Chapter 205: Osho vs Jane
Osho vs Jane
"... Wow." Osho looked around at the simulated environment and couldn’t help but be impressed.
He’d been expecting the usual arenas made of durable alloys and enchantments, but it seemed like he’d underestimated his old home.
Similar to the habitat Gale and Bedrock shared back in Stellaris, this place had its own environment and resembled a large forest that went on for hundreds of miles.
"After the incident with the Abyssal Scrounger last year, we decided to invest in places like this, both due to the added protection as well as the convenience. It’s more expensive, but it’s a lot easier to set up compared to growing your own temporary forest every time you want to have an exam." Mrs Jane explained, and Osho nodded. That indeed made sense.
He looked to the side. Quite some ways away, William and the others stood inside a protective bubble. Except for Haggai, she had a chair.
Osho looked back at Mrs Jane who had already changed into her signature attire. A crop top, joggers, and a face cap.
Her figure aside, Osho could appreciate the equipment itself. He could sort of feel the way the mana flowed in the clothing, and it was pretty complicated.
’She probably upgraded it after I left.’ He mused before smiling.
’I guess I can show off, too.’ With that though, he snapped his fingers, and his clothes which looked casual before suddenly glowed and turned into a silvery-blue light. The light crept along his body until only his head was uncovered, and when the light died down, a set of fitting armor that looked like it was made of metallic scales covered his body.
Intricate circuits that served as the base for numerous enchantments ran through it, and it almost seemed alive as it moved with Osho in a way.
On its back were what looked like two sheaths that were a part of the armor itself, and Osho subconsciously put his hands on their handles.
Finally, a film covered his head to act as the helmet.
Naturally, this armor was made using Gale’s Feathers as a base.
"How flashy. Do you always glow like that when you want to fight?" Mrs Jane asked with a raised brow as she opened up her beast space.
"Nah. I just wanted to show off." Osho shook his head and stepped back until he was behind Bedrock who stood like a stalwart wall, his expression calm.
Osho looked forward, curious to see how Ignis and Nora looked after this year.
Her beast space opened, and a sudden heat filled the arena.
’Way hotter than what Ahmed had.’ Osho judged immediately as a large shadow was cast over them, and he looked up to see a large scaled creature circle them once before landing beside Mrs Jane.
The large wyvern had gotten even larger than when Osho saw him last, and it seemed like he was maturing nicely as his scales looked more rugged and durable, and the spines along his back had gotten longer, claws and teeth sharper, and his presence more captivating.
On the other side, a large armadillo that looked to be made of liquid metal manifested on Mrs Jane’s other side. Nora didn’t look that much bigger compared to the last time, but she was certainly stronger and more durable.
This made Osho smile slightly
’This should be fun.’ He thought. Both of them had a beast that excelled at defense and another that excelled at offense, so the results of their spar should be looked forward to.
"How are we doing this? First person to surrender or knock out the other person’s beasts?" He asked. At the same time, Gale hopped off his head, and his body briefly became intangible before reassembling above him. However, gone was the petite bird everyone was used to.
Now, a large and imposing avian creature hovered above Osho. His wingspan alone reached around 12 meters, and the blue markings lining his body had become more prominent. The sheen of his feathers had also become more obvious, and his eyes looked as if they held the secrets to the universe.
"Both sound okay," Jane nodded before continuing. "Ready when you are."
Silence then fell over them.
In the protective bubble, Haggai had her tablet and stylus out as she focused, and the others also leaned forward slightly, curious to see just how much Osho had improved in this time.
Both sides watched each other carefully, but eventually, Ignis made the first move.
Orange light shone from his throat, and at the same time, Bedrock stretched out his burly arms, manifesting a large tower shield.
FLARE
A jet of compressed flames shot out of Ignis’ mouth and instantly washed over the shield. However, instead of melting or shattering, the flames were parted like an ocean as they went to either side of the shield.
When the attack ended, the ground where the fire breath passed had been melted completely, and an unbearable heat could be felt. But Osho and Bedrock didn’t seem particularly bothered.
On that note, Gale was nowhere to be seen.
Mrs Jane narrowed her eyes as she felt the Mana around them stir before she found herself in the center of a massive tornado, and at the top of it was a bird moving at speeds that did not make sense for his rank.
A sound left Nora as the metal coating her rippled, then a series of intersecting metal spikes erupted like a vast tapestry from her body and shot out.
It spread rapidly, and soon, the entire tornado was filled with them. Their obstruction slowed the speed of the tornado, allowing Ignis to inject his mana into the metal, and from where it ended, beams of condensed flames shot out like plasma, cutting the tornado apart from within.
The exchange barely lasted a few seconds, but the energy both sides were emitting was quite intense already.
Gale had already returned to Osho’s side with his teleportation-like speed, and Ignis nor Nora tried to make any other moves.
"Seems quite potent for just the Adept rank." Haggai remarked as she wrote some things in her tablet, her gaze calm but focused.
"Indeed. If not for the undertone, I’d be sure it was higher. I’m also pretty sure they could have broken through but simply chosen not to." William nodded.
"Hm. Probing feels boring." Osho suddenly said, and Mrs Jane cracked a smile.
"Oh? Are you saying we should go all in despite not knowing what the other person can really do?" She asked, her eyes twinkling.
"Exactly."
"Hm. Okay, I don’t see why not."
As soon as Mrs Jane concurred, it was like a flip had switched, and suddenly, everything turned chaotic.
Bedrock raised a foot and stomped it. A moment later, the ground rippled like water, and suddenly, the entire ground began to shift and change.
Without hesitation, Mrs Jane hopped on Ignis who took to the sky, while Nora created platforms of metal and floated herself upwards.
Massive spikes started to emerge from the ground, each one the side of a skyscraper, and they fired upwards at the retreating figures.
In response, Ignis reared his head back and unleashed another breath of flames, but instead of a singular beam, dozens of them arched out from his maw like meteors.
They smashed into the spikes and created fantastical explosions which kit up the air like fireworks.
That wasn’t all, though, Nora created numerous projectiles of her own from metal, and their tips ignited with imolating flames as they shot down.
Under the assault of two Elite ranked beasts, Bedrock shouldn’t have possibly been able to defend from such an onslaught.
But he did.
He raised his tower shield above his head, and it suddenly enlarged until it became a large circular shield that was over a hundred meters in diameter, and earthen pillars appeared from the ground to support it.
The attacks landed a moment later, but amazingly, none of them were able to break through the solid defenses. They left cracks here and there, but nothing truly threatening.
Seeing this, Ignis prepared to unleash another breath attack, but just then, a figure appeared behind them.
’Nora!’ Jane yelled through their bond, and the armadillo managed to turn and create a metal shield just as Gale swung his wings.
However, the attack he sent out wasn’t a normal Ozone Blade.
No, instead, he shaped his Domain to make it sharp like a blade, and when he swung his wings, it was like he was swinging the domain with them.
Color four slashes went out, and wherever these slashes went, all colors became inverted temporarily as space itself was sliced through.
Blood sprayed, and X-shaped marks appeared on the bodies of Nora and Ignis simultaneously, their durable bodies sliced through with ease.
Gale dove in for a follow-up, but a titanic roar suddenly erupted from Ignis that shook the foundations of the simulated environment, and the surrounding temperature suddenly spiked as his body started to glow orange.
’Well that’s not good.’ Osho thought as he had to turn off his Mana sense from the sheer amount of Mana being condensed.
"Osho!" He barely heard Mrs Jane’s words.
"I suggest you block!"
Then everything turned orange.