A menacing aura poured out from Fei as her body grew in size; she had already reached over 2 meters in length but had begun pushing 3. The fur growing over her body spread out into larger coat that flowed with a chaotic rhythm.

Her claws grew larger to the point where they resembled miniature daggers, which could easily cut through stone with a single swat.

She looked as if she had aged back 10 years even though she had drastically increased her size. “This is the form of an apex predator.” She said with an exuding confidence.

“Whether you look more or less like a fur-ball means very little to me, I’ll still kick your ass!”

Kira shot her a glare and Fei returned a similar look, as if a jolt of lightning had spread through the both of them they knew exactly what to expect. Both sides essentially hurled their bodies forward with all their might, heading towards each other with great speed.

Both sides clashed together and sent a pulse of pressure across the land which shook trees. Kira increased the flames in his right hand to overwhelm her but Fei didn’t change a thing.

The hairs on her hand began to burn up into a crisp, even though they smoked up and burnt away Fei didn’t show any sign of backing down. She put her weight behind the punch and stepped forward, suddenly Kira felt himself being forced back.

With a monstrous roar, Fei released everything she could muster behind that punch. He tried to stay stable on the ground but wasn’t able to fight off the intense pressure forcing him off his balance.

Kira was sent flying back but managed to keep himself up by burying his fist into the dirt for support.

Fei pounced with a single jump towards him, she cleared the distance between them as if it were nothing and appeared in the air only a couple of feet from where he stood.

Kira wasn’t able to contain his grin any longer and raised his arm out towards her. From this she was able to notice his thumb and middle finger joined together tightly, this sparked her interest as she panned around the area.

Directly below her where Kira had been pushed back was a trail dug out from the dirt, where his feet had been. Buried in the dirt was flickers of fire that stood as still as water.

‘When did he put that there- how could I have been so distracted that I didn’t notice that?’ Fei thought as she stared down at the row of embers beneath her.

Fei widened her eyes in worry as Kira snapped his fingers and with a triumphant tone he muttered:

“Burn.”

The embers of fire scattered across the stones in a straight line all flared up and formed into large spikes. The blazing spikes pierced into her body one by one in a matter of seconds, the intense flames only reacted more as they dug themselves across her body until she wasn’t able to move.

Fei had been suspended by the spikes in the air directly in front of him where she screamed out like a child. “Release me you damn runt- I’ll crush your skull in!” Fei screamed as she struggled in place.

The flames piercing through her shoulders only sunk deeper in as she wriggled around. Even with the amount of damage to her body she hadn’t stopped resisting once, she hadn’t even showed any signs of slowing down. He knew that this would be his best option at this point, restricting her completely.

‘When I lose focus and get angry then my flames just do what my body wants it to, I need to stay focused and control it using my head. I’m pretty powerful when fighting on instincts alone but against someone who knows how to fight I’ll only be predictable.’ Kira mulled over.

The female tiger roared out with a threatening noise and raced towards Kira, as it approached closer a sharp whistle from Fei silenced the beast and made her halt in place. Fei’s eyes changed into a staggering glare that appeared more serious than she had ever been since Kira met her. “Who said that you could take my prey?” She asked in a cold tone.

The tiger backed away with its head lowered and refused to make eye contact, even Kira had felt the difference in tone. He realised that this was a hint at what she would be if pushed to her limits, meaning that she hadn’t been completely serious with him yet.

“You’re still calling me prey even though I have you pinned?” He asked in a cautious manner.

Fei shifted her expression back to its usual giddiness as her voice let out a confident tone. “Don’t mistake me mouse, I’m the apex. YOU COULD NEVER HOLD ME DOWN!”

Suddenly the red aura reappeared in a darker and more potent form around her body as she wriggled herself through the flames. She forced her body through it even with the spikes tearing away at the skin.

Fei landed on her feet almost right in front of Kira, her body had still been burning from the spikes and in the process of repairing itself. She glared down at him with a furious smirk and swiped at him with her massive paw.

Kira took a massive blow to the face and was blown back, he struggled to get up but she had already begun her pursuit. Just like before she stood over him with her body straightened out, a few inches from him and smacked him around.

She repeated this over and over until it became harder for him to stand up, after the seventh time Kira had a dripping nose that stained the white stones beneath him with a splatter of blood.

‘My bloods not so pale anymore- I guess my injuries from the fight with Demen have healed up…’ As he finished that thought, a sudden memory came flooding through his mind.

He raised himself up from the ground with all his strength, it wasn’t that he was low on energy but rather that his body had fatigued from the damage that Fei caused. His body naturally healed itself through fights like how Fei does but at a lower rate, if he wasn’t supporting his strength and fire he would be able to probably half her speed of healing.

Kira felt the mana in his body burn bright, he still had quite a large amount ready to be used even with his ‘flame body’ active. After his last fight he realised that keeping it on standby for when he needed to attack, he could save mana and maximise the offence power. Keeping himself in check proved to be the harder part.

Fei watched as he stumbled towards the stream, the excitement she had for hunting a strong prey had long since vanished. In her heightened form, Kira showed her enough strength to show her up. In her current form however he wasn’t able to so much as cause her to sweat.

“This is pointless… The only thing humans are truly capable of, is your ability to disappoint.” Fei buried her foot into his back, pinning him to the floor just beside the stream.

No matter how much he struggled he wasn’t able to escape her and now could barely breathe; slowly the breath from his body was squeezed out like a bag of air. The bamboo shoots and across the stream split into two shapes and then three, his vision gradually doubled over itself as he lost his breath.

Three figures ran up to him from across the stream but after squinting further he realised that it was Inari. Her soft voice broke through his haze as he heard her pleads towards him.

She broke through the current of the stream holding his sword in her arms, she battled through the waters but after reaching the half-way point she widened her stance. With a rotating motion she hurled Kira’s katana through the air with all her strength.

As the scabbard was attached to his waist still, she had only thrown the blade itself towards him. From the ground beneath her foot Kira extended out his arm but…

Fei caught the blade before it could reach his hand; she let out a disappointed sigh of exasperation while staring toward Inari. “Was this flimsy stick of metal supposed to make a difference? To think that she thought I would die from such a weak attempt-”

Out the corner of her eye Fei noticed a finger stretch out towards the sword and press against the hilt; she lowered her head and locked eyes with an enraged Kira.

His eyes had shrunk into a tight circle that cut through the confidence she once had. In that moment she felt the unrivalled confidence of a predator locking eyes with its prey as he stated.

“I told you- to BURN.”