Miyako raised her sword at the bandit leader, who was standing so confidently with a wide grin on his face. He casually turned towards the ground floor, as his men attacked both Estelia and Nira.

"What's up with that little one?" He noticed the inhumanity on Nira. But he casually shrugged his shoulders. "Eh, whatever."

Miyako glanced at Satomi as the latter slowly moved to the right. Thus, Miyako slowly moved to the other side, glaring at the enemy before them. On the bright side, all of his men were busy fighting someone else, so he was alone. She didn't know what to expect from this man. How powerful he could be. Therefore, she had to assume he was strong.

The bandit leader turned towards the two of them. "Honestly, what makes you think it's a good idea to attack my fortress, hm?"

"Is there even any room to question us?" Satomi said. "We've wiped out your men outside."

The bandit leader frowned, a faint sign of annoyance on his face. "I have to admit, that is pretty impressive of you. To think you could do that with so few numbers." He let out a long sigh. "Well, whatever. There are plenty of humans to be found willing to work."

"Enough talk!" Satomi rushed at him with incredible speed and swung both her swords.

The bandit dodged, completely evading Satomi's quick swings, surprising Satomi herself. As he landed back on his feet, Miyako came up beside him and swung her burning blade sideways at him. However, the enemy reacted fast and parried her blade with his sword. At that same moment, he lifted his leg to send a kick.

Miyako didn't underestimate that attack, so she filled more mana into her body. She raised her arm and blocked the kick, and the power of the impact caused her to feel a good amount of pain. If she had not used some Physical Enhancement, her arm could have been heavily bruised.

"Flames, what a beautiful choice indeed!" said the bandit.

Miyako took a step back just as Satomi attacked with both blades at once from the enemy's back. However, he dodged one blade and parried the other. Satomi quickly drew back her hand and continued swinging at the enemy. There were continuous sounds of ringing and clanging from the numerous impacts of metals. The bandit swung and dodged, and Satomi was unable to land a hit.

The enemy dodged sideways and moved his leg, leaning forward closer to Satomi. He managed to find an opening, and Satomi could never block it in time. So she had no choice but to shift her body and withdraw a little. The enemy blade missed her cheek by an inch.

Miyako took the chance and attacked from behind. But unexpectedly, her sword landed on the enemy's, missing her target. Stepping back, Miyako poured mana into her weapon and swung her blade in a sweeping motion, unleashing a wave of blue flames. The bandit leader held his sword with both hands and swung it down, slicing the fiery wave in half, disrupting it entirely.

Miyako's eyes widened, flabbergasted.

My flames got cut?

The strength it would need to cut through it by a mere blade would be tremendous.

Satomi jumped in and attacked from above, sending multiple slashes at the same time. And to everyone's shock, the enemy leaped away with intense swiftness, and the slashes only hit the floor.

How did he move that fast?

He may be as fast as the ninja woman they faced last time. Which was strange, he didn't look like a ninja at all. The most he was doing was swinging his sword with one hand.

Satomi kept engaging the enemy.

And then, while the bandit leader was distracted, Miyako poured a good amount of mana into her sword. The blue flames on the blade grew in intensity. She narrowed her eyes, aiming for the enemy. And then—

"Satomi!"

The warrior instantly understood what her lady was about to do. Therefore, she did a heavy swing on the enemy, which he blocked. At the same time, Satomi instantly leaped away from him. Miyako thrust her sword forward. Shooting out of her sword was a violent, dense spear of fire. It blurred its surroundings, blowing wind, and radiated intense, scorching heat. The deadly projectile impacted directly on the bandit leader.

An explosion of fire erupted, blowing dust and debris all over. Miyako covered her eyes as her hair flapped in the shockwave.

A moment later, the flames settled. It created a shallow crater on the floor, but left black marks from the burn. However…

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How?!

Her eyes widened in utter shock.

"Hehehe," the man chuckled, patting his mildly burnt clothes. "Flames, beautiful, aren't they?"

The bandit leader was still standing. Not a single singe on his skin.

"Sadly for you, fire won't work on me."

How is this possible?

Miyako couldn't understand what was going on, and she felt absolutely frustrated. How could something be invulnerable to fire? Still, it had happened already, there was no denying it. Gripping her sword tightly, she disabled the flames. If it was useless anyway, better not waste more mana.

"Then I'll beat you with pure swordsmanship."

"Hahahaha! Really now?"

Miyako narrowed her eyes. "You… You don't know swordsmanship, do you?"

"Oh?"

"You're just swinging your sword around with no form, no harmony."

Indeed, that was what she had noticed since they started fighting. He was just swinging his sword in response, but it had no sign of swordsmanship at all. Almost like a child playing with a sword.

"So? What does it matter? I'm already plenty strong. Don't need for any of that shit."

"You mock the art of the sword?"

"None of that matters. What matters is that I can kill."

Miyako frowned. Satomi lunged towards the bandit. At the same time, Miyako ran up to him and attacked from his side. Their swords clashed, sparks flashed as metal crashed. Satomi drew her swords backwards. Seeing that, Satomi quickly moved away.

Satomi swung her swords with a flashing speed, unleashing a storm of magical slashes barraging at the enemy. It was at that moment that the bandit leader waved his hand. A curtain of fire appeared and protected him, devouring all of Satomi's attacks.

The flames were bright and chaotic, savage.

The bandit leader laughed. "My flames of inferno are superior to your fire."

Miyako took a deep breath as she watched Satomi engage him again. She followed, swinging her sword at him. But the enemy would wave his hand to unleash a short blast of fire. Miyako conjured a Palm Shield to protect herself.

Both Miyako and Satomi kept fighting as a team. When one dodged, the other would move in to attack. Miyako fought nothing more but mere swordplay, and plain magic coating her sword. She would attempt to distract the enemy to prevent him from using his fire magic while Satomi moved in to attack. Or vice versa.

Several exchanges later, the attacks of the duo became faster and faster, and more relentless.

"Ugh! You're like mosquitos!" complained the bandit leader.

He swung his sword to attack, and waved his hand to release his fire magic. But then there was a window, and Satomi used the chance to slash his arm. That staggered him for a moment, but that was enough for Miyako to slash his torso. And Satomi quickly stabbed him in the back. One sword, then the second one.

Afterward, Miyako pierced her sword into his chest.

The bandit leader froze and glared at Miyako. The latter glared back before pulling out her sword. The bandit's corpse fell to the ground.

Miyako looked down, panting heavily. She felt fortunate that she had someone to work with. Killing that bandit leader alone would have been impossible.

Both Miyako and Satomi quickly checked up on Estelia and Nira.

***

I slit the throat of one random bandit. These ones were a bit tough. It would seem what remained in this keep were their most elites. I actually sweated a bit while fighting these guys. But that was also because it was a direct confrontation. This was why I hated that. Too much sweat.

I dodged one attack and swiftly stabbed the side of his body. At least they weren't too difficult. Though I have to resort to using a small amount of Physical Enhancement. More and more bodies dropped lifelessly, their blood pooling on the floor. Nira was also relentless and a bit brutal.

Considering that she was in her monster form, I suppose such actions were to be expected. She ripped someone apart with her claws, ravaged someone's neck as she feast on their blood. Seeing how monstrous she was, not knowing she was but a little girl, you could say that the bandits were a bit disturbed. Which was actually good. Gotta love the mental disturbance inflicted upon the enemy.

I was a bit worried though that Nira would get out of control a bit, given the amount of death here. But we'd see how she'd go.

Us aside, Miyako and Satomi's battle looked pretty intense. Good thing that wasn't my battle. But I was confident they could handle that guy pretty well. He was alone, after all.

One bandit started seething with annoyance. "Stop moving around, would you?!" he said to me.

Yeah, I was moving around a lot. You know, to evade… And I was feeling tired already. There were just too many of them, and just two of us. Anyway, I stabbed the guy in the throat real bad because he hurt my ear.

And some time later, everyone was dead. I let out a relieved sigh.

Looking up, it would seem that Miyako and Satomi were done as well. Pretty good!

"Estelia! Are you wounded?" Miyako asked.

I climbed up the stairs. "I'm fine. So you killed him?"

"Yes!"

I reached them and stared at the body lying on the floor. He was slashed up.

"Splendid work," I said. "Well then, this means the place is o—"

"Hold it right there." A growly voice said. "Who said we were done?"

"H-How?" Miyako muttered as we watched the bandit leader, who was supposed to be dead, slowly stand up.

I raised an eyebrow, scrutinizing him as his wounds started to heal, his skins shifting all over. He was grinning.

"We are far from over!" Flames appeared around his arms.

"How is this possible?! What are you?" Satomi raised her swords at him.

"Hahaha! You fucked up, really fucked up. None of you can kill me. Not ever."

It was then his entire body began to shift, and he looked like he was in pain. He became larger, his clothes gradually ripped apart. His skin color turned dark red, his face turned uglier, his teeth became monstrous, sharp like fangs. His fingers, wrapped in flames, grew sharp claws. His eyes bled, morphing into something inhuman, turning black, and his pupils turned into the orange of fire.

This scene was all too familiar. A red-skinned humanoid, one that controlled violent flames.

Miyako and Satomi were struck speechless.

"Y-Your n-not human," Satomi said.

"Indeed, I am not. I am unkillable. A wielder of hellish flames."

I subtly groaned. I didn't expect to encounter one tonight, but I guessed it was only a matter of time.

"You're…" Miyako took a deep breath. "A demon."

I slowly took a step back.

Crap… It had to be an imp.

Well, not like I knew any other demon, anyway.

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