<h4>Chapter 269 Rio Vs. Lia, The Battle for Acknowledgement... Part-2.</h4>


    Lia''s waiting room.


    Lia slept peacefully and woke up early to get ready. Excitement and determination shed in her eyes.


    She wanted to try her new powers right away. Although it will take some time to fully master them, she already has a lot of ideas for them.


    Now that she has already gotten rid of her self-loathing thoughts, she feels much more rxed and happy.


    Currently, it''s the fourth day of the tournament. Lia has won three matches in a row, and there''s only three more left.


    With her newfound powers, Lia was not afraid of losing at all; in fact,?she was thinking that she might have some small chances of winning.


    But that''s just her own spection.


    Just as Lia was happily sipping her juice, the hologram in the center of her room finally moved again.


    [Ding! Congrattions! Your match has been fixed!]


    [Ding! Lia Silver vs. Rio sh]


    [Time: 11:00 A.M.]


    [Make sure to arrive on time!]


    "Ah…"


    *crack*


    Seeing the name on the roulette, Lia was so shocked that the juice ss fell from her hand and cracked into pieces after hitting the floor.


    The excitement on Lia''s face disappeared instantly, and a solemn expression appeared on her face.


    "Ugh… We really jinxed it yesterday…"


    Just yesterday evening, the two of them were talking about how they would fight each other if they ended up against one another.


    But who could have thought that their words woulde true so fast! They were talking about it yesterday, and now they have to fight today!


    Although Lia did say that she would beat him to a pulp, that was just a joke; she really doesn''t have the courage to injure him!


    Just like Rio, she doesn''t want to unsheathe her sword against him.


    Thinking this far, Lia could only sigh and shake her head,


    "Sigh~, I was the one who said to not hold back on me…. Now I can''t back off like this… I must fight him properly now…"


    Lia clenched her fists and calmed her mind.


    She had to do a lot of mental preparation; if she messed up things, he would think of her as rude. (She''s thinking too much again…)


    [Your luck is really bad sometimes, isn''t it?...]


    Hearing Kai''s words, Lia couldn''t help but shake her head and sigh again,


    "Ugh… yeah"


    Lia knew how bad her luck had always been; she had suffered a lot because of it.


    She has never won any lotteries or other luck-based games.


    If she ever tried to be a gambler, she would end up losing the whole Silver Mansion in one go. That''s why she never takes a gamble and tries to be steady and slow.


    Ignoring the conflicted look on Lia''s face, Kai continued,


    [If you fight him the way you were doing before reaching''spiritual ascension'', then you will lose…]


    Lia nodded her head at those words and replied,


    "I know… but now, things are different…"


    Kia appeared on Lia''s shoulder and said, in a calm tone,


    "We don''t have the time to train right now, but yeah, I have one technique that can help you immensely…"


    Lia''s eyes shined at those words, and she nodded her head.


    "Let''s do it then!"


    …


    Time passed quickly, and the scheduled time arrived.


    Lia entered the stadium grounds and slowly walked to the center.


    Rio was already standing there with his hands crossed, as if he were waiting for her here like he usually does when they go on a date.


    "You are here…"


    Lia nodded her head at Rio''s words and stretched out her hand to do thepulsory handshake.


    She smiled a bit and said,


    "Like I said before, don''t hold back on me; I am strong now. You will lose if you underestimate me…"


    Rio nodded his head and replied in the usual emotionless tone.


    "I see… I will not let you down then; don''t me meter…"


    Seeing that Rio agreed, Lia smiled and said,


    "Of course!"


    Having said that, the two of them leaped back, creating a significant distance between them.


    *Ladies and gentlemen! This is going to be an epic battle! We are already in thete stages of this tournament! All of the remaining students are strong!*


    *Today! Once again, we will get to see Rio sh fight his own teammates! It''s as if he''s hell-bent on beating his whole team! He has eliminated two of his teammates already!*


    *Let''s see what happens today!*


    …


    VVIP Area.


    Ashtel narrowed his eyes and nced at Ryul, and then asked in a doubtful tone.


    "Did you perhaps tamper with the ''match fixing'' AI? Why is it making Rio fight his teammates again and again?"


    Ryul immediately shrugged his shoulders at those words.


    "What are you talking about? If I had tried to do so, wouldn''t you have noticed it? You think I can dodge your detection range so easily?"


    Hearing Ryul''s words, Ashtel nodded his head.


    "Yeah… With your lousy concealment skills, you couldn''t have done so… I guess the AI itself is buggy then…"


    Jin also nodded his head and said, in a confused tone,


    "Yeah, this is such a weird coincidence… It wouldn''t have seemed so strange if it happened only once or twice, but now Rio is fighting his teammates for the third time in a row!"


    "This is really strange…"


    Even Gradba nodded his head.


    "Yeah, barely any of the other candidates have had to fight their own teammates… Things are strange in Rio''s case…"


    Ashtel sighed and shook his head,


    "Forget it; the match is already about to start; there''s no point in trying to stop it now…"


    "Moreover, only 8 candidates are left now; tomorrow will be the semifinals, so it''s not that strange anyway…"


    Jin sighed at those words.


    "Still… there''s a high chance that the winner of this match will have to fight Link or Liam in the semifinals… There are only a few of them left now after all…"


    The group included Link, Liam, Rio, Lia, Vanya, the elven archer from Vanya''s team, and two additional individuals.


    They are the only ones left.


    Furthermore, the next match today, after Rio and Lia, will be between Liam and that Elven Archer girl.


    Things are slowly bing clearer now; only two days remain until this tournament ends.


    …


    On the stadium grounds.


    Rio unsheathed his sword, raised it above his shoulder, and took his stance.


    Lia smirked a bit and immediately took her stance. She was ready to thrust her sword at any time now.


    *And let''s start this battle!.. 3!.. 2!.. 1!.. Fight!!*


    [Darkwing movement art!]


    [Elemental Sword Art: Fire type: descending sun!]


    Rio appeared in front of Lia in an instant, and with his Darkwing movement art, he didn''t even give her the time to blink her eyes.


    His sword swung downward, covered with condensed fire energy.


    That was undoubtedly a fatal strike; if it had been Lia from before, the attack would have instantly injured her.


    But things are different now; Lia has a broken talent.


    She can see two seconds into the future!


    [Silver Lion Swordsmanship: Counter w!]


    Lia thrust her sword before Rio even reached the spot, as she had already predicted where Rio was going to attack.


    Her sword easily deflected the trajectory of Rio''s sword, and she also did a sword swing to counter Rio.


    That attack was totally unexpected; even Rio was surprised by that sudden counterattack.


    He tilted his head a bit, and the sword swing barely grazed past his left ear. Still,a small cut appeared on his left cheek.


    In an instant, Rio jumped back a bit, and his eyes widened in surprise.


    He had clearly dodged that attack, but for some reason, Lia was able to predict Rio''s dodging movement, and she changed her sword trajectory mid-attack.


    If not for the fact that Rio has a crazy fast reaction time, he couldn''t have properly dodged this counterattack and would have lost his left eyeball.


    Seeing the surprised look on Rio''s face, Lia smirked a bit and said,


    "Like I said, don''t underestimate me; I am nning on winning this match!"


    [Silver Lion Swordsmanship: twelve ws of peace!]


    Liaunched towards Rio and swung her sword.


    She easily predicted the angle Rio was going to use to defend himself, and she bypassed it in an instant.


    Still, Rio was quite fast; even though Lia could predict, she couldn''t move as fast as Rio could.


    Thus, only two of her 12 attacks barely cut the hem of Rio''s shirt when he dodged.


    ''As I thought, he''s fast… I need to improve my speed first…''


    Lia wanted to finish this match as fast as possible.


    She knew all too well how amazing Rio''s adapting skills were; if she dragged on too long, Rio would figure out how her talent works, and at that point, it would be much easier for him to slip past her attack range.


    [Are you sure you want to use it so early? It costs a lot of mana, you know…]


    [Moreover, you are not skilled enough in it, so I guess you will waste a lot of mana too…]


    Lia knew all this, but she didn''t care.


    ''If I don''t hurry and press Rio now when he is surprised, I will not have the chance to win against him again!''


    ''It''s do or die now! Victory or defeat depends on this one decision!''


    [Well, do as you wish, then! Let''s show this guy your true resolve!]


    Lia smiled at Kai''s words and immediately made some distance from Rio.


    She ced her sword''s tip on the ground, and an immense amount of spirit energy started to condense around her.


    [Divine Spirit''s Blessing: Spiritual Ascension: Spirit Merge!]


    …


    …


    Author''s Note.


    Yo! It''s your beloved author here!


    D*mn, Lia has really be quite strong! She even made Rio feel surprised! Let''s see what more she has in her arsenal.


    Question of the day:.


    Which type of spirit would you like to have?


    1. Lion spirit


    2. Fox spirit


    3. Wolf sprit


    4. Others (tell me in thements.)


    By the way, don''t forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story. Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.