<Inside the mansion>


    The mor of copsing Buildings and fiery explosions echoed as ra, nor, Silver, Himeko and Luna were facing off against Freja''s elite.


    It consisted of Kiruya, all the maids of the mansion and the other girls that were part of the harem. Not much was known about any of them except Kiruya and some of the maids, but they were certainly a strong force.


    "Kiruya, are you aware of Freja working with the pope and sealing Shaman''s parents?" ra beat around the bush and immediately confronted Kiruya. This was a battle ra wished to avoid, as Kiruya had helped them a lot, especially when it came to helping nor.


    For a moment, Kiruya contemted what she was going to say, but that small hesitation was already enough. There was a slight twinge of pain in ra''s heart, as she may have to kill Kiruya right here and now.


    "I did… but I had no say in the matter." Kiruya readied her chakram, splitting it in two. She was currently sporting more casual clothes consisting of ck jeans and a rather loosely done up shirt.


    "Then do we have to fight right now? We canpletely avoid this." ra had her doubts on whether Kiruya would be willing to sit tight while Freja was in a life and death fight.


    "If it were that simple, then Freja wouldn''t be fighting. I trust in her ideals more than any words you have to say." Kiruya''s face turned stern. It was clear in what direction this was going.


    "I don''t think you can talk this out, dear. As much as I would like to avoid killing anyone, it might be inevitable. The most we can do is try to knock them out." Himeko ced her hand on ra''s shoulder as the pain was evident on her face.


    Himeko was right though, talking was pointless. Doing their best to limit casualties was all they could do for her now.


    "Fine, if that''s your choice, so be it." ra clenched her fists and summoned her whip des out of her inventory. She debated if she should go straight into her demon dragon form, but she wanted to figure out how strong Kiruya is now.


    She was a Tier 8 eight months ago, but she very well could be much stronger now. It was quite hard to pinpoint how strong she exactly was, so perhaps it was safest to simply assume she was an equal opponent.


    ra figured her new form would most likely give her the edge, but right now ra has notpletely mastered her new strength, and didn''t want to mistakenly kill Kiruya.


    "I will sacrifice my life for Freja, so don''t bother holding back, for I will not stop fighting until myst breath." Kiruya showed no sign of hesitation in her voice, as she was dead serious about dying for Freja. She pointed her chakram directly at ra and bent down, ready to pounce.


    "I''ll take care of the small fry." Silver was quick to take action, sinking into the shadows. With just a nce, he could tell there was quite a lot of fodder as the maids were only around tier 6. Even the strongest of the bunch only reached tier 8, which made them prime targets for Silver''s efficient assassination skills.


    "Leave the others to me while you fight Kiruya." nor flipped out her fan des and focused her attention on the stronger maids as well as the other girls that were part of Freja''s harem. Her mana sense already told her that Kiruya was the strongest of the harem squad, the rest peaking at Tier 7.


    "You got this, ra. I''ll protect Luna while providing some passive support if need be." Although Himeko herself was back to being a Tier 10 and most likely could solo Kiruya, she still wanted everyone else to take on the fight. She will jump in if things gets too dangerous, but she didn''t want to take away their chance to gain more experience.


    Ultimately, if ites down to it, Himeko will step in, but only when she absolutely has to. Her role was to be a tank and defend everyone and she will do exactly that.


    Luna nodded and began her buffing chants, prepared to move on to healing spells right after if needed. It honestly was looking a bit unfair with Luna''s support, but there was no telling what the maids had up their sleeves.


    "Bring it, Kiruya." ra cracked her whips, charging them with her lightning. Responding to the deration, Kiruya, in a burst of wind, charged straight at ra.


    Kiruya''s eyes glowed brightly as she spun in the air with her chakrams, turning her into a very dangerous bayde.


    ra flicked up one of her whips while Kiruya was mid spin catching one of the chakrams with the tip of her whip and stopping Kiruya in her tracks. The force of the sudden stop made Kiruya''s body contort, almost breaking her back. Thankfully, thanks to her great flexibility she was able to adjust in time.


    Unfortunately for her, ra was still not done with her. With her whip stilltched to one of the chakrams, she pulled Kiruya in, swinging at her with her now fully charged second whip.


    Kiruya was quick to stab the tip of her other chakram into the ground, using it to manoeuvre her body to just barely avoid the whip. A loud crash of lightning followed, leaving the mansion floor charred.


    Kiruya then used her momentum to quickly reach ra and kick her in the face, but she forgot that one of her chakrams was still being held by ra''s whip. Before she could even execute the kick, ra yanked on it again, putting Kiruya off bnce.


    Once she was done yanking on her whip, ra tightened her fist, partially transforming it into its dragon form and punched Kiruya directly in the stomach.


    *COUGH* Blood flew out Kiruya''s mouth as she flew straight through Freja''s throne and into the wall behind it.


    "What a shame, it seems like you are still at Tier 8. Even with a system from Freja, you could barely increase your strength after this long." ra felt a bit disappointed, her opponent''s moves too slow to truly be a threat to her.


    Kiruya alsocked the impact thates with getting stronger and it was bing obvious that Freja did not allow her to progress.


    "The fight is far from over!" Kiruya peeled herself off the wall and wiped away the blood from her mouth.


    "But it could be if you dropped your weapon." ra really didn''t want to continue fighting. Although Kiruya can put up a good fight, it was only a matter of time until she was beaten.


    "Are you deaf? I am going to keeping until I kill you for Freja." There was a bit of insanity in Kiruya''s eyes, which reminded ra of Elysia back when she was a lot crazier.


    It was obvious that Freja hadpletely brainwashed Kiruya into unconditional love, which wasn''t particrly healthy, but there was nothing that could be done about it now.


    ''Maybe killing her is for the best.'' It was a tough decision, as that might be the only way to truly liberate her from Freja.


    Kiruya stretched her body out, cracking every bone in her body, before she came sprinting back. This time her approach was a bit more reserved as she didn''t attack head on, instead using her wind magic to throw some ranged attacks.


    Kiruya bounced around the walls using her wind to be even faster while using her chakrams to send wind shes.


    ra retracted her whips, turning them into swords so she could easily deflect all the wind shes. Slowly but surely, they began to pick up speed and increase in volume, but with Luna''s buff, ra easily kept up.


    The wind shes themselves carried a considerable amount of power, but as their volume increased Kiruya could no longer put out as much mana, making them easier to deflect.


    ra got into a flow of dodging and deflecting as she spun around, dual wielding her retracted whips. She deflected everything that Kiruya threw at her, but as the barrage reached its peak, the attacks suddenly stopped, Kiruya herself having disappeared from view.


    "Not so fast, you sly cheetah." From behind ra, Himeko swung her greatsword like a baseball bat, sending Kiruya flying.


    Kiruya had attempted to go for Luna but was stopped in her tracks by Himeko, who proceeded to handle Kiruya like a baseball. She managed to block the greatsword with her chakrams, but Himeko''s overwhelming strength Easily sent Kiruya flying to the other side of the mansion.


    Kiruya went crashing through one wall after another, leaving the rest to wonder if she could even stay conscious after such a hit. In fact, she wasunched so violently that even sent tumbling some of the maids that nor was fighting.


    "Whoops, did I hit her too hard?" Himeko realised the difference in power toote, never having intended to decide the oue of the fight on her own.


    "Jeez, I wouldn''t want to be at the end of that." Sweat dripped down Luna''s head, as she knew for a fact she couldn''t handle a hit like that.


    "ARGHHHH!!!" But a few momentster, a scream of pure rage came from the other side of the mansion, signalling that Kiruya was still alive and kicking.


    "It looks like she still has some energy left." ra focused on the hole in the wall, waiting for Kiruya to walk through. However, the silhouette that emerged was not that of the cheetah girl.