Chapter 326: Chapter 326 - Arcadia Championship Clash(Part 16)

Point-of-View: Izzozon

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"Sounds like you all really enjoyed that first match, and the fun’s only just getting started! It’s time for match two of round two, it’s Prysm Duralles vs Izzozon!"

"It’s been some time since I last got to fight you, Prysm. I hope you’ve improved enough to keep up with me," I remarked with a smirk.

"Well, we’ll just have to see, won’t we?" She replied guardedly.

She seems pretty wary and tense...hope that doesn’t make her fighting less effective, that’d be a shame.

"Let’s kick it off, here’s the countdown...ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five...four...three...two...one, ZERO!!!"

Prysm was quick to manifest her axe the instant the countdown ended, before stepping forward and she raised the axe up high and swung it down with a yell of exertion, a deafening crash ringing out as she slammed it down onto the floor of the arena.

I stumbled slightly as the arena shook violently, before I spread out my wings and flew up as her strike split the floor in half.

"Elemental Water: Ultra Water Ball!" She chanted, charging up a massive, swirling sphere of water before firing it up towards me with immense speed and force.

But with the distance between us, I had more than enough time to react and evade. I swerved across the air, moving out of the way before the water ball slammed onto the wall of the barrier, right as Prysm suddenly vanished from my sight.

I tensed up for a moment as I sensed her behind me, quickly spinning around just in time to see her quietly completing another chant before she swung her axe at me rapidly.

I swung my right hand towards the axe, smacking it against the side of the blade of the axe and deflecting her swing down before it could reach me, before she opened her mouth and fired out a piercing beam of water at my face.

I quickly tilted my head across, her attack hitting the top of my ear and tearing through, before she swiftly teleported away as I fired out a burst of flames at her from my mouth.

I forgot she could teleport, and she has the Physical Boost Skill too...I think she also has a Skill that improves her perception, basically letting her see things in slow motion, which significantly improves her reaction time.

And more than that, she’s gotten stronger...while I’m still just at ten percent of my full power right now, I’m still a bit stronger than I was before Larrk and Uncle Azazel upgraded the seal on my full power and let me unleash it in stages, but she’s already putting up a much better fight now than she used to when we sparred while staying in the Haven.

"You should really pay attention, Izzy!" Her voice suddenly came from above me, as she teleported and swung her axe down towards the top of my head, unleashing a burst of wind from behind it to further increase the power of her swing.

I veered away to my left as fast as I could, grimacing as her axe struck the top of my right shoulder and cleaved through, severing my right arm before she teleported back down as I began to fire out a wave of flames from my mouth.

I quickly spun around, before I found my eyes being forced shut as she swiftly raised a finger and unleashed a blinding flash of light. I flew across as fast as I could, feeling a cold, sharp pain hitting my left leg as my arm regenerated...she must be firing ice projectiles at me.

I then surrounded my body in intense, swirling flames, widening the flames as much as possible as I waited for my eyes to recover...her water and ice attacks won’t work on me with this, wind shouldn’t be too effective either, and she’s unlikely to be able to reach me with her axe with these flames surrounding me, her axe may be able to cut through my flames, but she can’t get close enough to swing at me without touching my flames, she’ll get badly burned if she-...hm?

My ears perked up as I heard a rapid whooshing sound coming towards me, before I strained my eyes open just in time to see her axe coming hurtling up at me with a rapid spin. I quickly swerved away in alarm, narrowly evading as the blade of the axe sliced through my flames and missed the front of my chest by a hair.

Suddenly, she teleported behind me and caught the axe as it flew past me, gritting her teeth as she swung it at me, her hands and forearms getting singed by my flames as her axe struck my stomach and sliced it open, blood gushing out before I unleashed a bursting shockwave of flames to knock her away and flew up higher to get some distance as she teleported back down and healed her burns, letting out a slow exhale.

Well, now...I don’t think I can defeat her in my current state, just how much stronger has she gotten since we last sparred? Maybe Larrk getting so powerful through his Contracts incentivized her to get stronger too.

"Okay, then, guess I have no choice but to turn things up a notch or three...Unlock Seal: Level 3!" I chanted, a thick purple mist flowing out of my right eye as an intense wave of energy burst out from me, sixty percent of my full power unleashed, the most I can currently manage without losing control.

She was quick to teleport away as I swooped down towards her with an immense burst of speed, before a storm of ice needles sped up by powerful gusts of wind came raining down towards me.

I spun around and unleashed a burst of blue flames from my mouth, evaporating the incoming projectiles before she suddenly teleported beside me and swung her axe at my hip.

I swiftly reached out and grabbed the handle before the blade could reach me, halting her swing before my hand was suddenly repelled from the handle...oh, right, only the owner of a Soul Weapon can touch it, I forgot about that.

She then slid her right foot forward and rapidly extended out an ice spike straight up towards my chin, I quickly drove my knee up, striking and shattering the spike before it could reach me, before swiping my claws at her face.

She was quick to tilt her head back and teleport out of the way, a small scratch across the bridge of her nose as my claws nicked her in the split second before she teleported...she’ll probably reach the time limit of her Physical Boost Skill before much longer, I should end this before then.

I then unleashed a blazing wave of blue flames at her, she teleported up into the air to avoid the flames before using her Wing Magic to hover in the air...not the best move, it’ll certainly be easier to evade my blue flames in the air than on foot, but between the two of us, I’m far more adept in aerial combat than she is.

I spread out my wings and shot up into the air, unleashing more blue flames at her as my previous wave began to spread out across the arena, liquifiying the floor as the air within the safety barrier began steadily heating up and shimmering violently.

Sweat began pouring down her face before she formed an icy mist around herself...that won’t help, a simple cold mist isn’t enough to counter the immense heat of Dragon Fire.

I began spewing more flames at her, while she teleported around the space within the barrier to evade my attacks, the heat progressively intensifying with every attack I launched.

Not bad...she isn’t strong enough to attack me anymore, she isn’t even trying to teleport close to me to attempt another attack, but she’s still managing to evade my attacks even in this form. I mean, if I attacked with real intent, she probably wouldn’t be able to fend me off for very long, but I’m not really holding back at all beyond that.

But that said, she can’t keep this up for much longer...she’s visibly struggling to breathe now, heck, even I’m having some trouble breathing. And the floor of the arena has been completely set ablaze now, so she has no choice but to stay airborne...it can’t be easy maintaining a Flight Spell while also focusing on evading my attacks.

She’s also got multiple Skills active just to keep up enough to pull off her evasions, she can’t maintain all that once her concentration starts to waver. Any second now, she’ll-...

My eyes widened in surprise as she suddenly teleported behind me, swinging her axe at me with all her remaining strength as I quickly spun around and sent my tail shooting out, grabbing her right forearm and constricting around it just in time as the blade of her axe cut into my skin...another second and she might have cut right through me.

"Damn it...guess this is my limit," She sighed with a defeated smile, sweat profusely pouring down her face and her voice slightly hoarse.

"It would seem so...still, you’re way stronger now, I can’t wait to see how much you continue to improve from here," I grinned, before firing out a blast of blue flames at her from my mouth, the barrier triggering and teleporting her out before my flames could hit her.

"Not for the first time in the tournament, the arena has been reduced to a molten puddle...the winner of the second match of round two is Izzozon!"

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