(MC POV)
I watched Sophia start to metamorphosize in front of me. Her horns grew even longer and bat-like wings sprouted from her back, stretching out to her sides three times her arm length.
She let out a loud wail that tore through the ground in front of her, the wave of destruction heading straight towards me.
I lifted my hand and tapped my index finger in the air just as the shockwave reached me, the air shimmering like the surface of a pool. The shockwave smashed itself into the mirror wall in front of me, splitting itself into two and redirecting to my sides harmlessly.
I twisted my arm and clenched my fist, summoning earthen spikes that shot up from the ground to impale the demon lord.
For some reason, I just got a really distinct sense of Deja Vu from doing that.
Sophia's tattoos glowed blue and the spikes merely snapped off the moment they hit her hardened skin.
She grabbed one of the broken off spikes and hurled it at me, the spike's speed so fast it actually made a loud 'boom' sound as it travelled towards me.
I stepped to the side, avoiding the projectile by mere inches.
Sophia came crashing down towards me, both her fists wrapped in purplish flames.
I ducked underneath her left hook but I never expected her tail to come stabbing straight into my gut, flinging me away from her.
I skidded along the ground, my feet leaving a small dust cloud in its wake.
The Demon Lord flapped her wings to shoot through the air, closing the distance between us in the blink of an eye.
Once again, her left fist shot towards my face in a straight punch.
Instead of just avoiding it like before, I tilted my head to dodge it before hooking my right arm under her elbow, pushing her arm down in an arm lock.
She immediately tried to sweep her foot under mine to trip me but I managed to lift mine up before she could and used that opportunity to sweep her instead.
She used her wing as a pivot right as she began to fall, pushing herself up into the air and creating distance between us.
Seems like she was proficient in hand to hand combat too.
Not going to let her have time to recover, I reached out my hand and pulled back a fist, drawing the gravity around her towards me.
Sophia was pulled back towards me where I had a Lightning spear poised to skewer her.
She let out an animalistic growl while she was being pulled in, the nails on her fingers elongating into sharp points while her tattoos switched to a reddish hue.
She was most likely expecting me to pull her into the spear but I hefted the Lightning spear at the last few moments and tossed it at her.
To her credit, she managed to react fast enough and slashed her hand at my spear, deflecting it towards the ground below her.
That, however, left her defenceless against my follow up punch that struck directly at her abdomen.
She let out a loud gasp as the wind was knocked out of her before the impact flung her away to crash into the wall on the other side.
I raised my arm into the sky and called down a bolt of Heavenly Lightning on where she had crashed, only to have the lightning bounce off something to be redirected at me instead.
I narrowly avoided it by leaping away at the last moment, it seems like Sophia has some kind of skill that can deflect any Technique thrown at her.
In that case…
I stretched out my hand and summoned my sword, extending it to its full length.
I hefted my sword just as a figure blurred out of the crash site, giving me enough time to swing my sword in an arc in front of me.
The blade stopped abruptly in midair, Sophia having blocked the slash with the back of her wrist.
I grinned, my thumb pressing down on the ignition switch that blasted the sword forward to continue its trajectory.
Sophia only had time to widen her eyes before she was flung away to crash into another wall again.
She looked up just in time to see me leaping at her with my blade raised high in the air to slam down on her.
I suddenly had a rather foreboding feeling and quickly ignited my sword's boosters again, changing my course in midair.
Just when I did so, the space where I would have been a split second later exploded with Dark Lightning, missing me by a hairsbreadth.
Using the sword's boosters to propel myself above her, I dropped down with the blade pointed down at her.
She rolled out of the way just in time as the sword smashed where she had been a few moments ago, using that opportunity to lunge at me instead.
Not having enough time to pull out the sword, I moved myself behind it instead to use the flat part as a shield.
She smashed herself against my impromptu shield, shoving me back a few feet away.
That gave me enough time to pull the sword out to deflect her next flurry of strikes. It seemed almost comical that I was using such a giant sword to deflect blows from her nails.
She tried to lunge at me again, her nails scraping through empty air as I leapt into the air and somersaulted behind her.
I landed on my feet just as she turned around and brought my sword up to her neck, stopping there.
She smiled at me, "I yield. Master Lin really does live up to your name."
I rolled my eyes, "Please, you weren't fighting me seriously from the start."
"Gufufu, I can say the same to you, Master Lin."
Her demonic form began reverting back to the one she had before, her wings disappearing into her back while her horns shortened in length.
I stored my own sword away into my ring and reached down to help her up.
She accepted my hand gladly, but instead of pulling herself up like I thought she would, she held onto my hand and got on a knee like she was proposing to me.
"Once more you showed me your strength, Master Lin. Would you accept an oath of fealty from me?"
"Oath of fealty?"
She nodded, "I will swear myself into your service and bind myself to you as your servant from now."
"Is there really a need to do this? Aren't you already my servant?"
"Not officially, I would like to at least make this relationship official."
Her words made me raise an eyebrow, maybe this was some kind of belief or some old-fashioned ritual of hers? Well, no reason to reject that if it would put her mind at ease.
"Alright then, go ahead."
Her smile got broader, "In that case, could I know Master Lin's honoured name?"
Hmm? Have I not told anyone my name before? Oh well.
I bent down and whispered my name in her ear, the Demon Lord shivering slightly when she heard it for some reason.
She bowed her head while holding my hand and her tattoos started to glow again, this time in a faint black colour.
The entire area around us seemed to become just a little bit dimmer and words I did not understand the meaning of flowed out of her mouth.
In just a few short seconds, everything reverted itself back to normal and Sophia turned her gaze back at me.
"With this, I am now your loyal servant, Master Lin. Command me as you see fit."
Ok… Maybe she's also a masochist?
Anyway, I've got more important matters to deal with right now, something that involves joining my cute disciples in the bath so this can be left for later!
