A Devil In Disguise (Part 6)

Felsurd couldn't have felt luckier upon encountering their target right here, nor did he ever expect it. No way in the world could one think that the sheltered princess would leave her fortress in the middle of the night. Imagine his surprise upon smelling her familiar scent.Upon seeing her amidst the forest, he intended to kill her in a surprise attack. But to his shock, she dodged his attack — how she even managed such a feat was a mystery to him. Whatever made the princess leave, Felsurd was not very keen to know. All that was important was killing his target.The princess moved surprisingly well at their first exchange of attack, and the shield was a bother as well. But her blades weren't able to get through his fur. His fur was hard as steel, but his movement wasn't stiff as they were still bendable. One could imagine each hair on his body was thin steel wire.Only the special beastmen have special capabilities, this particular ability of his was from his family bloodline. A way to tell if a beastmen has a special ability is if they possess True Berserk where their bestial instincts take over.He tried to taunt the princess, but it didn't make her give up. She had sheathed her blades and prepared her fists. The princess appeared to be more of a fighter than he had expected.More of her crimson barriers appeared and began covering her limbs and the side of her face. More than that, four small shields floated around her, two on each side. Felsurd resisted the urge to chuckle, to think the sheltered princess would think those would protect her for long.Felsurd spread his fingers as he waited for the princess's next move. Then, she took her first step forward, running towards him with baffling swiftness. She folded her arm as she prepared to attack, Felsurd prepared to take her fists.But to his surprise, the crimson barriers on her wrists increased, layering on top of each other. When she was a few feet apart from him, the princess swung her arm towards him and at the same time, her layers of barrier moved and extended forward, following the motion of her swing.What?It extended around three meters and lashed out towards Felsurd like a whip. Felsurd frantically raised his arm beside his face, and the whip barrier clashed with his arm. Given that it was originally the barrier spell, objects that collided with it will bounce away, this caused Felsurd to stagger.Preventing Felsurd from recovering in that single second, the princess swung her other arm, sending another whip of crimson, hitting him on the other side of his face. Felsurd readjusted his footing so he could back away and recover, but suddenly the whips broke apart and flew towards his arms."!"They engulfed his arms and they extended into the ground. His arms were spread apart and being tied down, he was defenseless. The princess took the chance to punch him on the stomach, her fist digging deep into his flesh. The flesh beneath his skin folded and crushed with sheer power, his steel fur unable to protect him.Physical enhancement, this much?!His eyes widened in shock as he took a few more punches from the princess. Felsurd firmed and strengthened his muscles and pulled his right arm with all his strength. His shackles cracked and broke. The princess noticed and she took a step back, but Felsurd took a step forward and horizontally slashed his hand towards her.But the princess jumped with her wind, going over his arm. Then, as the bottom of her foot faced Felsurd, a small ball of flame flashed, and in an instant, a ball of fire erupted, crashing into his face."Gah!"Felsurd broke his other shackle and his claws glowed, he slashed the air, sending several arcs of light towards the princess that was moving away with her wind. The princess frantically responded, the floating barriers gathered before her and clashed with his magic attacks. But the barrier shattered, and a couple of slashes passed through. The princess braced for impact, and the arcs of light crashed with her magical armor, breaking off some pieces.The moment when all the attacks coming at her disappeared, she stomped her feet and ice instantly spread on the ground, moving towards Felsurd with staggering speed. He leaped back, but the ice grew up and caught his leg, and subsequently grew past his waist.Before he knew it, the princess had moved right beside him, her shields restored. She cast fireballs from both her hands, sending Felsurd flying away, and he crashed into a pillar of ice. At that moment, the princess leaped up and drop-kicked him on the back, pushing him further into the hard glacier.Felsurd groaned and instantly twisted around and kicked the princess away, making her crash into a tree. Without giving her time to regain her footing, Felsurd rushed towards her sending a handful arcs of light. Again, the princess's annoying floating shields moved to protect her. But when Felsurd got close, he swung down both his hands. In an emergency, other parts of the princess's armor flew to reinforce her forward shield.The princess promptly used her wind to push herself to the side right before her shield shattered. Then as she turned around, her crimson whips formed again and lashed toward Felsurd. But, as he already knew this attack, he already had an idea of how to counter it. Felsurd shot out arcs of light towards the whips, destroying them.The princess furrowed her brows, then several sharp bodies of ice formed around her and shot toward Felsurd with incredible speed. Felsurd launched slashes of light to intercept the ice projectiles, then crouched and pounced towards the princess.She cast a blast of wind on her feet to propel herself away, but Felsurd had her in reach and swung down his hand. The princess's shield cracked terribly and caused her to twist, but as it happened, the barriers on her left leg extended, and with a kick, the barriers moved like a whip and lashed at Felsurd.The whip impacted his neck and pushed him sideways, roughly landing on the ground."Grrr!" he growled in annoyance. To think she was able to respond to his attacks that quickly, simultaneously while receiving an attack. He never expected the princess to counterattack while receiving an attack, nor did he even imagine she would fight this hard.The princess landed on the ground, and she seemed to be breathing heavily from the way her chest and shoulders move. Felsurd narrowed his eyes and understood what was happening — she was mortal in the end, a human. Humans tire. Perhaps this should be expected, she may be the daughter of gods, but she had no godhood.Divinity stored in human flesh.But this was for the best.Felsurd fixed his posture and placed his hands on the ground before charging toward the princess with startling speed. A black ball appeared in the princess's hand which she threw at him. Felsurd was clueless, but he planned to evade it. But a couple of steps away from him, the ball suddenly erupted into a white blinding light along blared a deafening shrieking sound."Gaaaah!!"He promptly stopped as he covered his eyes after that blinding light, and his sensitive ears were ringing. Then, as he suffered from that black ball's explosion, a hard punch hit his back followed by several more.When he suffered the pain of those sudden attacks, he blindly swung his hand to his back, but only hit the air. Then he felt a hit on the side of his body, he waved his hands, but hit nothing again, then came another attack.Felsurd gritted his teeth and inhaled deeply, then he followed the familiar smell and opened his hand, and swiftly reached out."Wh—!"Felsurd caught the princess in his hand, and then he slammed her to the ground."Gh!"Felsurd could feel her barriers breaking, and her feeling some pain. Before he could slam her again however, pain crawled all over his arms. He retracted his arm and when his vision had partially restored, he saw lightning dissipating on his arm, while the princess retreated with her wind.Not letting her get away, he pounced and thrust his fist towards her, causing her to fly away towards a tree upon impact. Before she could slip away, Felsurd clasped her with both his hands and tightened."You're not getting away this time."Her armor slowly began to crack. Felsurd saw the glare she was giving him, full of irritation. White mist emanated on her left hand, then lightning cackled on her right hand. At the same time, she fired frost and lightning magic toward Felsurds arms. The pain was searing, but Felsurd endured it just to crush her.But a pillar of ice rose from the ground below his elbows, causing him to let go. The princess slipped away at the same time."Dammit!"He immediately punched the ice pillar. The moment it happened, he saw another black ball coming at him and he instantly closed his eyes, looked away, and covered his ears with his hands. The ball exploded and he immediately looked at the princess.However, white smoke began filling the area around him."What?"The princess was nowhere to be seen. He searched for her scent, but the smoke had a salty smell that prevented him from doing so. Thus, he used his ears, there was a sound of soil being moved. He charged in that direction and discovered the princess. But she instantly responded by backing away and extending her hand.A swarm of blue small birds suddenly emerged from the smoke and all revolved around him as the princess vanished into the smoke. The sound of the flapping wings from the swarm, and how the ones flying below scattered the soil, got in the way of his hearing.Suddenly, a black ball fell down from above him, too late he noticed, it exploded, temporarily blinding and deafening him once again. The swarm of bird constructs gathered and pushed him back, then he was hit by a powerful kick on his back, feeling the intense pain in his spine.Magic gathered on his claws and blindly swung towards his back, sending arcs of lights, but hit nothing. His mana was almost depleted, and that magical attack costs a fair amount on each claw. Unlike the elves, the common beastmen were less gifted when it comes to mana, but they made up for it through their physical body, their strengths, and durability. They were apex predators.Felsurd felt so bitter that he was struggling to hunt a single human.Her and her tricks!He felt a punch on his belly, and then the crimson shackles just like before wrapped around his arms and legs, pulling him down, causing him to kneel. When his vision returned, shackles wrapped around his neck, and the princess before him slammed her fist into his face."Gh! Damn you!"The princess smiled. "How many of you are there?""As if I will ever tell you."She struck him again. "Where is your hideout?""Hehehe! You're wasting your time.""Hm… what should I do with you… Perhaps turning you in might do… but I will be…" she shook her head gently."I won't let you take me anywhere. You've fought well. But now, I have no other choice."His muscles expanded and became firmer, he slowly stood up, going against the force of the shackles. His eyes grew fiercer as he glared at the princess."What the…" the princess stepped away.Felsurd pulled his hand and the shackles cracked. He growled, saliva dripping out of his mouth. His mind losing sense, being taken over by his bestial instincts, going feral. He didn't want to use his True Berserk as he had no allies around to stop him once it was all over, nor did he even ever expect he had to resort to this.When his body fully enhanced, and his mind losing rationality, all shackles shattered into pieces. He growled grimly, the princess promptly flew back, but the beast caught up to her pretty quickly. She controlled her swarm constructs, going around into her back and going forward, crashing into the beast.But it merely slowed him down for a moment as he cleaved through with his claws.