It was the fox who always took pleasure in toying with her. Using her supernatural powers to annoy the dragon was a simple matter for her.
Around her, three sets of flas begin to manifest, each forming its own entity.
Three flas. The great sin that binds the souls of the Nine Heavens.
Flesh.
The shape of a fierce ogre wielding a club the size of a house begins to form.
Worldly.
A monk, one who could not leave the mortal world, erges in a self-portrait.
Demon.
A demon, embodying pure evil, is conjured.
The space ripples and pushes forward, piercing the eastern skies.
The fox spirits begin to materialize.
Rivera looks around, scanning her surroundings.
"Tch. What a pointless waste of ti."
It felt as though ti had stopped. Everything ca to a complete standstill in an instant.
The only thing that could move was the Yohō. Nothing could be done except turning her head.
The terrain had changed. The space had been altered.
A shadow now covered the Golden Dragon, forming a shrine. And supporting the shrine were hundreds of pillars.
This was Yohō’s domain.
An unattainable stage of myth.
The only audience was herself. Nothing else existed.
No... I take that back.
Boom!
"Ugrrr..."
There was a visitor.
Not just one, but three... no.
"Well then. Shall we play like old tis~?"
Four of them. A tiny gap appeared on the pink lower lip.
"How about it, cute little dragon~?"
The reddish hue of Yohō’s cheeks flushed as she coyly lifted the corners of her mouth.
Victory was assured. She was certain of the defeat of the being before her.
The shrine of the fox god. Anyone who set foot there would never survive.
Once again, Yohō stirred the air. It was as if she were dancing—slow and languid in her movents.
She raised her hand. From the very end. Her hand drew closer to the void.
In an instant, a blue sun rose to obscure the heavens.
It ascended into the sky.
It absorbed the moonlight, and the sun consud the waning moon.
The flas grew larger and soon tinted the entire world in blue.
“How admirable your devotion is.”
From her lips ca the usual jests, though the Golden Dragon’s expression was filled with despair.
"Heh~ Are you mocking ?"
Sohow, Yohō, now sitting cross-legged on the roof, tilted her head as if swaying gently.
Her ugly side showed.
A gaze akin to watching a cute doll. As if she wanted the dragon to be even more enraged.
“Krahhh!!”
The Oni let out a monstrous cry and charged toward Rivera, who stood motionless.
With every step it took, the ground cracked and trembled, breaking apart from the force of the shock.
The Oni grabbed a large club.
With fierce montum, it twisted its waist.
The club rose into the sky, quickly descending to strike.
Bang!!
It smashed into the ground.
Whoooosh...
Dust clouds the view. Below where Rivera had been standing, only the trace of a large hole remained.
The Oni panicked.
The dragon's form had disappeared.
No, there was no presence at all.
"Hmm~"
The fox let out a soft sound.
Though Rivera was far beyond her in terms of power, she, too, was one of the heroes of the Round Table.
It made no sense to die at the hands of a re food deity.
The Oni scratched its head.
A question mark appeared in its mind. It turned its head.
"Kr??"
It tried to, but its body didn’t obey.
It was an instant. The Oni's vision lowered.
The Oni’s pupils shook.
Pale skin.
A muscular body.
That enormous form.
What was reflected in its eyes was none other than its own body.
Its neck was gone. Its own flesh was completely still. It couldn’t resist or retaliate.
The spirit faded, and the flesh shattered. The body burned like flas.
Crack!
The Golden Dragon stepped on the Oni's head.
The disintegrating body burst in an instant.
"One down. Out, right?"
The Golden Dragon smiled.
A soft sound echoed. The monk and the evil spirit were on the move.
The Destroyer Monk picked up the brain sledge.
Zzziiiip
With a sharp crack, the sledge sliced through the air, and thunder and lightning struck with all their might.
Whoosh
It was a clumsy attack. Not too fast, not too slow—just a third-rate strike.
Rivera easily dodged the attack. She clenched her fist tightly, channeling mana from her dantian throughout her body.
The dispersed mana soon concentrated in her left arm.
Rivera approached the monk. She spread her legs wide.
With the weight of her shoulder, she drove a strike into his abdon.
Paaak!
"Ugh…!!"
The monk’s abdon was torn open. The shockwave ripped through the shrine, and the wind carried it all the way to the fox.
The monk, now little more than a corpse, staggered before collapsing to the ground.
Leaving the dead monk behind, Rivera took a breath.
Clearly, it was far more exhausting to concentrate mana in her dantian than to release it.
Though it dramatically enhanced physical abilities, it was incredibly draining.
Rivera turned her head.
She shot the fox a quick glance before imdiately turning her attention to the evil spirit.
"Kraaaah...?"
Rivera moved again, swiftly.
She lowered her stance and leapt into the air in an instant.
The evil spirit was caught off guard. But before it could react, the gap between them closed too quickly.
Rivera grabbed the evil spirit's head as it charged toward her. Her delicate hand, at odds with its strength, quickly twisted, and she severed its neck.
"Kr...!"
There was no ti for a scream. The evil spirit’s body began to burn.
With that, the last of the food deities was dealt with.
Only one enemy remained.
"If I kill you, it’s extermination."
Her father would have no further trouble, so it would be a double benefit.
***
anwhile, Keyal returned to the inn.
In the end, he had been filled with despair at the realization that everything had been for nothing, and with a weary body, he sohow managed to drag himself into the room.
Keyal grabbed the doorknob.
"Sigh. I'm back, everyone. I hope you’ve been staying peaceful and not fighting—*"
But the mont Keyal opened the door, an unbelievable sight appeared before his eyes.
Keyal's pupils began to tremble.
"Ah. No, what is this...?"
He instinctively covered his mouth with his hand, stepping back at the horrifying scene.
Crack, crack.
"Is this... enough, Senpai?"
"Phew, well done, Reina. Unlike those beastly ones, you’re such a good girl."
There, on the floor, cleaning the room, was Reina, and sitting on a chair, casually sipping tea, was Elena.
A single word passed through Keyal's mind in an instant.
Hierarchy.
"Wh-What is going on?!"
What on earth had happened? Why was a princess, who had once been the pinnacle of royalty, now crawling on the floor with her bottom sticking out?
What had been done to her to make Reina, who could never abandon her princess habits even if she died, beco so compliant?
Keyal didn’t have the ti to dwell on it.
Sensing his presence, Elena hurriedly placed her teacup down and turned to look at him.
The elf's expression shifted in an instant.
She looked like a mild-mannered little lamb, as if trying to play the role of a pouting child in front of her master.
"Welco ho, Master."
In that instant, the dignified Elena vanished. The image of the majestic queen was gone, replaced by the gentle, docile elf standing before him.
"...I’m ho, Elena."
Keyal tried to push away the chaotic feelings brewing inside him.
He greeted both Elena and Reina.
Both of them accepted it cheerfully.
The elf let out a small sigh, while Reina looked at him as though he were a savior, filled with the sentint of "finally, he’s here to save !" as if seeing him like Jesus.
'...'
Sothing was definitely off with them.
***
A broken domain. Two won walked the land, exchanging blows with one another.
The Golden Dragon and the Nine-Tailed Fox were locked in a fierce contest.
Chak!
The fox’s claws sliced sharply through the air. Rivera, having narrowly avoided it, attempted to strike with the sa decisive blow she had used on the monk. However...
The fox easily deflected it. Each move was a potential fatal strike.
There was clear malice in their exchange. Poisonous intent seeped through every move.
The fox and the dragon exchanged fierce blows. Every ti an attack was dodged, the heavens trembled, and cracks spread through the domain.
With each blocked strike, the surrounding space shattered, and ripples spread through the sky.
The fox widened the gap. With her signature light steps, she landed on the water’s surface.
Tiny ripples spread outward in a straight line.
The fox pulled out a bead.
A fox bead. A blue-glowing fox bead floated in her grasp.
She gathered her spiritual power into it.
Blue flas. No, it was a flash of light. A tiny speck of light rapidly expanded, obscuring Rivera's vision and even covering the entire domain.
The area was being shrouded by this light, aid at maintaining the collapsing domain.
"Wow. Still fighting so sneakily, huh, sis?"
"That's my style~?"
Yohō smiled. Rivera lightly ignored her, as the light faded.
And thus, the second round between the two won began.
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