As Aria regained her bearings, she raised her arms up, a massive sphere of Negative Energy and crimson flames swirling above her, the sphere expanding and pulsing as she concentrated the energy, before hurling it down towards me with a rapid downward swing of her arms.

"<Return>," I chanted, channeling Mana into my left hand as the massive sphere barreled down towards me, compressing the Mana intensely.

I caught Desecrator with my right hand before whipping my left arm up and releasing the charged up Mana, unleashing a rapid, pressurized Negative Energy slash, slicing right through the middle of the sphere and splitting it in half.

The two halves of the sphere erupted with immense force in mid-air, a couple of intense shockwaves bursting out, dust rising up all around within the barrier, before I spread out my wings and shot straight up towards Aria, the two of us unleashing a barrage of Negative Energy blasts at each other.

Most of our projectiles canceled out as they collided against each other, I weaved through the air to evade the few that slipped through as loud crashes rang out, some of Aria's attacks grazing me, before I put on a sharp burst of speed with pressurized jets of Negative Energy from my feet, blasting myself up towards her.

She raised her right hand as I drove my blade towards her chest, colliding against her palm as her right gauntlet kept the blade from piercing through, my arm getting jarred painfully as an intense burst of heat erupted out upon impact, the force traveling through the blade and along my forearm, before she swung her left fist down towards me as I rapidly chanted to manifest Void.

Her fist came to an abrupt halt before she quickly blasted my stomach with a burst of Negative Energy from her foot, flapping her wings rapidly to resist the pulling force of the black hole.

As her blast slammed onto my stomach and sent me hurtling down through the air, I sharply spread out my wings to bring myself to an abrupt halt, creating a thorny whip of Negative Energy and swinging up towards her rapidly, while simultaneously firing out a swirling blast of Negative Energy at her from my mouth.

She quickly canceled out the blast shooting straight up towards her with a blast of her own, before raising her right arm up as the spiked, shadowy whip closed in on her.

It struck her gauntlet and wrapped around it, just barely staying intact as a fiery burst erupted around her forearm, before I channeled Mana through the whip to reinforce it before sharply yanking on it as I jerked my arm back, pulling her off-balance.

She unleashed a Negative Energy slash to slice through the whip, before zipping down towards me, propelling herself with a powerful Negative Energy burst.

I zipped away, triggering an intense burst of Negative Energy around myself as she closed in, knocking her off-balance before firing out a rapid, pressurized Negative Energy blast towards her, hitting the middle of her torso and sending her flying back, a fiery burst erupting out and dissipating my Negative Energy, before she spread out his wings to bring herself to a halt.

She let out a slow exhale as she floated back down, her feet thudding against the ground as she drew back her right fist, flames erupting around it and swirling, before concentrating in a sharp, narrow shape.

I cracked my neck, swinging my blade across before sprinting forward as she shot towards me.

I leapt ahead as we began to close in on each other, launching myself forward with a pressurized burst of Negative Energy from behind me, closing the gap between us.

She drove her right arm towards the left side of my chest as I simultaneously unfurled a rapid thrust of my blade towards the middle of her forehead, time seeming to move in slow motion in that instant.

It's all come down to who's faster, the outcome of this bout hinges on which of our attacks would connect first, with neither of us in a position to evade.

I felt a stifling heat stinging my skin as the glimmer of my blade reflected off her forehead, both our attacks an instant away from connecting-...suddenly, I found myself outside the barrier, as a roar of flames rang out from inside the space.

I turned my gaze that way, to see a deep, scorched patch across the dirt in front of Aria, the flames around her arm dissipating before she reverted back to her normal state, the barrier fading as she took a deep breath to relax, her body easing up as she stretched her arms out and walked over.

Ai.

<Yes, I know>

<Deactivating Enrage now>

.

.

.

.

.

<It's done>

Nice, it worked, I'm back to normal!

Way to go, Ai!

<You're welcome>

Ai figured out a way to adjust the programming in the Sinner System, allowing me to deactivate the power boosts from Enrage and Arouse without having to wait for the time limits to run out.

I also asked her if she could increase my time limits and reduce my cooldowns, but no luck there, those apparently can't be changed.

"Damn, that was awesome! I could barely keep up with most of it, you guys are so fast and powerful!" Exclaimed Brid, a look of awe on his face as he bounded over.

"That was really close, Kai, I thought it was going to be a draw, but I guess my attack reached you a fraction of second faster," Grinned Aria triumphantly.

"Yeah, that was just about as close as it could get. Well, so much for my winning streak," I replied with a wry smile, before giving her a fist bump.

"Heh, it's no big deal, it had to be broken sooner or later, after all," She responded smugly.

"Man, I knew you guys were super strong after watching the X-Ace Clash, but seeing you in action in person is completely different. That really got my blood pumping, I wanna go again!" He grinned, before turning his gaze towards Acedia, who tensed and looked away.

"Sure, why not? Let's have you spar once more, and then let's head back to the Guild and see how the others are doing," I nodded thoughtfully.

"<Do I have to, my Lord>?" Sighed Acedia apprehensively.

"Come on, you can handle one more fight."

"<Very well...may I go back to sleep within you after that>?"

"Yeah, sure, that's fine."

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