Seeing the golden aura surrounding Ray's body, a smile appeared on Fiona's face.
"That's more like it."
"*Sigh* So they are really going to do it," Fiona's secretary shook her head in pity.
"Does this happen often?" Sylph watched everything in keen interest. She was curious about how strong Ray was.
She had arrived at the disturbed area to find Ray standing casually, with a beast lying lifeless and a lot of damage around, and a woman running towards a house. To go there she had to cross the road beside where the beast lay.
She was confused why the abyssal hadn't begun fading into dust with the kind of injury it had received.
So she had expected the sudden movement of the abyssal and was able to deliver an attack that was fast enough to kill the abyssal before it could take the woman's life.
She was confused why Ray didn't try to save the woman.
When she saw the abyssal fading away, she left to inform Fiona of Ray's location.
She was amused when Fiona informed her of her plan, which was now being executed perfectly.
"Ray usually tries his best to avoid fighting with her after their first battle, but Fiona is the opposite. She always tries to have an excuse to beat him up. It seems like she enjoys fighting him and he is the only person she acts like this with, well, except a certain someone. I believe the number of times they had fought should be...."
She did a quick calculation. "This would be making it the thirteenth time."
"That much!" Said Sylph.
"Sadly, no matter how Ray tries to avoid it, it's like a monthly routine."
"But the look on his face shows that he wants to fight her," Sylph said with her eyes fixed in the distance.
"Is that so?" She wasn't an aberrant so she couldn't see his facial expressions from where they stood.
********************************
"At least let me get my weapon," Ray demanded.
"You're not in any position to make requests, besides, the final result would remain the same. But just because I don't want it to be so boring you can have this."
She walked to a rail, breaking a straight rod from it.
"Catch."
She threw the rod at him with so much force that it almost broke through the sound barrier.
Ray's eyes widened as he managed to catch it but ended up skidding three meters backward.
His hands were slightly shaking as he held onto the rod.
'Did she get stronger or she's just releasing more of her strength,' Ray wondered.
If it was him the last time they had fought, this rod would've gone right through him. 'She noticed that I got stronger, right?'
"It seems like you've gotten stronger. Now, let's get this party started," she said, crouching down slightly.
'Wait! This rod can't handle my aura sword arts.'
Before he could decide what to do, she zoomed towards him in a blur and it took less than a second for her to cover up the distance between them.
Having no other choice, he coated the rod with his golden aura taking a fighting stance that wasn't completed before she had already punched at him.
He blocked the attack with the rod.
"Boooooom!"
A wave spread out as he was sent flying backwards.
'This girl's a monster!' He said internally.
Before he could completely regain his footing, a kick was sent towards his face. Not having enough time to shield himself with the rod, he used his left hand instead.
Another wave was created as he continuously rolled away on the ground.
He placed his right hand on the ground and pushed himself up causing him to spin around mid-air before landing on his feet a few meters back.
Fiona appeared in front of him with a kick, he bent slightly, barely avoiding it, before placing his hand on the ground once more, spinning around with a kick of his own, directed at her face, but she caught his leg and tossed him away like a rag doll.
Ray stabbed the rod into the ground, using this to reduce the momentum he was moving at and when he finally stopped, he could see her standing still.
"Not bad," she smiled.
Ray on the other hand had a frown on his face.
'She's too fast.'
He was barely having any time to even think of attacking.
'I have to come up with something, this rod won't be able to handle my aura sword art.'
He looked at the rod which was slightly dented.
When he saw the punch coming he concentrated a lot of his aura into the rod but she was still able to go through his aura.
A lot of thoughts went through his head until he finally came up with something.
"That's it, I don't have to use my aura sword arts, I have to come up with something else," he muttered with a smile.
"I'll take your smile as a go-ahead signal", she voiced out.
"Eh?"
"Voooooommm!"
She exploded towards him.
'Think, think, think, think!'
She arrived in front of him within less than a second, throwing out a punch which he tried to block with his rod but that turned out to be a feint as she quickly changed her position throwing out a kick instead.
It was too quick and sudden for him to react, so he ended up being kicked in the face.
The force of the kick destroyed the trainers she wore while sending Ray's face into the ground.
She stared at her legs in disbelief.
"T-That was my f-f-favourite."
Even with his face on the ground, Ray's eyes widened when he heard this, and quickly got up, putting as much distance as he could away from her.
Blood trickled down his lips and forehead as he stared at her. "This is getting dangerous."
Fiona had her head down still staring at her ruined trainers.
****************************
"That's bad," Fiona's secretary voiced out shaking her head.
"What's wrong?" Sylph asked not sure why they were making a big deal out of a shoe.
"Those are Fiona's lucky trainers. She said that when she was younger her dad gave it to her as a lucky shoe to success, so she treasures it," she explained.
****************************
It was now or never. If he didn't come up with something to secure his life, he would end up losing it.
Her hair began to swirl upwards while she slowly raised her head to face him as the temperature kept rising to a frightening rate. The air around them began to expand and even some lighter materials slowly began to burn up.
Ray wasn't affected as his aura protected him.
"Let's talk about this. I can lend you mine, I'm sure your old man won't mind."
Fiona's eyebrow twitched when she heard this and her anger increased even further. Flames suddenly appeared and began spiraling around her fist.
'I've got it,' he said internally with a smile after remembering a form he once used during his early days with his abilities.
"You think it's funny right!" She said crouching slightly as Ray did the same.
"Vwoooooommmm!!!"
"Zoooooooommmm!!"
They both dashed towards each other.
"Aura staff arts, first form, shepherd stroke!"
The aura surrounding the rod tripled as he struck it forward. Fiona punched out with the flames spiraling around her fist.
"Booooooooommmm!!!"
A loud sound reverberated as their attacks made contact.
Ray shot backward into a small shop with the rod completely vaporizing.
Fiona stared at the direction he had flown into before bringing her gaze to the ground where a two feet skid mark could be seen. A smile appeared on her face before she turned around and started walking away.
"I've always liked to see Ray fight. I have to admit his techniques and ability are beautiful. It's too bad that Lady Fiona didn't let him use his weapon." Fiona's secretary sighed.
Sylph remained quiet with her usual poker face.
"He's well deserving of his name." She added.
"Ray?"
"No," she chuckled. "Morning star."
"Wait! He's morning star?" Sylph said in slight surprise.
It turns out that the name morning star wasn't just popular among the people but also Sentries.
The morning star was one of the fastest-growing sentry loved by the people, of course, such a title would grab the attention of even higher-ups and he wasn't just known in the south-west region but throughout the southern regions which includes the southern region, south-west region, and south-east region.
It extended to even the west and central region and his fame was still spreading.
She hadn't seen a picture of him but she had heard the name 'morning star' from numerous people, especially girls but she never expected to have a partnership with him.
"Did he die?" Fiona's secretary asked Fiona who had just arrived beside them.
"Not yet," she replied casually. "You guys would be using the other one."
"What about your lost trainers?" Her secretary asked.
"Oh! That was just a prototype," she replied dismissively, walking into the building.
Her secretary face palmed after hearing this. "Poor boy."