POV: Rai Shinsei
In ten minutes, Aria declared that she'll defeat me.
At first, Aria's declaration seemed to be nothing more than a delusion born from her own imagination and yet, as we fought, 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 power 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 and power, Aria used my hesitation to land an effective attack on her against me as within my subconscious, I was afraid to 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 space myself away from her.
She's changed.
Any doubt that she once had is now gone as her eyes are solely set on winning.
"I'll show you how serious I am about my dream."
Alright, Aria.
I received your message, so out of respect for you, I'll match your resolve.
As Aria tried to dash towards me, I absorbed the lightning crackling around me as my Aspectual Force vanished, prompting 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, causing 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 stomp her back further into the earth, but with a fleet escape, Aria lunged forward out of danger as in the moment she recovered her balance, she backed into my chest as she turned around and matched my gaze in bewilderment.
"Huh?"
In the moment of her discovering me, I swept her off the ground with my foot and with a supple, yet nimble motion, I slid forward and landed a one-inch punch into her abdomen, sending her flying backwards until she regained her balance within the air, eventually skidding across the rocky riverbank as she approached the river.
Without giving her a moment's rest, I sprinted towards her as I wanted to force her into an uncomfortable exchange of close combat, but Aria continued to surpass my expectations as high within the air above her, several small orbs of light appeared as she then manipulated their shape into swords before launching them towards me one by one, disrupting my momentum as I was forced to evade her troublesome swords, which nearly grazed me.
This is getting ridiculous.
If Aria was this strong, then how is it that she was rendered useless against Wrath?
Was it truly her confidence that held her back or is she currently tapping into her potential as of now?
Evading the expeditious pursuit of her swords, I sprinted towards Aria, who decided to approached me herself as I threw a feint into a spinning side kick towards her torso, but shattering 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 immediately took advantage of my lack of focus and threw a decisive strike towards my face.
She's having a breakthrough?!
Now?!
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 as I slid forward and struck her abdomen with a palm strike, sending her tumbling into the river until she recovered her footing within the water, but to her surprise, 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 through achieving a breakthrough.
Although there's two minutes remaining, I doubt Aria will be able to defeat me, let alone even land an attack on me as her fatigue wouldn't allow it.
With nearly a minute passing, Aria used the 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 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 looming 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 with a sharp palm strike into her chin, disorienting her senses as I tried to end our spar with a push kick into her chest, but in the instant my foot neared her chest, Aria manipulated her aura in a defensive manner and solely protected her chest, negating the impact of my attack as her incandescent eyes shined brilliantly with perseverance.
Something is 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 free hand as I spaced myself away, anticipating her to blast a beam of light towards me out of desperation, but to my astonishment, she aimed her hand towards the river and blasted the riverbed instead, creating a large splash of water 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 this is the end-
As I discovered her intention, I wasted no time seizing her as in the moment I grabbed the collar of her windbreaker, I felt an disconcerting sensation dawn over me as within my grasp was only Aria's windbreaker—not her.
In a 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, placing herself firmly on top of me in order to lock me down as 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, 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 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 it's a bad habit of mine, but for Aria to notice my hyper spatial awareness is astounding as the only other person who is also aware is Ryan.
If she's able to remain as confident as she was today, I can say for certainty that she has the potential to surpass Joseph in terms of-
"Hey... Rai." Aria mumbled, her tone lacking any strength as she removed her fist from my cheek and placed her hands on my abdomen.
"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 facial features as I nearly found myself allured by her weary, coruscating golden eyes until I noticed her attire, which only consisted of a white sports bra, ripped black leggings and roughed white running shoes.
After spending two years with my perverted master, Nyx, I assumed that I would be indifferent when it came to seeing a female's bare torso as Nyx would practically walk around naked during the morning, but with Aria's captivating beauty and her current position on top of me, I felt my heart flutter once again as I swallowed dryly in consternation.
This is dangerous.