Neko-sensei swiftly pulled herself away from the figure and leapt a few steps back.
Cold, chilling sweat trickled down her temples as she struggled to breathe through the gasmask of the combat suit.
’Damn it! Damn it all.’ She scread internally, her hands trembling uncontrollably.
The figure seed to smirk as she fought to collect herself.
After what felt like an eternity to her, though it was barely a minute, she clenched her hands so tightly that her nails, even though covered by the suit, still dug into her skin.
She inhaled deeply, her quivering eyes settling. She then fixed her gaze on the figure without even a trace of the earlier fear in her eyes.
She tousled her hair slightly, shutting one eye and focusing the other on the figure. "Damn, I can’t believe I got so paranoid."
The figure arched a brow, then scowled faintly. "What do you an by that?"
Neko-sensei couldn’t help but laugh. "What I an by that, you ask?" Her laughter turned grim, then she went silent. "Do you actually think you can defeat ?"
Her mind was now calm, allowing her to reassess her situation.
Yes, he was a early S-rank, but she too was strong, though not as strong as him, yet she had faith in her hacks and her capability to bypass certain rank restrictions.
The man’s scowl deepened as he clicked his tongue. "This is why I despise all kinds of bitches."
Neko-sensei steadied her breathing as the man’s grotesque, tentacle-like legs rested on the sli-coated ground.
A wide grin that nearly touched his ears stretched across his face as a long, curled tongue slipped out from his mouth, now filled with jagged teeth that made him resemble an ancient eldritch horror.
Kelvin watched as the tension in the air thickened so much that he couldn’t breathe. Neither of the two had even used mana or moved a step toward each other, yet their presence and murderous aura could terrify a sequence six drifter.
The air crackled with energy as Neko-sensei stood before the figure, who parted his lips and spoke. "My na is Ren. Now what’s yours?"
Neko-sensei’s eyes narrowed, then she pointed at him. "Hmm..." Her voice was smug, almost arrogant. "How dare a re beast ask my na... But don’t worry, I’ll crush you like I do every other demon, drifter, and mana beast. You’re weak, after all."
The pressure in the air intensified as killing intent surged like the wind itself.
The man chuckled ominously, then raised his eyes to et hers. "You’ll regret that."
Before Kelvin who was crouching behind Neko-sensei, could even register what was happening, mana burst through the air, flinging him into the wall at the edge of the alleyway.
It was rely a clash of two zones: Neko-sensei’s golden zone and the strange man’s red zone, but that alone obliterated the wall, the ground, and every structure in their path.
All that remained was an open space made of black obsidian.
Ren lunged forward first, his tentacles serving as extra propulsion as black soul fire danced in the air, thickening it and causing it to ignite in a dazzling display of raw force.
The attack ca swiftly, too swift for the eye to catch, but with a snap of her fingers, Neko-sensei vanished from sight and reappeared ters ahead of him.
She raised her hand, and in her palm was a sphere of alien blue light.
The orb floated slowly, making it easy for Ren to sidestep to the left, but the mont he dodged the orb’s radiant light, he felt sothing cling to him, as the orb, which should’ve been several ters away, suddenly attached to his skin.
His eyes widened in disbelief, but before he could react or defend himself, the orb detonated like a massive nuclear warhead, completely annihilating every structure or material in the vicinity.
Smoke and flas soared into the sky as Neko-sensei stepped back from the assault stance, shifting her body’s weight to her left rib.
The mont she twisted slightly, an arm engulfed in soul fire slamd into her side, making her squeal.
She used the montum she had built from shifting and twisting her body to lessen the blow’s impact.
She seized Ren by the hair, which was still warm from the explosion.
Before Ren could even attempt to yank her hand away, she snapped her fingers against his skin, and the two of them teleported into the sky, as the wind howled past their ears.
---
High above the academy, battered by howling wind, Ren’s hair whipped furiously as he flashed his jagged teeth. "You think dragging into the sky will save you?"
His voice cracked like a thousand dying screams. Soul-fire burst from his chest and back, shaping wings made of crimson flas streaked with black strands of death.
Neko-sensei smirked broadly as the system, which had remained silent, rang in her ear.
[YOU HAVE ACTIVATED YOUR GIFT: COPY ]
[THE DUPLICATED GIFT: FLASH STEP HAS BEEN ACTIVATED]
Sparks of lightning started forming around Neko-sensei, making the sky laced with purple miasma glow faintly blue.
The material of the suit from her upper thigh and elbow downward shredded apart as thunder-charged mana surged through her skin.
Her radiant erald eyes began turning blue, as a thunder infused tail resembling that of a feline erged behind her back, accompanying the crackling thunder that flickered around her body.
Ren struck first as a surge of black fire curled from his hand, shaping into a narrow blade.
He plunged toward the falling Neko-sensei, but with another snap of her fingers, they switched positions.
Her body seed to float montarily in midair, like gravity had little to no effect dragging her down.
She crouched like a cat and dashed toward Ren’s figure, driving her legs straight into his stomach as he let out a booming roar.
Like a streak of dark lightning, he smashed into the ground, forming a deep crater in it.
"You’re a crafty one, missy. And here I thought I’d go easy on you," he spat. "Why don’t I start by snapping your fingers? I bet the academy’s healers can patch them up."
The smoke around him faded as he erged from the pit made by his crash. He licked the blood from the edge of his lips, then grinned widely: an eerie, deranged smile that barely looked human.
His long tongue touched his jaw; his maw stretched wide as he revealed his fangs, drool trailing onto the ground.
His tongue wasn’t the usual red it had been but a dark shade that looked nearly poisonous.
"Let round two begin."
The mana around Ren surged to greater levels, and with a single stride, he bridged the distance between him and Neko-sensei.
She let out a faint gasp as his punch smashed into her stomach, twisting both her flesh and intestines.
Before she could even be flung into the air, he gripped her wrist and slamd her onto the ground, first to the left, then to the right.
Again and again... he kept going.
Her body throbbed in pain as blood soaked the ground. Neko-sensei could feel her life slipping as her vision dimd.
Ren had crushed her fingers with each slam, making it impossible for her to even snap them to trigger a portion of her primary talent: Kami zone.
"This is so refreshing!" he sneered coldly, his eyes narrowing in satisfaction as his face flushed red from the thrill of watching her suffer.
Saliva dripped from his lips as her cries echoed through the once peaceful alleyway, now reduced to rubble.
Driven by desperation, Kelvin dashed forward, drawing Ren’s attention.
Ren glanced at Kelvin’s incoming figure, then turned back to what he was doing.
Kelvin charged with his fist raised, but with one sweep of his arm, Ren struck him to the ground, sending him rolling.
Without even acknowledging the pain, Kelvin felt adrenaline surge through him as he opened his mouth wide and scread with all his might.
His voice, which might have been just an echo, intensified—nearly rupturing Ren’s eardrum.
Ren turned and locked eyes with Kelvin. Kelvin’s body was bruised as he struggled to stay on his feet. He then smirked. "You know I’m still here, right? And as a proud instructor of Noctis, I won’t cower in fear of evil. I’m a hero, after all."
Ren’s face twisted in disbelief, then he cackled. "Hero? A hero, you say? Fine then, show , Mr. Hero." He dropped Neko-sensei’s nearly limp body and lunged at Kelvin.
Kelvin narrowly avoided the first blow and then shouted the word "Stop" straight into Ren’s ear.
Ren stumbled back, his face contorting as blood oozed from his ear.
"You’re finished!"
Just as his fist was about to strike Kelvin’s face, a sharp sound echoed through the empty path that made Ren turn instinctively.
"Snap!"
And with that, the world halted. Sound vanished entirely. Even ti seed to freeze.
Ren could feel his hand quivering and his heart pounding rapidly.
Slowly he turned his now pale face and faced the figure of Neko-sensei whose clothes had mostly been ripped into tatters, her gasmask shattered into fragnts.
She gazed at him, her bangs covering one of her erald green eyes, she lifted her snapped finger in front of her face. "I can’t believe you pushed this far, Demon Ren. But don’t worry, I will surely rember your na, even after your death."
’What? What? What the hell is happening? This isn’t how it was ant to go.’ Ren’s mind entered a state of panic as cold sweat ran down his entire body.
Neko-sensei paused as white mist began leaking in from the crater behind her feet, slowly shaping the ground into clouds. "Step into my world ’Vile Demon’. In this domain I am god... Kami Zone... Blessing of light."
Ren’s vision warped briefly, then the world glowed white, like he was stunned by the light from a cara.
The world shifted then altered.
Clouds stretched beneath his feet as far as his eye could see, above his head two suns floated in the air.
And white and sky blue canvas painted the heavens.
He couldn’t even swallow his saliva as blades of light and beasts of various forms began materializing all around him, chains shackled him to the ground.
He lifted his trembling hands, trying to conjure his talent but it was too late.
In less than a second, his body was ripped to pieces from within, even he couldn’t tell which of the attacks had struck him.
The only thing he saw before his vision went dark was utter emptiness.
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