Xol had underestimated our dear Princess from the very beginning.

After all, he had witnessed her fight against one of his pets through it and found her…amusing.

Just…amusing.

Nothing more, nothing less.

For him she wasn’t a threat but a treat.

Something to toy with before consuming.

His appetizer before the main dish.

The rest were just the same.

Garnishes at the very least. Side dishes at most.

Fufufu~~, in short, he had already won. His opponents just didn’t know it.

That was why he acted the way he did.

That was why he erred the way he did.

And such mistake cost him not just the first strike in a battle, but much, much more.

You see, our dear Princess’ attack didn’t just send him flying in a colorful manner. No no no~. It hurt him in many, many ways as each colored blast enhanced the damage made by the next!

Both earth and nature attributes crushed and ripped his hood and armor to shreds, exposing his draconic skin to a punishment of blunt and rending damage!

Next came fire and light with their resplendent might! Scorching and purging, his everything was set alight! Screeching and crumbling, all Dark Spirits around him met their demise! As the light made those buzzing gauntlets say bye-bye!

Blunted! Rent! And weakened! Xol’s draconic skin went CRACK-CRACK-CRACK as it began to break!

Quick! Xol tried to summon more Dark Spirits to protect his body but…FWOOOSH! SPLASH!! Wind and water came like a hurricane and poured all over his hopes, washing them away! After all, what focus could remain unbroken before the very things that always find a way through! And this time it was no different as they cut right through his all!

One time! Two times! Three times! And many, many more times! All in an instant!

Still, he didn’t panic. Nonono. Not at all~. Why would he when he was a Lesser Dragon Lord at the cusp of becoming a fully-fledged one? That meant that his draconic self-healing was quite strong, enough for him to be this confident.

Yes, it still hurt. But so what? This much damage was nothing to him. Even more, he was sure that he’d be fine by the end of this.

Mhm, he was sure of it.

So veeeeery sure~.

Then darkness came for dinner, and he wasn’t so sure anymore, fufufu~. Why? Because just like Xol, Darkness is quite the peckish attribute at its core, dearies. If you let it, it will sink its fangs into everything! Just like it did with Xol’s wounds!

Oh how the tables had turned! And he could feel it! The black colored blast had eaten away at his vitality to the point that it disrupted his self-healing greatly, leaving his wounds wide open for the coming purplish blast!

And came it did! With a FZOOOOOON, the blast met with his flesh, and it was super-effective!

“Ack…! Curses…!!”

While it couldn’t swallow anything completely like it did with the Savage Spriggan thanks to Xol’s inherent draconic elemental resistance, it did take away everything in the path it traced in its body. Not even his mana escaped as it was siphoned off of him to the point where he could no longer just take it.

‘This…brat…!’ He thought, enraged.

He had to do something lest the damage would be too much to bear.

As such, he closed himself off from the pain and focused hard on what he needed to do for a moment as the world slowed down for him.

The answer came rather quickly. He needed to stop himself from tumbling away uncontrollably, as such he would open his wings at the right moment and break all the momentum that he had built up in one fell swoop, giving himself the chance to not only stop his thrashing, but also regain his bearings by firmly planting his feet on the ground.

This would in turn become the foundation of the rest of his plan, for he would then use his wings as shield for the remainder of the time the blast was up, all while using said time to focus his mana into his self-healing ability to mend his wounds.

This way he was going to endure.

This way he was going to wait until his toy exhausted herself.

Yes, it was going to hurt. It was going to hurt a lot.

But that was fine by him, as he was sure that his patience would be rewarded as soon as the multicolored blast died down and vanished, leaving behind a ruined valley and an incredibly damaged set of draconic wings.

And when such thing happened, he would show her a smile as wide as the laughing moon as he revealed himself to be still standing.

Yes. That’s what he was going to do.

Thus, he did it.

‘Now…!’

He endured the pain and waited for the right moment before he opened his wings and he…

“[Way of the Gentle Fist: Silken Iron Strike]! Hmph!”

“Wha—ACK?!”

…WAS PUNCHED RIGHT IN THE JAW BY CHARLES WHO USED THE VERY MOMENT XOL ENACTED HIS PLAN TO DO JUST THAT?! YES!! AND NOT JUST THAT, FOR IN ONE SWIFT MOTION CHARLES ALSO GRABBED XOL AND BROUGHT HIM EVEN CLOSER TO HIM BEFORE HITTING HIM UNDER THE RIBS AND THROWING HIM TO THE SIDE WITH ALL HIS STRENGTH, LEAVING HIM COMPLETELY DEFENSELESS AGAINST…

“[Enhance Strength]! [Woodsblade Trance]!”

…FEN’RU-EL WHO WAS WAITING FOR HIM ON THE OTHER SIDE WITH HIS SWORD AT THE READY? YOU BET!! THIS TIME HE WAS GOING ALL OUT FROM THE START RATHER THAN HOLDING BACK FOR THE SAKE OF KING’S ORDERS!

“[Deamisian Swordsmanship: Solanum Thorns]!”

“GHH…!!”

THUS, HE RECEIVED THE UNWILLINGLY FLYING XOL NOT WITH OPEN ARMS, BUT WITH A SWORD COVERED IN A THORNY, MAROON VINE MADE OF MANA THAT PIERCED HIS WINGED BACK MANY TIMES, STOPPING HIM IN MID-AIR AND KEEPING HIM THERE DUE TO THE SHEER STRENGTH IN EACH AND EVERY SINGLE ONE OF SAID THRUSTS!

Of course, Xol didn’t just take it in silence. He couldn’t. Not only had his plan not worked, but he was clearly being looked down on by his prey, or so he believed. Still, for him that was the truth.

Thus, in this moment that seemed eternal…

“If you think mere tree loving ssswordsmanship will be enough to critically wound me after, you are asss wrong asss that aged meat sack that reeksss of my kin’s fetid blood and his pathetic ssstrikes!”

…he roared. He roared with anger and vile intent, seeming almost blind to the worsening state of his body as he mocked the elf that kept piercing him with his sword and the old man that had punched him repeatedly.

And in response to one of those remarks…

“Oh dear, it seems that a couple of centuries in retirement left me smelling quite fresh for you then. Let me fix that now. Bloom, oh thorns!”

“AGHHHHH!!”

…Fen’Ru-el bid the mana thorns embedded in each and every single one of Xol’s wounds caused by his sword to bloom. They did. Painfully so. So much so that Xol roared once again, but this time it was out of pain as the thorns came out one after the other, joining with each other as they climbed all over his body until he was completely bound from head to toe by a thorny, maroon vine.

He immediately tried to free himself with brute force, but the thorns dug deeper into him as he did so, delaying his self-healing even more, something that he didn’t want.

With that, Xol found himself in the worst position to be in a fight, a sitting duck…wait no, it’s just a phrase! A phrase! D-Don’t cry, Ilya, no duckies are going to be hurt—ahhhhh, erm, a training dummy! Yes! He was like a training dummy! And just like a training dummy, he was standing in the middle of the ‘arena’ waiting for the next attack to come.

But rather than despair or fall even deeper into rage, Xol…laughed. After all, it’s not as if he was just doing nothing while receiving all this punishment. One only needed to look up beyond the clouds to see the massive conglomeration of Dark Spirits he had been carefully gathering despite everything.

Still, he needed more time. So bound and wounded as he was, he laughed and talked.

“Hehehe…you got me good. You don’t smell it, but you are jussst like that…aged meat sack…experienced, ha. First, the princessss addless…my ssensses. Then sshhe hurts me…to a point where I won’t be able to heal properly for ssome time. And then you two…keep me from doing anything but receive even more…damage. Heh. Disssgussting and yet…a classic of thossse pesky mealss from the Front. Who taught her that? Wass it…ngh...you, elf?”

Fen’Ru-el shook his head. “Not at all. The credit for that belongs solely to the gentleman who gave you that bloody mouth.”

“Hrnn…”, Xol grunted, his eyes falling on the old man who was walking towards them. “Either way, I sssuppose it makesss senssse that I am in thisss…sssorry sstate when pitted againssst such storied opponents and their little…apprentice. But are you sssure that you can keep this…ghh…binding up? Sssurely, it must be quite draining to keep me at your mercy.”

“Heh,” Fen’Ru-el chuckled. “It is. But you don’t have to worry about me, I’m only holding you until the Lady finishes her potion and resumes her beatdown of you. She’s very mad at you, you see.”

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That was a half-lie, for there was another reason. After all, two people can play the same game.

In any case, in the face of Fen’Ru-el’s taunt Xol’s smile didn’t crumble. On the contrary, it became bigger as he broke out into an amused laughter.

“Hahahaha…isss that sso? To think sshe’d carry that coward’sss plight ssso closssse to her heart. I wonder what ssshe’ll do when sshe discoverssss the truth. Ahh…I can almossst tasste it…the sstruggle.”

“…”

Fen’Ru-el’s gaze sharpened. He knew that Xol’s words could be lies, very much so as the dragon clearly enjoyed toying with his victims. Yet he couldn’t give himself the luxury of dismissing what he said outright, for there was a chance—even if small—that he could be telling the truth.

“What are you talking about?” So, he tightened the thorns’ grip on Xol’s body and asked but was ignored. For rather than receiving an answer, the dragon gave him a declaration while gazing at the coming of a certain someone.

“Elf. Once I am done with her…I am going to break you like a twi—GH!”

That someone was of course our dear Euphemia, arriving just in time to shut Xol up by hitting him in the stomach with her fiery scepter, sending him reeling a few steps back as he broke himself out of the thorny vines through brute force, caring not for the thorns damaging him even further.

“Thank you for holding him, Mister Fen’Ru-el!”

“…you are very welcome, My Lady.”

Having thanked him only in passing, Euphemia didn’t notice Fen’Ru-el’s pensive expression nor the small pause he made before replying to her. If she had, she would’ve certainly thought that he had wanted to tell her something but retracted at the last moment, and she would’ve been correct.

Rather than tell her what Xol said before she arrived, Fen’Ru-el decided to keep silent about it and not compromise her with needless thoughts as she fought.

And fought she did, for our dear princess wasn’t done with just one attack! Not at all! In fact, she unleashed a flurry of multicolored strikes upon Xol right after the first. Said flurry was aptly named…

“[Kaleidoscopic Barrage]!”

…that! Fwosh! Tzzooon! Woosh! Fire! Light! Wind! Those and more elements assailed Xol once again as Euphemia tried to hit him with each and every one of her scepters in an amazing display of her unique fighting style!

BUT! This time it was different! Xol had seen her coming!

“[Draconic Tenacity]!!”

Thus, Xol immediately called upon his latent draconic fortitude through a skill and let the sudden surge of grit within him move his body as he jumped at Euphemia! Soon enough, Xol and our dear princess saw themselves locked in a one-sided exchange where…sadly…Xol evaded her strongest and most draining strikes—like the spatial one—and tanked the others with his renewed toughness! And that’s despite his injuries!

Meanwhile, our dear Princess’ strength kept being eaten away by the very scepters she was using to attack, for that was the cost of using them in the way she was! But that’s fine! She just needed to land one good strike with the right scepter and things would go back to being in her favor!

“Haaaaa…!”

Just one good strike!

PAM!

“Heh…”

“…!”

Oh no!

“Hahahaha! Is thissss all you have, Little Princess?!”

Xol caught it! Xol caught Euphemia’s latest scepter attack with his bare hand and wasn’t letting go!

“Ngh…!”

Euphemia pulled and pulled, but the scepter didn’t budge, she just couldn’t free it from Xol’s grasp. Worst all, she too was about to fall into his grasp as his other hand slowly approached her neck while mockery began flowing out of his teethy mouth!

“Aw, we’re this close to each other and yet you can’t you do what you did back when you started this fight? What givesss? Are you tired perhapsss? Or have you finally realized it?” Xol grinned. “Your little toys can’t hurt me anymore. And those that still can, won’t reach me, Little Princess. That is…if you even have the strength to use them like that anymore.”

“That is fine,” Euphemia asserted, unfazed by the coming clawed hand and glaring at Xol. “I do not need weapons to defeat you.”

Following that, Euphemia poured mana into the scepter that wasn’t in Xol’s grasp…the spatial one…and then…

BLINK! TELEPORTED!

“…?!”

“[Gentle Fighter’s Will]!”

She, along with her scepters, disappeared from Xol’s sight for a moment, taking him by surprise. Only for her to reappear slightly above him covered in flowing white ki and mana from head to toe and with just her fists in tow.

To this, Xol laughed.

“Hahaha! Yes! Struggle more! Break your hands and despair! You will only be adding to the flavor!”

“[Silken Iron Strike]!”

BAM!

“Urk—?!”

Euphemia punched Xol right in the center of his face, and rather than her hands breaking, it was Xol’s posture that broke, for he was pushed back a few steps once again, and this time while holding a bloody nose.

‘That skill! It was the same as that…old meat! He taught her a martial art meant to fight dragons too?! Hahahaha…how irritating…! But no matter…! Even that won’t be enough!’

With those thoughts running through his mind, Xol scowled for a moment as he went into another close quarters battle with Euphemia. Gouging hands reached out from one side while disciplined strikes were thrown from the other in an exchange that boggled Xol’s mind as it went on.

‘This mortal…she shouldn’t be able to do this…!’

Xol couldn’t believe it. Not only did our dear Euphemia manage to keep up with the injured Xol, albeit with many close calls that became cuts all over her body, but she also was somehow able to defend herself from those attacks she absolutely couldn’t avoid. This was done by turning the mix of ki and mana flowing all around her body into threads and gathering them around the parts about to be hit, entangling Xol’s hands and stopping them from reaching Euphemia’s body.

Still, Xol kept trying. Yet…

“You brat…!”

…more and more of his attacks were either barely avoided, blocked, or even countered, turning his befuddlement into fuel for his irritation. Irritation that only increased as he avoided yet another punch directed at his face, and from it a certain question appeared in his heart.

‘How unlucky must I be to have crossed paths with people this prepared to fight me?’

Then, as if reading his heart, a certain someone replied to his thoughts.

“Tis no misfortune, foolish dragon. Thou art but suffering the consequences borne from thine past and present arrogance.”

That someone was Charles. He had managed to sneak behind Xol while he was completely focused on fighting Euphemia, and that’s despite him seeing the old butler approaching but a few moments earlier.

Thus, he was trapped between them, and they knew it.

“Master.”

“Teacher.”

So, after sharing but one word and one nod, they unleashed it.

““[Way of the Gentle Fist: Silk Weave]””

Together.

If it sounds familiar, it’s because it is, dearies. What you’re seeing is the martial art technique that broke through the tough defense of a Savage Spriggan and fell it. The martial art that grows stronger the more attacks are weaved together in quick succession. Now that same martial art would thoroughly break Xol’s defense, no matter how mighty, for that was indeed one of its reasons to be.

But even then, there was one problem to surmount.

“Dammit…!”

Xol knew he was trapped too. No matter how much he hated to admit it.

“[Draconic Force]!”

Thus, he swallowed his pride and frustration and unleashed it. The skill that brought his latent draconic might to the forefront and even strengthened it. The very skill his former Master, a certain ancient dragon lord, taught him like she taught all her subordinates that survived her merciless training.

“…!!”

Euphemia flinched before such sublimation of power, the image of a massive dragon threatening to swallow her whole appearing before her for a moment. Still, was she going to be pushed back by Xol’s power? No sir! Not on Charles’ watch!

“Princess Euphemia! If thy desire to stop the draconic machinations in our home is true, thou must not waver before this! Steel thyself and follow mine own pace!”

“Yes…!!”

With that, instead of being pushed back, she was pushed forward. Firmly. Strongly. And so, the battle between disciplined fists and ravenous claws raged once again, all as more and more Dark Spirits gathered above the clouds.

Just what was Xol’s plan? And where were the rest of our dear Princess companions? Soon we’ll have the answers, but not before this bout ends. So, keep your eyes peeled, dearies. For things are about to get more intense!!

“Raaaaahhh!!”

“Hmph!”

“Haap!”

BAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAM! SWISHSWISHSWISHSWISHSWISHSWISH! THUDTHUDTHUDTHUD! One, two, three, four…so many punches! So many gouging hands! And wing slashes! And tail whips! All in all, it was an all you can eat brawl buffet where many servings were exchanged in just one moment and the supply showed no signs of dwindling! SMACKSMACKSMACK! PUMPUMPUM! SHASHSHASH!! PTOOMPTOOMPTOOM!

“Ghh…! Graaah!!”

“Hm…!”

“Oof…!”

“You two are really making me lose my appetite…!!”

And once again, the mortals before him befuddled and irritated him as the Master and Follower combo not only forced him to actively block and avoid some of their strikes, but, somehow, they were still able to avoid his in his empowered state, even if barely.

The way they ebbed and flowed together truly made it seem like they were completely in sync with each other, dancing a deft dance of martial prowess exclusive to them, a push and pull that elevated them to new heights. All while Xol was in the middle of it all, hopelessly being pressed more and more despite his power-up, fufufu~~.

Worst and most irritating of all, history was repeating itself before Xol’s very eyes, as the punches of the mortals before him grew more powerful, more solid, more impactful, and more focused as the brawl went on, just like it happened when the Princess fought his pet the day before.

Yet…he couldn’t accept it. He couldn’t accept that things were about to reach that point with him on the receiving end. Furthermore, he couldn’t accept that Euphemia was still up and fighting despite the many times she used those blasted scepters. Potion or not, she should’ve been suffering the consequences by now, right? Right?! So how…how then was she able to keep up fighting? To keep up avoiding his claws? To keep up hitting him? Just…how?

Little did he know that the answer to all his questions was quite simple. You could even say that it’s one that our dear Ere knows very well, fufufu~. And that is…stubbornness. Pure, unadulterated, Kyrie-brand stubbornness.

Was she exhausted to the point that it was painful?! Yes! Did she feel that she would faint if she stopped even for a second?! Yes! Was her mana so dangerously low that she could suddenly become unable to use her martial arts as she was?! Yes!

Was any of that going to stop her?! No! Just like it didn’t stop her mother, Theresa, from repelling a meteor casted by dragon hands! Just like it didn’t stop her brother, Erevain, from standing between Eternal Winter herself and his home and holding the line!

Thus, with that kind of lineage running through her veins, she crushed her limits and weaved more and more attacks with Charles until…

PUM! CRACK! BAM! CRACK! SLAM! CRACK!

“Ngh…! This damned martial art…!”

…they did it. They reached the point where Xol’s doubly strengthened scales were cracking before their fists and turning into threads as they were unable to cope with the technique infused in them.

“His defense is cracking! Thou mustn’t let up, My Lady!”

“I won’t! His time hurting innocents in the name of his sick hunger ends here!”

“Hrr…hrrr…”

This made their fighting spirit burn even brighter as they upped the intensity of their attacks and pressed Xol more and more. So much so that he was having trouble breathing—as if, it was the opposite. The worst kind of opposite.

“Hrrr…!”

He was preparing a mighty breath within himself. One made of boiling, black gas that he was sure they wouldn’t be able to avoid in time. He just needed a chance to use it. Just one.

Thus, he let himself seem like he had misjudged the reach of one of Euphemia’s strikes and left himself wide open for them both. It was bait.

“Thine misjudgment is our chance! Now!”

“Haaaah!!”

“Heh...”

And they took it. Hook. Line. And sinker.

‘Finally…!!’ he thought as he opened his mouth and began to unleash it. “[RAVENOUS BRE—"

But once again, his divided focus mixed with his still present arrogance only served to trip him up for a third time, as he failed to account for the intervention of a certain someone in a way that was quite literally…

“[Deamisian Ancient Swordsmanship: Fall’s Zephyr]!”

“—?!”

…breathtaking.

‘My breath…?! Did that tree-loving…cut my breath?!’

Indeed, he did. Xol failed to realize that Fen’Ru-el had been waiting for him to try and use his breath, and when he did, Fen’Ru-el didn’t waste his chance to use one of his own trump cards. An old Woodsblade technique that made its wielder one with the wind for one slash of their sword, and one slash alone, letting them reach out in the form of a gust and cut the immaterial…like a dragon’s breath itself. And that with the added bonus of not interfering with the actions of his companions.

Meaning that…

““[Way of the Gentle Fist:…””

…things were still going on while Xol was utterly shocked by the absence of his breath. The fake opening he had shown became a real one, which Euphemia and Charles were already exploiting.

And as his eyes moved back from the smiling elf to the humans that were about to hit him from the front and from behind, he realized something…

‘I can’t avoid this…!’

…and braced for impact.

““…Heartbreaker]!””

To be continued…NEXT WEEK!