"Aunt, I feel that I might not be able to show you my potential when sparring against a senior like you. How about I spar with Mira instead?" Damien said as looked at Mira with a subtle smile, making her crease her forehead.
"Are you ma—serious? Don't tell me you don't yet understand how strong I am?" Mira said as she let out a subtle scoff.
"No…Damien is right. Maybe, it's best that I am a spectator. The cultivation difference doesn't matter since I will suppress Mira's cultivation to yours to make it a fair spar. Mira, come here," Akira ordered as Mira obediently walked towards the center.
She didn't expect such an outcome, but she wasn't worried since even if her cultivation was the same as his, there was no way someone who had never survived in a brutal world could take her down.
But she grimaced slightly when she felt her nethereal energy being suppressed by Akira's nethereal aura. She was surprised by how weak she felt, and this only made her more confident since she knew her Master suppressed her cultivation to Damien's level.
"Her effective strength is now at the third level of the Heaven Ethereal Realm. And Mira, you are not allowed to use your domain or nethereal manifestation," Akira instructed just to make sure.
Mira smiled and said, "Master, you can lower my cultivation to the first level of the Heaven Ethereal Realm, and I can still handle him."
Damien crossed his arms and said, "Are you sure? What if you regret it?"
Mira felt as if this guy was purposefully trying to mess with her and coldly smirked, "Do you wish to bet then?"
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Damien shrugged, "Why not?"
Mira's eyes glinted with a certain excitement for falling into her trap so easily, "Good. Then if I win, you will have to do something as per my wishes. No compromises."
Damien smiled with a narrowed gaze, "Same goes if I win. Do you agree?"
Mira hesitated for a brief second, but then she wondered why she was even hesitating when this spar would be no different than fighting a weak halfling, "Fine! I can't wait to finish this."
Akira was continuously turning her head between these two, not expecting a simple spar to suddenly escalate like this. But she didn't mind some rivalry. Maybe this could be the chance for them to learn more about each other and grow.
"You two can begin whenever ready," Saying so, Akira stood in a corner while her aura was continuously suppressing Mira's cultivation.
She then added, "Remember, you two can only use your ethereal or nethereal arts. It wouldn't make sense to employ body strength."
Damien knew his aunt was right. Even if Mira's nethereal strength was suppressed, her body was still as strong as someone who crossed the middle levels of the Noble Nethereal Realm. There was no way he could beat that right now.
Mira's hands suddenly blazed with scorching dark blue flames, while Damien's hands had streaks of bright purple lightning streaks dancing around them.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"Ethereal energy? At least put up some challenge for me," Mira said with a scornful look.
Damien wanted to find out how strong he would be against a ghoul if he were to fight like a human, "Oh, I will," Damien said as he unleashed a burst of bright purple lightning onto Mira.
*Crackle!*
*Whoosh!*
Mira casually raised one of her hands as dark blue flames surged forth like a vengeful volcano, stopping Damien's lightning before it could hit her.
Damien was already feeling weaker with just ethereal energy circulating around his body, but he wanted to first find out how effective his ethereal energy would be in this world.
The entire dark hall was lit up by the colors of their energies. Bright purple and dark blue flashed on the walls, but gradually the dark blue color became more dominant.
Damien's expression contorted upon seeing his burst of lightning streaks being pushed back by her dark blue flames. He felt like his own ethereal energy was making his body heavier and his circulation sluggish.
She wasn't even trying hard, and yet his purple lightning was getting weaker faster than he expected.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})He knew her flames were unique in the way they could burn up ethereal energy and extinguish them. Otherwise, it wouldn't be this easy. But what made him feel worried was that despite having her nethereal strength suppressed by two levels lesser than him, she was still able to suppress him easily. Then won't his wives be in more trouble since they were ethereal cultivators?
"Constantly worrying about your wives won't get you anywhere. You will only lose focus on building your strength. And did you forget that Lily's powers are a bane to ghouls?" Luna suddenly said after getting tired of seeing him always getting dispirited whenever he thought about his wives.
She knew he was someone who valued his wives more than getting stronger but she knew the only way he would feel motivated to get stronger was for this very same reason.
Damien realized that he always overlooked Lily's power over her Light seed. It could certainly ward off many of them.
"No wonder the humans lost…" Damien mumbled as he saw Mira's dark blue flames just a foot away from burning away his face.
"Still not accepting defeat? I am offering you a chance right now. You don't have to feel ashamed, considering this is only natural," Mira said sarcastically while thinking of all the things she could make Damien do because of the bet.
"This nethereal witch has no idea how ignorant she is," Luna said with a cold look of contempt.
Akira squinted her eyes as she saw Damien getting suppressed without any room for a comeback, though she wasn't surprised.
Damien heard Mira's mocking words, "You had your fun. Now it's my turn," As Damien said this, his bright purple lightning slowly began to turn into a dark shade…its aura also transforming into something bone-chilling that made Mira's eyes widen.
