Point-of-View: Ariella Velle

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The Demon Lord unleashed the golden energy in a rapid, barreling ray, shooting towards me with immense speed. I quickly zipped across to evade it, the attack missing me by a whisker as it tore across the ground before slamming onto the barrier wall behind me with a loud thud.

As violent ripples erupted across the barrier, the Demon Lord charged up another ray of golden energy, this one more intense and concentrated. I began to get out of the way, my eyes widening as she fired it, launching it towards me with a lot more speed than I’d anticipated.

"Let’s try this...[Immovable Object]!" I chanted, a dense wall of impenetrable wind erupting out in front of me, the golden ray colliding against it and coming to a halt, the energy petering out before long.

I lifted my gaze as the Demon Lord shot up into the air and unleashed a barrage of golden blasts down towards me, loud crashes ringing out as her attacks rained down on the ground, as I weaved across the space to evade them.

I generated another Wind Spear, charged with the fiery explosive effect of Blaze Ignition, before flinging it up towards her with a rapid spin.

She quickly veered across the air as the spear closed in on her, shooting past her right side, missing her by a whisker before colliding against the top of the barrier and erupting with immense force, a stifling shockwave of heat bursting out upon impact.

Time to switch things up...

I fired out a rapid volley of Negative Energy blasts towards her, the Demon Lord stiffening slightly in surprise before zipping across the air to evade them, a few of my projectiles grazing her as she narrowly avoided any direct hits.

She began unleashing those blasts of golden energy, intercepting and canceling out several of my Negative Energy blasts, a deafening cacophony of booms ringing out as our attacks collided against each other.

I sprang back as she fired out a rapid, slashing wave of golden energy, a deep cut appearing across the ground where I’d been standing as the attack slammed onto that spot, puffs of dust rising up upon impact.

"<Shouldn’t you switch to a Spirit Fusion with one of the Apostles who can fly, or maybe Descent>?" Suggested Superbia, as several more golden slashes came shooting down towards me.

Nah, it’s fine...I’ve got a plan, and besides, this is fun!

As I evaded another slash, I swiftly took aim and fired out a rapid, piercing beam of Negative Energy towards the Demon Lord.

She swerved across to her right to try and evade it, the beam grazing the left side of her mask and inflicting a cut across her left ear, trickles of blood running out before the wound promptly closed up.

Hm, based on the speed of how quickly that healed, her regeneration is about on par with the Super Regeneration Skill.

She’s definitely at a disadvantage here, but she’s pretty skilled, her movements are sharp and her reaction time and instincts are solid too.

As I generated another Wind Spear and hurled it up towards her, propelling it with a burst of Negative Energy, she winced as the spear sliced across her left side before she could fully evade it, blood streaming down her side as the spear shot past her and collided against the barrier.

She raised her arms up as the cut closed up, a massive sphere of golden energy forming above her, the energy swirling around violently as she compressed and intensified it.

She then launched it down towards me as she swung her arms down, the large sphere barreling down with immense speed.

I drew back my right fist and let out a slow exhale, flames erupting and swirling around my fist as I focused on the incoming sphere of golden energy, bending my knees as I prepared myself.

As the sphere closed in, I sprang up at full strength, leaping straight towards the sphere and chanting as I drove my right fist up...

"[Super Accel Flame Lance]!"

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Point-of-View: Demon Lord

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A devastating blast erupted as my sphere slammed down onto the ground with a bright flash of light, a crushing shockwave bursting out as the entire area rumbled violently, the energy swirling and expanding sharply, carving through the ground.

A thick cloud of dust rose up as the energy began to lose steam and fade away, the dust billowing out across the space within the barrier.

Whew, been a while since I unleashed such a powerful attack. Surely, that was enough to-...

Suddenly, I froze as a figure rapidly burst out of the dust and zipped up behind me, a chill running down the back of my neck as I quickly spun around, to see a fist swirling with flames barreling towards my face.

I quickly tilted my head across as her fist closed in, clipping the side of my mask, the crack she’d inflicted earlier deepening and spreading out sharply, before my eyes widened as she took aim at my chest with her tail, dark energy swirling around the tip.

"Gotcha," She grinned, firing the dark energy out in a piercing beam, too fast for me to react to at point-blank range.

In the blink of an eye, I suddenly found myself by the sidelines, teleported outside of the barrier. My Spirit Fusion deactivated as I ended up within the range of Gabriel’s Anti-Magic Field, letting out a quiet sigh.

Not only did she withstand one of my strongest attacks, she also used the ensuing dust cloud to her advantage.

She must have launched herself up with that dark energy, and with the dust keeping me from seeing her coming, I didn’t have enough time to react.

As I began to get back up, I stiffened as the cracks on my mask spread further, a few bits falling off, before the entire thing shattered to pieces, exposing my face.

Oh, come on, I really wanted to make a dramatic reveal! Damn it, all that build-up for nothing...

I sighed in disappointment, before a sheepish smile spread out across my face as I turned towards Kai and met his gaze, his eyes widening in disbelief...