Crimson Phoenix Guardian- Aspiration to the Heavens: Becoming the Supreme Mage 4

Episode 115: Inversed Tiger

*Yuzuki*

"Good luck!" Lei said, waving at me as the ring finished being fixed.

I smiled as Tasunke and I began to make our way to the stairs. "Thanks."

"Break a leg!" Orion yelled.

Huoyin and Cart looked slightly confused but it was short lived. Had they briefly thought that Orion wanted me to actually break a leg?

Tas chuckled before continuing on his way.

I followed after him. He took the left side of the ring, so I had to walk all the way to the right side.

"Time to start the final match of round one!" Marina yelled. "It's the younger twin, Tasunke, versus the fiery red-headed distorter of space, Yuzuki!"

Tas stared at Marina with his mouth agape. "Younger twin? That's it?"

"Hmm, the other loud one?"

Tas sighed and turned to look at me. "Forget it. Let's begin."

Poor guy. It wasn't easy to live under the shadow of an older brother.

I watched as he remained still. This wasn't the first time I'd fought Tas. I battled him during our first year too. Back then I overcame the repulsion part of his yin magic by warping behind him, spooking him. But such a trick likely wouldn't work a second time. As soon as I got close to him, he would push me away.

My eyes widened as a force suddenly pushed outward. W-what? He was going on the offensive? He usually waited for someone to attack him like how Xue did.

Tas smirked as I warped into the air. I grunted as I landed on top of the invisible force pushing against me. My breath was misty. The air within the ring's forcefield had become colder. At least in the region where the invisible wave reached, forming a thin layer of ice.

 I gritted my teeth and slammed my hands against the increasingly visible dome of yin energy. "Ignis Angelus!" 

An angel of flames burst through the ice dome that Tas switching from his magic's 'repulsion' effect to 'cold' had created.

Tas held up a hand and snapped his fingers, turning the ice dome remnants into water and flooding the ring. I had to warp the space around me to keep myself from falling into the frigid water. My angel tried to evaporate it while submerged but the heat coming from it wasn't enough. Tasunke's yin magic was keeping all heat away.

I grunted as the water was pushed upward. Using several portals, I warped back the water toward him, but it was just making the water blob bigger. Tahoma was right.

I clenched my totem and sighed. If only I had my familiar. But even if I did, would he have been enough to bail me out? It wasn't like he could've controlled his power well in the first place.

I sighed and warped into in the frigid water, using my space powers to keep the water away from me.

Tas gasped as I slammed my right hand against the dome keeping the water away from him. The thing trembled. It was only sturdy enough to keep the water away.

He cupped a hand over his nose and pushed the water and me away.

I warped to the surface to avoid getting thrown out of bounds. It was hard to see where the edge of the ring was under all that water to begin with. 

The water formed a half-egg shaped dome, but it no longer expanded outward. Was this the current limit of his magic's reach? Or was he holding back to give me a false sense of safety? Even if it was his actual limit, I had to be careful. It wasn't unheard of for people to grow in the midst of battle. If anything, it was the norm.