19 Welcome to the Jungle - Finale

After receiving such an invitation, she kept silent.

The silence in the entire fighting area was deadly, and the tension between Elise and Drïmur was colossal.

As an onlooker, Olivia watches from afar as she thinks...

"She's about to do something crazy again... I'd go help her, but in my current condition I don't think I'm capable of fighting... I'll let her have the limelight, she deserves it."

Olivia is fully confident that her partner was going to manage somehow or other. So she doesn't worry about anything.

Back to Elise...

She quickly goes through all of Nishimiya Saeko's memories containing martial arts. From a guy with a flying cloud who dyes his hair, to a [God] and a [Human] going head to head with only their fists.

Also videos from a certain platform showing the execution of these moves... and it is then that Elise decides on one of them to start the fight.

It seems that Drïmur doesn't plan to block in this battle, so out of mere respect, Elise decides not to do it now either.

She prepares to mimic that move...

She makes the [Magic Energy] flow in her body. All her muscles feed on such power and are stimulated at the same time. Elise's heart rate accelerates, and she feels her body begin to warm up.

Having properly analysed her realisation, the rest is simple history. She took a small momentum on her own axis and lifted her body by spinning it multiple times, and with what could be considered the "instep" of her greaves, she connected a full on instep tornado kick against the face of her current foe.

All the centripetal force was concentrated in that one spot, and simply exploded as it connected with Drïmur's cheek.

Her foe was sent flying to the left of her perspective, so Elise didn't take too long to return to her original position and prepare to take that blow.

----[Elise's Perspective]

-That was interesting... now it's my turn.

Drïmur's cheerful tone of voice fell apart, and from one moment to the next he appeared behind me. I could barely react in time when his arm came down on my head like a hammer.

The force of the impact pinned me a few millimetres into the ground, and my right hand is most likely dislocated a little now.

But... after being blocked after making an attack with such force, I could see how some of Drïmur's arm muscles ruptured, opening up bleeding wounds.

Oh.

That is the consequence of possessing too much brute strength and having no way to imprint that power into a weapon. Drïmur occupies a hammer because it is what would allow him to more easily distribute his tremendous explosive power in an area.

So this is going to be a battle of endurance?

It doesn't take me too long to prepare my next strike, after having analysed Drïmur's entire body, I deduced that there is only one area that doesn't have the protection of his muscles.

Using my own strength, I put my right hand back into place...

-*whistling*

Drïmur looks surprised at how I did that without even wincing.

... well, what does it matter.

I propel myself with my feet as if I were going to jump, and prepare to drive my right elbow into the orc's solar plexus. Such an attack was so unexpected and savage that Drïmur himself could not keep the air in his lungs.

That attack only moved him a few centimetres... but I don't wait for him to launch his next attack before proceeding.

In Saeko's memories... there's a guy named Bruce Lee. That guy is average if we're talking about combat, but if his techniques had been developed in a world with [Magic], it would be a different story.

He created his own martial art, Jeet Kune Do, it's an irregular variant of martial arts... and therefore, it's something that nobody knows about.

Among the techniques he developed, there is one in particular that I consider to be above all others.

I raise my right hand, making my fingertips touch the middle of his chest already having imposed a huge amount of [Magic Energy], and then....

I simply close my right hand. And it is at that moment that the [Magical Energy] explodes into a single point. Drïmur could not resist the sudden force that sent him flying backwards with brutality.

This is the [Zero Inch Strike].

I'm not going to stop with just that.

Sooner rather than later, and accelerating my body with [Acrobatic Aerodynamics], I advance fast enough to intercept his impact trajectory, and then, send him back to the ground with a single kick.

When we're back on the ground, I get on top of him and start punching him repeatedly in the face. Again and again, non-stop, no matter how much Drïmur resisted, I was not going to move from my current position.

The [Orc's] face is being wounded by all the hits he is receiving from my invisible armour, but it is not necessary for him to know about it.

I don't stop my blows... until I realised, that I had been lifted by Drïmur himself along with him.

Oh... I think I should have stopped a moment ago...

Drïmur yanks me from my position, and that's when he grabs my neck and legs.

Wait, wait, wait, wait! Don't tell me...!

-No, wait...! Don't even think about it! Not Bane's, not Bane's, not Bane's!

No! No! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Drïmur, oblivious to my screams, lifts me up for a few seconds and then drives my spine into his knee.

Damn it, he did do Bane's to me!

How can I be so excited and sore at the same time!

After doing that, even though he didn't kill me, Drïmur releases me, slamming me to the ground brutally.

And without taking time for anything like me, he brings down an axe kick towards my head.

I only acted on instinct, for the next second, I managed to create a shield with [Recreation] to protect my face from the impact. It almost slips out of my hands and I can barely keep it steady, but I was able to block the first blow.

-You fool!

Drïmur keeps kicking at the shield, one after the other. The metal is being disfigured by each connected blow.

I stop the shield with my left arm, and quickly pull out one of the [Vial of Distilled Blood] I bought from my inventory and smash the glass with my mouth, consuming everything completely. I didn't have time to open it.

With the blood entering my system, my regenerative abilities are boosted, which caused my spine to be restored almost immediately.

Parrying one last of his kicks, I slide out of his grasp and somersault to my feet.

My back still hurts a little, but it's not something that's going to stop me from moving forward.

I've already assessed his moves, it's time to just get this fight flowing... I activate [Future Vision] right away, so I can anticipate any attacks he's going to throw at me and have my counterattacks ready.

I can see that Drïmur is excited about this fight. And for some reason, so am I... we're smiling while killing each other.

Oh, I get it.

It's because I've always seen Saeko having fun on her own in battles. This is the second big fight I've done in her place. It's just that the last one wasn't fun at all compared to this one.

I haven't felt so alive until now.

To hell with [Future Vision], I'm going to beat him with honour!

Then we start exchanging punches, kicks, shoves, and whatever moves we can think of to attack each other.

My nose is starting to bleed from so many blows, and Drïmur's jaw is slowly dislocating as we keep throwing punches at each other.

My ribs gave way to break, and so did the bones in my left foot. But I'm not the only one taking collateral damage, as Drïmur's muscles continue to tear as he launches more attacks to the point where his shoulders are turning to mincemeat.

But neither of us stop our blows. No matter the injuries, no matter how long it takes.

Only that... little by little the battle is nearing its end.

I lift up Drïmur's chin and throw a blunt upward blow, a couple of teeth flying out from my blow. And on the other hand, the [Orc] drops his fist on my head, stunning me for a brief second.

It feels like my skull is about to crack...

My whole body hurts from the fight we've had... but I have no problem with what I'm doing even so.

I do a [Zero Inch Strike] to Drïmur's chest again, and a stream of blood emerges from the monster's throat. Unlike before, it was now better able to stand on its own two feet instead of being sent flying.

Shit! Because he did that, the recoil hit me and my arm twisted at a weird angle in an instant.

I don't have time to heal.

I lunged at Drïmur with my left shoulder, and the weakened orc was carried away by the impact along with me, this time there was no collateral damage as I reinforced my entire body with [Magical Energy].

My energy consumed the orc's. I have no idea how long we have been fighting, but at some point, Drïmur stopped making counter attacks. I had stopped measuring my blows long ago.

I didn't expect an additional 400% damage to be quite a considerable change for a monster with a millennium of existence.

My anger had been dissipated since before the fight started and I just started having fun.

-That's... what Redhart should look like... well done, girl... there's no strength left in my body... cof...

Before I throw the final blow, Drïmur begins to talk to me a little.

Breathing heavily, I can't answer him at all...

He looks at me with his face full of bruises and one eye flooded with blood... he is not afraid of death to any extent.

If the conditions had been different... we could have been friends... couldn't we?

-Thank you... for giving this old man... one last joy... my body has long been screaming at me to stop... but I wanted to see, how far... the next Redhart... would come...

I can't answer him a single word.

Instead of feeling good about killing my enemy, I'm feeling sorry for him... but there's nothing I can do about it now. If I were to leave him here, I would only extend his suffering that much further.

Tears begin to well up in my eyes... I don't want to kill him, but I must...

That's what a fight to the death is all about, it would be a humiliation for a born fighter like Drïmur for me to spare his life.

-Don't feel... sad... you did well... before you died... Could you tell me... your name...?

Between little murmurs, Drïmur asks me that question.

By this point I've caught my breath somewhat.

In a half-hearted way, I tell him...

-I said it... at the beginning... I am... Elise...

-Haha... so you are... the new Redhart... I'm glad, that I made you bleed so much... please, kill me quickly...

That request made me gulp.

I can't believe I got so sensitive over a monster.

I reiterate, if the conditions were different, we could have been good friends.

I'll just say one last thing...

-You were... a very good rival... thank you for allowing me to be your last joy, since I will also be your last breath...

-It is an honour... to be recognised by the [Heiress of Calamity]....

That was the last sentence Drïmur said before I plunged my index and middle fingers into both of his eyes, and was destined to savagely rip his head from the rest of his body.

Blood began to spurt out.

What Saeko wanted was accomplished... but me, I don't feel good about everything that happened...

I don't feel good about killing the one who made Saeko suffer.

My [System] has no programmed behaviour in the face of sadness, so the tears that come out of my eyes are like the tears of a newborn baby. I never thought I would feel so horrible for killing a monster.

I will always remember you, Drïmur...

...

Suddenly, I heard a joint scream.

Multiple voices at the same time are screaming. I didn't understand at first what the [Orcs] were about. They were all performing some sort of ritual now that their [Emperor] has died.

Hearing all that made me feel even worse than I already felt, for I didn't know the respect they all had for Drïmur.

Even though they are monsters, I see that they are still able to establish relationships between their own kind.

And then, when I see [Jörmundgander] move....

-WAIT, OLIVIA! DON'T KILL THEM!!! -. I raise my voice in a piercing scream.

But it was insignificant. The [World Serpent] swallowed the remaining [Red Orcs] and I could do nothing to stop him.

However, the [Orcs] did not resist, they did not even make an attempt to move.

That is a representation of the loyalty they had to their [Emperor]... they were so loyal that with Drïmur dead, they had no reason to continue to live much longer.

They gave themselves up to death in the hope of seeing their [Emperor] again.

You are fortunate, Drïmur... all your subordinates loved you. Hardly anyone has the determination to die along with their ruler, seriously they were loyal to you.

I am a little glad...

Because this way, I know that Drïmur won't be alone in the afterlife.

I feel like an old friend died... that's how bad I feel right now...

-Rest in peace... my friend...

After saying that, I simply buried Drïmur's body in a pile of earth. I will keep his [Warhammer] as a memento of the best battle I've ever had.

To this point, is that I can relax my shoulders as I continue to weep silently...

I forgive you, Drïmur.

- - -

[The effects of "Vengeance", "Genocide" and "Slayer" have been deactivated]

- - -

I still don't feel well...

Please come back Saeko...