She wore gauntlets on her hands and greaves on her legs. Her body was draped in a sensual costume made of multiple layers of thin raiment, so sheer they were practically translucent—the kind of outfit one would expect to see on a dancer or a prostitute.
Adorned in the equipment of two diametrically opposed classes, warrior and dancer, Vihera presented a silhouette that was strangely devoid of any sense of contradiction.
Rei found himself oddly convinced that the person standing before him was neither warrior, nor dancer, nor prostitute, but simply Vihera herself.
Of course, the equipment covering her alluring body was not designed merely to catch an opponent off guard or to please the eye. Every piece was a powerful magic item in its own right.
The gauntlets possessed the ability to form magic power into the shape of claws, and the greaves had the ability to produce blades from the heels. Even the thin raiment wrapped around her torso possessed a high degree of magic defense that belied its flimsy appearance.
To those unable to grasp Vihera’s true strength, these items would seem like objects of disdain; to those who knew better, they were nothing short of a threat.
Bathed in the pouring moonlight, Vihera waited for Rei in her combat finery. If Elena was the symbol of day and the sun, then the woman currently held in Rei’s gaze was the symbol of night and the moon.
Facing her, Rei finally spoke.
"Did I keep you waiting?"
"No. Waiting for your partner is part of the pleasure of a tryst, isn't it? Imagining the moment you'll spend together while you wait... it makes me feel quite like a maiden."
Vihera offered him a beaming smile. There was a grin on her lips, yes, but her eyes betrayed a desire for combat that she couldn't have hidden if she tried.
Furthermore, Elena, who would normally have reacted to the word "tryst," stood back today without a word, joined by Seto and Iero. On Vihera’s side, Byune also retreated into the shadows. It was as if they were all silently acknowledging that the only protagonists on this stage were Rei and Vihera.
Under the brilliant moonlight, Rei and Vihera stood five meters apart. A man and a woman facing one another in a night park—had a passerby seen only that, they might have truly mistaken the scene for a lovers' meeting. However, given that both were fully equipped to delve straight into a dungeon, that fantasy would have been difficult to maintain. Perhaps they might have passed for a pair of adventurer lovers, at best.
"Well, I wonder... regardless, shall we get started?"
"Yes, yes. Of course. You’re as quick to the point as ever. I like that about... no, let’s save that for later. For now, let’s enjoy this struggle to our hearts' content."
She shook her head slightly mid-sentence and raised her hands. Claws formed from magic power instantly extended from her gauntlets, and blades sprouted from the heels of her greaves.
"It seems you're ready on your end."
Watching her closely, Rei drew the Death Scythe from his Misty Ring and gripped it with both hands. It was his usual, practiced stance. However, there was no doubt that the opponent before him was more formidable than any monster he had ever encountered in a dungeon.
"Then... let's begin! Accept my feelings!"
With that shout, Vihera kicked off the ground to bridge the gap. For a fighter like her, who specialized in close combat and grappling, the first major hurdle when fighting Rei and his long-reaching Death Scythe was how to get inside his guard.
Knowing this, Rei intended to launch his attacks from his own optimal range, preventing her from ever getting close.
"Terrain Manipulation."
As he spoke the command, Rei slammed the butt end of the Death Scythe into the earth.
In an instant, the ground within about a 10m radius of Rei sank by about 10cm.
It was only ten centimeters, yet for Vihera, who was in the middle of a high-speed charge, it was a completely unexpected disruption. Her foot, which should have met solid ground, found only air for a split second. The sensation caused a momentary lapse in her coordination.
It was only a heartbeat, but for Rei, it was an opening long enough to strike.
"Hyaaaaaah!"
The Death Scythe's blade swept forward, fueled by his magic power.
Vihera sensed the blade coming for her life and instinctively braced her feet to arrest her momentum. The blade whistled through the air. Had she ignored the confusion beneath her feet and continued her charge, the blade would likely have torn through her.
It was a move born of her raw instinct as a battle maniac.
However, even that was within Rei’s expectations. Their time together had been brief, but they had fought side-by-side many times. He knew her well enough to know she wouldn't be stopped by a single trick.
Using the momentum from his initial swing, Rei spun on the spot and immediately triggered another skill.
"Flying Slash!"
The shockwave erupted. He unleashed the attack horizontally rather than vertically, forcing Vihera to drop low to evade. The slash hissed just centimeters above her head.
Without waiting for the attack to pass, she kicked off again to close the distance. Her movements were supple and fluid, reminiscent of a large feline predator. Watching her, Rei felt the strange illusion that he was facing Seto, despite the obvious difference in their physical sizes.
"Hyaah!"
She threw a punch while still technically outside her normal range. Under normal circumstances, the strike would have missed, but Vihera had the claws produced by magic power extending from her gauntlets.
The claws tore toward the Dragon Robe covering Rei’s chest, but he wasn't about to let them connect.
"As if!"
He flipped his wrist and used the butt end of the Death Scythe’s shaft to parry the strike upward.
Yet, Vihera had anticipated even this. The parry created a momentary opening—the very opportunity she had been waiting for. She forcibly killed the upward momentum of her right arm, pulling her hand back into a guard even as she stepped forward.
She had successfully slipped inside the Death Scythe's effective range and into Rei’s bosom. While Rei could no longer effectively swing his great scythe, Vihera was exactly where she wanted to be.
She threw a punch with absolute confidence. Vihera knew that Rei’s Dragon Robe was incredibly resistant to slashing, but she also knew that while it might stop the blade, it couldn't negate the force of the blow. She thrust her fist forward, intending for the shock to bypass the armor and penetrate deep into his internal organs.
"Magic Shield!"
Rei’s voice rang out through the night park.
A shield of light began to form. It wasn't fully manifest by the time her fist connected, but the shimmering barrier still absorbed the vast majority of the impact before vanishing like mist. However, because it was an incomplete shield, the remaining shock still slammed into Rei.
"Guh!"
Rei let out a pained groan as he was sent tumbling back about five meters.
Vihera smirked. She felt a rush of pure joy. It looked as though Rei had been blown away by her attack, but in reality, he had jumped back just before the moment of impact to kill the momentum.
Even so, the fact that he had taken enough damage to grunt through his Dragon Robe was a testament to Vihera’s singular talent for combat. Rei's hands and feet scraped against the earth as he struggled to stabilize himself.
As he looked up, he saw Vihera’s heel held high, about to come crashing down on his head. Her leg was a sensual, pale white in the moonlight, but Rei didn't have time to appreciate the view. He kicked off and leapt to the side.
The heel slammed into the spot where Rei had been a moment before. The blade on her greave gouged deep into the ground, and the sheer power of the blow caused the earth to sink several centimeters in a radial pattern.
Leaping clear, Rei thrust his left hand into the dirt and used the leverage to flip his body. Activating his Sleipnir's Shoes, he kicked off a platform of solidified air and surged back toward Vihera.
"You've had your turn!"
He shouted, flipping his wrist to point the scythe's butt end at her.
"Penetrate!"
A vortex of wind coiled around the butt end, drastically increasing its piercing power.
Having seen this technique used against Oricule, Vihera was well aware of its lethality. Yet she didn't retreat. She moved to intercept the butt end as Rei charged at her stomach with the weight of his entire body.
She chose to counter with a kick.
As the tip of the shaft neared her abdomen, she dropped back into a bridge-like position and kicked upward against the Death Scythe's shaft.
Normally, such an action would have resulted in shredded flesh from the wind surrounding the weapon, but Vihera’s thin raiment was designed specifically to mitigate magic damage. It had allowed her to take Pri's Lightning Cage head-on without a single scratch, after all. The raiment required magic power to function, but since she was only deflecting the wind rather than taking the butt end directly, she managed to block it with minimal energy consumption.
The kick succeeded in knocking the Death Scythe high into the air.
Vihera’s only miscalculation was that Rei didn't flinch when his primary weapon was blown away. He showed no lingering attachment to his scythe at all. Perhaps it was because kicking a weapon that weighed over 100kg had momentarily slowed Vihera’s own movements.
Rei ignored his flying weapon and drove his fist, powered by his full momentum, into Vihera’s abdomen.
"Kyaa!"
The thin raiment was for magic defense; it offered almost nothing against a physical attack. Vihera let out a sharp cry as the blow sent her skidding horizontally across the grass.
Despite the pain, she managed to twist in mid-air and land on her feet—a feat of pure, unconscious combat instinct. She slowed herself by dragging her limbs against the ground and coughed, clutching her stomach as she scanned for Rei.
Fortunately, Rei hadn't followed up with an immediate pursuit. He was standing where he had landed the punch, catching the Death Scythe in one hand as it fell back down from the sky.
"Cough... honestly... do you have any idea what it means to scar a woman like this?"
She massaged her abdomen through the sheer fabric, feeling the bruise already starting to form as she spoke to him.
"Don't say things that make me sound like a villain. People will misunderstand if they hear that."
If an ordinary person heard a woman say a man had "scarred" her, they would undoubtedly assume he had taken her virtue. And since the one saying it was Vihera—a woman of rare beauty and a body men would kill for—there was no other way it would be interpreted.
"Hehe, if it's you, Rei, I wouldn't mind. ...Still, with us making this much noise, it’s only a matter of time before the guard force shows up. Let’s settle this. To be honest, I could enjoy this fight for eternity."
Vihera murmured, sounding genuinely regretful. The conflict between House Silwa and House Marstchel had ended only the day before; the guards were on high alert, and the residents of Exil were jumpy at the slightest hint of violence. Even in a labyrinth city, the average citizen didn't want a battle in their backyard.
"You're right. ...Then let's make this the final act."
Hearing Rei’s agreement, Vihera stood tall, acting as though the heavy damage to her midsection was nonexistent. Rei gripped the Death Scythe with both hands and faced her.
The moonlight poured down on them like spotlights on a stage. Even the humid summer air felt like a deliberate production element to heighten the drama. They stared at one another, each seeing the other as the only soul in their universe.
The moment finally came.
Perhaps it was a slight dimming of the moonlight, or perhaps it was the distant, muffled noise of the city’s nightlife. Whatever the trigger, Rei and Vihera both kicked off the earth at the same instant. They moved at a speed that left their shadows behind, each intending to bring the other into their killing range... only to freeze abruptly in the next second.
The blade of Rei’s Death Scythe was pressed firmly against Vihera’s throat. On her side, the claws produced by magic power were extended, but their tips stopped just short of reaching Rei.
Had she tried to swing, the scythe would have taken her head before the claws touched him. The victory was clear to anyone watching.
They stayed in that position for a long time, staring into each other's eyes. Rei looked at Vihera. Vihera looked at Rei. It felt as though they were the only two people left in the world. The silence between them was heavy, but the tension had shifted into something entirely different.
Finally, Vihera broke the silence.
"It’s my loss... isn't it?"
"Yeah. It's my win."
A brief exchange of words. But there was no trace of bitterness in Vihera’s voice. Instead, she seemed to accept her defeat with a strange sense of joy.
"...Rei, you beat me. And you did it perfectly. ...That means I belong to you now."
As she spoke those words, Rei opened his mouth to ask exactly what she meant by them, but Vihera leaned in and sealed his lips with her own.