Cooperative (Conti.)

I felt my Aura taking form in my thoughts even as it gathered before my eyes. The part that was visible, that glowed like a shaft of white light to the naked eye, was just a small part of it—most of the power I channeled into it spilt off in other ways, only visible to me because of my Clairvoyance. It was sloppy and wasteful—which really wasn't all that surprising from a first attempt, I suppose—but I peered through the shed energy and wasted power, glimpsing the core held within. The various forms of Clairvoyance came with different effects and benefits and this one, the basic ability to see Aura, gave bonuses to attempts to shape and work with the energy directly; presumably my abilities way of representing me being able to actually see what I was doing instead of grasping for it blindly.

And I saw. I started with something familiar, forming my Magic Missile, and then shrank it carefully into a more compact shape. I'd gotten the idea from Pyrrha's own weapon, but the leap from concept to practice was a tricky one. While I'd lengthened the energy within Magic Missile, I needed something different here and went a different direction. It was hard to describe what it was like to shape energy, but I compressed and folded the power, even if it may not have been obvious from the result, forming both an exterior matrix for the power to fill and an interior lattice of support. On its own, I knew it wouldn't remain in such a state for very long—I could literally see the energy seeping away, after all—but that's why I drew upon Crocea Mors help, matching the pattern of my sheathed blade with my own soul to reinforce the structures with the enduring stability of Metal.

A skill has been created through a special action! Continuous manipulation of mana has created the skill to form magical weapons, 'Vorpal Sword.'

I exhaled, allowing the somewhat misshaped creation to fade and crafted a new one as I took a breath. The result, as expected, was a much smoother length of pure white energy, if not precisely how I'd envisioned an energy sword—in the center of the wildly radiating energy around its length, it appeared more like a cylinder topped with a cone-like point then a flat plane, which didn't seem precisely optimal when it came to a blade. Nonetheless, I trusted my power not to lead me astray and promptly created a second one in my other hand. I'd never tried dual-wielding swords and there were many reasons why it wasn't a great choice in really life, but hell; I was a game character. If nothing else, I'd probably get a dual-wielding skill at some point, so there was no reason not to. I had MP to burn, after all.

Through it all, Pyrrha watched me closely, the barest hint of a furrow on her brow.

"I learn fast," I said, shrugging under her gaze before her words surprised me.

"You said you had good eyes, too," She mused. "What exactly is it that you see?"

"…Who knows?" I shrugged at last, giving her a flight smile. "Various things, I suppose."

She nodded once, seeming to accept that as…something, and lifted her weapon again.

"Shall we continue, then?" She asked.

I attacked her by way of reply, a slow, telegraphed move that she defended against with her sword even after moving her body out of the way, positioning it as a test we both wanted to see the results of. Her sword blocked the attack as if it were from any other blade, which was a bit pity. On the other hand, the blades themselves didn't shatter in the process or anything, which was nice. They seemed to function like normal blades, despite their appearance, though I'd need to read the profile later.

With that confirmed, we began in earnest. I swept my right sword in an arc, leaving a glowing flash through the space it traveled as I did. She came forward, shield pushing the blow aside even as she stabbed upwards with her sword, but I defended in turn by swiftly reversing my grip on the left blade by letting go of it and turning it around with a thought. Holding it backwards, it was close to the skin of my arm and I pushed her sword aside, evading the strike and the follow up when it turned back into a spear.

Even so, my senses cried out in warning and I was stepping back even as Pyrrha shifted her footing, drawing back her spear and thrusting it rapidly in a series of half a dozen strikes in a brief moment. I strode back a step, but it wasn't enough to fully counter the reach of her weapon so I took the hit and used its own force, assisted by Levant, to hurl myself out of the way of its fellows. Landing like a feather, I saw that she'd already shifted from spear to rifle and was aiming at me down the sights.

This time I returned in kind, extending the fingers of my left hand her way, releasing the nonexistent hilt of my new sword and leaving it to float by my forearm. We shot together and Pyrrha had to quickly leap to the side as the ground on which she'd been standing abruptly splintered under the force of my Cannonball. Her shots hit me in the chest, but with my defenses and Crocea Mors still hardening my armor I dismissed it as unimportant and remained focused on her as she rolled over her shield and to one knee, bringing up her rifle to rest the stock against one shoulder. She began firing in a steady, practiced rhythm that sent flashes of pain through me, but I raised a finger and returned fire with Magic Bullets. She immediately brought her shield up to cover almost the entirety of her body, rifle rested on the inward curving portion of the shield. Her body jerked slightly with each impact on the shield, but she didn't back down and she didn't stop shooting.

I switched to Cannonball again, trading ineffective penetration for impact to send her skidding back, releasing the sword in my right hand as well. With my blades hovering in easy reach but both hands free, I struck her again and again, my arms working steadily as if I were throwing the blasts at her—but credit where credit was do, Pyrrha took each blow with a jerk of her shield and little else, pumping bullets into me. I took the hits to my HP, letting them through my Aura now that I'd had time to figure out how, and let them chip away at it while I struck back. But even once Pyrrha had her back to a wall, she took the blows and pushed through them with her iron defense.

Pausing in my attack in annoyance, I healed myself and accepted that I wasn't simply hammering through that guard. I needed something else. Something bigger? Magic Missile might do the trick, but it was risky to use—partially because charging it would take a while, during which she'd probably take notice and either try to stop me or make it really hard to score a hit, but also because if it somehow did hit, I wasn't sure what would happen. I hadn't exactly designed it for use in friendly sparring matches or for upon opponents that I didn't want dead and it tended to punch through anything in its way. It wasn't so much a matter of its power, but…No, it too risky; I needed something different, new.

Or maybe…

Suryasta, I thought. You and I haven't had many opportunities to fight together. Do you want to have some fun now?

The Fire Elemental didn't reply with words, but his spiritual form flickered once, shifting from his place in the stands to right by my side in a fashion similar to looking at something with one eye and shifting to the other. In an instant, the flames I felt from him were calm, the image his presence against my mind invoked one of a beautiful, thriving forest full of potential.

Potential to burn. All it needed was a spark in the right place.

I smashed Pyrrha with another Cannonball, just to make it seem like I was sticking to the pattern, and then called one of my blades to my hand, swiping it at the stadium floor to send up a small wave of tiny, insignificant sparks.

They should have died immediately.

They didn't.

I released the sword in almost the same instant I'd drawn it, lifting a hand to gather power into an Elemental Bolt—but not one of Metal, not a Cannonball. Instead, it was a Fireball that slammed into Pyrrha's shield, the impact minute but scattering flames around her, heating metal. I saw surprise glimmer in her eyes and wasted no time in taking advantage of it. The same hand that I'd extended in her direction swept down in a half circle that left my palm face up and I thrust it upwards as Suryasta's eyes flashed, a column of fire rising in a sudden rush.

Pyrrha was already in the air, leaping away at the first sign of danger—and in doing so, left the literal frying pan for the metaphorical fire.

Levant.

I flipped my hand over so the palm faced the ground as my Air Elemental appeared out of…well, thin air. Another Elemental Bolt formed, an invisible gathering of force that rose above Pyrrha with little more than a shimmer of the air and then knocked her roughly back down to earth. The moment she slammed into the ground, my other hand came up, a sudden Cannonball throwing the off-balance warrior hard into the wall. I didn't let up or show mercy, but followed it immediately with a pair of Fireballs that set the area around her on fire.

My fingers curled as if grasping the air or pulling something invisible together. Flames brightened as air gathered, feeding them until—

Boom. The flames rose into an explosion in a flood of heat, light, and noise that I felt even ten meters away. For the person at the center of it, I could only imagine.

No sooner had that thought crossed my mind then a spear—Pyrrha's spear—flew from the flames. I reacted even before I saw it, senses alerting me to danger before I saw it, and in an instant my blades were in hand and rising to my defense.

It wasn't enough. As if to mock the attempt, the spear suddenly quickened in midflight, as if to remind me that being unable to affect my weapons didn't stop her from manipulating her own. It slid smoothly past my defenses, hammering into my chest hard enough to throw me from the center of the arena to the opposite wall and very nearly pound me into it. What seemed like mere moments after, the shield followed, thrown from the still fading smoke like a discus to hammer my head up to my ears in the stone behind me. I jerked once in pain and immediately tried to stand upright, knowing what was coming—

Pyrrha landed less than three meters in front of me, catching her shield as it rebounded even as her other hand snatched up her spear with a minor use of her power ensuring both returns to her. She spun as she grasped the weapon, twirling it quickly to slam it hard into the side of my head, sending me straight to the ground in pain.

But pain fades, especially for me. I hit the ground; I got right back up, weapons still in hand. As she came at me again, blows hastened by her power, I met her full force. Aware that her blows could change in speed and direction, I didn't bother to block, shifting completely to offense just to get some room. She ducked beneath a swing while my other hand released my sword, open hand extending towards her chest. Her shield arm came up so fast she must have dragged it with her control of the metal, slamming hard against my wrist as her spear came across my face and then back across my chest. She braced herself against a sudden wind I called, giving me only a fraction of a second to act, but when I sent a pair of Fireballs her way, she bounced her shield off my head as she leapt back, rifle coming up to shoot me in the face as well.

I fell backwards, knocked off my feet, but as I did so I kicked out with a leg and Pyrrha's trajectory abruptly shifted as she was knocked higher. My left hand moved as if to break my fall, but it never touched the floor and neither did I, buoying air gathering beneath me to raise me back to my feet in an instant. The same hand came up to smash Pyrrha even higher with a Cannonball and then another as I tried to juggle her, keep her off the ground. I went for a third strike, but she just twisted in the air—pulling herself by her armor, most likely—and threw her spear at me hard.

I knew I couldn't dodge, so I continued the attack and hit her one more time before I was thrown head over heels across the arena. I was stopped by a wall and rose immediately, pain fading thanks to the Gamer's Body; I healed myself as quickly as I could and refocused on my opponent as she landed a bit early then she should have. As she did, I struck her with another Cannonball but with her feet on the ground again, she just withstood it, and I had to Lunge away before she could retaliate. I left my swords hovering by my arms and leapt swiftly from point to point, pausing only long enough to attack once before moving again. In contrast, she stayed in position in the center, moving her shield to counter each time, unless I sent a Fireball her way. She quickly adapted to my movements in my pattern around the arena and began to strike back, rifle firing in short, controlled bursts each time I paused and before long, she was hitting more than she missed, bullets curving slightly in the air to strike me.

New plan, I thought, abruptly stopping to lift both hands. I gathered my power again and gave it shape, first in my thoughts and then in reality. Suryasta appeared without needing to be called, smiling serenely. He lifted his hands in a mirror to my own, guiding what I was creation. I remembered the first time I'd done something like this, on a whim beside a river, but this was different from Magic Missile—had to be different, because of its very nature. The control and structure I'd created with Metal wouldn't work with Fire, so I took a different approach.

It started as a sphere about the same size as any of my Fireballs and Pyrrha immediately dodged, but nothing came her way. Instead, it swelled, growing swiftly until it was as wide across as I was tall—and it kept growing, rising like the sun above my head. The lighting in the room changed in moments, shadows spiraling away from the massive new source of light as the temperature skyrocketed until even I began to sweat.

To my Clairvoyance, such a thing meant a rush of colors and shapes through swaths of the Electromagnetic Spectrum, but even through all that, I saw Pyrrha, face shocked and alarmed. She drew her rifle and shot me steadily, guiding the bullets towards me, but I ignored them now, dismissing the pain. Levant congealed in front of me, pleasant smile on her invisible face even as she rose to my defense. Suddenly, the bullets started missing me or hitting more defended areas, Crocea Mors working to shore up such defenses. A second passed, two, and then her rifle shifted into a spear again. She looked ready to throw it for a moment and Vulturnus joined my side, ready to aid my defense, but in the end she just glanced above me and mouthed something before charging right at me.

She probably thought I wouldn't risk using such a technique in close proximity.

I laughed at the very thought and brought it down on us both.

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