Nina and Ken faced off for the next phase of their battle, neither side taking a step as they analyzed each other. Nina lowered her posture, readying herself then lunged toward Ken at high speeds. She launched a swift roundhouse kick toward him, but he leaned back, countering with a swift hook punch.
Nina blocked his attack and landed a powerful blow to his stomach, a burst of light energy escaping Ken's back. Ken held his stomach as he stumbled backwards then looked up, grunting as Nina landed a powerful knee to his chin. Nina bellowed as she knocked Ken into the air.
"Wind Arts: Gale Blast!" Nina bellowed, launching a powerful gust of wind at Ken, blowing him away.
Ken created a wall of energy to block the gust of wind then pushed the fire wall toward Nina and ran behind it. Nina rushed forward and performed a roundoff then leaped over the fire wall, forming a sphere of light wind energy in get hand. Ken looked up and smirked at her.
Sparks began to crackle around his hand then he held his hand toward Nina. "Burst Skill: Ignia Blast!"
Ken launched a powerful blast of fire toward Nina, but Nina pressed her sphere of wind energy against the blast, colliding with Ken's attack. A flash of light shined, causing a powerful explosion that knocked both Ken and Nina away. Nina rolled backwards and crashed into the wall while Ken rolled along the ground, recovering onto one knee.
The crowd roared at the intensity of the battle, not sure which side was going to come out the victor of this battle. April and Lily cheered loudly for Nina, boosting her morale and hyping her up even more. Nina began to rise to her feet, glancing at April and Lily then smiled. She looked at me, noticing that I was focused on sunbathing and gathering energy.
"You're doing good so far, Nina. I have full faith in you," I said, opening one eye to look at her.
Nina smiled at me, nodding her head then walked forward. 'Harmony, let's go beyond...'
Harmony smiled at Nina then looked forward at Ken. "Alright..~ Let's go beyond."
Ken stood up and walked forward, rolling his shoulder then smirked at Nina. "Well, it would seem that you're a lot more durable than I thought. I was sure that my Burst Skill would have taken you out."
Nina chuckled at Ken then formed a hand gesture, her Libra Symbol shining brightly on her chest. "Well I still have tricks up my sleeve, Ken. Now let me show you the new Zodiac Arts I've been working on!"
Lily and April watched with anticipation, excited to witness what Nina has been working on. Ken rose an eyebrow, watching Nina and braced himself for whatever Nina was planning to pull off.
"Zodiac Arts: Kuretsusen.." Nina said calmly, the Libra Zodiac Symbol shining in the middle of the arena and a dome of wind energy expanded across the entire battlefield.
Ken looked around, noticing Nina had set up a field effect around them. He turned his gaze back toward Nina, seeing her confident smirk. "You think making a dome of wind will grant you victory? All this does is boost your Wind Elemental Damage."
"Oh? You think so? Heh...you're in for a treat then, Ken. I learned this technique by turning a Domain into a simple Field Effect. Now allow me to show you what it can do," Nina boasted, snapping her finger.
Suddenly, a projection of wind cut Ken's arm before he could react. Ken grunted as he noticed the small cut upon his arm, seeing a small trail of blood trickling down his arm. He looked at Nina with a bit of anger, his left eye twitching out of annoyance.
Nina smirked as she stared at Ken, now seeing that she was in his head. She got into her stance, watching his body language. "What's your move now..?"
Ken watched Nina and his eyes scanned around the area. 'Those wind projections can come from anywhere...I need to keep a close eye around my surroundings now. I just need to find a way to anticipate when she will send the projection and where it will come from...'
Nina shifted her foot, taking on a martial arts stance then launched herself toward Ken. She launched swift strikes toward him, but he blocked and evaded each strike, attempting to counter. Nina palmed his arm down then delivered a swift slap to his cheek, stunning him for a moment then followed it with a spinning kick to knock him back.
Ken recovered onto his feet then ran forward, cloaking himself with his flames to move around at blazing speeds. He darted around Nina to try to confuse her, but Nina listened closely to the wind currents from his movements. Ken began launching attacks toward Nina from every direction, but Nina began to anticipate his attacks using the wind currents, dodging his strikes with elegant and calculated attacks.
Nina dodged Ken's next strike, gliding backwards using her wind energy then took a deep breath, weaving her arms up and taking in a lot of oxygen into her lungs. She blew out a powerful force of wind toward Ken, but he blocked the wind blast, grunting as he slid backwards.
Archer watched the fight, crossing his arms and grumbling under his breath. "You better not lose this Ken! I know she's my cousin, but you're stronger than she is! If you lose this battle, you will be Expelled!"
Ken grit his teeth, setting the wind blast ablaze and creating a fire storm to burn Nina. Nina groaned in pain, blowing away the flames from her face and heard Ken dashing toward her. With an angered grunt, Nina swiped her arm, sending a large wind projection toward Ken.
Ken surrounded his arm with flames and swiped his arm down to dispel the cutting wind. He rushed forward, landing a powerful blow to her stomach, a sadistic grin stretching across his face then he knocked her into the air. He began to rush her with strikes and kicks as she was airborne then held his hand out toward her as she descended to the ground.
"Burst Skill: Volcanic Impulse!" Ken bellowed, launching a powerful burst of volatile fiery energy toward Nina.
Nina quickly recovered and took on a defensive stance, creating a shield of wind energy to block the burst of volatile energy. She palmed the wind shield, firing a powerful soundwave to knock Ken back then exhaled softly. Ken slid backwards and watched Nina closely, sensing a shift in her demeanor.
Nina's scale tipped to the left, her light energy slowly shifting into dark energy. She looked up, her hair shadowing her left eye and her right eye flashed with a mix of determination and dark intensity. 'Harmony...'
Harmony nodded and placed her hand on Nina's back, sending a pulse of energy throughout her body. She recharged her Chi energy, exhaling and floated backwards. Nina stepped forward, getting into her stance then dashed toward Ken at high speeds.
Ken grunted at her newly found burst of speed, barely blocking her first strike then noticed Nina darting around him at speeds he couldn't keep up with. He couldn't hear her because Nina was cancelling out the sounds of her footsteps. All he had to go off of was pure instincts.
Luckily, Ken evaded Nina's next few strikes, taking a few steps back to gather himself then looked around for Nina. Suddenly, a barrage of wind slashes hit Ken, causing him to groan in pain then Nina appeared below him, knocking him into the air with a kick. She flipped backwards and formed hand guns, an orb of wind energy forming at each fingertip.
"Wind Arts: Vacuum Burst!" Nina bellowed, firing the two orbs of energy, both orbs hiking in on Ken at high speeds.
Ken dodged the orbs and noticed them explode, forming two tornadoes. He grunted as the two tornadoes began to merge together, powerful gusts of wind blowing around the entire arena.
"Forbidden Technique..." Nina began, dark aura flashing around her body. "Dead Man's March!"
A large wind entity formed before Ken, shaped like the Grim Reaper himself and Ken couldn't move, his body in a petrified state. The wind entity stared down at Ken, mimicking Nina's movements. Nina swiped her arms down in a slashing motion, causing the wind entity to slash down with his wind scythe and land a direct attack upon Ken.
A massive force of wind began to blow around the arena, causing everyone to shield themselves and forcing the automatic defense systems to raise to protect everyone who wasn't in the battle.
Nina panted softly, grunting softly as black lightning crackled around her body. Her body jolted as she began to try recover from the usage of her Forbidden Technique, feeling the backlash due her need to recharge after such a powerful and dangerous technique.
Ken panted softly as he was still standing, chuckling softly at Nina's vulnerable state. He stared at her then took this chance to strike before Nina could regroup. "After all of that, you still couldn't bring me down! Burst Skill: Volcanic Impulse!"
'Zodiac Arts: Equalization!' Nina thought, setting a last minute field effect around the arena before Ken could complete his attack.
Ken laughed as he unleahsed a powerful blast of volatile fiery energy directly at Nina, blowing her away and sending her crashing into a wall. Nina grunted heavily as she crashed into the wall, falling to her knees and falling to the ground.
The crowd was silent, anticipating if Nina would get up or not. Nina closed her eyes and smiled to herself, accepting defeat.
Ms. Ray reluctantly raised the red flag in the air, grunting softly. "Nina can not continue, One Point to Archer's Team!"
Half the crowd cheered for Ken while the other half was disappointed in the results. Ken laughed at Nina then grunted, his heart thumping against his chest as he felt himself grow weaker suddenly. He looked at his hands, noticing they were shaking.
"Well, well, well..~ Looks like your Justice Girlfriend had one final trick up her sleeve. She used Equalization to further weaken Ken before accepting defeat..~ Such a smart girl," Leona purred, giggling softly as she laid next to me.
April and Lily helped Nina back to the sidelines, letting her rest upon the bench and checked on her. Nina opened her eyes, looking at the two and smiled at them.
"I did the best I could...but Ken is now weakened. We should have an easy time now..~" Nina said, her tone a mix of exhaustion and satisfaction.
April smiled at Nina, nodding her head. "You were awesome out there..~ Take a good rest and we'll handle the rest..~"
Nina nodded, closing her eyes and resting up. Lily stayed by her sister's side, using her healing abilities to make sure Nina had a smooth rest.
April looked out into the battlefield then stepped forward, cracking her knuckles. "My love, do you think it's a good time to step out there?"
I nodded. "Go ahead. Ken is worse for wear now. It shouldn't take much to take him down. If I know Archer...he's not going to let Ken rest. Ken will lose against you."
April smiled at my confident words then nodded, hurrying out onto the battlefield. "Wish me luck!~"
"Go April!~" Lily cheered, sitting beside Nina and showed her support for April.
Ken grunted softly as he looked at Archer, trying to take a moment to rest but Archer denied him access to the sidelines. "C'mon man! I'm tired! Let me rest up and at the end when all of them are tired, I'll clean up house!"
Archer kept his eyes closed and his arms crossed. "You were hit by Equalization. Your stamina and power is now equal to Nina before she accepted defeat. You will not recover in time. So take your loss like a man then we will discuss your next course of actions with my father, Headmaster Vinson."
Ken looked up at the main office of the arena, noticing Vinson's critical gaze of the battle. Half of Vinson was pleased to see Ken win, but the other half knew he would lose against April. Ken grumbled then looked at April, watching her hop up and down, noticing red lightning crackling around her body.
'Hmph...all I have to do is tire her out... There's no way I can't handle this chick,' Ken thought, walking forward.
"You seem to be excited. Well, allow me to wipe that prideful smirk off your face," Ken said, getting into his stance.
April rolled her neck as she hopped up and down, opened her eyes and getting into a running start. "I'm ending your career with just one Zodiac Arts!~"
Ken was taken aback by April's declare then laughed softly at her. "Oh yeah? You will be very disappointed then. You better hope your words are true, you don't want to disappoint your boyfriend over there.."
April looked back at me, noticing that I was meditating, unbothered by Ken's taunting. She glanced back at Ken, chuckling softly to herself. "August nor I are worried about your empty taunts. Ms. Ray, start the battle!~"
Ms. Ray smiled at April then nodded, raising her hand. "You may begin!"
April bellowed and propelled herself toward Ken, moving at near invisible speeds around Ken, surprising him with her immense speed. Ken looked around, unable to keep up with April. April appeared behind Ken with her back turned toward him, a barrage of afterimage strikes hitting Ken then she launched him away with a powerful strike.
Ken groaned as he hit the ground then he recovered onto one knee. He looked up at April, his eyes widening as April summoned get Zodiac Crystal, her Golden Diamond, and grabbed it. April let out a bellow as she transformed into her Zodiac Drive. April's hair slowly turned orange, resembling flames and fiery horns resembling a ram's horns manifested upon her head.
"Zodiac Arts: Velocity Devastation!" April bellowed, using a burst of speed to appear in front of Ken before he could register her action.
April rammed through Ken, knocking him into the air then leaped in the air, her movements a fiery and electrifying blur of speed as she struck Ken at every conceivable angle then knocked him down with a powerful stomp, a pulse of energy circling around them. April jumped backwards then let out a roar of triumph.
Ms. Ray rose the blue flag, smiling happily for April. "Ken is unable to continue, One point for August's Team!"
The crowd erupted into cheers for April's quick and stunning victory. Lily cheered happily, chanting April's name. April looked at Lily and smiled at her, rubbing under the bridge of her nose. She gave Lily a thumbs up, Lily returning it with a thumbs up of her own.
April turned around and noticed Ciara stepping out onto the battlefield then smirked at her. "Ciara.."
Ciara smiled at April and readied herself then her wolf ears flicked with excitement. She had two wolves made of her fiery energy appeat next to her, one of the wolves handing her a scythe. "April..."
April and Ciara stared at each other and gauged each other's strengths then nodded at each other, taking on their stances. Ciara's wolves howled in the air sensing and anticipating April's rapidly growing strength.
Ms. Ray glanced between the two, nodding her hand then rose her hand in the air. "You may begin!"
Without hesitation, April launched a fireball toward Ciara at high speeds. Ciara slashed horizontally, deflecting the fireball then noticed April launching a barrage of fireballs toward her. She twirled her scythe, rapidly deflecting the fireballs then slashed twice, launching two fiery cutting waves toward her and ran behind them.
April watched as Ciara approached at high speeds. She launched a swift punch, but Ciara slid underneath her attack, causing the cutting waves to hit April and knock her away. April grunted as she recovered off one hand then got into a running start, her aura pulsating and red lightning crackling around her.
"Let's get this party started!" April exclaimed, propelling herself toward Ciara at near invisible speeds.
Ciara bellowed, her aura pulsating around her body then she propelled herself toward April. "You won't get past me!"
The two women clashed fists then began zipping around the arena at high speeds, clashing and blocking each other's attacks. Their motions were like blurs, the crowd cheered with excitement watching the two zip and maneuver around the arena at incredible speeds.
Each clash generated shockwaves, their attacks reverberating off the arena walls and sparks and lightning flashed around them. April blocked Ciara's attacks then countered with a powerful double axe handle to knock Ciara to the ground. Ciara recovered and landed onto her feet, looking up and noticing April land on the ground.
"Let's see you deflect these!" April bellowed, launching multiple bolts of lightning fast fireballs toward Ciara.
Ciara summoned her scythe, bellowing as she rapidly deflected the fireballs then launched herself toward April at high speeds. "Burst Skill: Dread Cleave!"
Ciara slashed a near instantaneous speeds, but April dodged both slashes then evaded the next two delayed slashes, jumping backwards then launching herself toward Ciara once again. Ciara dashed toward April as well, a contest of speed and strength commencing again as they zipped around the battlefield and clashed in rapid succession.
"Go, April! Rush! Rush! Rush!" Lily roared, cheering on April the loudest.
"You better not lose, Ciara! Keep her on the defensive!" Shelly yelled out, cheering for Ciara.
Half the stadium cheered for April and the other half for Ciara. Heifer, Vi, Mina, and Georgia all cheered for April, the Demon Hunters cheered for April, the feel around the arena truly electrifying. The two women continued to clash until they landed a strike on each other's cheeks, knocking each other away. The two slid backwards and panted, feeling their adrenaline working overtime.
April chuckled softly, her heart beating fast then her Crest of War flashed on her hand. The Bloodshed avatar began to form behind her, his low growl intimidating. "Looks like I have to go all out against you..~ Allow me to show you what I've learned.."
Ciara growled softly, her smirk stretching across her lips and her pupils becoming vertical. She slowly became more feral as the battle continued. "Go all out if you'd like, I will destroy you either way!"
The two women began to prepare for the next stage of their battle, both sides of the arena chanting each girl's name. I opened one eye and sensed April's bloodlust growing then smirked, I stopped mediating to watch April fight, excited to see her show off what she's learned during our time at St. Nova Academy.