BOOM!

Punches of destruction rained down, wrecking the spacious yard. Huge cracks were formed upon impact, and billows of dust rose into the air following the aftermath.

Dirt flew around, and the ground trembled every so often.

In the center stage, two figures were seen moving around.

The golem continued on delivering blow after blow. At the same time, the hound circled around the relentless assaults while chipping in the hunk of earth from time to time.

The golem was not slow by any means whatsoever; nonetheless, Helena's hound agility was a level higher than its opponent.

It was as if it had retained the instinct and reflex of a living being, moving in between the gaps of the attacks.

If the golem swung its left arm, then the hound would dodge to the right and slip into the back. From there, it would claw or bite a chunk of the golem's body in reward.

Truly a simple and straightforward strategy, and it has worked so far...

One might claim in the beginning that, given enough time, Helena would claim her victory without breaking a sweat this way.

Then again, if only it would be as simple as that. Robert, for one, seemed too calm in hindsight, as though he never doubted his victory.

And maybe he did have a reason to believe so.

Whenever the golem sustained enough damage, it began to repair itself by absorbing the soil from the ground. The most battered we've seen of the giant protector so far was when Helena almost robbed its balance by shredding the golem's joint.

I have to give it to Robert for his quick thinking to further reinforce the fatal spots the hound might be aiming.

The movement of his golem was also getting better and sharper by the second. It was evident that he was getting used to the hound's movement.

A slap that was only a beat slower. A kick that whistled merely inches from flatting the hound. And the blindspots that appeared less and less as time ticked by.

In others' eyes, it certainly looked like Helena was just running around while Howard was getting closer and closer to catch her. They could see the hound's prized guerilla tactic crumbling down before their very eyes.

I could see now why they made such a fuss about him being talented.

He was calm and collected, rational with his thinking, and fought smart instead with what he got.

And that was proven true by the sight of him cleverly studying the pattern of the hound's movement while covering for his own blind spots at the same time.

Be as it may, though, I also couldn't see a future where Helena would lose.

How could I be so sure?

Well, it's because Robert or anyone else who deemed the match was close to being over actually knew next to nothing about the girl standing there in the distance.

There were a couple of reasons why I didn't doubt that Helena would bag this fight.

First, I didn't know why Robert seemed to think that he had a bigger and purer mana pool than Helena's because, based on what I've seen so far, they're roughly similar.

Second, her control over mana was a league of its own compared to his.

And the last one...

Robert wasn't the only one who was buying time...

None of them could see shit, but it was clear as a day for my enchanted eyes.

Swirls of mana had been covering the hound since a while ago, subtly sucking in the spreading mana in the air, compressing and keeping them inside its body. And soon before long, the effects got even more apparent when Helena finally threw her cover away.

Small swirls joined in and transformed into a cyclone of mana that greedily swallowed all the mana in its surroundings. Even to the less sensitive senses, they could see the air grow turbid and restless around the menacing hound, much less to those who were sensitive to the flow of mana.

He and the rest of us could only watch in gaping silence as Helena's lava hound began transforming. The soil that served as the hound's body got thinner and harder while the flame burned brighter and hotter.

The air grew dryer and hotter as time passed by. It got to the point where Howard decided to create a curtain of water to keep it comfortable for our viewing pleasure.

'Nice one, man!' I gave a thumbs up to the handsome punk, who smirked proudly in return.

But I digress.

Robert, who realized that he couldn't take the passive stance any longer, sent his golem forward, and it took off running, sprinting to answer the decree its master had given.

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Its hand reached up to the sky, forming a huge towering fist, looking to smash the incomplete hound into the depth of the earth once and for all.

The hound, seeing it coming from a mile ago, sidestepped to the side, hoping to avoid the coming blow.

"Mighty spirit of the Earth. Protect me and repel my enemies. Earth Wall!" Answering Robert's cry, the earth beneath the hound's feet rose up and blocked its way. The hound crashed into the wall with no escape, and a second later, the shadow of a huge fist came fatally from the side.

BOOM!!!

Along with the debris from the newly conjured wall, a body of the lava could be spotted rolling on the ground.

'It ain't wrong to call this an explosion at this point...'

It was so loud I had no doubt even the adults inside the mansion could hear it at this point.

Cheers and screams of jubilation spread across the crowd. As though they were somehow already sure of the outcome, the nobles began talking and discussing the match that had just taken place.

They were praising both sides due to the intensity of the match, but it was clear to me that they were glad the winner was Robert.

And thus, they totally missed the seemingly dead lump of lava wriggling on the ground.

"Hehehe...and here I thought we would do nothing but watch the puppets play..." From the scattering dust, a sound of sweet laughter could be heard.

Following that, only silence prevailed. We all knew who was laughing, and we were waiting and wondering how she would retaliate.

"Yeah...This is more like it..." A smile ever so beautiful and captivating bloomed upon Helena's lips.

She pointed a finger toward the hound, which was missing half of its body. The dying ember that was left looked like a small candle that was about to go out any time soon.

"O Mighty spirit of the Wind. I call upon the kisses of the wind. Levitate." Uttered Helena softly, almost in a whisper.

The hound floated gently into the air, back into the cradle before its master. The cracked parts of its body continued to fall to the ground, yet Helena did not rush.

She looked so composed to us that it was as though she was telling us that as long she was still standing there, the wisp of flame wouldn't ever burn out.

Helena fixed her gaze straight and stretched her palm forward.

"O Mighty spirit of the Earth and Fire. The union of the High Two. Give this dying shell the power to render everything down into the ashes of the earth. Rise, Werewolf!"

Limbs of lava sprout anew from the dying body, and slowly, as life visited the dying husk once again, it descended into the ground.

Strong and long legs scalded the ground while the ferocious and long menacing arms hung sideways, and from within the thin cloud of dust, we could see the face of the bloodthirsty beast in its full glory.

HOWL!

The cry of the death beast pierced through the sky, rendering everyone speechless, all the more so to her opponent, whose eyes had been bulging since a while ago.

'Honestly...Helena is beyond badass.' I mused inside.

"Strong wolf!" Cried Adam with stars in his eyes.

And no one could deny him. That was one fucking strong-looking werewolf there.

"Hey, slick bastard." Called Helena out with a touch of mockery. "Since I'm in a good mood, I'll give you a chance. I'm going to count to three before this guy kicks the shit out of your golem. Feel free to use magic or whatever, and make sure to use your staff, too. You get what I'm saying?"

Robert grimaced in rage at Helena's words, glaring murderously due to the humiliation he received from a girl much younger than him.

Still, she was not Helena if she gave a rat's ass about talking shit to some dude.

"Here goes nothing."

Robert gritted his teeth hard at Helena's playful tone.

"One."

He took the magical staff and gripped it hard.

"Two..."

He started his incantation. "O mighty spirit of the Earth. Bless and give me the toughness of a thousand mountains-"

"Three!"

"Impenetrable body!"

And the two voices overlapped.

The light shone, covering the golem's body, turning it glossy, resembling that of a precious gem.

But that was not what anyone there was curious about. Instead, it was the figure of a certain beast born from fire and earth that appeared out of nowhere in the air above the golem with inhumane speed.

The werewolf had posed for a downward kick in mid-air. It was a stance my family was all too familiar with.

We've seen it from time to time due to Helena's fondness for it. Heck, we might as well call it her signature move since she liked it so much.

"Don't tell me..." Muttered Sister, narrowing her eyes.

Time crawled slowly as we watched the werewolf let gravity do its job, bringing it closer to the golem below. The latter, albeit fumbling a little, managed to put up a proper guard, by putting both hands to shield its head.

And just a second before the werewolf's foot touched the golem's hands, a sigil appeared and absorbed all the impact from the powerful kick.

From the small sigil, which was only as big as an adult's head, an arrow of flame emerged downward.

As it turned out, my Sister's fear turned out to be true in the end, much like what I had in mind.

Helena had used Martial Magic...Well, her werewolf did...

CRACK! BOOM!!

It was so loud the kick seemed capable of splitting the ground itself.

The golem was obliterated in half. Only the visage of the flaming werewolf could be seen standing tall in the huge crater.

'Damn...What a mess. Will they be alright?' I couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for the Grey siblings.

Sure, nobody got hurt. But still, the damage was nothing to scoff at. Cracks and craters everywhere. Scorched grasses and ground here and there...

'Count Grey is gonna be pissed about his backyard for some time...'

"That girl...She's gonna get me in trouble with Mom." Grumbled Sister, jeering lightly at Helena in the distance.

Following her, Howard also began complaining openly while patting Adam from the rising dust. "Seriously! She never knows the meaning of moderate! She's covering us all with dirt!"

Meanwhile, both Damian and Sarah could only gape, their jaws hanging low, much like the rest of the crowd.

And to conclude the long-drawn event, the spirited voice of the girl, whose eyes glistened like the brightest emerald, rang friskily right in front of me.

"How did I do, Alex?" Grinned Helena wide, with her eyebrow arched up and her hands posing pompously on her hips.

"..." I paused, drawn to her eyes.

"You were great, Princess..."

I smiled in kind.