“Hey, Durandal.”

“Yes, Lucia?”

“Nothing, I just wanted to hear your voice.” Ah, it’s so nice having Durandal back. “What are you rolling your eyes for, Ilya? You got a problem? Huh?”

“No, it’s nothing,” Ilya said and shook her head. She looked at her dad who was sitting beside her. “Do you see what I mean now?”

“A little,” her dad said. He leaned back into the plush seats of the carriage and smiled at me. “Did you finish absorbing those cores I gave you?”

“Yup, it took about an hour.” He should’ve given me more. They technically grow on trees, don’t they? If I redefine a tree to mean divine beast, that is. What’s really surprising is hot chocolate actually does grow on trees! It’s amazing. “Durandal’s made it to divine warrior, and even Puppers became a divine sock.” My feet are constantly in heaven. It’s amazing. I need to make some divine underwear spirits. I wonder if I’ll find any during the competition.

Durandal turned his head. Hey, don’t look away from me! “What took you so long to become a divine spirit, Gae?”

“I spend more time dead than alive when I’m around Lucia,” Puppers said and lowered his head. That’s right, look away! This is called establishing dominance amongst beastkin. It works on demons and humans too. “I … don’t want to talk about it.”

The carriage jolted, and I almost spilled my hot chocolate. It continued to jolt, bouncing us up and down. And I really did spill my chocolate. “Why the heck is this road so bumpy!?”

“It’s the boundary line separating human and demon territory,” Ilya’s dad said. “It means we’re getting close to our destination.”

“That doesn’t explain why it’s such a crappy road.” Now that I spilled my drink, I only have eighty-three gallons left in my interspacial ring. I have to ration it carefully or I’ll run out in a week!

“No one wants to maintain it,” Ilya’s dad said and shrugged. Or at least I think he shrugged. Everyone was bouncing around too much to tell. “The demons think of it as the humans’ responsibility, and the humans think of it as ours. Thus, it remains in its war-torn state.”

“Why couldn’t we have just teleported there?” Then I could’ve laid in bed and relaxed until the day before the competition started. But no, we had to take the month-long carriage ride.

“I already told you,” Ilya said with a scowl. “A teleportation on that scale requires two arrays. It’s like a tunnel, and the humans would rather die before letting us build an array into their territory.”

“Mm. I was hoping the answer would change since the last time I asked.” A person can dream, right? “But we’re almost there then, right?” In the past month, I’ve been sparring with Durandal and Puppers at the same time, because I’m stronger than both of them. Mainly because my weapon’s a cheat while they can’t do anything with theirs. I considered getting magical tools for them to use, but they both refused them because of their pride or something. They’re very belligerent to each other at times, always trying to be better than the other. It’s funny because I should be their real goal.

And I’m also improving faster than them too! They’ll never catch up to me. Nothing can get in the way of my happiness! Durandal also felt pretty bad for only teaching me Breaking Blade and the Steady Mountain footwork—and the qi blade, but that doesn’t matter anymore—so he gave me a list of other techniques to choose from, saying I should pick the ones that suited my fighting style the best. I’m still peeved that he only picked out completely ungraceful and wholly barbaric techniques only. I can be graceful! Ah, I dropped my cup. Oops.

Ahem, as I was saying, I learned some new techniques. The first one is called Breaking Tail. I insert all my qi into my tail and swing it like a whip! The second one is called Breaking Fist. I insert all my qi into my fist and punch as hard as I can! The third one is called Breaking Kick. I insert all my qi into my leg and kick as hard as I can! …Dammit, Durandal! He said they were new! Mm. Well, I really did learn one that’s different from all the rest. It’s called armor of slaughter. I can create a shield around my body that absorbs attacks. I do it by inserting all my qi into my body and…. Okay, this sounds exactly like a Breaking technique. I demand a refund.

“Durandal!”

“Yes, Lucia?”

“Teach me a new technique! A new! New! Technique.”

“Didn’t I teach you four?” Durandal smiled at me and patted my head. I missed these head pats so much. And I guess I was too harsh on Durandal. He did teach me four techniques after all. …Wait! Don’t be tricked that easily, Lucia. He’s trying to distract you.

“No! No, you didn’t. You gave me four variations of Breaking Blade. I could’ve came up with them myself!” In fact, I did come up with the Breaking Substitute Blade by myself. That’s the one where I grab a person and use them as a sword.

“Breaking Blade is the strongest, most practical amongst strength techniques. I don’t have much else to teach you,” Durandal said. “All that I have left are graceful, feminine techniques.”

“Teach me those!”

“Mm, they don’t work really well with the path of slaughter,” Durandal said and played with my tail. “But you know what they say, it’s better to master one technique than to learn dozens and not know how to fully use them.”

“But I definitely mastered Breaking Blade!” I’ve used it millions or billions of times by now! I do a thousand swings a day, but not recently because I’ve been slacking.

“Really?” Durandal asked with a smile.

“Really.” If I haven’t, I’ll give up drinking hot chocolate!

“Then…, can you control the shockwave’s trajectory?”

…It’s a good thing Durandal can’t read minds.