Alright, since so much of you guys voted for story instead of art, here's an "early" release for you guys! 

Battles after battles...hmm, hope I didn't make my battling scenes too repetitive I hope? Any form of comments  or reviews, no matter constructively good or bad, please feel free to do so! I'm not an especially good writer, just blessed with  a great English teacher, so yeah comment away!

Good rating are however, always appreciated of course :P

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After the moment of shock from the sudden success from [Absorption], we waited for awhile to see if the werewolves that were supposed to take care of Wourein came back. They didn’t.

We’re guessing that either they were killed by Wourein in his fit of anger, or they had witnessed the death of their leader and retreated in a hurry afterwards.

Obviously we hoped it was the former, but nothing ever goes well in life…

We went back into the village before dawn, and pretended as though nothing happened. After all, we don’t want necessary attention to ourselves. Should any form of news spread, it may cause more trouble for not only us but potentially the entire village as well.

Hence, we simply went back into the inn and rested for the entire day. After all, we had quite the life-of-death battle, having defeated one of the [Six Pillars]; Our stamina, both physically and mentally, have reached its limits.

Maybe not that much for Asellus, but for me, who used two powerful attacks, constantly used [Burst Stream] and repeatedly getting pummeled, I had to be supported by Asellus halfway back into the village and fell into a deep sleep once I hit the bed, waking up only before the next dawn – nearly twenty whole hours!

I looked around, and didn’t see any sign of Asellus in the room. This room only has a single large bed, being a small room. So, if she’s not around at this time of day…

“Don’t tell me, she slept outside of the room?” (Gideon)

(Yeah right. She was sleeping on the same bed as you were. After she placed you on the bed, she tended to your wounds and cleaned you up with a set of new clothing. After that, she fell asleep from exhaustion beside of you, waking up after the sun sets. You should’ve seen the expression on her face when she woke up! Master, I know you like to play with the feelings of females of all ages, but to think that you even toy with a married woman…how shameless.) (Eva)

(Since when so I toy with the feelings of females, sheesh…) (Gideon)

(Ahaha, you should know it better than I do!) (Eva)

(Enough of it, Eva. Do you know where Asellus went?) (Gideon)

(Hmm…I’m not sure, but she did left a note on the table before leaving.) (Eva)

I looked at the small round table, just a few feet away from me. Ah, there really is a note on the table! I took the note and read it over quickly. It seems that she’s simply out testing out her new abilities and strength at the same place where we were fighting yesterday.

I guess I should go find her then? After all, after sleeping for so long, my body really needs a good stretch or two.

(Master…you must always remember that married women are a no-no~!) (Eva)

(Oh, stop teasing me already…) (Gideon)

I went out of the village and went over to the very same place of yesterday’s fighting took place. Over there, I saw Asellus, sitting down on the floor, probably taking a breather.

“Hey.” (Gideon)

“Hmm…? Oh hi Gideon, just nice of you to come by, I have something new that I want to try out on.” (Asellus)

Hmm? She looks normal; the typical near-emotionless look of hers is still plastered on her face, with only hints of excitement, probably from her newly-found strength from [Absorption] of Wourein. That Eva…she’s probably over-exaggerating things.

“Alright, i’m in.” (Gideon)

We both took our places and prepared ourselves for combat, 20 meters away from each other.

“Let’s do it this way – you show me your attacks and I’ll try to resist them. The purpose of this sparring is to see how much stronger you have gotten anyway, so give it your best shot and don’t hold back!” (Gideon)

“Don’t…hold back? I’m not too sure of how strong I've gotten, so asking me not to hold back is a little…” (Asellus)

“Don’t worry. I may not look like it, but I’m at least 80% of Vergil’s total combat capability. If he’s your target, you must be at the very least be able to match me in combat, right?” (Gideon)

“If you put it that way…very well then. Prepare yourself.” (Asellus)

I equipped myself with Eva’s silver axe, and took a defensive stance, bringing up my arm to protect my upper body and head, while the silver right arm holding the axe is slightly lower, protecting my torso and give me a heightened chance to react to her attacks. As expected, she came towards me with a rush and transformed arms.

Her speed however, have greatly improved, reaching close combat distance within two seconds. I was slightly surprised at the speed in which she covered the entire distance.

“[Tiger Rampage].”

Her fist came flying over, blow after blow. Indeed, the timing between every attack has shortened noticeably as well, increasing her rate of attack! Combined with the training I gave her in order to increase the accuracy and sharpness of her movements, every punch of hers is now significantly more powerful.

As compared to just a few weeks ago, when I first saw her attacks, the difference between them is like heaven and earth! In fact, should she had this level of prowess when she attacked the kidnappers’ boss, every strike would have pulverized his bones to mere fragments, and his flesh into mush.

To think that she have come this far within weeks…she’s quite the monster, a genius unlike any other. No wonder Vergil’s consort stopped training her after a few sessions – they must have saw her immeasurable growth and thought of her as a threat to their positions.

With every two or three attacks from her, I strike back once with my axe, but every cut made by me, big or small, was recovered within a few seconds maximum. The innate recovery speed of Mystics, combined with the regenerative capability of Werewolves definitely can’t be underestimated.

“Whoops!” (Gideon)

Being slightly distracted, I almost took a punch to the face, which I managed to blow in the nick of time. However, having lost my momentum, I took a few more guarded strikes before being able to jump backwards to safety. Those attacks of her sure pack a lot of force in them; taking a few hits caused my body to bruise slightly, despite being one of extreme toughness.

“Don’t get distracted, even if it’s you, you may lose your life.” (Asellus)

She didn’t try to cover the distance once again. Instead, Asellus held on to both sides of her arms and swung down, leaving a gash on both her arms. I grimaced when I looked at her self-inflicted wound that isn’t recovering. Not so much for sympathizing with her injury of course, but more of what’s going to happen next to me…this is definitely going to be very dangerous.

“[Bloodfury].” (Asellus)

I raised my concentration to its limits. I can’t afford to do anything lesser than that.

She leaped forward once again, this time with a much terrifying speed. Compared to that of Wourein, it’s slower and still traceable within my eyes, but it’s of par with that, no, even faster than me when I’m using [Accel]!

Without hesitation, I started the initiative and struck first, swinging the axe upwards. As she avoided the blow, I forcefully interrupted the swing and swung it back downwards onto her.

To my surprise, she managed to avoid that as well, by leaping away to the left at the very last second.

After that, extremely quick blows were launched from her tiger arms. With every few blows, I had to step back a step, parrying and interrupting her hits before they can launch. After [Bloodfury], I could hardly return a single blow after every ten or so attacks from her, and some were even avoided. Most of the hits also turned out to be small cuts anyway.

Also, every punch now had quite the weight packed into them now. There’s a comparable difference to the damage dealt to me now than just mere moments ago.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

As another example, if we use the kidnappers’ boss once again as a measuring stick, instead of pulverizing his bones and flesh, the punch from Asellus now would simply cause her fist to go straight through of him cleanly, akin to a hole drilled straight through.

Even I do not wish to take hits of that standard too many times…

However, after a few minutes of exchange, even though I got quite bruised from all the attacks that managed to hit, I was still going strong and had the stamina to keep this up, whereas Asellus seemed tired and is panting, with cuts and abrasions all over her body.

It was rather obvious that even though I was at the disadvantage at the start, with the one with higher endurance and stamina, the tide has now turned to my favor.

“Even with [Bloodfury], I am still unable to catch up to you, huh? You really are stronger than I expected.” (Asellus)

“Don’t underestimate me. At the very least, I managed to survive a life-or-death battle yesterday; I too, have improved as well.” (Gideon)

“Besides, the weakness of [Bloodfury] is very clear – granting higher levels of speed and power but removing any form of recovery. If that’s the case…” (Gideon)

I leaped up high. A silver axe was morphed into a pointed hammer and with [Burst Stream], the pointed end of the hammer struck the ground with a loud bang, and the entire immediate area erupted in a storm of dust, earth and rock fragments, flinging out in all directions at high speeds.

“…I just have to attack from all sides, right?” (Gideon)

“…Tsk. [Encompassing Devastating Earth Wave], is it…” (Asellus)

(Ho, Master, not bad! I thought I’ll have to help you out once again.) (Eva)

(I’m not that inexperience as to let a same attack hold me down twice.) (Gideon)

The dust cloud faded, and Asellus can be seen with multiple gash wounds all over her body, with some parts of her clothing torn. She managed to avoid the worst of my attacks, probably by moving away from the incoming debris as fast and as much as she could, but my attack isn't that easily avoided fully. Countless debris flying straight towards you at high speed…if anyone had a chance of avoiding that, it would only be the ex-Werewolves Clan Leader, Wourein.

“As expected of the person I chose to be my trainer, you indeed are resourceful.” (Asellus)

“That goes without saying. I didn't live for so long without learning a few tricks or two.” (Gideon)

“So long…ah right, I remember now, you’re the ex-Ogre Lord Buvul as well. No matter, that’s not important now.”

She took a stance and faced me.

“I’ll show you what I've just came up myself, my original technique.” (Asellus)

I had a savage grin on my face upon hearing that. A new technique? Well, that’s interesting, I want to see how well that technique would work on me!

I stood ready as well. After all, this should be her greatest move, I should be all the more serious about this.

“[Fluere Regina].” (Asellus)

Her arms….disappeared.

“Eh?” (Gideon)

In that brief moment of hesitation, where I couldn’t process what just occurred before my very eyes, she covered the distance between us, and I was assaulted with tens, no, hundreds, maybe even a thousand of blows within mere seconds.

Punches after punches, strikes after strikes approaching from all angles plummeted upon me. The punches themselves are lighter, a lot lighter than before, but there is absolutely no way for me to block attacks of such speed, especially not when it’s the first time I've see this attack.

The very instant I took the first hit from Asellus, I was already trapped in this maelstrom of blows, without any means of escaping!

For a brief instant, the punches stopped. I tried to gain back my footing and retreat a few steps away, hoping to reduce my disadvantage.

“…[Thylacinus Collisus]!” (Asellus)

But before I could do anything, a fist flew out from Asellus, with an impact as powerful as a cannon, aimed right at my solarplexus. This punch is significantly slower than the hundreds of punches she lashed out at me, but at my current state I couldn't do anything by myself to avoid this incoming strike!

“…Eva!” (Gideon)

(I’m on it!) (Eva)

At this point, Eva transformed the silver arm into a curved shield just in time, diverting away some of the impact of her attack. Still, even with that I could still feel a shock-wave going through my entire being, as the impact of the punch sent me flying a few steps from my original location. I couldn't get back up for the next few minutes or so from the damage I took.

Meanwhile, Asellus had also collapsed onto her knees from exhaustion. Having stopped [Bloodfury], the claw wounds on her arms disappeared in a blink of an eye, as her arms returned back to her normal, human size.

Now that I’m lying on the floor and not moving about, I can think more clearly. Those two attacks of hers is the combined ability of [Bloodfury] and [Tiger Rampage], it seems.

[Fluere Regina] focuses most of her energy on attacking speed while still keeping the attack power reasonably strong enough to keep the target locked up in the torrent of blows.

[Thylacinus Collisus] on the other hand, maximizes the attacking strength for one, extremely powerful hit, while keeping the speed of the attack reasonably high enough, to take the target out potentially.

Both of them have their own weaknesses, but when combined together in a combo, it’s practically invincible and nearly sure-kill for the unprepared.

…With this combo, It’s like she just became the ultimate anti-personnel fighter. And to think that, she came up with this two attacks and combined them into a combo in less than 24 hours? She’s the true monster here. To think that in a short span of 2 weeks, our combat capability are nearly equal…It’s kind of annoying to think about it!

“Arhhhh! Are you trying to kill me?!” (Gideon)

After resting and rolling in pain for awhile, I jumped up and shouted at Asellus, who is still resting on her knees, her arms still reddened and sore. It seems that the backlash from the combo technique is quite terrible. After all, with her regenerative capabilities, it is still not fully healed up yet.

“…But you told me not to hold back. My arms still hurts.” (Asellus)

“Okay fine, it’s my fault. I underestimated your capabilities; I didn't expect you to have developed two new techniques, and perfected them so well and quickly within such a short span of time.” (Gideon)

“Well…it just kind of came to me. I tried it out awhile, rested, and trained awhile, and rest again, and so on after. I didn’t hurt this bad until I had to hit something physically…look, I can only move it this much now because it’s so painful.” (Asellus)

She tried to move her arms up and down, but with little success, and only managing to move her arms up slightly above the waist level.

Really? She just thought of a move or two and trained awhile until perfection? Damn it, Is she one of those “once in a thousand years” kind of genius? Or is this the power of [Absorption]?

To think it would be this much of an advantage…along with power boost, the wielder would even obtain a skill that have some form of innate mastery already. Coupled with the natural capability of Asellus, she’s quite the cheat.

I wonder…did Vergil knew about her talent beforehand?

“Oh yeah, just now…you shouted “Eva”, didn't you? Who or what is this…Eva?” (Asellus)

“Huh? Hmm, how do I being to explain this…” (Gideon)

(Master, allow me to explain this, if you have to do it, it would take awhile.) (Eva)

(But how? I thought you could only talk with me in this manner?) (Gideon)

(I never said that. Allow me…) (Eva)

Then to my surprise, my entire silver right arm melted away and detached itself from me, and slowly formed into a 150cm tall girl with short, silver hair.

“Whoa…” (Asellus)

“Nice to meet you, my name is Eva!” (Eva)