Before Akiza stood the woman in purple. Another version of Akiza who gave in to her selfish desires. "I thought you were supposed to protect me," said Akiza.

"I am protecting you," said the woman in purple. "I'm making sure you're ready to face what's coming next and so that you don't do anything stupid. In a way, I am protecting you."

The body of the woman ignited with purple flames all over. Her wings on her back grew extremely large as she rose into the air. Akiza Armatized as well. POOF. Her Armatization completely disappeared.

"I told you, you can't use your spirits here," said the phoenix. Five orbs of different colors appeared in front of the phoenix. They were the spirits that Akiza had.

"How am I supposed to fight someone who is Armatized without one of my own?" asked Akiza.

"Figure it out," said the phoenix.

Without access to Akiza's main mode of combat, she could not compete against the woman in purple. "I won't kill you," said the woman in purple. "I'm just going to break your legs so you can't go anywhere."

Akiza watched as the woman in purple began circling above her in the sky. The woman in purple dove straight down towards Akiza. BOOM. With a single punch, the ground erupted as dirt and sand flew in every direction. If it had connected with Akiza, she would have been dead. The woman in purple was not holding back her strength, though she was holding back her intensity.

"How am I supposed to compete with that?" asked Akiza.

"Power comes from more than just Armatization," said the woman in purple. "I can fight you without it as well," she said as she descended from the sky.

The moment the woman in purple landed, Akiza charged straight for her. She used Phoenix Steps to twist her body to the side and launched a kick at the woman in purple.

FWOOM. Her leg went straight through the woman in purple as the part that Akiza came into contact with turned into purple flames before reforming. "You haven't been studying up on your techniques have you?" asked the woman in purple.

It was one of the techniques listed in the tome that Akira had. Akiza had forgotten all about it since she stopped at Rising Phoenix Strike and was unable to learn the others at the time. Flames wrapped around the hands of the woman in purple. It was sort of like what Akiza had learned from Cixi to make fireballs, but applied to her hands.

The woman in purple swung her arm and punched Akiza in the stomach, knocking her straight to the floor. It had the explosive power of the fireballs behind it. "UGH" Akiza groaned. As she got up, she began coughing heavily. The blow had knocked all the air out of her body and she was struggling to breathe.

"You have to use your power properly," said the woman in purple. She took the orange spirit from the phoenix and ate it. The flames of the woman in purple began to turn lighter.

Akiza could feel the intensity of the flames that the woman used in her hands growing. "What did you do?" Akiza asked.

"I simply consumed the dragon spirit to increase the power of my flames," said the woman in purple. "Now your dragon is mine as well."

Akiza knew she was outmatched in terms of strength and skill. All she had was luck. She had to wait for the woman in purple to get overconfident or proud or hesitate. Anything really. With that opportunity, she would have to use everything at her disposal to finish it in a single strike.

The woman in purple charged right at Akiza and swung straight for Akiza's stomach. BANG. Akiza felt the incredible heat generated from the attack in her arms. If she was not a fire attribute herself, her arms could have been incinerated. "You can't win," said the woman in purple.

"I know," said Akiza. "But I must at least try!" she shouted. She focused the flames into her arms and wrapped them around like how Cixi had taught her. With every punch, it had the same power as a Rising Phoenix Strike. She could use it continuously like this.

Akiza launched herself towards the woman with all her might. "She must be overestimating herself at this point," said Akiza. The woman in purple smiled at Akiza. "No, she hasn't," thought Akiza. She was deliberately leaving herself open. Akiza immediately planted her legs into the ground to stop.

The woman in purple opened her mouth and spat fire like a dragon would. "Oh, you saw it in time," said the woman. "For a moment, I was sure I got you."

"How did you do that?" asked Akiza.

"Fire can be controlled through our arms and legs," said the woman in purple. "Why can't you control it in other places as well?"

Akiza had no chance of winning from the start. As confident as the woman in purple was, she knew exactly what she was doing. She was trying to break Akiza's spirit. "It's not over as long as I breathe!" shouted Akiza. Akiza was not going to give up. As long as she could still fight, she could try out new things. "One of them has to work," she thought.

Akiza could not use her Exploding Wings, so she combined Phoenix Steps with Rising Phoenix Strike. BANG. The explosive power of Akiza's fist came into contact with the palm of the woman in purple. Akiza's orange flames were completely smothered by the purple-white flames of the woman in purple. Akiza could feel that heat going through her arm.

POW. The woman in purple hit Akiza in the stomach again. Knocking Akiza down into the ground. "Give up," said the woman in purple.

"No," said Akiza. "If I give up, then you will take over my body. Then, you will hurt everyone. I can't let that happen," said Akiza as she began to pick herself up.

The woman in purple tripped Akiza and hit her in the stomach again. "I told you, you don't stand a chance, give up," said the woman in purple.

Akiza got up once more. She looked into the eyes of the woman in purple as she continued to heal her injuries. "You better kill me fast otherwise I'm going to heal myself and fight you again," said Akiza.

The woman in purple knocked Akiza over once more. "Why won't you stay down?!?" she asked. "Please just stay down."

There was a drastic shift in the tone of the woman in purple. Just like before, she did not want to really hurt Akiza. It meant that the goal of the woman in purple was not to kill Akiza. After all, the woman in purple had said that she would protect Akiza. This was probably part of it.

"If I stay down, it means I've given up," said Akiza. "There's still a lot I need to do, I won't give up," Akiza stood up again. She was heavily bruised and battered all over.

"I concede," said the woman in purple. "I dare not to hurt you any further."

"You have completed the second trial Hero," said the phoenix. "You have one more."

"Let's hurry up and finish this," said Akiza as she continued to heal herself.

Stolen novel; please report.

"You're not going to ask me to wait?" asked the phoenix.

"Are you even going to let me?" asked Akiza.

"Of course not," said the phoenix as a bright white light covered Akiza's vision.

They were in another place now. Again, it was pitch black. "Do you desire power?" asked a voice.

"Yes," said Akiza. "I need power to be able to protect those I care about, so that I can save them."

Cixi stepped forward. "With all that power, what good is it if you can't control it?" she said.

"In due time, I will control it," said Akiza.

Serph appeared. "Is that why you got me stuck in the Immortal Realm with you?" he asked.

"No," said Akiza. "That was not my fault."

"Isn't it?" asked Serph. "You're the one who antagonized Haman and got us stuck there."

"I only won a sparring match with him," said Akiza. "That wasn't my fault."

"What about me?" asked a deep voice.

Akiza turned around. It was Samuel.

"With your power, could you have saved me?" asked Samuel.

"If I had the power that I have now then, I could have saved you all," said Akiza.

"Do you really believe that power will be the solution to all of your problems?" asked another voice.

Akiza turned in the direction the voice came in. It was her mother. "Power is not the solution," said Akiza. "Power gives you the possibility to change the outcome."

"Good answer," said another voice. Akiza's father appeared next to her mother. "Never forget this."

All of the people disappeared into a ball of white flame and the phoenix emerged from it once more with its wings wide open. "Congratulations, you've passed," said the phoenix.

"I don't feel any stronger," said Akiza.

"Then I have one more thing left for you to do before you leave," said the phoenix.

The woman in purple appeared once more. "Looks like my time is up," said the woman in purple.

"What do you mean?" asked Akiza.

"I was never meant to exist," said the woman in purple. "I was created by an accident because you took in too much Yang energy while Akiza tried to fix it by applying Divine Energy to balance it out. The only reason I lasted so long was because I minimized my power consumption"

"Yin and yang allows for creation, so you were born from that?" asked Akiza.

"Yes," said the woman in purple.

"Can you at least tell me your name?" asked Akiza.

"My name is Ying Mei," said the woman.

"I just wanted to hear you say that," said Akiza.

"Don't forget, you have people who care about you," said Ying Mei. "As much as I want to protect you, I will do you more harm if I stay in your body like this. I will return to you one day properly, when the phoenix within you matures."

"What will you do?" asked Akiza.

"Take my hand," said the woman in purple as she reached out her hand.

Akiza reached out her hand and took a hold of the woman in purple's. "Now, Armatize," said the woman.

The woman in purple burst into flames that entered Akiza's Dantian. Akiza suddenly felt a burning sensation throughout her body. Akiza activated her Armatization. Flames erupted from her entire body, covering her from head to toe. She looked down at herself to see that she was okay. She was dressed in the same style and color that resembled Ying Mei's, fully purple. It was Full Armatization.

"What happened?" asked Akiza.

"She merged with the phoenix spirit inside of you," said the phoenix.

"Will she be okay?" asked Akiza.

"When the phoenix grows to a certain point, it is likely that her personality will emerge from it once more," said the phoenix. "Akira just made it happen too early."

"That's good," said Akiza. "I guess I'll be seeing you later other me."

"Now, there's one more task for you to do before you leave Labyrinthos," said the phoenix.

"What is it?" asked Akiza.

"Did you forget about the Demon?" asked the phoenix.

Himiko had mentioned that there was one. "I almost forgot about it," said Akiza.

"The one here is a very weak one and has also been severely weakened by my own powers," said the phoenix. "When you leave, I will release my power and let the Demon loose so that you can sense me and the Demon."

That was the reason why Akiza was not able to sense it. The powers of the phoenix and the Demon were neutralizing each other, making it so that neither could be sensed.

"Be warned though," said the phoenix. "When it is loose, it will influence the entire Cursed Land, causing powerful monsters to rise. I will suppress it as much as I can, but I expect that it will still be at at least ten percent of its power."

There would probably be some Emperor Stage monsters appearing. Luckily, the other schools should still be around to deal with it, giving Akiza a chance to fight against the Demon.

"Is there anything you can tell me about the Demon?" asked Akiza.

"It is a Demon of Greed, so you can use that to your advantage," said the phoenix.

"So do I take a gold coin and dangle it in front of the Demon?" asked Akiza.

"Yes," said the phoenix.

"Really?" said Akiza. "It's that simple?"

"A Demon is one that has completely given in to its desires," said the phoenix. "It will not hold back to try to acquire the gold coin."

It was really that easy. Akiza could not believe how easy the phoenix made it sound. "Can you give me some time before you release the Demon of Greed?" asked Akiza.

"How long?" asked the phoenix.

"One week," said Akiza. "I want one week to rest and practice a little."

"Alright," said the phoenix. "In one week from this moment, I will release the Demon of Greed. Do not forget it. If the Demon is not contained, it will gradually recover its power and will begin to terrorize the land as it did before."

With that, Akiza found herself back in the dark room with Cixi. She was collapsed on the ground. "What happened?" asked Akiza. Her head felt like it was going to split open.

"You collapsed on the floor," said Cixi. "The phoenix said not to move you until you woke on your own."

Akiza thought about everything that just happened. "Was it all in my head?" she thought. "No, it wasn't."

Akiza remembered the techniques the phoenix had taught her. She activated her Armatization. Nothing felt different though. She then activated her Full Armatization. The flames turned purple and her clothes changed. "It wasn't a dream," said Akiza.

"What happened to you ?" asked Cixi.

"I met someone who was closer to me than I ever thought," said Akiza. "And she gave me this."