Clank!

Sparks flew in the air.

Two blades crossed, and two gray eyes interlocked.

A wave of pressurized wind energy burst forth from the point of contact between the two weapons as neither side gave out, each standing their own ground. Amell and Leon stared at each other for a brief moment before stepping back, momentarily withdrawing.

With a simple exchange, the two managed to get a general idea of each other's strengths.

'He's strong.'

Amell's mind churned.

The mirror within his world rippled slightly before calming down.

With a 'Bang' the ground beneath him shattered as he slashed down with his sword.

Leon's eyes constricted the moment Amell slashed down, his chest pressing heavily as he felt the hair at the back of his neck rise.

His 'Intuition' kicked in and he stepped to the side.

SHILING-!

Leon felt something sharp cross his path, the tip of his nose stinging as he watched a few strands of his hair float in the air before him.

Just as Leon was about to reposition himself, his 'intuition' kicked in again, making his entire body grow tense.

At the same time, Amell's arm stabbed out from his waist, splitting the air as a faint 'popping' sound echoed in the air.

The 'pop' sounded more like a thunderclap than anything else as a beam of light flashed by.

"!"

Leon felt his heart clench.

His scalp went numb and the insides of his ears trembled.

Leon channeled the mana within his body, hastily circulating it throughout every part of his body. His muscles swelled, and his bones popped and cracked as they adjusted to the sudden tension added to his body.

Amell's attack was extremely fast.

By the time he attacked, the attack was already upon Leon who could only take the attack with his arms crossed.

Bang!

The attack landed and Leon stumbled several steps back.

Thump! Thump!

The platform beneath shattered with each step that he took.

By the time Leon stopped, a single tendril of smoke floated from his right forearm which had taken the brunt of Amell's attack.

"Hiiis!"

A wave of collected hisses echoed throughout the Colosseum as Leon's arm was exposed for everyone to see.

Drip! Drip...!

As blood pooled down on the ground beneath, a part of Leon's bone was left exposed.

It was a grotesque sight that left many of the spectators nauseated.

But at the same time, it left chills in their hearts as they found themselves staring at Amell who stood on the opposite end with a calm look.

What sort of monstrous attack was that...?

"Hoo."

Feeling the sting of the attack, Leon could only take a deep breath and ignore the pain.

Clenching his fist, the wound visibly started to heal much to the relief of many of those watching.

Bang!

Shortly after, Leon's figure blurred.

As if he had teleported, he appeared right before Amell who also seemed surprised by his sudden appearance. The Mirror Rippled within his mind, absorbing everything inside.

Then, in one fluid motion, he raised his hand to block what appeared to be an incoming slash from Leon.

Everything was happening so fast that only a few could keep up.

And those that could keep up could see two swords about to smash against each other. Preparing for the inevitable explosion, some covered their ears in protection.

They waited...

Waited...

Wait...

The inevitable clash never occurred.

Just as Leon's sword was about to strike against Amell's, it moved as if possessed, twisting in an unnatural, snake-like motion. The blade slithered and coiled around Amell's arm, defying all logic, before lunging straight for Amell's heart with deadly precision.

The sudden change of events left Amell and the audience that was able to keep up stunned. What sort of move was this...?

Amell's eyes shook as the tip of Leon's sword headed directly for his heart. He only had a split second to react.

Clenching his teeth, his eyes sharpened and the mana circulating within his body quickened drastically.

Staring at the approaching sword, Amell's neck blunged, its veins protruding as blood pumped into his brain.

Bang-!

He slammed his foot against the ground, the force shattering the platform beneath him, and with a powerful thrust, he hurled himself backward, barely escaping the blade's sharp tip.

It was only then that he was able to avoid the attack narrowly.

But how could things be so simple...?

Despite creating some distance between him and Leon's sword, it was still headed his way, slithering in the air and approaching him maliciously.

Amell raised his hand and pressed his right hand to the left, touching the body of Leon's sword and shifting its trajectory away from him.

The action caused Leon's body to shift alongside the sword due to the momentum, and that's when Amell took action, pressing his foot forward, and reaching for the opening that he had

created.

Holding the sword in his left hand, Amell twisted his torso and slashed directly toward Leon's exposed abdomen.

SHIING!

It was a terrifying attack, the sharpness of the sword clear by just the sound it produced as it cleaved through the air.

Leon's entire body rang with danger as he noticed the changes in his surroundings. Everyone expected him to pull back, and avoid the incoming attack, but much to the people's

surprise, he didn't.

".....!"

The attack cleanly landed on his abdomen, leaving a nasty gush over his body.

Amell's expression shifted slightly, but before he even had the chance to understand what was going on, Leon's gray eyes sparkled, slowly turning a pitch-black and bottomless color. The ground beneath him wiggled as a black film spread out from his feet.

It only reached a small radius of a couple of meters, but that was of no importance as the entire audience quieted down again.

All eyes fell on Leon whose eyes turned completely dark, sprinkled with faint light dots that

appeared one by one.

A galaxy...

A terrifying pressure burst off his body, carrying an unimaginable amount of momentum that

overwhelmed everything within it.

'.... Yeah, this is for the best.'

Leon had learned from having watched Julien's fight.

There was no need for him to drag it for long.

All he needed to do was whip out his 'Concept' and go all out.

Which was what he did.

Holding onto his sword, Leon's eyes shone as the white dots within his eyes started to

disappear one by one.

Red magic circles started to form in the sky, covering a large area above Amell who looked up

in shock.

Leon brought his sword forward and slashed down.

Xiu! Xiu!

And the stars fell. Terrifying meteors shot down from the magic circles positioned above.

Amell's eyes shook as he lifted his head to stare at the approaching doom. The Mirror within

his mind fiercely shook as his face started to change.

"This is..." Holding onto his sword, Amell clenched his teeth and closed his eyes. That was when their

color changed, turning a deeper shade of gray.

A thin gray film wiggled toward his sword, enveloping it in its entirety.

Unlike Leon, his momentum didn't rise nor did anything out of the norm occur.

It looked like a simple move to the eyes of those watching.

A desperate attempt to fight the inevitable.

But things took a change the moment he slashed.

The entire world grew silent after that.

***

The muffled cries of the audience reached where the locker rooms, disturbing the peace that I

had regained after the nurse left.

".....This sucks."

I fiddled with a small cube in my hands.

The cube wiggled and changed shapes. The shapes it transformed into were often indistinct,

sometimes too smooth around the edges or lacking definition, but amidst the terrible

attempts, a clear image slowly emerged.

'Hm, this looks more like a bear than a cat.'

I clenched my hand and the 'cat' melted back into a cube.

"This is really tough." Because of my injuries, I couldn't go outside until the cream and pills that were administered

to me kicked in. Since I had nothing else to do, I decided to practice my Emotive Control.

If there was one thing that I learned through my recent fights it was that I lacked control over

my Emotive Magic.

Well... I already knew this fact for quite a while, it was just that I never really had the chance to properly practice given all the things that had happened to me recently.

But yeah, this was now one of my main priorities. Had my control been better, then the fight could've ended faster.

A main problem that I currently had with Emotive Magic was that I needed to touch my

opponent in order to pass down enough intensity into their mind to break them.

Unfortunately, that was easier said than done.

Everyone understood this concept and hence why stayed away from me in a fight.

They all understood the critical problem with my Emotive Magic.

That was why I needed to practice my control.

"If I can get a better hand of my control then I can try to inject emotions into my fists."

I looked down to stare at my fist.

There was a reason why I couldn't use my Emotive Abilities when fighting directly despite the

close contact. It was because I needed to visualize the emotions in my mind before

transmitting them.

...That took a lot of concentration.

With better control, I was confident in visualizing faster and most likely injecting emotions

with not just touch, but punches as well.

'Well, for now, I need to learn it for the sake of improving my second ability.'

When using 'Voice' to use Emotive Magic, a lot of the power bleeds out into the area, reducing

the intensity of the attack. It was for that reason that touch was a lot more powerful and

intense.

But the situation wasn't hopeless.

So long as I had finer control over my Emotive Magic, then I could control it to the extent that

it didn't stray away into the air and focused on affecting the target.

Then again,

"Easier said than done."

As my eyes drooped, I was suddenly overcome with a wave of exhaustion.

"Haa..."

I guess this was to be expected after the fight...

Leaning my head against the side of the wall, I closed my eyes and let the darkness take over

my mind.

It soon did.

...Or at least, tried to.

From the faintest corners of my darkened world, I noticed a white dot.

It was extremely small and almost imperceptible. However, it was there. The exhaustion that

my body felt started to dissipate as I grew alert.

The white dot soon grew in size.

Coming closer to me, the dot's frame grew more and more.

My body tensed and I stifled a breath.

But soon, the white dot came close enough for me to properly see it, and it was then that my

worst fears were revealed.

The Angel...

It had returned.