The Life I Gained From Dying

Chapter 27 - Mai Vs. Via

"This match will be treated as an unofficial sparring match, therefore will not affect any records or tier placements." Kenzo stated.

"Is their like a sparring league or something?" Aaron asked.

"How would I know." Kaden replied.

"I Kenzo Miyuki, will act as referee for this match. This is an essence sparring match, so use of weapons and physical attacks not created by an essence type is prohibited. The match ends when one contestant forfeits or if I believe that a contestant can no longer participate. With that being said, contestant one are you ready?"

"Ready." Mai replied as she stood in front of their training pond."

"Contestant two, are you ready?"

"Yes." Via responded nervously.

Aaron, Kaden and Damien stood about ten meters away and watched on from the side.

"This will be my first time encountering an air essence user apart from Kaden." Mai thought. "The only other experience I have dealing with air essence is that Arashi, and that was a complete fail. I can't fail again here."

Via held her head high and didn't show any visible uneasiness or fear. She actually appeared more calm than Mai.

"This should be interesting." Damien said.

"Any predictions?" Aaron asked.

"...Based off of what I've seen from these two, this should be an easy fight for the little one."

"You think Via'll win?" Kaden questioned. "I haven't seen her in action but surely it won't be a walk in the park against Maira. They even said air essence isn't the best for fighting."

"Watch and see." Damien stated while crossing his arms.

"...With that being said, this match will now... begin!"

Mai didn't waste any time by pulling two streams of water from the pond behind her and shooting them over to Via. Without hesitation, Via waved her hands over her before directing them towards the floor beneath her.

Whoosh!!

A sudden burst of wind launched Via into a front flip over twenty feet in the air. Mai was stunned by the reckless play, but only for a brief moment. She quickly maneuvered her streams of water in the air towards her.

"That wasn't smart, she's vulnerable up there." Kaden said.

"Is she?" Aaron questioned.

Just before the high velocity streams of water made contact with Via, she used another burst of wind to evade them once again.

"Via mentioned it briefly when we both first arrived in Aestus, but I never asked her about it after that day. Mostly because I believed it was possible."

"You understand we can fly straight out the top of this place with our essence right." Via had said to Damien before.

"Of course flying would be possible with air essence." Aaron stated with a grin.

Mai continued to pursuit Via with her streams of water which she controlled with commendable accuracy and precision. However, Via displayed a mind dazzling performance of aerial acrobatics to skillfully evade every single strike from Mai's streams. Instead of constantly using her essence to keep herself in the air, Via alternated between using small gusts of wind from her right and left palms to direct her trajectory as she flew through the air.

"Amazing." Aaron said as he watched on with a huge smile.

"If she gets a good hit on me and soaks me, then there's a good chance she'll be able to freeze the water on my body." Via thought to herself. "There's no way that she could have the level of endurance that I have, so I should be able to dance around her like this until she gets tired out."