EPIC: Path of Demons and Dragons
Chapter 321: Tit for Tat

Chapter 321: Tit for Tat

With Sunraku being declared the victor of their match by technical knockout, Riko found herself in a gloomy mood. She was upset that she had lost, but more than that, she was embarrassed to have broken down and cried in front of so many people—so much so that she wished there had been an Abyss-sized hole nearby she could fling herself into.

"Feeling better...?" asked Vahn, kneeling in front of Riko on a sofa after wrapping her in a thick and soft blanket and providing her a milkshake and a long straw to drink it with.

"Mn..." responded Riko, her cheeks flushed and eyes a little red and puffy as she loudly slurped her milkshake.

"Don’t worry. Faputa—we will take care of her," asserted Faputa, resting her chin and forepaws atop Riko’s head from behind the sofa.

"You have my gratitude," said Vahn, rising to his full height and caressing the sides of Faputa’s face with his hands, causing her to narrow her eyes and emit a faint purring sound from her throat.

"Now, before I go..." started Vahn, waiting for Riko to look up at him with her head tilted downward in a sad, puppy-eyed expression before smiling affectionately as he stated, "You should know I’m very proud of you, Riko. You may not have performed as well as you wanted, but that’s a matter of setting your expectations too high..."

"I really wanted to win..." muttered Riko, lowering her gaze and nearly disappearing into her blanket like a turtle retracting into the safety of its shell.

Shaking his head, Vahn’s expression softened as he cupped the right side of Riko’s face, caressing her warm and damp cheekbone with his thumb as he stated, "You’ve never been a warrior or a combat specialist. You’re someone who delves into the unknown, seeks knowledge, and shares it with others. It’s fine to want more, but expectations should be a reflection of the foundation and the skill sets we’ve established ourselves atop. If you sincerely desire to become someone who never loses, consider what you need to do and lay out clear expectations for yourself. After that, you need only to follow the path you’ve constructed to the destination of your choosing..."

Raising her gaze, Riko stared deeply into Vahn’s eyes as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words. Fortunately, he knew what she wanted to express, a faint sigh escaping his nose as he grabbed the sides of her face, planted a lingering kiss on her forehead, and stated, "Another person, be they God or man, should never be what lies at the end of your chosen path. But when you reach the point where our courses intersect, I will be privileged to help you move closer to your goal..."

"You’re really unfair sometimes..." muttered Riko, turning her face to the side and puffing her practically glowing cheeks as Vahn rose back to his full height. She was hoping he would kiss her as he had Kunou, but since she didn’t want to become a source of exasperation for him like Bonney, she didn’t pressure him.

"I do try to be..." countered Vahn, his form breaking down into fragrant golden flower petals that left behind a lingering warmth as he vanished, prompting Faputa to climb over the sofa and circle around where he had been standing before plopping down and loafing like a cat...

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"Woohoo! Four-for-five! Who’s next!?" shouted Sunraku, raising his fists triumphantly after defeating four successive opponents, the last being a thug-like boy named Souichiro Nagi.

"That would be me," responded a cool, feminine voice that caused a jolt to run up Sunraku’s spine and goosebumps to spread across his arms. When he spun around on his heel and leaped back to create some distance from its owner, his concealed eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when he discovered Miu adjusting a pair of hot pink fingerless gloves a few meters away.

"Holy MEGA-MILK! What kind of ensemble is that...!?" exclaimed Sunraku, both awed and taken aback by Miu’s exceptional beauty and the fact that she was wearing a bodysuit that left very little to the imagination. He was used to female PvPers wearing skimpy outfits as a distraction, but seeing a living, breathing bombshell wearing skintight spandex had him sweating and feeling weak in the knees even before the match began.

"Oh, my, it appears our next competitor has appeared~" hummed Tiamat, her eyes flashing as she wasn’t the one to summon Miu. Rather, the latter had been transported there by Sis at Vahn’s behest.

"Are you calling me a cow?" asked Miu, her usually bubbly tone replaced by a deeper, raspier, no-nonsense one as she glowered at Sunraku like he were her mortal enemy.

"Let’s just say you wouldn’t look out of place in a Holstein-patterened bikini," quipped Sunraku, standing with his left hand on his hip and waving his right in front of his face with a cheeky grin beneath his mask. He was still taken aback by Miu’s appearance, but with frenemies that included a world-class supermodel and a growing number of celebrities, he wouldn’t let something like a pretty face, massive tits, or a perfectly round ass stop him from giving the match his all.

"Oh, you are ask—" started Miu, punching her right fist into the palm of her left hand before her and Sunraku’s exchange was abruptly interrupted by the sound of a boy shouting, "You fiend! First, you bullied that little girl, and now you’re harassing Miu!?"

Recognizing the voice the moment it reached her ears, Miu exhaled a tired sigh and cupped her forehead with her left hand. At the same time, a fairly muscular young man who could have easily passed as Issei’s brother with similar hair and eyes but sharp, zigzagging eyebrows leaped up and onto the arena after jumping down from the seating section where he had been observing the previous matches.

"And you are...?" asked Sunraku, tilting his head sideways and eyeing the new arrival with crossed arms and balanced atop his right leg, freeing him to scratch his calf with the edge of his left shoe.

"My name is Shirahama Kenichi, and I’ll be your next opponent in Miu’s stead...!" shouted the young man, adopting a ready stance with his brows creased as far as they were able, his feet spread wide, and his knees bent with his left hand extended, clasped into a loose fist with his right tucked near his waist, palm open.

Shifting his gaze to Miu, Sunraku asked the question at the forefront of his and many others’ minds, specifically, "So, what, this guy your boyfriend or something...?"

"He’s not," responded Miu, her expression and tone firm as Kenichi, who had opened his mouth to say something, reacted like someone had taken a hammer to the top of his head.

"But I do consider him a good friend..." appended Miu, exhaling faintly from her nose as she posed with her right hand on her hip.

"Miu..." cried Kenichi, looking as though he were moments away from dropping to his knees and worshipping at Miu’s feet as if she were the manifestation of a benevolent Goddess.

"Damn, man...have some self-respect..." said Sunraku, even more taken aback by the scene playing out before him than Miu’s skintight bodysuit and porn star physique.

"You..." growled Kenichi, regaining his intensity and once again getting into a battle-ready pose as he glared at Sunraku like the man owed him organ money.

"That’s enough, Kenichi..." said Miu, placing her hand on Kenichi’s left shoulder and gripping it like a vice, her expression and tone serious as she asserted, "Your desire to protect those you care about is noble, but this is a competition, and I’m the one issuing the challenge here. You’re making a scene in front of a very large crowd over nothing."

"A large crowd...?" repeated Kenichi, seemingly having forgotten the situation he was in before Miu reminded him of it. As a result, his knees began to tremble, his breath catching in his throat at the gazes of nearly seventy thousand people, the majority of whom were stronger than him, weighed upon him like the sky itself was falling.

"Alright, that’s enough drama for the day" hummed Tiamat, clapping her hands, causing Kenichi to vanish before reappearing amid the group of D-Ranks awaiting their chance to compete. After that, she adopted a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes as she addressed the crowd, stating, "For future reference, if you don’t come forward with your initial group, you will not be allowed to participate. Understood?"

Without waiting for a response, Tiamat turned her attention to Sunraku and Miu, her eyes briefly gleaming as she passed them over the latter and stated, "Now, then. Unless one of you wishes to withdraw, let us proceed to the next match."

"I’m here to win," asserted Miu, once again punching her right fist into her left hand. This time, however, she had a confident, battle-hungry smile in place of the severe, neck-wringing glower she had due to Sunraku’s crass remark.

"You might win our match, but I doubt any healthy male would argue with me calling myself a winner if you closed those thighs around my head and popped me like a watermelon," quipped Sunraku, equipping his Knock-Out Gloves. It wasn’t difficult to deduce that Miu was a martial artist based on her absurdly skintight bodysuit, fingerless gloves, ceramic knee pads, and form-fitting pink-and-black combat boots, so he was planning to beat her at her own game while engraving the image of her body into his mind as a core, long-term memory.

"Is that your last request...?" asked Miu, her eyes sharpening before she moved like a pink, purple, and gold flash, causing the pupils of Sunraku’s bright blue eyes to contract.

’She’s fast...!’ Sunraku exclaimed internally, barely tilting his head back and leaping backward as Miu twisted her, rotated on her heel from a low angle, and executed a sharp kick aimed at his chin from what felt like an impossible angle. Unfortunately for him, Miu was also what people in his circle would refer to as a Dex-maxer. At the same time, she had unlimited access to the Pavilion’s special produce and training resources, meaning that while she primarily focused on increasing her Dexterity, Intelligence, and Wisdom, she wasn’t lacking in Strength, Constitution, Luck, and, most importantly, combat experience.

"This is for Riko-chan...!" exclaimed Miu, catching Sunraku off guard as she abruptly accelerated forward faster than he had leaped back, leaving him unable to change direction without creating a foothold. However, due to Miu moving nearly twice as fast as before, he didn’t have time to even consider forming one as her heel sank into the pit of his stomach with the force of an armor-piercing round fired from a tank.

’Oh, come on...I didn’t even hit that Riko kid...’ Sunraku complained to himself, cradling his stomach as he was sent skidding back across the arena, leaving behind black trails as the rubber of his sneakers melted from the friction. Any other D-Rank would have had the air forced from their lungs after sustaining such a heavy blow to their diaphragm, but he wasn’t an ordinary D-Rank.

Shifting his gaze to a display only he could see, Sunraku watched as his HP decreased by nearly a third from Miu’s blow. Unfortunately for Itadori, as long as his HP didn’t bottom out, it didn’t matter how much damage he sustained. His Innate Skill, Digitalization, granted him the constitution and capabilities of a digital avatar.

Seeing Sunraku withstand a blow that should have knocked him out, Miu’s caution grew. But as the most effective defense was a strong, unrelenting offense, she pressed the attack, executing several swift, scythe-like kicks aimed at Sunraku’s head before attempting to sweep his feet.

"Sorry, but now that I’ve acclimated to your speed, you won’t be able to hit me as easily as before~" taunted Sunraku, simultaneously activating a Skill called Taunt. Unfortunately, visible only to him, white text displaying the word [Immune] briefly appeared above Miu’s head, compelling him to click his tongue.

"We’ll see about that...!" exclaimed Miu, causing the hair on Sunraku’s neck to stand on end as she struck a stable squatting pose and punched at the air, producing a shockwave that surged toward him like an invisible wall. He managed to materialize a pair of swords and slice the wall of high pressure apart using pure muscle memory, but he ended up wide open as his gaze fixated on the sight of Miu’s breasts undulating from the counter-force of her punch. It was far more realistic than the few VR eroge he had played, and to ensure his mind drew a complete and total blank, the faint but conspicuous outline of her nipples poked through the inordinately thin fabric of her bodysuit.

"You’re wide open...!" exclaimed Miu, performing a spinning leap through the air, raising her foot in a wide arc, and dropping it down on Sunraku’s swords as he instinctively raised them to block. An ordinary fighter might pull back with a pair of blades in the path of their attack, but Miu trusted in the quality of her calf-length boots and drove her heel through the pair of swords and the crown of Sunraku’s head. Meanwhile, all that was going through the latter’s mind before darkness abruptly claimed his vision was the image of her raised leg and the fabric of her bodysuit digging into her crotch...

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