Theodore wasn't the only one who thought along such lines, though. Ninna as well couldn't help but consider a future where she tied this extraordinary man to her war chariot, or even... got a lot closer to him than that.
And who could blame her? During the entire first round, she hadn't found a single useful Subordinate... mainly because she had never left her cultivation location after arriving there. Even now, only those peak Celestial Stage guards were considered barely usable by her. As for her fellow Heaven's Chosen, she hadn't come across any that deserved to do more than to obediently donate their Heaven's Chosen Levels to her.
With an outstanding catch like Theodore right in front of her, how could she want to give him up without at least trying?
Not long after the two had come to an understanding, they found themselves facing each other in the Lesser True Void, with Ninna's underlings staying far away so as to not be caught in the crossfire.
Before they could formally get the ball rolling, however, the Ur Family heiress showed a small, excited smile. And Theodore, being the expert actor that he was, could tell that it was a genuine one. She appeared a little mischievous, but even he had to admit that she looked far better when she wasn't putting on a front.
"I was just thinking... how about we add some stakes to this duel? It would be a little boring if there was nothing for us to gain or lose, after all."
"I'm all ears. What do you propose?"
Motioning for her to continue, he was looking forward to what kind of wager she would suggest.
"How about: The winner can command the loser to do any one thing–of course, it can't be too outrageous. But this alone should allow us to feel a bit more motivated, am I right?"
Winking at him, she tried to appear seductive, but in actuality looked a lot more cute than she had intended, causing the corners of Theodore's lips to rise.
"Are you absolutely certain about that? I can't lie, it's a very tempting offer..."
Raising an eyebrow, he pretended to be deeply entranced by her beauty, allowing his gaze to wander all over her, scrutinizing her without shame. He did so to deliberately test her bottom line and character, but he also couldn't deny that she was quite the alluring temptress.
Her long, flowing hair was the colour of the four elements, harmoniously intertwined. And her eyes also followed the same colour pattern–her left one was both blue and green, whereas her right one was red and brown. She was clad in loose, elegant clothes that gently swayed in the rhythm of the tides, and continued to do so despite now being in the Lesser True Void. They did nothing to hide her transcendental figure either.
She appeared both lithe and flexible, yet also amply shaped in the right places, with a fiery, passionate air to her. Even her very body and aura exuded the breath of the four Foundational Elements. Truly, he was impressed!
"Uh... Yes! Yes, I'm sure! Now enough about that, let's start!"
A bit startled by his blatant staring, yet secretly proud, she evaded his gaze for a moment, then got into position. Whatever this song and dance of theirs was, this pretend-courting, it could wait until after one of them had won!
"Ladies first."
Bowing in a gentlemanly manner, Theodore's playful expression mostly disappeared, replaced by a focused, serious look that only served to make Ninna internally swoon even harder.
But regardless of how far her budding crush progressed, she didn't let that stop her from accepting his proposal and going on the offensive. Choosing to test the waters step by step, she merely utilized her control over fire, earth, air and water to fashion what amounted to casual blows from them.
Massive infernos, dense rock spikes of incredible size, gigantic tornadoes that would have been capable of shredding apart worlds, and towering, destructive tsunamis converged on Theodore's location within fractions of a second. They were in perfect harmony, with no opening present whatsoever–and every single one of the hundreds that were coming his way could easily wound a Celestial Stage expert if they weren't careful!
Almost disregarding these attacks, he did nothing but reinforce his body with a tiny bit of his Energy, going nowhere near his new limits. But even so, it was more than enough. To Ninna's shock, he casually strolled through every attack, with none of her means even leaving a single scratch on him, or tearing his clothing.
'... guess I won't need to hold back anything after all.'
If there had been any doubt remaining about how impressive the Winter Saint really was, then it had now entirely vanished. He had simply made it look far too easy, motivating her to truly go all out–at least to an extent. Everybody would keep a few aces up their sleeve for a rainy day.
With the initiative now being on his side, Theodore chose to pressure Ninna a little, trapping her within a prison of Eternal Ice. Its walls constantly grew thicker and more resilient, but they also closed in on her rapidly, threatening to encase her. At the same time, a searing light beam was shot towards her, the power and Energy contained within it enough to make her furrow her brows.
But as she evaded, she was stunned to see it refracted back at her–the walls of ice had rapidly changed shape to allow the ray to target her again! Soon, more and more of these beams of light began to enter the fray, making it increasingly more difficult for her to keep dodging.
Worst of all, however, was that some inconspicuous flakes of Eternal Ice had begun to fill up the entirety of the space around her, settling on her clothing, her hair and her body, forcing her to expend some Energy to keep them at bay. They were but an annoyance, yet a very effective one.
Snorting lightly in defiance, Ninna chose to up the ante a little. She had wanted to observe what he'd do some more at first, but without taking this more seriously, she would be simply embarrassing herself.
From one moment to the next, her entire body and clothing transformed into the four Foundational Elements, turning her fully incorporeal. It was as if she had been cut into four parts, as the elements didn't mix together, keeping a short distance from another–except for at one point at her abdomen, where they harmoniously converged, forming her core. It was bright white and felt transcendental, even more so than anything usually described as 'divine'.
'What is that 'light'? I've never seen something like this before.'
Furrowing his brows slightly, Theodore searched through his memories and knowledge, yet came up completely empty-handed. His education and training had been the best of the best amongst the younger generation of Supreme Pillar heirs, but even he couldn't be sure what he was witnessing.
Ninna's metamorphosis had served to empower her to an almost ridiculous extent, allowing her to shatter his Eternal Ice prison in an instant. Retaliating immediately, she confined him in a cage of her own making.
Just like back when he had faced Ziusudra, his environment completely changed. Gone was the Lesser True Void–it was now replaced by an expansive sphere consisting entirely of the Foundational Elements. Water and earth formed its bedrock, reinforcing each other to greater heights, while air and fire were utilized as the primary method of attack. Flaming tornadoes and blazing wind blades rained down on him from all sides, occasionally supported by black, incredibly sharp, dense, and heavy rock spikes.
It almost felt nostalgic to see such a method of attack again, but Theodore couldn't be as relaxed as he had been back when he had first encountered it. The underlying principle might be the same, but the range of this orb of destruction, the power and Energy fuelling it, as well as the very essence of the Foundational Elements that was further reinforcing it, made it an entirely different beast.
He instinctively knew that remaining in his current state, he might get obliterated in the blink of an eye once the attacks actually arrived. Thankfully, he was extremely far from genuinely giving it his all.
Reinforcing his body with as much Energy as it could handle... he still felt that it wasn't enough. Therefore, he infused it with even more, constantly damaging himself. Fortunately, his recovery speed was outright absurd, so he wasn't the slightest bit bothered by these sorts of injuries.
Reciprocating in kind, he funnelled most of his strength into his fist and punched but once, detonating the prison that had confined him with ease. Of course, neither he nor Ninna would ever fight in such a performative manner if their lives were truly on the line, but because they were not, they could 'play around' like this.
'What will you do now, girl?'
Shooting her a teasing smile, he watched her ethereal eyes widen, then the gaze within them changed. Evidently, she was annoyed at having been belittled, choosing to reveal even stronger cards of her own.
"Hmph! You better prepare yourself, else that handsome face of yours is going to get hurt!"
Funnelling the four separate parts of her elemental body into its very core, a blinding light shone forth, forcing Theodore to shield his eyes for a moment.
When everything died down again, it appeared that a second transformation had taken place. Ninna was still incorporeal, yet her body was now a single whole again–and it was made up of the same 'substance', or 'energy'–or whatever it really was–that had previously been solely seen at her central nexus.
Despite appearing wholly bright white and akin to a ghost, this only further enhanced her beauty, almost taking his breath away. He might have got lost in this sensation, if it wasn't for the extreme danger that she now radiated, causing his instincts to roar in alarm.
'Seriously, what is this?! And how come it's so powerful?'
Secretly astonished, he–for the first time since obtaining his Undying Empyrean Phoenix Bones–absolutely maxed out the amount of Energy that his body could handle with without getting annihilated on the spot. The resulting power far surpassed anything that a peak Celestial Stage cultivator could possibly resist, yet it still wasn't enough to reassure him.
'It's the first time that I've been made to use this, but I suppose now is as good of a time as any...'
Relying on his Sacred Phoenix Physique, he transformed some of his endlessly abundant Energy into a gentle light that began to suffuse his entire physical vessel, healing him rapidly. It significantly strengthened and accelerated his recovery speed, allowing him to reinforce himself much, much further than he had ever done before.
It was a simple and straightforward method, for sure, but the resulting ridiculous increase in his Standard Attributes allowed him to finally breathe a sigh of relief.
With all of his aspects approaching the status of being 'divine' already in their normal state, he did not need to fear a direct confrontation with someone at the Celestial Stage, as they couldn't suppress him relying solely on the difference in life hierarchy.
Following Ninna's first metamorphosis, she had also reached a comparable 'divine' state, yet he had been able to completely ignore it. Her second one, however, was something that he could not yet understand or figure out. It felt like she had surpassed the classification of being 'divine' altogether, as absurd as that sounded.
'That should be absolutely impossible at such an early cultivation stage, though.'
A bright smile stole itself on his lips as his heart beat rapidly in excitement. He himself had shattered common sense more than once in the past, therefore he didn't find it strange that others could do so as well. Yet instead of recoiling in worry at this development, his fighting spirit burned ever brighter.
And so did Ninna's.
It had been a long time since either of them had come across such an extraordinary opponent. They both knew that this battle wouldn't end anytime soon. And although it had begun as but a sparring match, they now genuinely wanted to determine who was the strongest!