The ceiling of vines halted, pushed back by my Second Heaven aura.

I formed another pair of dark spheres, this time covering my maces with the energy. "Sorry, but it isn't over until I say so!" I said, smiling.

I threw one mace up and the other down. The energy burned through the vines around me, including the regenerated ones as I moved my weapons around as if I had telepathy.

Zini whistled and clapped. "Not bad. I knew you were going to struggle, but I'd expected you to try using a certain earth move. If you had gone with that, I would've won."

I snickered as I raised my right hand. "Oh, you mean this one?" I said.

The stones on the tower turned into mush and lurched toward my ancestor.

Zini swung his ax past his shoulder as he kept his back to the wave of mud coming his way. The mud let out a ton of steam as the heat from the ax melted it into lava.

I air-dashed backward as globs of hot liquid lurched at me from the melting pillar.

I moved one of my maces behind me while holding the other in front of me. I glanced above and below and side to side.

I took a deep breath. I need to stop that and relying on my eyesight. 'Sense your surroundings,' Khaliq had told me. 'Empty yourself.'

My celestial aura vanished once more.

"Ha, do you think you got the time to meditate?" Zini asked.

Intense heat radiated throughout my entire being as I moved left and right. The sensation wasn't the result of my typical touch receptors. Instead, it was the sense beyond that. It was different than the sixth sense as commonly understood these days. I couldn't directly read minds like a psychic could; instead, I could feel something else. Putting what that something was into words wasn't an easy thing to do.

"Wow," Zini said. His mouth was surely open in shock.

My body moved forward on its own as my hands curled around the warm hilts of my maces. Whether touching them or not, my weapons felt like an extension of my body.

I smiled. Is that what Hyo meant when he said, 'to a swordsman, a sword is part of themselves'? Thinking about it, that's probably another reason he disliked not being able to use his old angel tools after obtaining Baldo.

Zini chuckled as his punch landed on my stomach, sending me flying. "You still can't completely clear your mind, can you?"

I gritted my teeth but didn't open my eyes as I had done last time. Doing that would disrupt my zen mode further.

Zini's elbow struck me from behind, sending me spiraling toward whatever laid below at the end of the pillar. Not that I planned to find out what that something was.

I stretched my arms around to slow my descent as I tried to calm down. Perhaps, I should've focused on trying to activate Third Heaven like Hyo was instead of this technique. Though, that form had its own drawbacks such as high mana consumption. Then again, that's why we were sharpening our mana control in the first place.

My mana flared once again from within me as I opened my eyes. I'll have to use the other stuff I've learned to defeat this guy.

My entire body moved to the side as Zini's ax came flying at me. I gasped. Wait, did I just dodge without thinking?

"Still not done?" Zini asked as he flew down from the sky. His orange-red aura continued to blaze about him like a giant flame.

"Not yet!" I said, smiling. "Anyway, didn't you say that you were going to get serious? Still doesn't feel like you are to me."

Zini held out his hands, forming two giant fireballs. "I was making these."

He absorbed that energy into his body and kept it intact for later? Once I win this, I should get him to teach me how to do that.

"I hope you can handle this!" he said as he pressed the giant red orbs against one another, forming a smaller ball that resembled a star with little solar flares included.

I clenched both of my maces and moved my mana toward my wings and appeared behind him. "I won't allow you!" I yelled, aiming for the back of his neck.

Zini moved sideways and caught my mace with his barehand. He chuckled. "I'm glad this one doesn't have spikes as its meteor hammer form did."

My lips curled into a smile as I let go of my weapon. "Thanks for the idea."

Alma reverted into its meteor hammer form, causing Zini to grimace as its spikes penetrated through his skin.

He dropped my weapon and threw the sphere floating above his left hand at me.

My body once again moved on its own, but not before feeling the crazy heat from the passing attack. Luckily, the armor I was wearing diminished some of it.

I held my hands out and covered my four wings with more mana.

Zini smirked as he held out his right hand, catching his ax as it came flying back. "You have a great well of mana. I shudder to think how much you would have if you were to have drawn from your surroundings."

I warped my meteor hammer back into my hands and spun it around as each side of it gathered mana from around me.

"Another good idea!" I said.

His eyes widened. "How are you doing that without meditating?"

I snickered. "A certain someone told me that his weapon is an extension of his being. I'm applying that same principle here."

Thanks, Hyo. Training with you has paid off.

Zini laughed. "I see. Sounds like a wise person," he said as he appeared behind me.

My meteor hammer's chain coiled around the hilt of his ax. "Don't you get tired of the same old tricks?" I asked. "You're becoming awfully predictable."

Zini unhanded his ax. "I guess I am. Ave always used to poke fun of me because of that." He snickered as he lowered his eyes. "In battle, she's the exact opposite. An opponent with many tricks up her sleeve. When she battles your fiancé, assuming she hasn't already, I'm sure she'll use them without having to rely on Second Heaven like I am doing."

I bit my lip. Did I hurt his feelings?

He raised his head and smiled. "I'm am not that soft."

My eyes widened. He read my mind!

"No, I didn't read your mind. You're quite an expressive person, so it's easy to tell what you're thinking. I'm lucky that you aren't a stoic. Ave, on the other hand, could put on a mean poker face. I could never tell what she was thinking."

"So, you're saying I'm easy to read?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.

He laughed. "Oh, don't take it the wrong way." He floated around me in a circle. "That aspect makes you a trustworthy person."

I gasped as several copies of him surrounded me. Vines sprung from the wrists of each clone, covering me in another cocoon.

I closed my eyes and gasped as I felt only one Zini. They weren't copies, but after-images. He had occasionally been pausing to trip my eyes. Guess training to use zen mode still had its benefits.

I spread my wings and arms out, tearing the vines through brute force alone. "This is the second time you constrain me. You must enjoy trapping your enemies, huh?" I asked, opening my eyes.

Zini smirked. "Yes. I also used to cut them in half afterward. The combo earned me the nickname of 'Spider King'."

My mouth widened as I stuck the rest of his incoming vines. "Were you an assassin?"

"Yes. I was the most feared assassin on the continent at the time. A man who would do things blandly but highly effective at getting the job done. Though I'm not exactly living up to the 'effective' part of that, am I?"

This guy's way of speaking, it's familiar... He puts on a confident face, but it's all a façade.

I smiled. "Yes, but you have given me trouble. It's so annoying as it's so simple."

He grinned. "That's good to hear."

The after images vanished, revealing the real Zini flying in front of me. "Well, I think that I've wasted enough of your valuable time." He reached out and yanked his ax free from the grasp of my meteor hammer's chain.

I floated behind and kept my eyes on him. What was he going to do next?

He took a deep breath and snapped his fingers, warping us back to the top of a restored black tower.

I gasped. "How did you do that?" I asked.

He laughed. "That was Alma's doing. I just prompted her to do it is all."

"Why?" I asked.

His ax reverted back into the silver-haired female angel from before.

"You've done well, Setsuko," she said, taking a step closer.

I gasped as I noticed the black ball and chain on her right ankle. Had it always been there?

I glanced up at her orange eyes and smiled. "Thanks."

She looked over her shoulder at Zini. "You sure you don't wish to continue?"

"Huh?" I blurted out.

He gave me a defeated smile. "I can tell that she will be a tougher nut to crack than originally thought. I like strong opponents, but I don't like them when they don't know when to stay down. You understand me?"

My right eye twitched. "I don't."

Alma sighed. "He's saying he's too lazy to continue."

"Seriously?"

Zini scratched the side of his face and chuckled. "Yeah. I like doing things quick, fast, and efficient. Neither of those three apply to this match, so I rather not try."

I curled my hands into fists. "I refuse to win this way!"

He continued to smile. "You didn't need to win for Alma to accept you. You simply need to endure against me."

I blinked. "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"As you wouldn't have given it your all. Maybe we can have a rematch later. I'll try to come up with some new tricks to keep you entertained. Whenever you're in trouble, you can call on either one of us," he said.

Alma simply smiled and nodded.

I huffed. "Alright. I do need to wake up. Hyosetsu and the others are likely worried about me."

"Before that, I got a little something for you two," Alma said as she closed her eyes.

"For me too?"

Alma opened her mouth, but before she could respond, the area shifted into a field of purple flowers.

"Why did you take us here, Al... Alma?" Zini asked as he glanced around.

I took a step forward. "Maybe this is a test for us," I suggested.

Zini scratched his head. "I hope not. I wanted to lay down and rest."

I laughed. "Wasn't being in stone for years enough rest for you?"

He lowered his head. "You sound just like Ave."

I chuckled. "She must've been a smart woman."

He raised his head toward the sky. "Yeah, she's the smartest person I know."

I glanced up at the sky and gasped as a shock-wave echoed from a distance. This mana...

"Want to go check it out?" Zini asked as he took to the sky.

I nodded and followed after him. Though, I think I know who we will meet once we get there. But why would they both be here? Where exactly did Alma take us?

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter, if you did then please click on that star :D! Or leave your thoughts here. Or both!**