Dix, long since plunged into total madness, couldn't have cared less about any of that.
The wails and screams saturating the battlefield were the finest wine imaginable, and whatever was wrong with this lunatic's brain, he was already riding the highest of highs.
As for who his opponent was?
That shameless scout trash, some annoying justice-freak bitch, whatever. Didn't matter.
All he wanted right now was to kill until it felt good. To drown his parched soul in the rush of slaughter and let his tormented mind finally find release.
Steel clashed in a furious storm as, behind those goggles, the ominous "D" symbol in his pupils flickered wildly. Dix's mouth pulled wide, teeth bared, the crimson cursed spear in his hand a blur of afterimages as he bore down on Kaguya with overwhelming force.
Kaguya deflected another of the madman's bone-crushing blows with a masterful redirection, her katana barely turning the strike aside. She staggered back several steps, drenched in sweat, cursing the man behind her between ragged breaths.
"You shameless bastard! You wanna maybe take a look at the situation here?! Do something, anything! Did a Dungeon monster eat your spine?! Use that overpowered quick-cast magic of yours and figure something out!"
But before she could finish, Dix closed the gap like a parasite latched to bone, lunging forward with a manic laugh.
"Hahaha, scream for me!!!! Justice bitch!"
He launched into a pressure-heavy leap, closing the distance in an instant. The muscles in his arms bulged as the cursed spear split into multiple streaks of lethal crimson, the air howling as they punched toward Kaguya's vitals.
The spear found flesh. The absolute suppression of a higher Level, compounded by exhaustion from prolonged combat, had finally slowed Kaguya's movements by a fatal fraction.
That tiny opening was all Dix needed. Battle instincts honed over years as a high-level Adventurer seized the moment, and a single thrust of his spear tore open the collar and hem of Kaguya's kimono.
No!
Kaguya's expression shifted. She threw her body backward with everything she had, the lethal spearpoint filling her vision as it grew impossibly large.
Fabric shrieked as it ripped apart.
She dodged the blow by the thinnest of margins, but paid a price for it.
The upper half of her kimono slipped down along her shoulders, baring her collarbone and the smooth curve of her shoulders. The lower skirt had been slashed clean up to the thigh, her long, pale legs flashing between the torn fabric.
In the blink of an eye, Kaguya's elegant wine-red kimono had transformed into a battle-damaged, high-slit, off-shoulder limited edition.
"Bastard!"
Burning with humiliation and fury, Kaguya clamped one hand over the fabric barely clinging to her chest, her tabi-clad feet gripping her wooden sandals as she kicked off the ground, arching her body back in a desperate attempt to create distance again.
"Fireball!"
At that critical instant, Leon, who'd been pretending to chant an incantation while actually slacking off the entire time, "finally" scraped together a trickle of Magic and lobbed a deliberately underwhelming but impressively flashy Fireball at Dix.
The blast of smoke and shockwave from the detonation blocked Dix's line of sight just long enough. Under that precious cover, Kaguya managed a messy but lucky escape from the madman's kill zone.
Her current state, though, could only be described as "wrecked."
Bare shoulders and collarbone exposed to the open air, the high-slit tear in her skirt revealing glimpses of long, toned thighs at the ragged edges of the fabric.
White tabi wrapping her slender ankles, her feet planted in dust-covered black-and-red wooden sandals.
This violently aesthetic battle-damaged look, paired with her sweat-glistening, flushed face from sheer exertion, and those eyes struggling to maintain an icy glare through the humiliation...
It was devastating.
Leon's gaze locked on and refused to let go, his stare burning with naked curiosity and something decidedly more dangerous.
Kaguya caught that scorching look instantly. A storm of furious embarrassment and a tiny, well-hidden flicker of satisfaction collided inside her.
But her face maintained that untouchable ice-queen mask, as if the state of her outfit meant absolutely nothing to her. She called out with chilling calm:
"Hey."
Leon blinked, caught off guard by the eerily level tone, and answered on reflex.
"Huh?"
"What are you looking at."
Her voice was still flat.
"You."
The honest answer slipped out before Leon could think.
"Do I... look good right now?"
Kaguya's voice was distant, unreadable.
"Good? Amazing. Can't stop looking."
Leon nodded like a bobblehead.
"...Want to keep looking?"
Kaguya tilted her head slightly, her sidelong glance sharp as an icicle.
"Yes!"
Leon's answer came without a millisecond of hesitation, even tinged with anticipation.
"..."
Kaguya slowly turned back to face him, her smile sharp enough to cut glass.
"Look again and I'll gouge those restless eyeballs right out of your skull."
"..."
With that, she tugged at her collar to tighten it. Whether by accident or design, the motion left her long, pale legs completely exposed in Leon's field of view.
"..."
As if she hadn't noticed her own "slip," Kaguya narrowed her eyes and let her gaze drift pointedly downward along Leon's body.
"And rein in whatever's going on in that filthy little head of yours... Think anything stupid again and I'll crush your balls."
Leon: "..."
The instant Kaguya's ice-cold words landed...
A certain someone felt a phantom chill between his legs, and every last indecent thought in his brain evaporated on the spot.
Even his eyes became remarkably, pristinely clear.
Right then, Dix's deranged voice cut into their exchange.
"Heh, interesting."
He advanced step by step, the crimson spear twirling lethal patterns in his hand, his manic expression shading into amusement.
"In the middle of a deathmatch with me, you two are actually flirting without a shred of shame. Hehehehehe... 'Justice bitch' really is the perfect name for you! Hahaha!"
The words stung like venom. Kaguya knew it was bait, but she was past caring.
"Shut your filthy mouth! You're like a maggot. Just hearing your voice makes me sick!"
Leon's mouth twitched. His cheek gave an imperceptible quiver, and he silently took a step backward.
Kaguya's trash talk was on another level...
I wonder...
Just as a certain idle thought was drifting through Leon's brain...
A soprano shriek ripped through the noise of battle, tearing across the entire plaza from a street on the diagonal.
"FIIIIIIIIIIIIINN!!!!!!"
"You're finally... HERE!!!"
"Come, let's begin our beautiful slaughter!!!"
A peal of deranged laughter echoed across the sky, so piercing it froze every fighter on the battlefield in their tracks, Order Faction and Evilus alike.
Every pair of eyes snapped toward the end of the street.
Two figures appeared at the same instant, and without so much as a heartbeat's pause, they collided in an explosion of violence. The fight ignited on contact.
One second after laying eyes on each other, the battle was already underway.
[Read 50+ chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/NiaXD]