Falling into the pool of molten lava. Mereoleona felt her body sinking to the bottom.
'Damn it.' She cursed sinking ever deeper into its depths.
'I'm going all out here and that bastard hasn't even unsheathed his sword yet!'
'Damn Him, Damn Him, Damn Him!!'
'How dare he hold back against me! ME!!'
'I'll show him!'
'I'll show HIM JUST HOW MUCH STRONGER I AM!!!'
Unknown to Mereoleona, this was the first time in a long time that she had desperately wanted to become stronger for the sake of competing against someone else. Unlike her rivalry with Fuegoleon (who she had always been stronger than), she wanted to at least reach a level where she could stand next to Grim as an equal.
This feeling... How long had it been since she had chased the back of someone else?
'Grim...' She suddenly smiled and tightened her fists. 'You truly do shine brighter than anyone else I've ever met.'
---
-Grim Pov in the sky-
"Only five tails huh... I thought she could have lasted longer."
Standing alone in the sky and looking down at the place Mereoleona's body had disappeared to, he shook his head and turned away in disappointment.
*BOOM!!*
"What the!"
Feeling a sudden eruption of fiery mana exploding out from behind him, he was compelled to look back.
'This mana...'
Looking behind him, the sight of what lay before him threatened to take his breath away as he stared a huge pillar of lava big enough to engulf the entire area burst out from underground bathing both the sky and his sight with orange light.
"Ha...Ha...Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha."
'What was I thinking!! This is Mereoleona were talking about! As if this would be enough to stop her!'
Following the sudden eruption, a loud and primal roar reverberated out from deep within the centre of the pillar.
"Oho!!"
Grinning at the intent he could sense within that roar, Grim was unable to hide his excitement any further.
"C'MON MEREOLEONA!! I'M READY FOR ROUND 3!!!"
*BOOM!!*
Suddenly bursting out from the densest part of the pillar and racing towards him. She moved at a speed far surpassing everything she had shown previously.
'What speed!' He said wide eyed as she flashed past his figure and grabbed hold of his face.
Easily surpassing the speed of light by multiple times, she tightened her grip on his face and without a hint of remorse or hesitation in her actions, she cocked her arm back and threw him head first towards the ground.
'What POWER!!'
*BAAANG!!*
Hitting the ground with enough force to cause a minor earthquake, Grim's laughter continued ringing out as his body bounced up and fell backwards.
*SWOOSH!!*
Appearing in front of him with a massive grin spread across her face, the burning Mereoleona looked at his slightly airborne figure and without a moment of hesitation, she hit him with a spinning roundhouse kick to the stomach and sent his body flying off into the distance.
Feeling his stomach cave in slightly, he let loose a roar of laughter as he felt the wind whistle past his ears.
*BOOM!!*
Letting out a shockwave and racing past his figure, she grabbed hold of his foot and began to spin him around before hurling him straight through one side of the active volcano and out through the other.
*CRASH!!*
*Cough* *Cough*
"Ha..Ha..HAHAHAHA."
Crashing into the ground and barely managing to stabilize himself, Mereleona was back on him within seconds.
[6th Tail - Flare Cloak]
*BANG!!*
Activating his next tail moments before Mereoleona's fist could cave his face in. He used the enhanced speed and defence brought about by his cloak to blitz passed her and put some distance between the two.
He didn't know how she did it, but within the short amount of time she was in that lava pool, both her speed and power had skyrocketed tremendously.
But from the way she was fighting it was clear to see that her consciousness had long since vanished and that she was relying on pure instinct alone.
But
"Heh."
The objective didn't change.
*BOOM!!*
Charging at her with his newly enhanced speed, Mereoleona braced herself for impact but was caught off guard when all of his tails suddenly disappeared only for him to sprout three more and use [Fox Trot] to appear at her side and deliver a devestating kick to her ribs.
*BOOM!!*
Sending her flying back through the volcano that she had sent him through previously. He follwed up by stomping down on the ground and launching himself high into the air.
"C'MON!!!" He yelled suddenly sprouting out three more tails and racing down towards her covered in whitish blue flames.
Watching him fall towards her with the moon hanging at his back, Mereoleona answered his declaration by releasing a ferocious roar.
Suddenly feeling the mana in his immediate area vibrate slightly, Grim's eyes went wide.
'This is...'
[Mana Zone]
Activating her mana zone, sparks of light moments away from transforming into god knows how many [Calidus Brachim's] lit up all around him.
[Mana Zone: Omnidirectional Calidus Brachim]
*Grins!!*
[7th Tail - Red Sun]
*BANG!!* *BANG!!* *BANG!!* *BANG!!* *BANG!!* *BANG!!* *BANG!!* *BANG!!* *BANG!!* *BANG!!* *BANG!!* *BANG!!* *BANG!!* *BANG!!* *BANG!!*
Hit with a barrage of countless [Calidus Brachim] beams from all directions, Grim stood in the centre of it all with a small red sun hanging above his head.
Seeing him somehow unscathed despite being hit by a range of near undodgeable attacks, Mereoleona's instinctual mind stopped working for a second as she couldn't comprehend what was happening. It should be impossible. Taking a closer look at it, she could see the beams of fire magic curving around his body as if purposefully evading him and smashing into each other.
[Red Sun: Compressing a large amount fire magic into spherical form,
Grim creates a miniture sun and takes full control the area orbiting
him. Rendering all ranged attacks useless.]
'She actually pushed me to seven tails... She Really Is Something Else!'
Grinning like an idiot, he had to purposefully stop himself form using the [8th Tail: Fire Thief] spell lest he completey siphon off all her flames and end the fight here and now.
---
As the two continued their battle, the intense amount of heat coming from their bodies resulted in the clothes they were wearing to burn up in the scuffle leaving the two stark naked.
"Calidus Brachim!!" Mereoleona yelled having regained her consciousness hours ago.
"-Blaze Born."
*BOOM!!*
Despite their current lack of attire, the fight continued further on until the two of them found each other in a rather compromising position.
"Eh?"
Somehow managing to gain the upper hand and pin the lioness down, the two realized that Grim's member was mere centimetres away from Mereoleona's entrance.
"..."
"..."
In that moment, the only sound that could be heard was the eruption of the lava pillars which became much more sexual the longer it went on. After about a minute of deafening silence, Grim made a move trying to escape backwards but unintentionally caused his lower sword to rub up against her untouched nether region causing her to make a noise that he never though was possible.
'D-Did she just moan?'
Taking a closer look at the lionesses face, he realized that it had become a bright shade of red and that her breathing had become hurried. Moving his sights down from her face and to her abdomen, he saw that while she hadn't much muscle on that area, the amount of body fat that he expected to be there was practically non-existent. Moving on from her abdomen and onto her bushy area, it was exactly as he had imagined, WILD!!
Pushing him off of her and sending him flying into the distance until he landed flat on his back. The look in her eyes suddenly changed as she jumped through the air, crossing the vast distance between the two and somehow managing to perfectly land on his raised sword in the smoothest transition known to mankind while also causing a sharp spike of pain to shoot through Grim's pelvis.