*Clang* Clang*
A high-speed sword sparring was going on between Azzy and Leah for the past ten minutes while General Javion was just staring at the match with his mouth wide open.
For a person who thinks highly of his abilities, it is tough for Javion to digest the fact that his eyes couldn't even follow the pace of the battle happening before him.
Another couple of minutes later, both of them had leaped to the back at the same time and looked at each other from a distance while taking steady but deep breaths.
"Okay, warm-up is done. Now, shall we spar for real?" asked the princess of Camelot with a smile on her face, dismissing the normal sword. Azzy nodded. Meanwhile, the solo spectator, Javion couldn't help but mumble in a daze, "that was just warm-up?"
Leah summoned two of her soul cards. The Aqua girl and the Excalibur made their appearance before Leah equipped exquisite bracers on both of her wrists.
Azzy glanced at them for a second but didn't pay too much attention as it is common for Arcana Masters to use external items for assistance.
Just one thing became clear for him. Leah was dead serious about going all out.
He welcomed her decision but wasn't sure whether he too should fight at his full strength as even he doesn't know how strong he had become. Hence, he had chosen to fight in his usual style and adapt to the situations.
"Vajra, come out," Azzy spoke out as he sent the sword (given by Leah before the spar) to his storage card.
Stroking its head, Azzy then gave his first order, "Take care of Leah. And you are free to use your soul skills."
After putting the black lightning wolf as Leah's opponent, he decided to target the aqua girl Arcana, Izarok.
However, Leah appeared to have anticipated it even before the start of the match. She went on with unleashing the hidden soul skill of Izarok as her first move, which the latter unlocked after the 7-star realm breakthrough.
The aqua girl quickly enveloped Leah, forming a suit of liquid armor around Leah's body.
Azzy observed the transformation. Apart from the armor, nothing much has changed except for there being one less target. Or so he thought at first.
"Buddy, I'll block her and you attack," said Azzy, to which, the wolf barked and then nodded in response.
He charged toward Leah alongside the black lightning wolf.
Meanwhile, Leah's face turned serious as she stared at the death scythe, "Just the wolf is not enough. I guess he is still looking down on me. Never matter. I will try my best to force him to even use all of his trump cards."
She poured her soul energy into the bracers as Azzy and Vajra closed the distance to just a couple of feet and launch an attack at the same time.
Leah crossed her arms before raising them to put up a guard. In an instant, an oval-shaped translucent barrier appeared in front of her, effectively blocking Vajra's claws and Azzy's fist.
Azzy was taken aback by the barrier, not because of its durability but because of what it is made of. "Natural energy?" He looked at her in surprise, although on the outside, he only had a poker face.
As he paused for a second, the serious-looking Leah suddenly let out a satisfactory smile and said, "I should thank you for making me realize the potential of natural energy."
Azzy didn't comment on that but glanced at the golden bracers on her arms once again and asked, "What metal they are made of?"
"What do you think?" Leah asked in return.
Azzy replied, "Well, as far as I know, only Adamantium has the capability to store natural energy. Either you painted it gold or discovered another metal. My bet is on the latter as adamantium is super dense and you might have to sacrifice your movement speed if you chose it."
Leah nodded and then challenged him, "good analysis, and yes, you are right. This is a metal alloy, made of extraterrestrial elements. I will tell you if you will be able to defeat me."
Azzy raised his eyebrows, "do you think I can't defeat you?"
"Well, 27 years passed for me and I'm not the same as before. On the other hand, you are the same. So, I'm confident unless you reveal the tricks you hide up your sleeve," replied Leah, implying that he can't win this battle if he uses the same strength he displayed before her.
Azzy decided to respond to her provocation with his actions instead of words. He clenched his fist tightly and motioned his arm backward before punching at the barrier with the full strength of an 8-tier divine physique.
*Dimm*
A loud sound reverberated all across the surroundings as his fist made the contact with the translucent barrier.
The force was reflected back alongside the sonic boom and Azzy was pushed back for atleast a couple of dozen meters. Vajra has been blasted away by the force even thrice farther than him.
On the other hand, the oval-shaped barrier had only cracks on its surface and they began to heal themselves, forming the barrier as good as new.
Azzy was truly shocked this time by its sturdiness. "What was that, Chronos?" He immediately sought the assistance of the Reaper.
Unfortunately for him, the Reaper refused to give any suggestions, stating that he should figure it out on his own. Only that way, he can improve.
As a result, Azzy had to depend on himself. He went on unleashing the "Eyes of God" soul skill and stared at the barrier with his pitch-black eyes with no visible pupils.
He saw thousands of thin energy threads emitted by the bracers and connected to the barrier. At the same time, her soul energy appeared to be constantly flowing into the equipment.
"I see… those bracers aren't automatically absorbing the natural energy." Azzy realized that Leah's soul energy is the key and he knew how to solve it.
However, using the soul skill "Soul absorption" and taking away her soul power will be too cowardly in a spar, according to this heir of the death clan. Maybe, it was because of his pride, Azzy wanted to defeat his former partner fair and square.
Hence, he summoned the death scythe before raising it above his head.
As the Reaper's weapon was bathing in Azzy's soul energy, Leah didn't stand around and wait for it. Maintaining the barrier, she too went offensive.
"Soul skill: Hydro beam."
Huge volumes of water were released from her armor and shot toward Azzy.
In response, Azzy poured soul energy into his body, forming a layer of energy armor to augment the defensive capabilities of his physique.
Upon being struck by the water beam, Azzy was continuously getting pushed back, although without being harmed at all due to his powerful defense. While continuously charging the death scythe, he was trying to resist the pressure from the incoming attack.
And by the time the death scythe consumed enough of his soul power (20%), he slid back for twenty meters without any injury or stopping his attack. Azzy's arms continued to grip the 3.5m-long death scythe tightly.
Leah wasn't happy with the result and she proceeded to unleash her next move. Raising her Excalibur, she poured soul energy into it and swung it down.
Azzy did the same, almost in the next second.
Two arcs of energy, one was purple and the other was pitch-black, moved toward each other.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢