(Mei Gui's Perspective)

Slowly, I stepped onto the stage. Across from me was a beautiful elf girl who looked to be slightly older than Master. Upon spotting me, she smiled brightly.

"I look forward to fighting you, Mei Gui!

"

"… Likewise,

" I responded quietly. Since she greeted me, I would do the same in return, even though I did not want to. Master taught me that.

"We're running a bit low on time here, so without further ado, I'm just gonna start it, hahah!

" the announcer suddenly cut into our conversation rudely.

"Ready? 3, 2, 1, go!

"

"…

" neither of us moved, mainly because of how casual the countdown was.

"Hello? I said go! Go already! Shoot some stuff, swing some stuff, kill some stuff! Go go go!

"

"E-Er… well, I suppose that means the battle has begun,

" the elf, Rain, laughed softly.

"Then, here I go. Prepare yourself.

"

I nodded, letting her have the first strike to test her skills out. Going in blindly would be a bad move.

"Level One Earth Magic - Vines of Binding - Tier II!

"

A Tier II Level One spell… so, essentially, a Level Two spell. She seemed to be testing the waters as well, not showing her full power just yet. This was an opponent worth fighting, it seemed.

I nimbly dodged out of the way of her vines - a mere Level Two spell wasn't enough of a threat to make me use my Chaos power or anything of the sort. Just avoiding it like this was perfectly fine and simple. They attempted to follow me, but I burnt all of them away with a quick Flame Lotus spell.

Unfortunately, this meant she noticed the abnormality to my magic - the colors, in particular.

"Hm…? Interesting…

" she murmured to herself, before extending her hand and launching another spell at me to remain on the offensive.

"Level Three Earth Magic - Enclose.

"

Four solid walls shot out of the ground without warning, trapping me within. This was immediately followed by another attack.

"Level Two Water Magic - Geyser.

"

Below me, I could hear a slight rumbling. Sighing, I activated Flight and rose up into the air, flying out of the cage before the geyser could hit me.

In the sky, I decided to begin attacking. Just defending was useless, after all.

Calmly, I directed my hand towards my opponent.

"Level Three Sky Magic - Prison of Lightning.

"

Not chanting out loud had no demerits whatsoever to me, but in order to avoid attracting too much attention to myself and come off as extremely strong, I said the spell incantation out loud anyway.

A dark black cloud formed over Rain's head. It sparked with ominous red electricity. Rain attempted to escape, but the cloud followed her wherever she went. This tracking skill was thanks to the amplification powers of Chaos - had it been a normal Prison of Lightning, she would have been able to escape.

She seemed to realize that running around forever wasn't going to do anything, so she instead made a sharp turn and began running towards me. At first, I thought she was planning on having my own spell hit me, but I was far too high up for that. Then, as a bow suddenly materialized in her hand without any warning, I realized what she was trying to do.

"Trying to take me down before she gets caught? A brave gamble,

" I remarked, then dodged out of the way as an arrow sailed by my head.

However, to my surprise, the arrow suddenly made a sharp U-turn after passing by me, then flew towards my body once more without losing any momentum. It seemed her arrow possessed a trait similar to my Prison of Lightning.

Right before the arrow could hit me, I flew upwards, letting it fly by below me. But just as expected, the sharp projectile curved and began flying towards me once more. This time, however, I was ready.

"Level One Fire Magic - Flame Lotus.

"

My brilliant flower of fire collided with the arrow, sending a beautiful explosion in the air that looked extremely similar to the fireworks I had watched with Master on the ferris wheel that fateful night. The only difference was that right now was daytime, and back there it was nighttime.

Unfortunately, my opponent hadn't just been sitting still while I attempted to counter her first arrow. Before I knew it, there were five different arrows heading towards me, each equipped with their own tracking module.

"… How annoying,

" I muttered, quickly speeding away in the air.

My opponent matched my movements on the ground as she continued to run away from my Prison of Lightning, still following her. At this rate, she wasn't fighting me anymore - she was fighting against time. Would she hit me first, or would her energy run out first? That would decide the victor of this battle.

At least, that's what she thought.

Suddenly, I dove downwards, straight towards her in a daring maneuver. The arrows she shot followed me, and her eyes widened as she saw what I was trying to do.

Quickly, she raised her bow and shot out another arrow towards me, but unfortunately for her, I had another trick up my sleeve.

"Level One Psychic Magic - Telekinesis.

"

Using my mind, I stopped the arrow, then turned it around and made it fly the other way. Truly, a deadly power. Rain had not been expecting this, so she instinctively dodged backwards, out of the way. Unfortunately for her… she dove straight under the dark cloud that I had sent out earlier. All in all, she had brilliantly fell directly into my trap.

I quickly changed direction and swooped up into the air once again, the arrows she had sent following me. When I dove down, I had been anticipating her to shoot an arrow towards me in a panic, since she thought I was trying to hit her with her own arrows. While that could've worked, there was no guarantee she didn't have complete control over her projectile, so to be safe, I decided to rely on my own attack in the end to finish her off.

The arrow she shot, which I then controlled and sent flying back towards her, was not even meant to actually defeat her. It was to only serve as a threat, forcing her to dodge out of the way - straight into my prison. Just like in chess, it is often not the first blunder that kills you, but the second.

I observed below me as I flew gracefully through the air, the arrows following me. Rain tried to escape from beneath my cloud, realizing her mistake, but it was too late as lightning crashed down all around her. What a pity, too - had this trick of mine not worked just now, I would have canceled my Prison of Lightning and tried something else, since this was taking quite a bit of mana out of my reserves. I had future battles to consider, so I wanted to avoid using up too much mana here, if possible.

Expressionlessly, I watched as the last and most powerful lightning bolt emerged from the center of the cloud, white and sparking with ominous red energy.

"You were a worthy opponent, I suppose,

" I muttered faintly as the lightning struck dow-

"Ngh!

" Rain cried out all of a sudden, as my eyes widened.

This crazy elf girl… she cast protection magic on herself using Blessing Element spells, then made her escape directly through the prison of lightning's fences of electricity.

From her pained expression, it must've hurt a lot, but she could still fight. I narrowed my eyes as I continued flying.

"It seems… I have underestimated her,

" I whispered quietly to myself.

The numerous arrows trailed after me as Rain recovered. I could simply control them all using my empowered Telekinesis, but that would definitely attract attention to myself, since normally the spell only allowed for the user to control one small object at once, unless upgraded using Upgrade Runes.

Rain's right arm appeared to be especially injured as I observed. She was unable to shoot her bow anymore, which was good news to me. She may have broken out of that cage and surprised me quite a bit, but the victor of this battle was still going to be me. I made a promise to Master, and I would never fail to honor it.

"Level Three Sky Magic - Electric Lash.

"

I summoned a crackling whip of electricity, then spun around and truck all of the arrows following me. They fell to the ground, one after another, turned to nothing but ashes.

Then, landing on the ground, my whip still in hand, I prepared to finish off the panting Rain, clutching her right shoulder in pain.

She raised her hand out and murmured something under her breath. I felt some rumbling going on beneath the ground, so I stopped walking. Mere moments after I did, a geyser suddenly shot out the place I had been walking to. Had I not realized this in time, I would have actually gotten hit.

"… Heh… welp, that was my final card. You got me, hehe,

" she laughed softly, but the look in her eyes portrayed sadness, contrary to what laughter usually meant.

"… I respect your courage and resolve,

" I said quietly as I got within striking range of my whip.

"However… I cannot lose, for the sake of Master.

"

She smiled gently as I mercilessly swung my whip across. It struck her directly in the chest, sending her toppling backwards and collapsing onto the ground.

I turned around and walked off the stage, leaving one final message behind.

"Thank you.

"