I see how they paralleled the web novel, but I still prefer how they did it. Sophia didn't exist, and none of this happened. Instead, they were just doing more normal adventuring with Aria kinda sucking. Eventually, he spars with her (they replaced him with Sophia here) and beats her down without really doing much. Then he realizes that he's doing the same thing Celes did to him. He wasn't looking at her, if that makes any sense. She awakens her art there, and the relationship improves from there
oh also she's fucking jacked in the novel
oh also she's fucking jacked in the novel
