Kara noticed that the rock shield had barely avoided the explosion and was cracked. She had lacked a little bit, maybe a stage, to break the shield and incinerate the bastard after all!

{What is it made of?!} - Kara had partially suppressed the fury inside herself. It was not a royal thing to worry about trifles. The phoenix relic in the second phase was far from complete, blind as an old chicken, its explosion could be much more powerful.

The princess created an explosive fireball in her hand and aimed it at the cracked shield. Let the impudent jerk burn to a crisp, the worms would have a glorious feast...

~whoosh~

At the last moment, Kyon had crawled out of a new pit nearby. A small column of flame fired from there. If he had lingered a second longer, he would have burned to the ground. His ears were ringing, his organs throbbing after the recent blast created by the phoenix. He felt as if a grenade had been blown up over him.

A new shield was gradually growing in Kyon’s hands.

{What a resilient asshole...} - Kara clenched her teeth, exhaled through her nose, visibly displeased, and sent the wind blade technique towards the boy. Its speed was mindblowing, the sharpness and density of the blades could compete with a titanic razor.

~jing~ ~jing~

The familiar sound came with sparks this time. A pair of little grooves appeared on the green rock.

{I thought so... Too strong.} - The girl had a nasty feeling once again. The wind technique wasn’t inflicting any significant damage to the damned green rock, therefore, they couldn’t reach the target. If the princess was three to five stages higher in development, she would have got through the solid shield and then the boy himself. If only the tornado razor was not recharging...

Kara created a fire snake in her hand and launched it into the attack.

The reptile was glowing like molten magma. Its density and speed had exceeded several times the previous one. It was a great technique for medium range battles.

Kyon was significantly inferior in speed but it was encouraging to know the snake was not explosive.

~whoosh~

The snake crashed into the shield and spread like a fiery umbrella to the sides forcing the boy to make half a step back.

To everyone's surprise, the shield had no traces of melting just like it was after the collision with the phoenix sphere...

The princess's face remained calm, something that couldn’t be said about her inner state. She kept attacking with the snake trying to go around the enemy’s shield using to her huge speed advantage. The energy consumption was immense, so the girl wanted to finish the battle as soon as possible.

The snake attacked arching its body, in zigzags, from left to right and from top to bottom! Kyon kept blocking the snake with his shield as if hiding from the rain. Thanks to his cold element, he was not harmed by the residual heat that accounted for some percent of the snake power. The boy was feeling pretty good.

Kyon was analyzing the snake: {If Kara was a hundred times stronger she might have melted the shield with her damn reptile. It would take her several stages to catch me by surprise with her speed or burn me with residual heat.} - His analysis enabled Kyon to find out his approximate limits, at least against Kara and her techniques.

{You’re driving me nuts… That’s it. I am sick and tired of you.} - The girl dispelled the snake and walked toward the boy quietly. Gods help him if he tries and runs away while she is wearing high-heeled shoes.

Her fist sparkled with the phoenix blast which had finally stopped recharging. Just one strike would tear the boy apart along with his solid shield.

Kyon dropped his shield, grew a two-meter adamantium sword and stood in an attacking position like a legendary swordsman. His dark eyes were like sharp daggers that could cut anyone in half.

{I will be happy to see your arrogant eyes scattered throughout the arena.} - The princess thought and smiled vengefully. She was slowly approaching Kyon like a hungry lioness whose victim was bleeding, still alive...

Juno closed her eyes.

Kara started the attack.

At the last moment, Kyon dropped his weapon and, unexpectedly for his adversary, rushed towards her at maximum speed that was truly explosive and never demonstrated before.

{What a cheeky bastard...} - Kara did not expect that the weapon in her opponent’s hands was nothing but distraction.

~boom~

The destructive power of the explosion went in the direction where no one was standing.

The princess had hardly come to her senses when she got kneed in the stomach.

Kara had instantly created a flame in her hands and tried to grab the boy by the neck to burn him to hell. However, he deftly jumped back and picked up his shield, prepared for her long-range attack.

Fat Richie's face lit up in holy radiance.

Xiao Bai turned green. His whole body was wet with cold sweat.

Juno was purring under her breath, extremely pleased.

«He hit the princess!» - One of the guests exclaimed and immediately closed her mouth with her hands; the poor thing broke into a cold sweat when Kara turned her angry look to her. The princess's cherry eyes sparkled with a thirst for murder.

{The jerk has become much faster than before! Was he hiding his true speed?! The vermin... Well, that’s it! You’ve really done it this time. I’ll destroy you!} - Kara's patience burst like a soap bubble. It was time for the biomass to die. His very existence was a wicked joke of the gods. A wave of furious rage swept over the girl. It had always been in her nature but she hadn’t let it out since Elsa escaped. Her lips were half-open, her eyes burning with wild hatred, the chaos of curls on her shoulders seemed to be alive. What an irony, a miserable bug had driven the powerful royal lady into a frenzy!

The guests gasped.

The princess got down on one knee and slowly took off her shiny shoes, one after the other. Her delicious bare feet stepped on the cold floor. The audience saw the perfect cherry-colored pedicure. Her pink long toes could make the horde of foot fetishists fight to the death for a single chance to touch them. Her face was impenetrable. She was dangerously murderously calm. It was the calm before the storm...

«The princess is serious... Goodbye Kyon, we won’t forget you.» … «It doesn’t look like a test of his abilities.» … «Now the young genius is surely going to die.» … «That’s too bad. I liked him, huh…» - The guests said to each other. They had never seen Kara so determined. She shouldn’t have underestimated the boy but no one could blame her. Anyone would have doubted his strength. No one would have believed he was able to withstand opponents at the peak stages of the advanced phase.

Kyon prayed to non-existent gods, took the shield in one hand and the adamantium sword in the other. The most dangerous moment of the battle had come. The boy did not know if the sleight of his 11 levels of the battle fist would help him avoid all the attacks. What if he would die from a single blow or a powerful technique, like the sphere, or flying phoenix, or the blast, or the tornado-razors? He could only hope they were still recharging. Powerful techniques often need a long rollback, especially if they come with unique bodies.

To maximize his chances, Kyon chose a battle strategy called “undress the princess.” He had to pull it off without arousing suspicion, to make believe it happened by chance. Then the girl might give up the fight to save her dignity and not to flash her naked body in front of everyone. It would be a perfect chance not to offend Her Highness. Everyone would understand and forgive him.

Two fiery demon heads appeared in Kara's hands fitting her fists like gloves. The guests felt the growing menace in the air.

Kara rushed toward Kyon at a speed superior to Tsayan in his better shape by about two stages. Awesome numbers! Her technique of movement must be the best in the kingdom.

Kyon’s mouth twisted as if he had tasted a lemon. {Fuck...} - if the girl moved at no more than the fifth level of the battle fist, he could parry her blows away, but if she attempted to steamroller him, there was only one strategy left to save him: to undress the princess. It would also keep her at a safe distance away from him.

His masters would have given him thousands of slaps for not predicting the princess's intentions before the battle started. Observation is also power. He was not mindful enough, and now it was too late to retreat.

The sword in Kyon’s hand turned into green lightning aiming at the girl.

Kara tried to hit him with the fiery demon-gloves, but at the last moment, the boy pointed his sword at her hips, bent in a curve like a snake and bounced aside like a cat from a cucumber.

The princess’s eyes flashed with caution. The girl did not believe that her adversary was capable of causing her any serious damage. His pure energy and weapon speed would leave a slight scratch, max. But if he cut her skirt, everyone could admire her seductive lingerie. Of course, she didn’t mind fighting naked, but in recent years she had learned the reaction of society and could predict the hard times her mother would give her.

Kara dodged from the sword trying to save her clothes and rushed to the boy with the sole purpose to kill him instantly.

Suddenly, his green lightning aimed at her skirt once again, he jumped so swiftly aside that it was impossible to hit him. He’d been using the length of his weapon in full. It didn’t let her approach him closer than one meter and a half (about 5 ft). At that, she had no right to draw her sword. Otherwise, the boy would have died long ago.

{What a jerk! Is he doing that on purpose ?!} - Kara was furious. The bastard was taking advantage of her only weakness as a noble princess.

The girl stepped back again. She could hardly keep calm.

{Come on, do it again!} - Kara thought slyly.

And then the tip of the sword aimed at her chest.

The girl grinned and unclenched her fists. The fiery demon-gloves opened their fanged mouths and shot terrible fireballs at great speed.

But the boy seemed to predict her intentions and instantly jumped back. The fireballs went far away almost touching him and exploded at the arena barrier making little cracks.

{How could he know?!} - Kara gritted her teeth. Her thin fingers were trembling with rage. She had a feeling he’d been reading her like an open book. Now her enemy knew the feature of her technique and would be more careful in the future.

The demon-gloves are a unique high-ranking heat + wind technique. It is unusually powerful for short range combat and quite effective for the medium range one. Each time, when the fists unclench, the jaws open and shoot with a powerful and fast stream of flame or they spit a bunch of heat which, upon contact, explodes with great energy capable of tearing even metal into pieces.

The furious girl darted forward and had nearly overtaken the trickster when she suddenly felt slippery ice under her feet and almost fell... The green lightning touched the edges of her short skirt and left a long cut.

The male guests’ jaws dropped.

Contrary to the expectations, the princess did not seem to notice the impudence of her enemy. The beautiful girl’s face became tense. Fire was burning in her eyes but it could be confused with a young, sultry, fiery passion.

The cunning, ingenious, treacherous boy reminded Kara of Astarta, the bitch, and it made her want to kill him even more. Astarta used to pull stunts, it was impossible to fight with her. This bastard also sets the framework, avoids death, leaves sudden surprises! Scheming little sneak... She had seen through him at once but the audience was unlikely to understand his unobvious motive.

With a graceful somersault, Kara got to her feet and simultaneously released a scarlet stream of enormous temperature from her gloves to the boy who was approaching her.

Kyon covered himself with his shield, the stream veered sharply upward. The demon-gloves were emitting the heat that exceeded many times the temperatures the girl used to create. What was that amazing technique? However, high temperatures are a child’s play for adamantium which cannot be said about powerful explosions.

Kara indignantly approached Kyon at the distance of an outstretched sword and launched a dozen fireballs from her hellish gloves. However, the cheeky boy was dodging them on purpose, he didn’t dare to use his shield being aware of the consequences.

Only one stage separated Kara’s ammo from the speed that could have kept up with the enemy and turn him into a bloody mash. If only her wind element had been of the superior grade instead of the advanced!

Kara entered the area where she might be reached with the sword to try her luck again.

The green lightning (the tip of the sword) aimed at to the princess’s hips again. It looked from the side as if the boy was trying to cut her legs. But in reality, things were different.

Kara used all five levels of the battle fist and her full speed trying to dodge and counterattack, all to no avail.

{Too nimble monkey!} - She nicknamed the boy for his extreme speed and agility. The level of his fighting fists was clearly equal to hers at the very least. And it was extremely annoying. Who is she and who is he?

The princess decided to grab the boy’s damned weapon with her bare hands. The enemy wouldn’t cut her anyway.

She deftly grasped the adamantium sword and was happy to attack. With the long sword, she didn’t have to worry about the integrity of her dress, therefore, the boy was dead!

Suddenly, the sword collided with the boy’s hand, but contrary to the girl’s expectations, there was no spray of blood. Quite the opposite, the weapon turned into sand.

Kara cursed the boy. Another dead end! How could she forget that the rock created by the practitioner has the same fluctuation as its creator? Accordingly, he could easily infuse it with his earth energy and change its structure.

{I need to do something quick…} – The princess thought.

With every second, her energy was running out. The fight couldn’t drag on and on. The boy was exhausted at the beginning of the battle but, given his manner of fighting, he didn’t spend almost any energy, therefore, fighting to the end wouldn’t not work.

By some miracle, the boy managed to dodge her attacks and avoid all the tricks. And he was a cut below in speed! The tip of his sword kept pointing at the luscious places of her beautiful body forcing her to retreat.

Kara understood perfectly well if she had neglected the defense and attacked the dodging lousy boy in a fit of madness, she could have caught him in a couple of seconds! But as a result, all the guests would see her sexy body which meant she wouldn’t escape the severe punishment from her mother.

His strategy struck the princess as impudent and dishonest. Can people be really so mean and mad? Her enemy was ready for anything to survive. He was clinging to his miserable life with all his might. His excessive desire to live made her waste her precious time and disgrace herself in front of her little Juno. He can’t get away with that. The hatred in the princess is not made of rubber and, as a rule, it always finds a way out in the nearest future. What if… Screw the rules! She could pull out her silver sword and chop the asshole along with his green mold. Also, she could increase the development by at least a stage and crush him with the speed of her techniques or her own... But she can’t!

{You’re pissing me off... Die, please.} - The princess's fist sparkled with the phoenix blast that had finally stopped recharging. The technique takes too much energy which ends so quickly.

The boy made a frightened face and backed away.

Kara was surprised to see his reaction, but her intuition was whispering that the enemy was bluffing. He is a player not a victim! The girl rushed into the attack, not in a straight line but in an arch.

This time, she wouldn’t let the opponent leave the zone of the explosive destruction. She would be no “open book!” She wanted to see him predict her actions now.

Suddenly, the ground sank under her foot and it fell underneath. A trap!

{Come on?! I didn’t run the way he wanted!} - Kara was shocked to realize that the boy was one step ahead. He had read her again and pulled wool over her eyes! Sly like a fox.