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“Mo Ning.”

The moment I agreed to the deathmatch and the other two Overlords agreed to be witnesses, the shadowy Nightmare Steed called out that name.

A moment later, a shapely Purgatory Warhorse trotted out from the pack. Each step she took was neither too wide nor too narrow -just an average step you would expect from a horse. Yet for some strange reason, they seemed elegant like a catwalk.

This particular Warhorse had an alluring figure, one more beautiful than any other Warhorse I had seen so far. One that was slender yet bursting with strength. While I wasn’t too sure why the word alluring popped into my head when describing her, it just felt fitting.

Most Purgatory Warhorses had black fur with some odd streaks of red here and there. Yet this Mo Ning was fully red. With each step she took, it seemed like a blazing ball of fire was approaching me.

“Greetings, clan heads. As well as the two Overlords from outside the clan.” As she said that, she bowed towards the three Overlords from her clan then greeted the Overlord Purgatory Shadowcat and the Overlord Cerberus.

From start to end, she never once turned to look at me… was I unnecessary here? Still, that voice was definitely a female’s.

“Mo Ning, we just came to an agreement. This will be your opponent.” The shadowy Nightmare Steed turned towards me then. “Devil, she will be your opponent. Mo Ning.”

“She’s a Five-star?” Normally, one could gauge a Purgatory creature’s strength by their body size. This Mo Ning was definitely larger than an average Purgatory Warhorse, but only by a little. Her strength shouldn’t be too high. Perhaps a Four-star instead?

“I know your real strength is only at the level of a Four-star, so we won’t bully you either. Mo Ning here is a Five-star.” Having said that, the corporeal Nightmare Steed’s mouth cracked open to reveal a toothy grin as if he was mocking me. “If you can defeat her, we’ll give you the right to freely recruit within our clan.”

‘What do you mean you won’t bully me…you already know I’m a Four-star yet you still got a Five-star to come fight me. You horses are just as shameless as that blasted cat!’

Even so, I wasn’t all too worried. I still had the Devil King Idol, after all. I just had to step on her.

“Fine. Let’s begin then.”

With that declaration, the curtain on this battle was raised. I turned around to try and enter my Devil King Idol. Yet just as I was about to do so, a black silhouette flashed before my eyes. There stood an upright, oversized cat Overlord blocking my way. Initially, I thought it would be the corporeal Nightmare Steed who would try and hinder me. I even prepared a whole speech about how a good horse doesn’t get in the way. Thankfully, I stopped myself right in the nick of time.

My lips twitched. I couldn’t help but wonder if that cat would suddenly slap me if I were to say what was on my mind right now. Finally, I resigned myself to saying it anyway, “You’re in the way…”

The Overlord cat didn’t answer me directly. Instead, he asked an unexpected question, “And where do you plan on going exactly?”

“To the Devil King Idol, of course.” I pointed at the twenty meter tall golem nearby. “I still have a fight to win, after all. Since they are bringing out a Five-star, I have to bring out my trump cards as well.”

At that point, the Overlord cat sighed and gave me that knowing smile as if he knew this would happen. “You can’t.”

Seeing that, my heart froze. “What do you mean I can’t?”

“Because that golem you call Devil King Idol is a machine of war.” The Hellhounds’ clan head patiently explained. “Deathmatches are sacred fights. You are only permitted to use whatever weapons or armors you possess, but not tools like machines of war. Also, you can’t use consumables.”

“So you mean I can’t use anything other than normal weaponry and armor?”

“That’s right.” The Hellhounds’ clan head and the Overlord cat both agreed at the same time.

‘Fishcakes…you two traitors! Aren’t we supposed to be on the same side? Those Warhorses over there didn’t even make a sound when I walked towards the Devil King Idol, and you two actually… I swear!’

Now, we had a problem. Without the Devil King Idol, could I even beat a Five-star Purgatory Warhorse? I was confident I could put up a fight, but I wasn’t all that confident about winning. Strictly speaking, ever since I evolved into a Fallen Angel, I had only personally taken part in one battle -that fight with the Demonic Fire Sprite and that giant fish.

However, because of that fight, I was able to discover several interesting battle tactics.

Up till now, I had always wanted to fight a suitable opponent that wasn’t too weak or too strong. Unfortunately, all the opponents I faced up till now fell into one of those two categories. Thanks to that, I either had no interest or dared not hold any interest in fighting them. This deathmatch could be said to be a test for my new self.

Speaking of which, to think I was actually hindered by the experts I brought over myself… such an embarrassment.

As they said, a deathmatch was sacred. The moment both sides were confirmed, all the spectators would automatically back away and give them space to fight. The five Overlords were the same as well, backing all the way back three hundred meters in a circle. Mo Ning then stamped on the ground a couple of times then puffed out a cloud of black smoke. Even though she was clearly a creature of fire, the look she gave me now was ice cold.

Then, like a pair of conjoined twins, the corporeal and incorporeal Nightmare Steeds rose into the air in a spiral and gazed down upon our makeshift battle arena. “Let the battle of life and death commence!”

‘Life and death? Shouldn’t it be till one side loses? Hey, did you use the wrong words here?! What’s the point of making us fight to the death in the first place?!’

Unlike me who was clearly overwhelmed by his first deathmatch, Mo Ning had already taken up a battle stance. The moment that declaration was made, she galloped towards me at full speed!

Her charge was like a bolt of lightning. Before I could even react to her attacking, I already felt the wind being knocked out of my chest as I was sent flying away against my will.

My first thought was pain. A strong urge to spit out blood overwhelmed me, but that soon passed. However, the sight of me sprawled on the ground was still rather embarrassing.

‘Hmmm. My body seemed to seize up the moment I received serious damage. Luckily, my regeneration powers are a lot stronger now since I became a Fallen Angel.’ It didn’t take long at all before I was up on my feet and flying in the air with a beat of my purple wings.

Shadow Demon Guardian!

The moment I escaped from the ground’s embrace, I activated my Shadow Demon Guardian. My shadow instantly transformed into a shadowy demon that flew off towards Mo Ning. Its arms stretched out into a couple of razor sharp scythes that mercilessly closed in on her.

Purgatory Warhorses did not have the ability to fly. Neither did they have the ability to walk on air like the Nightmare Steeds so staying in the air was the safest bet. As long as I kept harassing her with my Shadow Demon Guardian’s uniquely relentless style of attacking, my odds of winning were big.

However, just as I thought I had a surefire, albeit shameless, way of winning, she mercilessly crushed my dreams with a simple step into the air. That’s right, she was in the air!

Mo Ning ignored the Shadow Demon’s attacks entirely with a leap upwards, and in a burst of flames and hooves, blasted herself up towards the heavens!

‘Coach, I want to report a cheater! That horse over there clearly isn’t respecting the rules!’

The sight of her taking to the air like that truly frightened me for a second. Thankfully, my heart was made of sterner stuff than that. I immediately recovered from the shock and furiously beat my wings to try and distance myself from her. As I did that, I fired a volley of mana feathers.

Faced with a blanket of magical feathers flying straight for her, who would have ever thought that Mo Ning would display an even greater display of agility than on land. As a landbound creature, she seemed to have no respect for the air at all as she continued galloping upwards as if she was on solid ground, all the while dodging the feathers she could and spitting fire at those she couldn’t.

Still, while her display was truly impressive, a small percentage of the mana feathers managed to hit her. However, at the same time as those feathers struck her, a red shield appeared to block them.

No wonder she was the strongest amongst the younger generation. And no wonder that Nightmare Steed dared to issue a deathmatch despite knowing that I had wings to fly. He already knew that I couldn’t do much against Mo Ning.

‘This won’t do at all, I need to retake the initiative. Since you like flying so much, how about I take that away from you then.’

I placed both my hands above my chest, left and right palms facing each other as I locked my fingers together except for my thumbs. Mana began gathering in both of them, and as I pulled them apart, a corporeal black string could be seen forming. By the time my hands were at their furthest apart, a centimeter thick whip formed of the darkness had appeared in my left hand. As it wrapped around my wrist, the rest of its black body hung downwards a full twenty meters or more.

The reason why it wasn’t covered in Nether Flames was because I didn’t want to kill her. In its current strengthened form, this darkness whip should be more than enough.

Swish!

The darkness whipped lashed out at Mo Ning but she swiftly dodged it in another burst of fiery hooves. Yet the darkness whip continued snaking after her relentlessly. Ever since I gained the ability to impart consciousness, my magical attacks had become more unpredictable. What I did just now was a simple lash, devoid of any method or technique. However, that whip didn’t require any input from me at all as it automatically raced after Mo Ning.

Like an animal in a circus, she was made to jump through the fiery hoop that was my lashing whip as she endlessly tried to shake it off. As that happened, I distanced myself from her, all the while peppering her with attacks in a bid to strike her back down onto the ground.

She was not to be deterred however as she furiously galloped after me, spitting out a flame breath or two from time to time in order to alter my flight. Unfortunately for her, I had wings now. I could easily dodge her attacks from any angle, unlike when I was still back on ground and had limited options.

Shameless Self-promotion

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.