Chapter 125: Fidri and Elizir vs Rana
The two women sized each other up for a brief moment... then charged.
Lucy drew her revolver again, ready to fire.
However, Gracia was faster.
<< Cold >>
Lucy froze in place, a numbing frost biting into her muscles.
(" My body... she froze it. But when? ")
Gracia didn’t wait. Since the very start of the fight, she had been watching for this exact moment.
Each blow she had landed on Lucy had slowly spread cold inside her body, layer after layer, until it reached the breaking point.
(" I did it... but it won’t last long. ")
Two ice stalactites, as sharp as daggers, formed in her hands.
Gracia struck.
Lucy screamed.
Gathering all her strength into one leg, forcing it to move, she raised it, taking the blade deep into her thigh—then vanished instantly using Switch.
Gracia spun around at once.
Lucy was already behind her.
(" She’s not free yet... ") she noted, just before her eyes widened.
A grenade was wedged between Lucy’s teeth.
The pin fell.
Boom.
<< Ice Block >>
The explosion never happened.
Instead, a massive block of ice formed, trapping Lucy and Gracia inside, frozen against one another.
The grenade floated between them, suspended in that absurd instant, not even having had time to hit the ground.
---
Time itself seemed to have stopped.
Lucy and Gracia remained motionless, prisoners of a deadly dilemma.
If Gracia released the ice, the explosion would kill them both.
And for some unknown reason, Lucy seemed unable to teleport in this situation.
Two long minutes passed.
Two minutes during which neither of them blinked.
Finally, Gramm decided to end the duel.
" That’s enough. "
He snapped his fingers.
Golden flames wrapped around the ice block, melting it gently while containing the grenade’s explosion.
Freed, the two women collapsed to the ground, completely out of breath.
" You holding up? " Lucy asked between breaths.
Gracia answered with nothing more than a thumbs-up.
---
" Incredible... " Elizir muttered, unable to hide his astonishment.
(" Why do all these women seem crazier than the last? ") Fidri thought, wisely keeping that comment to himself.
---
Gramm turned toward Ana.
" Take care of them. "
Ana nodded nervously before rushing to Lucy and Gracia, using her resonance to heal their wounds.
" The next fight... Elizir and Fidri. "
---
Elizir broke into a wide, excited grin.
" Finally our turn. Time to find out which of us is the best. "
Fidri burst out laughing.
" Let me put on a magnificent show for you. "
They shook hands, amused... but Gramm wasn’t done.
" Elizir and Fidri, you will fight against Rana. "
" Huh?! " they exclaimed in unison, already inside the circle.
---
Meanwhile...
" Uh, Rana... hey... wake up, it’s your turn... " Ereis whispered.
" No... it’s still night... " Rana groaned in her sleep.
Seeing that their future opponent was sleeping soundly, Elizir and Fidri turned toward Gramm, irritated.
" I can beat that girl by myself. "
" The others got serious opponents. Why are we fighting a kid? "
Gramm didn’t answer.
He simply stared at Rana.
A sudden heat flooded her body.
" Fire! It’s burning! "
Rana jumped to her feet.
Seeing all eyes fixed on her, she blinked, confused.
Ereis quickly explained the situation.
Rana sighed one last time before stepping into the circle of fire, as if she had just been handed a chore.
---
Back in the arena, Elizir and Fidri examined Rana yet again.
Cotton-candy pink hair, pink eyes, chubby cheeks.
Barely five feet tall, a soft voice, a fragile appearance... Rana looked like the very caricature of a loli.
They exchanged an uneasy glance.
(" How are we supposed to fight someone so fragile and cute? ")
(" Seriously... all her height went straight into her chest. ")
They deeply hesitated to use force against her, especially after witnessing the violence of the previous duels.
They were afraid of seriously hurting her by accident.
" I’m ready. We can start. " Rana announced in her gentle, almost childlike voice.
But...
" Rock, paper, scissors. "
" Ah, I won! "
" Damn... I’m the one who has to fight her. " Elizir grumbled as he stepped forward.
" Listen, if it hurts, tell me. I’ll go easy. The moment you signal, I stop. Okay? "
Rana fixed him with a dark glare.
Even though she didn’t like fighting, she hated being underestimated or treated like a child.
" Mr Bob... " she muttered, annoyed.
Elizir rolled his eyes.
A giant pink teddy bear, nearly ten feet tall, appeared behind her.
" Oh... that’s cute. "
He immediately regretted those words.
Mr Bob’s ruby-red eyes ignited with a terrifying aura.
He hated nothing more than disrespect toward his mistress.
Fist raised, he threw a right punch of absolute violence.
Elizir was sent flying across the room, his body slamming heavily against the ground.
Fidri stood frozen, mouth agape, rubbing his eyes.
" I’m dreaming... " he whispered.
Mr Bob wasn’t done.
In a flash, he closed the distance separating him from Fidri.
A monstrous uppercut slammed into his chin.
Fidri was launched into the air.
---
Everyone watching the scene stood with their mouths hanging open, unable to utter a single word.
But this was only the beginning.
Mr Bob didn’t wait for Elizir and Fidri to get back up.
He grabbed each of them by a leg... and began swinging them with terrifying strength, like spinning a jump rope.
Their bodies slammed into the ground in an absurd, brutal rhythm.
It looked like a scene straight out of an anime.
The spectacle continued until their bodies stopped struggling.
Elizir and Fidri crashed to the ground, unconscious.
" Mr Bob, that’s enough. "
The teddy bear hesitated for a moment, clearly annoyed at having his fun interrupted.
Then, at his mistress’s call, he stopped.
He walked over to Rana and knelt in front of her, like a dog waiting for a reward.
" Well done, Mr Bob. " she praised him, gently patting his head.
The next instant, the bear vanished.
Rana, without a backward glance, calmly went back to lie down in a corner near Ereis.
Ereis alternated his gaze between the pitiful state of Elizir and Fidri... and Rana’s perfectly harmless appearance.
No one dared to comment.
There were no words to express their shock.
But one thing etched itself into everyone’s mind.
Appearances can be terribly deceiving.
Gramm sighed before announcing the final fight.
" Sirius and Kritos, step forward. "
