Scathach, along with Violet, Eleonor, Pepper, Siena, Lacus, Luna, Natalia, and Maria, arrived in the backyard of the mansion.
"Hasn't the fight started?" Violet asked as she looked at Victor, who was standing in the middle of the yard.
"Not yet." Sasha, who was accompanied by Natashia, spoke.
"You're here..." Victor looked at the girls and flashed a small smile.
"Were you expecting us?"
"Yes, I want you to see this fight." He spoke with the same smile on his face.
"...?" Is he trying to show us something? The girls, except for Scathach and Natashia, thought.
Victor looked back at Anderson, who was warming up. He showed a small smile and then closed his eyes; he was waiting for someone else.
"Anderson, why are you so excited?" Yuran asked since he couldn't understand Anderson's excitement. The man was literally in the middle of enemy territory, and to make matters worse, the auras of those two women were honestly scaring the hell out of him. He just wanted to get out of here.
"How can I not be excited? A strong opponent is in front of me!" Anderson's smile grew, and, as if he was an experienced fighter, he started punching and kicking the air as he was warming up.
"I can understand you, Anderson, but... You're being very reckless." Yuran kept insisting it was a bad idea.
Seeing that the man was not listening to him, he said:
"Anderson-."
A vein bulged on Liza's head, and she looked at the man, "Just shut the fuck up, stop acting like his mother, motherfucker!" she roared.
"...." Yuran opened his mouth wide.
"Pfft." Julian and Juan held back their laughter.
"...What is this weird air around him?" Pepper was feeling weird.
"Mother, do you know-..." She was going to ask Scathach something, but she was silent when she saw Scathach's huge smile.
The woman's eyes were glowing blood-red while she was opening and closing her hand:
"That brat, just what did he go through in the past 1 year?" Scathach spoke while she was holding back so she wouldn't try to pull him into a corner and make him fight her.
Step, Step.
All the girls heard footsteps and looked in the direction of the sound, then they saw Ruby, who was in a white coat.
"You came Ruby," Victor looked at the woman.
"Sorry for the delay, I was busy."
"It's all right," Victor spoke with a small smile.
"..." Victor looked around.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, he looked at Anderson as the man seemed to be steaming from his body.
"Finally, you're ready." He spoke as he walked forward.
The magic circles on Victor's glove began to glow brightly, he assumed an open chest position.
"I was always ready." A dark red aura began to cover Victor's body as he took a deep breath and said:
"My Maids."
Victor's shadow seemed to grow around him, and several red eyes began to appear in the shadows.
Then hands covered in darkness began to leave Victor's shadow.
"..." Anderson narrowed his eyes when he saw this bizarre scene of beings coming out of the man's shadow.
Slowly four beings began to 'emerge' from Victor's shadows.
Precisely speaking, four women stepped out of Victor's shadow.
The four maids looked at Anderson with her blood-red eyes, then a maid looked back at Victor.
"Master." She bowed in respect.
"Kaguya, you know what to do," Victor spoke as he looked at Anderson.
"Yes," Kaguya replied in a neutral tone.
Kaguya returned to her normal position and turned around, "Maids." She didn't need to say much.
"We know." Roberta flashed a small smile.
Kaguya nodded, satisfied, as she started walking. She passed the three women, stopped at the front of the group, and assumed her position as her eyes began to glow blood red, and soon she disappeared...
And then she reappeared while she was standing in the sky.
"...She learned that too." Violet narrowed her eyes.
"The year we were away was not in vain." Ruby laughed a little.
"...I see..." Violet said as she looked at one specific woman who was wearing a French maid dress, 'She became a Maid too, huh?'
"I wonder what they are doing," Lacus asked curiously as she looked at the Maids, who started to disappear one by one, the only one who was present was Roberta.
Bruna appeared somewhere near the forest, and she appeared somewhere near the mansion.
The two women began to look around very cautiously.
"If I'm going to put it in simple terms... It's a preventive measure." Ruby explained.
"Preventive measure for what?" Lacus asked, even more curious than before.
"Let's say Darling made a troublesome enemy when he was in the human realm..." After that, she was silent, and it was clear she didn't want to say anymore.
"..." All the women narrowed their eyes when they heard what Ruby said.
"Helheim."
FUSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
All darkness fell around Scathach's mansion and formed a 'realm' unique to Kaguya, a realm of pure darkness in which Kaguya had complete control.
Strangely, despite being covered in pure darkness, everything was still 'visible', although that wouldn't be a problem because everyone present here was a creature of the night.
"Anderson..." Yuran was in a cold sweat. He didn't like where things were going at all, and they were clearly stuck here.
"This time, I have to agree with Yuran, we have to get out of here," Julian spoke.
"..." Anderson didn't say anything, as he just kept watching Victor, who never stopped looking at him.
Finished with her preparations, Kaguya looked at Victor.
She didn't need to say anything since, with just one look, Victor understood everything.
Victor pointed his finger at Anderson, "Now, we can fight at will." The magic circle on Victor's hands began to glow crazily.
"...Oh?"
Victor's smile grew just like Anderson's, and he opened his hands and turned them up in the same position.
"Cocoon."
Fushhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
A cocoon of ice began to appear beneath the shadow realm.
"Bullshit, just how much power do you need to create a cocoon this size?" Liza couldn't help but say.
"I think despite being a...pervert...he's still a vampire count."
"...What did that bitch say?" Violet and Natashia's eyes narrowed at the same time.
"Shhh, don't make a mess now,
Finished with creating the cocoon, Victor snapped his finger, and rapidly the floor of an arena began to be created.
"Heh~, he got better at creating ice." Scathach spoke while looking at the ice created by Victor. She could clearly tell that the 'quality' of his ice was much better than the last time she saw it.
"He wasn't the only one." Ruby flashed a sly smile.
"Oh? I am curious now, my daughter."
"In the future, I'll show you, Mother." Ruby continued with the same smile, then she turned to look straight ahead.
Victor jumped into the ice arena and asked a simple question:
"With weapons or without weapons?"
Anderson jumped into the arena too, and he replied:
"Whatever." He took a basic martial arts position.
"I see."
"In that case."
Victor clenched both fists, and soon two ice gloves were created, as he assumed a martial arts stance as well.
"... That is..." Scathach narrowed her eyes.
"Nothing can slip through your eyes when it comes to fighting, huh?"
"What happened?" Sasha asked.
Natashia looked at Scathach.
"This stance is the martial arts that hunters use... Although it's a little weird... Did he mix my technique too?" Scathach's eyes narrowed. If that's true, which it seems to be, nothing other than genius level can be used to describe him...
Wrong. To call him a genius is an insult since even a genius would have problems doing what he did...
'Oh, but hasn't he done that in the past? He mixed Natashia's technique and my technique... But that's just a specific technique, not the whole fighting style.'
'Let's watch.' Scathach decided.
"...Did he stay close to the hunters?" Sasha narrowed her eyes.
Knowing of her past with the hunters, Ruby looked at Sasha:
"Wrong. He got close to a hunter who deserted the hunters when she discovered a terrible truth."
"..." Sasha kept looking at Ruby, and soon she assumed a confused expression:
"Who are you talking about?"
"Mizuki." She said and then looked back at Victor.
"..." An awkward silence fell over the place when Violet and Sasha heard the woman's name.
"...Who is this bitc-... Cough, who is this woman?" Natashia asked with a twinkle in her eye.
"...well, in short." Sasha started summarizing who Mizuki was to Natashia.
Kaguya descended from the sky and appeared in the middle of the arena, and then took a coin from her pocket and said, "The moment the coin falls to the ground, the fight begins."
"...." The two men faced each other in their stances and didn't say anything. From their perspective, Kaguya didn't exist; they were just waiting for a sign.
And Kaguya knew it, so she tossed the coin into the sky and disappeared into the shadows.
The girls' attention was drawn to the coin.
The coin began to slowly fall.
... Tink.
When the two heard the coin rattle, their auras exploded as they disappeared from their position and collided in the middle of the arena.
BOOOOOOOOM
A burst of air occurred as the two collided, but it didn't seem to slow them down.
The fight finally began!
Both opponents began exchanging punches at high speed, each targeting openings where they could find them or using their strikes to create them, however...
Neither of their punches seemed to connect.
Victor defended and attacked.
Anderson dodged and attacked.
Suddenly, an opening seemed to appear on Victor's left, allowing Anderson to deliver a whip-like roundhouse kick towards Victor's head. However, Victor had purposely left that opening, allowing him to predict what would occur and dodge.
Victor lurched forward with his torso, allowing Anderson's leg to pass harmlessly above him.
While Anderson appeared off-balance, Victor struck forth with a devastating straight that tore apart the air in front of him.
Though it seemed as though Anderson was wide open, he followed through with his spinning kick, seamlessly transitioning into a backwards spinning elbow strike that collided with Victor's incoming fist.
A shockwave from the impact point radiated outwards, buffering the spectators' clothes with the gusts of wind.
The two then jumped back, away from each other, before simultaneously charging back into the fray.
Victor and Anderson's exchanges occurred so quickly that untrained eyes couldn't even comprehend their movements, all appearing like a massive blur.
BOOOOOOM, BOOOOOM!
With each collision that happened between the two, small explosions occurred, both from the impact and the initial movements of their bodies.
But that didn't seem to stop the two men!
In fact, they got even more excited!
"His foundation is more solid than before..." Scathach observed in shock.
"Using Darling's words, he said: Master, you told me that no matter what technique I learn, I must always improve the basics."
"...Oh...He didn't forget, huh?" She flashed a small smile.
"I don't think anyone would forget your teachings, Master," Eleanor spoke with a face as she looked at the fight.
Just remembering the training she had undergone, she felt doubtful if she would forget that trauma for the rest of her life.
Nod, Nod.
Siena, Lacus, and Pepper nodded while they had the same lifeless face as Eleanor.
"...Girls..." Scathach was speechless. She didn't know she was so loved.
"Okay, I've decided!" She said with a big smile.
"...." The girls, for some reason, started to get a bad feeling about this.
"If you liked my training so much, I will train you-."
"Please don't." All of them said at the same time.
"Eh?" Scathach was surprised.
"Please don't." They repeated what they said.
"..." Ruby just had a wry smile when she saw this scene. She thought that only Victor 'enjoyed' the training with Scathach. After all, he wasn't right in the head from the beginning.
"Why-..." Scathach was going to ask something, but she stopped when she heard a loud noise.
BOOOOOOOOM.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA~!" The laughter of the two men was heard.
They collided again in the middle of the arena, and this time, Anderson managed to counterattack. He grabbed Victor's arm and punched him in the face, but before his fist reached Victor's face, Anderson felt a chill down his spine, and he quickly let go of Victor and jumped back.
Soon an ice greatsword came out of the ground from where Anderson was.
Victor took the sword blade, pulled it from the ground, and held the Greatsword behind his back.
He flashed a small smile and said, "What? You said, 'Whatever'. Did you forget?"
"... Of course not." Anderson laughed, and as he took on a serious expression, he assumed a basic boxing stance.
The whole atmosphere of the man changed as he became more focused, sharper, and fiercer...
It was like a wolf that was about to attack its prey.
"Oh?"
A white power began to cover his body, and suddenly, he punched the air:
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A gigantic blast of white energy shot out of his fist and flew towards Victor.
Seeing the power flying in front of him, Victor's smile slowly started to become a satisfied smile, "...That...this is it...Yes..." He spoke incomprehensible words, and while holding the sword with his right hand, he raised his left hand up.
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Roberta appeared in front of the group and raised her hand forward.
The remnants of Power flew towards Roberta, but the woman just remained in the same position as the power clashed in her hand. It was as if she was holding an invisible barrier.
"...What is this power?" Sasha asked as she looked at Anderson.
"I have a strange feeling about this power." She didn't know how to explain it. Something like a tingle all over her body? She just didn't like it.
"Unlike vampires, wolves are the beings that are closest to nature... That is." Natashia spoke in a neutral voice.
"That's the power of some element of nature. If I were to guess, I'd say it's light, but I'm not sure about that."
"..." The girls were silent and continued watching. Soon, the power started to disappear, and Victor appeared in the same position as before.
The ground around him was streaked with power, but the man himself didn't seem to have any damage.
"...Did he withstand that power without taking damage?" Liza opened her mouth in shock. It's okay since Anderson wasn't transformed yet, that is, he wasn't using all his strength, but putting up with the attack without suffering anything is just bullshit.
"Oy, Oy, if you take this onslaught without suffering anything, you're going to undermine my trust, you know?" Anderson spoke, but everyone could see that from the big smile on his face, he didn't look the least bit depressed.
Victor looked at his left hand and saw that his glove was a little cracked.
He clenched his fist and opened it again, as the small crack was fixed, then he looked at Anderson.
"Very well, you have my full attention now." Victor's smile grew. After a long time, he managed to find someone strong.
"Don't let me down, friend..."
"..." Anderson narrowed his eyes.
'His atmosphere has changed, will he finally get serious?'
He dropped the ice sword to the ground, and the sword slowly disappeared as it formed a puddle of water, so did his ice glove.
Soon he started walking towards Anderson.
A blistering atmosphere began to leave Victor's body, "Let's heat things up."
......
