Before Aurelius transformed into his spirit form, the man with orange hair and the small white fox continued to watch the battle between the two beings unfold.
"She really can control a perfected form... I have no words." The man commented with a helpless shake of his head.
"Not only can she control it, she basically has perfect control over it!" Exclaimed the small fox; the excitement in her voice and sparkling eyes was palpable.
Hearing the white fox's excited words, the man couldn't help but shake his head helplessly again. He took a slow sip of his tea before opening his mouth to speak again.
"While that may be true, no matter how perfect her control over the Flame of Burning Desire is, there is no way neither her body nor her soul can handle the toll of a perfected flame form." The man said calmly, his gaze falling on the fox across the table.
"You seem to be aware of this fact, yet you seem so calm. Aren't you worried what will happen to her after the battle concludes?" Seeing that the fox showed no apparent reaction to his previous words, the man asked a question that troubled him for some time already.
"Worried? Nah." Yet, to his surprise, the small fox replied with complete nonchalance, as if she didn't care at all.
"The energy she will get from Aurelius will be just enough to keep her alive. So as long as she doesn't die, it's fine." The fox explained further, making the man give her an incredulous look.
"Fine? She may not die, yes, but her soul will be practically shattered!" The man exclaimed, slowly losing his cool.
"When that time comes, I'll handle it. I hope I can count on you doing your part, old man." The fox merely chuckled in response to the man's outburst; even her tone sounded a bit teasing.
However, the fox's words seemed to have an effect on the man, because he soon calmed down and sat back down with a sigh.
"Really, sometimes I can't help but wonder how your mother could create someone like you. It seems that Aurora truly received all the matureness that you were supposed to inherit." The man commented, his voice once more turning helpless.
"What can I say? I'm just a small, silly little fox while my big sis already got a taste of the world's cruelty. Compared to her, I'm just a child." The fox replied, and the two turned silent once again, their eyes focusing back on the ongoing battle.
-----
'What is happening?' Aurora asked herself, looking at the seemingly infinite expanse of the cosmos that surrounded her.
After the appearance of those blue flames, her power has reached completely never-seen-before heights. The sheer amount of power and energy coursing through her body felt surreal to her.
If she were to describe how she felt right now, she would only come up with a single word: invincible. That was how she felt. Completely and utterly invincible. She had no idea what that blue flame did, but the effects it had on her were so absurd that she had a hard time believing she wasn't dreaming.
Right now, she felt like a completely different person. Her mana pool felt like a bottomless pit filled to the brim with mana. Her heart was like a nuclear reactor that continuously supplied her body with endless amounts of stamina. Her mind was currently so clear that she could feel every single ounce of mana in the air with every fiber of her being.
Honestly, she had no idea what was going on. Where did those flames come from? Why did they suddenly appear? And just how was it possible for those seemingly simple flames to grant her such power? She had answers to none of these questions. However, she didn't even really care right now.
Actually, it wasn't just that she didn't care. She simply felt nothing at all. Her mind was currently devoid of any emotions, except one: desire. She could feel a flame of that single emotion burning inside her so intensively that it outshined all her other emotions completely.
It was just like when the active effect of the Perfect Mind was active. She felt absolutely nothing and only focused on finding the best path that would lead her to victory in the battle she found herself in.
But that flame, that burning feeling inside her, it called to her. She could feel it. The desire to overcome this obstacle in her path towards the top. At the moment, Aurora saw her goal more clearly than ever. And there was only one thing in her eyes: power.
Overcome with that intense desire, she pushed all other thoughts aside and locked her eyes onto the large wolf that stood firmly in front of her. An obstacle. Obstacle that must be deleted. This was what she thought.
It was this single thought that made her forget everything and forced her to focus on solely one thing. So, without wasting any more time, the small body of the white fox disappeared in an instant.
The same happened with Aurelius, who charged into battle once again as well. There was no need for words; there was only one thing that needed to be done. This was the ultimate test he presented to her. If the fox managed to take him down, then he would deem her worthy.
*BOOM, BANG!*
Loud sounds of explosions, crashes, and clashes spread out into the emptiness of the cosmos the two were in. These sounds never ceased, and only more and more of them appeared.
Flames lashed out wildly while ice began to slowly cover the invisble arena. Small spatial ripples appeared each time the two beasts' claws met. It was as if the dungeon itself was telling them to stop. Yes, despite the hall being completely gone and being replaced with an endless expanse of cosmos, they were still inside the dungeon.
This 'cosmos' was just the dungeon's true form. It was the representation of the dimension itself. And those space ripples were actually cracks in the dimension's integrity. They were proof of the damage the dungeon was sustaining from the battle between its guardian and an intruder.
Now that Aurelius was in his spirit form, he was able to match Aurora's power, which meant that the clashes between them were even more terrifying than before.
Actually, the wolf was a true beast of a being in this form. Upon assuming his true form, all of Aurelius' stats had basically doubled. Not only that, as a spiritual being, he was naturally connected to nature and elements. This meant that both his fire and ice were now in perfect harmony.
Because of all of this, he was able to match the immense power of the Flame of Burning Desire, albeit not completely.
Yes, the two were more or less equal, and neither of them had the upper hand. However, even with his fire and ice now becoming one, Aurelius's magic was still unable to match the sheer power of the perfected flame.
Aurora didn't know this, but the flame she was currently wielding was anything but normal. Actually, it was even more special than she could ever imagine.
The longer the fight raged on, the more the flame seemed to gain power. Even now, as the two were locked in a dance capable of breaking the literal space apart, the blue flame seemed to only keep getting stronger.
Subsequently, Aurora was getting more and more powerful as well.
Aurelius noticed this fact, and to say that he wasn't terrified would be a lie. He wasn't afraid or scared of losing his life. What scared him was the seemingly endless growth of Aurora's power. She just kept getting stronger no matter how much the two fought.
If things continued on like this, there was no doubt he would get overwhelmed sooner rather than later. It was an absolutely frightening fact. He, an incredibly powerful beast of the second rank capable of battling even the strongest rank 2 beings, would soon get absolutely overpowered by a small fox of the first rank.
Yet, as worrying as that thought seemed, he could do nothing to prevent such an outcome. He was already reaching the limit of his soul by now. He wouldn't be able to keep fighting like this for much longer.
'I guess I have to bet it all. I'll either die trying, or I'll die by giving up. I might as well see how far this little one can take it.' Far from being disappointed, frustrated, or even angry, Aurelius was satisfied.
He knew he would soon meet his end, but in his eyes, dying by the hands, or rather paws, of a worthy challenger was the most honorable end there could be. Even more so if that challenger could best everything he had.
After throwing a quick slash that caused Aurora to dodge, Aurelius jumped back as far as the dungeon would let him and began to gather up all his mana in one place.
Aurora, who was about to close the distance between them, suddenly halted her steps as she felt something big was coming. Son, instead of coming closer, she stood her ground and prepared for the incoming attack.
Soon, all the mana Aurelius had left gathered in one spot inside his body. The wolf slowly moved all that mana towards his mouth, letting it all out of him. It was then that all hell broke loose.
The dual-elemental mana shot out of the wolf's gaping mouth, taking on the form of a single concentrated blast. The mass of mana felt like an unstopable missile on its way to destroy the target it was locked onto.
Aurelius was sure that any basically second rank being hit by an attack of this caliber would get obliterated from existence. There would be no trace left of that being's existence.
As the mana blast closed in on her, for the first time after the appearance of the Flame of Burning Desire, Aurora felt actually danger. There was no doubt that if she got hit by this attack, even she wouldn't be able to survive. However, that didn't mean she was helpless against it.
Far from being helpless, she was sure she could manage to not get damaged by this atrack at all.
In the split second she still had left, Auroea moved all of the blue flames that surrounded her body and shot them out in a similar-looking blast to the one consisting of Aurelius's mana.
The two attacks collided, and for a second, nothing seemed to have happened. But the next instant, both of the immensively powerful blasts exploded, resulting in an explosion so powerful that the dimension itself couldn't stop it.
But even that lasted for only a second before the mana blast was completely absorbed by the bright blue flames, allowing the dungeon to quickly repair itself.
Meanwhile, the two beings responsible for this explosion were completely unharmed by it. However, despite both coming out unscathed, it was obvious who the winner was.
"Incredible, truly..." Aurelius said weakly. The previous attack exhausted all the energy he had left in his body, so he was absolutely unable to fight anymore.
"Little fox, your might is truly something I have never seen or heard of. But I can also tell that whatever the price you'll have to pay such power is, it won't be small." The large wolf stumbled, his legs slowly giving out.
"Therefore, take whatever is left of me. I'm sure it will be a huge help to whatever awaits you after me." Aurelius forced a smile onto his lips, clearly on his last breath.
Understanding how he felt, Aurora gave him a soft nod as emotions slowly returned to her eyes. She didn't stand a ceremony and granted the last wish of the dying wolf, allowing the blue flames to consume his body.
[You have defeated the Spirit Wolf of Polarity Aurelius Borealis level 30.]