Seeing the Glint Phoenix's strong power, Mia turned serious. She jumped high in the air after blocking
Erica's attack.
At the same time, the Scarlet Flame Dragon dived down and Mia landed on it. Then the Scarlet Flame
Dragon spouted out fierce flame to Erica.
To escape the flame, Erica quickly dodged to one side.
Mia took the chance shouting coldly, "Flaming Wind!" To burst out the spiritual force, she raised her left
hand, summoning a fierce whirlwind that carried the flame which the Dragon had spouted out. The fire
quickly spread all over the battleground, blocking Erica's way out.
The move showed Mia's superior skill in manipulating the dragon. Incredibly well, she could bond her
own power with that of the dragon.
Everyone cheered at her fantastic attack.
"The girl is really powerful. Maybe, she's only a tad less lethal than General Gorgeous," Rocky
murmured to himself as he watched their fight. But his face grew solemn when he saw Erica's odd
reaction.
Erica, who was surrounded by the flame, stood still and did not try to dodge. Instead, as the fire got
closer, she burst out a light shield, similar to what the Glint Phoenix had burst. When the volley hit on
the light shield, it immediately bounced back towards Mia.
Mia had not seen that coming, but she manipulated her dragon to sidestep.
With a loud boom, the field erupted into a cloud of fire and dust.
The fight intensified with every passing minute.
Neither Mia nor Erica seemed to slow down, and it looked like the match would end in a draw.
An hour later, they both appeared to be wearing out, but still neck and neck, with no clear winner in
sight.
'I seem to have underestimated her, ' Erica thought to herself. Apparently, she knew Mia was at the
ninth grade of the Heavenly Stage, and there was nothing more to it. However, after an hour of fighting,
she realized Mia was terribly skillful at manipulating her dragon, even without invoking the Spirit
Possession. Ordinary spirit manipulators could never do that.
"It's the time now." Erica had hit the mark. As she summoned her spiritual power again, she emitted an
unusual light that gave her another boost over Mia.
Mia was surprised. She had not thought that Erica had still a card up her sleeve.
After rousing her spiritual power, Erica once more had an urge to attack. But Mia, not to be outdone,
countered every attack. Using every tactic they possibly could, they fought from up in the air and down
on the ground, sending sparks flying raising a thick cloud of dust. On and on, they went until they
reached their highest power at the ninth grade.
The audience was transfixed.
A fight between masters could end in a split second. It all depended on who seized the first chance to
launch a decisive blow.
By her trickery, Mia discovered Erica's weakest point.
"Wild Fog Wind!" She chanted while waving her hand to summon a gray fog to shroud Erica.
As the mysterious fog surrounded Erica, she felt her eyes grow hazy with layers of a grayish gauze.
At the same time, a fireball was about to hit her from behind. She would have taken one heck of a hit
on the back, were it not for her super-fast light shield.
However, the light shield needed some time to restore the power to defense, so the moment that the
light shield disappeared after bouncing back the flame, hundreds of arrows of wind were pouring down
on Erica's head like a heavy rain.
"Thunder Roar!" Erica took a deep breath, gathered enough steam, and let out another thunderbolt.
The two intense opposing powers violently crashed in the air, bursting into blinding fireworks.
In the gray fog, Mia—now, a struggling figure in the dusty cloud had gathered enough to strike back.
Slightly, the fog had dissipated.
Everyone watching knew that the fight was coming to an end.
When the crowd thought Mia was about to win, Erica smiled coldly.
It hit Mia as odd that Erica would smile at when in fact she was in real danger. This was Mia's all
powerful strike that would put Erica out. She did not know that while she was chanting the "Wild Fog
Wind", Erica had set up a trap.
With all her might, she struck Erica, but to her surprise, her hand passed through Erica's body. Until
now she had not realized that the Erica she was facing was just a shadow. She knew that something
was wrong and she wanted to take back the attack, but it was too late. The shadow of Erica abruptly
turned into a light shield.
The same force she had used on the shadow bounced back from the light shield and found her like a
boomerang.
Blood was splashed into the air.
Mia let out an ear-splitting scream as she fell to the ground.
Once again, Erica showed up, right where the light shield had stood. She gathered the spiritual power
and rushed towards Mia who was badly wounded. She wanted to wrap it up quickly so as to get even
with Rocky.
Erica gathered the spiritual power into her right fist and it turned into a gigantic shadow against the
light.
Like someone who was seriously injured, Mia lay still on the ground, and did nothing but stare at Erica
charge forward to strike again. Maybe, she knew she had lost the battle.
The crowd was surprised at the manner in which she was about to lose.
But something changed the game. As Erica was about to hit her, a strange figure appeared between
them. Out of the blue, the intruding figure raised a left-arm tattooed with a Dragon Spirit Mark.
The mark was emitting dazzling multicolored light which blocked Erica's fist.
Everyone was shocked again by the sudden change. They were even more startled to realize the
person who had blocked Erica's strike. It was none other than Rocky.
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