After acknowledging each other, Theo and Maya stepped up their game.
Maya quickly put another bullet inside her shotgun while Theo summoned his clone.
"Here it comes." Maya smiled and aimed at Theo's clone, releasing another bullet.
Clone Theo used his Blink to avoid it and reappeared next to Maya, waving his spear.
Maya formed the same metal shield on her hand to block Theo's spear, but Clone Theo ended up stomping the ground with his Cannon Blast, turning it into a crater.
Bam.
They lost their footing in an instant, but small trapezoid wings appeared on her back. The wings looked like that of an airplane and came out from the small metal bag on her back..
She activated the wings to generate enough thrust for her to stay afloat.
However, Theo surely wouldn't let go of this opportunity and reached Maya from the other side, waving his spear.
Maya clicked her tongue, blocked the spear with her shield, and was blown away.
She even crashed into the tree and snapped the trunk.
When she thought everything was over, forty Magic Bullets were coming straight at her face.
She opened her mouth in surprise and reached out something on her waist.
It was a small metallic sphere. As soon as she threw it, the sphere released a white smoke that destroyed all the Magic Bullets.
"Haha, you're really strong. I won't think about money anymore." Maya laughed and changed her weapon to a pistol again.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
She fired several times at Theo's head, heart, and feet, trying to hinder him.
Theo had seen the efficacy of these bullets, so he charged at her while using the Ring of Honor to protect him.
The bullets caused explosions to slow him down and took away his vision, but Theo still felt Maya hadn't moved with his Awareness.
Unfortunately, Maya was one step ahead. The pistol's magazines slipped, and Maya caught the magazine and released all the bullets from the inside.
She grasped the bullets and covered her hand with lightning.
Before Theo escaped from the smoke, she threw it to Theo, who came out with his clone.
"It's a trap, you know." Maya playfully licked her tongue.
Theo saw the bullets spreading around him and each bullet seemed to have an electric flow that connected them, forming a net.
"…" Theo maintained his silence, heading straight to the net.
Boom.
The bullets exploded while the lightning sparked.
"Got him?" Maya furrowed her eyebrows before changing her magazine. After that, she changed her weapon to a two-foot-long blue rifle.
Unfortunately, she didn't have any visual of Theo because of the smokescreen.
When the smoke disappeared, she saw a floating white spear that suddenly flew at her.
"!!!" She leaped back while aiming at the spear before Theo entered her vision.
It turned out Theo had stopped after taking the bullets to his head, heart, and feet. In other words, she only hit his clone and illusion in the trap she used earlier.
"How…" Maya was speechless, wondering how Theo could know about the trap. 'I never used it in the competition…'
Little did she know, there was a screen in his vision this whole time, telling him about her skill.
Skill: Lightning Net (C)
Effect: Channeling lightning to metal objects to cause a series of lightning sparks.
Maya hurriedly shot the spear down before raising her head, finding another wave of Magic Bullets.
"This is annoying." Maya summoned her shield to block it before noticing something different in these Magic Bullets. She instinctively jumped to the side instead of taking the bullets head-on.
To her surprise, the bullets made another turn to avoid her shield and then another turn to hit her body had she not escaped.
Theo snapped his finger and the spear returned to his side by using Telekinesis.
"You are strong, aren't you?"
"I still remember you were known as the chatterbox in the competition…" Theo shook his head helplessly, knowing that Maya would continue talking even in a difficult situation.
"Hahaha, I take it as a compliment. You don't need to be that strict in life, you know. Just enjoy it." She laughed and aimed her rifle at Theo. "Though, I am serious in defeating you."
She fired a few more rounds at Theo.
Seeing all the bullets, Theo surprisingly charged toward them as if he didn't fear the bullets.
When the bullets were about to hit him, Theo used his Blink to appear behind her and struck her from above.
"!!!" Maya raised her rifle and blocked his spear, but the force planted her feet in the ground while Theo refused to let her go.
Suddenly, the bullets Theo dodged earlier turned around and flew straight at Theo… Or rather Maya at this point.
Maya was in deep shock and said dumbfoundedly, "Y-you know my bullets are homing bullets?"
Theo didn't have a change in his expression, but he already anticipated it earlier thanks to his eyes.
Skill: Targeting (C)
Effect: Forcing an object to fly toward the designated target and follow the target if the target is moving.
On the contrary, Maya misunderstood his abilities and thought it must be the talent related to a family that is closely related to Control. She thought Theo had scanned the Magic Power in the bullets and assumed he had deemed they were homing bullets. After all, Theo's Magic Bullets had that feature as well.
Still, she didn't know whether the Griffith Family could actually do something like this, elevating Theo's talent in her eyes.
'He has this much talent aside from his Control?' She screamed inwardly while her body shuddered. Because Theo pinned her down and the bullets were going to hit her, Maya used another skill to protect herself.
Theo instantly leaped away right after the skill activated, slipping away from the danger.
Soon, a light-blue sphere formed by lightning spark appeared and protected Maya from the bullets.
Skill: Lightning Barrier (C)
Effect: Creating a lightning force field that will repel anything in three feet radius.
Theo was still impressed by Maya's Affinities. After all, her bullets could explode while her affinity was lightning. This created an illusion that Maya had two affinities.
On the other hand, Maya was sucking a cold breath and muttered inwardly, "He moved right after I used my skill. He really could see the flow of my Magic Power. This guy… I want to obtain him. No, I should win to get the idea about his talent first."