I quickly sprang back as Kilella zipped towards me while firing a barrage of red XFE blasts at me, before teleporting myself above her as she closed in on me.

I then swiftly combined my X-Blade handles to form the long and wide blade mode and slashed down at her, which she quickly blocked with her tail, before leaping away as I fired out a shot at her at close range, my bullet grazing her left cheek as she backed away and flew up.

I pulled out my Square Blaster, set it to maximum output and took aim while evading the blasts she was firing straight down at me, before pulling the trigger, thousands of black XFE streaks bursting out and homing in towards her.

She rapidly zipped away through the air as the streaks chased after her, narrowly avoiding taking any of them head-on, evading them at the last minute so that they hit the barrier and dissipate, though she couldn't avoid several grazing her. None of them managed to get through her armor though.

I then took aim with my X-Blasters and fired at her, as the streaks from my Square Blaster started to peter out, some of my shots grazing her energy armor, before I spotted an opening as she narrowly evaded the last few streaks from my Square Blaster, I then took aim at the left side of her chest and fired again, striking her left hip as she quickly flew up.

As she halted for a brief moment and winced slightly, I split my X-Blade handles back to two and used Cut and Paste to teleport myself right above her, raised my right foot and swung my heel down towards her head, she responded by quickly crossing her forearms above herself, my heel slamming onto her defense with immense force and sending her plummeting down towards the ground.

Right before she could crash down, she quickly spread her wings out to halt herself inches above the ground, before I used Paste again to teleport right above her and slashed at her with my left X-Blade.

Right before I could connect, she blocked with her tail and wrapped it around the energy blade, and with a swift pull, tugged it out of my grip and flung it away to the side, before firing a red XFE blast at my other hand, knocking away my second X-Blade.

I threw a punch at her with my right hand, which halted as she grabbed my wrist with her tail and angled it away so that I couldn't shoot her, and right as I began to fire out of my left X-Blaster, she struck my left wrist with her palm and deflected it away as I fired, the bullet hitting the ground instead.

I then started to drive my knee up towards her midsection, but she reacted too quickly for me to connect, blocking my kick by swiftly raising her own knee to get in the way of mine. And then, with a rapid, angled flap of her wings, she swiftly spun across and struck my left side with her right foot, sending me flying away and skidding along the ground.

I managed to regain my balance before I could fall or crash onto something, but the instant I did, she had already closed in on me. Not good-...!

Before I could even begin to react, she spun around rapidly and slammed her tail onto my midsection, sending me flying back until I hit the barrier, my back slamming onto the barrier wall as she zipped towards me again, charging up a large XFE blast in her hands.

"It's over, little bro, I win!" She declared, as she closed in and drew her arm back, driving the blast forward towards me.

"," I chanted as quickly as I could, her eyes widening in surprise as the blast suddenly disappeared.

In that brief, minuscule instant where she was taken aback by her attack vanishing, I swiftly slipped behind her, and as she began to fly up while spinning around in alarm...

"!"

I fired her attack right back at her, which struck her back and elicited a stifled cry of pain from her, as it struck her back and blasted off a chunk of the energy armor below her shoulder blades, her skin also receiving some damage.

I then grabbed her tail and began to swing and throw her over my shoulder, before letting go and jumping away as she swung her right foot back towards me, narrowly avoiding her kick.

She then regenerated the armor that had gotten blown off and shot towards me, swinging a punch at me as she closed in, which I evaded and countered by driving my knee up towards her midsection. Before I could connect, she blunted my kick with her palm, blocking my knee.

I swiftly tilted my head out of the way as she whipped her tail up at my head, before biting it as she started to try and wrap it around my neck, destabilizing it slightly. I quickly got out of its grasp before she could stabilize it again.

As she threw a couple of punches at me, I blocked one and deflected the other, before swiftly striking her shoulders with sharp, rapid hits, followed by a quick twisting palm strike to the bottom of her jaw, causing her to stumble back, slightly dazed.

"Hey-!" She began indignantly, as she blocked an attempted throat punch, before I quickly teleported behind her and sprang onto her back, wrapping my legs around her waist and my left arm around her neck, before starting to take aim at her head with my right X-Blaster.

"I win," I declared, as I fired, blasting off the armor...one more shot should do it-.

"!" She exclaimed, right as I fired the first shot, I quickly sprang off of her as her energy armor transformed into a flaming one, narrowly avoiding getting burnt by the streaks of fire bursting out and swirling around her.

Some of the flames had scorched my jacket, but I didn't get any direct burns...that was close. This form is really troublesome to go up against, but it also drains her XFE at a much faster rate than her Primary Manifestation, even with her insane XFE reserves, she can't maintain this for too long. All that said though, I'm starting to run low on my XFE too, I've only got about forty percent left.

As she shot towards me at top speed, I teleported myself to the other end of the fighting area and fired out a couple of shots at her, which she wasn't able to evade, but they couldn't penetrate her armor, so it didn't matter...I can't afford to carelessly fire out a barrage of shots, I have to make sure I don't drain my remaining XFE too quickly.

She then swiftly flew up and swooped down at me, the flames around her intensifying as she began to close in...I can't win this just by running away, I'm far more likely to run out of XFE first than she is...since I'm not using Pause, my poison smoke bombs or Cut and Pasting her out of the barrier...let's try something new.

Right as she closed in, I used Cut and Paste to Teleport myself high into the air, by the ceiling of the Duel Field barrier, before focusing on her armor with as much concentration as I could muster, and as she began to fly up after me...

"This better work...," I chanted, as I started to plummet and there was barely a couple of meters between us, before chanting again as the armor around her vanished, her eyes widening in shock, "."

As I finished the activation chant, everything around me suddenly become brighter and hotter...as her flaming armor appeared around me.

"No way...!" She exclaimed in shock, her eyes widening as she began to fall, "Uh-oh, ...oof!"

Before she could finish her chant, I closed the gap and slammed my elbow onto her midsection, slightly surprised that she didn't get teleported out...until I recalled that Prodigies tend to have varying degrees of resistance to their XFE Attribute, so fire doesn't have much of an effect on her.

As she crashed onto the ground with a serious impact, letting out a slight groan, I began to swoop down and end the fight...when suddenly, the flaming armor dissipated, and I felt completely and utterly drained.

You're...kidding me...that had barely...even been...four whole seconds...am I already out of XFE? My back slammed onto the ground, knocking the wind out of me and rattling my bones...crap, don't think I can stand anymore.

Kilella then painstakingly got back onto her feet and walked over to me with a slight wince, her right finger glowing red.

"Kind of a reckless last move there, Zax...you almost had me, but it looks like I'll get the last laugh," She remarked with a wry smile.

"Heh...yeah, I'm completely out of XFE, just send me out already," I replied with a defeated sigh, while slowly drawing out one of my X-Blade handles with my left hand...I feel like I'm barely hanging onto my consciousness at this point, but I should be able to squeeze out one last drop of XFE...

"I have to admit, I'm not used to being pushed that hard in a fight...nicely done, little bro," She said with a smile, as she pointed her finger at me, the glow around it intensifying as she formed a small, concentrated ball of red XFE by her fingertip, "Bang!"

Right as she fired, I mustered all my strength and ran the last sputter of my remaining XFE into the handle, the blade forming as I swung it up and across towards her neck...and in the next instant, I found myself outside the Duel Field barrier, as a wave of exhaustion instantly hit me.

Looks like...I lost. I still have...plenty of stamina left, but...my XFE is completely and utterly drained, and...there's a huge difference between having one percent of your XFE left and draining it completely...I...can't...stay conscious...any...longer...

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