“HHHRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!” stefan3B's scream echoed across the world as the intense pressure from the shattering of the sphere pushed back Iulia's hair, making it flow majestically.

  With a swift suddenly jerk from his chains upwards and then downwards, they shattered into mere nothingness before fizzling away like sparks. The blast of wind caused by the explosion started fading off. Iulia was excited by his new rise in power.

  “Yes, yee! Come to me! Show me how pathetic you still are!” she commanded with her hands clenched as she wore a malicious smile on her face.

  stefan3B finally set foot back on the ground, his body covered in a deep blue aura with a slight white hue. His body has changed, it was clearly not the physique of a normal 14 year old anymore. The hell energy has increased his muscle mass, making him bulkier. He stared right into Iulia’s soul, eyes open like 2 white disks stained with a black spot in the middle.

  “And it begins!” Iulia shouted before leaping forward into the air at great speeds, making dust go in all directions.

  stefan3B kept perfect eye tracking of her vessel, not moving a single inch of his body yet. Iulia prepared an attack with her hands, charging up hell energy in his palms before manifesting it into a really long stick.

  “Let's see how this suits you!” she shouted as she put the stick over her head before slamming it down.

  stefan3B instantly noticed her attack. He took a little start-up to charge energy before launching himself upwards at never before seen speeds. He punched right through the staff, shattering it into dozens of pieces before reaching Iulia. He grabbed her chin and kept going upwards until they both passed through another platform. Iulia concentrated hell energy before releasing it, managing to break free from his grasp, both of them being pushed back. Iulia pant in surprise while stefan3B had no reaction, still giving her the same cold and deadly stare.

  “Your brother gave me a damn good warm up, but I'm done fiddling with worms like you anymore!” Iulia said before suddenly raising her hand as if she were holding a goblet.

  “DISINTEGRATION STORM!” she shouted before her body exploded once more with thick red mist, stronger than the last time.

  The attack caught stefan3B by surprise, being pushed back by it. stefan3B managed to stand his ground and stop the storm from expanding on his side.

  “Hmph. That would kill any elementalist I can think of. Heh, it might even injure a grandmaster~.” Iulia praised herself as she crossed her arms before rubbing her chin gently.

  Although she was sure her ultimate attack caught him as well, stefan3B defied it. He began punching into the wall of the storm, shaking it as a whole while making a dent where his fist landed. stefan3B gritted his teeth and frowned, growling like a rabid mutt.

  “Iulia… Iulia!” He muttered between breaths as his punches intensified.

  Iulia stood there, amazed but not shaken.

  “Is he mental…?” she said to herself right before stefan3B managed to punch a hole through the thick storm of disintegration and hell energy before grabbing the hole and ripping it apart like paper.

  stefan3B took no time to dash right into it and punch her in the face with his right fist, using enough momentum and velocity to send her flying back dozens of meters. Iulia did not expect this level of strength coming from someone who she thought to be much weaker than Ares in the first place, but that punch gave her the revelation she needed. She landed on her feet after spinning once, dashing across a platform she managed to tap beneath her. Her face was disfigured, the punch absolutely demolishing her facial structure. Thanks to hell energy, she was able to heal it off.

  “That bastard, how dare he?!” Iulia said before raising her hands then moving them down, making the entire disintegration storm release crimson spores to fill the air.

  “Ugh, this damn brat! My disintegration storm was supposed to be unstoppable! These spores will eat you alive, maggot!” Iulia shouted, despite stefan3B not being able to hear her.

  stefan3B shoved his hands into the ground, ripping a great part of the platform before throwing it directly at Iulia. Thanks to the spores, the projectile was eaten and destroyed completely, only small dust particles remaining to blast her face. She coughed a few times, fanning in front of her face with her hand. stefan3B didn't hesitate to rush her down. He grabbed her neck into a chokehold before preparing to send her face underground with his other hand. Iulia took notice and tried to outspeed his punch, but before she'd even managed to throw hers, he let out a crazed battle cry before battering her face through the platform, making it crumble into pieces. This hit was stronger than the last one, clearly having more intent behind it. She crashed through several platforms before finally snapping back to her senses. Her body was battered and full of bruises, but hell energy quickly took care of it. Once Iulia regained control of herself she summoned several thin plates of disintegration energy all around the storm, similar to Ares’ dashing move against her from earlier. Replicating the same move, she began dashing from plate to plate, trying to confuse stefan3B. His gaze stood constant upon her, a dominant reminder that she can't win this with raw speed or strength. Despite all the odds being against this strategy, her pride took the better side of her, making her dash kick right into stefan3B’s back. He quickly turned around, moving her leg away with one smooth motion of his forearm before going for another punch into her.

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  “Not this time!” Iulia shouted before throwing a punch into his, though her plan was short sighted, as stefan3B completely pushed through her arm with brute force, shattering it and forcing it to move away as he managed to land the blow into her shoulder. Iulia propelled herself away with hell energy while panting heavily. She regenerated from this injury as well.

  “Why won't you die?!” she screamed hysterically before throwing blasts of raw hell energy at stefan3B, which he managed to parry away with the back of his hand, only making her even more pissed off.

  “Ugh! Why is this energy so useless?! I'll just kill you with my bare hands!” she continued before rushing, pushing into him with her hands.

  stefan3B caught her hands into his as he allowed himself to be pushed for a few seconds before spinning and slamming her down. She quickly created a disintegration energy plate beneath her to slide and recollect herself. stefan3B instantly followed down, ready to fight in close quarters. Iulia, motivated by her benevolent rage, made the mistake of throwing the first punch, which left her full of openings. stefan3B ducked before spinning and hitting her chin with his left foot. Once the hit collided he followed up with an overhand blow from his right arm. Iulia forced herself to tank this hit and strike back with her right fist fully charged by hell energy. stefan3B smoothly pushed her arm down with his left hand before vaulting over her and kicking her behind her head. Iulia was pushed a few steps forward, more annoyed than ever. She took a deep breath before turning around, only to be greeted by a dive kick from stefan3B right into her stomach, knocking her off the plate into another platform, forming a great dust screen around her. Iulia swiped her right arm, making it go away. She was panting heavily, her wounds quickly mended by hell energy once more.

  “I never raised you to be like this!” Iulia complained before clasping her hands together and raising them about her head, leaving a red trail behind them.

  Upon hearing her dare speak about “raising” him, stefan3B snapped once more, letting out another ear bleeding cry that his throat will surely regret later. Iulia cries back at him before unleashing a barrage of hell energy projectiles, all in random shapes and sizes. stefan3B easily managed to vault and pass over them, getting closer to her.

  “No! No more!” she shouted before extending her arm and summoning dozens of disintegration zones.

  stefan3B dashed through the zones flawlessly. That's when she finally realized a key factor.

  “I'm not fighting an elementalist?!” she wondered to herself before finding herself in another chokehold from stefan3B.

  With bloodshot eyes, he shouted once more right into her face before beginning to batter her face up mercilessly with 2 blows. Upon landing the third blow, she slipped out of his grasp, being sent into the disintegration storm itself. Thanks to the storm acting like a soft mattress, she landed without further damage. That would be the case if stefan3B didn't follow up with several punches into her face and torso, pushing her frame against the storm and making it dent with each blow. Iulia was left breathless and confused as she couldn't even perceive his speed up close. Upon seeing her helplessness, his eyes frowned harder before he let out yet another battle cry followed by a barrage of hard punches all across her body, shattering her bones and body structure as a whole before breaking the disintegration storm as a whole with one final punch, sending her flying out of it.

  “Hm. He caught me with this one.” Iulia said in her mind as she kept on flying back.

  Her body took a few seconds to regenerate fully, hell energy not letting her down. She flipped midair to regain balance and stop moving backwards.

  “His punches have surely gotten weaker. After all, he cannot regenerate like I can. Still, it’s such a bother that my disintegration element cannot harm him just because he’s not an elementalist.” Iulia said to herself as she gently dusted her right shoulder with her left palm. “However, that just makes me more motivated to show him who the superior race is. Damn human scum.” Iulia continued before charging a lot of hell energy in her left palm.

  stefan3B was left panting for a few seconds. Once he saw her charge up energy within her palm he dashed right at her.

  “Disintegration storm!” she shouted before releasing the energy concealed within her hand, unleashing yet another hell energy zone.

  This time however, the attack spread like a giant wall instead of a sphere. stefan3B gasped and braced himself for impact. The wall of energy smashed right through him, bruising his body. He groaned quietly under his breath, clearly hurt by the impact. Iulia followed after the wall with a hell energy enhanced right fist right into his stomach while his face was still hiding behind his arms, catching him off guard and breaking his defense. Iulia smiled like a maniac.

  “Hah!” she shouted before adding another punch with her left fist which managed to swipe his head to the left.

  stefan3B tanked the hit, not allowing her hand to push through. He stared back at her with anger and growled before grabbing her left arm with his right one, twisting it and slamming it into his knee, effectively breaking it. Iulia shouted from the unexpected phantom pain, despite her body being neutral to pain in her current state. stefan3B shutted her up with a left punch straight into her face. Iulia used her free hand to charge up hell energy and unleash a mini disintegration storm to create distance between them again. Her arm couldn’t heal properly as it was twisted backwards. She tried flailing it up and down, hoping it would fix itself. Seeing that there are no results from doing so, stefan3B decided to rush her down once more. Iulia clenched her right fist, charging it up with energy before releasing it.

  “Disintegration storm!” she shouted once again.

  stefan3B let out a battle cry as he punched through the expanding storm, his knuckles bleeding from the hard bruises. Right before he got close to her, ready to deliver one more strike, she extended her arm forward, effectively managing to summon a restraining chain to his left arm, which was about to hit her. stefan3B was surprised by the reappearance of the chains, which gave her enough time to chain up his other limbs as well with only one link, just like before.

  “Heh, finally, I got you.” Iulia said with a teasing smirk and a frown.