22. The Practice Match Goes Wild
" So who wants to go first?" Duran asked with a provoking tone.
"I don't mind" Beta stepped forward.
" Then it's settled, the first practice match would be Duran Vs Beta" Nirvana stated shyly "You...ma...may ..... BEGIN!" She quinted.
The training ground went silent for a second.
Revet sat eagerly at the edge of his seat, waiting for something to happen, likewise Nirvana—her face became redder with every passing second. Beta... from the first time he saw her, he couldn't help but feel a faint similarity between her presence and the presence of the gods and goddesses he had come across. She wasn't a God, that was for sure, but she was something close to them—something ancient.
'Why is Duran having only one tail out of nine... that's unusual'
"You can have the first hit" Duran exclaimed boldly.
"Are you sure?" Beta asked calmly.
He chuckled "why not, am a gen-----"
Whoosh--
Beta vanished in an instant, reappearing in front of Duran. She shaped her left hand like a blade, wrapping it with spirit energy so dense that its greenish flares were visible. Upon impact, Duran blocked her surprise attack with his tail.
"You didn't allow me to finish!" He leapt backwards.
The tension in the air increased further. " Oh I apologized, I didn't think it was necessary to allow you to finish your needless speech when the battle had already begun" she looked to his tail "Shouldn't you worry about your injured tail?" She pointed her finger towards Duran's tail.
'She actually managed to cut his tail... this Beta is really something'
The look on Duran's face suddenly got more serious "You don't have to worry about that" His tail immediately healed itself as if it was never cut.
They both vanished from their positions, the aftershock cracking the ground they were standing on. They appeared in the air, Duran's tail splitting into four, fire flaring at the tips. The wind current around Beta grew stronger.
They began to exchange heavy blows, each clash sending shockwaves around the training ground, the pressure building with every movement.
"Helix Cuts" Multiple slashes cut Duran before he could even react. He crashed into a wall, the impact spiderwebbing it deeply.
'What she did was indeed quite interesting'
Nirvana turned towards him with a smile on her face "As expected of Revet-dono" She jammed her hands together.
'She positioned the wind slashes and probably slowed them down while she was attacking Duran, then waited for the fight to get heated up before she used some kind of technique to quicken the attack speed of the slashes. It's quite a terrifying technique if you ask me'
Revet let out a faint sigh 'But that won't work on Duran'
A burst of blue flames emerged from the wall, melting the broken bricks into liquid fragments.
"Heat haze reformed:--"
Duran appeared at her back, placing his hand before she could dodge "acestic flame burst!"
A huge explosion spouted like a fox, engulfing Beta whole. The flames roared violently before gradually dissipating, but Beta was nowhere to be found.
"Tch! I missed" Duran exclaimed.
He turned his eyes frantically to the ceiling where a wind cocoon wrapped Beta, rotating slowly with compressed currents.
"If you are trying to heal from the damage, I promise that won't work" His tails began to flare more brightly, heat distorting the air around him.
"Nine Tails Technique — Suppressive tail, Act 6: Froc Dage"
Multiple flaming chains surrounded Beta's wind cocoon, tightening and spinning as the cocoon began to swirl violently under pressure.
" Adventi Arts, Dokja 5: Whirlwind storm"
A tornado consumed the flaming chains, spinning rapidly, shredding the chains apart and destroying everything in its path. The sight on the training field soon became wrecked, cracks spreading across the ground.
"Nine Tails Technique — Protective tail, Act 1: Seamless coverage"
He quickly erected a flame barrier around himself, mitigating the damage from the spiraling tornado as debris slammed against it repeatedly.
Beta dived downwards towards Duran's barrier, breaking it into pieces upon impact. But the flames began to burn her hand similar to what had happened to the undead giant.
"Adventi Arts, Dokja 2: hallowing ground"
Her calm spirit energy radiated through the training field, spreading outward like a pulse, all the injuries she had sustained suddenly disappearing without leaving a scar.
Within the broken barrier, it was empty—Duran wasn't inside of it.
Instead, he appeared at the extreme end of the arena.
"What is he planning to do" Beta muttered.
"Nine Tails Technique — Assault tail, Act 8: Devagent"
Numerous flame balls surrounded Beta, attacking her vigorously from multiple angles, closing in rapidly.
"These attacks are far too slow, what is he truly after?" her eyes scanned the field for Duran.
Duran took up a sword stance beneath her, blue flames gathering in his hand, taking the shape of a blade, sharp and condensed.
"Nine Tails Technique — Assault tail, Act 4: dawning blade"
An upward slash of flames, so neat and calm that it drew the attention of everyone on the training field.
"Chronoa Arts: Reverse"
The flow of time around Duran and Beta briefly reversed up until the point that Duran hadn't launched his attack.
What was supposed to be a calm and decisive fight for a normal training match was stopped by the most absurdly unexpected technique.
'Nirvana, it seems her art didn't affect us'
"Uhmmm... I don't really know how to answer you, she always keeps her arts to herself so even I don't know" Nirvana said faintly.
"You can even bend time to your whim" Duran scoffed "You are not the only one with tricks"
He suddenly appeared behind her, his four tails disappearing along with the blue flames surrounding him " No tails technique, form 10: point blank slash"
His attack divided the training field into two halves. Unlike his previous attacks that left blue flames burning, there were no blue flames in sight after this attack—just pure heat, an extreme increase in temperature that distorted everything around it.
"Chronoa Arts: Divulge"
She used her arts to avoid getting hit by Duran's attack, her body phasing slightly out of alignment.
" I must say, you have quite the bizarre fighting style. But you are holding back, aren't you?" Beta said.
"Aren't you?" Duran answered.
Both parties looked ready to end the training match at any second now, their spirit energies surging uncontrollably, flooding the entire battlefield and pressing against everyone watching.
"Adventi Arts"
" No tails technique"
"Dokja 3"
"Act 9"
They both vanished into thin air, the pressure alone cracking the ground beneath.
" Maximum blow drive"
" Sequential Haze"
Their attacks were about to collide—
"That's enough for a practice match"
The entire battlefield froze at that exact moment.