Pain.
Kanae barely resisted the urge to yelp the moment her fist connected with Kaede's face.
She had put enough force into the punch to shatter reinforced steel, yet...
Kaede didn't even flinch.
Her wide eyes blinked in confusion, her voice barely above a whisper.
"You went for the face."
She stood there, completely ignoring the sheer force that had just slammed into her cheek.
Kanae leaped back, flexing her fingers, feeling the dull ache reverberate through her knuckles. 'What the hell is she made of?'
Kaede's expression shifted as realization set in. Her voice rose, indignant.
"You… You went for the face!" she repeated, louder this time, her hands clutching her cheeks as if only now registering the insult. "You, you jerk!"
Kanae smirked. 'Oh? That got a reaction?'
Then she vanished.
Kaede tensed, immediately adopting a guarded stance, scanning the space around her. But Kanae was gone, moving too fast to track.
"You don't think anyone can hurt you?" Kanae's voice echoed from every direction, eerily weightless, leaving no trace of movement. "That's a bold claim."
Kaede frowned, her eyes darting around the chamber. Where is she…?
"Eyes. Knees. Ankles. Wrists. Elbows. Neck." Kanae's voice was everywhere at once, circling Kaede like a phantom. "Every joint is a weak point for any living being. How does your durability compare?"
Kaede hesitated. "I… I didn't really think about tha..."
BOOM.
A powerful shockwave blasted past her, the sheer force displacing the air in the chamber. The ground cracked beneath her feet.
Kaede barely had time to process before she realized, she was moving. No, she was being pushed.
She turned her head just enough to see the trail her feet had carved through the reinforced floor, stretching all the way back to the chamber's center.
"Huh?"
Kanae reappeared in front of her, hands braced against the ground, using the momentum to pivot.
Her body twisted, her left leg swinging upward like a whip.
Kaede's eyes widened. 'Oh, crap...'
CRACK.
The rising kick struck her neck, launching her into the ceiling with a deafening impact.
The reinforced metal groaned under the force before Kaede came crashing down, a cloud of soot and debris following in her wake.
She sat up, dusting off the blackened residue on her sleeves. "That was pretty cool."
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM.
Three more shockwaves exploded around her, Kanae's relentless attacks hammering into her weak points.
Elbows. Wrists. Knees. Throat.
Yet...
Nothing.
Kanae's mind raced. 'There's no way.'
If brute force wasn't enough...
'Then let's see how her eyes hold up.'
CRACK - CLANG!
Kaede flinched as something snapped, something sharp.
She blinked.
Her vision refocused just in time to see a very long katana blade… sticking out of her eye.
Correction, snapping in half while trying to pierce her eye.
She blinked again.
Then slowly, she turned to Kanae. "What the hell, Sis!?" she yelled, stumbling backward toward the wall, hands flying to her face. "Are you trying to kill me!?"
Kanae stood frozen, still gripping the hilt of what was now a broken katana. 'Steel. My blade was made of reinforced, mana-infused steel. It snapped like glass against her eye. Her eye. What the actual hell.'
Her breathing was heavy.
Then, finally...
"Holy shit." Kanae exhaled, staring at the shattered blade in disbelief. "Your durability is no joke."
Kanae placed a hand on her chin, watching Kaede closely. "You're a bit slow, but you only just got your powers. There's still time to train so you can actually make use of all that mana you have."
Kaede huffed, still shaken. "What if I was wrong? I'd be down an eye! That was not cool, Sis!"
Kanae smirked, though internally, she was reassessing things. 'I was only planning to nick her… and we have a healer on hand, so it would've been fine.'
Kaede pouted. "Jerk."
Kanae chuckled. "Anyway, is there anything else you can do?"
Kaede hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, actually. I've got a bunch of extra abilities. They aren't super strong on their own, though."
Kanae raised an eyebrow. "Alright, let's see them."
Kaede stepped forward, extending her hand. "Stand back."
Kanae didn't argue and leaped onto the wall, keeping her distance.
"Hydra!" Kaede shouted.
A massive, three-headed serpent made entirely of venomous energy surged forth from her palm. It roared as it took form, its bodies writhing like liquid shadows, before spewing a violent torrent of poison against the far wall. The corrosive substance sizzled on impact, eating away at the stone.
Kanae's eyes widened in shock. "A… dragon? And it's made out of poison?! I thought you were supposed to be a tank! And what part of this isn't strong?!"
Kaede took a deep breath. "Next one." She quickly assessed her mana usage. 'That only cost 5 MP, but if I kept it going, it'd drain way more.'
Kanae's expression turned wary. I almost forgot, she said she had a lot of extra abilities…
Kaede straightened. "Alright, let's try this. Paralyzing Shout!"
A shockwave of invisible force erupted from her, radiating outward in all directions.
Kanae immediately felt her muscles seize up. For a brief moment, she was completely immobilized, her body locked in place. It lasted barely two seconds before she managed to shake it off with sheer strength, but even that brief pause was enough to make her uneasy.
"A paralyzing skill…" Kanae muttered, flexing her fingers as the sensation faded. "It even worked on me… If this was a fight, that delay could be more than enough time to finish an enemy off."
"And then there's Martyr's Devotion."
As Kaede spoke, her entire form began to change. Her dark hair shifted to a shimmering gold, a radiant halo forming above her head. A pair of pristine white wings unfurled behind her, feathers glowing with ethereal light. Then, a golden ring of energy spread outward from her feet, expanding until it encompassed the entire chamber.
Kanae's body tensed as the wave of divine light passed over her. "…What the hell just happened?"
Kaede smiled warmly. "As long as an ally is inside this circle, they're under the effect of Cover."
Kanae's eyes widened. "Wait, seriously?"
Cover wasn't an uncommon technique. It was a staple of tanks, allowing them to shield an ally by redirecting all incoming attacks onto themselves. But with Kaede's already absurd durability…
Kanae's breath hitched. 'That means…'
She felt her legs grow unsteady. 'If Kaede were in any dungeon party, casualties would plummet drastically… An ability like this will make her invaluable, and sought after by everyone.'
Before she could voice her concerns, Kaede was already preparing another ability.
Kanae straightened, alarm creeping into her voice. "Hey, Kaede, maybe you should stop for now..."
"Predator!"
Kanae froze.
The moment Kaede uttered the word, the air in the chamber turned heavy. A deafening silence followed, one so profound it felt like the entire world had momentarily stopped.
Then, without warning, a massive purple gate materialized behind Kaede, its swirling abyss churning with ominous energy.
Even Kaede stood still, her eyes widening in shock. 'That took 200 MP. That's more than half.'
"A… dungeon?" Kanae murmured, her voice barely above a whisper as she stared at the swirling mass of violet energy before her.
Then, movement.
A black hand stretched out from the portal's depths, followed by a grotesque face emerging from the void.
Kanae's breath hitched. Every instinct screamed at her as she immediately drew her remaining katana.
"No…" Her grip tightened. "A dungeon break!"
Kaede's eyes widened, not out of fear, but recognition.
"This is…"
Before she could finish, the air behind her cracked, Kanae had already vanished.
CLANG - CRACK!
The sickening sound of metal snapping rang through the chamber. Kanae's katana, her second one, had broken against the creature's flesh.
Towering at eight feet, the monster was a nightmarish sight, its body a mass of jet-black muscle, four long arms flexing with unnatural strength. Its head had no eyes, no nose, just a gaping maw, filled with rows upon rows of jagged teeth.
But what caught Kanae's attention most… was its golden sheen.
Its scales shimmered with a familiar glow, one that bore an uncanny resemblance to Kaede's own radiance. They were under the effects of Kaede's Cover.
Kanae turned sharply. "Kaede… are you doing this?"
Kaede stiffened. For a brief moment, her expression was unreadable. Then, slowly, she gave a mechanical nod.
"I… think so," she admitted. "It was supposed to be a summoning skill, one that calls two demons to fight for me."
"Two?" Kanae repeated.
Growl!
Before she could process that, the portal flared again, and another figure stalked out.
Then another.
And another.
More demons poured from the abyss, growling as they did, each as monstrous as the last. The chamber grew heavy with their presence, the air thick with an unnatural stillness.
Kanae's heart pounded.
"Okay, stop!" she barked.
Kaede flinched and quickly complied. The portal snapped shut, its violet glow fading as if it had never been there.
But the demons remained.