Exquisite Mana Control II

Ha!! Ha!! Ha!! Ha!!' Juliette recited the 'melody' She usually sang whenever she practiced martial arts as a child. Each soft cry followed by a palm strik hitting the spirit.

Of course, the spirit would not take disrespect lying down. It was a being with an Ability. A god among mortals. Who does this woman think she was?

With those thoughts, it immediately disregarded the pain and combos that Juliette was fishing out, and sent a vertical hand sweep towards her.

The hand was not directly target at her, but towards her direction. It cut through the air in front of her, and Juliette felt her intuition kick in.

She hurriedly dodged to the side. Her body rolled a meter or two away from the spirit.

And once up, she retreated even more, her gaze wary and cautious. She then realized the lethality of this spirit's attack.

'An invisible blade?' Juliette thought. Her eyes were on the area she previous stood at. And there, she could see a small gash thirty centimeters deep stretching out for five meters.

"..."

Had she been struck by that, she wouldn't be here right now. She would actually be split in two. Just the thought gave her shivers, let alone experiencing it.

"..."

The spirit also did not speak, and turned directly towards Juliette. It's teeth were gnashed together in anger. And it's expression was twisted and sinister.

Different from its prior null expression.

Juliette knew that she had made it mad. But what did it matter? This was a death match. Only one amongst them was coming out alive.

'According to big brother Damien, these things should have low leveled Abilities.' Juliette thought, her eyes intently staring at the spirit, in case it sneakily attacked.

As for when Damien said that to her, he never did. But when he exposed the angel, he did mention the limit of uses when it comes to Abilities.

And how if they were not Unique or Ultimate grade, they were useless. She remembered everything clearly, and applied it to her current opponent.

'In other words, this spirit can only slash out three to five times. And as it used up one chance, it's left to two or four times. I have to be extra careful.'

She continued her thoughts.

And the next moment, she moved.

She sprinted towards the spirit. The distance between them was very minimal, and with her speed, she could cross it instantly.

But the Void borne spirit also had fast responses. The moment she moved, it raised its hand as fast and as hastily as it possibly could, cutting the air horizontally.

But Juliette had expected that.

Hence the moment she raised her leg to move, she immediately pushed herself aside instead. The instantaneous invisible blade flashed past her, blowing her hair aside.

'That's either one or three chances left.' She thought with a smug. She was aware of how angry the spirit was, but also aware of how cautious it was of her.

Also, how nervous it was.

Her fast and unpredictable action right now, was to stimulate its instinctive response mechanism and its fear. And as nervous as it was, it would not be able to clearly assess her intention.

The reason why it was outsmarted.

"...!!!"

The spirit was even more angry, yet also more afraid. It felt like an open book in front of Juliette, whose gaze was subconsciously predatory.

"..."

Both parties stared at each other in silence appraising one another. One being fearful and cautious of the other, yet the other was just indifferent towards the former.

As Juliette had the stare down against the spirit, Damien behind them, could see that her hand was hidden behind her back.

"..."

And there, one could actually see a small twirling of a tornado-like nigh-invisible force. It was light blue in color, and threatened to materialize on her hand.

'Such... exquisite Mana Control is hard to come by at her current level of power.' He thought with a light smile. This battle was already won. It was only a matter if time.

Juliette stared at the Void borne spirit vigilantly. The opponents also vigilantly stared back at her. Non moving at all. One being the other's full focus.

Time felt nonexistent to them.

Meanwhile, Juliette continued to gather Mana at her palm. She easily attracted Mana like breathing, the action was just involuntary for her.

Just a single thought, and Mana would gush from her heart to her palm. Then she extricately guided it using her will to circulate clockwise, forming a cyclone-like twirl.

Of course, such an action required plenty of Mana and focus, in which case she realized that she had a lot of it. As an Apprentice, her Mana recovery rate was that of an Apprentice.

And as a talented person, and someone innately good with Mana, her recovery rate was even higher than other Apprentice Ascenders.

Thus her recovery rate was higher than her total reserves, giving her the subconscious feeling of having infinite Mana. Just a feeling though.

For, before she even drained the 10 units she already had, they would instantly recover. Hence throughout the minute long stare-down, Juliette had gathered Mana comparable to 200 units within her hand.

That much Mana actually felt dense and heavy. Not to the point of being a burden to her, but she doubted an ordinary first generational human would easily bare with it.

"..."

"..."

And mind you, her actions were impossible for the ordinary mind to comprehend. Not even a spirit woubd dare do such a thing.

The final product would be devastating, she thought, yet she still did not prematurely use it. Instead, she rushed towards the opponent once again.

Her awareness active. At the same time, the opponent retreated. Learning from its previous lesson, it did not prematurely rush towards her as well.

But even that was to her advantage.

'Hmph, foolish.' She scoffed internally, as she suddenly increased her speed. But at that moment, the Void borne spirit paused and slashed with its left hand.

...!!!

Juliette's instincts kicked in, as her body instinctively pushed itself aside. But no attack followed up, and her senses flared up, warning her of great danger instead.

'Dammit!!' She clicked her tongue in annoyance as for once, her intuition was off. She fell into the opponent's trap.

For the moment she rolled over and stood up, she instinctively crossed her arms before her chest, while willing The Primordial Source to distribute her stat points.

She distributed 50/50 to both Intelligence and Wisdom, temporarily ignoring the other Stats.

Then the next moment, without giving her time to breathe, a powerful invisible force smashed onto her body, sending her flying tens of meters back at great speed.

Along the way, it left a very deep gash stretching for five meters, it being a ruler-length deep.

As for Juliette, her body was thrown approximately twelve meters away, where she rolled over the rough surface, for four more meters.

"..."

As for Damien, he just stood still, with his arms crossed before his chest. He was as expressionless as ever. Yet one could tell that he was slightly worried.

His right heel was slightly raised up, as if ready to rush forward at full speed. Yet as things seem, he managed to stop himself in time.

"Keuk, kak, kuek!!"

Juliette used her fist to prop herself up. It was glowing slightly blue in color, due to the gathered Mana trapped within, which was inching closer to 300 units now.

She coughed out blood as her vision was slightly blurry. Slightly, though.

Overall, she only sustained blunt damage, thanks to the 0,6 Points of Magic Defense that she now had.

"..."

A moment later, she grit her teeth and slowly stood up. Taking in deep breathes of air to slightly calm her heart and nerves, she looked up at the sky, trying to reign in her emotions.

But rage slowly crept up within her heart. The pain hurt. And she has never been through such pain before. But more importantly, the disgrace!!

The disgrace she felt!!

The embarrassment!!

The more she thought on them, the more her rage climbed up the roof. Her man was watching her. And her opportunity to impress him was gone.

Gone just like that?!

Woosh~

The blue color around her hand became more intense, almost overshadowing her entire hand, and cloaking it in blue.

Bang!!

Along with that, powerful Mana exploded out in the form of powerful winds around her. Her hair danced wildly within the air, as if a storm was inching closer and closer to her.

"..."

Juliette immediately kicked off the ground, bursting off at terrifying speeds. She was slightly faster than normal. Almost transcending subsonic speed.

'Oh? Mana Enhancement?' Damien thought to himself as he watched the ongoing battle.

Or rather, Juliette rushing towards her opponent covered in a wave of Mana, to be precise. His worry was dissipated.

What Juliette did not know was that, Damien was more than impressed by her actions from beginning to end. Not one bit disappointed.

Meanwhile, Juliette herself burst off at terrifying speed and easily approached near the Void borne spirit. She was not rage-possessed. Yet she was.