Sparring

Compared to the other two techniques, the Fire Storm technique was much more destructive, hence Minos had held back in his practice of it.

He was ultimately a guest here, so destroying Suki's entire backyard just to train would be a bit excessive.

Still, Minos couldn't just halt his training, so instead of summoning a massive Fire Storm, he only summoned a mini one.

Raising his palm forward, Minos shot out a burst of Abyss Flame, the Abyss Flame quickly gathering into what looked like a miniaturized storm cloud.

With flashes and sparks shooting across its body like little lightning bolts, the Abyss Flame cloud began raining down fire, causing a small patch of grass underneath it to get eaten through rapidly, like one had poured acid on top of it.

The flame was also spreading at a fast pace, but with a thought from Minos, he kept it maintained within a certain enclosure.

After creating a nearly meter-deep hole in the floor, Minos unsummoned the Abyss Cloud, even more satisfied with this move than the others.

While he had yet to use it on its full scale, he was already confident in his ability to do so, and even more so confident in just how powerful this technique would be at full force.

"So, this is what you were up to. I was wondering what all that heat was about." Tylia suddenly said from behind him, Minos turning back to face her.

"Done reading?"

"Of course not, but seeing you training got me excited. Hey, that gives me an idea! Let's have a little spar!" Tylia suggested.

"Spar? I don't think that's a good idea."

"What, are you afraid? Come on, don't be a coward!"

"... Fine, but let's keep it civil." Minos said after a moment's thought, aware that Tylia was in the early stage of the Aperture Opening Realm.

While in terms of pure strength, she outclassed him, he had quite a few cards that made him much stronger than those at the same realm.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you." Tylia giggled.

"Then let's fight." Minos replied with a smile, not minding Tylia's sense of humor.

"Great, 321. Go!" Tylia said in a rush before bolting towards Minos, as if trying to catch him off guard.

With a wide swing from below, her fist came directly towards Minos's chin, the height difference between the two of them making her attack a little janky.

Still smiling, Minos reached out his palm out and blocked the punch, but like expected, her strength was a bit higher than his, sending him back a few steps.

"So weak? Don't let me down so fast!" Tylia shouted before continuing her assault.

With his Omniscient Eyes and powerful soul, despite Tylia being faster then him in body, he crushed her in terms of mind, allowing him to easily avoid each attack like he could see it in advance.

Hence, despite Tylia constantly pushing him back, she failed to do any real damage, causing her to become frustrated.

"You forced me!" Tylia shouted as she jumped back and gathered a surge of Nux into her palms, forming dozens of icicles shaped like arrows.

With a wave of her hands, the ice-arrows shot towards Minos, moving so fast that he could barely react.

It was a good thing that he just recently learned a new movement technique, Flame Steps, so without a moment's waste, he quickly activated it.

Like an apparition made of cinder, Minos vanished from his original spot, the ice-arrows shattering the phantom he left behind.

Pupils dilating, Tylia quickly scanned the backyard for Minos's true body, but it was like he had vanished completely.

"Behind you." A ghostly voice said, causing Tylia to nearly jump.

Despite not being the fighting type, Tylia still reacted appropriately, quickly gathering her Nux-Ice and forming a shield behind her, just in time too.

Like a volcano had just erupted behind her, she felt a tremendous heat gathering, which fortunately, her Nux blocked entirely.

Once again gathering the Nux into her hands, she formed a large ice-spear, quickly whipping around in hopes of hitting Minos.

But once again, he flickered away like embers in the air, causing Tylia's frustrations to further mount.

She didn't really have any movement techniques, at least no Seven-Moon one's, meaning keeping up in terms of speed wasn't possible.

Since speed wasn't an option, Tylia quickly came up with another counter-measure, using a technique she hadn't planned on touching.

Gathering a massive ice shield around her, she began whispering from within her icy cocoon, causing Minos's brow to slightly raise.

Forming a few fireballs, Minos flung them at her cocoon from a distance, but compared to his regular Nux-Fire, her ice was clearly much stronger.

His Nux had already pretty much been sapped in his previous training, so he couldn't really do much other than watch.

Of course he could naturally use his Abyss Flame, but that was overkill, so he decided to just see what move Tylia was cooking up.

After nearly thirty seconds of just waiting, Tylia finally swung her eyes open, slamming her foot towards the earth strongly.

Like ice touching water, the dirt beneath her feet rapidly froze over, the ice spreading towards Minos at a breakneck speed, quickly freezing his body over before he even realized what had happened.

Breathing heavily, Tylia unsummoned the ice cocoon around her, slowly walking towards Mino's frozen body with a victorious smile on her face.

"Good fight, but you're still a little fresh when it comes to an expert like me." Tylia said with a loud laugh, enjoying her moment for a moment before bringing her hand forward to unfreeze Minos.

As Minos's body was finally released from his ice prison, Tylia was about to say something, but suddenly his 'body' vanished.

"You're right, you're still a little fresh." Minos's familiar voice said from behind, his large palm landing flatly on the surface of her head.

"H-How! I was watching you the whole fight, when did you swap yourself out with a fake?!" Tylia asked with shock, 100% certain that Minos never had the opportunity to do such a thing.

"Who said I swapped? In fact, who even said you were fighting the real me from the start?" Minos smiled, his words causing Tylia's brow to wrinkle tightly.

"So you fooled me from the start? You bastard!" She said angrily, slapping him on the chest a few times.

"Hahaha, as an 'expert' you should know the first rule of fighting is deception." Minos laughed, using her own words against her.

"Hmph, that fight doesn't count, let's go again!" Tylia demanded.

"You sure? It seemed like that last move used all your Nux."

"Forgot about Nux, let's have a fist-fight like real warriors!" Tylia said, already confident that her strength was higher than Minos's.

"No Nux? Sure, but even if I win, what's stopping you from just saying it doesn't count?"

"Don't worry, as long as you don't use another fake, this fight will decide the ultimate winner between us!"

"Haha, alright." Minos replied, willing to play along with her.

"But just the title of ultimate winner is a bit boring, so how about we make things more interesting?" Tylia said with an evil grin.

"What do you have in mind?"

"Simple, the loser will be the winner's slave for the rest of the day! You'll have to do whatever the winner says, no matter how extreme!"

"That's a bit much, don't you think?"

"If you're afraid, just say so."

"Hey, I'm just trying to warn you. Don't complain when you lose."

"Don't worry, I won't lose!" Tylia said confidently.

"Fine, then on your go."

"Go!" Tylia shouted immediately, once again trying to take advantage.

But Minos was already used to the way she did things, so without much trouble, he dodged her first attack.

Gritting her teeth, Tylia began attacking faster and faster, trying to use her superior strength to her advantage.

But no matter how much she pushed, Minos dealt with everything easily, her heart slightly dropping as she began thinking she may actually lose.

However, after only a second of such thoughts, she quickly swung her head clear, once again focusing on her assault.

After getting a full feel for Tylia's fighting style, Minos decided to stop playing around, his defensive stance changing to an offensive one.

This was the first time he had actually attacked Tylia seriously, shattering her rhythm completely.

But again, by merit of her superior strength, she managed to hold on, but it was clear Minos's attacks were much more effective against hers, then hers were against him.