Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

"Hahahahahahahhahahaha" 

Suri burst into laughter.

And not a mild one where she attempts to still act lady-like by covering her mouth but full-on raucous laughter while pointing at Melinda several times.

The golden-eyed beauty stared at her with a smile while mumbling under her breath a number of times on how it was not nearly as funny an idea as Suri's laughter was making it seem.

Eventually, Suri calmed down and her laughter stopped.

Even then, she looked at Melinda as though the Dane lady had just said the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard in her life.

"Create your own guild? How foolish can you be?" she asked.

Melinda shrugged,

"By your thought process, very foolish, I would presume." she said.

Suri nodded, 

"Very. Not only is the idea of forming your own guild one that has been tried and has failed but your choice of potential members is incredibly not thought out.

Haha, have you even posed this idea of yours to your fellow new students? See how they react to it.

See if you can spur them on with your ideas?" she asked.

Melinda, still smiling, said,

"Yes, I have. I spoke to two of my fellow 'new students' and while they were at first skeptical, once they heard my ideas, they are now fully on board."

"And what ideas are these? What are these new and revolutionary thoughts that will make the creation of your guild succeed where others have failed?" Suri asked.

Melinda shook her head,

"Sadly, I can't tell you" she said.

"Because they are non-existent?" Suri said and laughed to herself.

Melinda shook her head,

"No, they definitely exist. In fact, from what I have learned about you, I believe that they will resonate with you. I'm willing to bet you've had the idea of forming a guild before but stopped because you reviewed the failures of such ideas from the past" she said.

"You don't know me" Suri said. The mirth was still in her eyes but her tone got a bit more serious.

Melinda shrugged,

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. Either way, you are a person of respect. You won't even consider what I have to say until I gain your respect. 

I could describe a well-laid plan to you right now and you will just scoff and ignore me.

So before I tell you anything, I'd like to show you why I should be taken seriously"

With that, her golden eyes flashed and she summoned her white Sword Cosmic Armament with the gold veins being as present as ever.

Suri looked from the white sword and its peculiar golden veins to Melinda's determined smile and then smirked,

"You want to duel me?" she asked and gripped her halberd even tighter while Melinda shrugged,

"What, are my intentions not obvious enough?" she asked and Suri chuckled,

"You are really overestimating yourself. I have been in the Royal Academy for years. 

I have cultivated earnestly within the Haron Tower and I have amassed a versatile array of skills to use against my opponent.

I have also perfected my Hander family's halberd dance...

The Principal's disciple you might be but you are way out of your element in facing me."

With that, Suri let out the pressure of her peak stage Cosmic Aurora realm cultivation which actually showed that she had begun the stages of advancing into the Cosmic Pagoda realm.

While the advancement would still very well take her years to complete, it was enough evidence of her superior strength as well as her deserving of being in an Academy of geniuses.

Melinda was unfazed.

Even when Suri's pressure overwhelmed hers.

Instead, she dashed forward, her sword at the ready.

Earnestly looking to make the first move and probably have the upper hand in controlling and dictating the pace of the duel.

Suri smiled as she knew what Melinda was after.

It was practically what all Sword wielders did when facing her.

Since their weapon was shorter and more flexible, they moved into the close distance to take away her (Suri's) halberd range.

For an average halberd wielder, this would have been effective but the Hander family Halberd dance was specifically to grant the Halberd the flexibility it sorely lacked.

As Melinda's sword made its way towards Suri's arm, the halberd was suddenly there to deflect the strike.

*Ting!*

That was the sound that was made by the connecting blade of Melinda's sword and the shaft of Suri's halberd and immediately it sounded...

... Melinda grinned before using Cosmic energy to amplify the *ting* sound so that it increased to a pitch that even Melinda's heightened Cosmic Aurora earing could not pick but was devastating to someone of Suri's hearing sensitivity.

"Mnngghh" Suri 'groaned' at the pain and Melinda saw her chance to take advantage.

She was about to smack Suri heavily with the flat side of her blade and actually catch the stronger cultivator by surprise when Suri looked to the side and grinned,

"Gotcha" as said.

Melinda's eyes widened and she looked down at the area her sword was about to make contact with to see a Cosmic attack waiting for her.

*Bang!* 

The loud detonation of the cosmic attack smacked Melinda away but she managed to not only regain her footing but also be unscathed in the detonation.

or more accurately, her body was unscathed but the sleeve of her sword arm was charred.

"Did you think you would be the first to take advantage of my hearing sensitivity? I have enough Cosmic energy control to be able to stub my ear and reduce the amount of sound they allow in" Suri boasted.

"You talk too much" Melinda said.

"Huh?" Suri was confused but when she came to notice the tongue of golden flame on her shoulder, it was already too late and was already primed to expand and explode.

*BOOM!*

Never had Melinda thought she would get away with the amplified sound trick.

Despite the lack of a physical stub in her ear, she had known Suri would be smart enough to have a way to avoid getting handicapped by her own hearing but she had also predicted that Suri, being the more experienced would underestimate her.

And as long as the underestimation got her in close range, then all was well.

And even if she had been wrong and Suri had been foolish enough to not cover up her potential handicap, her sound trick would simply have worked and she would have the upper hand regardless.

As she watched the golden flame expand and explode, Melinda could not help but think fondly to her grandmother who was the reason her control of the Dane family bloodline flames were much better than before.

That said, she was not surprised when Suri walked out of the explosion with only parts of her clothes burned.

Her body was relatively unscarred and unharmed but the difference in damage had her annoyed as Melinda looked to have the upper hand at the moment.

One of Melinda's sleeves vs practically the entire upper half of Suri's clothes.

With an annoyed face, the moment she was out of the explosion, Suri slammed her palms together and in front of her formed a six circle ring that flew towards Melinda whose eyes widened.

Melinda attempted to dash and evade but the skill circle fell forward and flattened against the ground.

It locked on to the energy she was giving off and accurately predicted the point she would land on so she was sure to land right on top of it(the skill circle).

Knowing it would be dangerous to land on and knowing she could not change direction now that she was in motion, Melinda tried to boost herself away from the circle with flames of her bloodline.

That was a mistake...

The skill grabbed hold of her energy signature within the flames and through it, grabbed hold of Melinda before pulling her like a magnet onto its surface.