I smiled as Lei stood opposite me. The day of our battle had finally arrived.

"Ready?" he asked, grinning.

I chuckled. "Of course. Let's see which of us two makes it to the semi-finals."

"Seems both our contestants are rearing to go! Without further adieu, begin!" Marina yelled.

"Yeah!" Electricity surged toward Lei's legs. The ground underfoot crackled as he leaped at me. 

I quickly dodged his attack and formed spheres of water to absorb any long-range lightning spells.

He smirked. "You dodged."

I scoffed. "I've been training for that." Thankfully, Xue sparred with me during the past two days. She was the only person fast enough that I could ask to spar with me. Asking Kun and Yen would've been awkward. And Adela had been busy trying to hatch her phoenix.

My hands glowed blue. Cyan orbs appeared on both sides of me. With a flick of my wrists, they shot forward in unison, smashing into him before he could even react. He grunted as electricity filled the air around him. His eyes widened as more of the cyan balls came flying at him.

A wave of electricity radiated from his body, pushing them away.

He smirked. "You sure are going all out early this time."

I laughed. "Well, not like I need to buy time for a certain honey-loving boy."

His face turned red. "Thanks for that. I'll repay you later."

"Maybe another carrot dish?"

He smiled as he surged at me. "Alright."

I grinned. "Deal."

Lei stopped all of a sudden and cupped his hands. Wait, was he going to use Ventus Draco Maxima? Or maybe something else?

The electricity around him rushed into his arms.

No, not Ventus, but Fulgur!

Lei smirked as he spun around and summoned his wand.

Wait, why did he summon his wand for? Was his control of it still not perfect? He did seem to struggle with his aim last year. That's one thing that Alto had going for him beyond just raw power.

"Aqua Sphera!" I yelled. Water erupted from my hand. It flew towards Lei who managed to dodge it by ejecting air from underneath his right foot, propelling him skyward. A second sphere followed after him.

He held his wand out, blocking it.

Since when could he do that?

I scoffed. Well, he wasn't the only one with fancy new wand-based techniques. I summoned my wand and transformed it into its pudao form.

"Gonna use that umbrella transformation technique now?" Lei asked as he swatted the sphere at me. It didn't hit me directly but rather struck a pillar behind me.

"Yup," I said as I began running. It would take a bit of time to charge up the required prana, though. Truthfully, it was better to use as a last resort as there was more energy it could draw upon, in other words, the energy suspended in the air over the course of battle.

"Oh man, your reflexes really have improved."

I shrugged. "As I said, I need to be agile if I hope to beat you."

He smiled as his wand crackled with prana.

Hmm, he appeared to be keeping his distance from me. Was he afraid that I might use my martial magic on him? He did have a rather frail body.

I focused my prana on my feet so that they would become harder than steel. The ground underfoot shattered as I leaped at him.

Lei swung his body back and unleashed a gentle flow of electricity at me. It dissipated against my fists which glowed crimson.

With a quick jab, I knocked his wand aside. Before he could recover, I punched him square in the chest. Or at least I thought so. I grimaced as electricity hit me. A fake? This kid really loved being unpredictable.

I gasped and turned around even as I began to fall. Lei flew at me from behind. Overcoming the paralysis, I spun my polearm at him.

He avoided the attack and thrust his hand forward. "Fēng zhǎng!" he chanted.

I gasped for air as my back was struck by a burst of pressurized air. A Xianian spell?

Thankfully, I had hardened my legs prior, allowing me to resist the fall. If I hadn't landed on my legs, I might've broken a bone or two.

Lei raised his hand, levitating his wand toward him. "Fulgur Draco Maxima!"

My eyes widened. I held my glowing Pudao up. It transformed into its umbrella formed in the nick of time.

I gritted my teeth as the electric dragon pushed me back. The tiles around me went flying into the air and disintegrated. So much power packed tightly! It was like that of my talismans. No. It was more powerful. Lei must've had a lot of trust in me blocking it. Had I not, I might've died.

"I won't be one-shotted!" I yelled, pushing back against it. Even if I were to deflect it, it wouldn't hit him, given he was still suspended higher than his wand was.

Lei chuckled. "Don't you think it's a little late for that? I already tried several attacks." He held his arms wide open. Spots that would've been barely visible to a non-light mage, due to the sunlight, appeared behind him. "Leiji!"

Electric chains flew out from the spots.

The kid was more desperate to win than I thought!

I took a deep breath as the chains flew around my umbrella.

"Lumen!" I yelled, striking the chains with beams of rainbow light.

They fizzled away into nothingness without touching me.

I smirked. "Nice try, but it doesn't work on me."

Lei sighed, yet smiled at the same time. "You're a tough nut to crack."

I continued pushing back against his spell. "So are you. Now, stop being afraid and come down here!"

He blushed. "I rather not get elbowed or worse."

"You used to take blows with more ease before."

"Yeah, but I was a rather reckless kid back then."

I snorted. "You're still a kid."

He grumbled. "I don't want to hear that from someone almost a whole year younger than me!"

I rolled my eyes. "It's about how you act."

"What does that mean?! I'm a lot more mature now!"

I chuckled. "Your reaction just now tells me not as much as you think."

Lei narrowed his eyes. "Whatever. Let's focus on the battle!"

I nodded. He looked ready for anything I threw at him. Likewise for me. Which meant that we'd probably end up having a pretty close match.

My umbrella glinted as it cut through the remnants of the electric dragon while his wand crackled with wind prana. What could he have in mind now?

"Hm?" Lei frowned as he landed back on the floor. "You blocked my attacks well with that umbrella-spear thing. What exactly is it, though? Kun also pulled out something similar in his match against me, turning his wand from its sword form into a spherical shield."

"It's a metamorphosis. A wand's regular stick form is its base form. Its weapon form is its awakened form. And stuff like this umbrella and Kun's shield are metamorphoses."

"Like a butterfly?"

"You could say that. It takes a certain level of prana control and wand mastery to use."

"Huh. How many people can do such a feat?"

I shook my head. "Only a select few ever manage to. Most tend to abandon their wands, seeing it as a sign of their mastery of magic. Unbeknownst to them, they're throwing away a pivotal tool for the sake of their pride."

I shook my head. "Only a select few ever manage to. Most tend to abandon their wands, seeing it as a sign of their mastery of magic. Unbeknownst to them, they're throwing away a pivotal tool for the sake of their pride."

"Well, I do know that some see using a wand as cheating."

I laughed. "Using a wand gives you an advantage because you can move faster and pull off tricks like the one you just did, launching your spell from a distance as if controlling a drone."

He smiled. "True. Fighting with Kun made me want to see what else mine can do. There's still a lot that I don't know about my wand."

I grinned. "And I bet that you've gotten better since last year too."

He blushed. "Uh... yeah..."

I smirked. "Now then, let's continue our duel. The crowd seems to be getting angsty."

He nodded and jumped back. I held out my hand and created three balls of water.

Lei dodged them as he transformed his wand into its dual butterfly sword form. It had an orange indent below the yellow one he had gained while battling Iah-Ratmir, which was below the red and blue ones he got from Adela and me respectively. He could clearly draw upon the prana of others. That ability meant he would be a natural at metamorphosing his weapon.

His wand glowed bright pink as he charged at me.

I smirked. At last, he decided to close the physical gap.

A barrier of water formed around me as I sidestepped his attack. He planned on hitting me with the blunt end of his weapon. 

Lei zipped around, appearing behind me. He stabbed the barrier and unleashed a wave of electricity, causing it to fluctuate.

I twisted the water to avoid getting electrocuted and jumped out of the ruined barrier.

Lei threw one of his knives at me. I jumped back, avoiding it completely. He smirked as he warped in front of me.

What?!

"Fēng zhǎng!" he yelled, thrusting his palm toward me.

I ducked and hit him in the gut with my umbrella.

He doubled over, coughing as blood spewed out of his mouth. "Ouch, that really hurt."

"Sorry," I said, panting. I lowered my umbrella. My heart pounded hard. Did I seriously hurt him?

He jumped back and wiped away the blood from his mouth. Wind spun around him. "It's okay. Don't go easy on me just because of a little blood."

I chuckled nervously. It was more than just a little. Thankfully, his abysmal would take care of any further bleeding.

Blades of wind flew at me from the vortex. I jumped around like a bunny, avoiding all of them.

"Hey, you've yet to use that rabbit cloak thing you used against Aya."

"Think you know why." If I used it, it would hurt him more than my umbrella-lance did.

He nodded. "It's for the same reason Kun held back using his light spells against me, right? It would hurt me a lot, given Mr. Cat."

I nodded. "That's right," I said as I avoided the last of his blades of wind. "But don't worry yourself. I still got a lot of spells I can use against you!"

He gasped as I thrust my umbrella at him, unleashing a wave of water droplets moving as fast as bullets. Lei warped away from where he stood and appeared in front of me again. His sword remained embedded in the floor in front of me!

I held my umbrella out in front of me like before and waved it, causing the droplets to come back to me.

Lei jumped, avoiding them as they gathered around my umbrella. Seemed he was more cautious of it this time.

I returned my eyes to the sword. Had to get it out of here, or else he would just pop up again!

He held his knife up. Electricity crackled around it. All that prana he had been charging, was he planning another Fulgur Draco?

He smirked. "Leiji!"

I gasped as chains sprung out of his knife, gripping me in place. What? But there was no prana! No, way. Did he warp his spell from one knife to the other? This was bad. How would I get out of this one now? My body was paralyzed once again.

**Solar Note: The chapter was partially written with the help of A.I. Hope that you enjoyed it ^_^.**