That Time I Got Sent to Another World Where All of the Girls Are Super Hot and Super Into Me Because I Am Super Strong and Have Very Powerful Abilities that God Gave to Me Because Me and Them Were Friends When I Was in Grade School and God Is Actually A Loli Who is Also in Love with Me Because I Am A Super Epic Person Who Will Defeat The Demon Lord Who Threatens The Entire World but the Demon Lord Actually is in Love With Me and the Demon Lord is a Super Hot Busty Babe Who is Actually Just Trying to Get My Attention Because I Have a Cellphone That Can Contact the Internet and Can Get Anything Shipped To Me Within 2 Days But I Barely Need It Because I Am Actually the Most Strongest Guy Alive Because I Have Super Strong Powers Like Being Able to Lift Your Mom Really Easily Which is Nearly Impossible Because Your Mom is So Fat But is Actually A Secret Anime Busty Babe Who is Really into Me Because I Am Super Cool and Better Than Your Dad Because He is Super Lame Which I Am Not:

S2E14 - In Which Bonbon Unleashes Her Full Power

Bonbon ingested the Natto. "Ate" was too weak a word for the indescribable flavor and texture of the fermented soybeans as they oozed their way down her throat. If nothing else, the experience definitely vindicated her resolve. This dish that Hiro had made really was like nothing she'd ever eaten before. She... still wasn't sure if that was a good thing.

The Natto settled in her stomach like a rock. She placed one hand on her midsection, as she began to feel a strange effervescence bubbling through her stomach. Her pulse quickened, and a sudden warmth flushed over her face, spreading down her neck and over her arms, until her entire body felt tingling and feverish.

This sensation... she thought, Is this... food poisoning?

Bonbon had never had food poisoning before, so when she erupted into flames, she spent a few seconds unsure whether this was a normal reaction or not. She stared down at her hand, as flesh, muscle, and bone gave way to flame. The fire consumed her, converting her body into living flame It was as if some kind of insane and godlike chef had poured napalm into a Bonbon-shaped mold, creating a perfect replica of the elf, made entirely of fire. She wasn't just ON fire. She had become fire.

Bonbon grinned a smile. She could work with this.

She looked up at the raiders. Three of them surrounding Ciel, who was on her knees and desperately trying to block as many of their swings as possible. Heart Eyepatch glanced up at Bonbon, raising her weapon up before doing a double-take and stopping mid-swing, lowering her weapon. She stared, wide-eyed, at Bonbon before reaching out and grabbing Heather by the shoulder to get her attention.

Bonbon started running, charging straight for the group. The [Shield of the Divine] let her pass, which was good, because she hadn't bothered to consider it and running into it facefirst would have been really embarassing. The pain in her arm had subsided, and she couldn't feel much of anything, except for a blazing, burning surge of energy as she stomped across the ground, leaving flaming footprints in her wake.

She concentrated her focus on her right hand, clenching it into a fist. The flames billowing around it thickened, until it was surrounded in a fireball the size of a beachball. She reared back, just as the unnamed raider seemed to notice that the others had stopped. The raider turned to see what they were looking at, just in time to be engulfed in flames as Bonbon's fist struck her in the dead center of her face.

!!!!Pugilist Arte Unlocked!!!!

[Fire Punch] obtained!

It would be impressive to say that the raider flew backwards, cartwheeling through the air as flames engulfed her. However, Bonbon's Fire Forme unfortunately did nothing to augment her weak, elf-like upper arms. The raider's head tilted to the side as the fist impacted her face, but she was otherwise only affected by the fact that her head erupted into a hellish cloud of flames.

"AAAAAAARGGGHHH!" she complained, slapping at her head and staggering backwards. She dropped her mace and went running for the hills, flailing helplessly at the flames on her head.

Bonbon remained in her post-punch position, back arched and body twisted, with her arm across her chest. She slowly looked up at the rest of the raiders. She struck an imposing figure, the flames wreathing around her, with her eyes glowing blue-hot in the slightly dimmer recesses of her fiery face. It would have been significantly more intimidating if her knees weren't shaking from nerves, but thankfully, the flame body was such a spectacle that the raiders barely even noticed.

"Who's next?" she asked, standing up straight.

Heather stepped out of the crowd, flourishing her mace and squinting angrily at the extremely-bright elf.

"You think you're like, hot shit now, huh? Just because you got a fancy [Spell] or something?"

Heather spat on Bonbon's chest, the spit sizzling into steam instantly. "Like, it's cute, but I've seen better, honey."

The raid leader dashed towards her, moving with such sudden speed that Bonbon barely had time to bring up her arm before Heather slammed her mace down on it.

The mace struck home on Bonbon's upraised left arm. There was no pain, and Bonbon wondered how her flame body would even interact with things like wounds. Her arm had been broken before, but no longer hurt. Did the fire-flesh... merge back together or something? Would Heather's attack even do anything to--?

Bonbon and Heather watched as the fiery left arm severed at the elbow, the forearm splatting to the ground, a puddle of molten flame.

"..."

Bonbon and Heather stared silently at the puddle.

"Um," Bonbon noted, blinking. "I'll worry about that later!"

She turned and sucker punched Heather, while the raider was still staring in surprise at the puddle. She caught her opponent under the chin in a fiery uppercut that could have launched her skyward if she had possessed the upper-body strength.

"[Fire Punch]!" she activated, channeling her power to cause her fist to supernaturally burst into (more) flames. It was a bit superfluous, but Bonbon hoped that it might also increase the attack power of her punch, at least.

Heather staggered back from the uppercut, batting instinctively at the flames. She shook her head, activating an Arte.

"Bandit Artes: [Smooth Criminal]!"

The flames slid from her face, dripping off of her like water and dissipating into the air. She glared at Bonbon, letting out an animalistic growl and lunging forwards, mace raised high above her head. Bonbon reached for her apron before realizing that it'd either merged with her body, or been burned to ashes. She hadn't been using [Unbreakable Apron] when she ate the Natto, after all. She froze (figuratively, she was still very far from frozen temperature-wise). If she got hit in the face, would her head come off just as easily as her arm?

She took a step back as Heather started to swing. Ah. She probably should have considered that before getting into clobbering range, huh?

Bonbon clenched her eyes shut, cringing back from the attack. Heather drew back her mace before suddenly being struck by Heart Eyepatch, who Ciel had just yote towards her. The two raiders slammed into each other and toppled over in a tangle of limbs. Ciel dusted her hands off, sighing in relief before ducking a swing of Pigtails's warpick.

The raider swung her mount around, making a disgusted sound before noticing that Bonbon was even more unarmed than before. Apparently, being literally made of fire didn't register as much of a threat in her eyes, because she spurred her mount onwards, dashing directly towards Bonbon.

The chef's mind raced. Her power didn't seem to let her control fire, or throw it, or shoot fire beams, or anything like that. So far as she could tell, she was just made out of fire, and that was it. If she wanted to attack Pigtails, she'd have to get within range of that warpick first. Didn't she have any long-range abilities? Long range...

Bonbon blinked in realization as the raider charged towards her. She lifted her hand, closing her thumb and forefinger to form a circle, as the glyph on the back of her hand lit up.

"[Create Food]!" She cast. A stream of grease shot from thin air, streaming between her fingers. As soon as it passed through the gap, it caught flame, expanding into a billowing gout of burning oil.

Pigtail gasped, jerking her mount to the side as the flames engulfed her. She blew through the flame cloud, her skin scorched and hair smoldering. Her otherwise pretty face was screwed up into an extremely ugly expression, like somebody who had simultaneously lost a bet while stepping in dog shit, in front of a disliked coworker.

"Heather!" Pigtails shouted. "This, like, isn't working! They already killed whats-her-face and the ugly one!"

Heather glared at Bonbon from the ground, shoving Heart Eyepatch off of her and rising to her feet without breaking eye contact. Bonbon felt an uncomfortable tingle down the back of her neck, and the sweet, waxy taste of [Appraisal] filled her mouth.

"They're almost dead!" Heather retorted. "I'm totally not going back empty-handed!"

Bonbon's stomach smoldered uncomfortably. Considering how reliant on her physical prowess this power was, she'd been hoping it would have pulled a little more weight in the intimidation department. Heather wasn't even lying. Bonbon's health was extremely low. She didn't have any skills that would let her see Ciel's, but the [Paladin] had taken a pretty severe beating as well.

"I refuse to die for some booze and a wagon," Heart Eyepatch protested. "Where the heck did Veronica go? We need her [Skill]."

Bonbon watched hesitantly as the raiders argued amongst themselves. This superpower was useful, but she was already low on MP. She barely had enough left to cast [Create Food] one more time. She still held her hand up, forming another circle with her fingers and aiming it at Heather.

She heard a rustling of the bushes, and glanced over, hopeful that it might be reinforcements. Her hope emptied, however, as she saw that it was the raider who had fled earlier.

"What's up, bitches?" she growled. Veronica, the previously-unnamed raider, came stumbling back towards the fight, her face covered in ash, and her hair still smoking. "The reinforcements are here." She held her hand up, activating a [Skill]

"[Revitalizing Aura]!" She shouted, and began glowing with a green, radioactive-looking light. Heart Eyepatch let out a sigh of relief, and as Bonbon watched, her wounds slowly began to knit together. Heather gave the elf a cruel smile, shouldering her mace as her own injuries started to heal, very slowly.

"That was, like a cheap shot," Veronica accused Bonbon, jabbing a finger towards her. "But you'll need more than a little fire to get rid of me." She brushed ash from her face, giving a triumphant sneer that lasted up until the molotov cocktail exploded on the back of her head.

Veronica erupted into flames again, screaming and falling to the ground. Heather whipped around, searching the nearby bushes for the assailant. "What?!"

"Heather!" Heart Eyepatch shouted, intercepting Ciel, who had charged for the leader. Heather watched as the two traded blows, then glanced at Bonbon again before looking back towards Veronica, who was quickly falling victim to her one weakness: slightly more fire.

"Damn it..." she swore. "This is, like... bullshit."

She whistled, and leapt into the air, landing smoothly on the back of her mount.

"RETREAT!" She sounded. Pigtails shot past Bonbon, abandoning her next attack. She circled around and swung at Ciel, forcing her to back off long enough for Heart Eyepatch to withdraw as well. Heart Eyepatch grabbed the neck of her mount, hauling herself up into the saddle. The remaining riderless Rockatiels followed after.

"No!" Ciel shouted as the raiders started fleeing. "Get back here!" She started to chase them, until Heather wheeled her mount around. Ciel raised her mace, skidding to a halt in anticipation of a counterattack. But no attack came.

Heather sat on her mount, glaring down at the pair of heroes. Her eyes were filled with hate and murder and fire (reflected from Bonbon).

"This, like, isn't over," she declared, her voice shrill and ominous. She flipped her hair defiantly and spurred her Rockatiel, leading the raiders back into the hills, to relay the news to the rest of their number, and their mysterious King.

"Dang it!" Ciel shouted, chasing after them once more. "Get back here!"

Bonbon watched as the raiders disappeared into the wilderness, quickly outpacing the sprinting paladin.

She collapsed to her knees, letting out the breath she'd been holding.

"T-thank goodness," she sighed. It was finally over.

And then the bushes behind her exploded in a flurry of movement.