Kiro dodged under a whip of water, slashing upwards with the Right Blade of Tempest. A wave of fire blew out, combining with an emerald cloud to form a concussive blast. A nascent technique formed in his free hand, but a stray tendril sent him spinning with a wet splash. Reflexively, he hooked his fingers into the dirt, flipping back over with a pulse of mana.

Taking advantage of the channeling, he gathered his mana into a leg, forming it into a modified version of the Lightning Step technique. One second the mana was compressed into dense lines, and the next it exploded out, powering his leap as he soared forwards.

A wave of water gathered over him, threatening to crash down on at any moment. He wouldn't be able to dodge.

Seira appeared next to him, small blasts of green coming from her feet.

"Sword time! Now!"

"Right!"

He brought his blade down midair, channeling mana into its density rune. Seira stepped on it, launching herself off with a burst of verdant light. He went crashing backwards, but a quick blast of flame stabilized his fall. A wave of hail rained upon him, but he just increased the mana flowing through him.

Making a permanent change, even with mana, is exponentially harder than a temporary one. Thus, the *spirit* of most techniques will be to conjure a temporary substance and temporarily change it to strike at your enemy.

He took a deep breath, letting the flames engulf his running form.

However, because of the temporary nature of these changes, it proves very… easy to dismantle them with the right tools.

The hail evaporated in a burst of pressure, its structure too unstable to maintain a gaseous form. He released the shroud, continuing forwards at a sprint. The wave of water had dissipated, their enemy's concentration focused on fending off Seira.

She wove between liquidy tendrils, slowly making slashing her way through to their opponent.

Aer met her with a spear of ice, striking with a flurry of stabs. Seira tried her best to deflect them, but her guard was quickly wearing down. A sheet of ice materialized underneath her, sending her tumbling backwards.

The Saint raised her spear, ready to strike her downed opponent, when a tiny bottle hit her in the forehead. A cloud of fire mana surrounded the two women, ready to detonate at the slightest spark.

And, with a snap of her fingers, that was exactly what Seira did. Hungry flames ate through the air around them, ballooning out to engulf the area in a scorching nebula.

A couple seconds passed, and Kiro slowed down. That surely counted as a victory for them, right? The average water user would not have been able to survive that.

Seira slowly stood, crouching so as to not slip on the ice again. "Did we finally win?"

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The smoke cleared, and a pressurized stream of water blasted into her. A moment later, a ball of ice slammed into Kiro, slinging him across the clearing.

The ice crystals around Aer dissolved, transforming back into water and then mana as they streamed back into her core. Or, at least that's what he assumed happened, since he couldn't sense water mana.

He groaned, channeling mana to his ribs as he gingerly stood. A pleasantly warm sensation permeated them, easing the pain enough to keep fighting. He started preparing a technique, but Seira landed beside him, coughing up water.

"Alright! We give up!"

Aer floated over, clapping. "Good job! You guys are really shaping up!"

She retracted her aura, letting the full weight of the world fall upon them. He reached down for Seira, offering her a hand up. Before they hit the Infusion stage, the weight of Asura had been an insurmountable force. Now, it just felt like a few extra pounds added onto their backs.

The Saint tossed them each an elixir, downing one herself.

"First, the good things. You two have great coordination, as usual. That sword trick would have caught any opponent on this world off-guard, which might have finished the battle right there."

They grinned. They had been working on that for the past week.

"Also, your joint techniques are getting better. Both your explosive clouds worked well, and they served different purposes. Kiro, your Lightning Step is doing wonderfully, as is your new movement technique, Seira. However…"

The ground beneath them shook, knocking them off balance. A gust of air caught them a moment later, pulling them upright.

"You're still crashing through the battle. While there is certainly a time for brute force, most of the time efficiency is king. And efficiency means bending alongside the flow of battle, like the wind. It's not really your guys' fault — it just takes experience to read your opponent good enough to do this. Just keep on trying, ok?"

They nodded. They had been trying to do this for the last half a month, but no matter how efficient they made their techniques or how carefully they moved, they always ended up feeling cumbersome and brutish compared to Aer's graceful movements.

"Still, great job today! I need to run some errands before lunch — why don't you go check up on Rynn for a bit?."

Without even waiting for their confirmation, she disappeared into the void.

Seira laughed, heading back into the cave. "I really thought we had her this time!"

He rubbed his chest, channeling more mana to the bruised area. "Yeah. I was sure that the sword trick would have gotten her. Even Alaric of Din didn't have anything like that in his section on weapons."

Seira stopped, tapping his ribs. "Wait, are you feeding fire mana into your injury?"

He grimaced, nodding. "Yeah, but just because it eases the pain doesn't mean it doesn't still hurt."

Seira's eyes went wide. "How? Whenever I did that, it always made the pain worse!"

"How interesting…. It must be because we have different views of fire. Alaric of Din says that how you see your aspect can vastly change how it works."

"You really value Alaric of Din's word on things, don't you?"

He pulled out the jade slip, grinning. "You would too, if you used this jade slip. I'm three thousand pages in, and I've barely even crossed the halfway point! He has information on every aspect of cultivation imaginable."

"Aspect?" She smirked. "It looks like you're not just learning cultivation from the guy."

He chuckled. "I suppose that —"

A fireball flew past their heads, crashing into the nearby brush. They turned, flaring their auras. A masked mystic fell from the sky, twirling a flaming spear.

The mystic brought their spear up in an arc, swinging it all around them.

"Tang Twins! I demand that you —"

Before they could finish, Seira blasted them with veridian fire.