The rooftop buzzed with residual energy from Aron's Phoenix-powered avatar as he stood motionless, his eyes fixed on the spot where Wanda had wi him moments ago. The air shimmered with tension, and a faint smile curled his lips.

  "So," he muttered, his voice ced with amusement, "you've e to test me."

  Before the words faded, a ripple of crimson energy surged through the air behind him. Wanda materialized, her red aura crag like wildfire. Her stance was calm but brimming with precision, her eyes glowing with sharp iy.

  "You're not what I expected," she said, her tone even. "But then agaiher am I."

  Aron turned slowly, his golden eyes log onto hers. "Wanda. I wondered how long it would take for you to find me." His avatar radiated with raw Phoenix energy, a faint golden shimmer that cshed with her crimson aura. "But you're too eager. Did Mago send you? Or is this personal?"

  Wanda smirked, her fiwitg as crimson hexes da her fiips. "Let's just say I have my reasons. Now, are you going to make this easy, or do I have t you into submission?"

  Aron raised an eyebrow, amused. "Submission? You really think you take me down?" He spread his arms, invitio attack. "By all means, show me what you've got."

  Wanda didn't hesitate. Her hands moved in a blur as she unleashed a volley of hexes, eae weaving through the air like a guided missile. Aron tered with a wave of golden energy, the Phoenix Force reshapiy to dissolve her spells mid-flight.

  The rooftop exploded into chaos as their powers collided, sending shards of stone and gss into the air. Wanda leaped into a, telep midair to avoid the debris while firing another barrage of spells. Aron deflected them with ease, his movements fluid and almost casual.

  "Is that all?" he taunted, his voice eg with the ethereal hum of the Phoenix Force.

  Wanda's eyes narrowed. She thrust her hands forward, summoning a massive surge of agic that ed the air around them. The rooftop seemed to twist and bend, reality itself being malleable under her influence. Arohe shift and grinned.

  "Impressive," he admitted, "but predictable."

  With a snap of his fingers, the Phoenix Force surged outward, stabilizing the twisted reality and tering her spell. In the same instant, he tapped into the Space Stone's power that he absorbed way back, creating a rift. The world shifted, and they were no longer on the rooftop. They stood in an isoted dimension, an endless world surrounded by open fields. Aron's avatar floated a few feet above the ground, his golden aura pulsing like a heartbeat.

  "Here," he said, his tone serious noon't risk tearing the city apart."

  Wanda looked around, unfazed by the sudden shift. 'Teleportation?' Her mind was already calg. She could feel the immense energy radiating from Aron—it was overwhelming, unlike anything she'd entered before. Uimating him wasn't an option. 'This will be fun.' This was the first time she faced su overwhelming oppo and the thought of using her 100% against someone capable of withstanding her power made her even more excited.

  "ve," she replied, her voice calm. "But this ges nothing."

  With a flick of her wrist, she jured a swarm of crimson bdes, eae honed with chaotic precision. They darted toward Aron like a storm of razors. Aroended a hand, the Phoenix Foring a golden shield that absorbed the attack.

  Wanda anticipated this. She teleported behind him, her hands glowing as she cast a spell that ed gravity itself.

  "Gravity?" He just stood there without a hint of . "It's useless against me."

  The ground below him erupted with chaos energy, followed by a massive explosion. Wanda didn't stop there and fired a series of hex bolts, eae exploding with enough force to pulverize a building.

  Aron simply absorbed the kiiergy from the explosion before releasing it in a si that disied everything around them. Wanda stumbled back, but not before releasing invisible Hex Mines everywhere. She took advantage of the explosion, thinking he wouldn't notice. Oep would trigger the trap and all the hundreds of mines would the target in a web of magical energy followed by explosions. No matter how good one is, once caught up in it would be devastating.

  'You absorb kiiergy, huh? Well, show me how much you absorb. There has to be a limit.'

  She grinned a out a dozen or so bsts, eae hitting Aron and exploding in his face.

  ", fight back," She tried to taunt Aron into taking a step and activating the hidden trap.

  Aron stood in the midst of the chaos, his golden aura shimmering against the onsught of Wanda's relentless attacks. He remained calm and looked kinda amused. The ground around him was scorched and cracked, yet he hadn't taken a siep.

  Wanda narrowed her eyes and tried to exploit every opening. Each explosio a ripple of power through the isoted dimensio Aron absorbed it effortlessly. She needed him to move... 'Just oep and the Hex Mines would do the rest.'

  "You're holding back," she called, her voice cutting through the deafening echoes of destru. "Don't tell me the great Phoenix-powered warrior is afraid of a little agic."

  Aron tilted his head, a faint smile curling his lips. "Afraid? Hardly. Amused? Perhaps." He raised a hand, the air around him thiing with golden energy. "But if you're eager to see me fight, who am I to deny you?"

  With a flick of his wrist, he unleashed a trated wave of Phoenix Forergy. It wasn't an attack—it was a disruption. The golden wave rippled outward, destabilizing the invisible magies Wanda had carefully pnted. One by ohe traps detonated prematurely, filling the battlefield with fiery bursts of agic.

  Wanda shielded herself instinctively, her crimson aura fring to deflect the suddeions. 'Damn it!' She cursed under her breath, realizing her ploy had failed. 'But why isn't he moving from that pce? Could it be that he 't move for some reason?'

  "Predictable," Aron said, his voice eg with the ethereal hum of the Phoenix Force. He floated higher, the golden energy around him intensifying like a burning sun. The Phoenix began to take shape around him. "Now, let me show you what true power looks like."

  He extended his hands, and the grouh them began to quake. Aron's mastery over the Phoenix Force allowed him to reshape reality itself. The once-open fields transformed into a barren wastend, the sky darkening with storm clouds of pure energy. Streams of molten va erupted from the ground, f rivers that crisscrossed the battlefield.

  'Dang! Just what kind of freak is he?' Wanda's heart raced. She had faced powerful foes before, but Aron's trol over the battlefield was unlike anything she had entered. Still, she refused to back down.

  "Show-off," she muttered, telep to higher ground. From her vantage point, she began weaving an intricate spell, her hands moving in a blur. Crimson runes appeared in the air around her, pulsating with raw agic. The runes liogether, f a massive sigil that hovered ominously above Aron.

  Then six more appeared, c the sky. Wanda trated them together into one.

  "Let's see you ter this," she said, unleashing the spell. The sigil desded upon Aron, its crimson light bathing him in an oppressive glow. The spell wasn't just an attack—it was a binding hex desigo suppress his powers and lock him in pce.

  Aron gnced upward, his golden eyes narrowing. The sigil pressed down, its weight palpable even to him. He could feel the agic seeping into his aura, attempting to disrupt his power. 'Iing. I 't absorb her agic for some reason. Is it because of that freaking Chthon? But I was able to absorb Lady Death's power. Ah! I see. agic corrupts and disturbs the bance while Phoenix ah maintain the universal or ice. So, they won't let Chthon corrupt me... Or it could be the limitation of using an energy-made avatar.'

  He tried to use Jubilee's explosion, but it didn't work. 'So, I only use limited power in this form. Two alongside the Phoenix Ford once I use the first two, it remains fixed for the time being. I gotta train more and remove this weakness. Let's check, just to be sure.'

  Aron once again focused his mind and used the Space Stone's power. And just as he thought, it worked. A ortal opened, abs Wanda's sigil before closing.

  "Why don't we stop this meaningless fight? Maybe we talk things out. You know you 't defeat me and I 't afford to waste any more time," He said, his tone even and devoid of hostility.

  "Didn't I already say, I'll drag you to submissio's see how you deal with a creature from the underworld," lied, her tone fident and filled with a hint of excitement. She snapped her fingers and a small rift appeared, revealing a monstrous creature from the depths of the underworld.

  Aron looked at the creature, which had the upper body of a muscur man and the lower half of a bck scorpion. The beast was covered in thick, chitinous armor, and its six eyes burned with an unnatural green light. It hissed and shed out at Aron with its barbed tail, but the strike was deflected by the Phoenix Force.

  "A monster from the underworld," he murmured, raising an eyebrow. "Hahahahahaha. That worm?"

  The grouh him cracked, and the sky grew darker as he let out a booming ugh. The sound echoed across the wastend, sending tremors through the air.

  "Disiion ray!" Aron pointed his fi the monster.

  A trated bright beam shot out from his fiip, turning the scorpion-like creature into ash in the blink of an eye.

  "Do you have more, Wanda? If s it on!"

  "Sigh!" Wanda flew down and raised her hands. "I give up."

  "Eh? Just like that?" He raised his eyebrow.

  "Yes, just like that."

  "But, you were so fident about draggio submission."

  "I was, but now, I'm not so sure."

  "Now I want t you into submission."

  "What? You gonna spank me or something? You into BDSM?"

  "Yes. And so are you."

  "Eh, no. Not even close. I'm a perfectly normal girl with zero experience."

  "Normal girls don't go around attag people out of nowhere. So, what was that all about?" Aron asked.

  "I need your help," Wanda admitted.

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