*Aria*

I leaped back, avoiding the stream of fireballs. Was she only dragging things on for Lei to return? Unfortunately, I couldn't let her. Not when she was using her fire magic. Flame mages' spells grew more potent the longer a battle went on, so long as they still had prana. Adela was an expert at prana control. So she could keep this level of attacks for a long time.

A smirk lined my face. Let's see if you are worthy of being the Crimson Phoenix Guardian, Adela Mu Xian.

I formed a shield, casting Indurare on it. Just in time too, as Adela rushed at me with a flaming kick. I smiled as she failed to make a dent despite her scorching flames.

She clicked her tongue and pulled her leg back. Her fists came at me rapidly. Had she lost all will to win? Attacking my shield straight on wouldn't do her any favors. She was better off trying to sneak up behind me. Guess she truly was only drawing out the fight for Lei's sake.

The High Priestess jumped back and issued another series of blows, this time denting my shield. I held my other hand over it, casting Indurare once more and fixing the weak point. My arm trembled as she recklessly continued to attack me. Like I had suspected, her flames grew more potent the longer she went.

"Lux Draco!" I chanted at the top of my lungs. Light contracted overhead, forming a dragon that shimmered in the colors of the rainbow.

Adela leaped back while simultaneously throwing a dense fireball at me. I dodged it as she slashed my dragon with several swords. The girl's way of fighting truly was bestial. Nothing like what I had expected from a priestess. At least it was not as wild as her display during the games. She was like a completely different person.

"It's over!" I yelled, exploding my shield. The blast sent her reeling. I smiled and took the time to summon my white wand. The one that Nahimana had given me. It transformed into a two-meter spear in my hand.

Adela looked up and stopped my spear with both her hands. Her ruby eyes were as defiant as those of Kun's little brother. Had she learned to fight this way from him?

Flames seeped out of her hands but spread no further. 

"Your flames won't do a thing. This spear is basically pure Orichalcum."

She smirked. "That so?" The temperature of the air around her rapidly increased. The sleeves of her crimson robe even caught on fire despite being made from flame-resistant fabric. 

"H-hey! Stop that! You're going to hurt yourself!"

The High Priestess of Xian continued to smile as the flames grasped my spear tightly. I unhanded it and jumped back. If not for that insane heat, I would have gone in for a kick, knocking her out of bounds.

I gasped as she threw aside my spear. Her flames had melted the shaft away. The mad lady had actually done it! She melted Orichalcum.

Adela swayed back and forth like a drunkard. "That oversized toothpick of yours is nothing compared to the orichalcum knight golems I had to take down in Ratmir's ruins."

W-what, she melted multiple orichalcum armors? I knew she could be a monster in battle, but even this was beyond what I had expected.

I laughed slightly as I drew the melted orichalcum toward her. Solid orichalcum was difficult to control, but melted was a different case. Unfortunately, it was hard to keep it in liquid form in the first place.

Adela sidestepped it, nearly tripping as she did so. She was at her limits. Her flames were starting to produce black smoke. Even for a mage of her skill, melting orichalcum was draining.

I formed rings from the melted orichalcum and threw them at her, aiming for her arms. She held out her hands, halting them in the process. Teeth clenched, she threw the metal to the ground and dashed at me.

Reforming my shield, I blocked her hit. This time, there were no flames.

"You burned yourself out," I said, blocking all of her attacks. "Give up. You've lost already."

"Not yet!" she said, slamming her open hands against my shield. The resulting vibrations made me wince, but Adela seemed fine. I gulped as she vanished from view. Spinning around, I hit her leg with my shield, but she had gotten far enough to kick me.

I gritted my teeth as I hit the floor.

Adela stared at her leg. I had managed to draw blood. 

"Told you to give up," I said, pushing myself up.

She raised a hand at me. Darts of iron rushed at me from underneath her. I deflected them back by taking control of them. Or at least that was the plan. They had fallen between us and dissolved, leaving behind smudges of blood on the once snow-white tiles.

So, she used the small traces of iron in her blood to transform it into darts. As expected of a prana expert. Blood contained a lot of prana in a little drop. As a bonus, it also made it hard for mages who shared the same element to seize the other person's attacks. Although, she had to be rather desperate to use blood to fight. It wasn't looked highly upon by the church. And for good reason too. While blood-based magic was potent, using it risked death. One would've been better off using every bit of prana in their Magicum Organum than using up half of the blood in one's body.

Adela held a hand over her leg, healing it.

I warped behind her and hit her with a beam of light, but a metal mirror appeared behind her, deflecting the attack back at me.

She smiled as she rose to her full height. "Jīnshǔ Jìngzi," she said. The mirror glowed bright white with the remaining traces of my light beam.

Jīnshǔ Jìngzi? So, that was one of Xian's special metal spells. I should've figured she would have a spell or two up her burnt-up sleeves.

I rose to my feet, but before that, Adela came up to me from behind. I ducked her punch and jabbed my elbow at her stomach. She sidestepped it and went for a kick on my side. I rolled out of its way and went for a low kick. Adela jumped, swinging her left foot at my leg. I pulled it away and dashed to her side. She blocked the hit and went for a right hook. I caught it and knee kicked. Adela had just enough space to avoid it. It was hard to tell with her robe, but she had a figure akin to that of a gymnast. Certainly, she moved like one. Just what kind of physical training did she do? Come to think of it, Ling also had a similar figure. Was it a Xian thing?

Adela swung her foot at me, copying my low kick from earlier. I sidestepped it and tapped her foot, sending her tumbling to the floor. Unfortunately, I was still holding on to her, so I was brought down as well.

Both of us struggled to get up before the other could. I hadn't noticed it earlier, but constantly replenishing my shield had drained my prana. Was that her plan all along? To chip away at my reserves? If so, it didn't come without a cost. I just had to hold on a bit longer. Then victory would be mine.

Debris littered the ring, leaving not much else of it intact. Each of our earlier contact blows had produced shockwaves akin to her battle with Xue.

Adela held her hands low as plant prana flowed into her hands. She was going for that root spell again!

Leaping over to the other side of the ring with a large dislodged boulder behind me, I drew my broken lance back toward me. Channeling prana into it, I reformed it with the still-hot liquid orichalcum on the floor.

Adela slammed her glowing hands against the ground. "Arbol Avis!" Like earlier, a series of roots flew up from the ground, heading straight at me.

"Metallum Aquila plus Accerelare plus Indurare!" I chanted. I pointed my left finger at myself. Acceralare plus Indurare.

She gasped. So, she had expected me to go with the dome. Good.

My bird tore through the roots with its beak and wings. As it neared Adela, multiple roots grasped it all at once. Its wings creaked as it lost momentum rapidly.

S-she stopped it? I gasped as Adela appeared directly in front of me. 

"Not bad!" I said, appearing behind her. "Sadly, I cast Accerelare on my boots."

I avoided her kick and grabbed her by the leg, swinging her straight toward my stuck bird.

Adela spun around and landed on top of it. She smirked as she put her hands on its back.

What was she doing? Did she not watch my match against Vermeil? My strengthening spells made it nearly impossible to take over my metal spells.

The bird rocked back and forth as the roots swung it around.

Wait? Was she thinking of catapulting it at me? Hmph, she really was at her limit.

I dashed her and formed a sword. "Acuere Ferrum!" I slashed through the roots, but more came up to replace them. One might as well have been fighting a hydra.

I gasped as several roots grasped me. Their squeeze felt light, thanks to the Indurare I cast earlier on my light armor.

The vines overhead began to bend, drawing Adela closer to ground level. Shivers ran up my body as my trapped bird flew at me. I crossed my still-free arms in front of me. The sheer speed of the attack sent me flying out of bounds. 

"Wow! In a startling turn of events, the winner is Adela!" Marina yelled.

I-I had lost. I smiled. At least her Majesty proved not to be a pushover.

Adela kicked my spell down, ending its spinning in circles.

I clapped my hands. "Impressive. You truly are worthy of bearing the title of Crimson Phoenix Guardian."

She stared at me. "Thank you, but I still have much to grow."

"We all do." I walked over to her and held my hand at her.

She smiled and reached her hand out. Her eyes widened as her hand touched a red egg. "What's this?"

"It's yours. Mother and Lady Wudi found it on one of their expeditions in the region. Lady Wudi felt you should have it."

She frowned as she took it. "Iah's mom did? Why? I-it's my fault her son went rogue."

I shook my head. "She bears no ill will toward you. In fact, the way she spoke about you seemed like that of an old friend or even a mother."

She curled her arms around it and pressed her forehead against it. "That so?" Tears began to drip down her face.

I put a hand on her shoulder. A beam of light struck us, warping the two of us away. As a Xianian woman, to be seen crying was to show weakness. We Arma had a similar notion for both sexes. But we still had to let our emotions out.

"You did well, Adela," I said, leaving her alone in the nurse's office.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed this first episode of the year! Any thoughts on the outcome? Predictions?**