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Erin wondered how long it had truly been since the last time she fought someone that didn’t use the System as a crutch but as a complement. Aedan was the only one who fought with true might, not just abilities accumulated with the overwhelming aid and assistance from the System. That was, of course, until now.

Shauna’s skills and abilities did not ring hollow like the others she fought. Erin could tell. With each exchange of blows, the realisation seeped in more and more. Shauna was unlike the others. The System was not her crutch. There was effort, hard work, blood, sweat, and tears. Even without the limitations and restrictions of level disparity, she was unaffected by Erin’s sway over her carnal desires. There was a hint of lust in Shauna’s eyes when Erin flourished her tails but that was the extent of it, a mere hint that never bloomed into anything.

Erin raised her sword, intending to lure her opponent’s blade into her guard and veered their strikes. However, her opponent saw her ruse from a mile away. Instead, she suffered a searing cut across her shoulder in her failed attempt. Erin threw a flurry display, flailing her sword in a seemingly erratic fashion. But once again, Shauna saw through the ruse. A quick flick of her arm, she cut through Erin’s defence and nicked the Fox-kin just a little below the side of the waist.

These small cuts were nothing to Erin but her opponent wielded a sword forged of flames in a literal manner. Each cut bore thrice the pain of a normal cut. Erin couldn’t help but wince and let her concentration slip each time she was wounded.

After only a short exchange, Erin already found herself at a disadvantage with a body covered in small wounds and minor injuries that were gradually accumulating into something grave and serious. She had been complacent. With her mastery and prowess regained from her prime, she thought she could sail the rough seas with ease. Without the level disparity restraints, she assumed she could glide through the tides smoothly. Hubris. She had regressed into her former self, to the point in time when she had lost her first battle in a long while which resulted in her being spirited to this world.

Even without the restraints of levels, Shauna still stood on a higher peak than she did. Her flaming armour was a whole other problem in itself. Even if Erin could pounce on a gap in Shauna’s guard, the flaming armour barred her blade from ever reaching the flesh.

“Regretting your choices now?” Shauna asked. Her tone gave no hint of mockery or arrogance. There was only sincerity.

Erin grunted, clutching her shoulders, which had suffered quite a few burns and cuts. “I don’t. I may have misjudged your abilities and my own but I regret nothing.”

Shauna pointed her flaming sword at Erin. “There’s no way you can win this fight. If you surrender now, your companions will be spared, as a token of my respect. You have proven yourself to be quite a formidable warrior, better than most of the Aerysians I know.”

“I don’t need your respect or your mercy. Moreover, this duel does not allow any kind of forfeiture or changes. We may as well see it through to the end. Lastly, I came here to save my… I came here to save Aedan.”

“If I wished for it, the flames would instantly swallow you up and there’s nothing you could do.”

“Weren’t you the one who asked me to cut the chatter and just fight?”

Shauna snorted. “So be it. There goes your last chance of survival.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. That’s not my last chance,” Erin said and began striding towards Shauna. “This is.” The pink mist she was exuding began to glow and glimmer while also slowly turning into a different shade, one that of a sharp and violent violet.

Shauna shivered. Baffled. She didn’t know why. It was not cold. On the contrary, it was warm with the fire blazing around them, acting as the ring for their deathmatch. It was only getting warmer and warmer. The heat was not going down but it was changing, turning into a different kind. Shauna realised what was happening.

“You’re a lovely and beautiful lady. Strong, even. My kind of woman.”

“Fae, your tricks would not work on me. Do you think you are the first who tried to exploit my passion and desire?”

“I don’t know and I wouldn’t know,” Erin shrugged. “But I wagered I am the first who will be successful at it for I am the Apostle of Lust and Nyx is my Divine Guardian.”

“What are you—” Shauna choked on her words when she saw the changes happening to the Fox-kin.

A light purplish hue painted the usually white, straight, and silky hair that trailed down below the waist. Markings of a darker violet shade appeared and coiled around the now purplish hair and they spread to her body, from head to toe. Erin’s breathing turned rough and rugged. She loosened the sash on her robes and let it loose from her body, revealing her body that was only half-covered by her undergarments.

“What is this? What are you planning?”

“I am the Apostle of Lust. What do you think I’m planning?”

“Your Mana… is surging. How?”

“Lust is not restricted to one’s carnal desires. Haven’t you heard of battle lust?”

“...It would seem that I, too, have misjudged you, Lady Erynthea. This farce has gone on long enough. Under different circumstances, I would have loved to engage in a proper duel with you. Forgive me,” Shauna said and clenched her left fist. In an instant, the flames surrounding them closed in on Erin as if to submerge her in a sea of fire.

“You’re too late for that.”

The flames stopped short of enveloping Erin. Instead, it was being pushed back by the expanding violet mist. No, it would be more apt to say the flames were being sliced and diced the moment it got too close to Erin. The flames continued to be minced until there were no flames left. Then, it was the violet mist's turn to surround them.

Shauna tutted and swung her sword, summoning a wave of flames to crash into the expanding mist. Sparks flew and more. Explosions ensued in a series as the two sides clashed.

“Damn it!” Shauna shouted and lunged at Erin through the fire and the mist. Her flaming armour was being chipped away by the mist as if thousands of tiny blades were slashing at her from all sides. With a wave of her hand, flames burst forth from her, pushing away the mist but only for a moment before the mist began eating its way back. Shauna eventually made her way to the other side but Erin was no longer where she had been. Shauna whipped her gaze around but she found no one. There was only one more place she could be. She looked up.

There Erin was. In the air, dropping down with her sword thrusting downwards in tandem. The violet mist was all around her, following her. Keeping her enveloped in its essence as if it were her guardian angel.

Shauna met the Fox-kin’s blade with hers. Feet away from touching tips, Shauna found her thrust being repelled by the mist around Erin. It didn’t deflect her thrust but it did slow it down considerably.

Erin’s thrust passed over Shauna’s own and found its way into the Aerysian’s shoulder through the thick layer of flaming armour which had been impenetrable before.

Shauna endured the pain and instinct to scream. She turned her flaming sword into a giant dragon head that could easily swallow Erin whole.

Surprised crossed over Erin’s expression but no trace of fear and anxiety. She flipped herself out of the way of the flaming dragon head and it chomped down on nothing. She twirled when she landed and brought her sword towards Shauna’s neck.

The Aerysian battered the sword away with an expression brewing with frustration. The barehanded act was a panicked response. As a result, she suffered a deep cut across her forearm.

Erin wasn’t done. She thrust her sword once more and the mist charged along with her, overwhelming the flames that aided Shauna. Walls of flame erupted in her path but the thrust tore through it and the mist tore it down like piranhas feasting on a piece of meat. A cage of fire surrounded Erin but the violet mist crushed it before it even took half of its full shape.

“Aura Domain,” Shauna muttered.

“Is this what it’s called?”

“You don’t know? Then how are you using it?”

“It just… came to me?”

“You’re unbelievable.”

“So I was told.” Erin pressed on. She kept her distance close to Shauna. With every swing of her sword, Shauna responded with a torrent of flames. Each clash resulted in Shauna’s disadvantage. Sooner or later, it would be her defeat.

“I cannot lose… Dorvus awaits me and his inheritance.”

Erin laughed. There was always something amusing about seeing her opponents contemplating their purpose whenever they were near defeat. They seemed almost pitiful but it did not invoke her sympathy. She had her own stakes. Flames of different forms kept crashing down on her but she fended them all off. The aura shrouded her was the physical manifestation of her will and resolve, she understood that much. The aura was akin to her mastery, the sword. It was an extension. The reach of her sword now covered her in all directions.

With a last act of desperation, Shauna invoked the largest flames she could to swallow them both up but the violet mist tore everything down. At first, it would seem that the flames would devour the mist and Erin, but the outcome walked a path different from Shauna’s expectation. Soon enough, she ran out of flames and Mana. Even the ones she wore as armour.

Once everything calmed and turned quiet, the murmurs from the onlooking Aerysians resounded. Their leader had lost, which in turn meant they had failed their mission.

Shauna fell to her knees, drained of her Mana and stamina.

Erin walked up to her. The mist around her was fading away as she approached the Aerysian. She wasn't doing any better than Shauna. Her face was drained of colours and her breathing was turning more and more ragged. She placed her sword on Shauna’s shoulder and pressed the blade lightly into her neck. “You have lost,” she declared.

“...So I have,” Shauna admitted. She snapped her fingers and the ropes around Aedan came undone.

The other Aerysians began to clamour. A look of reluctance was on each of their faces. They knew the consequences of failure. Some knew about the duel, some didn’t, though it mattered not. The outcome was something they could not just accept.

“Per the rules and terms of the duel, your lover is free.”

Erin’s hair was turning back to her usual hue and shade of white. The markings all over her had also disappeared. “Hmm… I appreciate your compliance with our terms but I’m afraid your friends don’t share your sentiment.”

“They will,” Shauna said and stared at her fellow peers. “Go back and tell Dorvus that we have failed. This is an order. If you refuse—”

“Shut it!” one of the Aerysians shouted. “Why should we pay for your mistakes and blunders!? If we went back empty-handed, His Grace would kill us! Or worse!”

Shauna grimaced and flicked her hand. Flames sprouted from nowhere and devoured the Aerysian who was shouting his defiance. When the flames subsided, he was nothing more than ashes. “Make no mistake. I may be emancipated but I’m still capable of reducing at least the lot of you into ashes.”

The crowd fell silent and their hands backed away from their weapons.

Shauna turned her gaze back to Erin. “Take your lover and leave, Lady Erynthea… I don’t have much time left… I have overburdened myself. I have long lost the duel the moment you used your Aura Domain. You…are stronger.”

Erin didn’t respond to the courtesy. Or rather, she couldn’t. She, too, had exhausted herself. Before she could even think of her next course of action, her vision went blur before darkening completely.