After admiring Lavinia and Asia's outfits, Rhode mentioned his idea of sparring with Lavinia for practice.
"Hmm... Rhode wants to train with me? But I don't think I can beat you," Lavinia said, tapping her lip with her finger. She knew Rhode was the "Mysterious Masked Man," and she had heard from Suzaku Himejima that a mysterious person had killed the Fallen Angel cadre, Satanael. Plus, he had jumped into her fight with Augusta and taken out the old hag with ease. She didn't think she was his match.
"It's fine. I'll only use the Longinus. I won't use any other abilities or weapons."
After all, the goal was to practice using [Incinerate Anthem]. Since the system didn't say he had to use it against an enemy, daily training should still increase his progress.
"Eh? Then you might not be able to beat me, Rhode. If you only use the Longinus... are you sure you can do this?"
"I won't know until I try." At those words, Rhode felt a surge of competitive heat. How could a man say he "can't"?
"Alright then, pick a spot. It's best to choose somewhere spacious so I can set up a barrier easily."
"Eh? Are Mr. Rhode and Sister Lavinia going out? Can I... come too?" Asia, who had been listening in, asked tentatively.
"Of course, but little Asia has to stay on the sidelines," Lavinia said gently. "I'll set up a defensive barrier for you, though."
"Thank you so much!"
Fifteen minutes later, Rhode arrived on the outskirts of Kuoh Town with the two girls and the cat. While land was at a premium in Japan, the forests surrounding Kuoh Town were quite vast.
"This place should work." Lavinia held out her slender hand, and a magic wand appeared in her grasp. She began chanting obscure incantations.
A moment later, a barrier that blocked out presence, sound, and vision covered the area for a square kilometer.
"This range should be enough. And for you two..." Lavinia continued her chant. "Descend, Light of Protection."
With a simple spell, two green lights enveloped Asia and Kuroka. "There. If you stay on the edge, the shockwaves from the battle won't affect you."
"Thank you, Sister Lavinia." Asia gave a small smile and walked to the shade of a tree, holding the black cat.
"Meow!" The cat waved a paw at Lavinia. "Go for it, Mage-nya!"
Kuroka didn't mention Rhode at all, clearly still holding a grudge over the "butt-slapping" incident.
Lavinia and Rhode stood ten meters apart.
"Are we really going all out? I don't think I can bring myself to hit Rhode too hard," the girl said, looking troubled.
"It's fine. It might be training, but if the intensity is too low, it's pointless. Besides, even if I don't use my other abilities to fight, I can still use them to dodge if things get dangerous."
"Alright then." Lavinia nodded.
She raised her wand, and a surge of demonic power shook the atmosphere. Magic circles with a radius of nearly five meters appeared in the sky, one after another. In less than a second, over a hundred ice spears shot out from the circles at blistering speeds. The spears tore through the air, breaking the sound barrier and exceeding speeds of a thousand meters per second in the blink of an eye.
Swoosh—!
The sound of the wind was piercing. Rhode's heart tightened; he instinctively moved to activate "Super Acceleration" but caught himself just in time, instead calling out [Incinerate Anthem].
A small purple crucifix appeared instantly. Before the ice spears could reach him, a ring of purple flames formed around him. The ice melted into steam from the intense heat before even touching the fire. Lavinia had expected this; she knew simple ice magic couldn't stand up to the Purple Flame. She had learned that during her fight with Augusta.
She immediately shifted strategies. The color of her wand changed, and instead of ice spears, lightning and gale-force winds erupted from the magic circles. But she didn't stop there. Light arrows and pure mana orbs followed, and one circle even poured out a flood of water to douse Rhode's position.
Standing in the center of his fiery ring, Rhode watched Lavinia spamming magic as if it cost her nothing. His lips twitched. Didn't she just say she was too worried to go all out? She went from zero to 'Augusta-Killer' moves in no time. He even saw a slight upward curve on Lavinia's lips.
This woman... she's smiling, isn't she? Could her personality be different from what I thought? She's not just a ditz—she's a secret sadist! She's definitely getting back at me for this morning!
Under the bombardment of multiple elements, his defensive ring began to waver. Rhode could feel his energy being consumed rapidly. Knowing he couldn't just turtle up, he counterattacked. The purple flames expanded, incinerating all the incoming magic. The floodwater evaporated instantly, filling the air with thick steam that obscured their vision.
But the steam was quickly scorched away by the heat of the purple flames. Fire pillars in the shape of crucifixes easily tore through Lavinia's magic circles. Lavinia's expression turned serious, but her eyes held a spark of praise. Generally speaking, someone who had just merged with a Longinus shouldn't be able to exert this much power. However, Rhode had absorbed the souls of Kyoto's "Three Great Yokai" before coming to town, which allowed him to skip the "weak beginner" phase. Even though this put a high demand on the user, Rhode seemed to be handling it effortlessly.
Lavinia's smile widened as she got serious. To deal with a Longinus, one had to use a Longinus.
An endless chill permeated the area without warning. Large swaths of the forest and ground were frozen instantly; the soft dirt turned into solid permafrost. Beside Lavinia, a "Princess" made of pale ice manifested. She had six pale blue eyes, four arms, and stood three meters tall.
Facing the incoming purple flames, Lavinia exhaled a cloud of freezing white mist. "I'm going to get serious now, Rhode."
In the next instant, a pale blue aura erupted from her body. The temperature in the air plummeted like a rock. Except for the small patch where Asia was standing, everything inside the barrier was covered by thick walls of ice.
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High School DxD : Reincarnated into the Multiverse, but it's High School DxD (144 Chapters – Ongoing)
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