She looked a bit bedraggled, but she’d turned human to fight Ling better. Changing back over a small hiccup felt shameless. But who cares? In a fight, is that cheating?

She comforted herself, and black smoke began to crawl over her skin like ink.

What’s happening?!

Anomalies surged. She clearly felt mana spilling out, inner reserves draining. Yet no black smoke gathered around her at all.

Without a thick shroud, she can’t bridge the gap of her true body. This small human shape can’t conjure her original form from nothing.

Alarmed, she poured out more mana to weave more smoke. It only skimmed her skin, then hit something, sizzled—“zzzz”—and vanished.

Wait—“zzzz”?

She wasn’t dumb; years of living and training had stuffed her head with lore. Different mana types corrode each other—basic of basics.

She’d just been too tense to notice. That sizzle told the truth. Her black smoke was only her mana made visible. The green mana around her ate it clean.

So what if she knew? Physical escape was useless; magical breakthrough wasn’t happening.

Seeing everything was futile, she dropped resistance. Pain pricked like needles around her, so she sat cross-legged.

But… my mana can’t even match this little human? Am I dreaming?

Anything she did—defense or attack—looked like a clown’s dance to the other. At best, it earned a sweet, effortless laugh.

When had she last felt this helpless? A hundred years… five hundred… a thousand? She’d forgotten the time, but the feeling was identical. Not the same person; their looks were worlds apart. One was statuesque, a big-sis type; the other, a loli. No way they were the same.

But the absolute lack of counterplay felt exactly the same. Drag that big-sis here and they might even get along—in a twisted way.

What was her name then? A…? Why had she forgotten? She’d sworn to remember it, to avenge herself later. Why forget?

Did she name her race? Emmm… she did. If memory served… a Yokai. And something like a Yokai Lord. What even was that?

Come to think, this kid never said she was human. Could she be a Yokai too?

Think it through. That earlier hit wasn’t full strength. She’s far beyond that big-sis, and her mana looks bottomless. Maybe another Yokai Lord.

Her mind kept spinning, not to analyze the enemy—pointless. Once she guessed the kid was a Yokai, the Dragon King lost the will to fight. Trade blows with someone dozens of times stronger, and you eat dirt. Unless you’re a masochist, no one enjoys that.

So the Dragon King let her thoughts wander, just to dull the pain.

Also… the kid should have her limits, right? She won’t just kill me, right?

She prayed silently for her life, then drew the character “爂” over her chest as blessing.

…

Luckily, the loli didn’t betray the Dragon King’s trust—though that prayer probably helped a lot. The Dragon King felt her mana almost eaten through. Another minute or two, and real harm would start, where mana couldn’t cover her skin. Then the searing pillar finally disappeared.

Freed, she gulped air. Plain air turned cool and delicious. After bathing in mana’s heat, her body ran hot. Inhaling cooler air felt like bliss.

“So, you surrender? Pervy dragon?”

The girl stood hands on hips before her. Her outline overlapped with that ancient memory of the big-sis. She sighed, raised two slender hands to surrender. Yet her smile, tipped by a tiny tiger tooth, didn’t fit surrender at all.

“Ah~ I lost. I lost to you, completely.”

She said it like release, bright and clean.