The field wasn't changed for our battle either like how it had been for Rosa and Maki. Though, the battlefield had been fixed by the Celestial Prince while his cousin rested from his earlier illusion magic.

My own cousin reached for the hilt of his sword as he transformed the white cross in his hand into a white sword. He unsheathed Baldo and crossed both swords in front of him.

Meanwhile, I spun Alma around, building up its momentum.

"Ready when you are," I said, keeping an eye at him. A frigid aura surrounded his legs and feet, freezing the ground below. I could probably get close to him, but I probably wouldn't last too long even with the ice resistance I inherited from Mother. Long distance attacks were my best bet. I would have to use one sphere of Alma to attack and the other to defend.

Hyosetsu charged at me and vanished midway. I chuckled as the sphere I wasn't spinning struck something cold.

"Nice try, Hyo," I said as the ground around me rumbled. "But you must surely have known that I would stop it!"

Hyosetsu smirked as he leapt into the air. He rained several ice darts down at me. He swung one of his swords at me, unleashing a chilly wave of wind which pressed down on me with great force. He then proceeded to swing the other, creating an unrelenting blizzard.

I swung the part of Alma that I was spinning at him, nearly knocking him out of the air. Sadly, he parried it with both swords.

He jumped in mid-air and unleashed a blue aura from his swords. I spun all of Alma around, blocking the various energy sword beams.

I gasped as I felt my hands grow numb. Hyosetsu's beams had covered Alma in a layer of ice which had spread across the chains and now toward my hands.

I removed the ice on my hands using my own ice powers which felt like getting a tooth pulled out without anesthetic. Though, I kept my shriek in.

Hyosetsu charged at me but I slammed Alma toward him. He blocked once more but this time I continued to strike and strike, not letting down on him as I slowly pushed him back. It was a mistake on his part to have allowed me to get an attack combo going.

He grunted as he struggled to maintain his footing against the onslaught from Alma.

"Hyoryuu!" Hyosetsu yelled at the top of his lungs. The dragon-like marks on his pitch black Baldo emerged from the sword as if coming to life. The markings spread around Alma. A gurgling sound like the roar of a large crocodile emerged from the floating blue dragon symbol. Suddenly, the two-dimensional image started to bend and shift into that of a seven-meter ice dragon.

I stepped back as it peered at me with ferocious eyes. I yanked Alma away, knocking off several scales on its pale blue belly, but new ones quickly grew in their place.

"Is this a spell?" I asked.

"This is the spirit of the dragon used to make Baldo. Sir Tekeshi told me about it since our return to Xeleria. I had Sneg and Yuri teach me how to call upon a dragon."

"So, this is a real dragon?" I asked as I removed all of the ice around Alma.

"Well, the spirit of one," he said as he petted the dragon's back. "Hyoryuu, use Ice Blast!"

The dragon gasped for air and unleashed a wave of ice at me, freezing me in place.

I gasped for air and pulled away the ice from around me and raised the white tiles and earth around the two. "Earth Shackles!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. The mud and broken tiles danced around the two but as soon as the dragon's cold breath struck it head on, it froze in place.

Tsk. I need to come up with something else.

"Getting nervous," Hyosetsu asked as he took a step closer. "That's unlike you, crown princess." He came to a stop and jumped back as a pillar of black earth shot out of the ground. The earth split into disks of earth and were flung at him. He slashed them with his swords, but I had several go around him.

He spun around and slashed the ones that I had almost gotten around him.

"Seems that I spoke too soon," he said with a slight grin. His dragon rushed at me but I whacked Alma against its head. The dragon with its head pressed against Alma blew cold air out of its lips, freezing all of my lower body up to my abdomen.

I grumbled as I broke the sheets of ice off of my body, this time letting out a muffled shriek.

Hyosetsu smiled as he finished with the last of the earth disks which laid on the ground like broken pottery. He sheathed his white sword in Baldo's black sheath.

"Dance of Frozen Tears," Hyosetsu said as he spun Baldo in a circular motion. The black sword gained a brilliant cyan aura and the ground underneath its wielder cracked from the extreme cold.

I whacked the dragon laying on the ground once more for safe measure and flew to the air. "Rain of the Bird of Paradise!" I shouted. My feathers detached from my wings and flew down in the form of earth darts. Hyo sliced them down one by one despite them moving at the speed of sound. Yet, he somehow managed to move his sword at the right spot.

It was as if he had predicted my movements. I could tell that it wasn't from his technique as the technique was still in the process of charging power.

I had heard that Uncle Sebastian had a similar ability, but that wasn't unusual as he was an angel tool blacksmith. They tended to have special abilities related to reading the future or people. Though could it be that those abilities weren't the product of being an angel tool blacksmith, but instead it was their powers which allowed them to become angel tool blacksmiths?

There was so little known about the art as most tended to be secretive and accepted few apprentices, most of whom were family members. Even then, those apprentices were made to swear an oath of secrecy.

Was Hyo gifted with eyes capable of looking seconds into the future? Was that how he was able to anticipate Eiichi's attacks despite his incredible speed?

"Activate, Dance of the Frozen Tears!" Hyosetsu yelled as he swung his sword at me.

I held out my hands, forming a barrier of darkness around me, though it was turned into a giant hail stone and shattered into fine dust.

"Fleeing and hiding behind barriers, I didn't think you a coward, Crown Princess," Hyosetsu said, grinning. He kicked his feet against the ground, propelling himself toward me. He held Baldo with one hand and drew his white sword from Baldo's sheath. "White Phoenix!"

I threw all of Alma at him as a gale of snow blew around his left hand in a shape reminiscent of a phoenix. He held Baldo out, blocking one sphere but the other bounced upward as it hit the first sphere, sending Alma upward. He gasped and swung his white sword at Alma. The phoenix flew up toward my weapon, drawing it toward the ceiling of the violet translucent barrier.

Meanwhile, he was distracted I threw a black energy sphere at him.

Hyo sliced it in half with Baldo. The two halves went around him and struck the ring behind him, sending dust high into the air. He grumbled as the force of the blast sent him flying toward me.

I reached my hand up, recalling Alma back. Though, I moved away from it as soon as I felt the cold air radiating from it as it was a foot away from my hand. The weapon hit the ground which a loud thud. I looked down and saw that it was covered in a one-foot thick layer of ice, though it had actually been more than that as some of it had broken off upon falling into the ring.

I looked up and saw my cousin coming at me, swinging both swords as he spun around in circles, creating what essentially was an ice twister which quickly turned into a dirty ice one as it sucked up the dust all around us.

I stepped back and formed two dark spheres in my hands, putting as much mana into them as I could gather from my surroundings as the twister closed in. I jumped back as I felt blood drip down my face and arms. The edge of the wind was so fine that they were like blades.

"Dance of Blades!" Hyosetsu yelled as he came to a halt.

I turned the energy I had gathered into a barrier instead. Swords of freezing air spread in all directions, slicing and shattering the ring and even causing the barrier that the Seven Hills had made around us to bend.

I grunted as my barrier started to shatter. I let out a scream as I struggled to keep it from cracking. The wind, it was strong. Hyosetsu truly wasn't an opponent one should never take lightly. He was ambitious and proud, but had the power to back it up. I too was proud and thought highly of my power, but to be this close to being beaten by someone my age who wasn't Serrano, it was... terrifying and exciting!

I took a deep breath and shattered the barrier myself and spread out my wings. I held my hand toward Alma and yanked it out of its icy encasing.

Hyo smiled. "Ready to fight for real?"

"Yes!" I said as I formed seven diamond shaped crystals around me. The points of the crystals pointed outward like the rays of the solar symbol. "This time, let's finish this!"

There was a shine in my cousin's eyes as the icy aura around him continued to build up. The two of us lunged toward one another as space itself began to bend.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter:3. Thoughts? Predictions as to who will win?**