Point-of-View: Cleo Nova

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Wow, this is turning out to be even more powerful than I thought it’d be, these atomic attacks pack a serious punch!

Alright, let’s keep going, I-...woah!

I quickly veered across as Kai unleashed a rapid, piercing beam of Negative Energy towards me, grazing my right bicep as I narrowly avoided a direct hit.

I lifted my gaze as he shot up into the air, firing out a volley of Negative Energy blasts down towards me.

I swiftly raced across to evade them, before leaping up and spreading out my wings, loud crashes echoing out behind me as the blasts collided against the floor.

As I took off into the air and shot towards Kai, a sharp spark and crackle rang out as he channeled lightning into his left hand, concentrating and compressing it.

What’s he doing? He knows I’ve got Elemental Immunity, so why-...?

As I closed in on him, the lightning charged up in his hand suddenly erupted in a bright, blinding electric flash, forcing my eyes shut as I let out a startled gasp.

I stiffened as I sensed him charging towards me, before I gritted my teeth and unleashed an intense atomic pulse, right as a powerful force collided against the middle of my stomach, knocking the wind out of me and eliciting a sharp gasp as I found myself hurtling back through the air.

My vision blurred as I forced my eyes open, several dark spots in my line of sight as I closed in on the wall behind me.

I bit down on my lower lip to try and focus, swiftly spreading out my wings and unleashing a gust of wind as I activated my Roc Wind Skill, canceling out most of the momentum.

My back lightly thudded against the wall as I let out a slight groan, shaking my head and blinking a couple of times to regain my bearings.

I then stiffened before quickly raising my arms up and firing out an intense burst of wind, propelling myself down as a shredding blast of Negative Energy came shooting towards me, narrowly missing the top of my head as I dropped down right in the nick of time.

As my feet hit the ground, I sprinted across as a barrage of Negative Energy blasts rained down, peppering the floor with a cacophony of loud crashes, the bursts of force upon impact knocking me off-balance.

I froze as a Negative Energy tendril zipped out and coiled around my right leg, constricting tightly and bringing me to an abrupt halt, as I lost my balance and collapsed onto my left knee.

I got swept off my feet and yanked up into the air as he rapidly retracted the tendril, before I unleashed a burst of atomic energy from around my leg, blowing the Negative Energy off.

I then snapped my jaws open and fired out a swirling, drilling ray of atomic energy from my mouth, shooting towards Kai with immense speed.

As it closed in on him, he manifested Ravage, expanding the jaws and swallowing up my attack before it could reach him.

He then whipped his tail across, unleashing a rapid, horizontal slashing wave of Negative Energy towards me, forcing me to stop firing and swerve across the air, a deep gash appearing across my right hip as I failed to fully avoid the attack.

Crap, he’s attacking relentlessly, this is overwhelming...his Power Level is almost at 9,000,000 right now, while mine’s just below 6,000,000. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

It’s a significant gap, sure, but I should be putting up a much better fight than this. His Spirit Fusion should be a bad match-up against me, since his lightning attacks can’t affect me.

Not to mention, he isn’t using his Personalis Arma, which is a key part of his fighting style. And yet, it’s painfully clear that I’m the one at a disadvantage here...

I grimaced before charging up more atomic energy in my mouth while weaving through the air to evade as he fired out a flurry of Negative Energy blasts at me, several grazing me as I just barely avoided taking a direct hit.

As I finished charging up, I came to an abrupt halt and locked onto him, several blasts of Negative Energy shooting towards me as I snapped my jaws open wide and unleashed the atomic energy I’d charged up, in a powerful, roaring wave.

My attack swallowed up his blasts and canceled them out, barreling towards him with immense force.

"<Ravage: Cloak>."

A shroud of black and white energy erupted and swirled around his body as my attack closed in and engulfed him, having no effect as the energy of Ravage ate away at my atomic energy, keeping him safe.

I let out a strained gasp as my attack petered out, trying to catch my breath, right as he took aim at me with his right hand.

I stiffened and began to veer across as a bright flash of purple burst out, before I suddenly found myself teleported out of the room.

I blinked a couple of times in bemusement, my shoulders slumping as I let out a defeated sigh. I reached out and opened the door, stepping back into the room as Kai descended and landed on the floor, deactivating Enrage and Spirit Fusion as he stretched his arms up and let out a slow exhale.

"I’d be lying if I said I was confident in beating you, but I really thought I’d be able to put up a better fight than I did," I sighed wistfully.

Maybe it would’ve gone differently if I could use Nuke’s Spirit Art called Atomic Surge, but I apparently won’t be able to for a while. It’s a power boost that Nuke can use it on his own, but I can’t use through Spirit Fusion yet.

And it’s not something I can train for, it’s simply a matter of time, so all I can do is wait. Nuke explained it as needing time for his soul to synchronize with mine, or something along those lines.

"Well, it probably would’ve been tougher if you’d used more of your Monster Skills in conjunction with those atomic attacks, but that said, you’ve definitely improved a lot since the last time we sparred," He replied with a wry smile.

"Yeah, not gonna lie, that doesn’t really make me feel better. Doesn’t change the fact that this was really one-sided."