The two pairs of eyes stared into each other, one gray, the other one aquamarine blue. While Aurora's eyes were filled with wariness, the old man's were filled with amusement and naked interest.
This little white fox really made him curious. Not only did she have several treasures equipped—something that is unseen with beasts of the first rank—she also seems to understand his words. All of this pointed at the beast being highly intelligent, probably no less than a human.
Now, it wasn't anything unnatural, but that only applied to most beasts of the third rank and some stronger ones of the second one. But a rank 1 beast on the same level of intelligence as a human? Absolutely not! That's simply unheard of.
'This fox is definitely going to become very powerful. Not only her, even that wolf will, but the fox is on a while another level. If I can force it into a soul contract, I would gain a terrifyingly powerful pet.' Such were the old man's thoughts.
He thought that he could simply beat Aurora to the point of her almost dying, and then she would just accept the contract if he let her live. However, the man completely underestimated Aurora's pride.
Even if survival was her top priority, she would never become someone's pet. She would rather die to be reduced to serving someone like a mule.
'Rejoke should be able to handle that arrogant bastard on his own. However, this guy is a problem...' Aurora's eyes swept over the silver-haired man's body. The man had several treasures on him, not to mention the armor he wore. This was the first time she was facing a human, and it definitely wouldn't be easy.
'Yuki, how can I activate that Flame of Burning Desire?' She asked in a serious tone. She wasn't blind. Of course she knew that she had barely any chance of actually beating the man with just her current strength.
"No idea. Not to mention that it should have been impossible for you to even use that flame in the first place. I have no idea how you managed to do it before, but definitely don't count on it working again. Besides, the price you would have to pay for using that flame wouldn't be small." However, Yuki merely shook her head and gave a negative response, much to Aurora's dismay.
'Well shit. I doubt I have a real shot, but it's not like I'm going down without a fight.' Aurora let out a complicated sigh, but her eyes were full of determination. Even if the chances were slim, she would do her best to survive.
"There's no need to fight, fox. I can tell that you are strong, so how about this? Form a contract with me and I'll let you live; sounds good, no?" Seeing the fox in front of him get ready to fight, the man merely showed a smile and offered.
'Form a contract? As if!' However, Aurora just sneered inwardly, and as if in response to the man's bold offer, a sharp bolt of ice was already on its way to hit him.
Just as the spell approached, the man's body got surrounded by a silver aura, and the chunk of ice shattered into pieces the next second. Auroea could barely see the movement of the man's sword that was now in his hand.
"I'll take that as a no. Not very wise, but expected." The man shook his head, the arrogant smirk never leaving his face.
Aurora paid no mind to his provocative words or the smirk on his face. Her mind was too busy with analyzing the situation to pay attention to such things.
'He's fast, really fast. However, it took him multiple strikes to actually shatter the spell, so his strength probably isn't all that great.' Her brain worked faster than ever, her ultimate-grade skill working to its limit.
'Overall, even with all the treasures he had on him, he's weaker than Aurelius in his normal form, and he's not even close to Aurelius in his spirit form.' She was even able to accurately estimate the man's power level, clearly proving just how good her analytic ability was.
"He's strong; there's no doubt about it. But if we manage a perfect fight, we can win." Yuki said with a small smile that showed off her determination.
Both the foxes belonging to one soul felt the same way, and they only had one goal in sight. To survive, to overcome. They wouldn't fall, not here, not today, never.
"Well, in that case, I guess I'll just have to force you to submit." With those words, the man disappeared from his previous position, appearing an arm's length away from Aurora.
His movements were so fast that Aurora could barely even catch a glimpse of them. However, relying on just your sight alone was a big mistake in a fight, a mistake she would never make.
Just as the man's sword covered in silver light was about to split the fox's body in two, she merely took a small step to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack.
Responding to the man's strike, Aurora created an ice spike that shot out from her previous position, forcing the old man to defend unless he wanted to have his leg pierced.
Seeing the attack, the man merely scoffed and raised his blade, stopping the ice in its way. However, to his surprise, he wasn't able to destroy the ice spike just by defending, and he only managed to stop it from advancing.
Obviously, the attack Aurora used wasn't a serious one either. It was but a distraction, and it worked. By the time the old man blocked her attacks, she was already meters away from her previous position.
The man raised his head, his eyes locking onto the small fox that had managed to retreat while he was defending. Yet, even in this situation, the smirk didn't fade from the man's face. It was as if he was merely having fun.
The smirk on the man's face irritated Aurora greatly, but she ignored both the smirk and her irritation, fully focusing on the fight that started just moments ago but had already reached dangerous levels for her.
'One misstep and I could get severaly wounded. Still, it's fine as long as I don't get hit!' Aurora exclaimed and smirked internally, making sure to not show anything on her face.
'Let's step the game up a bit.' Aura that was a mix of red and blue surrounded the fox's small body, soon turning into deep blue frosty particles and bright red flames.
However, this seemingly simple display made the man's eyes go wide in surprise. Fire and ice! Two opposing elements that couldn't be more different. Few mages could wield spells of two different elements, but he had never heard of someone wielding both fire and ice.
'I must have this beast no matter what!' The man's resolve to make Aurora his pet increased tenfold upon seeing what she was capable of. If he could make a contract with such a beast, he could reach the top of the second rank in no time. Even advancing to the third rank wasn't impossible!
The smirk on the man's face widened further, and without wasting any more time, the man disappeared from his place once again, the sword in his hand glowing with briliant silver light.
However, as he was about to slash away at the fox, his blade had met a sudden stop. When he looked down at his arm, he saw his sword, powered by his mana, not able to get through a wall of ice that he didn't even see.
'When did she-?' The man's thoughts got cut short as he felt imminent danger. He quickly pulled back his sword and jumped away to avoid the incoming attack.
But, much to his surprise, the white fox stopped mid-attack, her claw pausing in the air. The man's pupils contracted to the size of needles when he realized he got played, and he quickly raised his sword to deflect the approaching ball of bright red fire.
Just as his sword slashed the fireball into two, causing it to explode, the man caught a glimpse of a claw closing in on his left side. Barely managing to move his sword, he parried the fox's attack, and he quickly jumped back to create distance between them.
'This damn beast!' The man quickly erupted, anger rising inside his chest. He couldn't believe that a rank 1 beast was able to almost land a hit on him.
Fueled by his ever-increasing anger, the man charged forward, slashing away at Aurora multiple times. However, every time he slashed with his sword, the fox narrowly avoided his attack, which further irritated him.
'I don't believe that you can see my attacks coming!' The man's anger eupted completely as he aimed the hild of his sword towards the elusive beast.
Unlike all the attempts he had made before, however, this attack managed to land, hitting Aurora on her chest and sending her flying several meters back.
'Ouch! That hurt more than I thought it would.' Aurora winced in pain, stabilizing her body and rushing forward, intent on closing the distance between her and the man.
With his regained confidence after his attack had finally hit its target, the usual arrogant smirk appeared on the man's face once more as the two got once again locked into an exchange of strikes.
*Clank* *Bang*
Claws met a blade, and a blade met claws. The human and the beast zipped around the snow-covered forest, leaving nothing but pure destruction in their path. The trees gor cut into pieces or burned to ashes. Rock split into two or blew up in the aftermath of the exchange. Simply nothing remained untouched where the two beings went.
The three colors danced together, neither of them seemingly winning. While the brilliant silver light was incredibly fast, it simply couldn't match the power of the combination of red and blue. Neither had the upper hand in this contest of speed against strength.
"Dodge, now!" As a bright arc of silver light cut through the air and earth alike, Aurora quickly jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding the destructive attack.
'This bastard!' The fox, whose snow white fur was now very dirty from all the dust and wounds that riddled her body, looked towards the cloud of dust, her eyes locked on the silhouette hidden inside it.
"I must say, I'm quite impressed with how well you're holding up. Well, at least you're more powerful than I thought you would be, beast." The man said with the same arrogant smirk on his face—a smirk Aurora came to hate throughout this fight.
"Well, I took longer than I hoped I would, so I would say it's about time we finish this." He said it in a provocative tone before disappearing from his previous place, forcing Aurora to quickly avoid his strike.
'God damnit!' Aurora exclaimed, barely avoiding the silver blade of the man's sword. She didn't even have time to complain when a second strike was already coming her way.
She quickly dodged the second attack as well, wasting 10 more points of mana just to put some distance between her and the man.
'Damn wolf! Hurry up!' She exclaimed once again, getting more and more anxious. It was just then that what she was waiting for actually happened.
"Ahhhhh!!" A pained cry filled the air. The scream was truly horific, akin to someone undergoing the worst pain imaginable.
'Just on time.' Aurora smirked internally, blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.
The old man's eyes went wide when he heard the scream of pain. He clearly recognized that voice. How could he not?
"That idiot disciple!" The man yelled out in a worried tone, completely unlike his previous one that was full of provocation.
'Big mistake, old man.' Aurora smirked as came the moment she had been waiting for since the beginning of the fight.