Grindieeth together, Miyako swore a terrible curse under her breath. Her right hand clutched her left shoulder as though it helped to ease the injury. “I may only have one good arm to fight you, but I will fight you! Not until you’re eating dirt will I stop getting back up to stop you! To stop Takako’s madness!”

  Fmes glowed about both of Kaede’s hands as though her skin was on fire. “Pretty brave words for someohat’s about to fall over!” She charged forward with fmes bleeding off her fists as the distance closed. On range, her already wound up swing released straight for the unguarded Miyako.

  However, her fist came to a sudden stop before it hit the desired target. Miyako’s still good hand blocked the first thrown punch, her fingers closed around over top of her fist. “I’m not going anywhere, bitch!” Pushing back against Kaede, Miyako wound up with her injured arm, as unwise as it was, and decked her with everything she had in her arm.

  While g in the same power she had before, it still pushed her back a little, uo keep the same stanbsp; Smoke rolled off of Miyako’s hands from fronting the fmes. “Thinking that I’m weak because you got one of my arms will be a grave mistake for you.”

  Chapter 335 – Back-to-Bato the Fires

  “Tch!” Kaede rubbed at her to wipe away the blood. The fmes around her hands appeared to have little effe her, as expected. “We’ll just have to see about that!”

  Jumping bato the fight, Miyako wasn't about to show any weakowards her oppo. ‘I o make her doubt that this is slowing me down. Anything to put her off bah that fme. She’s ge and melee now.’ She didn't know what her left arm was doing half the time in the melee, but it artially useful.

  In the middle of one of the punches, Kaede’s left hand’s fme grew brighter. Sensing a more powerful attack, Miyako dodged by falling over tht side with support from her good hand. A fireball shot over her where her head used to be only moments before. While nding on her hand, she threw up a kiog Kaede off bance.

  Kaede started to tip over, but shot out another bst of fire from her right hand. Only falling on her back did Miyako evade the close call. Her clothes had slight embers glowing red from it just passing over her. Miyako rolled over and stood on her feet before Kaede, givihe opportunity to strike.

  Fmes flew past her shoulders as she sidestepped attacks to get inside her range. However, Kaede rolled over to keep outside of any attacks. Misses left small craters for Miyako. She kicked some rubble from the house they blew up to keep the pressure on while she closed again.

  The two danced around the remains of the house dodging most of the things ing in ag as though they were leveling off what they hadn’t destroyed. Little progress had been made agaiher after the initial opening attacks. They broke after the st pieces of the house colpsed around them. Out of breath and stubborher gave any ground.

  Taking stock of the situation, Miyako needed a new pn. “So yer all just smoke then?”

  “I’ll kill you, don’t you worry!”

  “Makin’ me yawn is more like it.”

  “Big talk isn’t going to fix your arm. I tell you’re not able to dish it out like before.”

  “I still have enough to deal with a snot-nosed brat like you!”

  “Going to show me because you’re an adult?”

  Miyako had enough time to recover herself and charged bato the fight. “No, it’s because I take down evil wherever it stands!” She cshed in the middle with Kaede. Fmes sparked and billowed around them.

  “Evil is it? This is just freedom!”

  “Nothing as twisted and depraved as this is freedom!”

  Her left hand wasn’t keeping up with Kaede as much as Miyako liked. But she kept f it to do work. Kaede saw through the struggle and eled more of her fmes against her. “Takako enlightened all of us! But sometimes there are those that must die!” Suddenly the fmes grew in size and exploded immediately in front of them.

  The bst threw Miyako back away from Kaede. Her back cwed at the ground until the fri seumbling end over end into a pletely different house. This house still remaianding during their fight. Miyako’s arrival in the house didn’t turn out well for the home. An explosion of smoke and debris followed her wake.

  Coughing and panting heavily, Miyako still survived the point bnk attack, though the same couldn’t really be said for her clothes. Already torn to shreds from the fighting, the explosion had finally finished off any hope it had of still serving its inal purpose.

  Miyako forced herself back up on her feet though her body pined. “e o moving.” She had to fight and vi to move on her and. The outlook on her body wasn’t improving with the fight, not that she expected it to do so. But the girl was being more of a challehan she imagined.

  Slowly w through the house, she began muttering to herself. “Well, at least she should have been hit as hard as me doing something so reckless. ’t believe she did that…” However, as she was ing out, Kaede was already charging in after her. “…dammit…”

  Fmes pletely engulfed her fists that threateo y down a barrage. The first hit square on Miyako’s chest knocked her babsp; When Kaede attempted to close the distance, Miyako chucked debris at her though the fmes destroyed it before there was any harm. It gave enough room for her to dodge out of the round that left only sm craters. “My fmes are going to roast you alive!”

  Rolling and back stepping, Miyako found herself on the defense against the new current itle. Kaede tried to mount an assault, but couldn’t nd a solid blow. The fmes around her tio grow, beginning to e her arms as well. “Stay still!”

  Miyako took a pause in the fighting, bothered by what she was seeing. ‘What’s with her fmes? Are they out of trol? She was only using them around her fists before, but it’s gone up to her shoulders almost now.’ While she hadn’t been fog on it the eime, the fmes progressively expanded over Kaede’s body for the st few minutes of their fighting. Before it seemed like her hair was on fire and her hands were coated in fmes, but now it looked to be trying to e her body.

  The size the fmes reached at her hands had stretches of tendrils rising off her. It no longer appeared like they were under her trol. Thoughts of it running wild worried Miyako more than needing to dodge the attacks ing in as Kaede resumed her offensive. With each motion, she saw it take more and more over. The fmes were like pilrs at her hands making even staying ahead of the attacks difficult.

  With each miss, the fmes grew closer to her. She could feel her skin drying out and blistering from the proximity of the heat. It drew the moisture out of the air with the iy. ‘Damn…is she actually getting more powerful the longer we’re fighting? What’s going on with her power?’

  “I will burn you! Burn you!” Rage burning as hot as the fmes upon her skin, Kaede charged straight for Miyako in a blur. She turned into a red streak with the fmes trailing off her.

  Pulling away the initial straight punch that Kaede threw was easily avoided. But the fury built up in her body already had fmes c up half her body. The proximity was enough to draw off the sweat from Miyako’s skin. A follow-up punocked her off band fmes shot out of both hands kig her body back.

  Miyako crashed through the ruins of the house and smashed through two more houses before colpsing out ireet with only the speed of her flight holding the fmes at bay. As she stopped in the grass road the fmes ging on to her rose. Life returo the fires desiring her flesh.

  Gng down at the Kaede’s fmes, they stuck around in ways that they had not before. Even caught on her from previous attacks, they did nothing past the initial damage. They were a part of her and unless she threw it, it did nothing else. And even thrown, it had weaker power. ‘Seems she’s bee a victim of her own power. It’s like it has a life of its own.’ Scooping up some earth, she snuffed out the fmes attached to her. A bit of stubbornness existed in them, but they went out. And in time, Kaede tracked dowh of destru left behind.

  She rushed in without a sed thought for Miyako. Only barely getting back to her feet, Miyako wasn’t ready for Kaede. The only thing she could do was front her head on, which meant a painful csh. The collision alone was enough to kick her feet out and almost knock her prone. Only resolute will kept her from folding in the first seds. Cracks crawled away from her feet as she tried to anchor herself.

  Worst came the fmes stretched from her upper body down to her waist now. The only parts of Kaede still not fully ed by her fmes were her head and legs, both of which seemed to be iability. Toug hands as they struggled in a battle of strength was bad enough to keep burning her skin, but the close proximity of the growing intense heat threateo give her first-degree burns.

  Her legs already felt like mush before it all started, their collision and struggle only made it feel like a certainty rather than just a feeling. It was only a matter of time for her strength to give out. Miyako knew her situation well enough that she wasn’t winning it. Not with her caught off guard. She merely held on because she o or be thrown bace more. Losing ground again wasn’t something she could afford.

  Taking advantage of her position, she did the only thio her. She colpsed her position and used it to throw Kaede off her. Tossed behind her into the ruins of a house, her body universally sighed a relief along with her. What looked like steam rose off her exposed skin from the heat. “Dammit…what’s it going to take to keep her down…”

  While Miyakhtened herself out to prepare for the round, an explosion of rubble from the ruins blew free everything that had fallen on top of Kaede. The fmes had spread more with everything but her head engulfed now.

  Miyako tried to keep her heavy breathing under trol, but her chest ounding too hard for that to be a reasonable effort. “That’s impressive…” she remarked, needing a pause to breath, “She looks even more pissed off than before, which I didn’t think was actually possible.”

  Screaming to the night sky, Kaede's voice almost sounded more like a roar than human. She fixed her gre towards Miyako. “I’m going to KILL YOU!”

  “…she losin’ it?”

  Kaede no longer seemed to be meeting gazes with Miyako. Something had overe her eyes. The fmes fiheir ption of her body. Barely visible through the haze of the fires, she looked like a living fme now rather than a human. To match with the ge, she screamed once more, no longer sounding human. It had a savage, bestial too it that belied the real threat approag.

  “What the hell?” Miyako staggered a step back fused by what she saw. Before her eyes, she watched as Kaede’s shape ged. At first, she just thought she was bending over for a charge, like a sprinter, but that was no lohe case. Her body transformed as the only best way to describe what she witnessed unfold.

  The thing or being that Kaede became wasn't something Miyako could describe in a single word beyond monster. No living animal she knew of had an appearance like that of what Kaede became. Only images from fi or movies could e close to even a half accurate image and that still failed. It was hard to tell if she was covered in hair or fmes anymore or fming hair. But it was clear that it was a fire monster whatever Kaede had bee.

  They hunched over like a goril looking to charge, but had thin narrow shoulders. The frame looked maunt and frail, if not for the size the fmes reached, faking bulk. A head of fire grew to disproportionate size, which should have unbahem, yet they held stable. And everywhere tendrils of fme threw about like whips. If there was a girl still inside, Miyako couldn’t see it.

  Even worse still, Miyako wasn’t ready for when she or it charged after the roar leveled everything around it. She couldn’t eve move, it wasn’t even a blur. Miyako coughed up blood while she flew backwards. She wasn’t even sure what hit her. It didn’t feel like what she thought.

  An explosion from the crash of Kaede five blocks away was all Miyako saw as she colpsed on the ground. ‘So fast…she actually got like three times more powerful…damn…’ Her whole body felt like paste, but it didn't stop her from f herself back up to her feet. She checked her body where it felt like she was hit, but saw nothing.

  Miyako gnced over in the dire of Kaede. “Did she miss me? Merely passing by from her power did that to me? Damn… I really don’t like this…” She felt the thumping of the fire monster, likely recovered. “So she ’t trol her new power…”

  The monster came stalking back toward Miyako who had only bravado to stand on, not that her fidence made it look like that. ‘Winning the fight is about having the fidence even against the odds.’

  Straightening out her back, she stepped fiving whatever Kaede had bee no signs of fear. She ripped her pletely tattered shirt off leaving only her sports bra to protect her. The shirt had only beeing in the way. Miyako proceeded to what remained of her shirt around her hands and forearms, almost looking like a boxer. Finished, she lifted up both hands ready to fight once more. “It’s time for some monster sying!”