"Chirp?"

Sensing Aya's gaze keenly, Chirp's ears twitched as she turned to look at Aya. "Mom?"

"Yep, everything's fine."

Aya waved her hand, then lowered her head again, holding it in her hands.

What should she do? First of all, she had to take Chirp with her, because if Mimi found out Chirp's location and touched her, it would be her defeat.

"I knew this all along, Mimi, you sneaky girl!"

Moreover, there was no three-dimensional structure to hide in on this hill, unlike in a building, so it was a bit troublesome to try to circle around properly.

There was only one choice, Aya stood up and clenched her fist.

It had been a long time since she had sparred with Mimi.

There was still over an hour left on the hourglass, and instead of hiding around for another hour and then having to deal with Mimi, it was better to just resolve the issue here.

"Chirp, can you find a place to hide and stay still for a while? Mom is going to have a fight with Aunt Mimi."

"Chirp? Okay!" Although a little puzzled by the request, Chirp trusted Aya completely and quickly flew a distance down the mountain, disappearing from Aya's view.

With Chirp's current abilities, Aya wasn't worried about her encountering any danger on the back side of the castle.

"And she got here pretty quick."

As soon as Chirp disappeared from view, Mimi, with her striking scarlet flame, jumped down from the treetops in front, landing stably on the ground after the silver whip with interlocking sections cushioned the impact.

"Aren't you going to run?"

"Because there's no fun in continuing to run, right?"

Aya shrugged slightly, watching Mimi with a hint of nervousness.

In fact, after spending so much time together, she had a good understanding of Mimi's strength. With her exceptional control over fire, outstanding physical abilities as a Demon, and considerable skill in whip techniques, Mimi was a formidable opponent above the average knight. Especially for herself, who had been sealed with the Chi, Magic, and Holy Rank rules, Mimi posed a challenging threat.

With her abilities as they were when she was first captured, there was simply no way for her to deal with Mimi in this situation.

"Since your goal is to fight me anyway, it would be rather impolite of me to continue running, wouldn't it? Why not settle this here."

"You've guessed right." Mimi couldn't help but chuckle as she pulled back her silver whip and held it in front of her. "But, Aya, you're mistaken about one thing. My goal is not to resolve disputes, but to give you a good lesson."

Before Aya could react, a dozen huge fireballs, each with a diameter of a meter, came flying towards her, startling her as she instinctively dodged in place.

Fireball spells were indeed the most basic Magic of fire mages, and even with Aya's Dragon-level magic resistance, she dared not risk a direct confrontation with such caliber — even if the outcome of the cat-and-mouse game was not considered, being burned by the adhesive infernal flames would not be pleasant.

But... Wasn't Mimi worried at all? The surroundings were dense with vegetation and once ignited, it would be disastrous. Would it really be okay for the castle's maid to cause a fire?

The garden environment was one of the reasons Aya chose to fight here; as long as Mimi couldn't exert her full strength, she had a chance to maneuver and win.

As if she had seen through Aya's thoughts, Mimi swept her whip, and the blade-like sections of the whip whistled through the air, easily absorbing the flames that started to ignite the trees and vegetation to her whip.

"Don't think just because I'm a Flame Demon, I can only handle magic as crudely as human mages."

"It sure looks like that, you truly are a Flame Demon...?" Aya forced a smile, feeling the heat rising under her feet. She subconsciously wanted to jump, but realizing that doing so would leave her briefly suspended, she immediately reacted and stepped forward towards Mimi.

"Tsk!"

Her prediction had failed, disappointing Mimi a bit as she had to retract her whip that was aimed to strike Aya in mid-air.

"But at this distance, the advantage of weapon reach is negated, isn't it?"

In close quarters combat, Aya was confident and with Mimi herself in a defensive state, forced to withdraw, there was a moment of vulnerability for Aya to close the distance.

Merely three steps, with the powerful lower body strength of a Dragon, Aya closed in on Mimi, compressing her Dragon Scale onto her right fist, aiming for the vulnerable abdomen.

Sorry, Mimi, it might sting a bit, but I'll need you to go down!

"But you're too naive, aren't you?"

Just as the thought of "gotcha" was about to surface in Aya's mind, a searing breath spread from underfoot again, this time precisely as Aya was about to punch, with all her posture and mental focus set on the attack… It was truly a fantastic opportunity.

Knowing well that Aya could only rely on her physical abilities in combat, Mimi could fully ascertain that in her bid to defeat her, she would opt for close combat. How could she not have prepared a countermeasure in advance?

Dragon Scale!

Gritting her teeth, Aya changed the direction of the fist that had compressed the Dragon Scale to end the fight and instead slammed downward, the strong airflow clashing with the lava erupting from the ground. The reactive force sent her soaring high into the air.

I need to quickly spread my membrane wings...

Forced levitation was what Mimi had just tried to do, and although Aya could transform into flying membrane wings, it still left her temporarily incapacitated for a short period.

"Hey, isn't this taking advantage of people's vulnerabilities too much?"

Before she could unfold her membrane wings, Mimi's attacks kept coming, with the flaming whip striking precisely at Aya, forcing her to continuously release her Dragon Scale to adjust her posture.

And... this wasn't good at all.

If she fell according to gravity, Mimi would attack her descent route swiftly, accurately, and fiercely with every round of whip strikes quickening. This was... a trap constructed by the whip?

The recovery speed of her Dragon Scale was far slower than the consumption, and continuing like this would sooner or later result in her running out of Dragon Scale, unable to adjust her posture in mid-air.

It seemed Mimi had prepared for this, after all.

Swish!

The whip blade that grazed past her cheeks sent a shiver down Aya's spine. It was only then that she noticed the whips around her were closing in on her, suppressing the space available for dodging.

This wasn't good, if she unfolded her membrane wings, the width of her wingspan would surely be hit.

Damn, I would love to let loose and have a good fight with Mimi.

"But on second thought, Mimi, after researching your fighting abilities for so long, isn't it unsurprising to have this effect?"

"So you were still listening?" Suddenly, Tiran's voice sounded in the pact, prompting Aya to retort instinctively.

"Well, don't worry about that." While Tiran's voice still sounded somewhat lazy, it became more serious when referring to Mimi.

"Well... I mean, even though I saved Mimi back then, I was totally unprepared to reciprocate her feelings. It was awkward to send her away, so I just kept avoiding her."

"Huh?"

"So, as the knight of the princess, I leave it to you to explain this matter to Mimi clearly. Good luck (ง •̀•́)ง~"

"Don't just dump this on me and run, you rascal!"