The Summoner's Rebirth: Awaken, Milady

Chapter 141: Disappointing

"Well, I guess the details won't matter to me. Let's talk using our powers, Aria!" Reina took out her staff, which was a rather short baton with a pink lustrous gem placed on top of the staff's socket. 

"Sounds good to me," Aria replied. Her sword was firmly clenched in her hands, but after thinking about Reina's qualities and knowing that she was a mage, she decided to withdraw her sword. It would be overkill. It wasn't that she was underestimating Reina, but it was for fairness.

Reina noticed this gesture and did not say anything.

"You know, ever since we fought inside that dungeon, I have been honing myself so that I don't fuck up anymore, so expect more than the Queen you saw inside that dungeon, sweetie!" Reina said as she drew her weapon and aimed it towards Aria.

Aria's brow raised as she anticipated what Reina was about to do.

"I think this is the perfect opportunity for you to see the strongest blow I am able to use,"  Reina giggled as her magic flowed at a fast rate into her staff, which suddenly lengthened from its original short size. The staff, upon being charged with mana, became infused with pinkish electric waves that started to spread around the environment and making the air tense.

Aria could feel a high concentration of energy amassed within Reina's side.

Unfortunately, Aria wasn't that impressed with the woman's showcase. Even if she would have a strong damage output, the time she took to cast was far too long at this point. Sure enough, in a battle, she could be protected by other teammates, but she was still vulnerable in this state and would become a security gap.

Aria sighed as she watched Reina collect her power. All in all, it was the strongest blow and it should indeed require some preparation. It was also just a mock battle, so Aria allowed for the woman to take time as she cast the spell without attacking her right away.

If it was in a real battle, Reina would be done in a flash. Not only will she be targeted first as a mage, her skill also attracted quite a huge amount of the surrounding energy and had a flashy look to it. It was the perfect invite to the enemy, as if saying 'hit me first, I'm carrying a bomb that will hurt you if it's left untouched, so come and defuse it here.' to the opponent.

"..I would love to see it. Come at me," Aria responded with a smile as her body tension started to rise and the excitement of a fight motivated her body to go into a fighting gear.

She had polished her martial arts in her free times, and she gradually felt her core strength improve. Martial arts was one of the battle section she prized upon, and it consisted of so many complex and varying styles of attacks all grouped up under the category. She mastered several types of it, and liked mixing the styles together to create a unified battle style that would be exclusive to her.

She planned to use martial arts on Reina so that her sword wouldn't have to be drawn.

She waited as Reina took approximately thirty seconds in total to fully charge her attack. By the time she was done, there was a rather enormous black circle of mana that was encircled in a layer of pink and purplish electric waves. Reina then opened her eyes and spoke out her chants, launching the attack towards Aria.

The black ball separated into large numbers and scattered in the sky, hovering over the both of them as it turned around from time to time.

Aria looked at the display with amusement, wondering what Reina prepared for her. The black balls revolved around each other, and suddenly started having a golden halo positioned in the center of each ball.

From the the halo, the ball began to split and reveal a very uncanny smaller sized pearl. Aria analyzed the structure and immediately guessed what the attack would be.

In just a split second, the truth was revealed without needing for her to make sure that her guess was correct.

Zing! Zing! Zing!

The balls are started to spew out lightning lasers. Upon touching the ground, these bars would drill a hole into the supposedly hard materials that made up this examination room.

Of course, it would only be detrimental if any of them hit. Reina cast other spells as well, mainly debuff skills to slow down or lower Aria's strength.

Aria evaded the beams left and right, showing her unnatural mobility. The beams mostly hit the ground, but some reflected and created an unnatural trajectory that made it harder for Aria to avoid. After playing around for a minute or two, she finally decided that enough was enough especially as she saw that Reina's face was getting paler with each passing second.

She jumped up into the air and destroyed the turrets one by one, causing the black balls to dissipate into ashes. After fifteen seconds, the turrets were all destroyed and released from Reina's control.

Aria got behind Reina, who was starting to cast other spells and attacked her neck.

"It's great. But it should only be used in certain situations. You look exhausted, so this must have taken quite the large amount of energy, right? Also, you took too long to cast this kind of spell. If it was in a dungeon where there is a lot of monsters in an open area, and you are outnumbered, then this spell would prove to be very useful to turn around the tide of the battle. Otherwise.. I think you are better off not using this," Aria choked Reina's neck from behind, making the woman grip onto her arms and hit her lightly as if telling her to stop.

Aria released her grip and watched as Reina gagged and looked at Aria with a wronged expression. "You.. it's you that's monstrous! Your magic doesn't cost you any casting time even though the normal way

"The normal way? If there is an easier, more efficient way, then why must we stick to the normal way? If you could change the 'normal way' to the better, then change it. I can cast a similar spell like you did in less than five seconds. Your problem mainly relies on the concentration. You have a very sharp mind, but you still can't handle dividing into several turrets that well yet. If you keep improving it instead of just trying to follow the normal way, then you would be able to manipulate the spell's details and bend it towards your favor," Aria advised. It was a habit of hers to evaluate her opponent and point out their mistakes because she had been a teacher for various students of different fields that sought her guidance day by day.

Reina did not expect to be lectured like this and felt wronged. "You're.. such a disappointment. How could you do this to mee~~ You damned genius, don't group me up with monsters like you, get it?" Reina complained as she got off the stage, her mood lowered after suffering such an obvious defeat. From the very start, she never thought that she would win anyway, but she just wanted to lean a clean and concise blow on Aria.

Even that wasn't able to be achieved. If other people knew how much her, the Shadow Queen that was revered by many suffered under the hands of this Hunter that hasn't even been registered yet, how would they react? Of course, negatively.

Sighing, she settled down and sipped cold water to quench her thirst. Her eyes scanned towards the stage, knowing that Aria would definitely pick another opponent.

She had told her that only the first fight would be taken into her qualifications, but she could request for additional fights with Lichte's main members.

Of course, Aria would gladly battle and test them out more.

Aria chose Elgin to be her next opponent. Elgin was always an intriguing figure to her, as the man seemed to amass a high potential, but never really actively participated in their battle at that time. She only got to see glimpses of his power, but she wanted to have a closer look.

Elgin accepted the fight and stepped up to the stage nonchalantly. He stared into Aria's eyes and jammed his hands into his pockets. A faint smile was imprinted on his young face, making Aria become cautious as to what Elgin had prepared.

"Oh? Are you trying to disrespect me and fight without weapons? Sure, do that. That will be great, I will be able to finish you much easier then," Aria smiled as she teased the man.

"No. My weapons are hidden, so where my hands are doesn't matter. You may start the fight, I will begin as the defensive side," Elgin announced.

"Do you also have something to show me from like Reina? Something that will shock me?" Aria asked.

To this, Elgin smirked. "Naturally,"