The Magician of Sound

As agreed, they went to Michelle\'s house by car. Sanae didn\'t participate in this because she had no benefit from watching something like this. Only Evan decided to watch the fight, so he could learn close combat from Sofia\'s fighting style.

Michelle had talked with her father about this and forbade him from visiting them, lest he would act like Nathan.

Much to his dismay, Michael didn\'t have any choice other than agreeing to this.

The moment they entered Michelle\'s house, the car purposely went toward the backyard. There was a quite big field there without any plants surrounding it. Even the ground was filled with dirt.

"This place is good for the fight." Kai thought as he peeked outside the window.

"It\'s so-so. You can get one more spacious than this as long as you request it in EU Base." Sofia interjected while observing Kai\'s expression.

Kai\'s eyebrows twitched as he didn\'t really like how she belittled Michelle. Of course, this was Sofia\'s true intent. She wanted to confirm what kind of things he disliked to make sure she didn\'t do it in the future. The only time she could do this was during the early period since she could say she didn\'t know anything about it.

"Never mind. It seems I was wrong." Sofia shrugged, stopping Michelle, who was about to rage. "I apologize if that makes you uncomfortable."

"You—!" Michelle took a deep breath. As much as she wanted to snarl at her, since the other party had apologized, she didn\'t need to continue.

Kai said nothing more and simply waited until the car stopped.

The butler opened the door, and the group finally got off the car, walking toward the field.

"This will be the place of the battle. You don\'t need to worry about the environment. Even my house is a bit far from this place." Michelle shrugged, pointing her finger to the biggest building almost fifty meters away from this place. "The rule is simple. The one who leaves the dirt and steps on the grass will lose. Since you are using my field for this, I hope you can comply with this rule."

Kai and Sofia nodded without hesitation as they walked toward the field, knowing that they shouldn\'t delay it any longer. It was best to not stay here for long because Michael might blow up his fuss here.

Michelle then signaled his butler to grab a few things before she walked toward the two, stopping right in front of the dirt field. "You may start."

Hearing the unexcited start threw them off for a second before Sofia released her exoskeleton and raised her two fists. Her stance was close to boxing, but there was something different in this stance.

Kai could feel it but didn\'t know what it was. He took a deep breath, released the new exoskeleton he had and summoned his swords.

"I don\'t mind if you use your Vibration Sword." Sofia smiled, feeling very confident.

"No need. I might accidentally cut you later…" Kai rejected her request instantly. "I am going for close combat today, and I don\'t mind if you use magic as well since it won\'t be a fair fight."

Sofia\'s face twitched. She knew it wasn\'t a fair fight because she wasn\'t a fighter like Kai, nor she had extraordinary strength. Her main strength was her magic. "I will start then."

Kai nodded and raised his sword, knowing Sofia was about to move.

Sofia then raised her hands, summoning four small magic circles behind her. "Ice Particles. Cube."

The magic circles froze the air around them, forming a few small ice cubes around it before shooting them toward Kai.

Kai looked at this and had no plan to avoid this attack. Instead, he swung both of his swords in his front.

To everyone\'s surprise, when the group saw that the ice cubes passed him, they thought some of them hit Kai, but Sofia understood that not a single of them touched him.

\'Is that really possible? It seems his hearing is not ordinary. I thought his hearing contributed only to its range, but it seemed it also improved his perception.\' Sofia frowned as she could completely see that Kai swung his swords and shifted it slightly to block every single ice cubes. "You can listen and predict the projectile? That is insane."

Kai shrugged. "I am just showing my ability to you, but I won\'t explain them."

"Fair enough." Sofia nodded.

"Is that all? Should we step up a bit?"

Sofia took another deep breath as she leaped toward Kai. However, before she arrived at him, a few magic circles appeared again, shooting out another ice cubes.

Kai noticed that these ice cubes were only distractions, and the main attacks came from Sofia. He simply smiled and walked a few steps forward before he waved his sword at her.

"!!!" Sofia widened her eyes. Kai just grasped the weakness of this attack in a single glance. It was true that the moment he stood there and blocked her, he would be subjected to any kind of attack. The same applied if he tried to run away. The only way to stop this was to clash with her directly by walking a few steps forward, so the ice cubes would miss the target.

At this moment, she knew that she had lost this exchange because Kai\'s strength was far above her. In EU Base, she could do something with her exoskeleton, but the one in front of her was the combination of a powerful Zodiac and an exoskeleton. She clenched her fist and struck at Kai\'s sword, only to get blown away.

"Are you a fool? This is not like you. From how you fought in Miami, you shouldn\'t use such a stupid move. If I am your enemy, I will already split into half." Kai frowned and said with a cold tone.

"I know that. But this is the only technique I can use to see your reaction speed and observation skill. Just like the previous attack." Sofia smiled as she landed on the ground. "Besides, you are not my enemy at the moment. There is no way Kai Carter is so foolish to kill me without any preparation."

"It seems I need to step up my game." Kai took a deep breath as his expression turned serious. He leaped toward Sofia with the intention to finish this battle in this exchange.

Her instinct was trembling as Sofia formed huge gauntlets with claws on her hands. "Let\'s go then. I didn\'t use this fighting style before because it wasn\'t suited in the previous battle. Now that you are going to face me one by one, I will try to beat you."

"Talk too much." Kai snorted as he completed his swings, aiming at her neck and right foot.

Sofia smiled and knocked both of his swords upward and downward. The one aiming at her neck went upward, passing above her head while the other struck the ground.

Just like the gauntlets, a pair of boots that looked like a paw of an animal appeared, covering her two feet. Sofia raised her feet and sent a kick toward his stomach.

Kai channeled his magic power and created a magic circle in front of his body, stopping the kick without a problem.

"Tch." Sofia stepped on this magic circle, using it as a cushion to raise her body and send a round kick toward Kai\'s head.

Kai glanced for a second before he bent down and sent the same kick toward her.

It seemed that both had the same reaction as they ducked down, with their feet clashed against each other.

However, Sofia was the one at the disadvantage because neither foot was on the ground, taking away her balance.

Kai used this chance to send his sword. No matter how bad his form is, as long as the sword struck her, it should be enough to injure her.

At this point, Sofia only smiled as if she knew about it this whole time. To counter Kai\'s attack, she used the foot that stepped on the Oscillation Shield to regain her balance, spun her body around, placed her hands on the ground.

Not only that, but she also used this chance to blow Kai\'s away by doing a handstand and kicked him. It should be possible with his ugly pose as it posed not enough strength to maintain his position.

Kai was also not a pushover. Using the last chance he had, he bent his knees before straightening it again, kicking Sofia\'s foot and giving enough force for Kai to leap away.

"!!!" Both of them were surprised this time. Kai leaped back a few meters away while Sofia stood back after launching herself to the air with her hands.

"Is that your instinct?" Kai asked as if he already knew it but wanted to confirm it again.

"That\'s right. Unlike you, I don\'t have anything to hide. This sixth sense of mine can feel the enemy\'s presence like seeing a great blaze. I will know there is a person in that particular direction. A similar thing applies to close combat. I can sense which part of the body you will use, so I can counter that attack. Isn\'t this one like your hearing? I heard you can listen to the movement of muscles, letting you predict what kind of attack and where they will go."

Kai thought for a moment and nodded. "Yes. I indeed can. However, your sixth sense is a bit weird… It\'s like…"

"Seeing the future?" She smiled. "Nah. My sixth sense isn\'t that powerful. I will tell the reason if you can beat me."

"Ho?" Kai\'s expression turned serious as he smirked. "Then, we should test how powerful your sixth sense is!"

Sofia grinned as both of them leaped toward each other at the same time.