Lennix slashed his right claws straight for Velastra's face. The swipe cut cleanly through the air but not her. Velastra had already leaned back, spine bending with effortless control as his claws missed by inches.
"I like that you're determined now," she said, her tone almost encouraging, almost. "But… you do realize determination doesn't magically change your stats, right?"
Still in the motion of her lean, she pivoted on her heel and whipped into a tight spinning kick aimed square at his left ribs.
"That's not true!" Lennix shouted, bringing both forearms up just in time. Her heel smashed into them with a sharp, ugly crack. Pain flared, but he forced himself to hold the block as he shoved her back. "I've seen someone get stronger just by being determined!"
He lunged immediately after, stabbing his claws toward her eyes in a desperate follow-through.
"Be that as it may—" Velastra caught his wrist mid-strike and yanked him forward, her knee driving into his sternum like a battering ram. The impact rattled his entire ribcage, a harsh grunt tearing from him. She kept her grip iron-tight so he couldn't get knocked away.
"—you're clearly not the same as whoever you're talking about," she finished.
She glanced down at the spot she'd just kneed and lifted a brow behind her purple sunglasses.
"You're hard," she remarked.
Lennix's jaw dropped, as he looked flabbergasted. "What the hell are you talking about!?"
Velastra rolled her eyes in the most exaggerated way possible, then shifted her weight, bringing her knee up, driving it into the exact same point.
"I meant this," she clarified the moment her knee hit, another crack sounding beneath the blow. "You're making some kind of bone armor under your clothes. I didn't mean you were hard that way."
Lennix's eyes went wide. *She figured it out that fast? I only just tried this!* he thought, panic sparking. He'd been reinforcing his body, layering bone just above his skin the way he did with his knuckles, reactively and instinctively, bracing the exact spots he saw her targeting in an attempt to dull the damage.
And she'd seen right through it almost instantly.
A barrier of light flickered into existence behind Lennix just as Velastra released him, only to drive her heel into his chest and kick him straight back into it. His spine struck the barrier with a crackle of energy; he slid down it a few inches, trapped between her and the unyielding wall of light.
Velastra loomed over him, lifting her left leg high with theatrical ease. "Guess that little burst of determination is over," she said. "And soon, so will your unlife."
Her heel dropped in a brutal axe kick.
Lennix barely managed to throw both arms up. Reinforced or not, the impact rattled every bone he had. Before he could recover, she unleashed a relentless chain of strikes—sharp, precise, merciless. Two kick to each of his shins. Another two kicks to his ribs on each side. One angled into his liver. A knee slammed the sternum that already felt like shattered glass. A rising kick cracked his jaw. Then a spinning back kick detonated against his chest, smashing him against the barrier hard enough to make his limbs go briefly numb.
He sagged downward, dizzy and barely upright, when Velastra caught him by his collar and hauled him back up.
"I'll make it quick, don't worry," she said with a smirk.
"You just kicked me about eight times," Lennix wheezed, blinking up at her with confusion in his eyes. "How is this quick…?"
"Good point," Velastra replied with a light laugh. She raised her hand beside his head, fingers glowing as a beam of light gathered. "I'll make it quick starting now."
The glow brightened.
Lennix steadied himself—mind racing even if his body was exhausted. *Now's my chance!* he thought, funneling every last drop of blood he had left into raw enhancement. His body snapped into motion, faster than anything he'd shown so far, fast enough to genuinely catch the Demon Lord off guard.
He surged forward, arms snapping around her before she could fire. Velastra's eyes widened. "What are you—"
She didn't finish.
Lennix sank his fangs into her neck, biting down with a desperation that bordered on feral. This was what he'd been trying to do the entire time. Every claw swipe, every failed attack, every beating he let himself take had been to pull her close enough for this one opening.
Her blood hit his tongue—sweet, impossibly pure, like drinking liquid sunlight that had somehow turned into the world's finest wine.
And instead of shoving him away, Velastra's hands slid onto his back.
Then she pulled him closer.
Lennix froze, eyes snapping open in confusion—
Right as Velastra let out a low, pleased moan. "This is a fine distraction~ Keep going~♡"
Now Lennix felt deeply uncomfortable.