"Well, there she goes," Kenji says as he sees Slyphia flying off to fight the Demon Princess. "Wish I can help her but I suppose not being able to fly will be a big hindrance in an air fight like that."

Gently, he puts the little girl he has been carrying on his back down as he himself sits cross-legged on the ground.

For now, he'll just have to wait and have faith in his little empress.

***

"Hey, that was rude, y'know, attacking while someone's making a speech at you like that."

"Can't help it. Your speech is too cliched and predictable."

"Ha, you're really a cheeky little brat, aren't ya?"

Slyphia and Claria, the empress and the demon princess, are currently floating on the air and looking at each other. Slyphia, of course, floats with her telekinetic abilities, while Claria floats simply with her innate ability as a dragon.

"Well, let's cut the chitchat and begin right away, shall we? Hyaa!"

Claria leaps forward towards Slyphia, her flaming halberd gripped tightly on her hands. Slyphia counters by giving her another "push", making her fly backwards away from her instead.

"Don't think you can get me by using the same trick twice!"

Claria flaps her wings, sending off a surge of high-moving flames towards Slyphia. The empress counters by "compressing" the flames into a single little ball that floats calmly in front of her, before sending it down towards the sands below, exploding with a powerful force once it touches the ground. She would've sent it back at her but she's absolutely immune to any kinds of fire attacks, as she had bitterly discovered when she first fought her, thus sending it back would serve no purpose whatsoever.

Claria sends some more flames towards her as she swerves around and flies towards her again. Then, she throws her halberd to the skies, which then transforms into another rain of fire heading towards the little empress.

Once more, Slyphia focuses her mind to repel her attacks, the rain of fire above dealt by compressing them once more while she pushes Claria and the flames in front of her. Then, she finishes by throwing the compressed flames to the sands once again.

"Well, I suppose this is my turn then."

Slyphia leaps forward with great speed, aided by a burst of her telekinetic force. Claria swings her halberd, creating a flaming shockwave heading straight to the little empress. Slyphia counters by using her push, dispersing the flaming shockwave away from her path.

However, when the path is cleared, Claria is nowhere to be seen.

"GOTCHA!"

Then, she feels the flaming hot presence right beside her.

When her eyesight reaches sideways, Claria's flaming halberd is already just a couple inches away from cutting through her skin.

Instinctively, she uses her telekinesis to misled the thing's aim, so that it only ends up causing a long scratch on her right arm.

"Gah!" Slyphia cries in pain.

And then, as fast as possible, she puts a distance between her and the halberd's owner.

As she stares at Claria, she can feel fresh blood flowing from the gash on her right arm.

"And the first hit belongs to yours truly, Claria! The strongest demon princess ever is!" Claria boasts with a huge grin on her face. "Ha! Told ya I'm not the same as before!"

Slyphia uses this opportunity to close the wound with her healing spell. Luckily, it didn't cut that deep through her skin.

"Hah, heal them all you want, little girl! I'll just give you more of them!"

Slyphia ignores her taunt however, focusing on deciphering on what just happened back then.

She hid herself from my vision by using the flames coming out from that halberd of hers, and then, using that distraction, she somehow got close to me without me noticing, while I was moving in high speed no less. Hmm, doesn't sound very plausible. How did she do that? The only thing close to me back then was her remaining fla--

Oh, could it be?

So that's her new trick, huh. I have to be more careful then.

"Well done. I see you've gotten a little bit smarter in your attacks." Slyphia finally retorts. "You can now manifest yourself by your flames, something I didn't see you do in our last fight."

"Ha, you figured it out that easily, huh?" Claria answers. "As expected from my archrival!"

"Archrival? Who wants to be an archrival, let alone a rival with someone as boorish and uncultured as you are? You can't even bothered to dress decently." Slyphia responds, looking at Claria's bikini-like armor.

"What? This?" Claria looks at her body. "Ahahaha, what a stupid thing to say! My skin is already strong enough as it is! No need for any more armor on top of it! They'll just restrict my movement speed! Besides, I love showing off this gorgeous human body of mine!" she says while posing sexily.

"...As expected from a barbarian. You don't have any sense of decency at all."

"...Man, it's bad enough that you are a snob, but you just have to be a prude as well. You're not going to get any boyfriend that way, you know."

The little empress can only respond by glaring even harder at her.

"Oh, I know!" Claria suddenly declares, with a sinister smile on her face. "How about I take off that long robe of yours? Looks pretty stuffy to me! I have no idea how you can wear that thing, especially on a hot desert like this!"

Then, before Slyphia can respond, she splits herself into multiple jet of flames, all heading towards the empress. They circle her from all dimensions, front, back, left, right, up, and down, preventing her from using her "push" to all of them.

I can't push them all to a reasonable distance with my omnidirectional push. They'll just come back at me right away. I suppose I have to retreat for now!

The little empress leaps out of the circle, the flames all following her from behind.

Then, Slyphia has an idea.

Quickly, she dives into the nearest quicksand.

"What the--!"

The flames stop themselves before following suit, forming Claria once more.

"YOU COWARD! GET OUT FROM THERE AT ONCE!"

Slyphia's response is not of words, but one of action.

A massive hand made out of the quicksand suddenly juts out from underneath the demon princess, capturing her right in its grasp.

"Wha--!"

Before she even knows what's happening, her body is already dragged down towards the quicksand.

Then, Slyphia pops out from the sands, gasping for air in the process. Then, quickly, while hovering right above the quicksand, she presses both of her hands to the ground beneath her, focusing on keeping Claria drowned under the all-swallowing sands.

Try as she might however, she can't keep Claria buried long, as she possesses a strength superior to her own telekinetic abilities.

If only I have the soul I gave to Kenji right now...!

When she knows she can't keep her in any longer, she leaps off the ground, right as Claria pops out of the sands too.

Her face looks absolutely livid.

"YOU LITTLE BRAT! FIGHT FAIR, WILL YA?"

I have no choice. I have to get the soul back from Kenji.

...No, too dangerous. The girl is with him!

Claria splits herself into jets of flames once more. However, this time Slyphia has no intention to run away. She dodges nimbly between them, using her telekinesis to make it so that some of the flames lose their aim. She tries to compress them with her mind but the compressed flame will still attack her, seeing it's a part of Claria after all, not just a mindless flame. She pushes some of them to the sands, but rather than dying out as they crash to the ground, they just simply come back to her.

Claria would be laughing with joy if she isn't in her flame form at this time.

As her stamina and concentration deplete, some of Claria's attacks begin to connect, charring her skin and burning her robe, exposing the chemise and drawers she wears beneath it.

Hee, so that's the kind of underwear you wear beneath that stuffy robe of yours. I had hoped it's something provocative and sexy but I suppose that's the kind of underwear a prude like you would wear.

As Claria enjoys tormenting our little empress, Sylphia is busy thinking what can she possibly do to get out of this situation as she sinks more and more into defeat.

But then...

Do not lose yourself to despair, for I shall grant you my power.

A bright light suddenly envelops the empress, making Claria stop her attacks, forming her human body once more.

"W-what is--"

Before she can finish her sentence, Slyphia suddenly materializes right above her.

Then, a powerful force hits her, sending her straight to the sands below. But the force doesn't stop there, as her body keeps being pushed and pushed and pushed through the sands, going to the depths of the earth.

When it finally stops, it's when she hits a solid bedrock.

And then, the sand falls.