BERSERKER RABBIT Pt.2

Fist met hammer as a gust of wind engulfed the area and blew away the rabbitmen that had been restrained. Meanwhile, Yue called up everyone else in their group to standby and watch the show.

"I suppose you haven't been slacking on strengthening magic, ey?" As durable as Shea was back when they first met, the scale at which she fought back was incomparable. If she followed the regime Yue had taught her before they left then no doubt she stood as the strongest in all of Verbergen.

In response Shea's body shone with a sky blue color, her mana flaring to encompass only her body and nothing else. As if she were wearing a thin coat of mana all around her body. The weight of the hammer increased with each passing second.

Though Ivan was impressed by this development he knew the consumption of Strengthening Magic was immense, Shea flaring right now meant she intended on finishing the fight as soon as possible.

A wise decision as she likely had no gauge on what his current strength was. Though in the past she remembered that he had mid-close range fighting methods. Her best bet was to keep him on the defensive in hopes of breaking his guard as he tuckered out.

Ivan sent his right boot to her stomach before she suddenly jumped back without having to look down. With how close their distance was and how much the warhammer obscured their vision she shouldn't have been able to see the incoming kick.

That's when he noticed her glowing eyes.

"Hooh~ So I see you now have some semblance of control over that power you once considered a curse." Ivan's words brought a smirk to Shea's lips. Indeed, she had once considered her future visions the reason for her family's suffering, however now it had been the very tool that had saved them from countless struggles.

Her eyes glowed brighter as she dodged every kick and punch Ivan sent her way. Though he did make a note that in-between periods of dodging her eyes would dim before glowing again. Whatever skill she was using it was capable of being applied consecutively, and considering her movements the consumption was next to none.

'Instinct… No, this is much more than that… If mentioning her future vision brought her to a smirk I can only assume this is a by-product of that… And if that's the case I'm sure it's safe to assume she's looking into the future.'

Ivan unsealed his palms as each tattoo of destruction and creation glowed beneath his forearm guards. He used gravity magic to propel himself forward at a quicker pace, if Shea could see the future then all he had to do was create a situation where she couldn't react despite that.

The moment she used both feet to jump back Ivan activated his boundary, focusing on the space locking property of it. Now she stood several inches off the ground. As long as she was within four meters of him breaking out was a matter of how much she could force her way using brute force.

She came to this conclusion as well and consumed a large part of her mana into her Strengthening Magic. This left her with two disadvantages: one, even if she broke out she'd be nearly empty regarding mana reserves. Two, breaking out could be exactly what Ivan wanted.

So with no other option, she used Branching Paths. Another sub-skill of her future vision that allowed her to see every possible future based on her choices. Her eyes turned from a sky blue to a light purple. Ivan noticed this change before placing his hand on her warhammer, it was destroyed within a second.

Shea's future-related skills took only an instant, with no way to disturb her. In that instant the only option he saw to stop her was by limiting her choices. With her hammer destroyed she'd only have her body, that at least eliminated a few possible choices for her.

Ivan met her stare, staring at the eyes that slowly lost their glow. Then, Shea's body flared with Strengthening Magic once more. Seeing her choice he knew he succeeded in forcing her into the future he saw.

His destruction and creation tattoos dimmed before the marks staining his palms glowed, he pointed his water transmutation hands into the air. The condensed fog collected and transformed under his guidance into a cage of thick ice.

He dove out of the cage before closing it back up, and at that moment Shea broke out of the space lock. She swung and swung at the cage of ice that surrounded her, dumbfounded when every crack she made with her fists disappeared within seconds.

On the other side of the cage Ivan stood with his boundary extended, focusing everything on restoration, and slowly but surely the cage of ice closed in. The smaller the cage became the more condensed the ice was, and the easier it was to restore broken parts.

All the while Shea burnt herself out with Strengthening Magic. Everything went right as he assumed. The futures she didn't see were the ones that weren't up to her. She was unable to move, unable to do anything when her warhammer was broken, and at that moment a future for Ivan was created.

What was a cage became a solid block, if she didn't break out she would inevitably freeze to death, or suffocate, or if Ivan desired, be pierced by the very ice walls that surrounded her. A move he dubbed with much originality, Ice Coffin.

He knocked on the ice after exhaling a gust of cold wind, "You ready to give up~?" Ivan waited a bit before not getting a response. Right when he was about to relieve the Ice Coffin he received an answer.

BANG BANG!

Two distinct bangs, for some reason Ivan was able to sense her frustration from them. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure you'd get better responses if you knew more about my progress." His thin words fell upon deaf ears, it was a comment obviously done to comfort her.

Of course, if she knew every ability her target had she'd have better odds of winning, it was because she didn't know about Ivan's improvements and he didn't know about hers that made this a fair fight.

BANG!

"Aiya, I suppose such words wouldn't be enough to allay your concerns now." Frustration, that's what he sensed. Though to Ivan her concerns were unfounded. All Shea had to improve herself was the words of Yue who had formerly instructed her. That was it. She was a special being of the beastman race and had no one to reflect her development on as she grew.

Saying that her growth was fantastic. IF she wanted she could single-handedly destroy Verbergen with her own two fists. No one would be able to hit her, and no one would be able to defend against her strength. Ivan contemplated leading her to the Reisen Labyrinth, as gravity would greatly amplify her strength.

Maybe he'd take the time to do that after he and his group cleared the Haltina Labyrinth. But for now, he just undid the ice coffin burying Shea. He quickly put a forearm up as a fist came flying out of the melting ice.

"Hmph!" Shea's ears drooped slightly as she pulled herself out of the puddle of melted ice. The confidence she held before meeting her two friends again diminished greatly at how utterly helpless she was.

Knowing cheap words wouldn't mean much to this warrior rabbit, Ivan only smiled gently toward her. "We're back, Shea~"

She stared back in response, a blush adorning her snow white skin. Her ears twitched a bit before she took a deep breath in. Then, she smiled gently right back at him.

"Mmm! Welcome home!"

=====================================================================

"Whoa! You guys have been quite busy since the last time we were here~" Ivan mused at the spectacle in front of him.

"Umu! Since we were kicked out of Verbergen we needed to formulate a way to survive without their aid. We needed farms to feed our people, a clean water source, tailors capable of creating armor and clothing for members, and teachers to help guide the future generations!" Shea proudly declared while leading the group around what had become the new headquarters of the Haulia.

A city in the trees, that was the simplest way to describe it. Houses sat in trees making a circular formation of a town that was visible using a map near the gated entrance that sat on the ground. Under the trees were normal buildings and the like made of wood and stone. While making every house in the trees would've been ideal it would be impossible to do so without spreading out the town immensely.

What Shea wanted was for every member of the Hualia to be together, as their strength relied on numbers. At least that's what inspired this compact city formation. Though it seemed its residents didn't mind, as each passing member walked through the streets smiling and living with glee.

Truly the Haulia was the definition of a family with their bonds closer than what Ivan had ever seen from families back on Earth. Shea dubbed this land, the Rabbit Hole. Not a bad name considering only members of the rabbitmen race were allowed to join the Haulia group.

But that wasn't all—

"Come here come here~!" Shea waved her hand sneakily before leading the group toward an alley. She took a token out of her coat's pocket before throwing it into the nearby sewage drain. It was silent for a moment before the wall it lay beneath began shifting to form a tunnel that led into the earth.

Ivan's group stared for a moment before following her in. Immediately they were met by a crudely crafted wooden sign, and on it painted the word 'Wonderland'. Ivan braced himself for what he was about to see as Shea lifted what seemed to be a painted sheet made to look like a dead-end.

"...."

He was speechless. No, it was more suitable to say he was proud. And so was Shea as she puffed out her abundant breasts proudly.

An underground city. Blue crystals stuck out of the ceiling to create a sort of artificial moonlight that illuminated the stone structures and streets of the community below. Children and the elderly roamed the streets taking care of chores or just out for a stroll. Those old enough to train did so in an open clearing by an elderly rabbit man.

"..." Ivan stared at Shea without an expression.

"Ehehehe~" Shea rubbed the back of her head bashfully. For the first time ever she felt like she truly managed to surprise Ivan.

==============================================================

If you want to support me please follow this link! There's a couple new links added~: https://linktr.ee/ardoaleister

Another fun chapter to write! Next time, the beginning of the Haltina Labyrinth, I gotta hurry up and finish reading volume eight or else I'm screwed. So far I'm about half way through. I need to finish reading Arifureta so I could read some other stuff as well, like Zero no Tsukaima and To Love-Ru.

So hey, thanks for reading. Have a great evening, and I'll see you all next time~!

If you want to support me and read ahead 10-15 chapters, you can check out my p.a.t.r.e.o.n right here: https://bit.ly/ardoaleister

Discord: https://discord.gg/tQ5TWbYd9t