Sparring

"Ohh, how interesting, this kid has already reached the third gate realm in no time," murmured a female figure from behind the shadows.

The figure also descended the stands with charming steps like a princess.

"My, my, look here, it looks like someone is training hard here," Elena exclaimed in a voice that echoed.

Ryo looked at the person with a very familiar voice, "Ahh! Elena!"

Elena jumped from the top of the stands, spun in mid-air and landed right in front of Ryo.

"How are you?" said Elena as she approached Ryo.

"Just regular practice, as you can see," replied Ryo with a wave of his sword.

Elena was a little awkward when she saw the bite marks of her fangs on his neck and was a little embarrassed to mention it.

"Hey, um... Sorry about your neck, it was an accident, won't happen twice in a row," said Elena while looking the other way.

Ryo immediately made a reflex and covered the bite marks on his neck with a slightly red face. "Well, I don't mind it. You were drunk that time, so ... What are you doing here?"

"Just checking for tomorrow's venue, and I heard a loud sonic boom, so it made me kinda curious who would use the Arena this fast,"

"Since you are here, how about a bit of sparring with me?" asked Ryo as he pointed a sword at Elena.

Elena snorted and showed a mocking face to Ryo and said in taunting tones. "Are you sure? Don't cry If you lose from me, all right?"

"Win or lose doesn't matter. I just want to get used to my new power,"

"You are asking for it!" said Elena as she jumped back with such a graceful movement. She unsheathed her crimson blood sword from her palm.

The phenomenon was certainly foreign to Ryo and made him a little curious about the mechanics of Elena's body as a Vampire.

Nonetheless, Ryo's instincts made him immediately take a stance and ready to launch an attack.

"No need to be afraid, you attack, and I will only defend, attack me with all your might. You win if you can hurt me or make my sword receive a single scratch."

"Agreed," replied Ryo as he tightened his grip.

Elena retreated a few steps and stood tall. She gestured her index finger as if telling Ryo to attack. Without hesitation, with the sword he had coated with fire, Ryo attacked Elena with all his might.

Tink, Tink, Tink!

Swing after swing he mustered all his heart, yet Elena didn't move. She casually warded off Ryo's attack as if she was hitting an insect. Ryo's attack couldn't be considered weak anymore. If an ordinary person received his attack, that person would have been split apart.

"Still too shallow! Your moves are too wide! Very easy to read!" Elena exclaimed and parried Ryo's attack until he was blown away.

"Smoothen your movements and reduce the gaps, so far, I would have been able to cut you two hundred times if I wanted to."

Her words made Ryo dumbfounded, with his sweaty and almost numb hands, he almost gave up. However, giving up was not the way for him to be strong!

Once again he focused all his fire energy and took Iai's stance. He condensed the energy in the edge of his sword as white smoke billowed from the scabbard. A hot aura fiercely emanated from his entire body.

"Hmm, the Yin energy of the scabbard is resisting the momentum of the fire energy, no wonder there was a loud rumbling sound earlier, but his body is still too weak to perform this technique, what is he thinking?" Elena muttered to herself as she watched carefully.

"Okay, let's see how far you can use the Iai technique," said Elena, who also used the same technique.

However, her technique was far more intimidating, she only purely used her physical strength and even just that created an energy pressure around her.

The two of them had already reached the critical point and were ready to release their technique at any moment.

Whoosssh! Whuuushhh!

The two of them moved very quickly and left behind a shadow of movement.

Tink, crack, crack, crack, crack.

A cracking sound like brittle metal rang out, Elena's blood-solid sword cracked from the tip and shattered in half.

Elena couldn't believe what she saw, even though she only condensed her sword equal to the hardness of a diamond, it showed Ryo's attack was very strong.

"Ha ha ha! I win! Elena!"

"Tsk, you're just lucky! I'm not yet serious Ryo!"

"Wanna rematch?" challenged Ryo again even though he looked tired.

Elena's face immediately turned fierce, and then she drew closer to Ryo with a sharp gaze.

"Crap... I've gone too far!" Ryo said to himself when he realized his mistake.

TAP!!!

"Don't get too cocky, you stupid brat!" Elena exclaimed as she poked Ryo's forehead so hard it made a very painful sound.

Ryo immediately crouched down and endured the bone-chilling pain.

"Well... Now I'm late for my appointment, good luck, stupid brat!" said Elena as she walked away from him. She then disappeared down the hall that led to the exit.

"Wait, Elena! I still ..." Ryo wanted to chase the woman, but he just realized his strength was drained and he fell in the middle of the arena.

Behind her curt and rude attitude towards Ryo while in the arena, Elena hid her smile. She didn't want to let him realize her own satisfaction when she saw Ryo growing so fast.

"I wonder how strong you will become, Ryo. Go beyond me if you can," Elena muttered while she held her palm that was slightly scuffed from resisting Ryo's attack.