"Heavenly Slash"
"Flaming Shot"
The two attacks collided and completely canceled each other out. Emerging from the dust created by that clash, Enrico tried to punch Lira with a fiery impact.
The same aura woman behind Lira grabbed Enrico's arm with her hand and threw him backward. That aura-made woman was at least three meters tall, and that was only because she had summoned only the upper part of her body so far.
"How dangerous."
Immediately using his fire steps to dodge another slash from the aura woman, he stepped back and created several lines in front of him that spread through the street, covering him from their sight.
"Fire Bow!"
After creating his bow, he entered a house, then left and entered another one, repeating the process three more times. Finally stopping, he aimed his arrow in one direction.
"Let's go."
Seeing all those fire lines, Lira gathered wind in her hand, pouring in a lot of magic, and unleashed it forward, managing to cut through all the lines around her.
"He's not here."
An arrow appeared behind Lira, heading straight for her back. The aura woman noticed the attack and caught it easily with her hand.
"What is he trying to do?"
Aiming at the spot where it came from, she launched a light gust of wind toward it — a magic used for location through wind.
"What? He's not there."
Another arrow came from the right, stopped by the aura woman, but immediately three more arrows appeared from different directions. She managed to stop only two, while Lira was hit in the foot.
"How?... It's his clone."
The arrow in her foot seemed to glow even brighter, surprising Lira as she was caught in a fiery explosion. She suffered some burns but remained calm.
"Destroy six houses in front and behind."
Turning toward one of the houses, the aura woman began destroying all those Lira ordered around her. Standing at the center, Lira did three things: first, she created an impenetrable spiritual ki shield — impossible for Enrico's current level to break unless he used the magic he had shown a few minutes ago.
Second, she spread her wind-based locating magic in all directions, meaning Enrico would soon be found. And third, she assumed a composed stance, hands behind her back, eyes wide open, watching with a certain amusement in them.
'Let's see what you'll do.'
"Damn it, looks like she wants a head-on fight."
Behind a half-destroyed house, Enrico gripped his fire bow tightly. At that level, it would be impossible to surpass that barrier unless he got close.
'I'm not ready to use the arcane connection with another attack right now.'
He had chosen to start with that attack because it required less mana to use, allowing him to repeat it several times a day.
'Looks like she wants a face-to-face fight... fine, if that's what she wants, I'll give it to her.'
Leaving the house, he dismissed his bow with a slightly excited smile starting to form on his face. He wanted to use this battle not just to earn points — he also wanted to train like before, which was exactly why he'd been using the bow that way.
'I wanted to improve my aim from a distance, but as always, she's a killjoy.'
[Be careful, Enrico. From the look on her face when she saw you come out, it's very likely she's choosing you as her rival.]
'That's troublesome, but if I want to win, I can't avoid it.'
Lira's face began to show signs of madness, and the reason was simple — she had made an obvious move for someone with Enrico's intelligence, inviting him into a head-on battle. If he refused and kept hiding, she would end the fight quickly, seeing him only as another tedious opponent.
'He came.'
She placed a hand over her mouth, trying to calm the excitement surging intensely inside her. So far, he had passed three of her five trials to become her rival, and now only two remained. He was the closest person of her age to achieving that title.
Removing her smile, she focused her ki magic into her left hand, palm open. Enrico started running, concentrating mana into his hand — he was going to shatter that shield with everything he had.
"Purifying Palm!"
Using her palm to strike the air, an invisible pressure shot toward Enrico, forcing him to dodge to the side for a second before continuing. He knew that magic caused direct soul damage, so he wasn't going to let it touch him.
"Charged Flame Impact!"
Punching the shield, Enrico shattered it into pieces. Activating his charged impulse, he appeared behind her by surprise and launched another punch, striking her right cheek squarely and sending her crashing into one of the houses.
"Just as I thought — I managed to surpass that automatic defense."
There were three ways to bypass that automatic defense: one from the story, and two that came directly from his own ideas. He had just tested one of them for the first time, and it seemed to have worked.
[What did you do?]
'That magic is still imperfect. It detects the opponent's intent through the mana in their body, so if I hide my intent and mana, it can't detect me.'
[That's more practical than what Kai did in the story.]
In the original story, Kai wasn't someone who thought much, so his idea was simply, "I just have to be faster than her automatic defense." Of course, he managed it only because his level was absurdly high.
'His level was huge, but in the future, when she improves that magic, it'll be even harder to get through since she'll be able to detect even physical attacks without intent.'
"Heh… heheheh… HAHAHAHAHAHA! There's no way I can hold back anymore — finally! I finally found someone who makes my blood boil!"
Her face twisted into a crazed smile, her eyes turning a glowing purple.
"ENRICO!! Don't you dare fall before I've had my fill of fun!"