POV: Rai Shinsei
As the two of us remained still within the tranquil forest, I felt a sense of relief within me as Aria was able to overcome despair and regain her confidence once again, despite an overwhelming source of power standing before her.
That's the way, Aria.
Although I despise heroes, I know that among the corrupted mass of them, there are a few who I deem to be true heroes as your grandfather is one of them and as long as you stay on this path, I'm certain that you will surpass him, so show me, Aria…
Show me your resolve.
Initiating the first move was none other than Aria, who vanished from my sight and appeared behind me, but her near-instantaneous movement that I struggled to perceive before was now clearly visible to me as in the moment she tried to strike me, I countered with a sharp spinning back kick into her abdomen, sending her sliding backwards through the fluorescent patch of flowers as amidst recovering her footing, she aimed two fingers towards my head and shot a precise beam of light as I swiftly weaved her attack, allowing it to only graze my hair.
That's new.
Regaining her balance, Aria then flashed towards me as she initiated an exchange of hand-to-hand combat with me, but this time, she incorporated a few attacks involving her own energy into our exchange as watching her slowly adapt brought a smile to my face.
Despite Aria's new approach, I began overwhelming her with sheer experience as Aria tried to end our exchange with a sharp feint into a heavy side kick, but with my enhanced eyesight paired with my inhuman reflexes, the chances of Aria landing an attack was slim to none now as I parried her leg away, disrupting her balance as I stepped forward and lifted her up from off the ground with a grab, however, Aria seemed to have already anticipated my next move as with a flexible, yet nimble maneuver, Aria spun around my grasp and locked her legs around my head as her secured headlock began to suffocate me while Aria's focus was set on striking my vulnerable head.
Well this is unexpected.
I had no idea Aria was also trained in jiu-jitsu, but unfortunately for her, this isn't enough to secure her a win as jiu-jitsu has one fatal flaw…
As my lightning surged into me, my Aspectual Force vanished as my senses sharpened to a considerable degree and in the instant Aria tried to strike my head, I gripped the sides of her abdomen with enough force to cause Aria to yelp in discomfort as the split-second her legs untensed, I slipped my hand between my face and her abdomen and shoved her away from me, freeing myself from her headlock as she fell headfirst towards the ground.
Overwhelming power.
Swiftly stepping over Aria's body, I grabbed her leg before she suffered an unnecessary injury by landing on her neck as I began sprinting towards the vertical sidewalls at high speeds, startling Aria, who was unable to free herself from my grasp due to my speed as I leaped onto the walls and increased my speed even further until I arrived directly across from the waterfall, which was nearly rebuilt as the water crashed ferociously into the plunge pool.
Kicking off the wall of the facility, I then spun my body in a rapid motion and launched Aria towards the waterfall, causing her to shriek until she crashed into the rocky wall where the waterfall resided, but as I descended from the air, I alternated between techniques, causing my Aspectual Force to take place once more as I manipulated the lightning crackling around my body into a bolt of lightning.
"Asunder." I uttered as I hurled the bolt of lightning towards the plunge pool of the waterfall and upon impact, the bolt of lightning dispersed upon impact and coursed throughout the water as my intention was to stun Aria, but to my astonishment, Aria emerged nearly unscathed from the depths of the water as if my lightning was ineffective, arising many concerns within my mind as she crawled onto the ground and coughed up the excess water remaining within her.
Something isn't right.
I know I neglected my Aspect for two years, but this same Aspect was able to injure Wrath and Arthur, who are much stronger than Aria, so how is it that she's able to just shrug off my attack?
There's a possibility that she healed herself within the water, but just to make sure…
As I descended onto the ground, I manipulated my lightning into a bow as I pulled back an arrow of lightning before shooting it towards Aria, who raised their guard awkwardly as the arrow bursted into her guard, but as the excess lightning dispersed into the air, Aria remained unscathed once again as we both were left baffled by the outcome of my attack.
So I was right.
My lightning doesn't affect Aria, but how come?
Elemental-Type Aspectors are born with a resistance to their own respective element, but despite lightning being a form of light, it still has different properties, meaning that Aria's resistance to lightning should be minimal at most, although in this case, it's as if she's nearly immune to my lightning.
Noticing my confusion, Aria didn't waste the opportunity given to her as she quickly picked herself up from the ground and flashed towards me with her hands glistening with her golden aura.
What if…
As she initiated an exchange of hand-to-hand combat once more, I blocked and parried her every attack as I then ended our exchange with a electrified palm strike, intending on stunning her directly as I tried to follow up with a one-inch punch into her solar plexus, but what I had envisioned was different from reality as Aria wasn't stunned and only suffered from the physical damage alone, allowing her to recover much faster than I anticipated as she went on the offensive and forced me into an awkward position.
So even that doesn't work.
If this was two years ago, I'd probably avoid fighting Aria as back then, I solely relied on my Aspect, but as of now…
Taking advantage of my faltering balance, Aria tried to strike my face as in my current position, I was unable to dodge or weave effectively, but to her surprise, I planted my hand onto the ground and spun my body upwards as I parried her arm away with an acrobatic kick, causing her to stagger backwards from the unexpected force of the impact as I then propelled myself towards her and tackled her onto the ground, placing myself on top of her as I locked her arms beneath my knees and sharpened my gaze with the aim of smashing her head into the ground.
I don't need to rely on the techniques of my Aspect anymore.
"What-"
Out of fear, Aria closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact, but as seconds passed, she realized my fist never struck her face as when she opened her eyes, I softly flicked her forehead instead, startling her as I looked down at her with a playful grin.
"You didn't think I was seriously going to punch you with everything I had, right?" I asked teasingly as Aria's face reddened with frustration and embarrassment.
"You have around an hour left. Are you going to give up or do you still believe in the delusion that you can actually land an attack on me?" I added with a mocking tone as I wanted to rattle her emotions, but to my surprise, Aria didn't give into my blatant provocation as she stared at me calmly.
"Ten minutes." Aria mumbled as a smile began to grow across her delicate face, arising an unsettling sensation within me.
"In ten minutes, not only will I land an attack on you, but I'll even defeat you." Aria declared, her lips curling into a grin of confidence as amongst my uneasiness, her eyes brimmed with determination as during my lack of focus, she was able to free one of her arms as she then aimed the palm of her hand directly towards my face, which began to form a sparkling, yet concerning beam of light within it as her peculiar demeanor left me amused.
This girl…
She's actually serious about defeating me, isn't she?