Kala quickly jumped back as Lialh put up his guard, setting himself into gear and easing himself into the fight.
"Ray! I need you to follow up all of my attacks. Let's try to overwhelm him!" She commanded as both our emblems ignited, mine a cardinal red arrow pattern that steamed down my arm through my suit, and Kala's, a thunder blue that spread like lightning from the diamond marking on her chest.
She then burst towards Lialh at incredible speed, leaving dust in her waking, coming in with a flying kick aimed at his head. Lialh however, parried her attack with his right hand, palming it away to the side.
Kala's face however signalled in a confident smile, as her gaze went below her and to me who stood in her shadow, crouched and bracing my charged fist that plunged towards Lialh's sternum.
But my attack didn't connect. Lialh had somehow gained an extra 3 inches of distance, narrowly rendering my attack useless by stepping out of reach. I almost stumble, but I manage to push myself of the ground and into the air above him, gaining momentum by twisting my body to flip sideways before coming back down with my fist, this time aiming at the crown of his head.
Lialh, unfazed, smiles at the tense expression that spread through my face before my fist collided. Not with Lialh, but instead the ground. I looked up from the ground only to realise I was in the spot I started this fight off in. On the opposite side of the arena to where Kala and Lialh were standing.
I bit my lip looking at mine and Kala's precarious situation.
I did not miss fighting against his abilities, especially knowing that he is only using the surface level of his arsenal and just dodging are attacks.
Whilst my thoughts ran through my head, Kala rushed Lialh with a relentless barrage of her lightning charged, high speed kicks and fists that all garnered incredible strength. Though that strength was completely useless as not a single attack connected.
She then steps back only for Lialh to appear in front of her in the blink of an eye and throw her up the inclining arena making her hit the petal and smash into the wall making an imprint of her silhouette.
"Kala!" I shouted her name as she picked herself up. "Are you alright?" She doesn't reply but instead smiles. She then jumps over to where I was standing.
"Ray, we need to be faster. So much faster that he won't be able to react." I listened in, allowing her to fully express her idea before I jump in. "Take some of my power and amplify it, and then I need you to amplify the remainder of my power that I hold. You got that?"
I look to her as if she was insane. Sometimes I do wonder if she is only ever driven by battle, by the sole goal of becoming stronger. "I don't know if I'll be able to not only use you power that is being amplified by my ability, but also amplify you as a whole. The sound of it sounds crazy enough. But… it might just work."
I then started charging up my power and I ask Kala to pass her hand. She complies willingly and I grab her hand and we both simultaneously pour power into each over.
This is absolutely absurd. My emblem is probably the only one that would be able to comply to such requirements. I wonder if I can pull it of. If I can, then in the future I should be able to do so much more, right? We've been back a couple hours and were already progressing again. Lialh is truly an intelligent head. He knows what it takes to bring out the potential in people.
"Done!" I announce with a psyched smile on my face. Both our emblems roared in unison as our powers more than doubled. In reality, she only gave me a trace of her power, but that trace was enough to spark such force inside of me.
Words were no longer necessary. It felt as our desires were connected, intertwined. We were of the same mind. At once we charged Lialh, faster than ever before, blitzing towards him as craters were left where we previously stood.
Lialh still remained clam and his smirk emerged once more. "Good. Let your instincts take over and allow your talent to bloom alongside your creativity. Growth is attainable everywhere if the mindset is appropriate. You both can grow immensely this time around."
Lialh stood in the centre of our assault as we encircled him. Kala attacking the front, and myself from the back as we each strike his body. Once more, we each strike designated places, Kala the upper body and I the lower.
In response, Lialh's eyes lit up, his mercury eyes looking now fiery and poisonous like a stream of it boiled in the hottest of temperatures and it spouting out as liquid mercury. He reaches for his armoured cape, and whips it around him making our vision severely limited, close to blind, making us waver before our strikes. And it did just that, a spark of doubt ignited inside of us. Yet we still proceeded to follow through with our intentions and penetrate the unarmoured part of the fur coat. It then crashed to the floor under the weight raising a dust cloud. He wasn't there.
Instinctively we began guarding each overs backs, ready in anticipation for Lialh's eventual attack. Only for him to appear in their original start place. He then calls out to us in a pleased tone. "That was very good. But not good enough. Your anticipation was lacking and you failed to adapt when you were blinded. Now how do you think this could have been prevented?"
We both rattled our brains and then Kala finally answers. "By pre-emptively drawing you out and forcing you to use this cover before then getting in a definite strike."
"Correct! But how would you do that? I already know what you could do Kala, but can you be more creative and use your power. Strictly, only your emblem, out of yours and Ray's, can do this. It's just a matter of if you can think of what it is and execute it."
Lialh then snaps his finger and a small white hole appears, swirling with an incredible blaze and heat, that looked almost like a galaxy and its stars.
Our eyes both widen as we gather all our strength into our legs to jump away immediately. But nothing happens.
We then look up to Lialh as we laid on the floor. "That was good of you to jump away from that. But don't worry, unless your a threat I wouldn't hit you with this." He then snaps his fingers and an explosion rains down in a thick beam that reached from the sky and burst the clouds apart, destroying the centre of arena entirely.
"Now then kids, how about we take a break. I am more than pleased than what I saw from you. Oh and also, the academy has informed everyone that your class will be called of for the next month and therefore you are to return home, so I advise you rest now and train hard for the next month. Finally, a guest will be arriving in two days. You have met them before and they'll be staying here for the next month also. That is all."