"Aren't we going to help her?"

"Does she look like she needs our help?"

Orion and Amelia stepped inside the room where Karteira was thrashing the 'Corrupted Lord' around.

"Not really, but is it still fine? Something like this doesn't look... unfair to you?"

Karteira was beating the 'Lord' senselessly. It was healing at a fast pace, but it couldn't move an inch.

Using her sharp gauntlets, she cut its legs repetitively, slowly working her way toward its last core. She was unable to get a good hold on his back to mount it, so she had to bring it down a different way.

"What's wrong? For a superior insect, you can't seem to be doing much."

The bug kept writhing in pain each time it received an injury. The core on its forehead began to form once again, making it clear to the group that its internal injuries had since healed completely.

"Not so fast! I still need you to stay where you are."

Karteira jumped back with a few steps and maintained her fighting stance. Once she was ready, she rushed it, and her razor-shape plate went straight for its head.

She pierced through the head like Orion's arrow did, successfully breaking the core a second time.

"If we were going for fairness against monsters, it would be our doom. I don't need to remind you against what we need to fight, right?"

Orion had a face showing the severity of the situation for them.

"Elliott... He's the strongest human we have to battle."

Recalling the reason for their departure from Auro, Amelia quietly looked down.

"Right. I became a hunter for that reason. There is no such thing as fairness when you intentionally take a life."

"If I had chosen to be a knight, maybe I could have used the 'fairness' system in battle, but it doesn't change the fact that not necessarily everyone holds it close to heart."

Orion understood that a way of life was how people showed their might.

"When your life is in danger, is being fair going to save you? Or is it using everything around you that is going to protect your life?"

He remembered his father's last strike against Elliott. There was no sign of fairness in this fight, either. It was all or nothing, and miraculously, they won, but at a cost.

"I understand. Don't be angry, alright?"

Just remembering Elliott was enough to anger him.

"I'm not angry. Why do you say that?"

Knowing she was right, Orion kept his gaze forward, preventing her from seeing his expression.

"You have a terrifying scowl on your face, and your gaze became colder for a moment."

'Even like this, she noticed it. So much for not letting my emotions take over.'

Amelia approached him and stretched her hand over his dark hair.

"It's alright. I know how much you contain your feelings. I just wish you wouldn't get sucked into them."

Feeling her gently caressing his hair, his composure returned. His face relaxed, and the anger subsided.

"I won't let that happen, so don't worry."

He closed his eyes, feeling her caresses on his hair while listening to the punches Karteira was throwing.

Then, he opened his eyes when he noticed a change coming from the enemy.

'Oh, it's finally doing something. If it becomes too dangerous, I'll be interrupting your fight, Karteira.'

Just as Orion felt a change from the 'Lord', Karteira did too. She was completely focused on it, making her susceptible to small details.

The 'Lord' was in an awful state. Its legs were cut again and again, its forehead was destroyed, and many cuts showed on its body.

As it was still a larger insect compared to the small insects they had fought, it was difficult to access its rear. It kept lifting it high in the air to protect the last core.

Just as he began to get used to the pain, another wave of scorching air could be felt. Its body began to emit a fire that enveloped it.

It didn't look like it was done, so Karteira put some distance between them.

'It's a bit too late to attack me, don't you think? I just have to find a way to access the last core, but how can I do that?'

While Karteira was lost in her thoughts, the 'Lord' began to absorb the magic of all the dead corpses in the room. There were fewer corpses compared to the previous room, so there wasn't much to absorb.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

She came out of her thoughts and watched as the 'Lord' accumulated a spiral of fire between its mandibles. The hornet's eyes regenerated, and it locked onto its target, Karteira.

'This... might be bad, isn't it?'

With a tensed smile and sweat pouring from her face, she had to think fast.

Orion was ready to move at any moment, as he wasn't going to let her take such a hit. But he still believed in her; he would rather not spoil her enjoyment if he could help it.

'There's only one way!'

Karteira planted her feet strongly into the ground and pierced the ground behind her with her stinger to stabilize her posture.

The two exchanged an intense glare. The 'Lord' fired a spiraling beam of fire from its mouth straight at her.

Karteira braced herself with all her strength. She brought her arms in front of her face and focused everything on her plates. The plates on her back slid upward to transfer the energy.

'If there's one thing I need to have confidence in, it's in my abilities!'

The beam made contact with Karteira and dispersed wildly around her. Her blue plates turned red instantly, and steam began to leak from her back.

"She's crazy! Orion, do something! She won't survive like this!"

Urging Orion to move, Amelia was getting anxious. He still didn't move, as there was no reason for that currently.

'She's doing the same thing. When she overheats, she releases it. Since the plates seem to isolate heat perfectly, she just has to divert the heat and ignore the flames. Another smart decision.'

He analyzed her current situation with just a glance.

'Even if she had dodged it, I'm sure this monster wouldn't have let her go freely. This was the best answer. Even I couldn't imagine her ability to be perfect for this moment.'

Amelia grabbed his sleeve with a worried expression.

"Orion!"

His eyes were anchored on Karteira as he shook his head.

"Don't worry. Look closely at her. Observe her determination and learn from it."

"I- Alright."

Amelia calmed down and stared at the back of her friend, who was engulfed in raging flames.

The picture of an angel appeared in her retina. Wings of steam seemed to form from the excess energy she was releasing.

'Hot... hot. So hot!'

Karteira was suffering from the heat. It was accumulating faster than it was released, but she was still hanging on. Another row of plates opened near her lower back, releasing more steam.

"This is crazy! How much energy does this corrupt beast have for it to fire this long? It's been a minute now!"

As Karteira was holding on for dear life, Amelia began to find the situation to drag on longer than it should have.

"It should stop soon enough."

After saying that, the beam of fire's size began to diminish until it completely stopped, leaving the two dealing with the aftermath of the attack.

The hornet's head had completely melted during the attack. It was too powerful to use without a price.

On the other side, Karteira was still in her braced posture, steam continuously pouring from the openings on her back.

"Karteira! Are you alright?"

Amelia tried to run to her side, but Orion grabbed her arm.

"Why?"

Frustration appeared on her face after being stopped.

"The fight is not over. If you get in between an attack, Karteira will have to protect you, potentially putting herself in harm's way as she does that."

Orion was overprotecting, but this was also a very possible outcome.

"You don't have to worry. If she were in real danger, I would have moved a long time ago."

Seeing that she wouldn't run off to her friend, he let go of her.

'He's right, I shouldn't lose my composure so easily.'

She walked back next to Orion as he continued to speak.

"Use your ability. Watch her and see the small details. If you are unable to do that, for what reason did Keith teach you his ability?"

"I don't like it. Since you can use 'Calm Analysis' better than me, I don't feel like using it."

Amelia's brain wasn't a perfect match for this ability. It worked at around 40% efficiency, and it frustrated her greatly, so she avoided using it.

"That's why you're stuck with this poor performance. Well, I won't see you differently for it."

"There are things we are innately bad at, and this might be one of them for you."

He was understanding of other people's limitations, as he had a lot of them himself.

"Right."

Having finished the conversation, Orion hadn't moved his gaze away from Karteira a single time.

'She's still smiling. She's a tough one to have as your enemy, isn't she?'

He looked at the 'Lord' agonizing on the floor, its head healing very slowly.

'Looks like the burning takes a while to heal compared to normal attacks.'

Karteira kept smiling wildly, her back still profusely flushing steam from under her plates. Once the steam died down, she freed her tail and let out a long, scorching breath.

"Fuuuuuuu~"

"It feels so much better now!"

Her plates turned from red to blue, with a few having an unusually white taint.

After a few seconds, she realized something.

"Ah! My hair! How dare you?!"

A very tiny part of her front hair got slightly burned when she was guarding.

"Damn you!"

Using the speed enhancement to its fullest, she tried something Orion had done before. She began to run up the wall.

"She's doing your moves now."

"Indeed."

Amelia pointed out the obvious with a mocking smile.

'I suppose the fight is done. Good struggle, 'Lord of Fire'. You can now join your friend.'

He kept on watching as Karteira gave the final blow to the enemy.

'It's harder to do than you'd think! But I'm here!'

Karteia jumped away from the inclined wall, directly toward the last segment of the ant, where the core was.

"Get ready! I'm coming through!"

And she did exactly that. She crossed the distance from the wall and punched its rear, which supported the last core.

She flew so fast that she pierced it and managed to land properly on the ground below.

"Karteira, move away. It's going to fall on you otherwise."

Giving quick advice to her, Karteira looked above her.

"Oh, right. Thanks, Orion."

With a casual run, she approached them.

*Crash*

The body crashed on the floor lifelessly.

Karteira had won the fight.

"How did I do? Was that good?"

With sparkles in her eyes, she was delighted by the amount of fun she had while fighting.

"Good? That was perfect. You've learned so much, and you're now way different from yesterday. I'm pretty sure our next spar will be immensely different."

Orion was already planning on fighting her again, which made her even more excited.

"I see. Can I keep your words on that? Do you really want to fight me again?"

"Of course, fighting experienced fighters is always good practice."

She really wanted that to happen.

'Now I'm excited! I haven't fought him one to one!'

As she clenched her fists in a victorious pose, Orion came closer to her with a worried look on his face.

"But let's think about that later. Remove your armor. I need to check your skin. Also, what are those white scales?"

"Oh, right. Those are damaged plates."

She grabbed a plate on her left arm and ripped it off. She then did the same for the five others on her body.

"Doesn't it hurt?"

Confused as to why she simply cracked them off, Orion blinked.

"No, when they're in this state, they're just 'dead'. I can't feel anything. Once I remove them, new ones grow the next day."

This was interesting to know. Orion thought that maybe this was a characteristic made by Tiohr-nam herself to help her child grow stronger.

"If you say so... Good thing we are going to stop for today because I can't have you fight with many weak spots."

Amelia entered the conversation, as she was eager to leave this place for the day.

"Oh, already? What do we do? Do we stay here or do we go outside?"

Quickly, Orion chose the most efficient answer to please her.

"We've done more than enough in a single day, and I can't let two ladies sleep in this kind of place. I already spoke with the Queens about it, so a few tents should be prepared outside."

Delighted by the news, Amelia beamed with joy.

"Alright, I'll look at Karteira's burns, and then we'll move out of here. It would be troublesome if we were caught by the remaining 'Corrupted Lord'."

"Yes."

As both agreed with him, he looked at Karteira's body, which showed only light overheating that he treated with cold water.

Then, they moved outside the underground, welcomed by the tents prepared for them.