Harem Sync: Divine Edition-Chapter 48: Under the Black Dome

"Leave the human on the ground."

Kira didn’t answer, she just stood there analyzing him, looking for weaknesses, calculating distances.

Vorath sighed, the sound like wind through a cave.

The border between the dead grassland and the forest began to darken rapidly, light fading as if it had been sucked away. Roots moved beneath the earth, emerging in circular patterns around the entire area.

Shadows rose from the ground forming vertical walls of solid darkness that grew until they met at the top, creating a black dome covering everything.

Arena closed.

No visible exit.

Vorath planted the colossal sword in the ground, supporting his two skeletal hands on the hilt, and declared with absolute purpose:

"When the Guardian awakens... no one leaves until death."

Kira carefully placed Aldric on the ground, laying him on his side. Her tail swayed slowly from side to side, a controlled movement of a predator assessing its prey.

She understood perfectly: she was going to have to fight.

...

Kira attacked without warning.

She exploded forward at absurd speed, leaving a trail of flattened grass, her low body almost crawling on the ground, claws fully extended as she zigzagged in an unpredictable pattern, left, right.

Vorath didn’t attack, only dodged. With apparent effort. Almost casual.

He leaned back when she slashed where her head had been, took a step to the side when the claws came from below aiming for his ribs, turned slightly letting her pass right by when she tried to grab him from behind.

Kira attacked more than twenty times in five seconds, rapid combinations of claws, kicks, bites, blows that would have shattered a normal skeleton.

None landed.

Then she went straight for his neck, the weakest part of any skeleton, leaping high and descending.

The sword rose once.

CLANG 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

The sound of metal clashing against metal echoed through the arena, and Kira was thrown back as if struck, the impact sending shockwaves through her entire body. She slid across the luminous grass for several meters before managing to dig her claws into the ground and stop the movement, leaving deep furrows in the earth.

She stood up panting, her hands trembling slightly from the impact.

"He’s much stronger than I thought."

This wasn’t a balanced fight, nor was it a battle where talent compensated for the difference in skill level. The gap was so large that one mistake meant instant death.

Vorath didn’t even seem impressed. He simply put his sword back on his shoulder in the same position as before, as if nothing had happened, and then began to walk towards Kira.

Heavy steps that made the earth tremble slightly with each movement.

He attacked for the first time, a simple vertical strike descending from top to bottom without elaborate technique, just absolute brute force. The sword sliced through the air with a thunderous sound and struck the ground where Kira had stood half a second before.

The impact created a crater, sending chunks of earth and rock flying in all directions, the shockwave knocking down Kira, who had dodged by centimeters.

The second strike was horizontal. Another crater. More casual destruction.

The third thrust pierced three meters of ground as if it were butter.

Kira could only dodge, rolling, jumping, running in circles around him trying to find an opening that didn’t exist.

With each passing second, Kira became even more absolutely aware that if a blow landed, even a glancing blow, it was over.

Kira entered her predatory state.

Her pupils narrowed. Hairs stood on end all over her body, making her stand on end as if electricity were coursing through them.

Energy began to emanate from her body, not mana, but something more primal, a red aura mixed with orange that distorted the air around her.

Vorath stopped attacking. He observed her intently.

"Interesting..." the multiple voices murmured. "Beastkin... rare to see one in a state of true fury."

Kira advanced, now she fought in a very savage way.

It ran on all fours like a real fox, body close to the ground, then leaped vertically without warning, passing Vorath’s attacks instead of dodging them, using his sword as a platform as it descended, pushing with its paws and changing direction in mid-air.

It attacked the eyes, claws targeting the hollow sockets, trying to extinguish the flame. It attacked joints, knees, elbows, neck, any point where bone met bone and could be severed with enough force.

Ten attacks. Twenty. Thirty... And then a blow finally landed on Vorath.

Claws tore through his right shoulder where the armor joined, ripping off chunks of black metal that flew to the side, clinking on the ground.

But that didn’t change the fight.

Vorath remained dominant. He didn’t retreat. He didn’t seem to feel pain. He only glanced at his exposed shoulder for half a second before attacking again with the same intensity as before.

Vorath finally decided to finish.

When Kira leaped to attack again, he simply planted his sword in the ground and grabbed one of her hilts in mid-air with his left hand.

Then he slammed her into the ground... An impact that cracked the earth, Kira’s body bouncing once before he caught her again. And slammed her again, this time to the other side.

And again, alternating directions as if using a rag doll.

After five brutal impacts that left shallow craters in the ground, Vorath threw her far away. Kira flew about six meters before landing on her back, rolling another three meters until she came to a complete stop.

She tried to get up immediately, but Vorath had already reached her.

He stepped on her back forcefully, pressing down, making her bones crack with pressure. Kira spat blood.

With his sword, Vorath raised it with both hands above his head, the blade pointing downwards, straight to her chest.

Kira growled, a low, guttural sound escaping her bruised throat, not of defiance but of pure refusal to accept this as the end.

The sword descended.

And Kira caught it.

Both her hands gripped the blade when it was inches from piercing her, her fingers bleeding, but she held on with a strength that shouldn’t have been possible for her broken body.

Vorath paused, pushing for a split second, genuinely admiring her strength, which had visibly increased.

Where before she could barely block a blow without being thrown aside, now she held his sword still in mid-air even as he pushed with his full weight.

Kira’s hair began to glow, gradually changing color to shades of orange and red like fox fire. An aura of the same color surrounded her entire body.

She thrust her sword with explosive force, causing Vorath to involuntarily take two steps back, and used the opportunity to roll out from under his boot, sliding across the grass and creating distance before staggering to her feet.

She stood there breathing heavily, blood trickling from her mouth and hands, her body trembling from the effort, but something was different now.

Behind her, where before there had only been one tail swaying, now there were two, moving independently of the first.

Vorath looked at her with complete attention...

"Evolution... Last time I saw this... was three hundred years ago."