"W-What…?" The silver-haired wolfkin girl was startled. She was assaulted by a terrible sense of danger, and her bestial instincts screamed to her to run away.
The silver-haired wolfkin girl did not hesitate. Trusting in her instincts, she jumped away, even leaving her halberd behind.
And then–
*Swoosh!*
Transparent flames surged out from Eres's body.
The wolfkin girl's shivered. A chill ran through her spine, and the fur of her tail stood up in fright.
Even though she could not feel any heat from the strange transparent flames, somehow, she knew that they were incredibly dangerous.
And she was right. In the next instant, she saw the flames surging towards the place where she was a moment ago.
Then… Everything was consumed.
The ground was gouged out, as though a beast would have taken a bite of it, and her halberd disappeared completely, not even dust remaining.
When the flames disappeared, only Eres was left behind, her expression just as calm and placid as at the start.
"W-What is that…?" The wolfkin girl trembled in terror. Looking at the indifferent-looking black-haired girl in front of her, she could not help but shiver.
However, Eres was not interested in answering her question.
Expressionlessly, she unsheathed her sword, transparent flames shrouding it. Then, she took one step forward.
It was as though the space between them would have disappeared.
With just one step, Eres appeared in front of the wolfkin girl, her black eyes as cold as the coldest ice staring at her indifferently.
The next second, her sword descended towards the wolfkin girl.
'No…!' The wolfkin girl shivered. In a panic, she ordered her body to retreat, but to her surprise, she could not!
Her body seemed to have been frozen in fear. Her legs were stuck on the ground, refusing to move even when the sword wrapped in transparent flames was about to slash her.
The wolfkin girl could only watch as death approached her rapidly.
But when she thought she was going to die, someone appeared in front of her.
"Stop." He said.
Then-
*BOOM!!!*
A powerful explosion shook the stage, and the shockwave threw the wolfkin girl away.
Fortunately, she only received the shockwaves of the attack. The demigod in charge of the battle had interfered and blocked Eres's sword using his hand.
"It's enough." He said angrily.
Eres frowned. She looked at the demigod in displeasure, but in the end, she nodded.
She then put her sword back in her sheath and turned around to leave the stage.
The demigod looked at her with a frown. But inwardly, he was filled with shock.
'I barely managed to stop her attack…'
Even when he used his entire strength, he barely managed to stop the attack of a middle-stage A-Rank girl.
'What a monster…'
The demigod sighed to himself and shook his head before announcing the result of this fight.
"The winner is Machine Revolutio."
Nobody cheered this time. Every person observing the battle was looking at Eres in shock.
The worst one was the wolfkin girl. Her gaze towards Eres was filled with fright.
"Are you alright?" Anna, the leader of Flying Leaves, approached her and asked in concern.
The wolfkin girl swallowed a mouthful of saliva and nodded.
"Sorry, leader… I…"
"Stop, you don't need to apologize. Losing to her is nothing to be ashamed of."
"… That girl… Who is her?"
Anna did not reply immediately. Instead, she looked towards the back of the black-haired girl before speaking up.
"I had heard rumors about her before, but I never thought she would be this strong… World Burning Princess Witch, huh… What a worthy name..."
…
When Eres returned to Machine Revolutio's seats, she was received with expressions of shock and surprise.
"… Sister-in-law, I never thought you were this strong…" Gina was the first one to speak.
Eres frowned at the words 'sister-in-law, but fortunately for Gina, Bloed's words distracted her.
"Hey Eres, don't you want to be the leader of the club instead of me. To be honest, your hurt my confidence just now."
Eres was startled. She hurriedly looked at Bloed with a flustered expression.
"B-Brother, I… No, I…"
"Calm down, little Eres." Bloed smiled wryly and patted her head. "Well, I guess that I could not expect less of my genius little sister. You made this big brother proud."
Eres blushed slightly and looked at the ground. Her expression was so cute that anyone that knew her would have been surprised seeing the famous ice-cold princess blushing like this.
Unfortunately, the people on Machine Revolutio were already used to seeing her like this, so none of them was surprised.
After congratulating Eres, Bloed looked in the direction of Flying Leaves and frowned.
'… The score is 2-3… Even though Eres won her battle, we are still losing.'
Bloed then looked at the girls beside him and thought about who to send. Right now, only two people beside him had not participated.
Liu Ying and Princess Elwha.
Bloed hesitated slightly as he looked at the two of them. In the end, his gaze fell on his demon girlfriend.
"Liu Ying, you are next."
"Is it finally my turn?" Liu Ying smiled excitedly. "Great, I was already getting impatient."
"Be careful." Bloed reminded, and Liu Ying grinned with a confident expression.
"Don't worry, darling. Nothing will happen to me… After all, as your girlfriend, how can I lose?"
Bloed smiled wryly and nodded. Then, he watched Liu Ying walk towards the stage confidently.
At the same time, he also looked in the direction of Flying Leaves.
'… I hope they don't send someone too strong… Otherwise…'
…
In Flying Leaves, a young man stood up and looked at the beautiful girl at the center of the group.
"Leader, let me go next."
"Huh? Are you sure, Yaru?" Anna raised an eyebrow, but when she saw the determination on the young man's face, she nodded. "Very well, but remember to save your strength. It's alright even if you lose. This challenge is not that important."
Yaru fell silent for a moment before nodding.
"… Understood."
Then, he walked towards the stage, to face his opponent.
A few seconds later, he was standing across Liu Ying, ready to start the sixth fight of this challenge.
And as soon as the demigod announced the start of the battle, both rushed towards each other.
Just like that, the fight between Liu Ying and Yaru started.
...
P4TRE0N: patr-eon.com/aidnovels