"That Rito, he seems pretty happy even though he's being attacked..." Mikan pouted with her hands on her cheek. She got tired of being worried.
"Did you notice that so far Rito has only defended or dodged?" Lala said: "He's clearly aiming to copy all of Yami's abilities."
"Yami?" Mikan tilted her head.
"She's called Golden Darkness, that's why Yami." Lala replied with a cheerful smile.
*Booom!*
At the same time, a huge explosive sound that made the ground tremble echoed.
This time, Yami's hair transformed into a fist the size of a house.
"RITO!"
"He's fine." Lala assured.
"Really?" Mikan had tears threatening to fall from her eyes.
"Yes, look!" Lala pointed to the sky.
There, Rito floated with a pair of wings with white feathers like Yami's.
"You're quick." Yami made her hair return to normal while commenting indifferently.
"Haha, I admit that this time you made me sweat a bit." Rito laughed with his hand behind his head: "But... It's still far from enough to kill me."
For the first time he went towards her instead of continuing to run away.
Once again Yami's golden hair transformed into several fists and she attacked in his direction.
Flying like a swallow, Rito dodged each attack.
When he arrives in front of her, his hand surrounded by green wind attacks with a clenched fist.
Yami's hands transform into blades and she defends with them.
*BENG!*
A metallic sound echoes.
Yami was forced to retreat.
"If you're so strong, why haven't you attacked until now?" She stabilized in the air and asked.
"I still have a long way to go." He replied: "You're not taking this seriously yet, right?"
"... Yes, but it seems I'll have to start going all out." She replied.
The hands in the form of blades still maintained the same shape, but the blade's glow was different, it seemed sharper and more threatening.
Her hair that transformed into fists made a sound like leather gloves being tightly clenched.
When she attacked with her hair in the form of a fist, it was very different from before.
It was like golden missiles.
Each jab caused a sonic boom.
*Boom! Boom! Boom...!*
*Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash!*
Just with the shockwaves caused by the punches, the glass in the vicinity broke.
When the golden fists hit the ground, unlike before, it was like punches from a giant against the earth, making it tremble violently.
This time, Rito was doing his utmost just to dodge.
Each attack made him feel on his skin, literally, how powerful those attacks were. Even while dodging, he suffered injuries.
His body was presented with deep cuts.
"Rito!!" Lala finally showed real concern: "Peke!"
"Yes, Miss Lala!"
At Lala's command, Peke began to transform her clothes into the battle outfit.
Before Lala could fly there, Rito shouted: "Wait, Lala! It's okay, please believe in me!"
"But..." She bit her thumb.
"Lala, just believe in me." Rito, who dodged another golden fist, looks in her direction.
"... Understood." Lala finally gave in.
Meanwhile, Mikan already had tears in her eyes as she shouted: "Please, stop this!"
"I am an assassin and I won't stop until I finish my target." Yami replied with her eyes losing their sparkle.
She seemed to be understanding very well that the client lied to her. And, she didn't seem at all comfortable with that situation.
Rito would be lying if he said he wasn't even a little scared.
However, he still had plenty of orbs and wasn't afraid to spend them. Using them, he continued to recover while analyzing each of Yami's attacks.
When Yami attacked again, Rito used even more purple light orbs, increasing his mental power even further.
He was spending on average one purple orb and ten red ones per minute.
He had a bold idea by also using the Wind Divine Art crystal.
Under such pressure, the speed at which he managed to digest the content of the glass orb was at least ten times greater.
*Boom!*
When Yami's hair in the form of a fist hit a building, the building developed huge cracks and began to collapse.
Yami's hair returns to normal.
"How much longer will you be able to run away?" She spoke in a neutral tone and advanced like a falcon diving in his direction.
Her body seemed to be deforming with the speed visible to the naked eye, but to Rito it was as if she was fast, but only that.
His eye begins to threaten to bleed.
'She's attacking stronger and stronger each time...' He thought to himself.
However, as long as he has orbs to spend, he won't fall.
When she was 500 meters from him, for the first time he used mental attack.
That unbalanced her for a brief moment and it was all Rito needed to dodge.
*Whoosh!*
When he dodged, Yami who cut where he was before, made a gust of wind go towards the ground and then, in the form of an X, a fissure formed.
The cut was so deep that it wasn't possible to see the end.
'My God!' Rito broke out in a cold sweat: 'That was close...'
If he was like that, imagine Mikan who was rubbing her arms as if she was cold and tears streaming from her eyes.
Even Lala was biting her lower lip, holding back from intervening.
Her tail kept following Yami. She seemed to be considering whether or not to fire a laser shot in Yami's direction.
...
Rito licked his dry lip. Something began to happen inside his body. A magic core in every sense of the word began to form in the shape of a star. It started as a minuscule grain of sand and continued to grow.
'I'm advancing to the next stage...'
Being forced to the limit had its advantages, but the risk was still absurd.
Seeing the damage caused by each of Yami's attacks, he felt very lucky to have the Sage's Eyes.
"It's over." Yami said as she created several blades with her hair.
"Wait!" Rito extended his hand in a stop sign.
"Last words?" She asked.
"It's not that." Rito denied: "Yami, let's stop here."
"You don't decide that!" She said loudly and attacked again.
Sighing, Rito turns: "Lala, can you take over here? I'm close to a breakthrough and I can't continue."
"Alright!" Lala flew while holding her all-powerful tool and made it take the form of a sword with a black blade: "Then, here I go!"
Lala shot towards Yami.
Yami made her hair return to normal and her hand transformed into a blade again.
*BENG!!!*
When the blades clash, sparks are produced.
"You're strong, Princess Lala." Yami said with a touch of surprise in her voice.
Meanwhile, Rito retreated.
He didn't think Lala would lose.
"Rito!" Mikan went to him: "You're all beaten up..."
"It looks terrible, but they're superficial." He said calmly: "I'll be fine, Mikan."
"Idiot!" She yelled at him.
Although he could understand her concern, there was nothing he could do, all of this was just a small preparation for the future.
Rito sat on the ground.
The red orbs were being melted into his body nonstop and feeding his Spiritual Mana Core.
He didn't need to meditate or anything like that, at this stage, he just needs to feed the core with pure spiritual mana.
At the same time, his body begins to recover, the wounds begin to heal while a kind of smoke came out of them.
"Rito, that..." Mikan who wiped her tears with her arm, saw his wounds heal.
"Didn't I tell you? I'll be fine." He smiled a little, adding: "By the way, Mikan, give me those taiyaki, please."
She extended the paper bag that Lala had left with her to him.
"Thank you." Upon taking it, he began to eat them one by one very quickly.
Upon finishing, he closed his eyes again.
In his body, the Spiritual Mana Core had already grown to the size of a cherry. It may seem small, but it shone intensely, containing a lot of spiritual mana.
Meanwhile, Lala and Yami had already exchanged dozens of attacks that produced shockwaves and lots of sparks.
"Lala is amazing..." Mikan murmured.
Rito briefly opened his eyes and saw when Lala and Yami confronted each other without either gaining an advantage.
"Yes, she is." He closed his eyes again.
Rito continued using red and purple orbs, until after thirty minutes, the Spiritual Mana Core finished forming upon reaching the size of a clenched fist in the shape of an eight-pointed star.
When he opened his eyes, Rito felt much more powerful than before.
The difference was gigantic, he easily became at least ten times stronger.
And, now, he possessed his own reserve of Spiritual Mana, it wasn't simply stored in his body.
Rito clenched his fists while his muscles contracted.
Divine Body, fully activated!
A faint green light flowed from his translucent body and circulated around him.
Wind Divine Art, fully activated!
Finally, the green color slowly diminished, becoming dark and heavy.
Divine Strength, fully activated!
"Rito?" Mikan was surprised by all this.
He took a step on the soft ground and left behind a blur. The earth where he stepped shattered and turned to dust.
Rito's body appeared instantly in front of Lala and Yami.
"Lala, thank you, I'll take over now." He replied confidently while activating the Sage's Eyes.