IV - Strength Evaluation

Here, they are now got their feet back on the field. Both of them agreed to test each other since they have curiosity. Nerissa felt that this Kaizo person was interested in her. She almost thought if he was interested in some kind of way. But, of course, that is absurd, right? He was fascinated by her magic, that's all. That makes her think, why would he dare to challenge her? The man only saw her healing skills, never seen her combat actions. That thought still goes on her mind.

"Grandia. I'm not gonna use you this time." Nerissa speaks to her earpiece.

"Evaluation?" The AI questions.

"Yes."

Nerissa throws the earpiece as it slowly turns into a humanoid AI. Her focus returns to Kaizo, who smirks with an eyebrow raised. Like a person who knows that he will win.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Knock it off."

"Just can't believe you are as enthusiastic as I am," Kaizo smirks.

She snickers, "Oh, you don't have to be so cocky. We're not even started yet."

"Yes, it is now."

Kaizo grabs his hilt from his left, and a bright blue-colored blade flashes from it. His mask automatically activates itself, armoring his face and enhancing focus.

"Energy Blade!"

Nerissa pierces her palm, causing drops of blood, and slowly materializes her weapon.

"Blood Sword!"

Two blades meet their edges as they look deep into their eyes. Feeling the fiery passion that is happening between the two. Both are trying to get each other hurt with their blade. They could tell by the teeth-gritting on their faces.

"So, this is the power of the Legendary Space Rebel?" She exclaims, "Fascinating."

"Even you can fight without any assistance or power spheres?!" Kaizo responds.

"Guess you are nothing without any of that!"

Evaded, Kaizo and Nerissa beat until one of them manages to place a scratch. Kaizo attempts to slash, yet she dodges it. Pissed, Nerissa controls the blood from her other palm and slaps his body like a whip, throwing him away. That attack made his body numb.

He quickly got up and locked her wrist using his energy power. Dragging her body towards him, Nerissa soon disables her sword and locks his other hand. Theyre facing close to each other, hands still in possession. Nerissa looks up to his face, only to see him smirking. She sees his eyes locked on hers, looking deep into those beautiful red eyes. It looks almost the same as his. His gaze made her heart flustered and weak. He could feel that her blood grasp slowly loose.

"Forcefield punch."

Nerissa senses a strong punch on her body that makes her throw away. He fooled her, and she was foolish to fall for it. She gasps as she sights his attempt to strike at her again. Her red eyes shine, and she quickly gazes at him. Before his fists could land on her, his eyes suddenly felt like something flashed at him for a second. Strangely, when he fixes his eyesight, she's gone. She's not on the ground in front of him. His eyes scan his surrounding, but no signs of her appearance.

"Where did she go?!" He asked himself.

Suddenly, he felt a firm bump on his back that made him fall to the ground. As he raised his head, his eyes finally sighted her and halted her movements. Her body glows a mixture of red and black. He had no idea what that was.

Kaizo quickly rose to his feet after she witnessed her rotate her body facing him. She dashes at him and strikes. Kaizo immediately blocks all of her attacks repeatedly. Her other palm materializes a big heavy sword and slams it on Kaizo. He blocked it with his energy shield. He admitted the blade was hefty, but he managed to avoid it.

"Energy Slash!"

This time, she lost the time to dodge and senses blood splatter from her body. She also felt a kick on her that made her trip. She accidentally glances at Kaizo, standing on her body. Nerissa quickly materializes her blood sword and slashes his repaired wound. She watched him groan as he felt the tremendous damage on his body. The blood from her palm gathers itself on her knuckles, forming a fist. She lands it on him and causes him to fall back.

Blood dripping from his mouth as he wipes it. Nerissa repairs her wound with her magic. Both staggers and feel tired a bit.

"You are...not so bad...at all, huh, Nerissa?" Kaizo pants.

"So, are you...I told you...you'll get hurt again. Now, you're being a real pain in my arse." Nerissa breathes.

Then, he responds, "You're the one who gave me this."

"More."

"More?" Kaizo reassures, "I thought Boboiboy was more than enough."

She breathes, "It was never more than enough. That kid didn't satisfy me."

Kaizo simply snickers at the words, "Alright, alright, easy...You asked for it."

He raises his hand and clenches his fist. His power band glows in orange. Nerissa-who's watching him-expects that he's going to enhance his powers. If that's true, then she would improve hers as well.

"AMBER MASK!"

The mask Kaizo wore releases some steam as the color gradually shines yellow. He could feel his powers increase. Looks like Nerissa's expectations became real in seconds. Yet, that wouldn't be fair if he's the only one who gets it.

"Nice...This is what I've wanted!" Nerissa speaks half-aloud.

Grandia-witnessing from afar-detected something inside its master's body, "My lady is going through that? To defeat him?"

She focuses on gathering all her strength on her pierced palms until smokes come out. The red smoke gradually combined with the black ones. She could feel the adrenaline rushing inside her. Her eyes shine red again.

"BERSERK MODE!"

Her body turns black and red.

Yellow-colored blade displays from his hilt, "Amber Energy Blade!"

"Berserk Blood Slash!"

They both leaped towards each other, blades clashing. Kaizo made a significant slash on her and halted his movement. The attack he made didn't hit her. Turns out, she made a Blood Barrier. Soon, she created a giant black slash from the tip of her hand. Kaizo immediately creates his amber barrier. He couldn't believe she had just copied his recent attack.

They felt their powers are both strong. They both jumped into the air and tried to slash each other. Kaizo-with his amber energy punch-slams her body to the ground and attempts to strike his blade from the air.

"Blood Hands!"

Nerissa composes a pool of blood, and multiple hands materialize from it. Kaizo saw those trying to stab him as he fell. Unfortunately, he dodges all of it and finally gets her pinned on the ground.

The point of his sword is just a few inches from her skin. He could feel the edges of her blood sword on her neck. They could sense their breaths brushing on each other's skin.

"You're good...Kaizo." She compliments him.

"Better than me, Nerissa."

They both seize their weapons, meaning that they have proven themselves.

"Nerissa," Kaizo calls her name, "I will ask you for another request."

Nerissa's head slumps on the ground, tired, "Gosh...What else do you want?!"

His face gets closer to her. Seeing him like that, she receives a weird feeling inside her, making her stiffen. He is way too close to her. What is he going to do?

"Join my team."

He saw that flustered face after he whispered it. Soon after, he felt a punch on his side that made him slump beside her. She places her thigh on his body with blood hands in her possession. She could believe what she had just heard.

"What the hell was that?!" She frowns.

"You're powerful. From my perspective, your abilities would be useful in the galaxy."

She cocked her head to one side, "Galaxy?"

"Yes. All those fights, I took that as a judgment. Whether you would like it or not, I decide. So, what do you say?"

Pissed, she raises her bloody hand, ready to slap him.

"I'm not joking!"

He gets up and tries to explain everything to her, "So, I have a team in my own right. We are dedicated to finding the right owner to use power bands before it falls into the wrong hands. I'm also part of TAPOPS-Tracker and Protector of Power Spheres-an organization dedicated to finding and protecting the power spheres scattered around the galaxy. Now that I have seen that you are powerful, I find it perfect for you to join us."

She is still in denial. TAPOPS, power spheres, galaxy. She mentions all of that as nonsense. It just didn't make sense. Lots of things are going through her mind, and Kaizo notices the look on her face.

"It may sound not logical to you-"

"IT IS NOT LOGICAL!" She shouts.

Kaizo added, "But I could show you that it is true. Boboiboy is part of them, along with his friends, too."

"W-What?" Nerissa speaks in disbelief.

"Yes. Boboiboy is part of TAPOPS." He repeats himself.

She is trying her best to process everything she just heard. Kaizo saw her stressed look. Maybe he went too far.

"Look," He grabs her shoulder, "Everything I said might be a bunch of nonsense to you. But I'm serious about you. Once you get everything cleared in your mind, think about it, will you?"

She stares at his eyes with a frown, "Ugh...Fine. I'll give it some thought."

He reliefs, "That's good to hear."

"Sit down. I'll patch you up."

Her fingers shine red as it starts healing the pain she caused him. None of them speak a word. It took her 21 minutes to cure him. Soon as she finished healing, she helped him to stand up.

"Time for you to go." She demands.

Kaizo then speaks, "You're right. Thank you."

Nerissa's finger plucks his hair strands. To send him back, she needs to know the specific destination. She accessed his DNA through his hair, though it was inappropriate. Once she discovers it, her finger creates a red teleportation hole.

"After you."

Kaizo spoke some words before he left her, "Thank you, Nerissa Dezastaria. I owe you one. Please, feel free if you want to join me."

"You're welcome, Captain Kaizo."

Kaizo finally penetrates the portal and steps on a metal floor. The portal behind him closes immediately. Nerissa lets out a huge sigh.

"What a day." She speaks.

The words he told her kept going inside her mind.

"To the galaxy, huh?"