Nova hovered in the air, with a golden-red sun behind her, radiating a golden aura. She grasped her spear with both hands, pointed it at Mira, and said, "I'll let you have the first attack."
Mira frowned since she felt like Nova was looking down on her, but she understood. Nova was more skilled than her.
"Then I won't stand on ceremony," Mira said while lowering her stance.
She channeled Qi into her scythe, gathering Yin Fire around the blade, something she hadn't used for the duration of this fight.
Seeing the pale blue fire, Nova raised an eyebrow as she felt something different about that flame.
Although it looked like a fire, Nova, who has a unique physique that gives her a much higher fire affinity, can tell that it isn't actually a flame.
'What is that? I was sure this girl, no, Mira's main affinity was ice. Since when was she able to use such a strong flame?' Nova wondered and became more alert.
Knowing she had gotten Nova's full attention, Mira smirked and asked, "Have you heard the saying, fight fire with fire?"
However, before Nova could say anything, Mira's eyes glowed, and she shot forward!
Nova narrowed her eyes as, for some reason, Mira felt stronger. She readied her spear and blocked Mira's attack.
*Clank!*
She blocked Mira's scythe, but her expression gradually morphed into a grimace. She glanced at the area Mira's scythe hit, and her frown deepened when she noticed there was a chink in the fiery golden aura around her spear.
It almost seemed like those pale blue flames were eating away at her Heavenly Sunfire!
'What? How is that possible? What kind of fire is she using?' She pondered, thinking of all the different fire physiques or natural fires born from Heaven and Earth, but she couldn't think of any that had the same properties as Mira's.
'Whatever! I'll figure it out during the fight!'
Mira didn't back away after that first attack and continued her onslaught of scythe attacks.
Nova bounced around in the air, effortlessly deflecting them, but then Mira began using her Paragon Wings to attack.
Seeing how her Yin Flames were at least somewhat effective against Nova, she coated the outside of her feathers with them.
Mira nodded with a faint smile, noticing her feathers not melting as quickly.
Then, she dove into Nova again, and right before they clashed, Mira flexed her muscles as much as possible and drove her scythe into Nova's spear!
Not expecting the sudden burst in strength, Nova lost control of her spear for a second.
'Now!' Mira inwardly yelled and commanded dozens of feathers to attack Nova from both sides.
Disbelief appeared on Nova's face, 'What the hell is up with that insane physical strength?! Was she hiding that all this time?' She shook her head and returned her attention back to the fight.
Seeing the dozens of flaming ice feathers coming her way, she lifted a hand, and out of the golden sun came dozens of coin-sized spheres.
There were exactly as many spheres as there were feathers, and when the two collided,
*TSSSSS*
They just canceled each other out.
Mira's expression became complicated. She wasn't sure whether she should be happy that she had made some progress or annoyed that no matter what she did, she couldn't touch Nova.
'I'll just be happy that I'm making some progress,' She just shrugged and shot back at Nova, ensuring she didn't regain the momentum in the fight.
'I guess it's time to show off one of my tails.' Mira smirked but also felt a little reluctant.
Most of her tails are only useful as trump cards, and since this was only a spar, there was no need to fight to the death.
However, not using everything available to her and inevitably losing didn't sit well with her.
'Nova seems to like fighting up close, so I'll just use my golden tail. If I can see a way for me to win the spar, I'll use more tails if needed, but there's no need to show everything.'
When Mira got close, she swung her scythe with all her force, just like before.
*Clank!*
Nova remained steady after blocking Mira's attack, but she didn't expect a golden tail to whip around Mira's body and smash into her hip!
*Crack!*
"Ugh…!" Nova grunted in pain as she felt her insides rattle from that hit, and the golden aura radiating around her cracked.
'What the fuck?! What is that tail made of?! Metal?!?!' She glanced at the golden tail, which looked soft and fluffy on the outside, yet was as actually as hard as a steel rod!
She looked at the other and couldn't help but wonder, 'Are they also like that? Because if that's the case, I'll have to keep my distance.'
Mira was already powerful at her core, without using any techniques or abilities, and her close combat skills were terrific. If it were a fight based purely on one's physical ability and weapon skills, Mira might actually be able to eke out a win.
But if Nova had to deal with nine other limbs, each just as powerful as the last…
Nova frowned, understanding it would be a hard battle.
Just from that last hit, she felt her insides tremble! If she took hits like that repeatedly, her entire body might end up broken!
Then, she heard a chuckle come from Mira.
"It seems you weren't expecting that."
Nova shook her head with a smile, "I certainly wasn't. Who knew those tails, which look so soft, could actually be so dangerous?"
"To be honest, I wasn't expecting you to be able to get a good hit on me during this entire spar. You have surpassed my expectations, but I have a feeling that's all you have," Nova glanced at her other tails and corrected herself, "Or at least that's all you're willing to show."
Mira shrugged, neither confirming nor denying her statement, but it was clear to Nova that Mira had reached her limit and had shown everything she wanted to show.
'It's a shame to end this fight so early, but,' Nova sighed and inwardly shrugged, 'I guess there's no helping it. Mira's shown off enough to prove that she is indeed talented enough to qualify for the Prime Disciple position. Now, it's time to show her the bare minimum amount of power she'll need to reach.'
Nova made some distance between Mira and stared at her, feeling somewhat regretful they couldn't continue their fight.
"How about we end this battle with one more attack? You use your most powerful attack, and I'll use mine," Then Nova added, "Don't worry, I'll still limit my strength to your cultivation."
Mira pondered for a moment before nodding, "Alright, I agree."
Hearing Mira agree, Nova smirked and said, "Earlier, you said you wanted me to show you the power of one of the Sect's top disciples, right? Well, it's time for me to show you the level of power you'll need to reach if you want to even think about standing a chance against those Central Continent freaks."
Mira shuddered in anticipation and couldn't wait to see how powerful this Continent's top talents were!
Suddenly, Mira's aura spiked!
*Vwoosh!*
She pumped every last bit of Qi, along with all her elements, into her Paragon Wings. Then, an almost transparent black aura, Scythe Intent, shot out of her scythe and surrounded each feather.
*Shing!*
Finally, a Martial Intent burst forth from her body, increasing her bodily strength and control by a large margin.
But that wasn't the end! She controlled all the feathers and made them gather around her Scythe, creating a super-sized version!
This was just something Mira came up with on the spot, as she wanted to make full use of all the power within her body.
'Later, I'll have to think of a technique that can combine all my forces into one attack.' Mira noted in her mind but turned her attention to Nova, who was staring at Mira with a solemn expression. She could tell at a glance that whatever Mira had planned was powerful enough to threaten her.
Though, it could only threaten her when she suppressed her strength like this. If she unleashed her Soul Transformation Realm cultivation, dealing with Mira's next attack wouldn't be a big deal.
Seeing how Mira had finished her 'power up', Nova pointed her hand up in the air, and the golden sun behind her followed until it was above Mira, then she looked at the latter.
"Are you ready?"
When Mira nodded, Nova dropped her hand and said, "Sunfire Starfall!"
Elder Irene and Sect Master Aelina jumped out of their seats!
"This crazy disciple! How could you use that against a newbie?!" Elder Irene cursed and prepared to save Mira whenever she was in danger.
Immediately after Nova's words resounded throughout the building, the golden sun began dropping countless mini stars onto Mira!
However, Mira didn't pay any attention to them and just shot straight at Nova with her mega scythe raised.
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
Countless little stars crashed onto Mira's body, taking out small chunks of flesh, but Mira ignored all that and continued charging at Nova!
When she reached the auburn-haired woman, she flexed all her muscles.
'Not enough!'
Withdrawing every bit of willpower in her body, she tensed her muscles past their limit, bursting blood vessels and even cracking her bones. Once she felt like she had accumulated enough potential energy,
'Now!'
She swung her massive scythe, which overshadowed Nova as if she wanted to erase her existence.
Unfortunately, just as she was about to reach Nova, the latter muttered, "Heavenly Sunfire Descension."
The giant sun in the air reacted to her words and fell from the sky, descending onto Mira!
…
…
…
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
