Chapter 143: Warning

"You're too unreasonable.. How do i even begin to formulate a way to defeat you?" Elgin complained as he got up from the ground using Aria's extended hand as a support and patted the places that he felt sore in. His eyes scanned Aria. Although at first, she looked particularly bothered by his advances, she did not look like she suffered great damages at all. He was sure that he landed several good attacks on her before she completely overturned the situation, but all of those were turned to naught now, leaving him baffled at how this was possible.

To Aria, the answer was simple. She knew herself. Although before, she was much stronger, it still wouldn't change the fact that she was capable of measuring out her own power and making sure that she knew what she was doing at every passing second.

She was that polished in battle that the only things that could take her down were exhaustion and a being that completely overpowered her stats. Unless either one of the two happened, then she could manage.

Thus, when Elgin started to bring her a 'surprise', she actually had already decided inside her head that this man would surely be beaten by her in no time, if she would just last until her analyzing components kicked in.

"It's not complicated at all. Just get good at facing unexpected situations all the time, and you'll get used to it in the end, right?" Aria chuckled as she placed her hands on her hips and looked at the other two members of Lichte that she still hadn't faced.

The one she anticipated the most was White Fox. When she first had the chance the fight the girl, she actually lost. However, that time, she was just recently rebirthed and did not have a lot of time to grow out yet. She had surpassed her previous stats by a lot from the previous time, so she wondered if this girl was going to give her the same trouble she did in the past.

"Not complicated at all... Haah, your logic differs from mine. I simply can't contend to your beliefs. Thank you for the fight, it was worthwhile to experience. Although I don't like losing.. I learned that sometimes, growth comes from experiencing a setback. It's like having a hard truth knocked forcefully into your head, you know?" Elgin laughed as he departed from the stage and went back to his teammates.

Aria gave a nod of acknowledgement, as what Elgin had said was truly one of the methods she believed in. Losing in order to acquire a larger win. It was a great trade. Losing would create a foundation for the future you to earn from, especially if the loss is of this scale. It would simply let you know that there was something much bigger looming above you in the rankings so that you could keep your loss as a goal.

Elgin's growth was probably also partly spiked up as high as that because of his realization towards how he was not as powerful as he thought he was due to the dungeon where he suffered a loss.

Aria's eyes interlocked with White Fox, the person she was interested in.

Several emotions passed through her mind, and one of them was excitement. Excitement from wanting to get a revenge on her loss back then. Indeed, losses were substantial to growth.

Aria had once been weaker than White Fox. But the situation was different now.

"I would like to fight you next, White Fox," Aria displayed a gentle smile as she looked at the masked girl, who had a cold look to her eyes that peeked out of the mask's holes.

'Let's see who will have the last laugh this time, shall we?' Aria remembered the past fight and formulated strategies of how she was going to handle the girl's abilities. White Fox worked the same way as the past Elgin. She relied on her agile body and dexterity, making her a scary opponent for those who couldn't catch up with her movements. It would be akin to yielding your life to an unforeseeable creature where you constantly received blows without having the chance to counterattack.

Aria was debating whether the girl changed her style as well. She recalled that the girl was a rather conceited person, so she ended up making some rash decision towards the end of their fight previously. If Aria took this into account, then she could possibly take the psychology route if she was troubled with White Fox's movements.

Although she was much more confident on her speed this time, she still had to account for when the predictions she made might fall apart.

If she was pushed to a corner, then she could choose to taunt the girl into making rash decisions so that her calm and collected behavior could be shaken. White Fox was a confident person, and she wouldn't be that wary of Aria.

Locked. Her decision was locked. No matter what it took, the clear victor of this day should be her. And no one else.

The Hunter ranking was currently not of high importance to her. Her mind was more occupied with the fight she was racking her brains to solve for.

White Fox naturally accepted the invite, and began to step into the stage with shallow steps. They were as light as feathers, and no sound were made as she travelled up into the protected ground, where they were going to engage in a fight in.

"Nice to see you again, hm?" Aria tilted her head as she greeted, cracking her knuckles and creating a popping sound. She made a couple of stretch exercises in order to prepare herself further and sighed in contentment.

"...It seems like you want to beaten one more time. That's good to me, I don't mind," White Fox stated her clear belief that she was going to be the victor of this match. Unfortunately, the truth would prove to be different.

"Rather than sparing time to talk about things like that, we should just fight straight away. Are you ready?" Aria questioned.

"Of course. You can start the first blow," White Fox spoke, getting into a fighting stance. Although at first, Aria discerned the stance as a defensive pose, within closer inspection, White Fox was actually setting up her position to be ideal for attacking as well. She left a lot of liberty for her body to move around flexibly. She deliberately started in the side where a small pillar was erected from the ground.

This pillar was probably going to be used as one of her escape props.

Aria did not hesitate and immediately went in for an attack that contained a lot of force to start it off with a bang.

This was when White Fox made an unexpected move. Instead of evading like Aria thought she would, the girl blocked the incoming strike straight on with her bare hands.

"...What happened to you and Elgin? Both of you switched into the defensive side? How great, but that still won't change anything, remember?" Aria smirked. If the tricks were the same, then the way to resolve it was also the same.

"No. Elgin changed his style, but no one said that I did? I just simply got stronger. Are you shocked?" White Fox laughed as she went according to Aria's former prediction and used the pillar as a platform to bounce herself high into the air and leap to attack Aria.

Aria felt that something was off and wanted to defend against the strike to try out the power she held. Unexpectedly, the fighting force that White Fox brought was also great.

Great attack, defense, and speed. An all rounded Hunter.

Aria hummed, as one of White Fox's blades struck the side of her cheek and drew blood from it. Since she wanted to analyze White Fox, then she had to let the girl take charge of the battle first, and for her to be swept into the tide in order to make the girl reveal her tendencies.

They exchanged blows in a speed that people would find to be extremely hard to see. They popped off from one side to another in seconds, and continued landing and evading strikes from each other.

Aria's target was to get her body used to the fight's dynamics and let her gain control in the end. Like she did with Elgin.

However, before she was able to properly start fighting back, a blaring sound resounded, making her wince and stop.

This was the Association. For the blaring sound to appear, all Hunters were already familiar with this common knowledge.

An alarm.

"Attention to all the advanced workers. A new disruption has sprouted in Mapo. The coordinates will be sent to.."

"Attention to all..."

The warnings were sounded multiple times. Along with it, several bees were made, coming from the devices that the members of LIchte and Yoona held.