Bang!
A powerful lightning beam struck the earth, shattering it completely and spreading a wave of destruction in all directions.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Several more lightning beams pierced out at incredible speeds as they shot towards a girl that darted back and forth, narrowly dodging each beam. However, the girl's movements seemed to be perfect, as if no movement was wasted at all in dodging the attacks.
All those nearby who were watching the battle take place had no idea how the girl was so perfect with her movements, but each attack was dodged with absolute precision.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Lightning beams continued to crash down on the girl's location, who continued to flawlessly dodge each and every single one. The land behind her shattered from the continuous attacks, and the valley that the battle was taking place in changed from a lush oasis to a grave of fiery destruction. Even the river that had meandered through the valley had been vaporized, leaving only a parched riverbed as evidence of its existence.
High above on the mountains surrounding the valley, hundreds of branch disciples watched the battle take place. More arrived by the second, and each seemed to have forgotten about the trial, as they all turned their attention to the battle below.
"What's going on?" a newcomer asked as they arrived next to a group of disciples they recognized from their own sect.
"That boy Aaron is fighting against Iris," one girl in the group replied to the newcomer.
"Iris is fighting? How is she doing?" the youth asked as he sat down next to his group of friends and watched the battle below.
"As you would expect," the girl replied. "That Aaron is freakishly strong, and his reputation as the strongest in this year's class is not unwarranted, but Iris is doing her usual thing of playing with her opponent."
A wry smile appeared on the newcomer's face as he watched the girl below battle against Aaron.
"Aaron is more likely to die from frustration of fighting against Iris than he is from her directly," he replied, and received several head nods of confirmation from the other youths in the group.
This group was part of the same branch sect that the girl fighting Aaron came from and knew the special abilities Iris had. Fighting against her was more of a headache than anything, as no attack ever seemed to be able to land on her. She darted back and forth in the battle, smiling the entire time as if she was having a fun time playing with a friend instead of a battle against an incredibly powerful opponent that could decide her future.
In fact, small fits of laughter could be heard from her as she danced around the battlefield at incredible speeds, her actions further shocking the disciples unfamiliar with her.
"She can laugh like this when fighting Aaron? Just who is this girl?" a youth from another group asked his nearby friends, who were all from the same sect as Aaron.
"No idea, but she's freakishly strong for being able to treat Aaron like this. Although Aaron hasn't gone all out, it's like she's just playing with him at the moment," another youth replied.
"I wonder how long until Aaron snaps and unleashes his domain?" one of the disciples in the group asked.
"We're out of the range of his domain if he were to use it, right?" another disciple asked with concern in their voice. Those in the group fell into a deep contemplation before they all stood up and retreated further up the mountain, making sure they wouldn't be caught up in the next attacks to come.
"Stop dodging and fight back!" an angered shout boomed out from Aaron as he unleashed another attack at the girl.
As expected, the girl's body twisted at the perfect angle with the perfect timing, narrowly dodging the attack. Her light laughter rang out across the valley upon dodging the attack, further enraging Aaron.
"Why would I?" the girl replied with a mischievous tone. "Watching you bursting at the seams from anger is far more fun than battling you directly," she continued as she dodged yet another attack.
"Besides, I'm not the main character of this battle. I'm waiting for someone else to arrive," she said to Aaron.
Her words confused both Aaron and the rest of the youths in the area watching the battle, as no one else could think of anyone in the entrance exam who was strong enough to fight against the two of them.
Even the strongest disciples of the three other branch sects knew they were weaker, as their cultivations were only at the Middle Meridian Forging Realm. As such, they regrettably stood aside, and even ran away when they fell into the sights of Aaron or Iris.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Aaron replied angrily. "Just give me your badges, or I'll make sure all you feel is pain and regret after today."
"Hahaha, make me!" Iris' laughter echoed throughout the valley as she continued to dodge around with calm nonchalance, as if she were playing around instead of fighting.
Aaron's anger rose to an almost uncontrollable level, as he felt his urge to kill the girl before him rise. Iris's face lit up with a mocking smile as she pointed at Aaron and laughed with her other hand covering her mouth.
"Heheh, your face is so red you look like a steamed apple. You should really chill out," her laughing voice sounded out, further angering Aaron.
"That's it! Die!"
Aaron suddenly exploded out with uncontained rage as his power began to rise to incredible levels. Clearly, he was about to unleash an ultimate attack, and all the nearby disciples quickly began to flee further up the mountainsides above the valley below where the battle was taking place.
Even Iris stopped dashing about for a moment to stare at Aaron, surprised he was so easy to anger. Her gaze suddenly shifted to the side as if she had spotted something, and a small smile crept up onto her face.
"I finally get to see if my visions were correct," Iris mumbled to herself as she watched something fast approach the area.
Aaron noticed her gaze shift from him, and thought she was mocking him even further by not paying attention to him. His anger rose once again, and he prepared to unleash his attack on her.
Boom!
A powerful force suddenly slammed into the valley near where Aaron was standing, which shook the land and upheaved the nearby earth. All eyes fell on the area of shattered earth, as no one expected anyone else to interfere with this battle.
Aaron stopped his attack at the last moment, as he too turned to look at the area that had been upheaved. The dust slowly faded away as a lone youth walked out of the freshly formed crater and became visible for all to see.
John's eyes swept over the area he had arrived in, which had been completely destroyed. He quickly spotted the two he had been looking for, which were the two Late Meridian Forging youths he had seen before the start of the trial. One was the blonde-haired blue-eyed girl, who was staring at John with an odd expression, while the other was the boy named Aaron. A small smile crept up on his face as he spotted both, and the large bags of identification badges tied to their waists.
"You both fattened up quite nicely for me," his words echoed out for all to hear. "Now if you'll both hand me those bags of identification badges, it'll save both of you the trouble of being beaten into a bloody mess."
