Swoosh~
The air ruptured as Nikita closed the distance between herself and Alya in an instant. She lunged her fist forward, attempting to strike Alya's face. However...
"Eh?"
Her beautiful crimson eyes widened when her fist punched empty air. Before her fist could reach Alya, she turned into wind and dispersed into the atmosphere. Dodging her attack completely.
"Tch, I remember you did the same thing in our earlier battle. For someone who likes to brag about themself, don't you think running away is cowardly?"
"Humph, it's not like I'm running away; your movement was so slow that I decided to dodge instead of meeting your attack head-on."
Alya's gorgeous figure materialised several feet away from Nikita with a nonchalant expression on her face. Hearing Alya's words, Nikita clicked her tongue, braced her feet, and rushed forward again.
She put all her strength into her fist as she thrust forward. Alya casually stepped aside, moving out of the trajectory.
The ground burst apart as stones and trees flew in all directions. The force of her punch forcefully changed the air pressure. Everything within a five-mile radius was mercilessly blown away.
"Hmmm… not bad; the physical strength of you silver foxes never ceases to amaze me."
Alya stood leisurely behind Nikita, voicing her admiration with an awed expression.
Nikita turned around, glaring at Alya with an irritated expression as she once again folded her hands into fists.
"Tch, when are you going to stop running away? Fight me head-on instead of casually dodging my fist!"
Nikita roared.
"Hmmm…. You want me to start attacking, huh? Are you sure you want that? Well, I guess it would be too boring if I didn't attack now and then."
Nodding her head in understanding, Alya made a small gesture with her hand, and the wind within the atmosphere became restless.
The wind howled loudly as it took the form of three blades made entirely of wind. They moved freely through the air as they went in Nikita's direction; however, her demeanour was calm. She didn't even attempt to dodge.
Three of her nine beautiful silver tails stretched forward like a spear; they destroyed each of the wind blades, dispersing them into the atmosphere. Alya's eyes widened slightly at the sight. But then….
A shadow came flying over her head. Nikita had jumped forward. In her hand, there was a long spear made of ice. She then used her excess momentum as she swung her spear downwards.
Boom!!!
The ground rumbled, unable to endure the impact and burst apart, sending stones and dirt flying.
"Where did she go?"
"I'm right here."
Without Nikita noticing, Alya had stealthily appeared behind her.
Nikita instinctively felt danger and promptly turned her head to the side; no sooner had she done so than the sound of heavy wind pressure passed her ear; it was Alya's fist. Nikita hurriedly tried to create distance between them.
"Do you think you can escape me?"
"Guh."
Before Nikita had the chance to successfully create distance, Alya created a short sword made of spirit arts.
She then thrust her sword forward, striking at Nikita's shoulder blades. Nikita put all her strength into defending.
However, with the momentum of her jumping backwards to create distance, she was blown away.
She landed roughly on the ground with a 'thump,' raising a cloud of dust. However, her crimson eyes shone dangerously; even in this situation, she was still brimming with fighting spirit.
Meanwhile, Alya calmly observed her opponent, not letting a single movement go unnoticed.
Her emerald eyes were sharp yet calm at the same time, and her miniskirt was fluttering wildly in the wind.
Nikita closed the distance, a barrage of fists closing in on her. But Alya parried her blows casually.
"Tch…"
Alya frowned as she was forced to step backwards when she received the force of her fist. But a barrier of wind behind her prevented her from being blown away.
"Haaah!"
Nikita charged aggressively straight at her. Her fist was clad in magical energy.
(Hm, that's…. She increased the hardness of her fist with a battle aura? A direct manifestation of her fighting spirit, huh?)
Alya saw through the nature of her attack and raised her fist as well. Green wind wrapped around her fist like a tornado.
Both fists met. They clashed; they struck, they collided again and again and again. The earth exploded, forming a massive crater beneath their feet.
Both traded blows, exchanging attacks and defence as they searched for an opportunity. Their breaths and footwork were light. To any onlooker, it was so superb that calling it a beautiful dance would be putting it mildly.
The force of their fist generated a tremendous pressure wave that reduced all to nothing around them.
Dirt and stones were thrown all about, filling the air around them, but they were so engrossed in their battle they didn't even notice the destruction around them.
Fists moved and interacted faster than sound. And wind and lightning wreaked havoc across the land.
Both Alya and Nikita were moving so fast that it would've been impossible to follow the movements of their bodies.
Suddenly, Alya's face tensed; she had lost sight of Nikita. Nikita had circled to her rear, launching a sharp kick towards Alya's flank.
"Take this!"
But Alya reacted instantly, raising her hand and blocking the attack. Nikita's crimson eyes met Alya's cold, indifferent emerald eyes. The intensity of their gaze was so strong that it became a physical force, exuding an invisible pressure.
Nikita was left in a vulnerable stance as her leg rose high towards Alya's neck. But Alya had caught her ankle before her leg could make contact.
"Are we done measuring each other now?"
Alya inquired with the leisure one would have in a typical conversation about tea. The swirling dust clouds and debris scattering and filling the air finally dissipated.
"It's vexing, but I guess casual attacks won't do any good."
"Hehe… Each of your blows is packed with enough force to shatter bones, and you call that casual? Well, I should expect nothing less from your kind, the foxkin's."
Although Alya was smiling outwardly, she was actually sweating like crazy inwardly. The force behind Nikita's punches was simply absurd.
If she had the flesh of a regular human and not a spiritual body, all the bones in her body would've shattered, and her inner organs would've exploded the moment their fists collided.
Alya was holding out and contending with Nikita purely by enhancing her body with spiritual power and relying on the innate regenerative ability of her spiritual body.
A spell that raises the physical body might have been able to hold out, but maintaining a physical body enchantment would drain the mana constantly mid-battle; the speed of the decrease in energy depends entirely on how much energy is being fuelled for the spell.
Furthermore, Nikita was a foxkin, a race that had physical abilities far greater than other races. She didn't have a disadvantage like that.
The foxkin's physical abilities were surpassed only by a few other races. Namely the dragon race, which boasted the highest physical strength and durability in the world.
"Don't compare me to that bunch!"
Nikita snorted, clearly displeased.
"Why not? Aren't you the same species? Just what makes you so different?"
"I am special because I… Unlike that bunch, I do not need something like the world's blessings."
"I see… Are you feeling salty because, unlike your other kin, you hadn't inherited the world's love?"
"Sh-Shut up!"
Nikita's crimson eyes gleamed menacingly.
"Oh, my. That's an awful lot of murderous intent there. Did I hit a nerve, perhaps?"
"I said… Shut up!"
Nikita kicked Alya away. She had moved so fast that distance seemed irrelevant, leaving Alya with no time to evade, so she had put up a defensive barrier. But the force sent her reeling backwards.
Nikita closed in, then leapt into the air. Her body spun mid-air three hundred and sixty degrees as she used the centrifugal force of her body.
Her axe-kick slammed against the barrier, the force shattering it. Alya dispersed her physical body into wind.
"How will you deal with this, I wonder?"
Alya's playful voice echoed through the surroundings despite her not rematerializing her physical body.
Green wind blades, several dozen meters long, took shape, hurtling towards Nikita so fast that the sound of their arrival was unable to keep up.
But silver fur sprouted on Nikita's arm, becoming sharp claws. As the blades came within reach of her body, Nikita swiped forward.
Those claws could easily tear apart steel, bore through the wind blade, dispersing it into the air. Its dispersal became a fierce wind storm.
But more wind blades manifested as if replacing them, hurtling at Nikita at a speed even more absurd than the last.
Left, right, up, down. Blades manifested continuously, attacking Nikita from on Omni-directional sequence.
"Tch… How annoying."
Nikita clicked her tongue in irritation. Her instincts were warning her of danger. And small cuts were appearing on her pale, white skin. It was almost as if the air itself were blades, attacking in waves.
"Hmph. As if something of this scale could stop me."
Lightning flickered around Nikita's body; she forcefully accelerated to a speed beyond sound, ripping and tearing the air around her apart viciously.
Her lips curved into a fearless smile as her ruby coloured eyes glinted a beautiful red. The pressure wave left behind destruction.
"Hehe… hehe. I am the monarch of wind. My authority grants me more than just the power to influence the air currents, you know?"
Alya's teasing voice chimed like bells. And Nikita felt a sense of crisis as her skin prickled. With a booming sound, the ground was split open, tearing everything in a wide area apart. The grassy plains were quickly gouged out and torn apart, becoming a field of dirt.
(Ngh… She's manipulating a pressure wave?)
Nikita promptly took evasive manoeuvres, but she was a tad bit slow and was blown away along with the surroundings.
A storm of highly concentrated pressure waves moved forward, closing in on Nikita. But Nikita gently touched the ground, conjuring a towering wall of ice around her.
The pressure wave formed an invisible field of condensed air, attacking everything within range.
The air tremored from the density, gouging out the grassy plains as large craters several dozen meters in diameter were left behind. The pressure was so strong that it could shatter boulders—No, perhaps even a mountain could be flattened to the ground.
This sight was as if the atmosphere was fighting against Nikita. Fighting a monarch was less like fighting a spirit, and more like fighting their entire domain itself.
The monarchs were the embodiment of the world's nature in physical form. Indeed, they were the ultimate spiritual lifeform in this world, unmatched and absolute.
Bang!
The ice walls shattered to pieces, unable to endure the attack. But it had given Nikita enough time to put distance between them. Her nine tails undulated and spread outward like a flower in full bloom.
As the pressure wave came within reach, her nine tails grew ice blades from the tips, disrupting the flow of the air currents.
But the disruption merely stalled it momentarily; the pressure wave naturally regained its intensity.
Since Alya had become the wind itself, Nikita had no way of stopping her unless she manifested into her physical form.
"How long do you intend to keep hiding like a mouse? Get out here!"
Nikita clenched her fist, compressing a ridiculous amount of battle aura into a single point.
Without any regard for the surroundings, she struck, dispersing the air currents and rupturing the earth in a wide area around her.
Dust and stones, along with pieces of broken wood and leaves, filled the air.
"Geez. Did you have to do all that to make a point?"
Alya said, sighing in exasperation as she rematerialized her body a few meters away. Her dress was still in perfect condition, and not a single strand of her long, beautiful hair was out of place.
In fact, her appearance was so perfect that it was hard to believe she was fighting so seriously until now.
Nikita didn't give her any time to breathe as she closed in on her again; a kick was thrown, aiming directly towards Alya's head.
A regular human would have had their head blown off if it made contact, but Alya once again caught her ankle. But the force made her stagger backwards.
"Tch… This is what I hate about you spirits, so tenacious."
"Fufu… It would be shameful of me to be taken down so easily. Especially when my beloved is watching. I can't put on an unsightly show."
"Beloved? You mean that boy?"
"Who else but him could be worthy of my love."
Alya said as if it was only natural.
"I see… So, you and that person are in that kind of relationship? Now I really want to beat you more into the ground before him."
"Hmph. I should expect nothing less from a beast… But I do wonder, can you do it?"
"Why don't you find out?"
"Hehe… Is that a challenge?"
Alya chuckled, her grip on Nikita's ankles easing up as she let go. Nikita similarly lowered her raised leg. Then they backed away from each other.
Then she once again closed in on Alya from the front; her speed was more restrained than before, but even then, at that speed, her claws could still easily tear a body to pieces.
Alya increased the flow of energy in her arm, catching her by the wrist this time.
The force of the blow passed behind her, breaking the earth. At that, Nikita's lips loosened.
"Hehe… Not bad. I guess spirits aren't just all talk."
"Fufu, you're not bad yourself, though there are still some areas you could improve further."
"Hmph. Don't talk as if you know my limits!"
Nikita yelled; she accelerated to an explosive speed. The force of her sudden acceleration shattered the ground.
Her current speed far exceeded the speed of sound, and she was several times faster than any velocity she had reached before. She moved so fast that Alya couldn't even keep up with her afterimages.
However, Alya's lips curved upward, and her eyes glinted. She stayed completely still where she stood, not bothering to move or counter. Time seemed to come to a halt— no, everything around her froze as her perception of time quickened, giving the world the illusion as if time had stopped.
Nikita suddenly closed in from behind, her long, slender leg raised in an axe-kick.
"Ngh."
But her leg merely made contact with a wind barrier. However, the barrier was unable to suppress the force of her accelerated kick.
The force became a violent shockwave, spreading destruction around them. Only the area around Alya was left untouched.
"H-How did you?"
"I am the monarch of wind, you know? Even if I can't follow you with my eyes, as long as I can track your position with my connection to the air, blocking isn't an issue."
Alya replied, her lips twisted into a smug smile.
But Nikita merely laughed maniacally; she twisted her body and closed in on Alya from the front. Launching a fierce barrage of fists, each with the force to shatter steel.
But Alya increased her output of spiriurem; spiritual energy circulating her body spiked and enhanced her body to deal with the incoming attacks.
Alya parried her fist and diverted their trajectories. But the force of impact would always force her backwards.
She'd have to enhance her physical ability more than tenfold to be even with Nikita's physical strength.
Both moved their hands at insane speeds, attacking and countering each other's attacks head-on. Alya and Nikita's figures felt elusive, like a mirage.
Their figures appeared and vanished instantly as they repositioned themselves elsewhere. Their fists and kicks never ceased as they continued moving around.
Their battles spanned a wide area. Both were moving close to the speed of sound, sometimes even breaking the sound barrier instantly.
Because of their rapid acceleration and deceleration, their movements were closer to teleportation rather than pure velocity.
Even a distance of one kilometre was practically no distance to them at all. They'd cover it instantaneously as if it were nothing.
(Tch…. This is getting troublesome…)
Alya felt annoyed. As a spirit who specialises in long-range attacks, she was far better at fighting at a distance where she had the advantage and could attack freely.
Martial arts and blunt force exchange wasn't her favourite way to deal with opponents; as long as this back-and-forth continued, she'd be giving her opponent the upper hand.
Furthermore, her nine tails would also attack like extra limbs, weaving attacks and feints mixed into her attacks.
Their manoeuvrability was tricky to follow, and Nikita would sometimes sneak in either ice or lightning attacks while her tails parried or made feint attacks like manoeuvres.
It was a continuous exchange of both fists and kicks; offense and defense trade place, weaving and alternating between them. Both sides gave it their all to land a decisive blow on the other.
Nikita reached out her hand; an icy cold air wave moved towards Alya at tremendous speed, freezing over the earth.
But Alya responded to her attack by waving her hand, creating an air slash several meters wide.
Both wind and ice met head-on, creating a booming roar. Both Alya and Nikita were blown away.
Nikita got to her feet. She gritted her teeth in frustration. So far, she hadn't come close to landing a single blow on Alya, and yet Alya had landed several blows on Nikita. She was greatly upset by this fact.
"Pathetic! You're not a part of this family!"
"The gods gave pity to you, allowing you to be born in the main family, but you're still useless."
"You're nothing but a defective item."
"To be born into the main family without the world's blessings, how pitiful."
Nikita glared at Alya as many voices entered her ear, shouting ridiculing words at her. Gritting her teeth, she clenched her jaw while folding her hands into fists.
(Those stupid fools! One day you'll all regret looking down on me!!)
"I'll definitely make you regret insulting me!"
While shouting such things, she held her hands upwards towards the inhabited sky. Many balls of ice could easily be seen there. The balls of ice quickly took the form of ice shards and were five centimetres in length.
Alya observed the countless ice shards which had suddenly materialised within the sky; her calm gaze became slightly stern.
There's no way she'd be able to dodge all the countless ice shards coming at her in rapid succession. With a small sigh, she created two short swords in her hands.
Nikita clenched her fist as she brought her raised hand downwards. Following her movements, the shards of ice also came flying downwards, attacking Alya in every direction.
However, with a calm expression, Alya casually slashed with her short swords, destroying all the countless ice shards that came flying in her direction.
The sound of fabric tearing was smooth. Alya's miniskirt was being ripped apart by the ice shards she wasn't able to avoid while moving.
Her expression became slightly annoyed… even though she just went through the trouble of changing her dress, this happens. With a smooth motion, she slashes with her short swords, cutting down as many of the ice shards as she can.
Bang!! Bang!!! Bang!!!
The ice shards scattered and dispersed into particles of ice as Alya closed in on Nikita, who was busy controlling the countless shards of ice. Alya leapt into the air, closing the distance between them in an instant.
"Hmph, bad decision."
"Eh?"
Before Alya could swing her sword, four of Nikita's nine silver tails dug into the ground. Soon, a fierce quake struck the ground as the soil began to undulate.
Many bolts of lightning rose from the soil and pierced the cloudy skies. Dispersing the dense clouds like mist being blown away by the wind.
Alya twisted her body mid-air, forcefully changing the direction of her movements; the blast of electricity missed her by a hair's breadth. Once she landed on the ground, she became more aware of how rugged her skirt was.
"Sigh, I just wore this dress."
She muttered under her breath. However, before she had a chance to rest, Nikita once again released electricity, causing the ground to once again quake violently.
Alya gazed downwards, feeling the spot where she was standing start to shake violently. She somersaulted, avoiding the electricity that rose from the ground.
She used impressive footwork and manoeuvrability, easily dodging the bolts of lightning that rose upwards towards the sky; however, fatigue was slowly starting to show on her beautiful face.
The air once again rumbled as Nikita closed the distance between them. She thrust her right fist out, attempting to punch Alya's abdomen.
Bang!!!
Her crimson eyes widened as her fist was caught by Alya's right hand. The two beautiful maidens stared at each other in proximity. Nikita was grinning fearlessly as beads of sweat trickled down her face, further enhancing her beauty.
However, her expression was like that of a wild beast instead of a beautiful maiden.
"I must say I really underestimated you. The way you fight is like that of someone I once knew."
"Hmph, are you ready to take back your words from earlier?"
"Not a chance; you still haven't landed a single blow since we started, you know."
Alya smirked as her mouth was upturned into a smile. Seeing that, Nikita's eyes became sharp.
Bang!! Bang!! Bang!!
With Alya now in proximity to her, she folded both her fists tightly while punching fiercely, changing the air pressure with each thrust.
However, Alya enchanted her physical strength using her own spiriurem, further strengthening her physical body. She also thrust her fist forward.
Bang!!! Bang!!! Bang!!!
Their respective fist collided, causing the air to rumble fiercely. Nikita's long, beautiful silver hair danced freely through the air; her long, transparent yellow dress also freely danced as the hem of her dress fluttered in the sudden burst of wind, and her pure white thigh was clearly visible to the naked eye.
However, it didn't seem like she cared enough about that as she stretched her legs outward and kicked at Alya's chest.
Alya folded both her arms toward her chest, blocking her kick successfully. Though she was pushed back by the force.
Nikita lunged at Alya with a sharp glint in her eyes.
Her demeanour was like that of a wild, fierce beast, refusing to allow its prey to escape.
"Sigh, I think that's enough of this."
Alya said with a sigh.
The wind howled, creating a powerful gust that easily changed the course of Nikita's direction. However, she twisted her body and killed her excess momentum before landing safely on the ground.
"What do you mean you have had enough?"
She inquired curiously.
"Look at my appearance. I don't know about you, beast, but I take great care in my appearance."
Alya said, fixing her dishevelled miniskirt. She brushed her twin tails to straighten the strands of hair that had become loose.
"Tch, I see you give up just when I was about to snatch a win. I didn't know Spirits were such pitiful creatures."
"If you're trying to annoy me, you'll need a better insult than that; in any case, it seems Haruto is on his way here."
Alya said, turning her gaze towards the boy with slightly long, silky black hair, wearing a long black coat, which would glow and release an electric spark around the streaks on the side.