It was pretty unexpected for Maria to meet Eri Spencer here, those two relationships weren't friendly as both their fathers were rivals in the same field, so they often met and fought over nothing, the result ended most of the time in Maria victory as she was most beautiful, more scheming than the short-tempered Eri.
Both women stared at each other; the world seemed to have stopped for them as they only had each other in their eyes.
Eri was the first to burst into laughter while Maria's sounds followed.
Kuina and Ryder were dumbfounded but the sudden situation. Before they could place on both Maria and Eri moved simultaneously as if there were perfect synchronization.
The first clash was a draw.
Ryder didn't miss out on the opportunity; he disappeared in flashed and appeared before Kuina slashed upward; the blow was ruthless, intending to bisect the fox girl into two. Although he likes beauties, the current situation was not the one where he would put beauties over his dead brother.
However, just as he was waiting for the feeling of slicing through flesh, Ryder was astonished to have only hit empty air; the Kuina before him vanished like an illusion, not it was an illusion.
Suddenly, Ryder felt a chill down his spine. He immediately jumped back to barely miss a huge fireball that appeared in thin air and crashed into his previous location.
He saw Kuina nonchalantly smiling while making some gesture; the meaning was pretty simple, let go elsewhere.
Pushing back the feeling of surprise threatening to come out, Ryder nodded and followed Kuina with caution.
Meanwhile, Maria and Eri had clashed dozen times without a clear winner. Ice and fire clashed repeatedly.
Maybe it was because of their respective element, their gift dramatically opposite of each other, but the dislike they had for each other increased; they could not wait but trample each other under their feet.
Maria's blood became cold while the two daggers inside her hands kept shaking, something in the depth of her soul whispered that she must never lose, not to the girl before him, simultaneously Eri was also feeling the same thing.
Blue and crimson eyes clashed, which generated an abnormal situation; their surrounding seemed to have slowed down. Eri sword sliced through the air and arrived before Maria's neck, however just as the sword filled with heat was about slice through Maria's neck, it momentarily froze; two crystal daggers appeared and blocked the crimson sword.
When the weapons clashed, they created a shriek that sent sparks flying into the air.
Eri was surprised by the unexpected move; however she didn't have time to ponder about what had just transpired because Maria's leg sliced through the air like a snake whip, almost colliding against Eri's face; however, Eri was not to be underestimated either, at the last minute she dropped her body extremely low to avoid the blow, and yet Maria demonstrated that she was also not to be underestimated.
Almost as if she had expected such a reaction from Eri, from under Maria's extended leg, an icicle shot out and reached Eri's chest faster than a bullet. The crimson-haired lady's eyes opened so widely that they appeared funny; however, once again, Eri proved that she was also something; flame burst from her body and enveloped her body like armor before the icicle struck.
Maria's icicle melted before it could touch Eri's chest; she immediately rolled on the ground to dodge Maria's leg.
The two put some distance between them while looking at each other with a face full of smiles.
''You are good even while being weaker than me.'' Eri gave honest praise; it was not sarcasm but a genuine compliment. Eri was indeed stronger than Maria, whose level was 105 while she was at Level 110.
Maria had learned one thing since her arrival here, which was that level doesn't mean everything; if high level meant a sure victory, not even her outstanding battle capacity or Kuina resourcefulness could beat Ramos and his men. Still, strangely the two won even while being a lot weaker than them.
Maria moved her head until it produced a cracking sound, then her two daggers disappeared to transform into a crystal sword so beautiful that only some talented god crafted it.
Eri was shocked yet again; however, compared to the shock she felt after those daggers transformed into swords, she was more surprised that Maria seemed to have gained perfect control over the Ice element with the apparition of this sword.
Her speed increased drastically; she disappeared and reappeared before Eri in a flash; her speed almost seemed like teleportation.
Maria swung her sword; Eri wanted to dodge, but she was shocked to discover that her body became sluggish; she immediately identified the problem; cold had somehow seeped into her body through her pores. Eri sneered, her blood boiled, and an illusionary flame phoenix appeared behind her, immediately vaporizing the cold inside her body.
Eri's muscles bulged, and using one arm, she lifted her sword and blocked Maria's sword.
Maria didn't have the opportunity to get surprised as Eri's fist covered in flame arrived and punched her in the stomach, it happened too fast, and even Maria, with his heightened sense, was entirely caught off guard.
Maria pushed back the blood surging from the depth of her stomach as her body was flung backward, she staggered a couple of steps before finally stopping, she immediately thrust her sword forward like a spear but frowned because she only cut empty air, then from her left Eri appeared she moved her hand, her swordsmanship wasn't any lower than that of Maria, with perfect control of her sword she executed dozen of slashes perfectly aligned into one deadly strike at the same time a huge fireball appeared on the other side of Maria as if to checkmate the Ice Empress completely.
Eri was sure of her win this time; however, Maria still succeeded in exceeding her expectation.