POV: Rai Shinsei
As the two of us remained still within the tranquil forest, I felt a sense of relief arise within me from witnessing Aria overcome despair as she had regained her confidence once more, despite an overwhelming source of power standing before her.
That's the way, Aria.
Although I despise heroes, I know that among the corrupted mass of them, there are a few who I deem to be true heroes as your grandfather is one of them and as long as you stay on your path, I'm certain that you will surpass him, so show me, Aria…
Show me your resolve.
Initiating the first move was Aria, who had vanished from my sight and appeared behind me with a flash of light, but her incredible speed that I struggled to perceive before was now clearly visible to me as in the moment she tried to strike me, I spun my body and converted my momentum into a parry as I kicked her arm away with a spinning roundhouse kick, disrupting her balance as upon landing onto the ground, I followed up with a spinning back kick into her abdomen as the impact sent her sliding backwards through the fluorescent patch of flowers that she had once despaired in.
I'm glad she's fighting with everything she has now, but I need to be wary of how much power I use as despite her enhanced natural defenses along with her noble body, there's still a chance that I could accidentally hurt her.
Recovering her footing amidst her momentum, Aria began to accumulate light within the palms of her hands as she then clasped her hands together, forming a tightly condensed orb of light that she used as a medium to shoot a precise beam of light towards my head, prompting me to swiftly weave her attack as I only allowed it to only graze my hair.
That's new.
Regaining her balance, Aria then flashed towards me as she initiated an exchange of hand-to-hand combat, although this time, she incorporated a few unique attacks of her own that involved the use of her energy into our exchange, as watching her creativity flourish before me brought forth a contented smile.
I might just have to actually try now.
Despite Aria's new approach, I began to overwhelm her with sheer experience as I disrupted any attack she tried to use, rendering her useless until she broke away from me and tried to end our exchange with a sharp feint into a heavy side kick, but with my enhanced eyesight paired with my inhuman reflexes, the chances of Aria landing an attack was slim to none as I parried her leg away with my arm, forcing her to lose her balance as I stepped forward and lifted her up from the ground with a grapple.
Although, I should have had no problem with grappling her onto the ground, Aria seemed to have already anticipated my next move as with a flexible, yet nimble maneuver, Aria spun around my grasp, breaking free from it as she then locked her legs around my neck, securing a relatively effective headlock as she began to suffocate me while her sole focus was set on striking my vulnerable head.
Well that's unexpected.
I had no idea Aria was also trained in jiu-jitsu, but unfortunately for her, this isn't enough to secure her the win as jiu-jitsu has one fatal flaw…
As my lightning surged into my body, my Aspectual Force vanished as my senses sharpened to a considerable degree and in the instant Aria tried to strike my head, I gripped the sides of her abdomen with enough force to disrupt Aria's focus, causing her to yelp in discomfort and in the split-second that her legs untensed from around my neck, I slipped my hand between my face and her abdomen before shoving her away from me, freeing myself from her headlock as she fell headfirst towards the ground.
Overwhelming power.
Swiftly stepping over Aria's body, I grabbed her leg before she suffered an unnecessary injury by landing awkwardly on her neck as I began sprinting towards the vertical sidewalls of the facility at high speeds, startling Aria, who was unable to free herself from my grasp due to my speed as I leaped onto the walls and increased my speed even further until I arrived directly across from the waterfall, which was nearly rebuilt as the water crashed ferociously into the plunge pool.
Kicking off the vertical wall of the facility, I spun my body in a rapid motion and launched Aria towards the waterfall, causing her to shriek until she crashed into the rocky wall where the waterfall resided, but as I descended from the air, I alternated between techniques, causing my Aspectual Force to take place once more as I manipulated the lightning crackling around my body into a firm bolt of lightning.
"Asunder." I uttered as with a spin, I hurled the bolt of lightning towards the plunge pool of the waterfall and upon impact, the bolt of lightning dispersed into the body of water as my intention was to stun Aria, but to my astonishment, Aria emerged nearly unscathed from the depths of the water as if my lightning was ineffective, arising many concerns within my mind as she crawled onto the riverbank and coughed up the excess water remaining within her.
Something isn't right.
I know that I neglected my Aspect for two years, but this is the same Aspect that was able to injure Wrath and Arthur, who are much stronger than Aria, so how is it that she's able to just shrug off my attack?
There's a possibility that she healed herself with Aspectual Restoration while she was underwater, but even then, her insight into it shouldn't have increased to such capabilities as she was only underwater for several seconds.
Descending onto the ground, I manipulated my lightning into a tangible bow as I pulled back an arrow of lightning before shooting it towards Aria, who raised her guard awkwardly from being taken aback as the arrow bursted into her guard, but as the excess lightning dispersed into the air, Aria remained relatively unscathed once again as we were both left baffled by the outcome of my attack.
So I was right.
My lightning doesn't affect Aria, but how come?
Elemental-Type Aspectors are born with a resistance to their own respective element, but despite lightning being a form of light, it still has different properties, meaning that Aria's resistance to lightning should be minimal at most, although in this case, it's as if he's nearly immune to it.
Noticing my confusion, Aria didn't waste the opportunity given to her as she quickly picked herself up from her buckled position and flashed towards me, her hands glistening with her golden aura as my mind ran rampant for an answer.
What if…
As she initiated an exchange of hand-to-hand combat once more, I blocked and parried her every attack as I then ended our exchange with an electrified palm strike, intending on stunning her directly as I tried to follow up with a back kick towards her abdomen, but what I had envisioned was different from the reality presented before me as Aria wasn't stunned and only suffered from the physical impact alone, allowing her to recover much faster than I had anticipated as she began to go on the offensive, forcing me into a rather uncomfortable position.
So even that doesn't work.
If this was two years ago, I'd probably avoid fighting Aria as back then, I solely relied on my Aspect as my overwhelming Aspectual Power was enough to subdue any opponent, but as of now…
Taking advantage of my faltering balance, Aria tried to strike my face as in my current position, I was unable to dodge or weave effectively, but to her bewilderment, I planted my hand onto the ground as a pivot and spun my body upwards as I parried her arm away with an acrobatic kick, causing her to stagger backwards from the unexpected force of the impact as I then propelled myself towards her and tackled her onto the riverbank, placing myself on top of her as I locked her left arm beneath my knee and pinned her right arm above her head before sharpening my gaze with the aim of smashing her head into the ground with my free hand.
I don't need to rely on the techniques of my Aspect anymore.
"What-"
Out of fear, Aria closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact, but as seconds passed, she realized that my fist never struck her face as when she opened her eyes, I flicked her forehead with mild force instead, startling her as I looked down at her with a playful grin.
"You didn't think I was seriously going to punch you with everything I had, right?" I asked teasingly as Aria's face reddened with frustration and embarrassment.
"You have around an hour left. Are you finally going to give up or do you still believe in the delusion that you can actually land an attack on me?" I added with a mocking tone as I wanted to rattle her emotions, but surprisingly, Aria didn't give into my blatant provocation as she didn't even bother to break free from my grasp and instead, chose to stare at me calmly as I found her actions unusual.
She's scheming something.
"Ten minutes." Aria mumbled as a smile began to grow across her delicate face, arising an unsettling sensation within me.
"In ten minutes, not only will I land an attack on you, but I'll even defeat you." Aria declared, her lips curling into a grin of confidence as amongst my uneasiness, her eyes brimmed with determination as during my lack of focus, she was able to free her left arm from beneath my knee as she then aimed the palm of her hand directly towards my face, which began to form a sparkling, yet concerning beam of light within it as her peculiar demeanor left me amused.
This girl…
She's actually serious about defeating me, isn't she?