“Suffer my wrath!” The pervert growled and rapidly struck Isabel’s shield. The dagger in his hands quickly lost shape as it was hammered against the unyielding obstacle.

Isabel thrust her sword, happy she had dropped the idea of fighting with her knuckles. There was no way she was going to touch the yellow menace. The distracting garb made it hard to know where to look. Not that Litan had any reason to be ashamed of his body. On the contrary, he was well-endowed and muscular…

And it somehow made it even worse.

The man kept weaving around every attack she could throw at him. Isabel struggled to keep up. Before the big reveal, she had pressured the man, but now it was the opposite.

Not that Litan had any chance of actually hurting her. Not unless she allowed him to pelt on her. Isabel kept blocking. It was so much easier to fight with her shield in hand. It felt like an extension of her arm.

Just using her barriers without the shield was always taxing on Isabel’s mind. Like this, she could fight for hours. Not that they had that much time. She prodded the man with her sword, only for him to vanish.

Isabel quickly threw her shield to the side, interrupting Litan’s attempt at flanking her. She pivoted and pushed herself between him and Mila. She couldn’t allow the flamboyant fool to interrupt Mila’s fight.

“Bleed for me!” Litan whispered with malice practically dripping from his lips. “Take this! Hundred Hidden Hunters!”

Litan wiggled his hips, jingling his bits. Isabel suffered mental damage and almost missed the moment the man’s body became intangible.

The next moment, Isabel felt her barrier become strained as numerous attacks rained down on her. She also heard Mila groan in response to Liton naming his attack. Her girl had hammered into Isabel’s and Andrew’s minds to never do that.

They had tried it only once and had earned Mila’s ire. And a sermon that lasted an hour, featuring countless examples of why it was stupid.

Not that it bothered Litan. The man thrived by being ridiculous.

Isabel weathered the attacks while identifying from where exactly they came. It turned out to be some kind of spell. Litan was trying to sneak past her again.

Which was still forbidden. Isabel charged the man, who gave her a grin. Then she passed right through him. “What the…” Isabel blinked, then hurried to turn around.

Mila was currently poking holes in Liton’s defences. The sword suited her girl. Not as much as a dagger. That one gave her more dangerous air, but still.

But where had the distractingly dressed banana gone? Isabel examined her surroundings, paying extra attention to Mila’s fight to intercept any interruptions.

“He is in the alley.” Mila helpfully informed Isabel between dodging colourless bolts.

Some landed on Isabel’s back but did no harm apart from making her lose balance momentarily.

Isabel nodded and looked at the spot where she had slaughtered the thugs. Liton strolled out of the alley a moment later, holding two swords.

“Haha,” Litan let out a laugh. “You have done well to destroy my weapon. But it has only made me stronger.” He lifted his newly acquired swords.

And while Isabel wanted to argue his actions had ruined the dagger, she knew it was pointless. The man had a screw loose. Or ten.

Or possibly Litan had no screw’s to lose, to begin with. Because the man made no sense. He then started to spin and move towards Isabel while doing so.

The yellow helicopter looked flashy. The quick, whooshing sounds certainly left an impression. But as Isabel planted her feet and received the wild slash, the stupid move quickly fell apart.

And for receiving that slash, Isabel returned one of her own. Her sword swung down at Litan’s torso. Still reeling from meeting Isabel’s unmovable form, he failed to dodge.

But to Isabel’s displeasure, all her attack did was slice open Litan’s tightfitting body suit at the chest. “Dammit!” She cursed. Trimming Litan’s chest hair had not been her aim. “Just die already! What’s with that defense!”

Well. There was a red line where Isabel’s sword had met the flesh, but no blood had been drawn.

“Hey!” Litan returned. “That’s my line! No, wait!” He quickly realised he had spoken in a normal tone and returned to the whispering. “Ahaha! My majestic form is not something easily blemished.” He started to wriggle. “And so bold, trying to strip me. But if you wish, I can show you-”

“STOP” Isabel realised Mila and Liton had yelled at the same time as she.

“Cut that out! I am not letting you run around naked again!” Liton chastised her brother. “Shit!”

Isabel glanced back. Mila had managed to land a blow on the distracted woman. Which was good. Because if Isabel was honest, she didn’t know how to cook… her… prey…

Wait… Isabel glanced at the raging fire a short distance away. Couldn’t she do the same?

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Immediately, Isabel began recalling the schematic she kept ready. It took a moment for her to feel the mana and force it to obey. The shaping of the spell had a lot to do with imagination. The runic forms that had to be kept in her mind had to be mirrored with mana in reality. Otherwise, nothing would happen.

This was why Isabel preferred simply pumping mana into her body. Easy and simple, and it had great effects. No need for mental gymnastics.

It was a viable fighting strategy. Mila, for the most part, followed the same path. However, Isabel knew it was because her girl worked with fewer resources.

But for now, Isabel had a yellow frog to bake. She exchanged a few strikes with her opponent, slightly losing out on each one. This time on purpose. She bided her time and drew Litan in.

Soon, Isabel would be ready to release her spell.

—

“Shit!” Liton cursed.

Mila glanced at her sword. There was now a bloody spot on its blade after the unexpected success. Liton had been distracted by her own brother spouting nonsense.

But Mila didn’t blame the woman. She had almost tripped when Litan blurted out that stupid name for his attack. Who did that?

Well, some people did. Most died shortly after beginning to fight against opponents willing to kill. Mia had experienced a single memory from the viewpoint of such a person. But that woman had yelled the names of her attacks just to piss off her enemies. And she had died. Shouting during a battle tended to pull everyone's attention towards you.

Back to the situation at hand, Mila was forced back by short thrusts of Liton’s hammer. Her opponent had lost a finger in the last exchange and was now venting her anger.

Despite the heavy weapon, Liton didn’t look like she was getting tired. Furthermore, after a feint, the woman launched another stream of fire towards Mila.

Pushing past her limits, Mila managed to evade, if ungracefully. But rolling through the dirt was better than becoming charcoal. She followed up by jumping on her feet, then falling on her back.

Spellcasting was such a bullshit sometimes. Sometimes, Mila wished she had not specialised so heavily in stealth. But the regret quickly passed.

Fights like these were rare. Matching an opponent so closely and exchanging so many blows was not something that happened…

Right. Mila realised something. She glanced at the Isabel’s fight. The man now had his chest hair sticking out from the torn, tightfitting body suit.

Were these two literally guided here? With the man being blessed, had he received a revelation of sorts? This was a scarily probable possibility.

Could the gods track her? Did they know where Mila’s group were?

But after thinking about it a second more, Mila dismissed the fear. If it had been a revelation, it probably was a vague feeling, not an exact order. Gods didn’t actually speak. They couldn’t. Could they? She felt like something was eluding her. An unformed idea. A dream or memory too faded to touch.

To gain time, Mila used two of the three remaining throwing knives. She had noticed Isabel had an idea. Probably.

Mila’s girl had frozen for a moment, then suddenly acted with more purpose in her movements. Isabel was still losing in the exchange, but more than she should. Mila’s eyes couldn’t be fooled so simply. She had thought or been present when Silinth did what Isabel knew about fighting.

“SPINNING WHIRLWIND OF ENDLESS CUTS!”

Both Mila and her opponent cringed. She looked at Liton. Despite the displeasure on her face, the woman didn’t repeat the mistake of letting her attention wander.

The same couldn’t be said for Mila. She chided herself. It wasn’t time to look at the circus. Isabel had that part covered.

With the smoke filling the street, it became harder and harder to see all the small movements and faints Mila’s opponent made. The hot air burned her lungs.

While the poor visibility was to Mila’s advantage, the shrinking usable area was not. She bounced away from another hammer thrust. The heavy weapon brushed against her shoulder, making her wince and grit her teeth.

Liton had managed to use a particularly dark swirl of smoke to get Mila. Nothing was broken, but the left arm was now stiff. At least the constant barrage of magic wasn’t a problem. Mila could feel the projectiles comming.

But this couldn’t continue. Mila threw the last throwing knife, freeing her hands. The projectile, predictably, was brushed off by Liton. Mila then gripped the sword hilt with both arms and used the blade to push the hammer aside, leaving the opponent open.

This had been the first time Mila had used such a forceful move in the fight, surprising Liton. The woman hurried to retreat while pulling her hammer back.

Mila had to praise Liton’s reaction speed. Even with the surprise element, she had not managed to gain a decisive edge.

Still… While letting one hand go from the sword, Mila pulled out her dagger and aimed at the woman’s stomach.

Before Liton could retreat, Mila plunged her signature weapon through the leather armour. It was too shallow. She felt Liton’s foot land on her own stomach and push her away.

Mila tumbled through a trail of fire, then on the ground. She hurried back to her feet and extinguished the small flame that had caught the hem of her cloak.

Ready to dodge again, Mila moved back towards Liton. The woman glared at her, nursing the new wound.

The fight was close, but Mila was gaining more and more advantages as it proceeded. Liton had managed to land only two blows, while Mila had three to her name.

While Mila didn’t show it, Liton’s kick and the blow to Mila’s shoulder hurt like hell. There definitely would be nasty bruising in those places. At least she wasn’t bleeding.

Which wasn’t the same for Liton. The place where once had been a finger was now bleeding heavily. The first wound had closed at this point, but the new one in the woman’s stomach looked nasty.

Only looked. Liton still had enough strength to go on. The woman charged more bolts, which she then hurled at Mila.

But they were less than at the start. Mila noticed Liton hadn’t used the flames again. The woman was running low on mana at this point.

Which was good. Mila let a small smile form on her lips. Without the constant need to dodge magic, she could finally finish up the formidable opponent.

And honestly… Mila had learned a lot. She respected Liton. The woman was powerful in her own right. Whoever had taught her was very skilful. Litan, too… Yeah, the chaotic man, too, was an opponent worth fighting… Probably…

But it was time to finish the fight. As Mila hid her dagger and once more gripped her sword with both hands, Isabel finally revealed her plan.

Fire. A lot of fire. That was Isabel’s plan.