Vara somersaulted through the air, dodging the blast which instantly liquefied the rock behind her. She landed gracefully atop a remaining stone pillar, her eyes flashing with battle fervor.
"Come on, demon!" Vara triggered her mana flow once more, making the black stripes on her skin glow dimly. "Show me if you can last more than a minute against me!"
Once more, the white shadow plunged into the darkness. Like a beam of light piercing a dark hole, Vara nimbly slipped through every one of the Mana Demon’s attacks. Every time they crossed paths, Vara left a gaping wound on the monster’s body.
Vara realized she couldn’t defeat her enemy with a single strike. The Mana Demon’s hide was too thick for her claws to penetrate in one swipe. However, by whittling down its defenses piece by piece, she knew an opening would eventually appear.
and that is what she is doing so beautifully.
Tsrat! Tsrat! Tsrat!
Vara tore through the demon’s flank again. By now, the flesh on the creature’s chest hung loose, held only by a thin layer of skin. One more strike, and the Mana Core inside the demon’s chest would be fully exposed.
DUM! DUM! DUM!
Vara’s incredible speed created sonic booms with every acceleration. By now, the Mana Demon was three steps behind; it was only able to follow Vara’s movements with its remaining survival instincts. However, even that failed to save it as Vara slipped under its guard once more and sliced through the final layer of skin.
Tsrat!
The flesh on the Mana Demon’s chest fell away, revealing blackened ribs and pulsing internal organs. The Mana Core situated above its heart beat slowly, as if waiting to be harvested by Vara.
Vara’s eyes gleamed as she dropped into her stance. The Boost Acceleration Spell was activated. Once more, she moved so fast she created a deafening sonic boom.
Feeling its life threatened, the Mana Demon crossed its arms in front of its Core. However, that was not Vara’s target. Like a flickering lamp suddenly extinguished, the Mana Demon’s vision vanished. Vara’s claws shredded its eyelids before obliterating the soft eyeballs within.
The Mana Demon roared in agony. Panic set in as it lost its sight in the middle of this fierce combat. It began to attack blindly, but Vara had already moved away. The demon’s strikes hit only empty air and the unfortunate ground around it.
Vara watched her prey from a safe distance, panting heavily. Although she hadn’t taken a direct hit, a few claw scrapes had touched her skin, drawing blood. However, it wasn’t the wounds themselves that were dangerous, but the curse they carried.
Vara had realized from the start that this Mana Demon was a corrosive type. Every one of its attacks could cause severe burns and lethal irritation to a wounded foe. Although her Second God Form could quadruple her defense, speed, and strength, the corrosive effect of a Level 6 Core remained highly troublesome. She needed time to neutralize the toxin, but time was a luxury the battlefield did not afford.
DUM! DUM! DUM!
Vara’s heart thudded violently. Her blood raced as her body once again shot through the air resistance, creating a sonic boom with every acceleration. Vara did not take a straight path; she moved in a circle, surrounding the Mana Demon as it began to roar in terror.
Blindness left it unable to see Vara’s position, yet its wild instincts remained dangerous. Before the demon could find an opening to use healing magic to restore its eyes, Vara had to destroy its Mana Core immediately. Despite this, Vara did not rush. As a hunter, she continued to circle her prey, waiting for the perfect moment to deliver the finishing blow.
Currently, it was a battle of patience. Would the Mana Demon manage to restore its eyes in time, or would Vara lose her composure? However, nothing could best the patience of a true hunter.
Sure enough, the darkness and the thundering sounds around it caused the Mana Demon to lose control. It stopped roaring and began to chant a healing spell. At that exact moment, Vara knew her quarry had dropped its guard.
Like a tiger pouncing from its hiding place, Vara dove sharply. In the blink of an eye, she was in front of her enemy. Her claws were raised, and ten transparent light-blades, thirty centimeters long, protruded from her fingertips.
These blades did not vibrate wildly; they appeared so dense and serene they looked like diamond crystals honed to a molecular level. This was a high-tier technique mastered by only a select elite: condensing mana into a physical object with a sharpness that surpassed any legendary weapon.
This attack exerted nearly every ounce of Vara’s strength. Augmented by the momentum of her acceleration, she lunged forward like a spear of light. In a single thrust, her Astral Claws pierced the Mana Core in the demon’s chest.
The speed of the Astral Claws did not stop there. They continued to plunge, piercing through the blackened ribs before shattering the heart protected behind them. The hard spine briefly obstructed her path, but the tips of the Astral Claws remained unmoved, slicing through it before finally being halted by the dense back muscles.
BOOM!
Only then did the thunderous boom from her residual energy resonate.
A battle between two individuals of equal power levels usually takes a long time. In this Mana Species War, a duel between Level 6 entities can last an entire day. However, even though both were at the same level, their experience was worlds apart.
This Mana Demon had only just stepped into the Level 6 realm, whereas Vara had been there for years. She had engaged in life-or-death duels against stronger enemies time and again. In this great war, where Level 5 and 6 entities roamed as commonly as cats and dogs on the street, Vara was accustomed to fighting multiple enemies at once.
Despite her superior speed, Vara’s weakness was evident: she lacked a large-scale ultimate attack capable of incapacitating an enemy in one decisive blow. She also lacked a defense that could tolerate a fatal mistake. Because of this, Vara had forged a fighting style focused entirely on speed and precision.
By utilizing mana-efficient spells like the Astral Claws, she could focus all her energy on acceleration. Combined with her extraordinary reflexes and physical flexibility, Vara became a lethal instrument capable of shredding her enemies until nothing remained.
Even though Vara appeared dominant, fighting entities like Demons remained a complex affair for her. This was not solely because Demons were significantly stronger than other mana species, but because of the uniqueness of their Curse Spell Faction. This magic faction was capable of inflicting debuffs that were extremely difficult to remove.
If the enemy had not yet used a Domain, Vara could still easily evade those curses by reading the mana diagram patterns forming in the air. However, once a Domain was activated, every inch of the Demon’s body would radiate a cursed aura, placing a close-quarters fighter like herself in an extremely vulnerable position.
She could still handle physical curses like corrosion or poison. However, if the curse attacked the mind or manipulated the laws of space, the fight would become much more difficult. Imagine if she had to face a "Slow" curse; the longer the fight lasted, the speed advantage that was the lifeblood of Vara’s fighting style would slowly wither away.
Consequently, every time she began an engagement, the first thing Vara did was assess what type of curse her enemy carried. Fortunately, the Mana Demon she had just finished only possessed a corrosive-type curse.
Vara withdrew her claws from the chest of the now-lifeless Mana Demon. Suddenly, a hoarse sound echoed from the distance. It was not the roar of a monster, but the blast of the Silver Clarion, the sacred communication instrument of their kingdom.
The tone of the clarion was short and repetitive—an emergency code that had not been heard for a very long time: "Retreat and Assemble."
Vara’s face, splattered with demon blood, instantly turned solemn. In the midst of a war’s momentum that had just reached its peak, an order to retreat was nearly impossible—unless something dire had occurred. Soon after, the thundering roar of millions of feet could be heard. Vara looked up toward the horizon.
As if hearing the same command, the Demon army also began to pull back. Vara’s brow furrowed; confusion began to creep into her mind. An order for Warbeasts to retreat might feel impossible, but it still made sense within certain strategies. But for Demons to retreat? This was truly nonsensical.
"What is actually happening?" she whispered, feeling a dark premonition piercing her animal instincts.
Before Vara could dwell on her thoughts any further, a sharp gust of wind lashed against her face. She had been aware of someone approaching at high speed for some time, but she remained motionless, recognizing the familiar trail of mana.
"Rajah, do you know why these Demons are retreating?" she asked, without casting so much as a glance toward the figure who had just landed beside her.
The newcomer was a Warbeast of the White Tiger Tribe, just like herself. However, the aura radiating from the man was many times more intimidating than Vara’s own. Despite being under the pressure of such a massive presence, Vara remained composed, as if long accustomed to this level of intensity.
"I do not know. I have been ordered to attend a Great Assembly immediately," Rajah replied, his voice heavy with authority. His eyes remained fixed on the enemy forces vanishing into the horizon. "Vara, as the only remaining descendant of the Tiger King, you must accompany me to that meeting."