Heirden rushed forward while covering his entire body with rock. Anna wasn't afraid of him and made the same move.
When they were about to reach each other, Anna waved her blade, using the lightning to drastically increase his speed.
Heirden instinctively realized that this swing was more dangerous than the one he had seen before. He hurriedly raised his right hand, catching the blade.
The energy around Anna's sword burst, stopping him from closing his palm to grab her sword.
Since it was useless, Heirden changed his tactics by stomping the ground.
"!!!" Anna suddenly felt her body become light. It turned out Heirden stomped the ground to turn it into a crater. He used that split second where her body wasn't on the ground to punch her.
Heirden had even used his rock to attach himself to the floor, allowing him to move his body freely.
Anna clicked her tongue and created a bolt of lightning on the side, trying to blast the stone fist. To everyone's surprise, the lightning suddenly burst out, launching Anna with its shock wave.
"What?" Heirden was surprised and turned around, finding Anna at the edge of the arena. 'Did she use her own lightning to propel herself? She's judged that my attack hurts more than her power…'
He had seen a lot of insane people, but he never thought that Anna would rather injure herself instead of allowing his attack to land on her body. As a result, Anna escaped with only a minor bruise.
Heirden didn't plan to let Anna control the pace of the battle. He placed his hands on the ground as the floor and the wall formed a whip that caught Anna's wrists and ankles.
Still, Heirden didn't know anything about Anna's Spirit Link. Her instinct warned her about the incoming danger, including these rocks.
She skillfully jumped forth, avoiding Heirden's attack. After that, she used the angle of the crater to jump toward Heirden.
The moment he saw Anna's sword was sheathed again, he immediately formed multiple walls between himself and Anna, thinking, 'That attack is coming.'
He didn't deny the fact that Anna's sword strike was so strong that he would die if he wasn't careful.
However, this was what Anna wanted from the start.
The moment the walls blocked Heirden's vision, Anna covered her entire body with lightning.
After that, she rotated her body and ended up kicking the wall.
Old Ru had taught her how to control her Spiritual Energy. She used that lesson to concentrate the Spiritual Energy on her shoe.
The wall couldn't stand a chance against Anna's concentrated energy. This was even stronger than the cut because she could concentrate everything on a single point instead of making a big slash.
"What?!" Heirden was surprised when he felt his walls were getting destroyed. Her movement was like a spear that could penetrate all armor and shields.
However, she wasn't the only one who was shocked by it. Even Anna's father couldn't help but gasp, thinking, 'Since when can my daughter concentrate that amount of energy into a single point?'
Josephine frowned, having a different thought. 'Her control over Spiritual Energy is so exquisite. I haven't taught her anything like that. Yet…'
The Fire Arbiter frowned. He had a similar ability to Anna, but there was a big difference. He muttered, 'Her Spiritual Energy is completely empty all over her body. Normally, it's impossible to do that as the body leaks Spiritual Energy. But she actually manages to control that leaking energy and gather them in a single point.'
The Sword Arbiter smirked, feeling challenged. 'It seems that Heirden will have a hard time. No, I could say that the chance of him winning has decreased to fifty percent. He should feel lucky that Anna Stargaze is forbidden to use the True Spirit Body, or he would have no chance of winning.'
Just like the four Arbiters, the Marshall could see through Anna's profound skill.
"This is…"
"Is there something wrong?" The king asked.
"Her control even puts me to shame. No, should I say that her control is extremely unique?"
"Is it that amazing?" The king didn't know because he wasn't a Spirit Grandmaster.
"Amazing is an understatement." The Marshall shook his head helplessly. "There are two known methods of controlling Spiritual Energy: the soft approach and the hard approach. The former is focused on the flow of Spiritual Energy, allowing the user to fully direct the Spiritual Energy."
"But our body is naturally releasing that much energy to the point that it's impossible for Soft Control to direct everything into a single point. Yet, she is able to do it. It looks like she is directing the Spiritual Energy before the body even releases it. I can't completely explain it, but you can think of her entire body as a bridge that can change direction depending on her needs."
"More importantly, that strength also contains the explosive power from the Hard Approach. By directing all the leaking Spiritual Energy, she can use the original Spiritual Energy to cover her foot. In other words, all those leaking Spiritual Energy can be stored in her foot and shot again and again."
The king looked at the amazement on his Marshall's face. He never thought that a Spirit Transcendence like him would praise Anna that highly.
It seemed that he had to re-evaluate Anna.
Not long ago, he had been trying to force Anna to marry the crown prince for the stability of the kingdom. Sadly, she managed to defeat all his plans.
Hence, he was considering another approach. Instead of forcing her, it appeared that befriending her would give a lot of benefits, including that profound control. The closer they were, the more Anna would let her guard down. And when the time was ripe, he would make Anna submit completely.
But this also reminded him of the Supreme Devil Organization. It would be bad if the Supreme Devil Organization chose to capture Anna.
He said, "After this battle is over, go to Alexander and tell him that I accept his condition. I will exile Noel Ardagan, but in exchange, the Supreme Devil Organization is not allowed to do anything to Anna Stargaze."
The Marshall's expression turned serious, understanding what that decision meant. He bowed to him. "I understand."
…
The battle continued. Once Anna showed her superb control, the battle started to shift in her favor.
Heirden tried to stop her by multiple walls, even from the sides, to stop her momentum. But Anna simply increased her speed and slipped past them.
Ultimately, Heirden was forced to use those four dragon heads again, even though it required a lot of Spiritual Energy.
While Anna could destroy them with her kick alone, the dragon's size made it hard for her to do that. Once she got swallowed, the rock would lock her up, so she changed her strategy back to her sword.
After learning about Anna's capability, Heirden controlled the heads carefully, aware that one wrong move would give Anna the opportunity to cut them down.
He tried to surround Anna and retreat when Anna was about to sheathe her sword.
Anna could feel the threat appearing and disappearing all the time due to the change in Heirden's intention. Even then, Anna couldn't cut them down easily.
'As expected of an Arbiter, he is strong. In the past, I challenged the Fire Arbiter instead of him. But it's clear that he is stronger than the Fire Arbiter. No, should I say that his strength is around ranked 6th to 8th among all Arbiters?' Anna examined the situation.
She had understood the strength of Arbiters since her previous life. There were only twelve of them, but each of them was so strong that they became the pillars of this kingdom, preventing the Demon Banner Army and the Tower Association from taking control of the kingdom's matters.
'I can't use my True Spirit Body and Runes at the moment. But he is not someone I can defeat without putting everything on the line.' Anna took a deep breath before making her decision. 'It seems that I have to reveal this sooner than expected.'
Anna suddenly stopped moving for a second and even closed her eyes.
Heirden was confused, but he didn't let this chance go. The four dragons tried to distract her.
But before they managed to reach her, Anna had opened her eyes again. Her purple eyes had turned light blue like that of lightning.
Her blond hair started sparking as a portion of it turned white.
She opened her mouth as lightning even sparked between her lips. She was transforming her body into lightning.
'Oi, Berserker. Are you ready?' Anna said inwardly.
It seemed that her spirit also responded to her. There was only one fit reply to their relationship. 'Don't cry if your body can't handle my power.'
'Heh…' Anna smirked as she stepped forth. A burst of lightning scattered in all directions, cracking the heads from its sheer pressure alone.
There was one thing that Anna had prepared before this battle. After returning from her trip to Old Ru, Anna and Noel had made an agreement with the former Royal Alchemist and received a pill that could forcefully awaken their spirit.
Noel didn't eat the pill right away for an unknown reason, but she ingested the pill, allowing the Spirit Link to further develop.
She used that Spirit Link to become a true host of the Spirit, allowing her spirit's true power to flow in her veins, which caused her body to partly become lightning.
"Awakening on." Anna stomped the ground before jumping forward with a speed far surpassing anything she had shown so far. The shock wave mixed with her lightning and shattered the dragon heads as Anna made her way to Heirden.
