A few miles away from the capital, Tessa was battling Nico who had multiplied thanks to the abilities of his parasite suit. She leaped back and a twister formed in the spot she was in. She sensed movements behind her and formed a large wall of ice at her back. The ice was shattered by a lightning clad fist, but it bought her enough time to move away.

*BAM!*

Lightning fell from the sky and struck her. Her muscles and joints stiffened and she found it hard to move. A Nico appeared from the front while the other the back. They clenched their fists as lightning and wind clad them. They attacked Tessa simultaneously and their attacks clashed and exploded inside her body. Blood sprayed through her clenched teeth and she slashed the face of the Nico in front after regaining control over her body again. Darkness erupted from her body and forced them back. She held her chest while breathing heavily. They didn’t wait for her to catch her breath. They came at her from two directions at once. Tessa clicked her tongue activated her vita while surrounding herself with death magic.

“Bring it on!”

She roared. She blocked the punch of one with her arm and sent him packing with an uppercut. She then spun around and kicked the other in the chest. The sounds of his chest plate cracking reached her ears. She flung a backhand punch and smashed the other’s face in. The one in front pounced at her but had his head smashed into the ground by a strong right. She was blasted away by a lightning strike from behind. Nico appeared behind her out of a flashed and thrust a lightning bolt at her back. She twisted her body out of the way but she was kicked in the head by the other Nico. She stumbled back and duck under a punch from behind but got kicked under the chin and back to her feet. The Nico behind her wrapped his arms around her and suplex her on her head so hard the ground cracked open. Tessa’s vision darkened and she became limp for a second.

“?!”

When she regained awareness she was being spun around by Nico. He threw her into the air and his double came from above and stomped her into the ground. Pain surged through her whole body. Nico then mercilessly lifted her body off the ground with a kick. Tessa blinked and found herself surrounded by a dozen orbs of electricity. The orbs fired lightning at her from all angles and hit her. The electricity surged through her body attacking her organs.

“A-Absorbtion!”

Her Vita spread out and the electricity disappeared and power started surging through her. Black lightning shot out of her body attacking everything around her. This caused the Nicos to stop their assault, buying her time to recover.

“Y-You…!”

The veins in her head started bulging and she ground her teeth.

(Tessa, I think you’re trying too hard to be like me.)

Her eyes widened when she heard her brother’s voice. A memory of a conversation they had played inside her head.

“Listen, Tessa. I know that you and Kristen look up to me and are trying to imitate me. Kristen is trying to imitate my scheming ways while you’re trying to copy the savage way I fight. I have no problem with either of you doing that but if you try too hard you’ll stifle your individuality, and trust me that isn’t something that you should do if you truly want to become strong.”

“Then what should I do to become strong like you?”

She asked her brother. He smiled and placed his hand on her head.

“First, stop asking yourself how you can be strong like me. Instead, ask yourself what can you do to be a stronger you? Figure out your weaknesses and strengths. Take a deep look at what kind of person you are, accept that person, and try your best to improve them.”

He took his hand off her head.

“However, you are my sister so there’s a chance that you won’t see a person but a beast inside. That’s fine too, you know.”

“It is?”

He nodded.

“If you look deep inside you and see a beast then accept that beast. Trying to chain it down will only weaken you. And if you must chain it down, at least know when to let it loose.”

“…..What if that beast is different from yours?”

Miko’s eyes widened for a bit and then he smiled.

“Then that’s even better.”

“Why?”

Tessa took a deep breath and faced the Nicos with a smile on her face.

“I almost lost my cool there but remembering what my brother said made me realize something.”

Crimson and black aura started leaking out of her body.

“I’m might not be terrifying demonic beings like my brothers…”

Her hair turned into a pitch-black mane and her eyes turned silver with a crimson hue in the center.

“But that’s alright. As much as I want to be like them I’m an entirely different beast….”

Her skin darkened but had an unhealthy pale color as if she was a corpse.

“But it doesn’t matter because I’m a beast all the same and that’s a good thing. Why?”

Her teeth turned into fangs and her nails changed into black claws. She showed a savage grin as her words overlapped her brother’s.

“Because Tessa Dragna will bring forth onto the world a type of terror that it has never witnessed before! A type of terror that will echo in the lands of the living and raise the dead! She will become the beast that will protect her family and tear their enemies to shreds! She will become the Lioness of Dragna!”

She poured power into her legs and blast off the ground and headed for the closest Nico.

“Lioness? Then be prepared to be hunted!”

He formed dozens of lightning gorillas behind him and had them block her path.

“Hunted?”

*BAM!*

Tessa slipped through the gorillas and their bodies burst apart with an explosive sound.

“It is I who will do the hunting!”

Nico thrust a lightning bolt at her but she accelerated and flew past him before his attack could reach her. His body suddenly exploded into three thick slices like he was cut.

“Wha?!”

The other Nico was shocked by what he saw. Tessa didn’t slow down and changed her path to him. She became even faster and cut the distance in a split second. She grabbed at his neck.

“Die!”

Another Nico came from above and pierced several lightning lances through her body.

“Didn’t I tell you already?! You have to kill us at the same time or it makes-”

An explosive sound rang out and the two Nicos burst into pieces. The Tessa that was stabbed faded away and the real one appeared behind them.

(What the hell?! She got us both?! But I’m still alive so there must’ve been some gap between the attacks!)

The Nicos quickly formed back together and turn to look for Tessa. A hole opened up in one of their chests and his heart was blown into the open. Nico saw that heart get slashed to pieces before his eyes and cold sweat covered his body.

(If I wasn’t wearing this suit I would’ve died three times in less than-)

His thoughts were cut off along with his heads that were floating in the air. The heads and bodies turned into smoke and reappeared together some distance away.

“Forget all the other suits, if I wasn’t wearing the Gemini Model I would’ve died already!”

Static and winds started gathering around them.

“If it stays like this she’ll eventually kill me!”

They fired huge blasts of lightning and wind that combined together and formed an even bigger attack. Tessa faced this attack and gathered crimson and death energy around her fists. She shot towards the blasts and threw a punch.

“Crimson Death Punch!”

Dark crimson light pierced through the blast and raced towards the Nicos. They avoided the light and caused a huge explosion behind them as they charged at Tessa. An image of a black and crimson lioness appeared behind her. She accelerated towards them. They clashed midway with Tessa ripping one of the Nicos to pieces with her claws. The other one jumped over his corpse and kicked her in the chest. An electric blast was fired from his foot and it forced her back. The other Nico appeared from black smoke behind her. He threw a fist that had wind spinning around it like a drill. Black mist came out of Tessa’s body and formed arms and blocked it. The arms then grabbed the shocked Nico by the neck. His body shriveled up like a prune and fell to the ground.

“Tch! She’s using Death Magic and Demon Magic at the same time.”

Nico cursed while firing countless lightning bolts from the sky. Tessa maneuvered through the bombardment with cat-like reflexes. Another Nico appeared from one of the bolts she avoided and grabbed her from behind. Just like earlier black mist seeped out of her body and his body started shriveling up. Even so, he smiled.

“Detonation!”

*BOOM!*

His body exploded and Tessa was caught in a huge explosion. When it faded she was seen kneeling in a crater with burns all over her.

“That’s right…. They don’t have to fear death so they can commit all the suicidal attacks they want.”

Lightning bolts and tornados fell from the sky and headed towards her.

“Heh.”

A huge grin appeared on her face.

“Then I’ll just go all out!”

The space around her pulsated like a beating heart. All color slowly drained from the world around her and it was as if time had slow down. The lightning and tornado The lightning and tornadoes dissipated into nothingness and Tessa disappeared from where she was.

“Where did-”

She appeared in front of Nico and ripped his throat open with her fangs. She kicked off his body to avoid an attack from the other one. Black mist came from her body and grabbed onto his neck and sucked the life out of him.

“Damn! Did she just get stronger?!”

Nico appeared out of the smoke and said.

“I’ll just kill-”

Severe pain surged through Nico’s body causing him to freeze up.

“Rahhh!”

A shriek came from inside him and the suit started moving like it was trying to rip itself from him.

“Ugh! Don’t tell me I died too many times and put too much pressure on the suit?! Ahh!”

He fell on his knees and his double disappeared into smoke. He rolled around on the ground screaming at the top of his lungs.

“So he lost control, huh?”

Tessa watched him suffer with a curious look.

“I could take this chance to kill him but Sora said that Miko didn’t want Silver Crow to die for some reason. I don’t why he only told me that though, but I think it’s the truth.”

She had a troubled look on her face.

“Ahhhhhh!”

Nico’s scream became louder and Tessa saw the suit tear itself away from Nico. Like a snake, it turned its head in her direction.

“Could it be that it determined that its user wasn’t good enough anymore and wanted me to wear it?”

She glared at the blob ready to fight it.

“I’ll destroy you before you get the chance.”

The blob pounced at her but before she could clash with it, the blob was sucked into the sky. Obviously, against it whim.

“……….”

Tessa looked at the sky with a blank stare for a while as if to process what just happened. She slowly returned to her original form and fell on her butt.

“…..I don’t know what happened but I’m too exhausted to care.”

She looked at Nico who was passed out on the ground with foam coming out of his mouth and yawned. She got to her feet and faced the direction of the capital.

(I don’t have the power to face the queen at the moment….)

She turned away and walked in a different direction.

“I wonder if the others had to deal with that alien suit too.”

She exhaustedly went looking for her next battle. But what Tessa didn’t know was that she had just walked past where Natasa Kingsley’s cocoon was hidden.