Niki''s eyes narrowed the moment he felt her move—like a blur. Mari''s body sped up quickly. He tightened his muscles and twisted away from the edge of the de, a sh of silver and red cutting across the air just before his throat.


    ''No matter how much she''s changed, those movements aren''t human...''


    Mari''s movements felt eerie. Despite their extreme speed, her ability to turn and change her angles felt jarring and stiff.


    ''I can hear her bones grinding together as if two different parts were forced together.''


    The truth was that the woman he might have held affection for in the past now looked nothing like her former self. Mari''s face was the only part without various stitches and scars—the length of her arms was uneven, and her legs seemed to be from a different person.


    ''The Faust n''s masterpiece... It makes sense right now.'' Niki thought as he stepped forward, pushing Mari''s left arm away andleaping up, his left footshing out like a whip.


    ''She''s not a human any more... She''s a monster. I don''t need to feel any remorse!''


    Mari''s neck snapped back from the impact, her eyes blinking rapidly and her mouth opening with a hiss of surprise while blood dripped from her nose, and a dark bruise appeared on her pale cheek. "You actually hit me. How amusing."


    "You''re quite durable," Niki replied while hopping back and opening and closing his hands. His heart felt excited because she was strong, stronger than the dog or the mutant he fought. The excitement of the Volkov and Lupus bloodlines began to surge, an explosive desire to crush his enemy.


    [Take it slow, don''t force yourself, Niki.]


    ''I understand, don''t worry.''


    "Your attacks are heavy but not strong—they''re fast but not sharp." Mari''s lips spread, her mouth opening wider than what a human should as a hiss escaped her lips. "But they''re fun. They feel good!"


    ''...''


    The hiss sounded strange and felt ufortable, so much so that Niki''s ears began to ring. The hairs on his skin stood up, and he couldn''t help but feel a sense of nausea—images appeared from his past with Mari, then became distorted by this corpse with her face twisted and filled with the stench of death. A sour odour that made his nose tingle.


    Niki didn''t respond. Instead, he stepped forward, using the outside of his forearm when Mari swung down with a violent sh and held her de a few inches from his eye before throwing a masterful left hook at her face, his knuckles mming against her jaw.


    Bang!


    ''Her bones are solid like iron!''


    The moment he thought, Niki turned and brought his right knee up, smashing against the bottom of Mari''s ribcage and sending her flying back a few meters. Yet, despite leaving the floor, the face showed no signs of pain, and Niki felt a dull ache in his knee where he struck her body.


    Despite the crowd around them going crazy, even the queen began to speak with a more neutralmentary, as if she knew more about the creature calling itself Mari Yamamoto.


    "That was a pretty wonderfulbination, Niki. However, I can tell you''re starting to struggle." Her bones, muscles, and skin were far superior to the average human—no, they were superior to the thralls and low-rank squires he met!


    Her eyes were dull, yet the more they fought, Niki felt he could see a twinkle of light or life inside them. He didn''t hold thoughts of saving her, but if killing Mari now would set her free, he would do so.


    ''It doesn''t seem like she''ll be tired anytime soon. Honestly, I should not hold back... That dark blood, to destroy her, I''ll have to use it.''


    A feeling of twisted emotions began to well up inside Niki the moment he made his choice. His hair grew longer, glossier like raven feathers before his arms distorted, snapped and became deformed, longer and twisted at the elbows. Now able to move in any direction and finally, both his hands suddenly became twice as big, his fingers longer like curved des as he became a part monster.


    "Aha, a beast, huh? Do you want to mess me up that bad, Niki?" The cold, empty voice of Mari reached Niki''s ears.


    Mari licked her lips and charged, her steps silent, her body appearing a blur while Niki''s eyes narrowed. With a glint of silver, her de shed at his arms with a sweeping strike—before she could connect, Niki stepped back and deflected the de with his ck ws.


    The impact allowed Mari to ride the momentum; like a fairy of death, she twirled around, slicing through the air and aiming at his opposite nk.


    Niki moved with equal speed, his arm bending like a snake and blocking her attack, the sound of metal scratching against the hard, obsidian-like surface of his arm.


    "You?!" Her cold snarl echoed before her eyes widened as Niki smashed her face with a brutal headbutt, the colour of his eyes now ck with a silver ring around his iris and red pupils.


    "This is what you get!" Niki snapped and shed out with his other hand, his ws cutting the air and slicing through her shoulder. Blood gushed out, spraying across his face and shirt, but his mouth opened, his tongue sticking out and licking the dark fluid. It wasn''t quite ck, but neither was it vibrant red.


    "Peh..." He spat the blood out and looked at Mari with a disgusted look, "Sour... and expired! Truly the blood of a corpse."


    "!!!"


    His words seemed to insult what little self existed in her soul as the two began to sh rapidly, a series of sharp blows with ck and silver lights colliding from her de and his ws.


    Bang! Crack!


    The floor beneath their feet began to fracture and splinter slightly, the speed and power of their exchange increasing steadily until, finally, a burst of strength came from Niki''s chest the moment his heart pounded.


    He felt it—the ck blood that used to make him insane, full of bloodlust, instead, was under his control. Exhaustion quickly started to overwhelm him, yet his ws were slowly tearing apart the doll before him as he exerted more and more power, as if trying to carve both her body and any memories he still kept hidden in the depths of his heart.


    "Urk!"


    Niki''s fist mmed against the side of Mari''s head, a sickening crunch as the bone was crushed, and the already torn flesh was destroyed, her nose broken, and her lower jaw cracked.


    Yet, despite the brutal and deadly attacks, Mari''s face didn''t show pain—instead, her de prated Niki''s right abdomen. Her wrist twisted the de while his maw opened and bit a chunk from her neck, tearing her flesh before a powerful kick to her chest sent her tumbling backwards, her de still embedded in his body.


    Blood gushed out, yet the wound began to heal rapidly and closed just as fast. Niki''s eyes remained locked on Mari''s body as she got up, trembling. Her right arm snapped while she fell twice, finally on her knees. She looked up with a fierce gaze and spat out a mouthful of blood, her flesh slowly regenerating apart from her neck wound just like his.


    ''Hmmm? The wounds from my ws and bite don''t heal?''


    [You''re right... is it rted to those ck blood crystals? They seem to be rted to necromancy, and they carry the stench of death...]


    ''We need to find out—we might need to use that ck blood.''


    Niki''s tone was serious, and the Spirit didn''t respond, sensing his decision.


    "Ha, haha... hahaha..." Mari''s shrillughter made those near her unconsciously step back as she slowly raised her hand and pointed at him, "I''ll kill you, I''ll kill you! You have to die!" Her eyes became eerie, with tiny pupils, her face twisted with a horrifying smile. "I''ll kill you!"


    Niki frowned as strange energy came from the creature that looked human but was a monster. It became darker—her blood was no longer a dark red but began turning ck as if the more damage he dealt, the closer to death she came.


    "Hehe, this is... you''re a monster, huh? Niki Volkov." A rasping, dry and almost insect-like voice echoed from her throat, a sound different from the previous. It wasn''t Mari''s voice but... something else. "But you don''t understand what we are, the powers we wield!"


    "Do you think I give a shit? Die!" Niki took a deep breath, the feeling of stress vanished, and he rushed forward, his ck w covered in a strange light, a silver mixed with darkness; Niki felt like his hand was on fire, but it felt warm andforting.


    ''Burn, burn, and destroy this damned thing!''


    "You can''t stop me, and you will die!" The monster that looked like Mariughed maniacally before she became a blur, a shadow that shot towards Niki. "I''ll tear off your face and skin. Wear it like a mask! I''ll make you suffer before I kill you."


    The creature''s movements were faster and more refined than ever, its attacks sharper and filled with a desire for his death.


    However, the moment she hit him, the creature''s left hand exploded into flesh and broken bones on impact. She had already lost her arm and was now severed on the ground, the stump bleeding ck, almost tar-like blood.


    "Wha-What?!" Mari''s eyes widened, and she screamed, "Die, you have to die! Die! Die!"


    The creature''s face distorted even more, its eyes bing huge and round, with a thick, purple-red line, a mouth that was too big, filled with crooked, sharp teeth, and a long, fat tongue.


    Niki didn''t hesitate any longer, his armshing out swiftly and elegantly like a panther attacking its prey.


    The obsidian-like w shed at the creature''s throat with a speed that left no opening for her to dodge. The moment Mari''s body stepped back, he lunged forward, taking her body to the ground before his fists began raining down on her.


    From a distance, the sound of bones being broken, flesh being torn, and muscle pulverised echoed, the floor cracking and splintering from the brutal attacks, a pool of dark blood spreading as the crowd became excited about the climax.


    ''It hurts.... my fists are breaking.... but I will end this now!''


    A familiar scene of his past came to his mind, a time when he was weak, unable to protect anyone... Her face as she looked at the edge of tears before they broke up. However, now, Niki felt strong, the feeling of vengeance welling up inside him as he poured all the strength he could muster into his fist.


    ''End this, end this now! Please... Let her die! Let me be free!''


    Bang!


    Crack!


    The creature''s face was smashed, her skull broken, and brain matter sttered on the floor.


    "Is she dead? Can we confirm the kill?"


    "She''s done for! We have our winner!"


    In the boxes above, Alistair stood in shock, his hands trembling at the sight of his best work, now a lump of crushed meat and bone in the middle of the arena.


    "Not only did he win, but he really destroyed her... How brutal."


    "We have our winner, my lovely pigs! The lowly hero from nowhere, an unknown rookie by the name of Niki! All rise for the birth of a new challenger! Congrattions on your win!"


    Queen Tsukino''s act seemed to changepletely, no longer a mocking tone or her fandom routine. Instead, she directed all attention to Niki, his body covered in slowly healing wounds and the de still inside his abdomen.


    The young man knelt, his hands trembling from punching concrete with so much power, likely to have damaged his nerves and broken or fractured the bones in his hand.


    ''I won... Is it over?'' Niki''s eyes looked dull as he felt the ck crystals from her heart flowing into his hand. Honestly, he didn''t want them, but it was toote when he came to his senses...


    [Niki...]


    He felt his mother''s voice, and the tension started to vanish—his ck arms began to return to normal, along with his eyes, the werewolf fur evaporating before his eyes looked up and saw a strange light... and a faint figure in the pink light.


    However, because he stopped using the ck blood, his eyes returned to normal, and the figure vanished from sight.


    ''Mari?!''