Julia felt exhilarated using the Dancing Butterfly Arts in public for the first time. She could sense her opponent watching her, but felt confident in evading his attacks. Her mastery over her master's teaching was quickly put to the test, as Ra realized he couldn't let Julia acclimate any longer. Just like before the young man swiftly closed in on Julia, his great sword already raised high.
Julia felt Ra coming closer and closer. Just as the audience expected her to gain another wound, the young woman tipped her toes on the ground. She gracefully fluttered to the side, mimicking a butterfly gliding on the wind produced by Ra. Although she made it look so easy, real experts in the audience admired her mastery over the Dancing Butterfly Arts. Julia's master suppressed a tear threating to leave her eye, as she watched her disciple skillfully show off the first-step-stage of the Dancing Butterfly Arts.
Just like Bai Jingshen's White Illusion Art's for example, but contrary to Borde Techniques, the Dancing Butterfly Arts were created to support a cultivator for a long time. Therefore, reaching the first-step-stage in those such techniques already proved more difficult than reaching the transcendence-stage in Borde Techniques. Graceful Butterfly was proud of her student, knowing that she would be valued by Celestial Jade in the New World.
Julia herself felt more comfortable with each step. Suddenly however, she noticed that Ra didn't put space between them after his attack. He weirdly leaned to the side, seemingly gliding in the air as he made a sharp turn, instantly attacking her again. Julia realized she got distracted for a moment, quickly blocking Ra's follow up. The young man however had now gained the upper hand, ferociously pushing his advantage.
The onlookers held their breath as Julia slowly had to dance backwards, coming ever closer to the tree behind her. Just as everyone thought she had nowhere to go, Julia suddenly made a sweeping kick before her. Ra had to take a step back, but saw a chance as Julia wouldn't be able to instantly stand stable again. The young man gathered his strength, holding his great sword in a strange angle before him and suddenly pushed forward like a bird snatching something with its beak.
However, no one expected Julia to use the momentum of her kick to turn her back on Ra. The young woman looked exposed to any attack, but the situation quickly changed as she jumped up, pressed one foot on the tree and gracefully somersaulted over Ra's head. The young man tried to redirect his attack, but it was already too late as he received a kick to his back. He luckily managed to avoid hitting the tree face first, but he still scaped heavily against it before landing on the ground.
Julia quickly closed in on him, wanting to finish this fight. Ra however trained a lot with Bai Jingshen and wouldn't panic in this situation. He skillfully lightened his fall by rolling on the floor, before using one hand to strongly push himself, gaining enough height to bring his feet back to the ground. His situation didn't look much better however, as he felt immense pain in the arm he just used. With such an obviously weakness things looked rather bleak.
Ra's opponent was impressed by his movement, but she realized he was unable to hide his pain. The young woman was had a few injuries herself, from being in a disadvantageous position earlier. However, they were not much compared to Ra. Therefore, Julia was in high spirits, deciding to press her advantage.
Before Ra could use his movement arts again to create a distance, Julia was already before him. The young woman attacked him with fans and kicks while getting more and more comfortable with the Dancing Butterfly Arts. At this point Ra could only stay on the backfoot, barely defending himself.
Eventually he realized he only had one last chance, or this fight would be over for him. He stably defended a few more attacks, waiting for the perfect moment. Just as Julia once again used a wide kick, Ra saw his chance. He desperately used his movement art, treating Julia like he treated those trees in his way earlier and tried to closely glide around her.
The young woman was also waiting for a chance however, going with the flow while turning around so Ra wouldn't be able to flank her. Bai Jingshen sighed as he watched how his friend tried one last swing with his sword against Julia's leg, only for the young woman to gracefully lift said leg and ram her knee into his stomach. Ra went to the ground coughing. Julia only watched on as Ra recovered before he took a deep breath and admitted defeat.
This tension filled matched finally ended, with Julia winning the losers-bracket finale. Her master was happy for her student, but she would respect her disciple's opinion as she could decide if she wanted to challenge the loser of the winners-bracket finale for second place.
Julia waited for a few seconds, before Ra stood up. Bai Jingshen watched with a wry smile on his face, as the two contestants cupped their fists at each other, both looking surprised as this wasn't a standard gesture in the Rising Force World. The former emperor even was sure to have seen interest suddenly appearing in his best friend's eyes. Bai Jingshen suddenly laughed, confusing his team members, but he could only wish his friend good luck internally.
With the first finale over, the competition neared its end, but the excitement was only rising. In all cubes the finale was heatedly discussed. Who would have thought that things would play out this way. Someone not known before this competition suddenly appeared, showing of calm a fighting style, easily leading on his opponents to his win. Now he stood in the finale, preparing to fight against Lehno of Ellshire.
Although Lehno wasn't as prominent as his older brother, he was still an Ellshire. This noble family had been leading the republic for a long time. They were already a strong family ruling over multiple planets before this star region came into contact with the empire. Back then, the one empire, the strongest state to have ever existed, had just split up into the big five. Mhalor didn't see a place for himself among the big five, so he and his followers traveled towards the edge of the universe, where the one empire never expanded to.
Midway however he found a loose alliance of families, each one controlling a few planets. They had been playing with the idea of founding a state for a while now. While their original goal was to be in a better position for eventual negotiations should the one empire try to annex them, even after the split they continued with their plan, but found their strength to be lacking to hold their own in the bigger society. Eventually they sought to draw more organizations into their alliance, until they met Mhalor.
After a lot of negotiations, Mhalor, whose church alone would be able to rival the families, joined together with them to found the Mhalor's Light Republic. A lot of the families were supporting Mhalor in the hopes of making connections with the big five, hence giving a lot of power to the church.
However Ellshire and other families who were in strong positions before suddenly found their influence dwindling, as they weren't in favor of adding Mhalor to their state. They eventually still held a lot of power, but to their regret they never found a good connection with the big five. They only felt a little better, as out of the many families supporting Mhalor, only one manage to connect with the big five, making them the republic's unofficial leaders as the church grew weaker after Mhalor's death.
Right now however, Lehno didn't match the picture of a proud Ellshire at all. Even after harsh training, Lehno was still only a young man. Especially a young man who always got what he wanted. From the first time he saw Julia, Lehno was already infatuated with her. As she and her master traveled to the Republic, they attended a banquet at the capital, drawing everyone's attention.
Lehno's family tacitly allowed him to chase after Julia, as gaining her favor might prove beneficial to the Ellshire family. At the same time, they were certain Lehno wouldn't do something stupid like hurting Julia.
What if he dealt ruthlessly with his competitors, however? Well, who would dare to complain to the Ellshire family?
Therefore, Lehno vowed to show himself from his best side while Julia resided in the Republic. His mind only got even more captured after Julia showed the Dancing Butterfly Arts. He could only let his eyes follow her every movement, as she gracefully danced through the battlefield. He HAD to make this woman fall for him.
Therefore, if he won against the opponent Julia lost to, getting revenge for her, than he would surely win her favor. Lehno didn't realize it, but he was influenced by a certain charm the Dancing Butterfly Arts possessed. Julia wasn't really able to bring out this charm nor control it yet, so it only worked on Lehno, who already was obsessed with her. But this way Lehno looked forward to brutally beating up Bai Jingshen even more, as an infatuated smile showed on his face.