"Guh...!"
Marquis Catreia scrambled to evade the punch thrown his way.
The strike was sharp and without hesitation. It made him realize, with a jolt of alarm, that his daughter truly intended to strike him down.
"Wait! Yuri!"
"I won't wait!"
"Urgh...!"
Yuri’s other hand shot out, catching the Marquis square in the ribs.
Her fist was small and her weight negligible, yet the blow landed with a sharpness and weight that defied her slight frame.
(So this is Ogrekin Sickness...!)
The Marquis weathered the impact through sheer physical constitution and an iron will. Had he been an ordinary soldier or martial artist, that single strike would have surely robbed him of consciousness.
"What's the matter, Father? Do you plan to just stand there and take it?"
"You...!"
The Marquis’s warrior instincts flared to life. If he remained passive after such a provocation, his dignity as both a father and a soldier would be utterly ruined.
(I won't kill her, but I’ll see to it she can’t move for a long while...!)
"Hah!"
Marquis Catreia unleashed a heavy body blow aimed at Yuri’s torso. Yuri reacted instantly, crossing her arms to catch the strike.
"Ngh...!"
Despite her guard, she couldn't fully absorb the staggering force and was sent flying backward. Her back slammed into one of the tombstones, the stone cracking under the force of the impact.
"As expected of the Kingdom’s Strongest Warrior... what a terrifying blow."
"Yuri... that’s enough!"
"I have no reason to stop now. I haven't lost yet."
Yuri shook out her hands loosely. Despite taking the brunt of the Marquis’s attack, there wasn't so much as a bruise on her skin. Her body possessed incredible fortitude. In terms of pure physical durability, she might have actually surpassed the Marquis himself.
"An Ogrekin... truly, they are a nightmare to deal with..."
The Marquis took a deep breath, finally accepting that he would not be able to capture his daughter without causing her injury.
The Ogrekin were a demi-human race. While they were incapable of using magic, they possessed physical capabilities that far exceeded human limits. The Marquis had clashed with them many times in the northern forest of the Aiwood Kingdom, and he knew their fearsome nature all too well.
"Here I come, Father!"
Yuri kicked off the ground and lunged. Fists flew from both sides—left, right, and left again. A deluge of strikes rained down upon the Marquis.
"Nuu...!"
The Marquis parried her fists with practiced ease. He blocked and evaded with minimal movement, waiting for his moment to strike. Then, he unleashed a sharp counter.
"Hmph!"
"Kh...!"
Finding an opening in the midst of her relentless assault, the father’s fist sank deep into Yuri’s abdomen. She was blown away with even greater force than before, skipping across the earth several times.
"Ooooooooooh!"
The Marquis did not let up. He knew this wouldn't be enough to stop her. He pursued her as she tumbled, reaching out to seize her arm.
"Now!"
"Like I'll let you...!"
Yuri tried to throw a desperate punch, but the Marquis tilted his head just enough to let it whistle past. He maintained his grip on her arm and used her momentum to hurl her bodily away.
"Uwaaaaaaaaaa...!"
Yuri’s body crashed through several tombstones, mowing them down like grass. Finally, she became buried beneath a pile of stone wreckage and fell silent.
"............Haa, haa."
The Marquis stood there, his face contorted with guilt, before rushing toward his daughter.
"Yuri! Are you alright?!"
It was a foolish question to ask after dealing the blow himself, but he did not act out of malice. His love for her, however distorted, was genuine, and his concern was real.
"Stay with me! Yuri...!"
He began to dig through the shattered stone to reach her, but in that instant, the debris exploded outward toward him.
"Yah!"
"Nuu!?"
The Marquis hurriedly raised his arms to block the flying stone fragments.
"Got you!"
Yuri lunged out from the wreckage, blood trickling from her forehead. She pulled her right fist back, preparing to strike.
(Another punch...)
Realizing this, the Marquis instinctively raised both hands into a defensive guard.
"Haah!"
"Guf...!?"
But the impact he expected never came. Instead, a violent force slammed into him from an entirely different angle, sending him tumbling sideways.
This time, it was the Marquis’s turn to roll. He smashed through tombstones and bounced across the ground before finally collapsing onto the stone pavement.
"What... just happened..."
As he struggled to speak, a sharp, throbbing pain radiated from his side.
"Oh, thank goodness... it worked."
Yuri walked toward her fallen father. A mischievous grin, like that of a child who had pulled off a grand prank, lit up her beautiful face.
"I was so worried I'd mess it up! I suppose I have my training to thank for these legs!"
"Your legs... a kick?"
In that moment, the Marquis realized how he had been played. Yuri had baited him with the punch, drawing his guard high, only to unleash a devastating kick as the true strike.
Looking back, Yuri hadn't used a single kick since the start of the duel. It had all been a calculated move to divert his attention away from her lower body.
"That was my best kick yet. Even you won't be getting up from that, Father! As promised, I’m leaving the Marquis House!"
"W-Wait...!"
"Well then... I’m off!"
Yuri spoke with a radiant smile and waved energetically at the fallen Marquis.
"Ah..."
The moment he saw that smile, the Marquis stopped trying to push himself up.
To be honest, he wasn't truly beaten. His side burned, and he could feel that several ribs were shattered, but he was the Kingdom’s Strongest Warrior. If he truly wished it, he could have forced himself up to continue the fight.
"Ah..."
But seeing Yuri’s smile robbed him of the will to do so.
(Since when... did she stop smiling like that?)
He had kept her locked away in the mansion, sheltered by overprotection. Somewhere in those suffocating days, the joy had vanished from her face.
(My love, was I wrong after all?)
The pain in his chest hurt far more than his broken ribs. Marquis Catreia remained lying on the cold ground, watching his daughter’s back as she skipped away with an excited, lighthearted step.