Atheline extended one hand, wind gathered around him. It went from a little gust and then collected even more, becoming terrifying. The surrounding air began shaking, rocks and dirt lifted while entire clouds descended.

Lilith watched carefully. She noticed that he wasn’t creating an attack but creating weather. The atmosphere itself responded; the sky darkened and thunder rolled overhead.

Wind screamed through the mountain range. Atheline stood at the center of it, hair whipping violently as Aether flooded from his body.

Lilith felt genuine surprise at his control. He just kept on improving even mid-battle but right now, he looked like wind itself.

He raised his hand and the storm answered. Thousands of invisible blades formed from compressed wind. The mountains around them were sliced apart simply by existing nearby.

She finally smiled, a small but dangerous one. Atheline saw it and immediately regretted everything. She looked like a child who had just found the perfect toy to play with. Even her eyes became slightly dilated.

Lilith disappeared. Atheline reacted instantly. Wind exploded beneath his feet, launching himself backward. The dagger missed his throat by centimeters.

She appeared again and again and again each time missing his throat by barely an inch.

He accelerated with each attack. Wind propelled every movement while lightning carried him further. The battlefield became a blur, black shadows chased silver storms.

She attacked while he evaded. Mountains died around then still, neither seemed particularly concerned. A massive peak exploded as Lilith’s dagger missed. Another mountain split in half when Atheline’s counterattack landed.

The sky itself appeared unstable, although it looked like a mirage.

His breathing grew heavier. Unfortunately for him, hers remained calm and that alone told the story.

Atheline was approaching his limit but Lilith wasn’t even close. And they both knew it. Still, he refused to stop.

Wind gathered around his bow again. All his other elements also joined.

She recognized what he was attempting. It was a dangerous attack, possibly his strongest. Atheline pulled the bowstring.

The power affected everything around him and the resulting Aether became unstable and violent, but still beautiful

He smiled, then released.

The world vanished and the arrow became pure destruction. A beam of elemental energy crossed the battlefield heading directly towards her.

Lilith finally stopped holding back. Darkness erupted around them. For the first time that day, the true power of the feared Dark Elf Queen emerged.

The shadows covering the battlefield froze, then expanded. The sky turned black, mountains disappeared beneath darkness even sunlight vanished.

It felt like being trapped in endless darkness without a sense of direction, just floating about.

Atheline instinctively felt his heart stop. Every survival instinct he possessed screamed he was in absolute danger but it felt as though he couldn’t even move forward. He could see but couldn’t move even a muscle.

She raised her dagger and then slashed at the oncoming arrow. Nothing flashy happened. It was just a single slash. It looked so simple.

Atheline’s ultimate attack disappeared, simply erased. The mountains behind it disappeared too, an entire section of the mountain range ceased to exist.

Atheline stared in shock. She stood calmly amidst the darkness, completely unharmed.

He laughed out loud. What else could he do? It was completely absurd.

Lilith walked forward, one step at a time the darkness receding with each step.

Atheline immediately knew that the fight was ending. It wasn’t like he had much of a choice when it ended, she was the one who decided when.

He raised his bow one final time. His Aether reserves were nearly empty and his body hurt. Several injuries hadn’t fully healed, yet he smiled anyway.

She stopped several meters away.

"You’ve really improved, especially in fine control. If you were stronger, you would have been able to challenge me and last longer."

He wrinkled his face slightly, his lips twisting a little. He could respond.

"I’ll take that as a compliment."

"It is."

Atheline immediately looked proud, making her regret speaking.

Then he attacked one final time. It was a simple shot with no ultimate technique or elements just one simple arrow perfectly aimed.

She moved. The dagger flashed across the air meeting it in the middle. The arrow shattered.

Then she suddenly appeared in front of him. A finger lightly flicked his forehead. Atheline froze.

She tilted her head slightly a small smile on her lips.

"You lose."

Atheline stared at her speechless, then sighed dramatically.

"Again."

She nodded.

"Yes, again. It seems you need more practise before you can fight me."

He laughed. The tension vanished with that and the battle officially ended just like that.

Lilith lowered her hand and the remaining darkness fully disappeared. The sunlight finally returned.

The ruined mountains became visible once more. Atheline looked around then winced. Several mountain peaks were missing, an entire valley no longer existed and a forest had somehow become a lake.

Lilith followed his gaze. She also didn’t know what to say. Atheline eventually pointed it out.

"I think we overdid it."

She looked toward the devastation then nodded.

"A little."

Atheline laughed while Lilith smiled again, infected by his laughter. He stretched painfully and his entire body protested.

She instantly noticed.

"You’ll be sore tomorrow."

"Don’t even remind me about it. I already am."

"You deserved it."

"Probably."

She stepped closer. Atheline expected criticism. Instead, she reached out and placed her hands on his shoulders. Atheline automatically wrapped his hands around her waist.

She lightly pressed and the pain immediately lessened.

He looked at his shoulders in surprise, then turned to her with a confused look before he smiled.

"Thank you."

She wrapped her hands around his neck and kissed him. He responded enthusiastically wrapping his tongue with hers. When they separated, they were both breathing heavily.

"Thank you," he mummbled against her lips.

She nodded absentmindedly then took his lips again.

As they kissed, above them the storm clouds slowly dispersed and the ruined mountains grew quiet.

The training session was over and she had won, again. Yet standing there among the destruction, Atheline couldn’t help feeling satisfied.

Because for the first time since they met, he had managed to make her fight him at least seriously.

A string of saliva hung between them as they separated. It broke a few seconds later. Atheline placed his head on her shoulders while she ran her hand through his hair.

"Should we do this regularly?" He mummbled.

Her hand stopped for a moment then continued caressing him. She nodded.

"Sure, we’ll do this at least once every two months."

He wanted to argue but gave up. He could go to someone else for training in that period.

"Okay. "

"Good. Let’s go back, we have an important meeting ahead of us."