In a large Penthouse on Earth

“You saw the universal notification?” Fredricka asks the three changelings before immediately getting a wave of head nods. “Good. It means the Lord of Hellfire is the only Demon Lord left without one of his own.”

The changelings grow excited at the thought of each of the four Demon Lords obtaining a Title aside from their Titles as Demon Lords at long last.

“It also means the war will start progressing soon,” Fredricka continues while turning back to the TV to immediately narrow her eyes upon the sight of the princess and the human both pausing their fight to talk. And she can’t help but feel irritation with the way the filthy creature is speaking to her Princess. “Make sure you’re ready for when it does.”

“Yes, my Lady,” the changelings declare with another salute meant for Class III demons towards nobility.

“There’s also something I’d like for you to look into,” Fredricka continues, her eyes narrowing slightly. “Governor Talon has become a little too aggressive in his push towards orphan rights lately. Please deal with it.”

The changelings all stand perfectly still as they simultaneously exclaim, “Yes, your Ladyship.”

Fredricka then hears the changelings departing, leaving the Countess alone in her penthouse.

I’ll have to keep this from that vile human Knight White. There’s no telling what she would do it she knew His Highness left the matter of human orphans to my hands. And unfortunately I must keep it from His Highness as well, because no matter how little that bitch deserves him, he truly does care for her. And it could affect their already tenuous relationship poorly if she were to even suspect him of having a hand in the orphan’s situation.

The Countess taps her finger on the armrest of her chair for a few seconds.

He may also reject the way I’m dealing with the human orphan situation due to his soft side, so it would be best to leave him out of the loop on this one. No matter how much it pains me to do so.

Fredricka’s eyes suddenly narrow as she sees something happening on the screen.

What the…

ScarletNearly a minute ago

I heave out breath after breath in exhaustion as both Lucas and I stop on opposite sides of the now destroyed clearing, just staring at each other for a few seconds. But right when I’m about to sprint back into action again, he raises a hand and says, “Wait.”

A wave of confusion strikes me at that, almost making me stumble.

“Wait?” I ask, unsure of what he is trying to do.

“I wanted to ask you about your scent,” he suddenly says, making my eyes narrow. “Is your magic really blood magic?”

I blink at that, wondering what he’s getting at.

Wait… does he think my magic might be the cause of my scent?

“I’m sorry, it’s just that your scent really is calming,” he says while rubbing the back of his head.

“Can we get back to battling please?” I ask, letting my irritation with the man leak through into my voice.

He bows his head slightly and says, “I’m sorry.”

Although it did give me some more time to regenerate.

We both rush towards each other again.

At this point, the both of us are nearing our breaking points. But at the same time, I’m healing. He’s not.

In fact, I stopped using Blood Retribution entirely at one point after evening the playing field. Mostly because I didn’t have the mana to keep it up.

His injuries are much worse than mine right now though, and mine are healing. So even though I can’t use blood sacrifice or blood claws right now without the mana or stored blood to use, or enough blood in my own body to safely burn, I’m still managing to stay on top.

As if contradicting my current thoughts, Lucas’s eyes suddenly begin to glow with a grey light, following which he raises his head and lets out a roar before transforming entirely into a large bear. One without his previous injuries.

Oh. That could be a problem.

“It’s clearly a finishing move,” Tar comments, sounding worried. “If you can survive his usage of it, you’ll likely find him crippled or at least out of the fight entirely at that point.”

Right. So how am I gonna survive this while almost dead?

Tar doesn’t say anything.

I almost snort at that, but I instead have to roll out of the way of a charging bear, briefly grimacing as pain worsens all across my body. The shapeshifted Guardian then turns around rather quickly – too quickly for a regular bear if I had to guess – and begins chasing me again.

This time though he is moving even faster, and soon enough I feel his massive paws slamming into my side and sending me flying straight into a tree where I then fall to the ground with a grunt. But I get up as fast as I can after that, only to be sent flying again when he reaches me.

When I land the next time, I make sure to get up as fast as I can before quickly dodging out of the way and briefly noticing a wild look in his eyes.

“It looks like he can’t very well control himself in that form,” Tar points out what I’ve realized.

Yeah. Which is likely the only reason I’m still alive right now. Because batting me away isn’t a very good way to kill me right now.

My eyes narrow as my mind floods with possible manners of attack, only for me to remember that blood regeneration also regenerates my mana. So I check my mana to find that I have regenerated enough for a single use of Blood Retribution.

I try to dodge as Lucas charges at me with a loud roar, only to get swatted again, feeling my bones snap upon landing this time after having likely fractured from the last strikes. And I can’t help but cry out in pain from it.

Fuuck, even with pain diffusion this hurts!

The rampaging bear lets out another roar and I can hear its pounding feet rushing over here. But this time I can’t move, meaning he’ll have a perfect shot at killing me.

I’ll lose.

After all of this time, I’ll lose…

My eyes narrow at that thought and my pride pushes me forward. And with that, a possibility flashes in my mind, making me burn the tiny amount of blood I have left to give me the strength to push myself over onto my front before immediately activating Blood Retribution.

Please work. There’s nothing else I can do because I’m pretty sure my spine is broken around my lower back, leaving me paralyzed from the waist down.

Then a massive flash of pain enters my back, followed by some faint chewing sounds that I can hear, only for them to vanish as something wet plops onto my back and partially into the wound as a loud and painfilled roar echoes throughout the arena. But I can only whimper slightly as the pain from whatever wound Lucas gave me fills every thought in my head, even as the roar grows louder and louder.

All the way till it cuts off and I find myself gasping back on the tower, perfectly fine and without any Lucas nearby.

“Congratulations to the winner of the first Primary tournament of this year’s Interschool Tournaments, Scaaaarleeeet Asgeeeerrr!!!” Black’s voice echoes throughout the stadium as I’m trying to reorient myself with the sudden lack of pain.

But I understand what happened at least.

My gamble must have paid off.

“What did you do?” Tar asks, sounding unsure of what happened exactly.

Oh, I read online that bears often attack the backs of their prey when given the chance. And I kind of just hoped that it doing that and probably taking out my heart in the process would be enough damage for Blood Retribution to kill him in return. Since there couldn’t have been a perfect recovery just from him using whatever berserk form he was using. Not with Shapeshifting magic.

“Huh. Smart,” Tar says, sounding genuinely impressed now. “And if he didn’t follow what a bear would normally do? Or if you read wrong?”

I blink at that.

Guess I would’ve become dinner?

Tar doesn’t laugh.

Well, I won. So that’s all that matters.