistake, cold sweat enveloped her face as her abdomen was left completely vulnerable from her rash decision making.
Exploiting her carelessness, I smashed my knee into her abdomen, causing her to spew out saliva as I then slammed my elbow into the back of her head, sending her crashing face-first into the ground beneath me as I tried to end the fight by stomping the back of her torso further into the earth, but with a fleet escape, Aria lunged forward out of danger and tumbled her way into recovering her balance, although upon fixing her stance, she had backed into my chest, turning around in bewildered as she was unable to comprehend the sight before her.
"What-"
In the moment of her discovering me, I swept her off the ground with my foot and with a supple, efficient motion, I slid forward and followed up with a one-inch punch into her abdomen, sending her flying backwards until she regained her balance within the air, eventually skidding across the riverbank as she approached the river.
Refusing to give her any time to recuperate, I sprinted towards her as I wanted to force her in into an uncomfortable exchange of close combat, but Aria continued to surpass my expectations as high with the air, several small orbs of light began to form as she then manipulated them into the shape of swords before launching them towards me one by one, disrupting my momentum as I was forced to evade her accelerated swords, which nearly grazed me.
This is getting ridiculous.
If Aria was this strong, then how was it that she was rendered useless against Wrath?
Was it truly her confidence that held her back or is she tapping into her potential as of now?
Evading the expeditious pursuit of her swords, I sprinted towards Aria, who decided to approach me herself as I threw a feint into a spinning side kick towards her torso, but surpassing my expectations once more, Aria entered a trance-like state as she manipulated her aura and focused it solely around the side of her torso in order to reduce the damage of my attack, causing her to only wince in pain as she wasted no time in taking advantage of my lack of focus and threw a decisive strike towards my face.
She's having a breakthrough?!
Now of all times?!
As her fist was no further than a centimeter away from my face, my instincts seized control as with a deft maneuver, I slipped under her arm amidst sliding forward and struck her abdomen with a knuckle strike, sending her tumbling into the river until she recovered her footing within the water, but flummoxed, she buckled onto a knee and clutched her abdomen in distress as she began coughing up water while I approached the edge of the river.
For a minute there, I was beginning to worry.
By now, Aria should be feeling the accumulated damage built up within her abdomen, despite experiencing the adrenaline rush she's gained by achieving a breakthrough.
Although there's two minutes remaining, I doubt Aria will be able to defeat me, nonetheless, land an attack on me as her fatigue won't allow it.
With nearly a minute passing, Aria had used that time to recuperate as she stood up from the riverbed and matched my gaze, her eyes retaining the fervent desire to win as she wiped of the excess saliva from her mouth and taunted me using the same gesture as I used towards her before, rousing a wry smile from me as her blatant provocation was nothing less than amusing.
Alright, I accept.
Accepting her invitation, I stepped into the river as the two of us dashed towards each other and engaged in what seemed to be the final exchange of the night.
Despite enervation dawning upon Aria, her astute mind gave her a chance to hold her own against me for several seconds until my experience reigned superior, allowing me to land multiple strikes across her torso as I then followed up by flicking my fist into her chin, disorienting her senses as I tried to end our spar with push kick into her chest, but in the instance that my foot approached her, Aria manipulated her aura in a defensive manner and solely protected her chest, nullifying the impact of my attack as her incandescent golden eyes shined brilliantly with perseverance.
Something feels off.
There's less than a minute remaining and yet, there's still hope within her eyes.
I don't know what she's thinking, but she should fall any second now.
Shoving my leg away with her forearm, Aria began charging a beam of light within her other hand as I spaced myself away, anticipating her to blast a beam of light towards me out of desperation, but her next course of actions wasn't within my calculations as instead, she chose to aim her hand towards the river beneath her and blasted a beam of light into the riverbed, creating a large fluorescent slash of water mixed with rocky debris as for a second, I lost vision of her until I noticed her approaching me from my left as her burgundy windbreaker gave away her location.
It was a clever attempt, but you've failed, Aria.
As I discovered her intention, I wasted no time in seizing her as in the moment I grasped the collar of her windbreaker, I was left disconcerted as upon my grasp was only her windbreaker—not Aria.
Losing my composure from a mild panic, I scoured the area until my eyes locked onto Aria, who emerged from within the large splash of water and tackled me onto the riverbed as the two of us were entangled with one another until she placed herself firmly on top of me, locking me down with her weight and with the remaining energy she had left, she struck my cheek softly as the water from the splash rained down onto us.
With the exception of the waterfall and Aria's panting from enervation, the facility was silent as Aria remained on top of me with her fist resting against my cheek.
This girl.
From the moment she taunted me, she had already calculated everything.
She made her movements appear sluggish in order to throw me off as in the moment that I assumed I had won, she then created a diversion in order to fool me.
My arrogance is something that anyone would notice as growing up, it was always a bad habit of mine, but that's not the reason why I lost today.
The reason why I lost is because at some point, Aria had become aware of my hyper spatial awareness and in the end, I was outsmarted as Aria had used my own power against me.
It's truly my loss-
"Hey… Rai." Aria mumbled, her tone lacking any strength as she removed her fist from my cheek amidst a droplet of blood trickling from her nose and onto my face.
"I look forward to training with you, partner~." Aria added with an exultant, yet faint grin as the shimmering moonlight shone upon us, highlighting Aria's delicate facial features as I nearly found myself allured by her weary, coruscating golden eyes until I noticed her dampened attire, which consisted of a drenched white t-shirt that revealed the soft skin of her torso along with a black sports bra through it while her leggings were ripped with several tears and her running shoes were roughed.
After spending two years with my perverted master, Nyx, I assumed that I would be indifferent when it came to seeing the torso of a female as Nyx would practically walk around half-naked during the morning, but with Aria's captivating beauty and her current position on top of me, I felt my heart flutter for what felt like the first time in years as I swallowed dryly in consternation from the noblewoman that stood over me.
This is dangerous.