Raven zipped across the air before locking onto the glass ball and firing out a pair of rapid beams from his eyes, which shot through the air with immense speed.

His opponent swiftly coated the ball with his black blood, Raven's eyes widening in disbelief as his beams collided against the blood, failing to break through.

Ariodred formed a blade of black blood in his right hand as he shot towards Raven through the air with immense speed, closing in on him rapidly. Raven veered across as Ariodred drove the blade towards him, narrowly avoiding it before quickly crossing his arms in front of himself defensively as a devastating burst of black blood slashes erupted out of Ariodred's body.

A couple of gashes appeared across Raven's forearms, before he coated his entire body in lightning while flying back, extending out his arms and sending them zipping out towards Ariodred.

Several tendrils extended out of his arms as they began to close in on his opponent, the crystal on Ariodred's forehead glowing brighter and brighter before a devastating beam of red energy erupted our of it, blowing away Raven's arms and tendrils.

Raven retracted his damaged arms with a grimace, regenerating before quickly lifting his gaze as Ariodred zipped higher up into the air and swooped down towards him with immense speed, extending out several tendrils of black blood, the crystal on his forehead starting to glow again.

Raven swiftly snapped his jaws open and unleashed a ringing, deafening sonic screech, before zipping up as a dazed look appeared on his opponent's face.

He drove his right fist up, coated in lightning, a burst of purple flames erupting out of his elbow as his arm shot up like a spring, slamming onto Ariodred's chin, whose head jerked straight up upon impact.

Raven secreted a powerful, tranquilizing venom across his claws, before driving them towards his opponent's stomach, a wince of pain ringing out as his claws plunged in.

Suddenly, he froze as Ariodred grabbed hold of his wrist, keeping his arm in place before meeting his gaze.

"Poison, huh? Sorry, but that won't work on me," He remarked, the glow of the crystal on his forehead intensifying sharply.

Raven quickly detached his forearm to escape Ariodred's grasp, flying back as fast as he could while extending out several tendrils and bunching them up in front of himself, before they got blasted to pierces and blown away as a devastating burst of red energy roared towards them, tearing them apart and destroying Raven's defense in an instant.

"Damn it, he's so strong!" Raven thought to himself with a grimace, before his ears suddenly perked up.

"Time to end this," Remarked Ariodred, zipping forward with immense speed, closing in right as Raven extended out countless tendrils.

The tendrils rapidly coiled and constricted around Ariodred's limbs, torso and neck, restraining him.

"Gotcha."

"This won't hold me for long. And there's nothing you can do to defeat me, I can't be killed," Responded Ariodred, before Raven swiftly tightened his grasp over Ariodred and shot down towards the ground with immense speed.

A loud crash rang out as Raven slammed him down onto the ground, in front of a row of bushes, before letting go of him and backing away.

Ariodred got back onto his feet with a grimace, dusting himself off as he narrowed his eyes at Raven.

"That's weird...he's definitely got enough brute strength to have slammed me down with a lot more force. I don't get it, why-...?" Frowned Ariodred, before his train of thought was cut off as he suddenly froze in place, his eyes widening in alarm as he sensed a presence behind him.

And in the next instant, his glass ball shattered to pieces.

"Nice, that worked out just as planned. Glad you heard me, I wasn't sure you would, since I whispered so quietly," Remarked Aster, deactivating his Telekinetic Zone.

Ariodred collapsed onto his knees, clenching his fists with a frustrated grimace.

"Damn it..."

While watching the battle above, Aster determined that Raven was steadily being overpowered, and decided to take a risk. He whispered to tell Raven to bring his opponent down towards the ground, close enough so that he could use his Telekinetic Zone to restrain Ariodred and then destroy the glass ball before he had the chance to break free of the grasp of Telekinetic Zone.

Fortunately, the wind was blowing in the right direction for Raven to pick up on Aster's voice, even without his hearing sharpened all the way up.

"That was close, I don't think I could've won that fight," Raven sighed wistfully, as he reverted to his normal form.

"Yeah, I was surprised to see you struggle despite being at full power," Responded Aster, as he glanced at Ariodred, who got back onto his feet with a grimace.

"I won't lose again. Count on it. I have to get my hands on that time travel device, no matter the cost," He stated, a determined look on his face before he suddenly got teleported out.

"Alright, that's the first contest done! Well played to the winning team, that was fun to watch! But this is only just getting started, so don't celebrate too much just yet!" Kilzachs' voice echoed out across the playing field.

"Nice work, looks like we managed to get through this first competition without a problem," Remarked Jules, as she and Wistari returned.

"Yeah, just barely. We probably would've lost if it wasn't for Aster's quick thinking," Replied Raven, as he held up his fist, Aster bumping his fist against Raven's with a smile.

"We likely have a long way to go yet, before we can leave this place. If nothing else, we can at least take confidence in the fact that we certainly can survive this," Spoke up Wistari.

"Yup, that red haired guy was powerful, but it's not like Raven was completely helpless against him. Let's just hope there isn't anyone who's even stronger than that guy," Responded Aster warily.

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