Where?! WHERE?! WHERE ARE YOU!

  As I burst through the doors and sending them flying, I ran through the open space. My cws easily slicing through the dirt as I rushed to the mountain.

  TOO SLOW!

  My right foot speared the ground before quickly bending down. The muscles tightened, heat bubbling within every fiber before I shoved the world away and shot over the ground. The grass, rocks and trees rapidly coming into and then going out of sight. I bzed over the ground like a burning bird for only a moment before smming my legs down near a huge forest. Between the big trees I saw the mountain clearly. So I crouched down on all fours, folded my wings into cones and I stared daggers at the mountain. My muscles bunching, tightening and like a fire burning every cell, mana flooded me. Everything was soft. Electric. And fming.

  I NEED TO BE THERE NOW!

  I bullied my way off the ground, muscles and limbs whacking the bzing ground into smoking dust as I rocketed up over the trees. The trees zoomed past me as I flew through, some seemed to even lean out of my way. Bending branches and shifting leaves away….. But still-

  I WAS NOT FAST ENOUGH. NEED MORE, BECOME COMET!

  My body pulsed, scales stretched and shifted as mana built a rising heat, bubbling and spitting streaking embers. Before I knew it, fire exploded from me in an redish white fsh that all the trees curved away from. The green grass below flew by like ocean waves, some burning brown and bck. After a second, green was repced by gray rocks then bck cliffs with a line of red dots. Dots that led right to a big bowl of movement, my eyes and head snapping to each edge of the area before I spotted that ONI.

  I didn't stop magic, I didn’t try for a softer nding. I dived cws first.

  “What’s that?!” “Is-IS THE SUN FALLING?!”

  Everyone looked up into the sky as a burning ball of fire bzed across the sky, a long white tail following like a comet. The closer it got, the hotter the arena felt as the air around it rippled in waves of white. The ball of burning red seemed like a second miniature sun above them that scared shadows under their owners. Everyone stared in horror and fear while the Blood Bruiser walked to the arena center, a huge toothy grin cut itself over her face.

  A second ter, the red comet snapped downward like it was punched…..out of the sky……….coming right at them………..

  Many of the monsters began to turn to run but as if life hated them, the comet was already halfway to them. The air around them quickly heating up as if they were in a dry, boiling desert. Moments after, the heat surrounded everyone on the lowest rings as the comet dyed the world a bright red before finally-

  *BOOOOOM*

  The ball crashed into the arena just a few feet away from the Blood Bruiser. But even she was shocked enough to jump back as the comet bsted bits of the arena and funneled fme into the air. The fming ball sat there for only a moment before it shifted and pulled apart. Revealing its shell to be a pair of bright red wings, it stabbed its thumb cws in the floor before cutting lines through the rock as the wings moved. The wings snapped away, now raised high like reaching hands and exposing a crouched dark red humanoid figure. Its hands lifted, unsheathing dark cws from the rock, while their dark red forearms appeared slick with obsidian like scales and pulsed with muscle. As It stood up, the creature’s dark scaled angur face gred at the Blood Bruiser. Brows twisting and raising as two eyes with glowing purple irises, gred rage and death at her. The demon now standing proud with its sleek chest and stomach, covered in thick overpping scales. shoulders yered with scales that appeared like railroad spikes from the longest to shortest. At its full height it stood almost equal to Danuta’s, with thorny curved horns crowning its mane that glowed a bright yellowish orange.

  The Blood Bruiser looked at the challenger with a wide hungry smile. She closed her hands into fists, cracking the knuckles and quickly rolled her shoulders back. “Welcome Dragoness! I see you’re taking my challenge seriously!” She made a guess. “We will fight to prov-”

  *TWACK*

  The challenger’s tail rose from the cracked ground, curled upward and-

  *TWACK*

  “ENOUGH OF YOUR CHILDISH GAMES.” Came the challenger’s throaty roar. A voice so deep and gravelly that one could believe a mountain was failing to whisper. “ARE YOU GOING TO TELL ME WHERE HE IS, OR DO I HAVE TO FORCE YOUR THROAT OPEN?” Their voice came from the throat like a small ndslide.

  Danuta narrowed her eyes but kept her smile. “You’ll learn what’s going on. Once we finish this fight.” She said as she puffed out her chest and gave a small respectful nod.

  I looked at the cocky bitch with wide eyes. This walking outhouse has the nerve to act so calmly?! My tail slowly slid across the floor before it bumped into something, a thing it quickly curled around. Then I smmed my foot into the ground as I unched myself at her mid speech. I quickly swung my right cws at her which she stepped to her right, allowing my left to fly at her. Only for the shit to hop and kick my gut with a heavy thud. She spring boarded off me, flying away before crunching her body into a spin and nding on her feet, easily evading my left cw.

  THAT FUCKER THINKS SHE’S A FUCKING ACROBAT? She crouched slightly before she dashed at me, her elbows guarding her ribs while her left hand hovered around her face. In a second she would be in my face, ready to throw some form of punch but her speed wasn’t all perfect for her. My wings shot open and with the heat within them, I smmed them together. A cone shaped gale that would easily crush her back into the stone wall but she instead twisted her body sideways and dived for the ground. She was about to roll to her feet when I used my tail to lob its rock at her, all she could do was block as the rock smashed into her arms with heavy thud. The impact sent her falling form spinning away like a sports car doing donuts, the blood bruiser had to dig her fingers into the ground to stop her momentum.

  While she recovered, I cloaked myself with my wings, the temperature rising within them as I jumped at her. Trying to tackle her with my body but the rat hammered her arms into the floor with enough force that she bounded over me. I started to turn but I instantly felt her nd feet first on my tail, throwing me off bance and almost falling backward. I couldn’t let her dirty my tail further with her disgusting hands! But as I tried to whip it away, instead my whole body was yanked back. I had to steady myself but even as I smmed my feet and cws into the ground, I felt my tail being pulled and my body almost kicked to the side from the force. My cws dug trenches in the ground but she punched under my tail hard enough that I was uprooted from the floor and sent pummeling onto the floor.

  Once I crashed on my side, she was instantly on top of me while all I could do was stay in my wing cloak to protect my ribs. She sat on my legs and threw punch after elbow after heavy palm, trying to get through my wing. She was big and kind of heavy but was her hide as thick as mine? As she tried to pummel her way through me, my tail bent sideways then quickly flicked up at her back.

  “AGGGHHH!” She shouted as she flew over me like a ragdoll. Landing on her shoulder before rolling onto all fours, crouched like an angry panther and revealing a long bloody gash on her back.

  Sadly I had to open my wings to get up to my feet, releasing the building heat with a loud screech. The bruiser looked at me with narrowed eyes as she realized the danger my wings had. She leaned forward, her shoulder and back muscles bunching up and then the ground shifted like a snake under sand. Her body glowed a soft brownish color as the ground slithered around her. But instead of it coiling around her or shooting up at me, the ground below my left foot shifted, pulling me to my left and my legs further apart. It took a step back but that was distraction enough for her to ram her shoulder right into my side. I quickly pressed my tail on to the ground before she could knock me over, the Bruiser quickly acted as she smmed her fist into my ribs with a meaty crunch.

  “RRGGGGGGH!” She growled as she pulled her hand back. It was covered and dripping a liquid as she quickly shook it and tried to grab my arm.

  Only to be met with my elbow cracking into her face, something soft soft shifting out of pce, But instead of falling or flinching back, she spun around me until she was behind me. She grappled my waist and swung me sideways, lifting me off my feet and throwing me sideways. I didn’t let her throw for free as I fpped my right wing backward, the wing fingers batted at her and pulled a pained grunt from her. This forced her to let go of me and I easily nded on my feet and next to her right, I bent with my nding and pushed off the ground as my arm smmed into her ribs, my scales digging into her skin. But she used that to swing and nd a fist to my face, tilting my head a little. She smashed a second punch to my chin before I smacked my right palm into her gut, she flew off her feet like she was hit by a car. Yet she nded and even as her feet skidded, she gave me a huge shiteating grin.

  *Boom*

  The floor lifted upward and pulled away from under my feet, sending me stumbling backward. The upheaved floor was raised like a shield before the Bruiser cracked it down the middle. The rock split in half before it was ripped from the ground, both pieces in the Bruiser’s hands. She twisted her body and threw one at me like it shot from a canon, all I could do was lift my wing over my face as it drove right into me.

  Crap! I can’t see her! As the rock bumped into my wing, I fpped it back like I was backhanding the rock. Launching it to my right where it pierced into the arena wall around us. Only for a nce to fly at me, it poked me backwards before it pulled back and flew at me again. I could only just shift my body to the right as the nce just hit the edges of my scales, grinding against them before its tip hit empty air. I couldn’t waste time with stupid magic games!

  I snapped into action as I wrapped my arm around the nce but its smooth surface allowed the Oni to slide it almost completely out of my grasp. I quickly dug my cws into the nce, raking deep canyons throughout the middle section, up until they sliced through the tip. Effectively turning the nce into shredded cheese that instantly crumbled away. She threw what remained of the nce at me which I rapidly sshed into pebbles as it flew. But she rushed me with her right fist up ready to send a another blow, she wasn’t close just yet so I fpped my wings together and sent another cone of wind at her. While she was forced to jump to the side, I picked up the leftovers of her nce, charging mana into the bits.

  As she nded, I sent another cone of wild wind at her feet, forcing her to dive into a roll. Without wasting time I threw the tag rocks at her and while they accelerated at her I grabbed a few more bits and charged more before quickly throwing those up into the air. Finally I charged more heat into my scales, going from a toasty microwave to a roasting outdoor oven.

  The first rock was met with her fist, instantly shattering it but the second rammed into her elbow, forcing her arm to swing around her body. The third was smashed as she managed to raise a knee but the fourth rock smmed into her only leg still touching the ground. Wouldn’t a small fireworks show be great? The rock that hit her knee exploded in a bright light which all the other rocks on the ground followed suit. The white bst hurtled her body, arcing to my left and crashing to the ground with a heavy crunch. She y there like a crumpled skeleton, her dark skin darkened in patches, her right brow swelled so much her eye was shut but she didn’t have any cuts nor did her bones twist in painful directions.

  And she rose to her knee, held a thumb to her nose and snorted out a blob of blood then smiled at me. She rolled her shoulder back and stretched her neck. “Ready from round two?” She sounded happy, excited even.

  I just stared at her, if my blood wasn’t boiling before it was now! I could feel it burning inside, my instincts screaming to end this pointless game. Yet, I didn’t know where Belle was so I took a deep breath. Forcing the anger down the pipe just enough to keep my head. “Nnnnnnn-not before you tell me where you put my friend.” I growled at her but that anger was pushing its way back up like fiery vomit. I had to press my cws into my palms to keep it back.

  “Your friend?” Her excited smile switched to a confused one. “I’m not keeping anyon-”

  My anger pushed up at her stupidity. “WHERE IS BELLE.” I roared at her as a fire began to funnel up my veins and into my chest.

  “What do you mean?” Her eyes narrowed. “I’d neve-”

  “Get back here you stupid cat!” Screamed a voice, drawing our attention to the top of the crater walls.

  There I saw a centaur and a few pnt monsters chasing a blue haired Maju-Mew and a glowing orange orb.

  “Man~! You guys are way tooooooo slow~! My aunt knows better growth spells for weeds!” The cat boy teased back as he jumped over a pointed rock and disappeared behind the wall.

  Before I could chase after them, a hand gripped my arm, holding tightly. “Hold on! What’s going on?! You can’t just leav-” The Blood Bruiser whined at me.

  She was stopping me from helping Belle! Instantly my boiling mana began to swirl inside, wildly thrashing around, my scales glowed a harsh white before I felt the floor, the earth and fire in the air. Felt something firm and so much muscle that twitched. The Oni’s grip on me tightened for a moment before letting go and her muscled body instantly crashed to the floor.

  Without another second to think, I jumped into the air as my wings bsted fire as I rocketed up after them, leaving the stunned Oni and crowd to stuck their thumbs.