People evacuated the area quickly as the sound of battle increased. The damage fortunately didn't reach the bystander yet, but that visibly wouldn't last. Countless cloud of smoke exploded in the horizon confirming the fact even more.

And the worst part of it was that the perpetrator was just a normal teenage girl. Well, 'normal' wasn't an appropriate word because of the fox characteristic her body was showing. However, due to her constantly moving at high speed, no one was able to make out such detail.

... Actually, her moving at inhuman speed already disqualify her as normal.

Anyway, the point is, Igris was randomly destroying her surrounding with an abnormally brutal force. At least, that's how it seemed like to the eyes of people.

In reality, her action wasn't random at all. She had a target, which was obviously Ursa's smiling face. The problem: she couldn't find the woman's real body. Only the annoying illusion were displayed in her vision and they had the exact same face as the blonde. They were numerous, too. Very numerous.

Igris naturally couldn't do anything else besides taking the brutal and easiest way: relentlessly attacking everything in her sight. After all, she didn't have any other way to find the real body.

Ursa's singularity level was just too high for her to differentiate it from the real thing. The way they moved, the noise they made, the presence they exuded and worst, they even had their own shadow reflected by the moon. Honestly, it couldn't be called illusion anymore.

“... Damn it.” Igris said, too tired to shout. “Can't you stop this?”

“Aww~ Exhausted already, little fox?” Ursa answered, making all of her copy grin. “If you tell me your name, then I'll stop.”

Normally, the beastgirl would have snarled in response, however, at this point, she didn't have anything to lose. Frankly speaking, if the fight continued on like this she would miserably lose. And, although this was the first time she wasn't afraid of death in a fight, she dreaded about what Ursa would do to her if that happened.

“...It's Igris.” She replied with resignation.

The blonde woman instantly lit up. “Igris!” She beamed in a cheerful voice. “I like that name.”

A second later, like she had promised, all of her illusion disappeared in an instant, leaving only her ragged form in front of Igris. It may have seemed like Ursa had the advantage, but in fact she was on the losing side.

To be more specific, since the beginning, Ursa had never taken the fight seriously. Except for some counterattacking here and there, all she ever did was fooling around. Using her illusion to make Igris chase after her. After all, to her opponent's dismay, the tail and the ears still remained as her main objective.

The result was her current state. Bloodied forehead, ripped clothes and exhausted breath. Unfortunately though, this wasn't enough to make her regret anything. In fact, some part of her was even happy to have touched the cute fox.

In a way, this was more proof of how strong she really was. Few in her place would have actually been able to fool around this much in a death match. Who, in addition, was against someone as powerful as Igris.

Nevertheless, all of Ursa's fun activity had to come to an end eventually. No matter how much she was unwilling to.

“I'll remember it, so,” Ursa exclaimed, tears in her eyes. “Remember mine, okay? It's Ursa.”

Acting in an overly dramatic manner, the woman turned around. In reality this wasn't acting at all, it was how she really felt. And her tears reflected it splendidly.

“As if I'd let you get away!!!” Igris shouted, recovering her energy.

Moving on pure impulse, she kicked the ground, and darted forward at high speed. Her claw shining brightly under the moonlight, she didn't hesitate at all before piercing Ursa's chest from the back. However, no blood came out of it.

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“I know you're sad too, but this isn't a farewell!” The blonde said, unable to contain her sadness. “I-I'll search for you when this is all over, I promise! So, just wait for me.”

After having transmitted what she needed to, Ursa's figure faded into nothingness. Once again, she had used her illusion as a dummy.

“...” Left alone in the destroyed area, an angry vein pooped up on the beastgirl's forehead. “That damn woman!”

Unable to sense any presence in her surrounding, Igris had concluded that her opponent's real body had already gone far away.

◇

Meanwhile, as Ursa's battle ended, Stone and Flame's just entered its climax. And similarly to the former, it was a destructive, bloody battle. What it had in plus, however, was the insanely loud roar the orc produced.

Although, the area was practically isolated from any other lives, it didn't stop the sound of the battle to enter the ears of far away people. Fortunately, this time, there wasn't any person foolish enough to take a peek at what was going on. The wave of bloodlust coming, not only from the orc, but also from Flame already terrified them enough.

“Damn it! Why won't you melt!!” The red haired man cursed, increasing his fire output.

Bright red light illuminated the surrounding, blowing away any sign of the night. And yet, it wasn't enough to eliminate the orc. Its thick skin only presented a few burnt damage, and if the weird smirk on its face was any indication, it didn't feel anything.

Annoyed by the monster's behavior, Flame stopped wide spreading his fire. Instead, he decided to concentrate on one point only, in order to enhance his singularity. His target was the orc's chest, specifically on its left side, where a human's heart was normally stored.

On the other side, the stupid orc still didn't take the ant in front of him as a danger. He'd watched the man run around while spilling harmless fire at him without ever giving any real damage. He honestly found it funny how the lesser thing wanted to defeat him. However, the orc would soon review his way of thinking.

Taking advantage of the orc's inadvertence, Flame launched his attack. Compared to his previous one, it wasn't flashy but, it was exponentially stronger. It didn't have the same shape too, and seemed more like a red laser than an actual fire.

Regardless, it proved successful in its task. A relatively big hole appeared on the orc's chest in pretty much an instant, effectively taking it by surprise. Reacting in chain, the monster moved its head to look at the painful injury.

A punch was what interrupted him from doing so. And a powerful one at that. It literally bended its ugly face upward to look at the beautiful night scenery. Its massive body followed suit soon after causing a loud crashing noise to resound.

Cloud of dust rose once again and filled the area, preventing any further witness of the damaged building and road. Though, it wasn't too difficult to imagine even without sight.

“...Tough.” Stone stated, landing on the ground next to Flame.

His own hand was trembling, feeling the after effect of his punch. It was similar to having hit a bar of metal without using his Aura. Although the result was satisfying, he couldn't help think he could have done better.

“This one is dangerous, Flame.” He concluded with a frown. “Better be careful.”

The red haired man silently looked in the direction of the monster's corps. No one needed to tell him to be careful, he already knew being reckless wouldn't do any good. Plus, his previous defeat against Raven was still stuck on his mind.

‘No way in hell am I losing again!’ He thought with determination.

Having waited long enough, he enveloped his hands in fire and headed forward. He knew that the monster wouldn't go down with that much, so right now was the ideal time to keep attacking.

Unfortunately, he was a bit too late.

An unexpected shockwave stopped him dead on his track. Followed by the blown away dust. However, he didn't let those distract him, his eyes adamant on staying to look in front.

And he was right to do so. If he didn't, he would have surely missed the moment the orc jumped high into the sky. An unbelievable feat, considering the enormous figure of the monster. Nevertheless, seeing is believing— or so the saying goes.

Not wasting time in astonishment, he quickly moved as far away as he could. Whatever the orc was trying to do, it was bound to be devastating.

“Above!” He shouted, trying to warn his partner. He didn't have the leisure to do more than that.

And, like his instinct had predicted, everything in a three-hundred-meter radius was destroyed in a heartbeat. Combined with the momentum from its jump, the orc displayed that much firepower in just one punch on the ground.

Not only Stone and Flame but the building along with the ground itself were swept away savagely. Cloud of dust didn't even have time to form before being snuffed out by the ensuing shockwave. One of the city's biggest crater, if not the only one, was created in less than a minute, leaving the giant mass of abomination at its center.

A deafening roar was the orc's cry of victory. Nothing apart from him was left alive, which by definition, proclaimed him as the strongest. His satisfaction couldn't be hidden even with its facial feature inherently different from a human's.

Nevertheless, it wasn't like he was left unscratched. The hole in his chest was still present with a relevant amount of blood oozing out of it. Furthermore, his forehead had a burning pain to it, confirming the damage Stone had dealt.

None of his wound were lethal, though, and that was why he was so satisfied. The little ants had tried to fight him with all they've got and so, he responded in kind. It was a little excessive but it was necessary to prove his superiority. And now, that was done. They died and he didn't.

What more was there to say?

Feeling exhaustion creeping up, the orc crouched and sat down on the ground. He had accomplished his mission, and so he had decided to wait. Further order will be given to him before long. He expected so.

However, to his surprise, movements entered his sight. A rubble in the distance moved and melted instantly, giving way to a fiery red haired man.

Flame's clothes were in tatter and he had wound all over his body, still his determination was unwavered. He took slow step toward the monster while stretching his articulation. Flame escaped from his mouth to show his angered mood.

“Damn ugly orc!” He shouted. “Don't think that's enough to take me out!”

At the same time, from behind the seated abomination, another rubble was blown away. Stone's bulky figure came out from under with a surprisingly dangerous mood around him. His face seemed to say ‘you're dead’ to the monster.

Fire and shockwave resounded once again a second later, signaling the last phase of the battle.

◇

“A failure it is then.” A voice said in disappointment, foretelling the result of the mission. “As things stand, taking Aiden would be difficult, let alone wiping out ‘unchained’. Well, I guess this was to be expected.”

“The only thing we got out of this would be a simple confirmation, huh.” the voice continued, taking out a simple paper. “Still, I doubt touching Rin Kagane would be a good move. Her family is one thing, but with how much that vixen is interested in her...”

The voice returned his gaze in front himself, somehow looking at the subject in question.

Rain began to pour on Rin's frail body, and if the voice hadn't seen the previous fight, he would have mistaken her for a simple, crying girl. However, now his curiosity was picked.

“Maybe running this experiment for a while longer wouldn't hurt.” The voice transmitted, giving up on calling back his subordinates.