{"Fight?"} – written Thauma.

{"You want us two to fight? Why?"}

"Yeah! Why!" – asked confused Porai.

"I MEAN! The main reason why you kidnapped me was to make sure I wouldn’t fight your child over there!"

"You even said yourself that he wouldn’t stand a chance against me!"

"Yes. I did. And I still think that the chances of the current Thauma beating you are low." – said Ariava.

"But then again... After looking around, I think it is better if I see Thauma in action and see how much he had grown."

"Not only that, you also want to see him in combat, don’t you?"

(Well... You say that...) – thought Porai.

(Specifically, I want to see several things in action.)

(The race of this golem.)

(A ability to use all of the golem body parts at full power as well as their full understanding.)

(Not being restricted one bit by the need of the code.)

(How would the golem with "mind" fight?)

(Not only that.... Forget Skills.)

(I want to see them in action and close up.)

(And she definitely knows that.... Does she wants to "threat" me?)

( But still, what the fuck woman? At least wait several days if not week before making that kind of demand after all that just happened.)

(Are you already getting bored.... No... There is no way she is bored... She is jut planning something... And I’m just a doll in her hands that can’t really refuse.)

(Either way... What does the golem think?) – thought Porai who turned towards Thauma, who was not moving for some time now.

(Honestly.... I.... Hm...) – Thauma was bit lost in its thoughts.

(I mean, I don’t want to fight, if I don’t need to.)

(From what I’m understanding, that vampire is a "ally".)

(But at the same time, I don’t really want be hostile towards Ariava.... And maybe she has a reason regarding why I should fight.)

"..."

{"I can fight. But is this really necessary?"}

"It is." – replied Ariava.

"Obviously I will have Porai here have some handicaps and restrictions on her, so she wouldn’t make the fight too unfair."

"You may lose, you may not."

"Either way, can you do it?"

"..."

{"Fine."}

{"I will fight."}

{"However, my new combat body isn’t ready yet. I’m currently researching a brand new one that I’m trying to make."}

{"My current combat body is ready, but it will definitely be weaker compare to the one I’m developing."}

"Hm... How long it will take you to finish that brand new body of yours?" – asked Ariava.

{"Not very quickly. I’m experimenting with new materials, combinations, tools, creations as well as other research."}

{"I could solei focus on the research regarding my new body, but it will still take some time."}

"..."

"Nah." – said Ariava.

"Just use the current combat body you are using." – said Ariava.

"I want to see the ’current’ you in the action."

{"Understood."}

{"Then I will go and change my body to the combat type."]

[Sometime later.]

"Okay. Do you know the rules?" – asked Ariava as Porai stood in the middle of the area, only wearing her bikini armor as well as her boots.

"No metal magic nor blood magic." – replied Porai.

"Only earth, ice and water magic."

"..."

"Still... Are you sure about this?" – asked Porai.

"I mean, you do realize that even without my metal and blood magic, I’m still quiet deadly, right?"

"Ice, water and earth... I can kill with those elements. You know what? Right?"

"I know you nerfed me and everything... But still. Will he be really able to even put up a fight?"

"I get that he can be revived by the dungeon core.... But are you.... Well... You know."

"You kind of just said that you ’love’ him, and in the next moment you are telling him to just fight?"

"Like, woman? The fuck."

"This is exactly because I love Thauma, that I want to see how much he had grown."

"Compare to the last time, his mental state of being had completely changed."

"Before it was.... Well, slow, undeveloped and what not."

"But now?"

"He changed."

"..."

"...."

"By the way, I have a quick question before Thauma gets here." – said Porai.

"Is Thauma ’he’?"

"Like, he has male gender?"

"Hm? Oh, no. He doesn’t have a gender."

"If you like, you can refer to him as a girl if you want."

"I just didn’t really wanted to refer to him as IT, if you get what I mean."

"...Hm... Same." – said Porai.

"But I don’t know what exactly call him myself... I mean, he isn’t really boyish or girlish."

"He is very natural."

"Well, you can think about it later." – said Ariva.

"Since by the looks of things, Thauma finished up changing his get up." – said Ariava as Thauma finally arrived at the training grounds.

However, it wasn’t a multiple legged and multiple armed golem, a work type golem body.

No.

It was Thauma’s combat body.

A massive humanoid golem that stood around 3 to 3.5 meters tall.

A golem equipped with deadly and long limbs, which also included 6 separated arms, which had every single one of them were equipped with deadly set of claws. This also included the golems two legs, which were equipped with deadly set of claws, including a hooked like claws that were sticking out from the sides of the golem’s feet, making golem’s legs look like a mix of human and bird feet combined into one.

The head of the golem looked like some sort of massive helmet... But beneath it, there were several "eyes" that could be seen between a gabs. Specifically speaking, seven eyes. Three in the pairs and one single eye.

"..."

(Fully metallic body, from what I’m seeing right now.) – thought Porai as she was analyzing the golem.

(Iron?)

(No.)

(Probably steel.)

"..."

(And it isn’t on it either.) – thought Porai as she noticed several blacked spots on the golem’s body.

(Black iron.)

(There are only few spots covered in it, like chest or limbs.... Small number, but placed in the good spots.)

(Probably to boost defenses.)

(As for weapons?)

(Those claws.)

(They are long and thick... They look like they could easily tear apart a human.)

(...The whole body... It is... Extremely well made.) – thought Porai as from just looking at the golem could easily tell that the golem wasn’t just chunks of metal put together, but instead a detailed and extremely solid build.

(His body... Yeah, even without getting close I can clearly tell that it is good.)

(But this isn’t the main problem here.) – thought Porai as she could senses massive amount of mana emanating from the golem.

(This is nothing like before when he was in that "worker" body of his.)

(The mana that I’m sensing from his alarming.)

(Does different bodies allow him to store and possess far more mana?)

"Okay you two, may I speak?" – asked Ariaa as the two combatants got onto the battlefield.

"Rules are simple."

"Fight to the death."

"Fight with the intent to kill."

"Simple, isn’t it?"

"..."

"Wait, you are fucking telling us to straight up murder each other!?" – shouted confused Porai.

"Don’t worry. I will intervene if I deem the match to be over." – said Ariava.

"So, you won’t die."

"And that means you can try and murder each other."

"By the way, even if your whole bodies are messed up, I can heal you up... Well, I can Porai."

"But you can maybe help out Thauma if his body end up being destroyed."

"And I mean the whole murdering each other."

"Porai. Hold back, but at the same time don’t show mercy."

"And same goes for you Thauma. Do not show any form of mercy. Fight like this is a real combat and aim to murder Porai at all cost."

"Don’t worry, as said before, I will try and prevent deaths no matter way."

"Anyway, I will be here on the standby."

"Thauma."

"As mentioned before, Porai won’t be using her full power, but even so, she still maybe dangerous foe."

"So... With that said."

"Both sides ready?"

"Yeah." – said Porai while Thauma nodded with its head, giving its own ready signal as the two combatants got ready to fight.

"..."

"Then get ready." – said Ariava as she started walking away, before then reaching the outer edge of the battlefield.

"I will begin the countdown."

"10"

"9"

"7"

"6"

"5"

"4"

"3"

"2"

"1"

"Start."

As soon as Ariva gave signal, Porai instantly assumed defensive position, reading herself to unleash defensive type magic, as she awaiting Thauma making his first move.

But, Thauma also went on the defense, as it didn’t made the first move.

"..."

(He is wary of me.) – thought Porai.

(But I want to see it.)

(Make your first move.)

"..."

"..."

(Is she waiting for the counter?) – thought Thauma who realized that Porai was scheming something from the get go.

"..."

Thauma squadded in place and put two of its hands on the ground, alarming the vampire.

And in the very next moment, the ground near her came to life.

[Earth Magic: Earthly Forged Blade]

The blades of earth sprouted from left and right side, aiming to do the pincer attack at the vampire.

But she was ready as she counter attacked with [Ice Magic: Cube Shield], forming a shield of thick ice that blocked off both blades.

(HE CAN REALLY USE MAGIC?!) – thought surprised yet extremely excited Porai as she noticed the ground behind her acting up, causing her to quickly leap away and dodge the incoming attack.

As Porai flew through the air, she quickly fired off [Ice Magic: Icicle Needles], unleashing several small blades of ice, which the golem easily blocked off with its arms, easily tanking the hits and shattering the icy.

(So weak attacks like these won’t even hurt you if they don’t have enough power?) – thought Porai as she was analyzing the golem.

After blocking the attack, Thauma let go of the ground before then rushing straight towards the mage.

(Oh? He is surprising fast?) – thought Porai as Phantasia was moving way faster than she had expected.

[Ice Magic: Ice Path]

Porai unleashed a freezing gust, which completely frozen solid the ground between her and the golem.

"!" – before the golem realized, the ground beneath it was already frozen and slippery, making the golem almost slip, but not completely as Thauma quickly regained its balance, by the cost of stopping in place.

[Earth Magic: Earth Crush]

And in the next moment, Porai unlashed two slaps from the ground, which instantly came from both directions, aiming to sandwich Thauma between them.

But the golem in response swung around its arms, smashing the two attacks, destroying the vampire attack, before then raising up one of its foot down and smashing it against the ground with noticeable amount of force.

"..."

(Works.) – Phantasia began running on the surface on the ice with heavy stops, using its claws to obtain better footing while also shattering the ice beneath it to make the slippery ground ice become completely useless.

"!"

(He already figured out how to counter it?!) – thought smiling Porai as she unleashed two blade of water

Thauma responded by raising a wall of earth, blocking the two slashes which cut off chunks of the defense put up by Thauma, before in the next moment Thauma used the earth wall as ammunition, breaking it apart and sending the pieces of it flying towards

The vampire responded by unleashing [Water Magic: Water Shield], creating a barrier of water in front of the woman that blocked off the chunks of earth, while the golem ran towards vampire.

Thauma raised up its fist before then slamming in into the ground.

[Earth Magic: Earth Hand]

A massive hand sprouted from the ground and extended towards the vampire.

[Ice Magic: Ice Hand]

However, the vampire responded with her own hand construct, unleashing a massive hand of ice which clashed with each other.

(Strong!) – Thauma quickly realized that it wasn’t able to push forward its attack, forcing the golem to put its hands on the ground and fire off another double [Earth Magic: Earthly Forged] blades from the two directions, trying to do yet another pincer attack while the woman was occupied with earth made hand.

(Multicasting?!) – thought Porai, who quickly stopped casting her spell and leaped backwards, instantly leaving the area she was in and dodging the two blades that sprouted from the ground.

"..."

(Multicasting different spells... This isn’t something simple.) – thought Ariva as the two massive hands collapsed while Porai landed on the ground and instantly assumed combat position alongside Thauma, reading themselves to start fighting again.

(Casting different spells, even of the same element, isn’t by any means easy.)

(It is far easier to cast several copies of the same spell.)

(Not only that, the attack just now was quick.)

"..."

(But still, he is facing Porai.)

(Even without her main weapon, the metal magic, I can tell she is pretty deadly.)

(If Thauma will let his guard down, it wouldn’t be surprised if its entire body end up getting shattered.)

(...But then again, we still don’t know what this new Thauma can do.)

"Are you done with introduction?" – asked Ariava.

"Hm... Not yet." – replied Porai as she assumed fighting stance.

"I still want to conduct few tests, before I start fighting for real."

"No offence Thauma."

"Heh." – Ariava smiled.

"You heard her Thauma!"

"Show her what you got!"