Chapter 97

Back on the Field Where Koneko and Riser's Peerage are Fighting

Xuelan watched from a distance as the Twins and Koneko fought. She focused on her hands, preparing her final attack to finish Koneko. Currently, she was gathering her magic in a Kamehameha stance. Fire began to gather in her hands, growing hotter and hotter as she fueled it with more mana and Ki—skills she had honed through her martial arts training. As the fire burned hotter, her clothes started to catch fire until they burned away, leaving only her panties intact, making one wonder about their durability.

"I hope Riser-sama buys new clothes after winning the rating game," Xuelan thought as the fireball in her hands grew to the size of four normal heads combined. She then turned her attention back to the Twins and Koneko in the distance.

Koneko jumped over Ni, dodging her tackle. She then kicked Ni in the back, causing her to eat dirt. Koneko followed up with a roundhouse kick aimed at the incoming Li, but Li managed to catch her foot.

"Gotcha!" Li grinned wickedly before attempting to elbow Koneko's leg. However, Koneko swiftly countered by using her other leg to kick Li in the face, causing both of them to hit the ground, though lightly in Koneko's case. Koneko stood up quickly, only to be attacked from behind by Ni. Koneko dodged Ni's punch by moving her head to the side, grabbing Ni's hand with a tight grip before lifting her and slamming her onto Li on the ground, almost cracking the earth like cobwebs.

Koneko looked towards Xuelan, who was gathering fire. She realized this could be Xuelan's last-ditch effort. She picked up the struggling Twins by their feet and threw them in Xuelan's direction, not wanting Xuelan to hesitate because of them.

After being thrown, Ni and Li rolled around in the dirt before stopping. The pain from their wounds brought them back to their senses. They had already used up their Phenex tears during their skirmishes with Koneko, but they could still handle the pain and stood up.

"We can still fight," Li said with determination, smiling despite her wounds.

"And we will take you down," Ni added confidently, still energetic despite everything.

They were about to charge at Koneko again, but Xuelan called out to them. "Ni, Li, give me Ki just like we practiced!" Xuelan shouted with a smile, containing the massive fireball in her hands.

Hearing Xuelan, both Twins rushed to her, placing their dominant hands on her and channeling their Ki. Xuelan concentrated, absorbing their Ki and fueling the fireball in her hands until it grew to the size of six normal heads combined. The scorching fireball burned away the Twins' clothes, leaving only their undergarments.

The fireball's temperature began to turn the ground beneath Xuelan and the Twins into molten lava. Recognizing the danger, Xuelan decided it was time to end this. The Twins poured more Ki into Xuelan, making the fireball a little bit bigger. Xuelan then looked towards Koneko, who was standing calmly.

Koneko noticed Xuelan's gaze and pointed her finger at her. "Come," she said, beckoning with a finger.

"BEGONE, CAT!" Xuelan shouted in fury as she hurled the scorching hot fireball at Koneko.

The fireball blazed towards Koneko, turning the earth to lava in its wake with a temperature that could easily melt metal. The Twins and Xuelan smiled victoriously, proud of their masterpiece. Although it was Xuelan's effort, she would tell Riser that the fireball was a joint effort, with the Twins distracting Koneko to give her time to create it.

Koneko watched the approaching fireball calmly, channeling the composure befitting her master, the wannabe martial artist Oreki. She closed her eyes, trying to remember what Oreki had taught and said to her during her training.

--

Mini Flashback

During the final week of their training arc in the time chamber, Oreki approached the haggard and exhausted Koneko. She was on all fours, breathing heavily after a grueling physical regimen that was as mentally taxing as it was physically demanding. Just as she was about to push herself for another round of exercises, Oreki stopped her.

"Koneko, sit beside me for a while," Oreki said, patting the spot next to him. He was fishing by a clear river near a waterfall, using a simple rod with a worm as bait. The water was so transparent they could see the rocks and fish beneath the surface. Koneko wanted to catch one with her bare hands, but she focused on her training instead.

The sound of the river was relaxing, making one want to sit back with a drink and appreciate the surrounding nature. Koneko sat beside Oreki, eyeing his fishing rod and the empty bucket next to him.

"Can't catch anything?" Koneko asked, noticing the fish avoiding Oreki's bait as if they knew better.

"Yes, I can't," Oreki replied calmly. "And if you ask why I insist on fishing, my answer is that I just want to relax and find some inner peace." He set aside the fishing rod and took out a tea set. "Tea?" he offered, but Koneko shook her head.

Oreki nodded, pouring himself a cup of tea. "Nature and tea, a good combo, no?" he asked with a smile.

Koneko nodded in agreement. "There has to be a reason why I'm sitting here, right, Senpai?" she asked curiously, raising an eyebrow.

"Do I need a reason to let my cute kouhai sit beside me?" Oreki retorted, receiving only a flat look from Koneko. "Fine! I have a reason," he admitted, sipping his tea again. "Hold the rod and try fishing yourself."

Koneko followed his instruction and took the rod. As she waited for a fish to bite, Oreki asked her calmly, "What do you think of your sister, Kuroka?"

At this question, Koneko snapped the fishing rod. "I don't want to talk about her," she said, her devil aura flaring up and scaring the fish away.

"Relax, Koneko. You're not going to catch a fish at this rate," Oreki reminded her, creating another fishing rod and handing it to her.

Koneko accepted it and resumed fishing. She was about to ask the point of all this when Oreki interjected, "Close your eyes, Koneko. Relax your body as you breathe in and out calmly."

Koneko followed his instructions. Oreki nodded with a smile. "Find your inner peace and resolve the turmoil in your heart," he said.

Koneko thought of her sister, who had killed their former master and abandoned her, fueling her hatred for Kuroka. She always wondered what life would be like if her sister had joined Rias' peerage. Instead, Kuroka had chosen to save herself.

Koneko was about to snap again when Oreki spoke calmly, "Hate can be a good source of motivation, but too much of it can cloud your judgment. The same goes for love. That's why you need to balance the two."

Koneko then started thinking about the happy times with her sister before Kuroka murdered their King. These memories brought a light smile to her face, one of the few fond memories she had of their childhood together.

"That's good. Love and hate complement each other, just like you and your sister, white and black, yin and yang," Oreki said with a smile as he watched Koneko concentrate.

Balancing her love and hate for her sister, Koneko felt a fish take the bait. With a splash of water, she pulled the fish out of the river and swiftly put it in the bucket, looking at Oreki.

"Did you resolve the turmoil in your heart?" Oreki asked with a smile.

"No, not yet," Koneko replied, smiling herself.

"Yet... I need to know, that's all," Oreki said, nodding sagely. "Keep going until you resolve that turmoil in your heart and find inner peace."

Koneko nodded. "I will," she replied.

"One more piece of advice" Oreki said "Forgive but not forget, instead of forget but not forgive," He said cryptically, smiling.

Koneko was about to ask for clarification, but Oreki stood up and said, "Now, let me teach you kung fu to utilize the slight inner peace you've found from meditating via fishing." He added, "Watch and learn, Koneko."

--

Back to the Field where Koneko and Riser's Peerage are Fighting

Koneko, with her eyes still closed, breathed in and out calmly. She clasped her hands like a Buddha, causing a slight vibration before moving her left and right arms down in a circular motion. When her hands met again in the middle, she didn't clasp them together. Instead, she moved both hands to her left side, as if performing a hadouken, while lifting her foot to create a gap between her legs. She let her left arm stay to the left side, with all her fingers facing up, and then moved her right arm to her right, letting her fingers face down. With determination, she opened her eyes to face the incoming fireball. (Like the shaolin soccer movement that the girl goalie did in the final scene)

Unbeknownst to Koneko, her tail had become visible as she unconsciously utilized her Nekomata trait, or more accurately, her Nekoshou abilities.

From the perspective of Xuelan and the twins, Koneko's stance appeared to imitate a wave or the line between Yin and Yang. They thought Koneko was about to attempt something, but they were confident that their combined attack would be enough to eliminate her. Their determination only grew when they noticed Koneko wasn't planning to dodge the fireball but face it head-on.

However, Koneko had a better plan than dodging. When the fireball was about to hit her, she put her left hand in front, almost touching it. She then moved her left hand in a circular motion while stepping backward to avoid being hit. As she did this, the fireball started changing color from red to blue, a transformation driven by her unconscious use of her Nekoshou trait.

When the fireball completely turned blue, Koneko used her right hand to hold it, despite its size. She performed a 240-degree turn before throwing the now much larger blue fireball back towards Xuelan and the twins.

Watching this unfold in real time, Xuelan and the twins were completely outclassed by Koneko, who had effortlessly reversed the situation.

"We did our best," Xuelan said, standing still as she had expended all her Ki and stamina in creating the fireball.

"Aneki is so cool," Ni and Li said, clearly admiring what Koneko had done, but unable to move as they had been beaten up multiple times by her.

They watched the blue fireball turn the earth into lava and burn the air itself until it hit them, causing them to scream in pain before being eliminated. The fireball continued until it hit the school building, causing a huge explosion that reduced it to smithereens.

Koneko didn't even look back at the explosion. She turned her back to it like a champ, fixing her glove before saying, "It wasn't much."

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