"Tch! What is happening?" Reiza banged her fist on the ground, the impact sending a small cloud of dust into the air, her frustration a palpable thing.
"Fufufu.... Surprised, are we?" the fat guy said mockingly, taking a slow, ponderous step towards her, his entire body jiggling with the movement. "My name is Homer Griffin. One of the sub-branch Holy Knights members," he introduced himself, a smug look on his face.
"This is my rare skill, Reflection of Damage. The more you try to attack me, it'll only damage you back instead," he said, his grin stretching wider across his fleshy face.
"A rare skill? A rare skill is that powerful? I thought he was using a unique skill," Reiza thought to herself as she pushed herself up on her feet once again.
But at the same time, Lilith's words rang in her mind about the true potential of skills. "This guy must've trained it to its potential. I underestimated him based on his appearance," Reiza thought to herself, her expression hardening. This time, she was fully serious. She couldn't take him like the other soldiers in her surroundings.
"Now, now... you must be thinking about landing a barrage of attacks at once to overpower my skill," he said, continuing to advance. Because of his heavy weight, he seemed to move very slowly, his entire fat flesh going up and down with each labored step.
"However, let me warn you. You'll regret whatever comes next if you do that," he said casually, but somehow, his every word felt quite provocative.
"Fufufu... Of course you'll do just that. My other rare skill: Provocation is definitely in effect," Homer thought to himself, a flicker of triumph in his eyes.
And just like he had expected, Reiza was quite angry. But even more angry than she should have been. For some reason, she just couldn't stand seeing that fat in front of her for even one more second.
"Don't tell me what to do!" she shouted, moving at a blurring speed, as if she had just turned visible.
Before Homer could even process her movement, a direct hit landed on top of his head.
BAM!...
Reiza was above him, delivering a tight joint punch, making use of both of her fists together.
The impact was so strong that Homer's legs got buried in the ground up to his knees.
But Reiza didn't stop at that. Because she knew once she stopped, Homer's rare skill would reflect all the damage. So, without stopping—BANG!.. SMASH!... BOOM!...
One after another, kicks, jabs, punches, knee hits, she delivered blows after blow. To anyone watching, it might feel like she had six arms and four legs, she was moving so fast. Each second she could deliver hundreds of punches, as if she had no shortage of stamina at all.
Homer couldn't move an inch. More like he didn't have any ability to. The constant rain of punches and kicks was keeping him from doing anything at all.
"I can see it... I can see it," Reiza thought to herself, a small, determined grin appearing on her face.
She could now see a very thin fabric of air, like some kind of transparent barrier, almost like a mirror, around Homer's body, which was reflecting the damage. But now, with the overload of the barrage, it had started to reach its limit to store damage and return it back. More like it wasn't getting any time to return it since Reiza wasn't giving it any at all.
There were several cracks appearing on it, like a sheet of ice under stress.
But just as Reiza felt like it was going to be her win, Homer's panicked face turned smug. His whole body began to radiate an intense heat and energy, turning a bright, blinding orange.
BOOOOOMMMM!...
A huge blast, big enough to be seen from miles away without any problem, took place.
"Gah!..." Reiza spat blood, her body thrown more than two hundred meters away.
She was sent flying like a ragdoll, crashing into the ground, boulders, trees, and even people—enemy and ally alike scattering in her wake. It was like all the damage she had delivered was delivered back to her in one single, devastating go.
Several of her limbs were broken, alongside with her bones, but still, her regeneration took effect once again, the pain a dull, throbbing thing compared to the shock of the blast.
"What happened?" she thought, her mind hazy, trying to push herself up from the crater she had created.
Her legs trembled slightly, but with her constant regeneration, her balance slowly returned. The pain was a dull, fading ache as her body knitted itself back together.
But before she could even process her situation—BAM!....
A kick, swift and powerful, landed directly on her side, sending her flying once again.
This time, however, her oni reflexes kicked in. She twisted in mid-air, turning herself around and landing on her feet, skidding back a few meters but absorbing most of the impact with little further damage.
But just as she looked at her attacker, her eyes widened in surprise.
In front of her, Homer stood again. His face was basically the same, but except for that, everything in his body had changed. All the fat had been burned away, transforming him into a tall and over-the-top muscular man, like some kind of heavy bodybuilder. His muscles had bulged so much that his uniform was already half ripped from the strain.
"I said you'll regret whatever comes next, yet you still did it," he scoffed, his voice now a low rumble. "I also have a unique skill—Burn Fat. It gives me the ability to use my stored-up fat for an all-round physical and mana boost to a whole other level," he said proudly, flexing a massive bicep.
Of course, that wasn't all. His unique skill only gave him the power to burn fat into a physical and mana boost, not to transform into a muscle monster. It was because, alongside his unique skill, he was one of the few people who had learned 'Battleform Selection.'
"Behold my Battleform Selection!" he shouted proudly, making a T-shape with his hands, as if presenting himself on a stage.
Without wasting any more words, he directly ran towards Reiza. But before attacking, he started circling around her rapidly, his figure blurring and turning into dozens of afterimages because of his intense speed.
"So fast," Reiza thought to herself, her eyes struggling to track his movement.
But Reiza wasn't some ordinary demon. Being an oni, she had extraordinary senses as well.
"Behind me," she thought to herself, immediately spinning around and punching the air where she sensed him.
BAM!...
Her fist directly collided with Homer's fist, the impact creating a shockwave as they matched each other, force for force.
But once again, that thin, transparent layer appeared around Homer's fist.
And all the damage from Reiza's punch was reflected back, crushing the bones in her hand and sending her flying once again.
This time, Homer didn't even wait. As Reiza was still in the air, he caught up to her in a blur of motion, grabbing her legs and then slamming her into the ground with a loud, earth-shaking bang.
Without wasting another breath, he starts slamming his fists down, using both of his hands at once, aiming for Reiza's chest. Each blow was designed to crush her bones.
Somehow, through the onslaught, she managed to evade a punch, using the opening to retreat back a few meters and charge back again.
Yet no matter how many times she tried, she just couldn't get a clean hit, a moment where she could land a series of punches without stopping. Every time she gained an edge, the moment Homer managed to hold his ground for even a single second, all the damage she had inflicted was reflected right back at her.
Right now, she was thrown against a thick tree trunk once again. This time, she had lost too much energy to even stand up anymore. She slumped against the wood, her vision swimming.
Meanwhile, Homer still looked fine as ever. His shadow loomed over her as he approached, his presence overwhelming.
"Hehehe... Oni slayer. What a magnificent title. I'll surely replace Thomas and become an official Holy Knights member," he said, his voice filled with a smug, triumphant glee.
******
Meanwhile, Stheno and Euryale were still perched on top of the cliff, watching the war unfold below. Just as they had anticipated, the disparity in numbers was becoming glaringly obvious.
Many of the Dreadhaven soldiers were finding themselves boxed in by swarms of Mystveil soldiers. While they could easily handle a few opponents individually, the coordinated assaults coming from every direction were starting to overwhelm them.
To make matters worse, Even though little, Mystveil possessed golden apples as well. Soldiers who had consumed them were tasked with holding the line against Dreadhaven's attacks, while the rest launched full-scale assaults.
Even then, the tide was turning. Another DreadHaven soldier was caught in the crossfire; an arrow finally found its mark, piercing her neck where she was already wounded. She collapsed to the ground, gasping for air until she stopped moving completely.
It was only then that the Mystveil soldiers approached to confirm she was dead.
"Huff... Just this one soldier took out fifty of ours," one of them said, glancing back at the heap of dead bodies scattered across the battlefield.
"I can't believe they're just ordinary soldiers and not a demon king. And a woman, at that!," he shouted, kicking the corpse in sheer frustration.
But his anger dissolved quickly, replaced by a look of worry. "I hope the Holy Knights can handle the top demons," he sighed.
Another soldier stepped up behind him, patting him on the back reassuringly.
"Of course they will," the soldier said.
He then turned to look at the fallen Dreadhaven soldier, his expression turning curious.
"But did you guys notice something?" he asked the group. Before anyone could reply, he continued, his voice gaining confidence.
"We were told to prepare for an army that can come back from the dead, but they're dying for real. I didn't see anyone standing up after getting killed," he explained, looking around at the others.
Of course they wouldn't. Since they had all made a pact with Scarlett, she was the one capable of reviving them. While Lunatic and Cryptus could also perform resurrections, they had to do it manually for each person—one by one. They simply didn't have the time to go around reviving everyone, Unlike them Scarlett could do it in an instant.
"Oh my, why didn't I notice it sooner? It feels like these Dreadhaven people aren't that high and mighty after all," the third soldier added with a chuckle, his confidence swelling. "Let's kill some more," he shouted.
Watching everything from the cliffside, Stheno couldn't help but sigh once more.
"The situation is going out of control."