BEYOND

It was hard to understand Aina's level of skill when you were just watching another person do battle with her. Nothing she did felt special and she was often so bland and... human.

But facing her now, she was like an unshakeable mountain. Her moves felt bland and simple only because she seemed capable of cutting to the root of a battle in an instant. She found his weakness and shredded it apart in an instant. She didn't need to couch her battle style in a rain of fancy movements and the like, and her Forces were often concentrated into her body so her actual power was deceptive and hard to gauge without standing across from her.

Thorne coughed again and blood fell from his lips in a stream, but he still managed to stay on his feet despite the fact there was a huge gaping hole in his back. If one looked at him from that vantage point, it wouldn't have been a stretch to assume that he was already dead.

However, right then, his flesh began to wiggle about and slowly mend itself, and the blood he was coughing up dried up as well.

From start to finish, Aina didn't press her advantage. She was observing him silently, her eyes filled with a certain light that was hard to read.

Thorne definitely wasn't as vulnerable as he had just seemed. But that was only part of the reason she didn't attack.

This man had angered her husband, and that was enough for her to teach him a lesson that he would remember.

A quick victory was nice. A dominating victory would be better.

Thorne took a breath and stabilized himself.

"You're going to regret that," he said lightly.

His body began to morph and change. Violet scales erupted across his body and his shallow horn became larger and more prominent.

A heartbeat that sounded like the roar of a violent beast spread out into the surroundings and another energy took shape in the air... 'Dream Force?' Aina thought. Even so, she remained entirely unmoved.

Thorne began to walk as his body slowly grew to three meters tall. He circled around Aina, every step he took separating out another clone of him, each one seemingly just as physically real and substantial as the last.

Suddenly, they all moved.

Looking at the swords slicing through the air, Aina actually realized that they were all real, and each one was more than twice as powerful as Thorne had been. He was clearly hiding a great deal of strength, and might even be hiding more.

Aina raised her finger again and this time, she gently drew a line through the skies and then pointed down.

A circle of raging Battle Ax Force took shape, spiraling almost out of control and shredding all of the clones apart.

She took a step and vanished, grabbing one of Thorne's horns and pulling him down to the ground.

The demon's face smashed into the earth as Aina kneeled over him.

"Anything more?" She asked.

Thorne felt his heart freeze over.

He was a calm man, truly. Even after those things Leonel said to him, aside from a hint of disappointment, he didn't really feel much else.

But right now, he was filled with so much rage that-

ROAR!

His heartbeat raged out of control, his Sword Force and Dream Force rising into a formation in the skies and was formed of dozens of swords.

Aina took a step back as Thorne erupted from the ground.

She looked up into the skies and shook her head. It seemed that this was all the demon had to offer.

She pointed a finger upward and a beam of light streaked through it. After hitting that single point, the entire formation seemed to have lost its strength, wilting away before it could even make a single attack.

Thorne rushed Aina like a savage, his thin sword being replaced by a heavy sword that made Aina reminisce about something.

She wondered where Myghelle was. He, too, used a thin sword until he was pushed to the edge by Leonel, only to swap to a great sword.

They hadn't heard any word of him in a while and she knew that Leonel had taken a liking to them. Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.

She shook her head and punched out.

BANG!

Thorne froze, his great sword pausing in the air until he fell over, slowly.

Another eruption of blood came out his back, but this time, there was no slow progress. There was just a barrel-sized hole, and though his body was already attempting to mend itself, his consciousness had fallen into darkness.

The arena flashed and Aina's victory was set in stone.

She looked up as she stepped out of the arena, a smile on her face. Making it to the Finals now was pretty much guaranteed, though there had never really been a doubt.

She gazed at Savahn and Yuri who were looking at her with their mouths open. Of them all, the only two that had made it to the Penultimate Round were Aina and Zephyr, whether it was Savahn, Yuri, or Silvanus, all of them had failed to make it to this stage.

But looking at it now, it seemed that they were all shocked by this outcome as well.

"Didn't I tell you that there was nothing to worry about?"

Savahn and Yuri looked toward one another and smiled bitterly.

This couple, both Leonel and Aina, that was... why couldn't they be normal? This didn't even make any sense. How could she grow so powerful, so quickly?

By this point, Silvanus didn't even dare to look Aina in the eye. Let alone being scared of Leonel, he should be scared of this woman.

How a woman could be so beautiful and yet so... savage was beyond him.

At that moment, the door to their common room suddenly opened and a Spiritual walked in.