Childhood Friend of the Zenith

Whoooosh—!!

Flames brushed past my cheek. I had reacted too slowly out of sheer surprise. I frowned as I brushed away the energy.

‘Daughter?’

Did that woman just say daughter? Daughter?

She even said she was this family's daughter.

If I hadn’t misheard, then that was definitely what she said.

‘What the hell is she talking about?’

Daughter? Before I could even process that—

Kwoooosh—!

I dodged the flames whipping toward me. The woman was busy hurling fire at me relentlessly.

‘Her level... is around Five Stars?’

She had reached the level where the Nine Flames Firewheel Art had attained Five-Star proficiency. That meant her mastery of the technique and her martial prowess had reached that stage.

Fwoooosh—!!!

And at that level, she was spewing out a tremendous amount of flames all at once.

Her ability to regulate firepower was impressive, but—

‘That’s excessive.’

Did she even have enough inner energy to keep up that output? Her energy level was somewhat ambiguous. If she kept up this barrage for much longer—

“Huff... huff...”
“......”

Just as expected. The woman was already panting, clearly exhausted. She had nearly drained all her energy.

“You... goddamn... bastard...”

As I simply stood there watching, she glared at me with resentment in her eyes.

“You just... keep dodging... isn’t that... unfair?”

“...So I’m just supposed to stand still and let you hit me? That sounds even more unfair.”

“If I’m putting in this much effort to attack... you could at least take a hit or two...”

“What kind of selfish logic is that? Your conscience must be long dead.”

“Haa...”

She panted for a while before finally regaining her breath. Wiping the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, she then asked—

“Why are you speaking informally?”

Her voice was calmer now. I smirked at her question.

“You started it first. Weren’t you asking for the same treatment?”

“Ah-ha?”

She chuckled at my response.

“So you think I should show manners to an intruder?”

“That’s perfect. I don’t plan on showing any manners to someone who threw the first punch either. It’s easier for both of us if we just drop them.”

“Ha.”

She scowled, momentarily at a loss for words.

Fwoosh.

“You're really pissing me off.”

Once again, flames surged in her palm.