Steve didn't expect there would be two chunks of ice shooting from the right and left of his face. He's completely caught off guard.
Both sides of his face felt cold and ached at the same time.
Steve immediately stood up again and tried to send his Magic toward both sides of his face which had just been hit by that block of ice.
Steve glanced at Annie and sighed. He wouldn't have expected such an attack to come at him if Annie was still in a frenzy.
However, now Annie can fight with her common sense kept intact.
There was a sizzling sound as Steve's fire Magic melted the ice on both sides of his face. A few seconds later Steve was no longer feeling the cold and pain.
"You caught me off guard," said Steve in a rather loud voice.
Annie was standing some distance away from him and took a stance as if ready to fight.
Her gaze was serious towards Steve even after she managed to hit him hard.
"I guess I'm lucky," Annie replied.
Steve snorted. "That's not luck."
Steve gathers his Magic power and makes it stronger. His reddish aura grew thicker surrounding his body.
"Looks like I have to be more serious."
Steve walked over to Annie. Annie, who realized that Steve had accumulated a large amount of Magic power, got ready.
She also strengthened the ice Magic field that she had spread around.
Now Steve who had realized who he had fought would not let his guard down like earlier.
Even though this was just practice, being hit so hard like that made his pride hurt a bit.
For Steve, he had no choice but to counter the attack he received earlier.
So Steve covered his whole body with fire. Makes him look like some kind of creature straight out of a nightmare about hell.
As soon as Steve got within ten feet of Annie, he stepped on a frost line.
After that suddenly a mist of ice appeared to surround him from all sides.
The ice mist was something Annie had been preparing for moments ago when Steve was distracted for a few moments after being hit by her attack.
However, Steve already suspected that Annie had prepared something.
Steve was able to understand Annie a bit after seeing her back off and keep her distance instead of doing a follow-up attack after Steve was hit by ice blocks in the earlier attack.
Annie was a careful person when her sober mind returned. Very different from her who was controlled by Magic. Which is like a mad beast that attacks with the power of ice.
So Steve could easily predict Annie's battle plan now. Because of that, he covered his whole body with fire so he could easily dispel Annie's trap.
What Steve did made the ice fog that surrounded his body from all sides have no effect.
Annie who saw that was a little surprised and regretted her stupidity. She should have known that Steve didn't just cover himself in the fire just because he wanted to be stylish.
Steve then sent a wave of fire pouring from under the concrete floor toward Annie.
Annie sent the same ice to greet the fire.
After that Steve suddenly stamped his foot and shot towards her, cutting the distance very quickly and stretching out his arms to give Annie a light hit.
However, Annie immediately took action by deploying ice to cover her face.
Steve's hand slapped Annie's cheek sending her flying to the side.
The ice that protected her face crumbled at the cheek.
"You want to end this?" Steve asked.
"I haven't lost yet!"
But Annie responded by throwing ice spears from under where she had been standing.
The ice spears shot towards Steve from under him swiftly.
Steve was able to dodge but several ice spears managed to graze his skin even though his body was still covered in flames.
At that moment, Annie stamped her foot to propel her body toward Steve. Hands covered in ice, Annie threw a fist at Steve.
Steve was hit by the punch but he was not sent flying as Annie had hoped.
Steve then held Annie's hand that had just hit him, making Annie unable to move to distance herself.
"You're not as aggressive as usual," Steve said.
Steve shot flames that enveloped his entire body at Annie.
The ice and bluish aura that covered Annie's body seemed to give up on the heat that Steve was giving off and dissipated.
Of course, Steve had no intention of burning Annie. Because of that, he didn't spit out his fire with great power. The flames only obliterated Annie's bluish aura.
Steve didn't know since when he had such good control over his powers. Everything feels natural for him.
The scientists behind the scenes stared with anxiety on their faces.
"What if he burns her to ashes?!" said one of the scientists next to Thomas in a worried tone.
"Don't worry. He won't do it. Subject number 1 knows that subject number 2 is as valuable as he is," Thomas said.
"Are you sure?" another scientist asked.
"Of course," Thomas answered confidently.
What Thomas believes is true. Moments later Steve ended his burst of fire at Annie.
Then they returned to appear in good condition in front of the camera.
The two scientists beside Thomas breathed a sigh of relief. Yet Thomas just smiled because he know that his guess was correct all along.
Steve let go of Annie's hand causing her to fall limply to the floor.
"Sorry, are you hurt?" Steve asked.
"No. Don't worry," Annie answered while shaking her head.
Then she stood up and smiled at Steve. Steve thought that was a bit odd since he just burned her.
"I think I have a lot to learn from you," Annie said.
Steve didn't know what to answer. He had expected an intensified sense of rivalry to emerge from Annie after he had beaten her so badly.
However, Annie seemed to feel that she had just learned a valuable lesson.
"Hmm... Sure. I'm also still honing my own power. So you can't expect much," Steve said.
Annie was still smiling at him.
"How about we do it one more time?" Annie suggested.
"That sounds like a fine idea."
So they entered into a sparring session once again.