CH 18: Monster

Grandmother jumped toward me with her blade held high, the seething flames getting brighter and brighter as she neared me.

*FWOOSH*

As she swung down the sword, a violent torrent of flames was launched in my direction.

I collected mana in my non-sword hand and pushed it out into a barrier in front of me. The air around the incoming wave of fire distorted from the unbridled heat. I enforced my shield and took the brunt of the attack.

*SIZZLE*

The flames collided with my shield and I planted my feet to resist the force of the attack. But suddenly, the flames dispersed, and behind them was a white-haired woman flying towards me with her sword held up again.

I dropped my shield and held up my sword with both hands.

*BOOM*

We collided and I was pushed back several feet. Our swords were pushing against each other, trying to break through. Mana flared up in my arms and I unleashed a powerful burst of fire from my sword.

*FWISH*

Grandmother completely disappeared from view as she was engulfed in flames. I knew that wouldn't be the end of the fight so I retreated backward to get a wider perspective of the area.

The flames continued to rage and when they dissipated, a woman was standing there with the edges of her jumpsuit singed.

"That was clever," She said with amusement. "But don't think it will put me down."

The sword in her hands extinguished.

"How about we take it up a notch? I can tell you're still reserving your strength for later." Flames engulfed the soles of her shoes and slowly rose upwards. They spiraled around her curvaceous body until completely covering everything under her head in undulating flames. Waves of heat around her distorted the light, making the air around her appear to be vibrating. "If you don't fight with everything you have, you will die."

My sword also vanished. I covered my hands in fire and took a fighting stance.

"Don't be shy, Kaiser. I won't try to kill you," She said. "On purpose."

*BOOM*

Grandmother kicked off from the ground, propelled by the fire under her feet. Only one step was enough for her to reach me near instantly.

A fist entered my vision and I stepped to the side. Even though I successfully dodged the punch, the heat surrounding it burnt the skin on my cheek.

I recoiled from the pain, but soon a knee came flying toward my gut. Mana instantly moved to block the blow as I slightly shifted my body. The knee clipped the side of my abdomen but slid off the now condensed mana on my skin.

Using the force of the attack to build momentum, I spun and launched a deadly kick toward her head.

*BOOM*

I connected with my kick, but sadly not to her head. An arm was held up with my leg still attached to the point of contact. Feeling the intense heat of the armor burn my skin, I quickly dropped the leg and retreated.

'I don't have much more room to retreat. If I keep backing up, she's going to corner me.'

"That's some technique you've got there. Stealing an opponent's momentum can be dangerous," Grandmother said, lowering her arm. "Don't feel bad that you didn't land the attack. I just didn't want to receive the damage, so I used a little more power than necessary."

"Thank you for the compliment," I responded with my hands held up, ready to resume the fight.

'Any sort of long-range attack will be useless against her armor. That only leaves me to use my mana to empower my technique.'

Grandmother's armor condensed even more on her body. The flames that were flowing up in the air were seemingly trapped inside a layer of orange, yellow, and red.

*CRACKLE*

The floor underneath her split into a web of cracks. Then, she slowly strode toward me. With every step she took, another web of cracks appeared.

'I thought she wasn't trying to kill me?!'

My mana had depleted to around halfway at this point. There were only a few more attacks left in my system. But who wants to conserve strength for more attacks when you could use it all at once?

Mana particles flooded every part of the body and I launched toward the woman. As I neared her, she picked up her pace into a jog, and then eventually a sprint.

The closer I got, the more I could feel the intense heat of the new armor around Grandmother. But I kept running without hesitation and formed three throwing knives in my hand. I knew they wouldn't cause any damage, but she couldn't ignore them either.

I threw the three throwing knives at the same time, each having a sliver of mana connecting them to me. One knife shot right toward her, but the other two each curved to the left and right, aiming for each side of her body.

The knives sizzled as they cut through the air resisting their flight paths and converged on the woman running in my direction. As she paused to deal with them, I increased my acceleration. My foot crushed the ground below me as I stepped off the floor with all my power.

On my next step, I flipped my body forward, building momentum. The three knives were blocked as Grandmother swatted them with her hands. But on impact, the mana holding the knives together collapsed and retreated back to me as I was over her with my leg extended for an overhead kick.

The mana condensed on my foot, engulfing it in flames and forming a large spike on my heel. A trail of flames was left behind as I swung my leg through the air toward her.

After being slightly confused after the throwing knives disintegrated on impact and seeing them reform on my leg, Grandmother had an excited glint in her eyes.

The condensed armor around her began to reform around her body and collect at her arms. She raised her hands and a large shield appeared above her.

Seeing the shield, I committed further to the kick and swung downwards.

*BOOOM*

A large shockwave burst out from the impact. Fire exploded outwards from the collision between the two powers, blanketing the entire room in an orange and red sea.

I was flung backward after the attack, colliding with the wall. Out of mana and stamina, I collapsed onto the ground.

Grandmother had both hands held up with a fractured shield above her. The condensed flames dispersed and she lowered her hands.

"What a crazy amount of power…" She said under her breath. "To fracture my shield that should've been unbreakable to any of his attacks…"

The woman walked over to me, who was on the floor panting. I was glad to see that I had at least damaged her defenses. I knew that she was only using a small amount of her power, but it still made me feel some achievement.

"My shield should have been more than enough to stop an attack from your level of mana. But with your increased strength and the speed you gained from your technique, you created a pretty devastating attack."

"Thank you, ma'am. I'm glad to have impressed you," I said, exhausted.

"Ha! I don't know if I'm impressed, but I am sure of one thing," She said as she bent over my body. Her hair hung over me and her eyes shone with a dangerous glint. "Your training has just begun. The next time you leave this room, you'll be a monster."

…

–Maid POV–

I trembled as I was placing food onto a platter in the kitchen.

Over the past week, tremors have been shaking the Raijin estate where I was employed. The source of these tremors was inside a building in the west half of the Duke's household. Even from the kitchen in the middle of the estate, the shaking didn't lose its effect.

Once I had plated all of the meats, fruits, and vegetables. I quickly hurried down the halls and through the paths linking the buildings together. The moon was out tonight but covered by dense clouds.

When the head maid, Levena, had tasked me with this job, I didn't think too much of it at first. But now, when I was heading in the direction of the infamous building where the tremors had come from. I feared for my safety.

I continued to walk down the halls and through the pathways with trembling hands. But I knew better than to make a mistake and drop the plate of very expensive food.

I eventually came to a clearing. In the center, there was a lone building. It was made out of a weird grey rock that didn't look similar to any other building in the estate.

I took a deep breath and tried to ignore the instinct that was telling me not to go any closer to the building. As I was about to take a step toward it…

*BOOM*

A large tremor shook the ground and I almost fell over. But I carefully kept the plate upright and balanced it on my hand.

I sighed, relieved that nothing had fallen off the plate. Looking back, toward the building, I shuddered.

'I don't get paid enough for this.'

My unwillingness to approach the building has now increased. But I knew I couldn't wait any longer. I took the first step on the pathway and braced myself.

But no tremor came. So, I kept walking carefully toward the looming structure. Silence pervaded the area as I neared the building and I got the chills.

'Come on, Maxine, you can do this! You fought tooth and nail to get this job and now you're here! You can't be scared of some tremors!'

I firmed my resolve and walked up to the door and knocked.

After a couple of seconds of silence, a womanly voice came from inside the building.

"Come in."

Relieved nothing had exploded, I opened the door and entered with a smile. "I've brought dinner, Madam."

Inside, there were multiple craters and burn marks around the room. In one of the craters now, was a very handsome boy with long black hair and golden eyes. He was slightly injured, but nothing to be worried about. He was out of breath and breathing deeply.

Next to the crater was a woman with long, wavy white hair and golden eyes. She wore a black jumpsuit with singed edges that complimented her curves. Her hair was ruffled but other than that, there wasn't a single scratch on her body.

"Kaiser, get up, dinner's here," The beautiful woman said.

The boy in the crater instantly shot up from where he was laying. The exhaustion from before was nowhere to be seen as he hungrily eyed the food on the plate I was holding.

The woman walked up to me and I handed her the plate. "I hope you enjoy your meal."

"Thank you, young woman."

Her soft and slightly raspy voice made my heart flutter and I had to hold myself back from blushing. "Y-You're welcome," I stuttered. Then I bowed and made my escape. "I'll leave you to your meal, then. Have a good night."