Whatever It Takes

The Monster Within

Magret continued to stare at Esther in disbelief. The flames on her hand quenched out.

"It can't be… You're dead." Magret staggered.

"It must be surprising for you considering the state I was in. But after you left, just at the point of death, Lord Rin saved me." Esther said.

Magret stood still looking down, not knowing how she should feel at the moment. Sad, happy, glad, angry, she did not know. She tightened her fist.

"Then why didn't you come to * kingdom, like we agreed." Magret bitterly said.

"Agreed? That was your goal not mine. All I ever wanted was a place to belong and Lord Rin gave me that. I owe him my life and will do whatever he tells me to." Esther said.

Magret eyes burned with anger. Flames covered her fist immediately.

"This is not like you. What happened to the Esther I knew?" Magret said charging at Esther. She landed a solid hit on Esther but like what happened before, Esther was no longer there but behind Magret. It was as if Magret had never hit Esther.

"You're right. I'm not the same Esther you knew, I've gotten stronger." Esther whispered into Magret's ear.

Magret immediately jumped back when she sensed something dangerous. Nothing was in sight but Magret could feel danger.

"You sensed that pretty quick." Esther said and started laughing.

Magret sighed. "Not long ago, I was fired up to devour a Gunter and here I am turning into a fraidy cat. Esther, you may be my friend but you're still a Gunter."

"You think I'm scared like before. Show me what you've got, Fire Mistress." Esther said.

Magret smiled mischievously. The temperature of the whole room went up and became dense.

"Fire creation magic: Devour!" Magret said.

A big ball of flame came out of Magret's hand and flew right at Esther.

"Manipulation magic: Erase." Esther said and the flames immediately disappeared. "I expected more from you."

"Oh, that was just a warm up." Magret said. "This fight is gonna be fun."

Something put a cut on Magret's face as blood dripped out from the cut. Magret was cut unaware.

"That's my line." Esther said. "I've set my wires all over this room, move wrongly and you might have your head cut off."

"You've got to do better than that if you want to threaten me." Magret said. "Fire creation magic: Consume!"

Immediately, the wires caught fire but refused to burn.

"My wires are fire resistant. I carefully prepared them to fight against you." Esther said.

"Fool. Those flames were never meant to burn the wires." Magret said positioning herself for movement.

"It can't be." Esther thought, looking all over the room. "The flames are revealing the location of the wires."

"Fire creation magic: Boost!" Magret said.

With great speed, she flew with the assistance of the flames coming out from her legs, which toasted her footwear. She easily dodged the wires, knowing their positions and got close enough landing a solid hit with her fist covered with flames. Esther was still in shock to do whatever sort of magic she used to disappear and was sent flying straight to the wall. Esther's body cut the wires and hit the wall with great force.

She stood up with no damage to her body.

"That one caught me unaware." Esther said. "But at least I managed to do this."