To Silverfield III

"You better do it quickly. They're here," Falte said to Ammine. The beastmen were closing in fast and they only had a few seconds before they reached them.

"I challenge your leader to a fight!" Ammine shouted in the direction of where the most enemies were. Immediately after saying that, all the beastmen halted in their tracks and waited for their leader's response.

Everything was quiet for a moment. After a bit of time, a male voice shouted back at them, "You do know what you're asking for, right human!?"

"Once again I'm a demon but yes, I do know what a challenge means in your race."

"It doesn't matter who you are anymore. As long as you obey the rules, then I accept your challenge! Everyone clear the area!" The beastmen all backed off from the four, giving them space for the duel.

"That's your idea? How is this faster than me just taking off our disguises."

"Well, a human's physical strength is nothing compared to a beastmen's, and we demons have a similar physical strength to them. Even if we do take our disguises off, they could just say that we were actually putting on disguises to look like humans instead," Amminne pointed out.

"How unreasonable do you have to be to-" Falte stopped himself and thought for a moment before changing his mind. "Actually, I take that back. Beastmen don't trust words, they only trust what they see. Well then, good luck." Falte motioned for Kies and Jasyeu to follow him to a place where they could spectate the fight.

A figure appeared from the mist. He was much taller than Ammine, but if she didn't have the human disguise on, they would be roughly the same height. Kies could see the outline of his animal ears and a long tail right behind him. As he came closer to Ammine and them, he saw that his body was massive.

"For you to challenge me, I think you know the rules. But in any case, I'll say them in case you don't. No weapons, armor, and magic. We rely solely on our raw strength. If you really are a demon then this shouldn't be an issue for you. However, if you are lying and you're a human, you'll get pulverized," the beastman said.

"I understand the rules," Ammine replied back. She dispelled the magic around her hands to show them that she knew it.

"Good. Let's find out if you're truly a demon." The beastman slammed his fists together and ran at Ammine with his arms wide open, ready to grab her.

"Really?" Ammine said unamusingly. She let the beastman get close to her before turning her body and delivering a strong kick to his stomach. The beastman stumbled back with a confused look on his face.

"What!? I thought I made it clear that no magic is allowed!" the beastman growled angrily.

"What are you on about? I'm not using magic," Ammine told him.

"Lies! Your foot clearly didn't reach me and yet I felt that kick."

"Oh..."

Falte shook his head. It looks like both of them forgot something very important.

"Sorry, give me a moment," Ammine apologized to the beastman.

"You have ten seconds to get rid of whatever magic you're using. If you still dare deceive me after that, I will have my men attack," the beastman told Ammine.

"That's reasonable. Falte!" Ammine called for Falte who went up to herself and chanted something. Ammine's disguise faded away and her demon form came back.

All around them, Kies could hear the gasps and surprised voices as Ammine suddenly grew taller and also grew a tail and a pair of horns.

"Huh, it looks like you really weren't lying," the beastman observed.

"In that case, there is no reason for this fight anymore, is there?" Falte reasoned. Now that they had proven that they weren't human, the beastmen had no reason to continue fighting them. But apparently, it wasn't as simple as that.

"Hmph, just because you proved that you're not human, it doesn't mean that your challenge is suddenly voided now," the beastman told Falte.

"Ah, whatever." Falte gave up at this point and let the two continue their fight. "Make it quick. We have a lot to do," he told Ammine before walking back to Kies and Jasyeu.

"Now let us continue where we left off," the beastman said.

"Gladly."

The beastman stretched his body again and waited for Ammine to get ready as well before charging in again with the same exact move. The beastman opened his arms and tried to grab Ammine. But instead of kicking the beastman away as she did before, Ammine jumped away from the beastman as he came close and circled around him.

The beastman turned around, swinging his massive arms at Ammine. The demoness caught them with her hands and pulled him to her and threw him onto the ground behind her. The beastman quickly tucked his head to his chest and rolled to his feet.

"Not bad. So you're not a fool that would use the same trick twice," the beastman complimented Ammine as he approached her again. "If you had tried to kick me away again, I would've grabbed your leg and the fight probably would have ended there."

"Are you sure it's a good idea to be telling your opponent what you're thinking?" Ammine asked him.

"Hm, good point. Well then, I'll shut my mouth now. Let's have our fists do the talking."

"My thoughts exactly."

The two of them got serious and went at each other furiously. Ammine dodged every attack the beastman tried throwing at her. She was much faster than him and the beastman had difficulty keeping up with her speed. But despite this, Ammine's attacks didn't seem to have much of an effect on the beastman. No matter how many times she punched, kicked, or scratched him, the beastman didn't even grunt or show any signs of pain on his face.

The fight went on for a while and after some time, cheers could be heard from the trees. "Should we be cheering as well?" Kies asked, seeing how the beastmen were cheering for their leader. It should only make sense for them to cheer on Ammine as well right?

"It makes no difference," Falte lazily said. "I mean, do you think that Ammine would notice it when it when she is so caught up in the fight?'"

"Oh, you have a point."

"Furthermore, I doubt that even if the three of us shouted at the top of our lungs, she would be able to hear us over these beastmen," Falte added.

"Well, I don't have lungs but I get what you're saying," Kies told him.

The two of them went back to focusing on the fight. Ammine and the leader of the beastmen continued to attack each other with no luck in bringing the other one down. Falte began to tap his foot impatiently. Eventually, after another few exchanges, Ammine managed to get behind the beastman and wrap her arms around his neck.

The beastman tried his hardest to pull the demoness' arms off him but after trying for a few seconds and seeing that he was unable to, the beastman instead backed up into a tree and slammed her into it.

"Gah!" Ammine groaned in pain but still continued to keep her arms wrapped around the beastman's neck. He slammed her into the tree a couple of more times, but Ammine continued to put up resistance. The beastman's face turned blue as he ran out of oxygen and as a last desperate struggle, he thrust his head forward and slammed Ammine into the ground in front of him.

Ammine was caught off guard by the attack and her arms loosened for a split second. But that split second was all the beastman needed to break free from Ammine's choke. He quickly pulled her arms off his neck and pinned her to the ground with his foot. Ammine rolled her body sideways which caused his foot to slip off of her body.

Ammine jumped up to her feet and kicked the beastman in the side of his head. "Ugh... That's enough! I'll give you the win." the beastman told Ammine while catching her leg just as she was about to deliver another strike to his head.

"Huh!? You're surrendering!?" Ammine didn't seem to believe it. Kies didn't know why she was so surprised by the beastman giving up, but he didn't know much about them so there probably was a reason behind Ammine's surprise.

"Yes," the beastman said, confirming what he just said.

"I thought your kind are stubborn and hate to lose."

"Well, make no mistake. That is definitely true. The reason why I surrendered is not that I want to. As much as I want to see this fight to the end, I have to conserve my energy for what really matters," the beastman explained.

"And that is?"

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