A blue radiance tore through the air before her face as Vela's body tensed, her eyes turning red like the lava in her sword as she struck with a masterful overhead strike, cutting across the sky with a single stroke.
Her eyes narrowed as the air exploded with the clash of steel and ice, vibrant blue shards and molten sparks fluttering through the air as the pair's eyes met for the first time.
Asura's crimson eyes filled with determination, drive and excitement, and the dark, molten eyes of the Princess showed her confidence, curiosity and ferocity.
⟪Devour Arts⟫
—Blood Reaper
His assault didn't end.
Reaching over as their blades fought against each other for dominance, and his body still in mid-air, Asura grabbed Vela, creating several bloody hands that grasped her body and tightened as he clenched his fist.
"Argh!?"
The moment she lowered her blade, trying to deal with the bloody hands draining her vitality and mana latching onto her flesh like sharp vines, Asura dropped to the ground, twisting his hips to send a powerful fist coated in blue flames into her abdomen.
'I cannot show weakness or respect.'
'This is a battle to show my worth!'
'Otherwise, I will be discarded.'
'Like useless trash!'
Vela's eyes narrowed in agony as his fist impacted her waist, causing her stomach and innards to tremble.
"Hah!"
But her counter was swift, taking advantage of the moment Asura pulled back to grasp his sword in both hands, her blade like a deadly eagle pierced forward, through his guard and slicing across his perfect porcelain-like cheek, a line of red dripping down his soft cheek onto the arena floor.
'My first injury.'
Asura's eyes widened, his expression showing a small amount of shock and surprise, but a smile soon replaced it.
The crowd erupted into a loud cheer for the princess as she took the aggressive advantage, attacking Asura with a beautiful combination of several slashes from multiple directions as she advanced, her body beginning to burn with her intense flames.
"Humph..."
Vela snorted, looking a little disappointed and annoyed, "Why are you smiling? Have you gone mad?"
Clang!
Slash!
Thrust!
Clack!
Asura didn't respond, his smile widening as he stared at her with those intense eyes. Grasping Nova, he showed no fear as the blue flame flickered across his body, twisting and using every moment to devour her excess mana and learn her techniques as he did with Mu Xue.
His mind worked hard, calculating the best ways to counter and attack, dodging her sword and blocking where he could.
'She's not bad... No, she is amazing; I truly admire the princess from the bottom of my heart!'
'Her sword is pure, filled with ambition and grace. How can such a woman be allowed to vanish?'
'If this were an ordinary duel, she would win.'
'Her strength, speed, technique and ability to predict and adapt to my fighting style are superior to mine.'
'But it is not an ordinary duel, and my 'talent' has always been...'
"Ah!"
Asura's expressionless eyes filled with amusement as the battle raged on.
He could feel his skin burning with every strike, his flesh melting and regenerating, his bones cracking and repairing, and his muscles being ripped apart and restored over and over again as his blood boiled and evaporated.
Asura's body was like an eternal furnace, his own 'talent' allowing him to use the intense molten mana devoured from her to instantly temper himself so that he was like a machine made for battle.
Their blades clashed, with the beautiful ice shimmering and forming a cloud of frozen mist each time the superheated blade of Vela collided with it.
The pair exchanged over fifty blows, with Asura losing most, but Vela had already noticed the changes; subtle, but the changes were becoming more visible to her magical eyes!
"You, why are you able to continue!?"
Her face was no longer cold and aloof, the usual expression she displayed to the world, but now it was full of respect, awe and curiosity, with a small amount of anger and rage as her strikes became more savage and fierce, "What is this!? Why are you not afraid!?"
"Ah, I am afraid, your highness, but..."
Asura's sword blocked a deadly slash across his throat as he pressed his palm along the back of his blade to reinforce the defence, causing the princess to pause and listen as his voice grew low and his gaze intense, "What is it?"
She gasped before his body twisted, pivoting and wrapping around her side, spinning his body like an ethereal snake, and dragging his blade through the air so gracefully it didn't even register in her mind until she felt him slicing along her flank as blood spurted before freezing, instantly filling her side with intense pain.
"Gah!"
"I want to beat you, to crush you under my feet even more than my body fears you!"
His words rang through her mind as she fell to one knee, holding herself up with her sword, her blood flowing from her wounds as she panted, staring at the sky above her with her blade gripped firmly in her hand.
Her body was weak and exhausted, her energy drained, and her mind was confused.
Vela wanted to understand why this boy could stand up and smile, to show enjoyment when she saw her magic making his body burn, his blood boil, and his bones break repeatedly!
It was a cruel form of torture, but he just smiled and laughed like a madman.
Asura watched as the Princess looked at him; he didn't show mercy like waiting for her to get up, lifting Nova above his head, the frigid chill of her blade covering him, creating a mirage of a handsome blue man about to execute the Princess.
But just as he was about to strike, his eyes widened at the sudden boulder of molten rocks fired towards him from her open palm, a spell he hadn't seen her cast!
"Kuh!?"
A flash of pain exploded through his body, his chest and back feeling as though a stone hammer had shattered them, and a stream of blood erupted from his lips as he was sent flying back through the air, landing heavily on his feet and rolling to a stop.
He coughed, blood splattering the ground as he tried to breathe; his lungs and internal organs felt crushed as a violent and powerful mana was being devoured into his blood.
Slowly, he stood with the help of the monoliths supporting him.
'I want to win! I want to beat this woman at all costs!'