Astral Odyssey: Dying Ember

World 2.5: Alice

That night, the first sparring match was held.

Violet first paired up with Alice while Ethan paired up with Stephan. Violet was not an overbearing opponent and Alice felt like it was a perfect practice match for a warm up. Moreover, Violet's fire ability was naturally against her water ability. It was good for her to practice increasing the strength of her power and withstand other's attacks.

After an hour, Ethan paired up with Alice while Violet paired up with Stephan. Ethan was a little trickier as he has a similar fighting style with Alice. However, she still did not have to go all out with Ethan because he left loopholes in his stances and attacks that she took advantage off. 

After another hour, Stephan paired up with Alice, while Violet paired up with Ethan. Alice knew that Stephan was unlike the other two who would go easy on her, so she decided to use this chance to go all out. Despite that, Stephan looked the most bored out of the three she sparred with. He casually threw a few lightning and ice attacks at her and defended against hers easily. 

Stephan sighed. Her attacks may be tricky to deal with but its intensity was far lower than when he sparred against Ethan and Violet. He could not help but ask her, "I don't get you. You're really weak. Why didn't you go to another school instead of making yourself easy picking here?"

Violet overheard his question and chided him."Stephan! How can you say that?"

Stephan shrugged. "Seeing weak people in strong schools and struggling like that... It's like they're trying to be who they're not. Who wouldn't be irritated?"

Violet scowled. "You never change." 

Stephan grinned widely. He just loved to tease her. He later returned his attention back to Alice to show that he was still expecting a reply.

"If I'm weak, I would die no matter where I go, it's just a matter of when. So why should you bother when I choose to die?" Alice's reply sounded so grave that it disturbed everyone present.

"So if you managed to grow stronger and survive in a strong school, you're more likely to survive after you graduate." Ethan inferred.

Alice nodded.

"So you would be fine if you died in the process of becoming strong in school?" Stephan clarified.

Alice nodded again.

"Let's see how strong you can get then." Stephan looked serious and swiftly encased her in a ball of darkness. He then formed an ice spear and threw it into the ball of darkness. Violet screamed in shock and fear when the spear left Stephan's hand.

Inside of the ball, Alice was thoroughly shocked when she suddenly lost her sense of sight. It was complete darkness. She could not see her hands even when she placed it right in front of her face. Learning from past experience, she had already instinctively maximised the power of the water barrier around her when she lost her sight but quickly felt a deep sense of crisis. It's not enough!

She instantly changed her wall of water to become a thick block of ice surrounding her. This was the fastest she had ever altered the state of her element. At the same time, a loud explosion was heard and a bright light simultaneously surrounded her. It was so blinding that Alice shut her eyes and shielded her face with her arms.

Dead silence filled the room. The trio stood stunned.

Ethan had reacted first and shouted at Violet to use her light ability a milisecond after she screamed. At the same time, he also threw out a water slicer in an attempt to knock Stephan's spear away. Violet's reflexes was not bad after training with Ethan from young. She reacted to his command almost instinctively and dispelled the ball of darkness while he threw his attack.