Chapter 231 Act Three: The Demon Fox II

- POV General -

In the middle of the coliseum arena, after the reunion of a King and his daughter, the interrogation of a man by a Queen, a proud Princess was fighting a Knight. Kira, the Empress' little sister, was fighting Myles in front of the Empire's warriors and the King, who was still trapped in his ice wall. More than a confrontation, the young woman seemed to play with the human who thought he was a hero.

Even if the difference in levels was 20, she had added some handicaps, she had her left arm in the back and did not use her element. Yet, despite this, the man who had regained his legs could not touch her once. He also couldn't use his water element because of fatigue, his injuries, and his remaining mana, which he concentrated mainly in his legs.

"Exterminate us, O Precious Knight of Zal hahaha~"

Kira twirled left and right, giggling, with her scythe, blocking attacks without ever throwing one at the one who was getting more and more tired. She was barefoot and every time they touched the ground it was to propel her in the air with a disconcerting ease. Myles struck again and again with the Empress' own katana but nothing helped, most of her blows split the air without ever reaching anything.

"D-Dirty creature ! Urg !"

The proud Knight was a mere shadow of the warrior he had once been and even though his mind was determined to overcome with his anger, his body would not follow. His technique was still as good as ever, but how could he shine when physically the fatigue and injuries were too much. The more the seconds passed, the more he got angry and the more he got angry, the more he sank into a despair and a shame, pointing at his own weaknesses.

But the man did not give up, under the eyes of the Empress who had given him only five minutes, he was still fighting. Kira, also surprised by his stamina, knew that this was not going to change anything, so she decided to spice things up a bit. This time, instead of spending his time dodging, after a big jump backwards, he put himself in a guard position, his scythe still in his right hand.

"Let's not disappoint our spectators~"

Turning her weapon all around her body, passing it on her tails that seemed to be as skilled as her own arms or legs. The young vixen knew that the most effective thing would be to break Myles' confidence especially after the threats he had made. Her older sister had given her five minutes, she was determined to finish it using only three and always with her left arm behind her back.

Facing him, Kira was not smiling at all and her change of behavior was quite destabilizing, she who gave off a nice aura. Grabbing her scythe firmly, it was her turn to run straight at the knight with ice legs in a defensive position. The young Princess didn't even need to use her lightning to increase her speed as she was very fast compared to the human.

In a few seconds she was already a few meters away from him and as he raised his sword to parry, she planted the blade of her weapon in the dusty ground. Using the propulsion that this action gave her, Kira let herself be carried, stamping her feet to pass over Myles head down. As she was about to land, she threw her foot violently into his back throwing him forward with force.

"ARG !"

Propelled head first on the ground, the man was splattered with the blood of his companion who had died a few minutes ago. The Princess, on the other hand, was beating her tails in the air to get up and instead of hitting the ground, was leaning on the handle of her scythe once again. Again pushed in the direction of the Knight, she twirled in the sky illuminated by the braziers, before landing on the back of the one who tried to get up.

"AARG *COUGH COUGH* !!!"

A sound of breaking bones followed by a hoarse scream then rose in the arena making then immediately smile all the Elysium warriors watching the fight. Both of Myles' ribs shattered on impact as the young woman leaned back on her body and repositioned herself on the handle of her scythe. The blow had been powerful, and as she felt every bone break under her bare feet, Kira wore the same feral smile as her older sister.

"COUGH COUGH !"

Despite his broken ribs, the coughing man was already getting up, his face redder with anger than ever before, angry and in pain. He was showing great resistance, pushing his body to the limit, determined to kill his opponent. As he turned back to Kira, Myles spat out the blood that flowed from his mouth, breathing like an old horse and sweating like a pig.

His icy legs were shaking, his teeth were grinding in frustration, and his eyes perfectly conveyed all the hatred he felt. Still, the man wouldn't give up, how could he ? He felt like a beast locked up for the pleasure of these races he hated and felt humiliated, deprived of his freedom and even of his status as a human being. For the first time, Myles found himself in the shoes of those he used to martyr.

"So ? Do you like feeling like a freak ? You know that no matter what you do you'll end up answering the Empress' questions, right ?"

Kira had felt what he was feeling, though it wasn't hard considering the mentality of humans was almost identical for all of them. She wanted to provoke him, she wanted him to give everything to better break him because he showed great mental resistance. Unlike Leto who had given in to the Queen, the former Captain of the Knights was far more interesting to challenge and crush.

"B-because you think you-you won, fox ? If it weren't for your more powerful body and your monster attributes I would have killed you by now. Y-You're at your most powerful form...you...you wouldn't have lasted ten minutes against *cough cough* me..."

At his answer, the young Princess had both of her bushy ears raised as did her right eyebrow as a glint of defiance flickered in her eyes. She knew she shouldn't kill him, she knew his information was valuable so she wasn't going to disappoint her sister. However, that didn't mean she couldn't scare this man who had spoken the wrong words.

"Who are you human to dare to determine that I am at my best ? Has the situation already gotten the better of your warrior judgment ? I'm already fighting with one arm behind my back, I'm having fun and you think I've given it my all ?"

"T-Then...show me, fox ! I'm ready to annihilate you even if I have to end up in pieces on this earth inhabited by abominations, guided by the destroyer of humanity !"

Myles raised Freya's black katana above his head as he spoke these words, closing his eyes and ignoring the pain and doing his best to focus his mana. He used the element of water, and as he was once again red with anger, his weak aura began to regain some semblance of power. Just as the man had shown in his fight with the Empress, a blade of water came over his weapon's blade.

The water wavered, was not 100% controlled, made big puddles on the ground but that did not stop him at all, on the contrary. Suddenly, with a quick and precise movement that at that moment nobody was expecting, the human had just launched his attack on Kira, still standing on the handle of his scythe. The blade extended like a whip and struck her cheek, leaving a large cut from the corner of her mouth to the beginning of her ear.

The sword strike had been unexpected, with the two opponents a good distance apart, normally within range of no weapon. Myles was nowhere near the power he had at his peak, but his mindset had him drawing on his last bit of strength. Despite his injuries, he had finally landed a blow on this young woman who kept toying with him and this action made him very proud of himself.

"HAHAHAHA~ All I have to do is regain my strength a little and you're already hit !! How about that, fox ?? HAHAHA *COUGH COUGH*! !! Show me your power and let's get this over with !!"

Leaping from her perch, the silver-haired Princess landed on the dirt floor, barefoot, silent, her right cheek full of blood. As she stood up, suddenly her long hair began to flutter at the back of her head as if a breeze had been born near her. Little by little, lightning of silvery blue formed around her body as Kira slowly bent over and raised her head towards the man who had hurt her.

"My real power ? In your state you wouldn't last two minutes against my true form, so don't feel all powerful."

Freya's little sister's voice had become cold, she had lost her mocking and singing tone showing that she no longer wanted to play. Her violet eyes had also become as empty as the Empress' and her two canines protruded from her mouth. Even the demon horn that Kira had on the right side of her forehead had begun to crackle surrounded by lightning bolts as well, an element she had inherited from her race, the 6th Demon Sin.

"I will kill you ! Show it to me, never again will you underestimate me !!!"

Seeing the danger coming, the man didn't give the young woman time to counterattack, then making a circular motion with his arms. As a result, his long blade of water created a kind of whirlpool all around him, sharp and fast. This technique seemed to be a good way of protection but that was without counting the unique element that the three-tailed fox of the Elysium Empire possessed.

"Oh~ but I'll show it to you, you won't be on it, but first..."

Not finishing her sentence, Kira suddenly disappeared as if by magic from where she stood leaving the majority of the audience waiting for her attack. In fact, very few were able to see her movements, she who possessed an element of illusion. As Myles looked around while trying to maintain his energy-intensive movement, she reappeared to his right with a terrifying smile.

"...Let me show you how weak you still are"

Finally finishing her sentence, the Princess began to spin all around that water cage he had created, ever faster raising the dust of the arena. With each turn, an image of her appeared to the left, then behind, then to the right and in the middle, so that it seemed as if she had multiplied. The human couldn't believe his eyes, but not wanting to be attacked, kept spinning his sword, paling more and more.

"Water and lightning ? What a wonderful idea~"

Suddenly, Kira's voice rang out, coming from the mouth of each of her illusions startling everyone in the coliseum. As she finished her sentence, as one, all five of her clones raised their hands, showing lightning bolts on their fingernails that had lengthened. In one motion, their claws dug into the water barrier, clenching their teeth at the pain the blade caused on their arms.

Very quickly, the blood came to cover their limbs but it was not in vain because more than a thousand small lightnings found their way through the liquid. Thus, a few seconds later, the whole body of the knight was invaded by a violent shock which took him everywhere. With a shrill cry, his own water prison disappeared as he fell to the ground, convulsed by the powerful lightning.

"AAAAAAAAARRRG !!!"

All of Myles' muscles were contracted, his tongue was out but he could still move, trying to get up as best he could. His ice legs were still in place but his whole body was shaking despite the look on his face translating pain but still determination. How could he resist so much ? The physical was no longer holding, that was a certainty, but the mental was still there for the greatest surprise of everyone.

"Y-You...witch ! You...You're not going to get me...with....aaarg !!!"

"Yes ?"

Kira was all alone again, her right cheek was still beading with blood and her arms were bruised but nothing that couldn't be healed quickly. She had actually lessened the pain and injuries by spreading them out over her illusory clones that were actually real. The Princess was slowly moving towards the man on the ground, easily understanding that he would not be able to fight anymore despite his steely mind.

"You never had a chance from the start, you were just prey to the animals of this Empire and to...me. You proclaimed yourself as a hero capable of killing me or even the ruler of Elysium hahaha~ of course !"

"I...I can still...kill you...I...I hurt you ! Uuurg ! I-I...I can still..."

Trembling on his back, Myles could see the young woman approaching as he continued to think that he wasn't as weak as everyone claimed. It's true, he wasn't, but he was much more in denial than Leto who had recognized his inferiority quite quickly. Still advancing towards him, Kira placed herself right in front of him before stopping and asking two simple questions, looking at him with her eyes filled with disgust.

"Can you defeat me then ? Are you sure ?"

"I..."

Without even giving her time to answer, it was the Princess' body's turn to change at an incredible speed before everyone's eyes. Silver fur was growing on all her limbs, she was getting bigger, her fangs and claws were getting longer as was her horn. In an instant, a huge fox appeared in front of the former knight, towering over him, suddenly reminding him of the black wolf he had fought.

A silver three-tailed fox demon stood in front of him, a horn carved into the middle of her forehead, her eyes an even wilder purple and some sort of blue symbols on her body. Lightning crackled around Kira as three huge tails flapped at the back of her body to the rhythm of her growls. Opening her mouth to speak, the Fox Princess rested her question in a powerful voice.

"I am Kira, second Princess of the Empire, sister of Empress Freya, Fox Demon and right hand of the Devil herself. So I repeat...can you defeat me, human ?!?!"

Paralyzed, Myles could no longer speak both fascinated and terrified by this very sudden and more than impressive transformation for a human. At that moment, he was finally measuring the difference in strength between the Kingdom of Zal and the Empire of Elysium remembering the Wolf Empress and the Dragon Queen. Now the man realized that a third creature qualified as one of the most dangerous in this world, was here as well.

"Is that enough for you, human ?"

Dropping Freya's katana, Kira needed no words to understand that she had overcome his steely mind. Her transformation alone had been enough to break him, her peculiar aura enveloping him and rendering him unable to move, his eyes fixed on the beast that she was. Myles was finally ready to speak and while Freya had a smile on her face, Kira sealed her fight with a howl worthy of her older sister causing the stones of the coliseum to shake.

"OOOOWOOOO~"