"Well, that explains the pudding-like aura," I muttered, recalling that grotesque spiritual weight I'd sensed earlier. My nose wrinkled just thinking about it.
"But don't underestimate him just because he's a clone," she warned, her gaze snapping back to mine, sharp and dangerous. "He's still a god."
"Sure. Wasn't planning on fighting him anyway." My smirk returned faintly, but it was more armor than amusement, a mask to keep anything else from showing.
"That's why I came looking for you," she said, stepping forward, her tone hardening like she was drawing a battle line in the sand.
I blinked, momentarily thrown. "Oh, so we're on the same page?"
She nodded once. "Yes. You do not engage him. And don't get clever-we've already killed one of his clones before. This won't be our first time."
"...Great," I muttered, dragging a hand through my hair and letting it fall back against my neck. "No pressure or anything."
"Kayda will be fine," she added, then paused as if steadying herself. "And I will too."
"Kitsuna, you show worry in the weirdest ways," Katie said with a grin that was far too smug for someone who'd just been scolded. Her teeth flashed, and it was pure mischief.
"Shut it," I growled, shooting her a glare sharp enough to cut granite. My tail twitched behind me, betraying the flicker of irritation.
"Anyway," Mom cut in firmly, unwilling to let the conversation spiral further, "let's focus on the real problem."
"Yeah. "That Logan kid," I said, turning serious again. My jaw set, and my smirk vanished.
Ann rubbed her chin, thoughtful. "You should pull Amari out of tomorrow's match."
"She won't like that one bit," Mom said, already shaking her head with certainty. She knew Amari too well. The image of her throwing a tantrum was already alive in her eyes.
"Nah, I'm sure I can get her to drop out," I said, smirking slightly again. Confidence dripped from the words, but even I knew it wasn't going to be that simple.
Ann's narrow-eyed look cut across the room like a knife. "Don't even think about hurting her to force a withdrawal."
"It's nothing like that," I replied quickly, raising both hands as if surrendering. "But... she's been itching for a proper duel with me. One without Zagan hovering around."
Ann tilted her head slowly, suspicion still written across her face, but there was a faint flicker of curiosity too. "So you want to satisfy her, and then she'll step aside willingly?"
"Exactly." I gave a little shrug as if the answer was obvious.
"Well, tomorrow's quarterfinals should go quickly then," Ann said at last, finally conceding with a shake of her head. Her lips pressed tight, though, the worry was still there.
"I'll blast through my opponent," I said casually, leaning back against the wall again like none of this was a big deal.
"Don't be cocky," Ann warned, her voice tightening further. "This guy has some real tricks up his sleeve. And the one after him will be a genuine challenge-even for you."
I shrugged, rolling my shoulders in a loose circle. "Just a challenge? I'll be fine."
She sighed deeply, pressing two fingers against her temple. "You're giving me gray hairs."
"You're not even forty, Mom. Chill," I said, grinning slyly.
"Don't talk about my age!" she snapped instantly, her cheeks coloring just slightly.
"...Alright, I'm going to find Amari," I said, pushing off the wall and heading for the door, waving them off over my shoulder. The door creaked under my hand as it swung open.
"Don't push her too much!" Mom shouted after me, her voice echoing as the door closed behind me.
[Hallway Outside the Arena]
'Is she still in the stands?' I wondered as I turned the corner, my eyes flicking over the crowd thinning from the last match. The scent of sweat and mana still clung to the air, thick enough to taste, the arena humming faintly with lingering energy.
I collided with someone hard. The impact jolted me and sent them stumbling onto the floor with a grunt that echoed in the hallway.
"Ah-sorry about that," I said quickly, offering my hand without hesitation.
"It's alright. I wasn't looking where I was going," the man replied, gripping my hand firmly as I pulled him up.
I held his hand a little longer than necessary, scanning his face closely. Every angle. Every flicker of his expression. Testing. Measuring. My eyes narrowed, my smile faint.
He didn't break eye contact. Not once.
Neither did I.
My lips curved into a grin, slow and sharp. "Take care."
And then I walked past him, the grin never leaving my face. My footsteps echoed behind me, steady and controlled, but the tension coiled in my chest like a spring.
'I think he used my own trick on me. I'll kill him tonight.'
I looked down at my palm as the skin began to darken faintly with lingering frost, the residue of power brushed against me. With a soft sigh, I dissolved into ice particles, scattering into nothing as the hallway fell empty.
[30 Minutes Later-Rooftop Overlooking a Forest Clearing]
"So Katie actually lost?" Amari asked, her arms crossed as she stood on the edge of the rooftop, her hair swaying with the night wind. The moonlight caught in her strands, giving her silhouette a faint halo as I landed beside her with a soft crunch of gravel.
"Yep," I said with a pop of my lips. "And you need to pull out of tomorrow's match."
"No!" Amari spun toward me immediately, eyes blazing hot enough to burn the night away. "I can beat that guy!"
"You probably can," I admitted easily, with no hesitation in my tone. "But someone's going to make sure you don't. We just want to avoid serious injuries in the process."
"Ahhh!! No! I want to fight you!" Amari yelled, stomping once like a frustrated child denied candy, the sound echoing across the rooftop.
"I know, I know. That's why we're having this talk," I said, palming my forehead with a groan. The beginnings of a headache pressed behind my eyes.
"Then why ask me to give up at all?!" she shouted, fists clenching at her sides.
"Because I'm planning for us to have our fight tomorrow morning in the woods outside the capital."
Amari blinked, caught off guard, her anger pausing mid-flame. "What? Why there?"
"Because then I can go all out," I explained simply, my tone flat and serious. "You know I can't show my tails in public."
She grumbled under her breath, shoulders tensing. Then she muttered reluctantly, "...Fine. Tomorrow morning. Early. In the woods."
"You don't need to hide your happiness, you know," I called after her as she stormed off, her shoulders stiff but her grin tugging at the edges of her lips, betraying her excitement.
She didn't turn around.
I smiled faintly, shaking my head. 'Alright. Time to kill that little shit.'
I flash-stepped away, dissolving into sparks of frost and light.
[Ten Minutes Later-Forest Clearing]
"Hehehe... the Saintess is never wrong," the man said from the center of the clearing, stepping into the moonlight with a grin too wide to be sane. His golden eyes glowed faintly, unnaturally, lighting his face with an eerie shimmer.
"So Rachel told you, huh?" I asked, perching on a branch above him, the moon casting long shadows beneath us. My tail flicked once, restless.
"Yes. And she told me something else, too," he replied, tossing a small, glowing ice crystal to the ground where it pulsed faintly with captured power.
I looked at it, then blinked. "Oh, so they did extract hers."
"Yes, yes-but that one's not Rachel's," he said, his grin stretching further until it looked like it might split his face. "That's mine. The one you put in me earlier."
"Huh?" I blinked, taken aback, my head tilting slightly. "Wait... what?"
"Hahaha! Surprised, aren't you?"
I smirked, leaning forward lazily, letting my claws tap the branch beneath me. "Yeah. I'm surprised how stupid you are."
His grin faltered, lips twitching.
"You think I didn't learn anything from Rachel's case? You really think I only planted one?"
The man stepped back, his confidence cracking like thin glass. "W-What do you mean?"
"I'm a fox," I said, leaping down lightly into the clearing, eyes glowing bright enough to burn through the dark. My voice dropped into something low and dangerous. "There's always a trick in our tricks."
His eyes widened. "Wait, you-"
BOOM!!
The clearing was instantly swallowed in a burst of frost and shattering light.
[Next Morning-Forest Outside the Capital]
"You're late," Amari grumbled as I walked up the dirt path, rubbing sleep from my eyes. She tapped her foot impatiently, arms folded, looking like she'd been standing there for hours even though she hadn't.
"To be fair, we never set a time," I replied with a yawn, stretching out my shoulders and tail until the joints popped.
"Whatever," she huffed, spinning away with a flick of her hair. "So how are we doing this?"
"First, we wait for Kayda to set up the barrier," I said, nodding toward the floating sigils already forming above the trees. The air hummed faintly with their energy. "Then we go all out."
"Hmph. You mean I go all out, and you hold back to match me."
"If that's what you want," I said with a shrug, utterly calm. "But remember-I still have a tournament match after this."
She grinned, sharp and eager, her teeth glinting in the morning light. "Yeah, yeah. It's as if you need only half your strength to handle those angels."
Chapter 196: The Duel Before the Storm
Waiting a few more minutes, Amari and I both looked up as a pulse of magic surged through the forest.
Above us, Kayda's barrier shimmered into existence, locking the world away and sealing the clearing in layers of translucent crystal flame. The mana density spiked, pressing in on our skin like humid fog.
Not for me.
For Amari.
I guess Kayda wants to give Amari an edge. Or maybe... she's testing her? I thought, narrowing my eyes at the faint ripples crawling across the air. The pressure wasn't uncomfortable for me, but it shifted slightly, almost deliberately, toward Amari. She was still staring upward, fascinated by the sky-blue sheen of the barrier, her lips parted in awe.
Amari stepped ten meters away, exhaling slowly. Flames coiled around her wrists in lazy spirals, then flared sharper, wrapping her in that restless dual-element glow she always carried. She wore light armor, the kind meant for movement rather than protection, its sleeves scorched and blackened in places from overuse. The dual-element insignia stitched into her collar glowed faintly, like embers beneath ash.
"So. Are we doing this or not?" she asked, rolling her shoulders. The grin on her face wasn't arrogance-it was excitement. Pure adrenaline-fueled joy.
"Sure. Let's go all out." My grin matched hers as I released my limiters.
The clearing darkened, or maybe it only felt that way, as three tails burst into view behind me. They unfurled like banners of icy malice, swaying and snapping with restrained violence. The air around them crystallized, mist curling in little threads along the grass.
Her eyes lit up. "You're going to use them?"
"For you? Yeah. I need them." My voice carried no hesitation. She'd earned this. "You're over level 200 now. It would be rude not to take you seriously."
I reached into my inventory and pulled out a small bowl of soup. With a casual flick, I tossed it into the air.
Amari snorted. "Seriously? Mid-duel snack time?"
The bowl hit the ground.
Crack.
In an instant, thousands of elemental lances formed around her, glowing blue, gold, and red. They shrieked through the air toward me like a meteor storm, each one sharp enough to split stone.
I dashed forward, tails sweeping in wide arcs. Every strike shattered dozens of lances, their fragments dissolving into steam as my ice tore through them like paper. The rhythm of breaking projectiles echoed across the clearing-thud, crack, hiss-building into a storm of its own.
Creating a claymore of jagged ice mid-run, I swung at her with full force, a wide arc that would've flattened a boulder.
But something invisible slammed into my gut.
WHAM!
The impact knocked the wind out of me and hurled me backward, air rushing past my ears. Spinning in midair, I forced my claymore downward, cleaving through the massive ball of mana she had conjured in the same breath. It burst apart, scattering into a thick smoke cloud.
Perfect cover.
I vanished into it, flash-stepping forward. The smoke twisted as I reappeared behind her, katana low, ready to sweep across her legs. But once again, something I couldn't see struck me in the face with bone-rattling force.
CRACK.
The world tilted, pain buzzing along my jaw.
"That's new," I muttered, straightening as I rubbed my cheek, eyeing the unnatural coils of mana around her. It twisted tighter and denser near her body, forming a translucent bubble only my senses could pick up.
"Yeah," Amari said, her grin crooked and full of teeth. "Small range, but effective."
"Hmph."
Slamming my foot into the ground, I created a shockwave that blasted dust into the air. The world blurred gray. Ice lances formed above me, hundreds of them, then rained down toward her. Each one carried tiny explosive cores at their center, waiting to burst.
Boom! Boom! BOOM!
The shockwaves tore across the clearing, rattling the barrier overhead. Leaves and dirt spun violently in the air, coating the barrier's blue shimmer in dust.
I narrowed my eyes. 'It only disrupts mana flow, not physical matter.' The explosions didn't fizzle against the field. They pushed straight through and warped it.
Amari stood tall within the swirling haze, her sage field curling calmly around her. "Don't test so many things out," she teased, raising her hand. The swirl of mana around her was stable and deliberate. "This spell's my baby. Made it last week."
I made a sharp snapping sound with my fingers.
Shhhkt.
The sage field froze over, with jagged frost instantly forming a spiderweb pattern across its surface and locking it in place.
"Unfair!" Amari shouted, hurling more lances at me in frustration.
I swept my hand. Crash. They shattered like brittle glass against my ice.
"Come on, Amari," I called, already behind her again, tails rippling. "You can do better."
"Shit!" she swore, diving forward just in time to dodge my descending blade. My katana slammed into the earth, carving a deep gouge. She rolled, came up with her sword, and parried my second strike. Sparks leapt between us as steel clashed.
Amari grinned fiercely. "Mom drilled me hard on weapon forms."
"Not enough," I replied, twisting to catch her ankle with a tail. I flung her into the dirt. She bounced, rolled, and tried to catch herself-but my boot caught her midair, punting her across the clearing like a stone skipping water.
