Chapter 216

As each of the Peruvian soldiers had their vitals being monitored from a central command center, it wasn't long after the two sentries' deaths that an alarm began to sound throughout the encampment.

"Are~? It's loud~!" exclaimed the cloaked figure, tilting its head and upper body from side to side as their scythe twirled behind them.

*ratatat* *ratatat* *ratatat* *ratatat* *ratatat* *ratatat* *ratatat*

Though most of the soldiers ran to their assigned posts to prepare for an ambush, a few moved to the location of the sentries' deaths, immediately opening fire on the cloaked figure with high-caliber machine guns. Such weapons had been ineffective in the breaches a few months prior, but once it was discovered that Magic Crystals and monster materials could be used to manufacture effective munitions, firearms, once again, became the weapon of choice for militaries and mercenary organizations.

Unfortunately for the soldiers, the cloaked figure didn't even try to dodge their bullets. Instead, it bent forward slightly and made a saluting gesture, swiveling like a sentry turret as they inspected each soldier with glowing pink irises, seemingly oblivious to the hundreds of bullets puncturing their body and cloak, leaving behind circular voids that closed nearly as quickly as they formed.

Realizing their attacks were having no effect, one particular soldier, with a shiny bald head, tiny black horns, and notably crimson skin that made him look like a human-sized imp or oni, readied a shoulder-mounted anti-tank rocket and prepared to fire it. Their body tensed when the cloaked figure abruptly looked directly at them, but they managed to squeeze the trigger at the last moment.

Moving faster than most of the soldiers could follow with their eyes, the cloaked assailant grabbed their scythe with white-gloved hands bearing red magic circles on their backs, their figure momentarily vanishing before reappearing a few meters away, having sliced the anti-tank rocket in two. It still exploded, creating a peculiar blue-green explosion, but other than causing the figure's cloak to billow and become marginally more tattered, it had no notable effect.

As someone shouted that conventional weapons were useless, a fireball nearly three meters across barreled toward the cloaked figure, courtesy of a man capable of using 2nd Circle Fire Magic. It traveled much slower than the anti-tank rocket, but the cloaked figure just tilted its head to the side, seemingly intending to tank it directly before surprising everyone as its cloak rapidly expanded and opened like the maw of an abyssal hound, devouring the fireball with a single snap of its jaws.

Demonstrating that the Mana within the fireball didn't simply disappear, the cloaked figure's hood came off, revealing the grinning, child-like face of a twin-tailed girl with pale, ash-blonde hair. She had pointed ears and notably sharp teeth but appeared to be between the ages of four and five, leaving many of the soldiers feeling incredulous. More notably, a pair of cat-like ears, formed entirely of blue flame, appeared above the girl's head as the edge of her scythe glowed with a ghostly blue light.

"Thanks for the meal~!" exclaimed the girl, speaking a language most of the people present didn't understand. Those who did immediately thought about the trio of provisional Heroes visiting them from Japan. After all, the girl had undoubtedly just shouted out in Japanese.

Before most people could make sense of the situation, the girl's scythe grew to more than three times its already intimidating size as she leaped high into the air, her back and body arching unnaturally as she swung the fearsome weapon in a downward arc, producing a massive blue crescent that sliced through the perimeter wall like a hot knife through butter. Her target, the man that had unleashed the fireball, managed to dodge to the side, but he didn't get far before the roughly hundred-centimeter-tall girl appeared right in front of him, grinning like a demon or a cat that had just cornered its prey.

"P-Please don't...!" exclaimed the man, falling onto his ass and waving his hands as thick beads of sweat poured down his face and forehead. To his immense surprise, the scythe-wielding girl stopped mid-swing, the blade of her oversized weapon arcing around his body, ready to harvest his life with just a simple tug.

Carefully retracting and shouldering her scythe as if it weighed nothing, the twin-tailed girl lost her smile, head tilted and the index finger from her left hand resting on her chin as she asked, "Are we finished playing...?" in an innocent-sounding and slightly disappointed tone.

Before the man could make sense of the situation or respond, a deep and feminine voice shouted, "Meteor Drop...!" as Maria came out of nowhere, her heels driving into the side of the twin-tailed girl's body and causing it to distort before she was sent flying hundreds of meters, bouncing off the ground and smashing through several trees.

Taking charge of the situation, Maria looked to the downed man and shouted, "Assist with the evacuation!" before leaping off the wall and barreling toward the scythe-wielding girl. The force of her dropkick had very clearly been transferred to the girl, but Maria got the impression it hadn't done any meaningful damage, causing a cold sweat to break out across her body as she found the scythe-wielding casually girl dusting herself off in a clearing, completely unharmed.

Noticing the girl didn't have her scythe with her, Maria accelerated, the image of a large golden bull materializing around her as she barreled into the twin-tailed girl like a train. The attack landed without issue, but Maria quickly realized she might be in over her head when she noticed the girl's body flattening and distorting slightly, conforming to the contours of the bull's head and grinning like a cartoon character.

Forming her resolve in an instant, Maria's expression hardened as she told herself, 'I need to get her away from the encampment...!' while kicking her Quirk into overdrive, accelerating like a bullet train as she drove the freaky child through dozens of trees, eventually colliding with a sizeable, thirty-meter-tall boulder that fragmented at the point of impact but managed to endure as they crashed into it.

Leaping out of the smoke and dust cloud created when she smashed into the rock, Maria got into a ready stance resembling a professional wrestler, prepared to charge and tackle her opponent the moment she caught sight of them. The scythe-wielding girl's child-like appearance troubled her, but as it was difficult to ascertain a person's age based solely on appearance, Maria braced herself to do whatever it took to take down the villain before her.

Sending a shiver through Maria's body, a child-like voice emanating from the cloud of dust playfully remarked, "You're really strong~" in a language she recognized but couldn't understand. Then, creating a cylindrical void in the dust cloud, the petite figure of the twin-tailed girl came flying at her like a rocket, causing Maria to instinctively sidestep and throw a left hook, connecting cleanly with the girl's right cheek and sending her spinning off course.

Despite being sent tumbling across the landscape like a ragdoll, the twin-tailed girl exhaled a loud, slightly unhinged, but ultimately child-like laugh until she eventually regained her footing and shouted, "This is fun~!" with her arms spread wide to greet Maria's charge. This time, however, Maria didn't generate a barrier in the shape of a golden bull around her. Instead, she transferred all the momentum from her charge into her left arm, using it much like a scythe as she closed her eyes and executed a flawless lariat on the twin-tailed girl, separating her head from her tiny body.

Though she would have preferred to capture and detain her quarry, the twin-tailed girls' apparent immunity to impacts and brute force left Maria with few options. She knew too little about her opponent to get in close and attempt a takedown, so as regrettable as it was, she determined the best course of action was lethal force. Unfortunately, though it prevented her from being burdened with guilt, Maria quickly learned that it would take more than simply decapitating her opponent to take her down as a 'shishishishi~' type laughter emanated from behind her, originating from the head that was spinning through the air.

As Maria turned toward the source of the sound, her eyes became as round as saucers as she witnessed a spinal cord practically erupt out of the decapitated head's neck, quickly forming a pelvis, scapula, rib cage, and other vital support structures before organs, muscles, tendons, and veins materialized, seemingly from nothing. She also got a brief flash of epidermal tissue before a black substance erupted from its pores, forming a new cloak as the twin-tailed girl's previous body evaporated, vanishing without a trace.

"What the hell are you!?" shouted Maria, narrowly evading a swipe from the girl's scythe, appearing out of thin air. Unfortunately, just as she was unable to understand the girl, the twin-tailed girl couldn't understand her. As a result, the latter giggled and laughed as she wielded her scythe with increasing speed and intensity, putting tremendous pressure on Maria as her brain raced to devise a method to deal with her increasingly immortal-seeming opponent.

With such thoughts in mind, Maria narrowly evaded one of the twin-tailed girl's more telegraphed strikes before transferring the stockpiled force of her movements into her right fist. Then, gritting her teeth, she unleashed a full-force counter against her opponent's face, intending to destroy her entire head like a cannonball smashing a watermelon.

To Maria's horror, while her well-timed counter found purchase, causing the twin-tailed girl's face to cave in and gradually tear apart as her fist passed through it, the damage healed nigh-instantaneously, replaced by the girl's broad smile. It was like she was completely amorphous, making physical attacks utterly useless against her.

Unfortunately for Maria, she wasn't nearly as fortuitous as her opponent. Her durability was levels above most others, but as the twin-tailed girl's head regenerated and she was sent flying backward, she took advantage of her impending flight to reverse the direction of her scythe, causing it to slice cleanly through Maria's barrier and waist as if they were empty air...

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Waking with a start, Izuku snapped to a seated position and looked in the direction Maria was fighting the twin-tailed girl. His Danger Sense hadn't triggered despite the alarm blaring in the distance, so he was momentarily confused before he spotted a Proximity Marker that caused every nerve in his body to tense.

Disregarding his clothes and equipment, Izuku shot out of the hospital cot and burst through the encompassing quarantine tent, taking to the sky as he shouted, "Fediel, you big-breasted bones-for-brains! This isn't what we agreed on...!"

Though she didn't appear, Fediel's voice echoed in Izuku's mind, asking, 'Who the fuck are you calling a bones-for-brains!? Don't make me come out there and beat the shit out of you in front of your friends and allies...!'

"..."

Hmphing in response to Izuku's silence, the former could imagine Fediel crossing her arms as she stated, 'This is your fault for doting on her these past five years. She may only be a half, but you know how possessive we Dragons can get. Did you seriously think she would wait for you to return just because you promised to come back for her?"

"You must have said something to her..." contended Izuku, sweating as he reached the skies above his daughter's and Maria's battlefield, finding the twin-tailed girl poking the lifeless heroine with the pole end of her scythe. At the same time, Fediel confirmed his suspicions by shrugging within his mind and responding, 'She was bored, so I gave her permission to go out and play. If they die, it's those fools' faults for thinking they could occupy my demesne without consequence.'

Ignoring the buxom Dragoness's remarks, Izuku dropped down next to the twin-tailed girl with a stern expression, causing her to startle and fail to hide her oversized scythe behind her back as she stuttered, "Chi-Chi-Chichiue!?" before looking between him and the downed Maria, sweating buckets. Izuku had repeatedly warned her that others weren't nearly as 'resilient' as she was, but since the only people she had ever 'played' with were him and her Hahaue, she had inadvertently broken her first friend/toy...

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(A/N: Whoopsie~!)