[Levi's Pov]
'[Water Lance]!'
Having finally accepted the reality for what it was, I fired one of the abilities that I had been granted by the gods, firing a large swirl of lethal water toward the red-eyed youth in front of me. Yet, at the last second, I felt myself hesitating a bit, making my aim slightly off.
At the same time, I could see Aarick not moving at all, as if he had noticed what had just happened to me, wearing a complicated expression.
*BOM!*
As a result, the spear of water just flew past his face, instead colliding with the mana barrier around us and exploding on impact.
'Shit!'
Getting ready for the counterattack that I was sure would come, I readied my spear, now wanting to be caught off guard.
*Step*
Yet, Aarick just took a single step forward, his eyes turned to the wooden floor beneath us. And then, he spoke.
"Is this it? Weren't you supposed to be some kind of genius, someone revered by the whole wide world? And yet..."
At that point, he lifted his head, piercing me with his blood-red eyes that seemed to glow in frustration for some reason.
"... you can't even hit me?"
Suddenly, a surge of bloodlust was released from him, quickly making beads of sweat emerge from my forehead. Simultaneously, I thought I could hear confused murmurs from the audience, as they weren't quite sure what was happening.
*Step*
"Did you know, Levi? On the backstreets of Rellea, in the darkness of this bright world you know to be yours for the taking, this kind of hesitation... Do you know what would happen if someone hesitated like you just did?"
Ignoring his question, I stood ready with my spear pointing at him and slowly started to circulate my mana again, preparing myself to react as soon as Aarick did something.
"They would die."
*Step!*
Out of nowhere, Aarick suddenly flew forward, at a speed that should have been impossible for an [E]-rank to reach. Stunned by the sudden approach, I could only just react when I saw a pair of dark claws aiming for my throat, ready to tear it up.
*Tang!*
Somehow, I managed to deflect his sharp weapons with my spear, but as he had already made his way inside of my range, I knew I had to act quickly. Unfortunately, he was just as aware as me that he needed to make the most out of this opening.
As his arm was flung to the side by my spear, he didn't try to regain his posture. Instead, he followed along with the rotation, and instead sent a kick directed at my face while spinning.
*Bam!*
"Kah!"
Tasting the metallic flavor of blood, I jumped backward, trying to create the distance that I should have been fighting at from the start. Luckily, though his kick managed to connect, the physical differences between an [E]-rank and a [D]-rank made it more than bearable for me.
Then, something strange happened again.
Instead of dashing forward, making sure to keep me in his range, Aarick suddenly stopped, covering his face with one of his claw-imbued hands.
'Something is wrong... but I can't afford to care right now!'
His earlier attacks had already opened my eyes to reality, and right now, I knew that reality demanded that I didn't shame my family name even more. It was already shameful enough that I had gotten hit by someone an entire rank lower than me.
'I'm sorry, Aarick.'
Swinging my spear while taking a step forward, Gentle Blue started glowing with power as I injected my mana into it. A second later, the whole spear was enveloped with surging water, with me fully intent on ending the match right here.
'[Oceanic Strike]!'
****
[Aarick's Pov]
'Focus, damnit! Fuck!'
I was desperately trying to regain my sanity that had been lost when my urges flooded my mind after seeing a trail of blood running down Levi's mouth. If there had ever been a time when losing control wasn't a good idea, that time was undoubtedly now.
Unfortunately, I could feel that behind the claws that were covering my eyes, there was a woman who by now had fully committed to fighting for real, swinging her spear with full power toward me. A strike strong enough that I even feared that it might claim my life if it connected.
Looking through my claws, I forced my eyes open, seeing the glowing spear that was now surrounded by violent swirls of water, and the blue-haired crybaby that was now nowhere close to crying. Her face clearly told me the story of someone who finally woke up.
Seeing this, I felt like I also managed to wake up, managing to shake off the impulses that were now inherent to my physical body.
'[Pull]!'
Using my ability once again, the ability that I had used to close the distance between us previously, I felt an invisible force take hold of my body, pulling me backward just in time to avoid getting completely destroyed by the powerful attack that Levi had launched.
Sadly, she didn't seem to care much about my little trick this time, instead just dashing forward with her spear fully intent on bringing me down.
Although she didn't seem to be able to continuously use her water to enhance her strikes, a series of sharp thrusts still came at me, threatening to create several holes in my body.
As a result of my training with Dona and Daniel, I was able to react to the attacks, albeit barely, and come out mostly unscathed.
"Guh!"
Sadly, a large gash was still imprinted on my side, and in a matter of seconds, blood was flowing freely out of it. Even worse was that Levi's spear still didn't stop moving, and it didn't take more than a moment before it was on its way to my heart.
'I have no choice, do I?'
As fast as I possibly could, I brought out some of the energy inside my core, allowing the power to fill my body and as a result strengthening it.
*Tang!*
With my newfound strength, I was finally able to deflect the spear with my claws, creating a situation where Levi should have been completely open for an attack. However, as I dashed forward, she merely released one of her hands from the spear and held her palm up toward me.
'Dangerous!'
Another surge of water started to gather in front of it, making every single alarm bell in my head ring with desperation. No matter how much of a shame it was, I knew that I couldn't approach her like this.
Stopping mid-dash, I somehow managed to dodge to the side as she sent out another water spear, an attack that would most likely have ended in me having a hole in my stomach had I tried to continue my offensive.
Following this, she had bought herself enough time to regain her posture to once again execute multiple thrusts forward, this time making sure she didn't overcommit to an attack and make herself open.
*Tang, tang, tang!*
Even with my strengthened body, my hands quickly started to feel numb after continuously parrying her onslaught, and as the wooden floor had already begun to be painted red with my blood, I knew that I couldn't allow this to continue.
Not only was she physically stronger than me, but she also didn't seem to have any problem holding me at bay after learning from her earlier mistake but making use of the range of her spear.
So, while her spear continued to assault me without rest, I hurriedly thought of my options.
Going into this match, my plan had been to make use of [Pull] to catch her off-guard and hopefully find the opportunity to end the match right there and then. Sadly, not only did it not work, but it had also put me in a situation where I had no choice but to use it again.
This, combined with the mana enhancement of my body had now used so much of my mana that I knew I couldn't use my abilities carelessly. In the end, I only found one thing I could do, and although it was quite risky, I couldn't help but smile when thinking about it.
*Tang!*
Having parried yet another thrust, I focused as hard as I possibly could on her spear, trying to read the speed and timing of her next attack. Luckily for me, she had found this war of attrition to be the most effective way of fighting, making it very easy to conclude that she would use yet another stab.
"Hupp!"
And there it was, her spear quickly approaching my stomach, I raised my arm, fully aware that if I fucked this up, I would end up with her gem-like spear rupturing more than one of my organs.
'Now! [Inherent Gravity]!'
Increasing the gravity of my clawed hand as much as I could while still making sure it was fast enough to not miss the timing, my dark claws came crashing down like a meteor falling toward earth.
*BAM!*