(Brendan POV)
I ducked under her punch out of pure instinct, honed from my multiple sparring sessions with Master where I always got my ass handed to me. I rolled away from her to create distance between us, getting myself up into a kneeling position.
I smashed my fist onto the ground, creating a wave of water that rolled towards her.
She flipped herself into the air to avoid it, granting me time to uncork the vial I had been holding and down its contents.
She landed back on her feet before disappearing from my sight again.
I felt the brush of air hitting my left cheek and I immediately threw up my left arm in defence, stopping her elbow strike dead in its tracks.
She looked surprised that I managed to block her strike with just my arm but managed to recover swiftly by throwing a jab towards my side.
I winced at the impact, but if she was expecting any other reaction out of me, she'll be quite disappointed.
My own fist soared through the air in an attempted haymaker. Of course, she saw the attack coming from a mile away and backed off, no way an amateur like me could land a blow on her like that.
But because she had been caught off guard by my strong defense, she became wary of me and leapt back from me to create distance, which was exactly what I wanted her to do.
I took out two vials and a pill from my storage ring, the pill being hidden in my fist with the necks of the vials pinched between my fingers.
She frowned at the sight of the vials, most likely already coming to the conclusion that my unexpected increase in defense was due to the potion I drank a few moments earlier.
Heh, that's what she gets for looking down on alchemy. What I drank just now was Dragonskin tonic, granting my skin the durability rivaling a dragon's scales. But the fact that it still hurt when she punched me showed what insane strength she had even without her enhancement Techniques.
I'm sure any normal person would have their insides ruptured should they get hit by her.
At least I know she isn't pulling her punches, so no reason for me to hold back either.
I bent my knees slightly with the vials held behind me and gestured for her to come at me, my taunt causing her to encase her fists in flames before she disappeared from my view again.
It was only due to the multiple training sessions with Master that I could just barely sense her moving behind me, her fist descending towards the top of my head.
I clenched my fist harder, shattering the two vials to mix the two liquid contents in the air while I leapt away from it.
Her fist came in contact with the liquid, triggering an explosion of ice that froze her entire arm in it. What's more, the ice was connected to the ground as well, effectively freezing her in place.
She immediately tried to shatter the ice by punching it but she failed to even scratch it after several strikes.
While she was busy with that, I tossed the pill that was in my hand into my mouth, swallowing it quickly and using my Quarks to circulate the pill quickly.
I felt my body heating up to an uncomfortable degree, almost like I was thrust into the middle of a volcano.
Working fast before my body instantaneously combusts, I directed the heat towards my right index finger and pointed it directly at her.
Bright blue flames burst forth from my fingertips to engulf her completely, burning up everything that the flames touched.
I kept the fire going until the heat was completely expelled from my body, the grass on Master's courtyard burnt completely black before being slowly rejuvenated by Master's protection inscription.
Standing in the middle of the charred patch of earth was Liehui whose clothes were slightly singed at the edges but otherwise unharmed, though her arm was still frozen in the ice.
Well, I knew something like that wouldn't be enough to bring her down anyway, thus I brought out another three vials from within my storage ring.
She growled at the arm that was still frozen in ice, punching it with her free hand a few more times to break it only to be unsuccessful. Though the part connecting to the ground had melted, the rest that was still attached to her arm hadn't, most likely protected by whatever she used to defend against my fire.
"What is this?"
I grinned, "Potion of Hellfire mixed with Potion of Frost Maiden's Tears. Anything that touches it will be frozen with an unbreakable ice."
"And yet your fire melted it."
"Hmm… I thought you weren't interested in alchemy?" I smirked.
She returned my smirk with one of her own, "Interesting… I might need to revise my opinion on that. Don't suppose you have more surprises up your sleeves?"
I tossed one of the vials to my other hand, "You're free to come and find out."
She hefted her arm that was still encased in ice before leaping at me, using the ice as both a hammer and a shield to charge me.
I tossed the vial I was holding at her, Liehui predictably using the ice as her shield to block it since she could not evade easily with that extra weight on her.
The vial broke against the ice, splashing its contents on its surface.
She was going to take another step forward but the hand that was encased in ice suddenly smashed itself into the ground, stopping Liehui in her tracks.
Taking that opportunity, I tossed one of my other prepared vials at her, expecting to catch her on the back.
Instead, her free hand had flashed out at the last second and caught my vial without breaking it, tossing the vial straight back at me.
Instinct took over and I raised my free arm to block it, causing the vial to smash itself on my outstretched appendage and soaking it in its contents.
I cursed under my breath as my arm became fifty times heavier, forcing me to drop to my knees with my affected arm on the ground.
There was a low rumbling sound as Liehui lifted her frozen arm off the ground to continue her march towards me, the thing weighing at least a few tons in that state.
Without any other choice, I uncorked my last potion with my mouth before pouring the contents of it into my mouth.
Liehui leapt the last few metres towards me, not allowing me to fully consume the potion.
Unfortunately for her, that was exactly what I wanted her to do.
I faced her and spat out the potion, drenching her in its contents and startling her to a stop.
I summoned another vial into my free hand and tossed it on the ground in front of her, this one containing a gas instead of a liquid.
The gas cloud quickly engulfed her, turning parts of her that were drenched into stone which included the rest of her limbs.
Still in my kneeling state, I summoned a spear of water and shot it to her unprotected torso, piercing through where her heart was.
There was the sound of a bell ringing before everything within the courtyard was reverted back to normal again, the two of us standing a distance away from each other.
"It's my loss," She admitted easily, her head bowed and hands cupped together. "I thank Master Brendan for the guidance. If I may ask, how did you become so strong?"
I scratched my cheek in embarrassment, "Well, it's all because of my own Master's guidance. I'll have you know I've yet to land a strike on Him once and Master was fighting on my own terms too."
She nodded as though that was the most obvious answer, "I understand, please continue to guide me in the future, Master Brendan."
Would you look at that? A complete change in attitude. I guess her kind basically only shows respect for the strong. Maybe I might have an easier time with her now?
"In return, allow me to train you physically as well, Master Brendan. I shall assist Master Lin in training your body into shape so that you won't embarrass him with that piss poor close combat of yours."
Or maybe not...
