Training With Sephora

I tied my hair in a ponytail and opened my eyes as I looked at Sephora who was already ready to fight. Yui and I were going against her while she was at 50%. She said that's how the Ancient Hero learned to bond with Leona so quickly. Hoping it was gonna work for us, she told us if we were able to land a scratch on her she would up the difficulty until she reached 100%.

"Now just so you know...I will not be holding back and neither should you. If you wish to grow stronger, you will have to fight enemies like me. Are you ready to fight?" Sephora asked.

"Yeah." I nodded and summoned my sword. .

"Let's do this!" Yui said determined.

Gwyn sat on the sidelines, crisscross, and tilted his head. He never seen training like this before. He prepared to take a picture and he snapped a quick photo.

"Then come at me with everything you've got.." Sephora said.

I dashed towards Sephora and slashed. My attack just went through her and she karate chopped my back and I fell to the ground. Yui shot powerful magic at her. Sephora looked at Yui and snapped her fingers and her spells vanished. Yui was surprised and her Grimoire vanished then she dashed towards Sephora and unsheathed the blade of her cane and slashed quickly. Sephora dodged them quickly and palmed Yui's stomach and blew her away. I went for a sweep kick, but she summoned a staff that stopped my attack. Yui stood up and glared. Her hair slowly turned black and white.

"Two against one and you're still losing...don't you want to get stronger?" Sephora taughted.

I stood up quickly and went for a punch. She grabbed my arm and flipped me over her shoulder.

"You'll never be anything like my son.." Sephora looked at me. "You're pathetic and weak."

I grunted as I heard those words. Something in me clicked the same way when I was fighting Trickster.

"If you can't even scratch me, what makes you think you'll stand a chance against Lionel...you practically embarrassed yourself fighting him." She twisted my arm and stepped on my shoulder.

I groaned as she twisted my arm and looked at me. Yui dashed towards Sephora, but was blown away by the mere aura of Sephora. I groaned louder as she put more pressure on my arm. My Yaoke slowly began forming in my blind eye. My canine teeth grew sharper slowly. Sephora got off my shoulder then kicked me aside. Yui dashed towards Sephora and slashed. Sephora snapped her fingers and time began slowing down. She palmed Yui's chest and time went back to normal. There was a brief pause before Yui was blown away.

"Yufumi..! Yufumi..!" A voice called out to me.

I woke up in a pinkish world and sat up quickly. I was on a cliff and looked to my left and saw Leona floating off the cliff. I stood up slowly.

"Leona...I..." I looked away.

"I can see you doubt yourself. You're asking yourself if you're good enough. That self doubt is what's holding you back. I understand you want to get stronger faster, but you can't do that without me anymore. We are one..our wavelengths may match, but what about our bond and trust?" Leona looked at me.

"I do trust you...I just...I got lucky against Trickster and now I feel as though I can't do anything...Makes me wonder, how powerful was Trickster truly...Lionel just on his own is ten times stronger than Trickster." I said.

"If we are being realistic, Trickster was no more stronger than Full Power Katsuguchi. Yes he put the universe under an illusion and can bend reality to his will...but if we are being real Katsuguchi could've solo'd him." Leona said. "The Dark Zodiacs are way more powerful than Trickster."

"And the stuff Sephora said?" I looked at Leona.

"It was all to get your fired up and ready to prove her wrong, but it didn't work because of your self doubt." Leona crossed her arms. "The more you doubt yourself, the weaker you get and the less connected you are to me. In this fight and future battles, I want you to let go of all fears and doubts you have. Don't worry about being strong enough...focus on me and your teammates. I am here to help you and only you..."

"Leona..." I looked at her.

"If you truly trust me...Come to me by jumping from that cliff.." Leona floated backwards a bit.

I saw the distance between me and Leona and got a little worried. I trusted her but I didn't know if I was gonna make it toward her. I shook my head and looked determined. I exhaled and ran towards Leona and jumped from the cliff and reached my hand out. Instead of falling, I was floating...I felt so free. Leona caught me in her arms and I woke up from that lucid dream and snapped back to reality.

"Sephora.." I said and slowly stood up.

Yui looked at me and noticed a change in energy. Sephora looked at me also and a tiny spark came from her eye. I finally got a reaction out of her.

"I won't just allow you to beat me or Leona..!" I said and my hair shined a crimson color and turned into flames. "Leona and I are the strongest team...to ever exist!"

My aura surged powerfully and generated strong winds. Sephora looked at me and her jacket flowed back with the wind. She smirked as she watched. Yui grunted and stabbed her blade into the ground and hung on, preventing herself from being carried by the wind. Gwyn was surprised and jumped up to catch his camera. My aura disappeared and I looked at Sephora and both my eyes bad the Kami-Yaoke awakened. I dashed towards her and summoned my sword and jumped up then slashed down. She summoned her sword and blocked my attack. Sparks flew powerfully and the ground cracked. I landed on the ground and slashed continuously.

"Yu-chan!" Yui called out and tossed her staff into the air.

I looked up and jumped up then caught the staff, turning it into a copy of my sword. I slashed with both weaponed and Sephora blocked and dodged. I tossed the sword in the air and slashed with my sword. Yui appeared in the air and caught the sword and slashed down. Sephora dodged and I kept pushing. Yui tossed the sword in the air and I jumped to catch it and slashed down while spinning. Sephora blocked the attacks and slid back a bit. I tossed the sword in the air again and Yui jumped over me to catch the sword and slashed down. Sephora blocked the attack. I appeared at Sephora's side and slashed, but she blocked that one as well.

We all struggled then Sephora bellowed and her aura blew us back. We slid back and her Zenith Yaoke formed in her eyes. Her aura spiralled around her quickly and she went into Zenith Ascension and transformed into her Ultimate Form. Yui and I looked at Sephora and got into our battle stances.

I dashed towards Sephora and she dashed towards me. Our blades clashed but she pushed me back with ease. I bellowed and my flames surged powerfully around my body. Yui gave us some support by putting a tailwind behind me. Even with our collective power, we weren't able to push Sephora back. Yellow aura surged from my eyes and I kept trying to push back. I didn't want to lose...I had no desire to lose. The Z on my hand emitted aura as well. Yui created an even stronger tailwind.

"LEONA!!" I bellowed and in response she awakened my first God Element. The Omni Fire was awakened inside of me. I pushed Sephora away and my flames shined every color of the rainbow and I bellowed as Leona and I reached Level 2.

"Yufumi.." Gwyn looked at me shocked. "Is this the power of the Undying Pride..? To tap into inner power upon command..? Power to even stand against Sephora..?"

Flames surrounded my sword and I dashed towards Sephora again and she dashed to me. We clashed then began clashing multiple times creating shockwaves. Gwyn looked amazed and Yui watched with awe. We clashed one last time and I managed to knock Sephora's sword out her hand. She spread her arms and her aura surged wildly and pushed me away. I was hit by invisible forces and was struck into the air. Multiple phantom swords surrounded my body at once. I opened one eyes and noticed them.

"Omni...Calamity!" Sephora said and the swords struck me at once and exploded. I crashed to the ground and rebounded and slid on one knee. Yui helped me up and saw Sephora charging one last attack.

"This is training to you guys..?!" Gwyn said in shock.

I looked at Yui and she nodded. Sephora's aura grew powerfully and she bellowed.

"Zenith Arts: Divine Omni End!" Sephora released a powerful Divine beam at us.

"Yui!" I bellowed.

"Right!" She nodded.

"Dual Zodiac Arts: Final Blazing Tempest!" We bellowed and shot a powerful beam at Sephora's attack as well.

The two attacks clashed and caused high winds to surge. Sephora's attack alone was able to push ours back. Our Zodiac Symbols shined brightly and we were able to push back. Even with my Ultimate Burning and Yui's Counter-Force, with the help of Leona and Cosima, Sephora still overpowered us by a lot. Sephora bellowed and her blast broke through ours and we managed to dodge on time before the blast hit us. I turned normal and panted. My eyes were bleeding and Yui turned normal as well and her pendant went dull. Sephora looked at us...she was even holding back and we weren't even close to being a match for her. I wiped my eyes and once again went blind in my left eye.

"Now I see why Sephora is the strongest being in existence.." Yui said.

"Yeah...she was even holding back and we stood no chance.." I said.

"I'm proud of you two...I could really feel the bond between you and your Zodiacs.. especially you, Yufumi. Unlocking the Omni Flames is a feat to be recognized for. Yui, your techniques with the wind is unrivaled." Sephora smiled.

"Thank you but it's nothing compared to your Omni Element Manipulation...you even surpass Stella who was believed to be the strongest woman of all time...I've never fought anyone beyond the power of Trickster...just your aura alone, surpasses me." Yui smiled.

"Yeah...not even my Undying Pride could muster enough power to even be considered a warm-up for you." I smiled.

"Well the moral of the story is you've grown more powerful..see I told you fighting against me will make you grow faster because I'm an unstoppable force and that's how Zodiac Training works. The stronger the opponent the more you grow. You are meant to surpass any opponent. All you need is training and patience. Even you could be as powerful as me." Sephora smiled at us.

"Yeah.." I smiled and nodded.

"I really need to touch up on my techniques. I want to get stronger as a wind user!" Yui smiled.

"Well you better train until you get to that point!" Sephora nodded.

After that training session, Leona and my bond with each other grew stronger. Yui and Cosima grew closer and Yui and I began getting closer. Sephora began treating us as her own and Gwyn...was still shook about the training battle. This is the first he's even seen a battle of this caliber. I looked at the sky and felt determined to take on Lionel again and defeat him.