"Hey, I'm going to give you twenty seconds to get up, if you don't, I'm going to end things here," Aqua warned.
After a while she had to pull back the hydro tentacles because it was taking up a lot of her mana to keep it up but Arsha was still on the floor, he had not moved his body an inch since he crashed to the floor and the audience were starting to get worried now.
Aqua on the other hand proceeded to start her countdown.
"I think she should go check on him, he doesn't look like he's okay."
"Shouldn't there be a medic standing by for this kind of stuff?"
It took until Aqua got to the tenth number on her countdown for Arsha to finally show some sign of being alive.
He moved his hands and the moment the concerned ones in the audience saw that, they let out sighs of relief.
He slowly got up on one knee first before slowly getting up on both of his feet but his gaze was still on the floor.
"Took you long enough."
"Hey, everyone saw how you slammed me into the wall, right?" He asked.
"Yes, what about it?"
"You know that was pretty wicked, you almost broke my back there." He remarked with his gaze still on the floor.
"Well, that wasn't exactly my intention but I don't see how it's a problem." She retorted with a shrug.
"Oh, you don't see how it's a problem. In that case, I guess there won't be a problem when I return the favor."
He slowly raised his gaze at that moment to reveal his face, the face of someone finally ready for a fight.
His crimson eyes looked scary on their own most of the time but now they were looking quite fiery, this was something seen quite often with Ariel whenever her switch got flipped.
Aqua got frightened for a moment there but she was going to hold her ground nevertheless as she took a step forward with a determined look on her face.
"What? I'm supposed to be terrified now because you're serious?"
"Don't worry, that'll come naturally once your arms go numb." He responded in a menacing voice before quickly dashing toward her.
She shot out a larger water blast with both of her hands combined, that was an attack anyone would want to avoid but Arsha charged straight through it.
"When?" Aqua gasped.
He got to her at that moment and just before she could do anything to defend herself, he formed a water bullet on his finger and fired it straight at her left shoulder piercing through her skin with no difficulty.
Most of the audience didn't really see it because he did it from point-blank range but Aqua suddenly jumping back clutching onto her left shoulder was enough to tell them that something was wrong.
It was written all over her face now, she was in serious pain and Arsha had a subtle smug expression on his face.
"You ran through my water blast without getting hit, you weren't able to do that before."
Her breathing was slowly getting faster as her heart rate increased but she was trying her best to keep it under control.
"I don't think there's anything to be surprised about, before today it was known especially between the both of us that our water abilities were evenly matched meaning that I can't override the water you control and vice versa so I guess it's normal to assume that there's been a shift in power. That's what you've been looking for since that time, no? The only difference is that it was against you."
"That…. that's not fair." She bit her lip before lowering her gaze.
"I don't know what your definition of fair is but I'm sure there's no unfair element in this fight." Arsha retorted.
She felt a strong gust of wind in her face at that moment and that was because Arsha was standing right in front of her now.
"Don't take this the hard way but you slammed me into the wall first." He said before sending his knee down her gut.
"Arghh!" She groaned as a few drops of liquid flew out her mouth. "This was supposed to be a fair fight."
She quickly formed a long water blade with her right hand at that moment but before she could do anything with it, he grabbed it with his bare hand and flung her back like she was nothing.
She whimpered like a little child for a moment there just after crashing to the floor but she was able to get a hold of herself, at least to not cry because the pain she was feeling now, especially in her arm was immeasurable.
"You planned this from the start, you were already aware that your ability had surpassed mine but you wanted to humiliate me here." She sobbed as she slowly got up on her feet.
"Umm….I don't think it's fair to accuse me of that when you're the one who dragged me into this fight."
"Unlike you, I'm not that good in physical combat and hydro is my only ability, I just wanted a fair fight against someone who was supposedly equally ranked with me but I guess I'm number two in this department now."
She was surprisingly able to calm her nerves and heart rate but that itself came with a problem.
You would expect her to admit defeat with the way things were now but instead, she was building up water around her hand, slowly forming a tentacle.
"That's a sad little speech but you didn't have to go to the trouble of telling me because honestly, I don't care." He stated bluntly.
"I know and that's why I'm not backing down from this fight until I scratch you!" She screamed before flinging the tentacle toward him.
"Are you dumb?" Arsha inquired just as he caught the end of it with his left hand. "You tried something like this earlier and it failed, try to be more creative."
Just like last time, he lifted her easily from his side of the tentacle and flung her to the side slamming her into the wall.
It wasn't as bad as what she did to him but she was definitely going to be feeling the effects of that.
"I guess I later got to return the favor exactly." He muttered before he began to make his way to her.
"I can't believe he's been holding back all along."
"That doesn't look like a fight between a second rank and fourth rank in any way, she doesn't even stand a chance."
"Yeah, and to think that he hasn't even used much of his ability."
There were a lot of reactions from the audience and it was different from what it was a few minutes ago.
"Fighting someone like you is just perfect for conserving my mana," Arsha muttered just as she stopped beside Aqua who didn't have it in her to try and get up anymore.
"I guess it was impossible to scratch you in the end."
"Yeah, and I'll be scratching your right arm now, I think losing your arms for a few weeks will do well to always remind you of this moment."
He pointed his right fingers at her at that moment in the pistol shape and the water bullet began to take shape in front of it.
He was just about to release the bullet when someone suddenly grabbed his hand causing it to fall to the floor as a water drop.
The person who grabbed his hand was none other than Ariel and she had quite a serious expression on her face.
"I think that's enough, Arsha."