Belle Vanitas was filthy.
She was covered in blood and bruises, and she even had slight burn marks on her body.
Her dress was tattered, revealing an ample amount of skin and underwear. However, despite this crass appearance, she still looked incredibly intimidating.
Her long hair floated in the air as a deep, crazed scowl was seated on her pretty face. She had the gaze of a madwoman, and the tears that flowed down her face added a layer of sadness to her rage.
"You…" She muttered, her gaze directed at the trembling Ser'ith. "... Where do you think you're running to?"
As she took a step forward, the ground rumbled.
"You think you can just run away after what you did?" Her eyes glowed dark pink—almost purple—as she deepened the glare on her enemy.
Despite being surrounded by her unconscious allies—like Justin, Clark, Billy, and Trisha—and the conscious ones like Adonis and Alicia; even seeing new faces, like Brutus and Lucielle, while missing a few like Eric and Snow… Belle paid them no mind.
Her gaze was only on the Dragon Commander in front of her.
"I'll kill you… MOTHERFUCKER!"
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Ser'ith trembled as he heard the human girl utter those words.
He knew, since it had been ingrained deep inside his body, that she was capable of those very words.
'H-how humiliating. This is… this is not how things are supposed to go!'
He was the one meant to be dishing out the threats and looking down on his adversaries. In fact, he had done just that during their initial encounter.
'When I saw them rescuing those people, I thought for sure that they were easy prey.' His body trembled as he remembered how he approached them from his high estate.
He was still very bloodthirsty back then, so he was looking for any excuse to kill someone—or something. He would have killed the powerless denizens of the city, but what was the fun in that?
Killing defenseless small fry wasn't going to give him the satisfaction he craved.
Instead, the glare of the two humans who stood against him… now that was what he lived for!
He wanted to crush them so badly.
'I-I killed the male brat. But that's only because he startled me!' Ser'ith regretted that decision now, but it wasn't like he did it out of pure satisfaction either.
Yes, he was looking for any excuse to kill, but he hadn't even decided who to execute when the boy acted up and tried to use Skills that were at least in the Absolute Tier.
'He tried to contact someone from beyond the city, and he was also about to use some kind of Spatial Magic.'
Ser'ith could sense this due to his Skills of [Absolute Spatial Magic] and [Damage Precognition]. The latter was a Passive Skill that only kicked in when real danger was about to approach, so he would be able to glimpse five seconds into the future.
That was how he was able to tell that the lad wanted to contact someone. He would have used Spatial Magic or something of the sort to bring the person or thing over, and that would have been dangerous.
It was a reflex action… killing the kid.
He unleashed the full power of his Dragon Breath and burned him to crisps. He also ensured all of that damage was suffered by him in high intensity by ensuring he was entrapped in a closed space.
All of that… just to prevent the worst-case scenario that his [Damage Precognition] sensed.
Back then, Ser'ith was a little curious as to what the human could possibly summon that could damage him. However, he decided to take action before thinking about it.
After all, one of his comrades had just been killed by a human just earlier. It was an ambush, sure, but the death was real nonetheless.
Besides, [Damage Precognition] had never been wrong before.
Unfortunately for him… by killing that boy, he triggered the girl who was beside him.
'This girl… this human… she's a monster!' Ser'ith thought to himself, shrieking as he gazed upon her bloody form.
'She doesn't stop! She won't stop!'
His heart raced as he took a few steps back, looking around him for any alternative to the problem he was currently facing.
'Lady Kar'en is down for the count, and she was my insurance against this monster!' He gritted his teeth as he felt the human's intimidating gaze.
'R'ashu is fast, so I thought he would be able to help me deal with her… but he's dead?!'
Phil'emon wasn't around, so it was safe to say that he was dead too. Still, even if he was present, he wouldn't have been of any help.
… Not against this one.
'I don't know how she does it, but her attacks always land, even if I teleport or use Spatial Magic to warp space.'
It was almost as if her power ignored distance.
Plus, she always seemed to track him down no matter where he teleported to. Sure, he was able to land some hits in the beginning—hence the reason why she looked so disheveled—
but she quickly acclimated to his attacks and started dishing out counters.
'Her attacks are invisible, and they hit with scary precision. They're also too fast!'
It got so bad to the point that Ser'ith couldn't activate his Spatial Magic any longer. The moment he tried to, he would get hit by a powerful barrage that would completely ruin his actions.
'Spatial Magic requires incredible concentration. She's constantly overwhelming me, preventing me from using it properly.'
There was nothing in his arsenal that he could use to diffuse her. If he had a partner, sure, they could tag her and emerge victorious.
But alone? He stood no chance at all!
'Is this all because I killed that guy? Was he her lover or something?' Ser'ith didn't know the nature of their relationship, but he knew something for sure.
Staring deep into Belle's murderous eyes, and seeing how the overflowing energy around her kept undulating, he was well aware of his impending fate.
'I'm going to die at this rate!'
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Thanks for reading!
How do you think Belle got so strong? Or why do you think she was able to win?
