Tay looked down to where Chisson lay unconscious on the ground, her fruit's healing properties already pulling him back to health. She watched him breathe the dark-navy, almost black, chitin running along his ribs flexing against his tan skin as his chest rose and fell under his ruined shirt.

Then she looked at the Kaigin, noting that his shell was too wide, his height too tall, his scales too tough-looking, and that he was breaking free of her root snare a bit too easily,

But what really gave it away were the cracks, birth stage Kaigin didn't have those molten cracks running across their body, this guy was Nascent. Newly, she guessed, due to the fact that Chisson had been able to move his arm even slightly with his technique. With him just recently evolved and her on the cusp, it would almost be an even match, though admittedly skewed slightly in his favor.

She took all that in silently, only after letting it sink in did she allow herself to speak

"Aw, hell no"

The Kaigin, Bensen, finally broke free from the last of her snare as Tay readied her flora maou, mentally ready to send it into the niche that bound her vinelash technique.

Bensen stepped towards her, a growl undercutting his words, "another one?! be honest with me Bush-head is this some suicidal prank, or has everyone gone stupid"

"Nah, I think it's just you. And don't try to act like we've never met before, Bensen. This isn't the first time you've messed with Chis, so I know you've had a taste of what I can dish out. Pretending otherwise for the sake of trying to look 'undefeated' is just fucking sad."

Tay smirked as the dick flinched from her comment.

'Nail on the head'

"Yah sure, I dont think I’d forget being defeated by an Allevine. what’d ya do? Feed me berries until I popped? Heal me to death?"

Tays fist clenched as she bit back her anger, he didn’t have to know that kind of comment got to her.

"Or did you suck my dick so hard I-"

Tay let her floral maou flow from her core, the vine appearing just off her fist as she swung, a crack sounded as her attack cut though the air. Just at the last moment, the Kaigin's scaled hand snapped up, catching the manifestation just before it struck his head.

Pap!

"Fisty aren't we, huh? I almost felt that. You might have actually been able to put up’a fight had we met a week ago. Doesn't matter now, if you can't tell I'm not a birth-stage welp anymore. There's nothing you could possibly be able to make me break a sweat."

Tay smirked, "Oh, is that so?" She asked, letting sarcasm fill her tone. She pulled on the other maou type that filled her soul, the reason why she called herself an 'offensive healer'

Her life maou coursed into the vine she had manifested, first healing the burns Bensen's grip was imparting and then doing something much more interesting. Healing Touch was just one of the two life maou techniques she currently had bound, she activated the other in an instant, red power flowing from her hand into the Vine that her technique had created. Even if it was formed of maou, it was still technically alive, and Tay had discovered years ago that life was all she needed.

The vine flared with crimson light, energy crackling inside it and escaping as a glow.

Bensen sneered, "What was that supposed to do? You think a-" he never got to finish his sentence as Tay lifted her arm and the vine followed, Bensen choking as he, with his grip still firmly around the plant, was flung into the ceiling of the gym. The wood of the building crunched as 300 pounds of reptilian asshole was slammed into it, followed by another as he crashed to the ground. Tay raised her hand to strike again, but a brick of stone shot from the ground in front of her, aimed for her abdomen. She quickly slid out of the way, her vinelash dissipating as she lost focus on the technique. The brick was accompanied by a stalagmite that speared toward Tay from the now standing Kaigin, in the same movement as her slide she twisted out of the way of this. Turning her momentum into a dash, she closed, twisting for a kick as she activated her only common technique, 'lance'. A cone of hardened energy shaped itself around the heel of her foot, her kick piercing it like a spear into her enemy’s middle. It wasn't as effective as she would have wanted, his scales, evolved toughness, and the fact that she wasn't a common-soul, keeping her attack from digging any further than the muscle.

Bensen's fist ignited with its sheath of flame as he punched down at her, Tay dancing back easily from his slow strike. She only realized it was a faint when his whole body spontaneously combusted, and he charged. Off-balance from her last dodge, she took a large portion of his momentum head-on, only mitigated by her backward movement. Tay's lifeline shrunk by a fraction, around a sixth, the actual Flames eating away at more of it before she could jump out of range. He tried to repeat the tactic but a well-timed root snare, empowered by 'Grant strength' was enough to slow him mid-way through.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Tay felt a wash of fatigue at the large expenditures of maou, her core feeling nearly half empty. She grimaced, her techniques weren’t really meant for direct combat, having to layer them to do any real damage meant she bled maou like an open wound, that was fine when her enemies went down quick, but ending this should be a priority.

No one was even watching her show off, so there was no benefit to prolonging the fight.

Another stone spike snapped her out of her contemplation, she dove to the right getting caught by a brick slamming into her leg, she winced, but it didn't feel broken, so she gritted her teeth and bore on.

Vinelash

This time the Kaigin dodged, just barely getting out of the way despite his size and relative slowness. He attempted to close trying to pin her against one of the walls, Tay didn't let it happen, slipping around him as he rushed at her, a root snare followed by a lance to his flank, denying him the option of charging anymore. He tried swinging his arm back, trying to at least graze her with his flaming fist, but the awkward angle gave enough advantage that Tay barely had to dodge.

Her maou was so low now. Just over a fourth of her birth-stage max, all that hadn't been expended over the course of this fight.

Another strengthened vine lash drained her further, striking Bensen across the same hip she had just attacked. He roared in pain, his fervor to free himself from her rootsnare only intensifying.

He ignited his body once again, the fact that he hadn't done that immediately making Tay think that the technique had to be maou hungry. She considered casting the snare again, if she could get him to run himself dry, then she could end things quickly. Sadly though, root snare was the most expensive technique she had, and using grant strength in conjunction with it only made it more so.

Bensen burst free, limping now. His left leg barely supported his weight. It was something Tay could use.

She struck out with an unenhanced vinelash, wrapping the whip-like plant around his leg, and tugging. Even the Kaigin's strength was no match for gravity with his injured leg, and he came crashing to the ground face first.

"How's that for healing you to death?" Tay snarked, Bensen glared at her from his spot on the floor, his fists raised, presumably for another technique. Tay wasn't going to let that happen, one last strengthened rootsnare pulled him tight against the ground.

'Time to end this.'

Tay inwardly prayed that this plan would work, mainly hoping that he had enough Lifeline that she didn't accidentally murder him.

Tay closed the distance, before he could consider burning away her trapped. In one motion that she personally thought was pretty impressive, she hopped onto his shell, hearing him grunt in surprise, it was nothing in comparison to the sound he made as she jumped from the elevated space on his back onto his neck manifesting lance as she fell, in a move that would have been fatal if the Kaigin's Lifeline had been low.

As things stood, the attack still ripped through the soft flesh of his throat. Without help, he would die in time, but Tay wasn't worried about that.

If he had even a quarter of the amount of life left as she suspected it would take his lifeline minutes to drain completely and until that point no injury was permanent. She could have stabbed him in the brain, and as long as she healed him in the couple of seconds it would take for his line to empty in that scenario, he would be good as new whenever he woke up.

She watched him choke until he finally passed out, letting him lose just a bit more blood past that point to be sure he would remain unconscious for a while, and only then began the process of healing him.

Plucking one of her fruits, she hated using something so personal on an enemy, she squeezed that into the wound in his throat it wasn't the most effective way of using the berry but he wasn't in a state to eat it (not that she would want him to) and it would keep him alive, additionally using it like that burned like putting citrus in a paper cut which she hoped he somehow felt through his unconscious state.

With the minimum amount of maou the technique would accept, she cast Healing Touch, giving him just enough to close his throat so that he can breathe and wouldn't bleed out. She she's still let a shallow portion of it stay, as well as every other wound she had inflicted.

'Reminders since you forgot last time'

There was a moment where she considered walking around his flank and kicking him in his manhood, but her leg still hurt. Plus, a creep like Bensen would probably enjoy that. Her S-nature was only for Chis, thank you very much.

Speaking of Chis. She limped over to check on her entonid, now that the adrenaline was leaving her system putting weight on her leg was starting to suck, he was still sprawled in the same place Bensen had stepped on him. A burst of healing touch fixed any obvious injuries, but he'd still need time to wake up.

Seeing that she didn't have to use any more maou to fix him up, she finally got around to healing herself. It took much more maou to do so, so it had been better to make sure she had some spare. She sighed in relief as the strain of her leg vanished, at the same time bolstering herself against the weariness of an empty core.

That was all she had to give.

And right now, she just wanted to lay down on the floor and sleep for a year.

Instead, she let out a grunt as she lifted Chisson onto a shoulder, best to leave before Bensen had any chance of waking up.