I Know Her

"Mmh!" 

Water rushed through Lex's nose when he breathed. Water wrapped around his arms and legs before capturing him inside a water sphere.

His vision blurred due to the sudden appearance of water. His eyes closed in response to this and he held his breath to prevent any more water from entering his lungs.

[ Someone is standing right in front of us and Rio is also captured! ] Elfie told in an alarmed voice.

Lex, however, didn't pay any attention to her words. Due to the sudden appearance of water, he could not take a deep breath. He was running out of air.

Lex tried pushing the water away using his ability but he couldn't focus. The water splashed around but maintained its spherical shape.

Lex's instincts took over and he began to struggle.

Outside the water prison, a woman wearing a black bodyguard suit stood with a calm expression on her face.

Her hair, a dark shade of brown, was tied behind in a low ponytail. Her eyes were extremely unique.

The irises were red colored but that wasn't the truly unique part. Her eyes were slit pupils like those of a cat. 

"You are pretending that you can't break out, aren't you?" The woman asked absentmindedly.

The sphere holding Rio broke open the next moment, allowing Rio to stand freely.

"I have never seen you before. Who are you?" Rio asked warily.

"Master Allen never sent me to meet you. You don't know me." The brown-haired woman smiled. "You used an attack like that after a long time, didn't you?"

"So what if I did?"

"Nothing. You used your ability on this level after a long time. It will take a toll on your body. You can't fight me at your peak strength because your body won't be able to cope with it."

"You are assuming a lot of things for someone who doesn't know me." Despite saying this, Rio tightly clutched her fist.

It was true that she had not shown her full strength in a long time. Her body was no longer the same as it once was. Going toe toe-to-toe against an experienced unranked ability user was going to be tough for Rio.

"Trust me, I do know you. Obviously, You just don't know me." The blue-haired woman snapped her fingers.

Fog emerged from her body, hiding her from sight. In the next second, she appeared behind Rio and aimed at her neck.

The latter moved with lightning-quick reflexes and dodged the attack. Rio threw a lightning bolt but the woman vanished again.

Rio immediately looked over at Lex who was stuck in the water prison. His struggling body was slowly getting weaker inside the water.

He was about to pass out soon. Rio wanted to her help him but the blue-haired woman reappeared behind her, forcing her to combat.

"I always wanted to defeat you, Rio. Looks like it's finally going to happen. You will be defeated and he will die inside that prison."

Inside the water prison, Lex was on the verge of losing consciousness. His arms and limbs were slowly falling down and darkness was rushing throughout his body.

[ Fuck, you can't go down like this! Lex if you survive this, you and Rio will be much closer. You can't die as a virgin! ] Elfie shouted inside his mind.

But to Lex, she seemed far away. His brain was already replaying the happy moments in his life, which were almost non-existent.

He remembered the past few weeks he spent with Rio and realized this was his happiest ever.

'I.. wish to continue this…' 

As a last struggling attempt, Lex brought hands parallel to each other. He remembered all of Rio's teachings and imagined the water concentrating in the middle of his hands.

Lex didn't know if it worked since his vision was black. Despite that, he used his remaining willpower to force the water into a spherical form between his hands.

[It's working! Keep going! ] 

Suddenly, Lex felt the water around his face and limbs vanishing. All the heaviness of the water holding him in place lifted up.

"Ha… ha…" Lex coughed out some water before gasping to breath more.

Lex looked down at his hands after using his ability to clear the water in his eyes. The water had condensed into a sphere the size of a watermelon and was rotating between he palms of his hands.

Keeping the sphere in this form applied the same compression concept Lex used on the stress ball from earlier.

'Rio really put efforts into bringing things that will help me.'

Lex lifted his gaze to see Rio fighting the one responsible for trapping him. His eyes widened slightly when he noticed the blue-haired woman.

'I know her. This version of me knew her…'

Lex tried hard to remember who she was. All he managed to conjure up was a blur image of the same woman.

As Lex watched the battle, he noticed that Rio wasn't able to land a single blow. The two women were disappearing and reappearing continuously, fighting each other.

For some reason, the two women were participating in close combat instead of using their abilities from a distance.

[ Rio seems to be struggling for some reason. ]

'Hmm, I think I know how to help her.'

Looking down at the sphere of water between his hands, Lex remembered the scenes of the many anime he watched. A plan entered his mind.

"Rio!" Lex shouted, startling both the women.

Pulling the sphere back, he threw it forward. Guiding the sphere with his ability, Lex aimed for the blue-haired woman.

"You think using my own attack against me will do anything?" The woman raised an eyebrow and raised her hand to deflect the attack.

Before that happened, Lex thrust his hand forward. The sphere broke into numerous water needles that aimed for the woman's eyes.

She noticed the sudden switch and dodged to the side. A couple of needles hit the side of her shoulders, causing small cuts.

Rio suddenly appeared in front of the woman. She pushed her hands outwards while keeping her palms open.

"Lightning Disintegration!"