"Nope." Erza answered calmly.
"Think I'm not your equal?" Elsa asked curiously.
"You are definitely my equal. After all, you are my very first friend. But I don't want to spar with you now."
"Then why? Don't give an excuse saying that you want to fight me in the final of the upcoming championship or something like that. Sparring is sparring, fighting is fighting. We can still spar now and fight for real two days later."
"Because I hate losing and I know you also do not like to lose. Are you sure you could control yourself and not going overboard? I don't want us to start sparring then end up fighting seriously. I want both of us to attend the New Students Championship in our best condition." Erza explained.
Elsa silently agreed with what Erza just said, thus she did not press further. An academy staff approached them and greeted the two girls.
"Welcome to the training hall. I assume this is your first time here, so I will give you an overview. Inside each of the training room, there is a portal leading to an independent training field. You could choose which field and the level of difficulty you want. Here, we have four different kinds of training fields including Gravitational Field, Space Field, Combat Field, and Five Elemental Field."
"As the name implied, the gravitational field will have stronger gravity force than the real world. Warriors usually like to temper their bodies and movement skills in this field. Space Field is for those who think that the impacts of their practices will be disastrous to their surroundings. Space Mages could also use the field to comprehend the essences of space."
"Next, Combat Field is where you will be fighting with monsters, gods, demons, and puppets of your choice. These opponents will be created and fueled by the formation around the training hall. If ones want to improve their fighting experiences, then this field is the best choice. Last but not the least, Five Elemental Field will give you the choices to practice in Flame, Ice, Thunder, Earth, or Metal Worlds."
"Normally, you will need to use your merit points to access these fields. As you probably know, merit points are obtained after ones perform meritorious deeds for the academy or when they achieve certain results in their study. However, in these next two days, the academy will allow the new students to access the training fields for free."
"In addition, please be mindful of the level of difficulty that you choose. It will not lead you to death in the most cases, however we still have few accidents in the past. Also, if you get injured during the training, then you would possibly miss out the championship and some of your future classes."
"Therefore, I hope you know your limit. Try to start from the lower level of difficulty, then if you feel it too easy, then you could always leave the independent field and request for a higher level of difficulty from the staff."
"That's all from me. Is there anything you would need me to clarify further?" The academy staff finished his explanation and asked. Erza and Elsa shook their heads in reply to express that they did not have any question.
"Okay, so young ladies, which training field you would like to use this time?"
"Five Elemental Field. Please make it the Ice World. By the way, what are the level of difficulties do you have here?" Elsa replied.
"Okay, noted. I'm sorry that I forgot to explain about the level of difficulties. We have level one to five for the difficulty. Level one was often used by beginners to early level Apprentices. It is the safest environment to train and get yourself familiar with the element."
"Level two is appropriate for Apprentice realm students. Level 3 is reserved for Knights. Level 4 is for those academy elders in King realm, while Level 5 is rarely opened as it is for the Emperor realm experts. Principal sometimes trained in it." The academy staff explained.
"Understood. Then, please set the difficulty at level 2 for me. Thank you."
"No worries, young lady. I will set the training field as per your choice shortly. Please wait for a few minutes. How about you, young lady?" The staff noted down Elsa choice and turned to ask Erza.
"Space Field, level 2 please." Erza replied.
"Noted. Please wait for a while and I will get back to you soon." The staff then went away to set up the training fields. The fields were generated by the formations around the training hall. One could not imagine how high the level of the formation grandmaster.
Soon, the staff came back bringing two keys. He handed down one for Elsa and one for Erza. Erza looked at the key and it was for room no.19. Both girls thanked the staff and asked for his contact information. They felt the staff was helpful and quite friendly so they did not mind to befriend him.
Apparently, his name was Aston. Since both girls would often use the training fields in the future, having a good connection with the staff would be beneficial to their study.
"See you later!" Elsa said her goodbye and went toward her designated room.
"See you!" Erza also walked toward room no.19.
Erza opened the door and saw a portal in the middle of the room. There was only a formation mark underneath and nothing else inside the room. She did not hesitate to enter the portal straightaway.
Next, Erza found herself floating in an empty space. Nothing was around her. There was a faint light illuminated the space field, so she could still observe her surroundings. She took a deep breath then summoned the Heavenly Flame Sword from her storage ring.
"Hi, how are you, Ash?" Ash was the name of the sword spirit. He told Erza his name after she became his master. As his master, Erza could communicate directly with the sword spirit mind to mind.
"Not bad, just had nothing much to do for the last few years" Ash nonchalantly replied while looking around the space field, but it caused Erza to feel a bit guilty.
"Sorry." Erza apologized. "What's for?" Ash asked back.
"For being an incompetent partner for you so far." Erza refused to be treated as the master. She followed her words from six years ago and treated Ash as her partner.
"Oh, good that you finally admitted it."
"Therefore, would you please teach me so that I could become your true partner?" Erza was doing what Mr. Ariel advised her to do. As a matter of fact, she rarely practiced with Ash in these last six years. Most of her time was used for practicing her control of Time and improving her mastery over her Eyes of Chronos.
"You are not afraid of the possible pain anymore?" Ash teased Erza.
"Honestly, I'm still afraid of the possible pain. I could endure a pain but that pain from six years ago was truly too much."
"Then why do you need to push yourself again? You are the current Holy Daughter of Valentine clan. You are not bullied anymore and most people has recognized your existence and talent."
"But not you, not my parents." Erza's reply caused Ash bewildered. She then continued "You are my first partner, so how could I be happy when my partner is not happy being with me?"
"Moreover, I just realized that I need strength. Only with enough strength, I could be recognized by everyone. Only with enough strength, I could investigate my true origin. Only with enough strength, I could take revenge for those who brought harms to my parents. Only with enough strength, I could protect those that matters to me. Only with enough strength, I could do whatever I want to do and no one will dare to oppose me."
Ash was shocked with Erza's answer. He recalled something then asked "Do you remember what happened six years ago after you passed out?"
"Not really. But I had some guesses." Erza replied after thinking for a while.
"Fine then. Here is the Blood of Phoenix. My blood. Take it." In front of the sword, a drop of blood was floating.
Erza shuddered. She had a strong feeling that it would be a very painful experience all over again. Nevertheless, she gritted her teeth and swallowed that drop of blood.
'Ignite!' Ash said in his mind. It was actually a spell, an awakening spell.
Next, Erza found that her body was burning. Every pore in her body was screaming in pain. Her blood was being burned and tempered multiple times. Unknowingly to her, her hair started to change to a brilliant red colour.
All sorts of information were pouring into her brain. Obviously, most of them were sword techniques and fire control skills. However, she did not have the time to sort out her new knowledge as she was fighting with every inch of her strength just to stay conscious.
"Why are you struggling so hard? Just accept me, embrace me. We are one to begin with anyway." A voice suddenly echoed in her mind.