Nova closed his eyes, centering himself. His essence flowed through his small body in a torrent. Skills activated in rapid succession: Cloak of Nova, Grounded, a few others he would keep secret for now, and finally, Grand Element Unification of the Fifth Level.

The air around him erupted with swirling currents as his body transformed. He stretched upward, muscles expanding and bones elongating.

Where a child had stood moments before, now towered a young man in his prime. His white hair whipped around his face as waves of power rolled off him. His skin glowed with an ethereal light, as if the very essence of the universe flowed just beneath the surface.

From the hillside, Millie gasped. "Big Nova is so cool!" she exclaimed, shielding her eyes against the radiance.

Anny stood her ground, unfazed by the display. A smirk played across her childlike features as she raised a single eyebrow. "Oh, going straight to your strongest skill?" Her voice carried across the clearing, calm and confident despite the pressure of Nova's aura pushing against her.

Nova flexed his newly adult hands, feeling the perfect balance of the five elements circulating through his meridians. Fire, earth, metal, water, and wood—each enhanced the others, creating a harmony that magnified his power exponentially.

"It's easier to hold back when I have near-perfect control of my body," he replied in his now deeper voice. "This way, I won't accidentally hurt you."

Anny's eyes narrowed, the challenge sparking something predatory in her gaze. "Hmph. You don't mind if I accidentally hurt you, do you?" She rolled her shoulders, tiny muscles coiling with deceptive power. "You regenerate, after all."

His lips curled into a confident smile. "Well, you can try."

The air between them seemed to freeze for a heartbeat—that moment of perfect stillness before a storm breaks.

Then Anny moved.

She didn't just run—she exploded forward. Her small feet tore chunks from the earth as she ran, leaving a cloud of dust and debris in her wake. The ground cracked under the force of her acceleration, spiderwebbing outward from her starting position.

Her right arm transformed mid-lunge, turning into hardened scales and cruel talons. The limb doubled in size, becoming a drake's claw that gleamed in the morning light. She reeled back, preparing to strike.

'I figured you'd go for close combat.' Nova thought, reading her approach like an open book. 'It is likely my weakest style of combat, but that doesn't mean I'm bad.'

He waited until the last possible moment before leaping backward, barely touching the ground as he defended against the strike. The air around his forearms thickened slightly as essence formed invisible layers of protection against the coming blow.

Anny's transformed claw whistled through the air, trailing faint wisps of blue energy. Nova caught the strike against his right forearm, deflecting it slightly to disperse the force.

THUD!

The impact sent tremors through the clearing. Dust swirled around their feet, caught in the shockwave that rippled outward.

Nova stood his ground, but something was wrong. The power behind the strike had been underwhelming, almost deliberately so. Then a strange sensation spread through his arm—numbness creeping like cold water through his veins. His fingers tingled, then went completely numb.

'What—' His eyes widened in realization. 'Oh, you hit a meridian point with your essence! Clever, but you don't have enough Soul Power to suppress me.'

With a focused burst of his own essence, Nova pushed back against the invasive energy. Golden light flared around his arm, forcing out the intrusion. A tiny pop echoed as the blockage cleared, and sensation flooded back into his limb.

'My turn.'

Anny remained in her normal form as a four-year-old girl, except for her transformed arm. The small size gave her incredible speed, but sacrificed reach and raw striking power. Not to mention how easy she was to throw around.

In a lightning-fast movement, Nova's hand shot out, grabbing Anny's leg—now blackened and scaled from her partial transformation. Muscles bulged in his arm as he prepared to execute a simple but devastating overhead slam.

But Anny was ready.

Instead of resisting, she went with the motion. As Nova lifted her, she contracted her body like a spring, using his own momentum against him. Her transformed claws sank into his sleeve, finding purchase where normal fingers would slip. With the agility of a monkey, she scrambled up his arm.

Nova tried to extend his grip to throw her, but she was already at his shoulder. Her nimble form twisted around his neck, locking her legs and arms in a practiced chokehold. Her weight was minimal, but her technique was flawless.

'Damn it Anny, long distance is so much cooler! We were supposed to give them a show!'

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From the hillside, Quinn leaned forward with concern. "Should we stop them?"

Larena shook her head. "Keep watching," she replied, never taking her eyes off the combatants.

Her arms tightened around his neck, slowly blocking his airways. But Nova did the same to her neck, grabbing it with his available arm. It was small enough that he could wrap his fingers around it completely. He started pushing her away, confident he would manage to overpower her.

But Anny grinned. Their eyes met briefly—hers flashing with golden light, his widening in realization of what was coming.

Anny's body began to grow. Bones cracked and muscles expanded as her childlike form stretched and transformed. Red scales erupted across her skin in a wave, replacing soft flesh with armored plates that gleamed like rubies in the sunlight. Her limbs thickened, gaining the mass and power of a creature bred for combat.

Nova's grip on her throat faltered as his fingers slid across the sharp scales emerging across her skin.

"You wanna give up?" Her voice had changed too, deeper and rougher than before.

Nova just grinned. Without warning, a formation hidden beneath his clothes activated—one he had prepared for just such a moment.

At the same time, he pushed off from the ground with both feet. His body arched in a perfect backflip over Anny, channeling a massive surge of electricity through his entire frame.

Anny, who still had her feet planted firmly on the ground, became the perfect conductor. The electrical current raced from Nova's skin to hers, following the path of least resistance—from her hands gripping his throat, through her transformed body, and down to the earth below.

"Aaagh!"

Her hands released their grip on his throat instantly, instinct overriding combat training as her body convulsed from the shock. It saved her from receiving more damage, but she lost her advantage.

Smoke rose from her scales, curling upward in thin gray wisps. The smell of scorched lizard filled the air, like a mix of burning leather and… tallow, for some reason.

Nova wasted no time once he was free. Transparent wings erupted from his back, bursting through the fabric of his shirt in a shower of ethereal light.

With a single violent flap, he unleashed a maelstrom. Winds howled across the clearing, bending saplings double and stripping leaves from branches. The gale-force blast caught Anny's drakeling form, still stunned from the electrical attack, and sent her tumbling backward.

Her massive body carved a furrow through the earth as she skidded to a stop thirty paces away, still on her feet. Dust billowed around her, momentarily obscuring her from view.

From the hillside, Millie cheered at the unexpected reversal. "Wow! Nova is the best!" Her small hands pressed against the barrier in excitement, leaving smudges on the transparent surface.

"You should get some rubber shoes if you want to fight me like that," he called down to her, grinning widely.

'Or some chainmail to lead the current through the metal instead of your flesh, but that's not something I'd like people to know.'

Anny brushed dirt from her massive arms, each motion deliberate and controlled despite her obvious pain.

"I should have known you wouldn't fight fair!" she growled, smoke still rising from several patches of scorched scales across her body.

Nova's wings beat steadily, creating small eddies of dust below him. "Fair? I usually fight for my life, so I have no concept of fighting fair."

"...Are you insulting me? What world haven't I had to fight for my life in?" The challenge in her voice was unmistakable, carrying the weight of multiple lifetimes spent in struggle.

"Then what's with the complaint?" Nova spread his hands in mock confusion. "Be a sore loser about something else."

She scowled at him, revealing rows of serrated teeth that could rend metal. The ground beneath her clawed feet cracked as she shifted her weight, preparing to lunge again. "If you keep running away with those wings, I'm going to be mad."

"I wouldn't dream of it." Nova retracted the sylph wings into his back. They folded inward, dissipating into motes of light that vanished beneath his skin. He landed softly on the ground twenty paces from Anny.

His face remained perfectly neutral as he pointed past her shoulder. "You might want to look behind you."

Anny's scaled lips curled into a sneer. "Do you think I'm st—"

Her words cut off as a blast of concentrated energy struck the back of her head. The spell—which Nova had secretly created and delayed during his electrical attack—hit with pinpoint accuracy. The impact snapped her head forward, nearly causing her massive drakeling form to stumble.

"Ooow, I bith my thongue! You bathtard!" Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth where her transformed fangs had pierced her own tongue. Her reptilian eyes watered from the unexpected pain.

Nova adopted an expression of mock offense, pressing one hand to his chest. "Oh, come now, no need to insult my parents. For all I know, they were happily married."

A set of new missiles appeared around him, spinning rapidly in place. "These hurt more than that last one, so you better dodge them."

With a flick of his wrist, Nova sent the first missile streaking toward Anny. The projectile left a trail of shimmering blue light as it cut through the air, accelerating as it approached its target. He was already stepping backward as he launched it, creating distance while maintaining his offensive.

Anny's reflexes were impressive. Her drakeling form twisted with unexpected agility as the missile missed her by mere inches. The projectile continued past her, detonating against a distant boulder with a crack that sent stone fragments spraying in all directions.

"Your mental aspects are weak!" she snarled. But despite her words, she still took a defensive stance. "Why don't you fight me in hand-to-hand combat?"

Nova launched a second missile, this one curving in a wide arc that forced Anny to leap sideways. As she landed, he released a third that split into multiple smaller projectiles, each one targeting her from a different angle. She was forced to roll and twist to avoid them all.

"Because your palm attack was unpleasant," Nova replied, continuing his strategic retreat while maintaining his barrage. The fourth missile whistled past Anny's ear as she narrowly evaded it. "And there's less room to be creative."

"Stop fleeing!" Anny bellowed. She charged forward only to be forced back by another volley of smaller projectiles that Nova scattered in her path.

Nova grinned, having a bit too much fun. "It's called skirmishing."

Her patience had clearly reached its limit as she was forced to weave through yet another pattern of missiles, each one more complex than the last. "Stop skirmishing!"

Nova studied her for a moment, wondering if he was taking it too far. This was supposed to be a friendly spar, after all. "Fine."

Nova planted his feet firmly, finally feeling like he had demonstrated his magical prowess enough. Larena couldn't possibly complain about the lack of spectacle now. It was time to show his physical capabilities. And, perhaps, to have some fun.

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