"Hold on, don't tell me, it's on the tip of my tongue……Noir Black? No, that wasn't it……"

  Ah, I see, he hadn't forgotten my name, he was just trying to mess with me……

  "It's Kuro……and I'm pretty sure you're doing that on purpose. Yeah, both my names are the same thing in different languages, get over it," I sighed irritably, before extracting all my Karma and activating Lightning Boost.

  After my body's improvements after consuming those Vampires' life forces, I could stay in the hundred percent Karma form for three minutes and fifteen seconds.

  "Ooh, are we starting? Well, then……here I come!" He exclaimed with a grin, zipping towards me using Lightning Boost and firing a wind and lightning-enhanced fireball at me.

  I sprang back and canceled it out with a bolt of lightning, before shooting off to the left as a dust cloud erupted as the two attacks clashed, drawing out my blades. He burst out through the smoke and fired a blast of water enhanced by wind and lightning at me, I swiftly ran lightning into my short-sword and swung it at him, sending a slash of lightning towards his blast, slicing it vertically in half, the two halves harmlessly shooting past me on either side.

  He's pretty fast, faster than I am in this state, but not so fast than I couldn't follow his movements……he could probably keep up with me in Vampire Mode, he might be faster than I was before I consumed those Vampire life forces……but not anymore, I'm stronger than him!

  I'll see how long I can fight him while using Karma at a hundred percen……that's a lot of words, I'm just gonna call it Karma Mode: One Hundred Percent. Come to think of it, why hadn't I named my Karma form before?

  "So, you really are a Karma user, huh……don't get cocky thinking that's enough to beat me!" He exclaimed, before zipping towards me again, with lightning, flames and wind charged up in his hands.

  Okay, I should focus on the fight, attack and form names come later……

  "Bring it on," I muttered, holding my dagger between my teeth and shifting my sword-sword to my left hand, before charging up lightning into my right fist and shooting towards him.

  I'll run in as if I plan to clash my attack with his head-on, and right as he launches his attack……

  "Now, take this……!" He roared, as we closed in on each other, and firing the charged up multi-Elemental blasts in his hands straight towards me, "Blazing Electric Death Storm!"

  The instant he fired, I sprang forward and across to my right, as his left side was wide open……I drew back my lightning-wrapped right fist and drove it towards his left side just below his armpit, around the spot where his heart would be……

  what? Hey, if this is enough to kill him, then he wouldn't be much help against the Vampires anyway.

  "Karmic……Shocker Punch!"

  My fist slammed onto his side, black sparks crackling all around it as I felt his ribcage crack and sent him flying a few meters away, his right side skidding on the ground before landing at an awkward angle on his shoulder, letting out a gasp of pain and blood pouring down his mouth. Hm, pretty solid impact, but not fatal……he's pretty sturdy. Huh, what's this, my fist was bleeding a bit……and I could feel my Healing Factor eradicating something……must be his Anima. Some kind of venemous spines? Probably a Retractable Anima, in that case.

  I walked over to him while transferring the Karma back into my Mana Orb, as he struggled to get up, a pained expression on his face. Well, I had slammed a pretty sizeable electric charge in close vicinity to his heart, so he probably wasn't feeling too good. He was stronger and faster than I was in my current form, and by a fairly significant margin, but the way he fought, it was almost……arrogant.

  It's hard to explain, but basically, he was so confident in himself than he didn't seem to care about leaving a ton of openings……I'd just exploited those, and as a result, I beat him without even going all-out. He's strong in terms of strength, speed and magic……but he's not a very good fighter, his technique was sloppy at best.

  "Looks like I win," I remarked.

  "No……I haven't lost yet!" He cried stubbornly, pressing his palm onto the ground.

  I quickly backed away as a row of spikes rose up from the ground, managing to avoid getting skewered, but taking a few deep cuts on my body. I healed my injuries as I got out of his range, he stood up with a slight groan before firing a barrage of lightning bolts and fireballs at me, I once again entered Karma Mode and evaded them, drawing out my blades as he shot towards me.

  He closed the gap using Lightning Boost, before taking off into the air using Flight, wrapping lightning, water and wind around his fist, and as he flew above me, he formed a block of ice above himself, planted his feet on it and bent his knees, before leaping down straight towards me with his fist drawn back. I jumped back as he neared the ground, slamming his fist onto it……

  "Death Cyclone Fist!"

  The ground caved in as his attack connected, some of the flying debris hitting me and giving me a few minor fractures. As a dust cloud burst out from the impact, he leapt out of it towards me, closing the gap using Flight, flames and lightning violently swirling around his fist.

  "How about this, Fiery Thunder Murder Fist!"

  He's got an interesting naming sense, that's for sure. I hadn't landed yet, so I couldn't evade this……gotta block. I flung my blades away since they might break if they take that on, before crossing my forearms in front of myself defensively, fortifying them with black lightning, bracing myself for impact.

  As he drove his fist onto my defensively positioned arms, the force sent me flying back several meters, my back slamming onto the ground with a resounding crash, knocking the wind out of me. My forearms were completely incinerated off, he really had seemed to have forgotten what we were doing here, and was treating this as a real fight……okay, that's enough holding back.

  He was zipping towards me using Lightning Boost, wind and flames in one hand, and water and lightning in the other……yeah, he'd definitely forgotten that this was just supposed to be a 'friendly' bout, hadn't he? He was completely absorbed in the fight.

  I retracted my Karma with a sigh, and as he closed in, I grew out my tail and whipped it up and across, slashing both his palms deeply and dissipating his attacks, the tip of my tail was badly burnt, but nothing I couldn't heal. He stumbled back with a hiss of pain, before swinging his foot up at my head, coating it with rocks. I ducked under it, my wings growing out, along with my fangs and claws, as I entered Vampire Mode.

  He continued swinging his fists enhanced by Elemental Magic and firing attacks at me, I evaded them while charging up lightning in my mouth and regrowing my arms. A few of his attacks grazed me, but I avoiding taking any major hits……he was slower than me, but he was fast enough to keep me on my toes and keep up with me.

  I then swung my blades up at him, forcing him to step back, before firing the lightning charged in my mouth at his head, he narrowly evaded to the right, my attack scorching the top of his left shoulder. He jumped back and began to fly away with a wary look on his face.

  I can't let this drag on any longer, he had genuinely completely forgotten the situation and was treating this as a real fight to the death. Guess I'll have to reveal one of them, after all……I pointed my right palm at him and activated Beckon, pulling him towards me rapidly, completely catching him off guard. As he reached me, I grabbed his throat with my right hand with a tight grip and slammed him onto the ground, swiftly pinning him down and moving my dagger towards his throat.

  "I think that's enough, wouldn't you agree? Any more and it'd be hard to hold back from killing you," I remarked, pressing the tip of the dagger onto his neck.

  "Oops, guess I got carried away……I'd have totally beaten you if you hadn't taken me by surprise at the end there, not to mention that I wasn't fighting seriously."

  He totally had been fighting seriously though. And getting taken by surprise in a real fight was basically suicide.

  "Yeah, yeah," I sighed, letting him go and returning to my normal state.

  Good, I can definitely beat him……once this Vampire problem is over, killing him won't be too difficult. And I will kill him, along with Lagusa……oh, and Hacte too……the others I didn't need to necessarily kill, but I wouldn't have a problem with doing so if I needed to.

  "So, about which of us fights the Vampire King……"

  Oh, right, I forgot about that part. Well, I guess I'll throw him a bone, considering that I do plan to kill him……

  "Hm……you know what, you aren't half-bad, so we'll both fight him."

  "Hah, 'half-bad'? Pfft, please, I'm the strongest human in this world," He scoffed with a frown.

  Huh……I guess that makes me the strongest human in this world. Cuz, you know, I'm definitely stronger than him. But he's probably the strongest opponent I've fought so far since coming to this world. Well, the Vampire King was definitely stronger than him, and maybe the Evil Numbers too, though I can't be sure, I'd been so strong when I fought Eighty-Seven that I had no idea how powerful she actually was.

  "Now that that's over, who's gonna fight next? Why don't we take volunteers?" Suggested Valaque, looking around.

  Were more fights really necessary? Hopefully no one volunteers and everyone will just lose interest.

  "I'll volunteer," Said Persia, stepping forward, before pointing at Lagusa with a fierce glint in her eyes, "……and I want to fight him."……

  say what now?

  ———————————————————————————


  Point-of-View: Persia Gerit

  ———————————————————————————


  "What do you think you're doing!?" Kuro stormed over with a look of disapproval.

  "Only what you'd be doing if the situation was reversed," I replied with a shrug.

  During the Quest in Goldway, Kuro killed Valse Darrte, the slave trader who tortured me……and here was the man who was responsible for Kuro's suffering in his old world before he died, Arturo Lagusa. Seeing him while knowing everything he put Kuro through made my blood boil, I wanted to tear him apart.

  "Ooh, a challenge! You better not be a wet blanket, Arturo, accept the challenge!" Ordered Valaque with a look of amusement.

  "I don't really get it, but if I must," Sighed Lagusa, stepping forward reluctantly.

  "Wait a sec-," Kuro began.

  "It's too late for me to back out now," I interrupted, before making my way out.

  "It really isn't, and……you've been really impulsive lately, you know that?" He relented with a sigh.

  I knew that he was right about that, it's just that……I'm not satisfied with how strong I am right now……it really wasn't that long ago when I was steadily keeping up with him, but he's so much stronger than me now that I feel useless in comparison……I didn't just want to be protected by him, but to also be able to protect him in return……that was why I attacked that Vampire, Eighty-Seven, back then, but I couldn't defeat her, I just ended up being a burden……

  That's why, this time, I can't lose……no, I won't lose, not to this man. I crouched down on all fours and unleashed the full extent of my Retractable Anima, jet-black fur sprouting all over me, my limbs growing more flexible and stronger, while me teeth and claws sharpened and extended, as I charged up Mana in my mouth.

  "Oh, guess I should signal the start, huh. Okay, on three……one, two, THREE!" Exclaimed Valaque, starting the fight.

  I swiftly fired off the wind charged in my mouth at him and shot straight up into the air using Propulsion, gaining some height. He sprang back to evade my wind blast, firing a bolt of lightning up at me, which I dodged by going up even higher. I maintained a steady flow of Propulsion from my feet to keep myself hovering in place, which wrapping wind around my fist.

  I had been working on mastering this hovering thing after Kuro gave me the suggestion and how to pull it off in theory, though it was pretty hard to keep my balance……but I can maintain it for a few seconds, and that's plenty. As the wind swirling around my fist reached a certain level of speed and intensity, I cut off my Propulsion, letting myself plummet while angling myself towards him, before reigniting Propulsion and shooting towards him rapidly, firing short but intense blasts of wind from my mouth to counter the black lightning and flames he was firing up at me.

  Now take this, Hurricane Fist! He sprang off to the left as I closed in and slammed my fist onto the ground, breaking it apart instantly and kicking up a huge dust cloud. He then zoomed in towards me and swung a dagger at me, I narrowly ducked under it, before springing back as he fired a combined lightning and fire blast down at me with his other hand. Wait, did I just……name an attack? No, no, no, no, no……that, uh, never happened!

  I then leapt at him with a burst of Propulsion, swinging my claws at his throat, he deflected my hands away by striking my wrists with the back of his hands, before disappearing from my sight. Before I could relocate him, a felt an impact on my left side, letting out a gasp as I got sent skidding away along the ground. He's fast, the moment he blocked my strikes, he snuck to my side and kicked me just below my ribcage.

  He then shot towards me and sprang forward, raising his foot and swinging his heel down at me, I rolled away as fast as I could, his heel clipping my hip as I sprang to my feet. He then closed in on me and and fired a bolt of black lightning at my head, I ducked backwards to just about evade it, before continuing to fall back, planting my palms on the ground and swinging my right foot up at him as fast as I could, like a whip cracking towards his face.

  He began to back away, but my foot slammed onto his jaw, dazing him, and before he could recover, I swung my other leg up, grabbed his neck between my feet and swung him over me, slamming his head onto the ground. I then quickly got back onto my feet and began charging up a wind blast, when he suddenly opened his mouth, despite the top half of his head being buried in the ground from when I slammed it into it.

  Flames and lightning were swirling and crackling in his mouth, before blasting out in a massive blaze. I leapt away to narrowly evade it, some of my fur getting singed, but managing to avoid any serious damage. Normally, slamming someone's head so hard would knock them out easily, maybe even kill them, but he's a Karma and multi-Elemental Magic user……his body was a lot sturdier and more resilient than a normal person's.

  And he is faster than me, but……I'm a lot more agile than he is, and my reaction time is a bit better thanks to my cat eyes……I mean, panther eyes……grr, Kuro's been calling me 'Cat Girl' so much that I almost forgot that my Anima is a panther.

  He pulled his head out of the ground with a slightly dazed expression, blood running down his face as he got back on his feet with a grimace. He must have been charging up that blast for a while, the ground in front of him was scorched, absolutely glowing and shimmering with heat.

  I can't let this drag on much longer, with his speed, once he gets used to my fighting style, I'll lose my advantage……his fighting style was very similar to Kuro's, it wasn't identical but it was close enough, and I was very familiar with that fighting style, considering how many times I've sparred with Kuro. Alright, I'll be satisfied for now if I can just get one more good hit in……

  I shot towards him, right as he zipped towards me in response. I then blasted myself straight up into the air, swirling wind around my right fist again while moving my left hand behind my back and using Propulsion to shoot down towards him again. He flung a couple of daggers up at me, I swung my feet at them to deflect them away using the claws on my toes, before swiftly twisting my body across in mid-air with a rapid spin and swinging my heel straight down towards the top of his head.

  His arms were crossed above him defensively, before morphing into sharp, green jointed limbs that looked like jagged blades……a Retractable Anima, huh……right before my heel connected, I canceled out the downward momentum of my foot by firing off a powerful blast of Propulsion from my heel to halt it before it could strike and get sliced by his bladed arms.

  The blast killed my momentum and left me in a vulnerable position in mid-air, but it also knocked away his arms a bit, upsetting his balance a bit. He shot out a blast of black flames from his mouth, I swiftly fired off Propulsion from the bottom of my foot to shoot myself down to the ground as fast as possible, narrowing avoiding the brunt of his flames, the sole of my foot getting burnt.

  I got back on my feet and stabilized myself, right as he shot towards me and swung his sharp arms at me, enhanced by lightning. I sprang back but was too slow, as he left a horizontal slash on my abdomen and a vertical cut on my right shoulder, which dissipated the wind around my right fist.

  Before I could even try to get some distance, he fired a bolt of lightning at my knees, causing them to buckle and making me collapse down, my legs too stunned to move. From the corner of my eye, I could see Kuro getting ready to step in……but that wasn't necessary.

  "This fight is over," Remarked Lagusa, approaching me.

  His guard is still up, but not fully……it probably looks like I've given up, after all my legs are numb and I lost the wind I'd been charging up in my right hand and I had slumped my shoulders to look like I was defeated……but……

  "It's not over yet……," I muttered, a slight smirk crossing my lips.

  I still have the wind I was charging up in my left hand behind my back, compressed so much that it was barely visible……as he stepped within my reach, I used all my strength to drive my left palm straight up at him, he began to spring back while crossing his morphed arms defensively in front of himself, but……he's not getting away!

  My legs were still numb, but I can move without them……I fired off a blast of Propulsion straight behind me, which shot my body forward, my palm reaching his right arm while I rapidly decompressed the tiny ball of wind I'd been charging up all this time……now, Expansive Wind Sphere! In an instant, his right forearm got shredded into tiny pieces, a look of shock on his face.

  As a member of the Retribution Tier, he wouldn't have come across many people in this world who could hold their own against him……while he never actually dropped his guard against me, he definitely hadn't taken me as seriously as he should have, he underestimated me……if he hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to take him by surprise at the end there, or even have lasted in this fight for this long.

  He stumbled back with a look of anguish, his arms returning to normal but his right arm was only intact upto his elbow, from which blood was pouring out. I did it……I landed a good hit on him. It wasn't enough to make up for everything that he'd put Kuro through, but it was good enough for now. And besides, I shouldn't be the one to kill him, that's something reserved for……

  "Hey, you okay, Persia? Hang on, I'll heal you," Said Kuro, as he jogged up to me with a sigh of relief, "You're way too reckless, but……that was pretty awesome."

  "Don't tell me you thought that I couldn't do it," I replied with a grin and a thumbs up.

  "I require healing as well," Interjected Lagusa with a groan, having tied a scrap of cloth around the stump to slow down the bleeding, his face pale.

  "So? Use a healing spell," Kuro responded coldly.

  "This is no time for your petty grudges……without my arm, I will be of no use when we attack the Vampires!"

  "Tch……I suppose that's true enough," Kuro relented grudgingly, before entering the form that he called Soul-Eater Mode, slowly sinking his fangs into my neck while violently driving his claws through Lagusa's chest, spitefully twisting them around a bit.

  And then, just for an instant, I felt Kuro stiffen, as if in surprise, and I could've sworn that his lips curved up into a smirk……

  "Arghhh, what are you d……," Lagusa began with a cry of pain, before wincing as his arm began to grow back.

  I didn't have any major injuries, so I healed up in no time, Kuro retracting his fangs while healing the bite marks as he pulled them out of my neck. His healing is amazing, but the process sure does sting a lot……regrowing an entire arm had to feel incredibly painful, and Lagusa's agonized expression certainly seemed to indicate exactly that.

  The bones grew back, followed by the muscles and blood vessels……and then stopped right before the skin regenerated, Kuro wrenching his claws out of Lagusa's chest with a vicious twist.

  "You can heal the rest with a healing spell, you old shit."

  As he got back on his feet with a groan and walked away, his gaze downwards and teeth gritted, Valaque walked up to us with a look of intrigue.

  "Well, that was certainly unexpected……I didn't think any normal person, with no Karma or multiple Elemental types or any additional power up whatsoever, could beat Arturo. And I definitely don't remember a cat girl in the list of Adventurers to be wary of that we had……"

  Grr, did he just refer to me as a 'cat girl'!? Only Kuro is allowed to call me that, not that I'd ever directly admit that to him.

  "Anyway, I think we should end these fights with that," Suggested Kuro, changing the subject as he moved in front of me protectively.

  "Huh? But why? We're just getting started!"

  "We agreed to have a few friendly bouts to ease tensions between both sides so that it'll be easier to work together when we attack the Vampires……but it defeats the purpose if someone ends up dead or receives an injury that even I can't heal. So let's end it here, have everyone rest up, and then start working on preparations for the attack after that."

  "That's kinda boring……but I suppose you do have a point. Fine, we're done here. I'm gonna go chill," Sighed Valaque with a shrug, losing interest and walking towards one of the huts made of earth.

  Everyone who had been watching were dispersing too, heading for the huts or just roaming around and talking.

  "Hey, while you were healing me, did something happen? It felt like you reacted to something," I asked curiously.

  He stopped and paused for a second, slowly looking around to make sure no one was within earshot, before leaning in and whispering.

  "Yeah, I just discovered a really interesting ability……before I began healing Lagusa, I had half a mind to drain his life force instead, and in that instant, I felt a link connect……its hard to explain exactly what it was, but basically, my shared Healing Factor isn't limited to healing others or taking their life forces into my own body……if I'm connected to multiple people simultaneously, then I can drain one of them and transfer their life force into the other……in other words, I could have killed Lagusa and transferred his life force into you, which in theory might give you the ability to use Fire Magic since he's absorbed the life forces of a thousand Fire Magic users."

  Woah, that was a pretty major ability to discover……

  "Seriously!? So, you're saying……"

  "Yup. Oh, and I figured it out, the reason you've been kinda reckless lately……you want to get stronger, don't you? Well, I think that gives you the perfect reason to stick by me during the attack, doesn't it? Tell me, girlfriend of mine, how would you like to gain some Vampiric powers?" He inquired with a smirk, his eyes lighting up.

  "Huh? Wait, you mean……"

  A look of realization suddenly hit him and his expression changed……

  "Wait, no……forget I said that. It's way too risky, especially considering the toll it took on my body, that might have been enough to kill me if it wasn't for my Healing Factor……and the pain was so intense that even I couldn't ignore it. Vampire life force is too risky, forget it. After this is over, maybe I can transfer the life force of someone from The Empire into you, I am going to kill them after al."

  Wait, wait, wait……!

  "No way, you can't just 'forget I said that' after saying something like that! That's like, uh……that's like if I showed you a really big joint, but then made you watch while I smoked it without you!"……

  was that really the best example I could come up with?

  "In hindsight……maybe I shouldn't have turned you guys into stoners."

  "I'm serious……if you really can do it, then do it, transfer Vampire life force into me! And it has to be at least a Vampire Knight!"

  Maybe I'm getting greedy and making a mistake, but……

  "Okay, now you're kinda getting ahead of yourself……I already told you, the toll."

  "Just use your Healing Factor on me and make sure I don't die, I'll handle the pain!" I exclaimed indignantly, before deflating in the frustration that I was turning to a method like this to get stronger, "Please, Kuro……I don't want to be someone that you have to worry about because I'm weaker than you anymore, I need to get stronger, and I don't care how."

  "Okay, first off, you aren't weak by any stretch of the imagination, and I'd worry about you even if you were a hundred times stronger than me. Fine, let me think me about it. Hm……if it starts looking bad and your body can't handle it, I should be able to re-extract the Vampire life force I transfer into you before it can damage you……and besides, I know that look in your eyes, you aren't going to change your mind no matter what I say, are you?"

  Does that mean……he's agreeing to it? Yes!

  "Nope, I definitely won't change my mind! If you refuse, I'll just figure out a way to do it myself! Like, uh……maybe if I eat the Vampire cores, I'll get their powers?"

  That was a bluff, if I did that the Vampire whose core I ate might start regrowing around it inside me……and that would definitely kill me.

  "That is probably almost definitely not how it works, and I definitely can't let you do that……fine, we'll give it a try, but only one Vampire Knight, no more, alright?"

  "Okay, but……if it goes smoothly, then maybe a few more?"

  "Why, you, don't push your……," He began sternly, before trailing off as I looked at him pleadingly, "Fine……we'll see."

  _____________________________________________

  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

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