Right after dodging the wind slash that separated the two of them momentarily, both Jose and Firan engaged once again.

Firan swung down her club but Jose was prepared for it. He activated three lines on his shoulder and caught the force of the attack with Emilia.

Shaaa—!

The air was pushed away as it vibrated from the resulting shockwave of the clash.

Jose then placed his left hand which was free to move onto the right side of Firan's abdomen.

"That part…!" Firan exclaimed.

Even through Firan's clothing, Jose was able to see her skin using his left eye's diagonal line. He noticed that there were not yet any scales on that part and thus, wanted to sneak an attack there.

With conviction written on his face, Jose pushed in on Firan's tunic as he activated the circle on his palm before she was able to swing for a punch.

Shlk—!

Shlk—!

Shlk—!

Shlk—!

"…!"

Jose shot out dozens of tiny, sharp spikes from within his circle and into Firan's body at high speeds. But because her back had already recovered their scales, they weren't able to penetrate it and exit her body, leaving them stuck in it.

Firan spat blood as she lost her grip of her club. "It hurts…!" She gritted her teeth, gathering her strength to punch with her left hand, but Emilia transformed into her humanoid form and kicked her on the face, sending her flying away.

Crash—!

Firan rolled around after landing and began clutching her stomach. "Damn you… that hurts like hell!" She began increasing herself in size and then transformed one of her hands into that of a dragon's, using her razor sharp claws, she dug within her back to pull out the needles, but thanks to her larger size, the size of the clump of needles were nothing in comparison and she doesn't have to dig too deep within her flesh, avoiding risk to her life.

"You bastard…!" Firan spoke with contempt as she stood up. Even though she was still bleeding profusely on her back and drenching her clothing with it, Jose dashed forward once again followed by Emilia.

"Come! Let's end this!" Firan roared.

Jose then spoke to Emilia telepathically, an ability provided by their contract. "Emilia, let's do that.

"That?! Are you crazy?! You can't even control it properly before! It's dangerous!"

"But that's the only way to beat her. Her defenses are just too…"

But Emilia shut down her worries. "Hold on that thought first! We have backup! That should be our last resort. We can't properly use Ego Union yet!"

"Alright, I'll listen... I haven't really tried everything, I guess..."

Faced with Firan's massive size, Jose fired a beam of black energy from the back of his right forearm.

Whoosh—!

Firan immediately blocked with her hand, thinking it would be possible to deflect it now that it was fully protected by scales. However, as it came in contact with it, her palm began decaying away into dust.

"Wha—!" She then had her already transformed hand cut out the entire skin off of her palm and began healing it.

However, Jose wasn't done yet. He jumped up and as he neared Firan, a white energy in the shape of a blade had enveloped his right shin. It shone brightly as he launched a kick forward.

"I can't dodge this!" Firan then instinctively retrieved a shield comprising of dozens of red scales with a handle that fits perfectly in her hand and is large enough to block her entire upper torso while in giant form.

Schreee—!

"What…? This shield is way tougher than her scales!"

Despite its unexpected toughness, the attack still left a massive slash across the shield.

"He penetrated father's scales?!" Firan exclaimed internally.

He increased the intensity of the energy and as it shone dazzlingly bright once again, he formed a blue circular platform from below his left foot. He jumped forcefully once again using only one leg.

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He slashed forward once again and as Firan raised her shield once again to block, the energy blade completely went through it and even cutting off half of her hand. Jose's momentum continued forward onto her head but she quickly weaved away and swatted him down towards the ground.

Pah—!

Crash—!

Jose laid helplessly on the ground with a few of his bones broken as Firan quickly stomped down onto him. But before it landed, Emilia quickly dashed through and dragged him from harm.

"Think I'll let you?!" Firan then breath fire towards them, prompting Emilia to toss Jose away and she ran alongside him through the air as he healed.

Whoosh—!

After being fully healed, Jose called upon Emilia's sword form as he was still in the air. When the light reached his grasp, he talked to her telepathically. "There's no other choice, Emilia... I've known beforehand I got nothing to use against her anyway, but I still tried."

"Your precognition, huh? Fine, do what you want."

"Thanks, I'm sorry for being weak and I'm also running out of stamina, my apologies."

"Not at all, let's just end her!"

"Yeah… Ego Union…"

As Jose uttered those words, a sudden burst of light came down from the heavens and onto the two, completely engulfing both of them in its overwhelming intensity.

Shaaa…!

After a brief moment, the light's intensity died down. Jose took a step out of it enveloped by a very thin, golden otherworldly energy.

"Dammit… now I think it's gonna be even harder to win…" Firan smiled nervously.

Jose then spoke to himself, but his tone made it seemed like he possesses a bit of Emilia's cheerfulness. "There we go. I feel like an entirely new being…" he smiled a little.

He brandished Emilia a little, who in contrast to him who's merely enveloped in a thin layer of that golden energy, was brimming of it.

"I hope I can control it properly this time… this Aura thingie…" Jose briefly gazed at Emilia before immediately dashing forward at a breakneck speed unlike before, catching Firan off-guard.

"This speed!" Firan's eyes widened.

Coming from below her, Jose quickly jolted upwards to her head. She flapped her wings after a massive wind-up beforehand, producing a powerful gust of wind that were felt across the battlefield, but Jose was unshaken as he stood atop a blue platform. Because she's focused on healing her wounds and her severed hand, she hadn't yet regrown much of her scales and thus doesn't have much to detonate. However, as it's a very desperate moment now, she took a gamble. She began shedding her remaining scales and fully focused her recovery to her wounds.

Because of her larger size, her scales also grew. Though they were still pretty hard to see individually, if one got close enough, they could now spot them, almost like tiny grains of sand.

As Jose soared in the air, their eyes met. The golden energy around Emilia's blade began twitching and when Jose slashed downward, a massive wave of energy shot forth.

Whoosh—!

Firan managed to dodge it but it grazed her shoulder. She expected him to descend back down after jumping because of that attack, but instead, he began flying. With this added mobility he began slashing all over her body once again.

"Damn this!" Firan transformed both of her hands into that of a dragon's, though her damaged hand only had one claw out of four. But because of their sharpness, it is more than enough for the job.

She began wildly swinging all around as her wounds piled up, making a pool of blood beneath her feet. "You bastard!"

Because of the Ego Union, Jose had a surplus of mana to absorb from. This allowed him to power up his abilities for way longer and more frequently than he normally could. However, there is a drawback. During Ego Union, what he absorbs is not pure mana, but rather, he absorbs Emilia's unique power, which is the ability to produce Aura.

Aura is basically anti-magical in nature as it annihilate other mana particles that it comes in contact with, and because of his lack of control as Aura is not really a well-known concept in the Tower, he was struggling absorbing it and converting it into stamina. that's why it deals internal damage to him as it annihilates his mana, which is essential to keep living within the Tower.

If he makes a mistake in absorbing it, he could die as he will to run out of mana through its annihilation process. But thanks to experiencing Zero's Null Bolt, he had a general idea on how to minimize the internal damage from when he and Emilia were experimenting with it in their past time.

Even then, the internal damage from absorbing Aura is far severe than that of Null Bolt's. But thanks to his previous experience, he was able to significantly reduce the risks, although not completely.

"I need to end this! I can't maintain this for long or I'll get more damaged!"

He began swiftly dodging her strikes mid-air and retaliating appropriately. He then activated the horizontal line on his right eye as soon as they both made eye contact. In an instant, Firan stared blankly onto the clouds. Jose closed in to deal the final blow, but a massive explosion took place right in front of him. Right before it reaches him, he quickly exclaimed, "How did I not saw that?! Oath?!"

Boom—!

The explosion disintegrated even more of his already heavily damaged clothing, leaving him half-naked this time. But as his burnt torso was revealed, a dot on his chest was glowing brightly in addition to the protective layer of Aura around him.

He gritted his teeth amidst the scalding flames around him as a smaller pillar of fire formed around him.

Whoooohhh—!

With conviction, he began charging up Emilia's Aura. "Quick! Before she escapes the illusion!"

He slashed forward with all his might as he endured the flames and the shockwaves that messes up his organs. "Go!" A massive wave of Aura travelled forward, cutting right through the flames and when Firan got out of her trance, it was unfortunately too late.

Shuuu—!

The wave of Aura had hit her on the chest. "It hurts!" She groaned as she felt as if thousands of tiny slashes landed on her simultaneously and began chipping away at her flesh.

But before it was able to kill her, the protective measures of the Moderator kicked in, she was enveloped by a healing light and the wave of Aura was dispelled.

As soon as Firan was transported out of the trial site, the pillar of flame also subsided. Jose began descending down weakened with his body being charred on some areas despite his dedicated defense for heat being activated.

He ended the Union and the Aura dispersed in all directions. Emilia then hastily transformed back into her humanoid form as she catches him from falling down onto the hard ground.

"Good job, Jose. You did good."

"Thank you…" Jose closed his eyes as he laid his head on Emilia's shoulder, exhausted despite the numerous battles happening around them simultaneously.