Time passed once more and it was finally August 30th. The deadline and announcement of ranks were at 8 o'clock at night. There were still two hours until the deadline. Isla was in 5th place, undefeated throughout all duels. She still had not defeated Aria Shinomiya yet. And so, she made her move.
Isla approached the No.2 holder. Aria turned.
"Ah, if it isn't Miss Failure? You're No.5 now, aren't you? You still haven't gotten to where I am."
She teased Isla, clearly not learning from their last encounter.
"Exactly, that's why I want to duel you. The winner gets all of the loser's points."
Aria was slightly taken aback.
"What? All of our points? Do you know what you're asking?!"
"Yeah, whoever loses ends up with zero points. They won't be able to enter the squad they want to. We both want in on the Ironhide Squad, right?"
Isla seemed like a sly villain tricking the hero into following her plan. However, Aria knew that she was far more capable than Isla in battle.
"Are you sure?"
"Yup. I won't regret anything if I lose. Not sure about you though."
"Don't kid yourself. I haven't lost a single battle."
"Yet you avoid fighting Sho Murakami who is above you."
The brown-haired girl froze. She glared at Isla, not attempting to hide her bloodlust. Isla stared at her, unwavering.
"Bring it on, No.2, there's a reason you can't get to first."
"Oh... Let's do it now then."
They sized each other up, glaring at one another.
"Hey, look, the No.2 and No.5 are going to fight it out."
"Seems like whoever loses gives all of their points to the other person."
"Still... I don't see any way that Isla Chibana can beat Aria Shinomiya. She's a beast."
Both Isla and Aria went to their respective rooms and Aria requested a custom duel, where the conditions could be customised.
Isla read it over carefully, making sure that Aria put the right conditions in.
"Gah, really?! She allowed Singularities?! She could've won easily if she didn't allow them."
(I was right, then. Aria wants to completely destroy me like how I want to destroy her.)
Isla smiled insidiously as she accepted the duel request.
(Sadly, I am going to win against you, Aria.)
Isla put on her wristband and was sent into the virtual arena. She was summoned into a school. Aria stood in front of her.
[Hello! I am Morisa Chibana and I am going to be an observer for this match!]
"Morisa... Chibana?!"
"Mom?!"
A childish smile appeared on Aria's face as she heard Morisa's voice. Isla looked at her expression and sighed. She had not been expecting her mother to be watching but she found it interesting.
"Ah!"
That was when Isla found out that she was secretly twisted and sly.
[I am overseeing this match because it's quite the important one. No restrictions and whoever loses gives all of their points to the winner.]
"I can't lose then. I'll prove to her that you're no more than a fail—"
The girl flinched as she looked into Isla's eyes. They had no colour to them. To Aria, she looked like a predator hunting prey.
"Is that so? I couldn't care less about my mother right now."
[Let the duel begin!]
"I'll end this quickly! I'll beat the shit out of you and surpass Sho Murakami in one go!"
Aria extended her hands out—flames cloaked her hands as she entered a martial arts stance.
"Incantationless magic? Along with the melee version of Blade Emperor Style..."
She aimed her flaming hand towards Isla. As she pushed towards the girl, a dragon of flames charged towards Isla. Aria followed closely behind.
The white-haired girl shifted her hands towards her chest, aether trailed off of them. Gently, as if untangling a knot, she unravelled the flame dragon.
Aria appeared from the flames. Isla dodged her first attack.
"Tch. Missed by a hair's breadth."
She knocked Isla's leg, putting her off balance, she smacked her directly in the face, sending her flying into the school.
"Nice."
Aria complimented herself.
Isla rose from the locker, that she landed into, uninjured. Aria furrowed her brow when she saw no visible damage to her opponent.
(Hm? I hit her in the face. Never mind the flames, but there's not a single scratch on her face. My attack connected, I mean, she got sent flying, so... what is it?)
She could not put her finger on it. It agitated her. Aria had no idea whether her next attack would work. Isla started her attack.
She swiped her hand across her body, pools of aether appeared behind her, shooting aether at Aria. The brown-haired girl used mana to block the aether.
"!"
The aether slipped through her mana, hitting her. Aria skipped around, dodging the attack.
"I'm done playing around. Partial Transformation."
Aria grew large wings on her back. They were the wings of a dragon. This was a part of the Singularity. She darted towards Isla.
"What?!"
The girl snatched Isla, by her neck, and slammed her through the building.
(I thought she wouldn't use it this early!)
Isla gritted her teeth and activated her Python. On the other hand, Aria went further with her dragon transformation, growing horns and fangs.
When she sensed Python, Aria threw Isla at the fountain in the school courtyard.
"Gah!"
Isla coughed blue pixels as she took damage from being launched. A shadow floated in the air, looking down at Isla.
It was Aria. She had black horns protruding from her forehead and the golden eyes of a dragon. Her forearms were clad in red scales. Her large wings flapped, sending a strong gust of wind towards Isla.
"I don't know what's up with your mana, but I'll beat you either way. I won't lose while Morisa-san is watching."
Isla clicked her tongue, uninterested in Aria's obsession with her mother.
"I'll destroy you."