"Man, that was such a blast! It's been ages since I've had that much fun in a fight, can't remember the last time I was genuinely challenged, let alone defeated. You two are so powerful, I'm not even sure I'd be able to win against either of you one-on-one," Grinned Jaden as he approached us, before wincing slightly.

He's got a pretty strong natural healing factor thanks to his high Vitality and HP, though it's still a lot slower than Aria's and my Super Regeneration.

"I have to disagree, I'd give myself fifty-fifty odds, at best, in a one-on-one fight against you," I replied, Aria nodding in agreement.

"I'm not so sure, since you guys can regenerate really fast, you kept recovering in no time whenever I landed hits. Most notably when I blasted you full of holes, I thought you'd get teleported out, my bad," He grinned sheepishly.

"It's fine, don't worry about it, you couldn't have known," I shook my head with a smile.

"It was pretty cool that we got to go all-out finally, we haven't been able to do that at our full power until today," Added Aria, looking pretty satisfied.

Yeah, there was the fight against Raixel, now Acedia, but I wasn't able to access Aria's full power in her body, and Ai was the one who fought in my body.

But today, neither of us were holding anything back, it didn't take long before we both realized that we'd need to give it our all to beat him.

And even then, it felt like we just barely pulled it off.

"Same here, I haven't faced anything stronger than a Critical Level Monster before, and they usually die before I even really get into the swing of things.

And I never got the opportunity to spar against any of the other X-Aces until today, and I can't emphasize enough how pumped I felt when I realized that I could let loose against you guys," Grinned Jaden, before adding, "I can't wait for tomorrow, I want to fight the others, and I want to fight you two again too!"

"Speaking of which, how about we decide on the match-ups for tomorrow's special event?" Chimed in Charlotte, as she walked over with the other X-Aces.

"Yo, that was a hell of a fight, got my blood pumping! Man, it's too bad I was unconscious when that Archdemon used that Demonization thing, I could've gotten those sick Demon powers too!" Spoke up Beatriz excitedly.

"I'll admit, I was thinking the same thing," Added Jin with a wry smile.

Yeah, if the roles had been reversed, I'd have been pretty bummed over missing out a free power boost too.

"That certainly was quite a show, wish I had some booze to enjoy it with," Iseul sighed wistfully.

"Yeah, you guys looked really horny...hahaha, get it, cuz of the horns?" Chuckled Aarav in amusement.

"Why are you like this?" Jin sighed in exasperation.

"Hm, yeah, that one wasn't very funny...but it's fine! They can't all be bangers, and hit or miss is the essence of comedy!" Grinned Aarav indifferently.

Not sure that's true, but I don't care enough to debate it.

"Ahem, anyway...let's get back to the matter at hand. About tomorrow's event, it won't be feasible for each of you to fight all the others, a seven-person round-robin would mean twenty-one matches total, and each person having to fight six others is bound to be exhausting," Pointed out Charlotte.

Yeah, that's fair. We'd need a lot of breaks, and that's bound to result in the event dragging on for quite a while.

"Aw, that sucks. I wanted to fight everyone," Jaden sighed in disappointment.

"Ideally, ten matches would be perfect, which would entail six of you participating in three matches each and one of you participating in two. So, we'll first need to determine who'll only be in two matches instead of three," Surmised Charlotte, before looking around at each of us to try and prompt a volunteer.

"I'm fine with that. My fighting style isn't all that suited to one-on-one combat, I fight more in a semi-support capacity, so I'm the logical choice anyway," Spoke up Jin with a shrug.

That's true, he mostly fought at mid- to long-range against the Archdemon Zeifas.

"Alright, then. I'll also have a Healer and Enchanter on standby, to ensure that the later fights don't lack or drop in intensity.

As for the match-ups, I can draft them up myself and reveal it tomorrow, or you can discuss it amongst yourselves and decide on who wants to fight who," Suggested Charlotte in response.

"I say we go with the latter...having it be a surprise does sound fun, but picking our opponents ourselves sounds a bit more appealing to me," Responded Jaden, after taking a moment to mull it over, before adding as he glanced at Aria and I, "For starters, I'd like to fight you guys again, one-on-one. You cool with that?"

"Sure, I'm game," I nodded in response.

"Yeah, same here, I wanna see for myself if I've got what it takes to defeat you by myself," Smiled Aria, cracking her knuckles.

"As for my third opponent, hmm...damn, it's so hard to pick! I really wish I could fight all of you...but since I can't, I choose you, Aarav," Decided Jaden, as he glanced around with a conflicted look on his face.

"Heh, gotta catch 'em all...hope at least some of you got that reference," He chuckled in response.

Yeah, I did, doesn't look like anyone else has, though...that's kinda sad.

"Uh, okay, can I take that as a yes?" Responded Jaden in bemusement.

"Si."

"I'd like to fight you too, if that's okay," I chimed in.

"Wow, I'm so popular, looks like everyone wants a piece of me," Aarav grinned as he let out a light-hearted laugh.

Hm...does he speak exclusively in jokes?

I haven't yet heard a serious response from him to anyone.

Well, whatever, let's just decide on the rest of the match-ups, I'd like to go home and rest up before tomorrow.

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