Reno was completely upside down. But before fully landing, he delivered a violent kick to Rita, who sensed the danger and had already raised her guard.
"You're right. Never lower your guard. I'll remember that."
"No, wait."
Unfortunately, once a warrior had been set loose, there was no stopping him. Reno flared up instantly and launched himself at Rita, club in hand.
The momentum and weight of a little ogre could only cause damage. But Rita could see this boy's weakness.
"Your center of gravity…"
Despite the fact that she didn't want to fight, she still ended up sending him flying.
Reno found himself upside down again, this time thrown several meters away, rolling like a ball.
"With that kind of speed, if I manage to deflect you, you're finished."
Rita looked toward where she had thrown Reno. In the dust and debris, she was surprised to see that the boy was smiling even more after that blow.
"You try to hide it, but that blood really does flow through your veins. I'm going to draw out that ego."
"Huh?"
Gone. Could a man really disappear? With all the dust in front of her eyes, maybe. But it wasn't because of the dust. Reno was just incredibly fast.
In a flash, Rita took a massive blow from the club to the head. He hit her like a baseball.
However, at close range, Rita's reaction speed was pushed to the extreme as well. She blocked the club at the last moment and immediately leapt back.
Now that she was more aware of Reno's strength, she could adjust her own to properly deflect each of his strikes.
"I don't want to fight."
But Reno closed the distance before she even had both feet on the ground.
"If you say so."
She dodged the club swing. Then a second. Then another. Rita deflected and countered the club strikes like a professional. It wasn't raw strength. It was technique and mastery. Nothing escaped her focus.
Reno didn't seem bothered at all. On the contrary, his smile grew wider and wider as Rita blocked all his strikes. He was in heaven.
"Yesterday, when you appeared in front of me, you wore a completely different face. The face of a warrior trained to kill."
Rita grabbed one of her daggers and drove it into Reno's club to stop it.
"I don't want to become like you."
Reno was pushed back while Rita had to absorb the impact. However, the atmosphere grew heavy. Rita felt something strange. Reno's smile was still there, but she could hardly see anything else. His smile. A smile of extreme excitement and, in some way… demonic.
Rita quickly understood why this boy was called the little ogre. Muscles carved like rock, superhuman strength, and a club the size of a man.
"A club?"
Rita rubbed her eyes. In Reno's terrifying appearance, she noticed that the weapon in his hand was no longer a club, but a heavy sword he wielded with one hand.
"When did…?"
"Rita, I'm going to bring out that ego."
Reno's body vanished again, but this time Rita knew where he was. It wasn't her senses—it was the instinct of prey feeling fear toward its predator.
"Gotcha."
Rita didn't turn around; she simply dodged, but to her great surprise, Reno wasn't behind her. She had moved on reflex.
"That's sometimes a big flaw with assassins. Their hyper-reaction."
She had noticed it too. From the very start of the fight, Rita had been moving instinctively. She reacted to Reno's presence at the slightest movement. She couldn't detach from the thought that if this monster touched her, she could very well die. Her body acted on reflex, and all her training had poured into this fight. But now, Reno had taken advantage of that fear, making her react instinctively even though he hadn't moved.
Reno delivered a vertical strike so powerful that Rita thought she would be cut in half just by blocking it. She was sent flying several meters, unable to control her trajectory.
Reno straightened up, steam pouring from his mouth like a raging bison.
"Come on, Rita. You're an Obu. Show me."
Rita tried to get up, but buried thoughts resurfaced. She saw herself again on her village's training ground, facing an adult warrior until she collapsed. Her mother, with her monotone and harsh voice, kept repeating endlessly:
"Again. Again. Again."
Rita tried again and again.
"Again. Again."
Her injuries worsened and her exhaustion grew.
"Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again."
She didn't want to obey her mother. She didn't want to keep suffering.
*
"Rita? Are you asleep?"
Reno slammed the ground with a vertical strike so powerful that Rita felt the vibrations despite her dodge.
"You really shouldn't be sleeping."
However, Rita couldn't focus. Her mother's voice echoed in her head.
"Again! Again!!"
Reno charged at full speed. This time, Rita took a stance, but she realized it was impossible to stop that cannonball.
"Well then."
Reno sent her flying a second time. She was launched ten meters into the air. Even the treetops were below her now. Rita wanted to stop it, but she saw a black dot appear and rapidly grow in her field of vision. That black dot was clearly dangerous.
Reno had jumped, sword in hand.
"I am the true Obu!"
Rita defended herself as best she could. The strike was imminent.
"AGAIN!!"
But suddenly, she dodged Reno's strike in midair.
Her body, shaped by decades of training, reacted on its own. Reno was taken aback. And when he tried to look at her, he took her foot to the face once more. His landing was violent, but he landed on his feet and waited for Rita to come down.
Rita, still in the air, thought.
She knew that if she landed on that smiling monster, she would die. But she didn't have all the time in the world to think while airborne. Her destiny, her ancestor, her training, her village, her life… her mother…
…let it all burn in hell.
A flame ignited in her mind. A flame that had been extinguished for far too long. She was tired of it all. So everything she had hated. All those years of suffering. Her entire life—and above all, her mother.
"Let them all go to hell."
Rita was falling. Straight toward Reno, who could only wait.
However, he noticed that the atmosphere had changed once again.
Rita was accelerating.
"You too, go to hell!"
Reno had to revise his attack and took a defensive stance. Rita landed on the massive blade at full speed like a falcon. The impact was so violent that Reno struggled to absorb it. Still, this was the ogre they were talking about. He swung his sword violently to knock her away.
But Rita was already gone from the blade. She was on the ground. Her hand extended, pressed against Reno's chest.
It was already too late to dodge the next blow.
"A punch with no recoil."
Rita launched Reno several meters away, and he began coughing up blood. The punch had landed right over his heart, and despite the little ogre's massive pectorals, his heart stopped for a moment.
A nervous smile appeared on his face.
"Right on the heart."
Rita walked calmly toward him.
It was true—she could be free. And for that, no one could give her orders anymore. Her mother, her face, her people, everything she had inherited from Nozras. She had thrown it all in the trash. She had to become stronger than anyone to rule her own destiny. She was not a doll made to obey anyone's desires—neither her mother's nor that damn Reno Gazor's.
"Again…"
At least she could thank her for making her this strong.
"Go to hell, Reno."
Reno leaned against his weapon, which suddenly turned back into a club.
"So that's it. The ego Nozras left behind in his daughter."
Rita shot back,
"That's not his ego. It's mine. And if becoming stronger than him is enough to buy my freedom, then I'll do it."
Reno smiled.
"You've understood everything, my dear."
Then Reno smiled again. But this time, it was different. The ogre's smile.
"But I want to be free too."
And so, the two youths threw themselves into one of the greatest battles of their lives.
*
This time, it was Reno who woke up lying on the ground. He had lost, something that had never happened… ever. He had never lost. Reno was climbing the ranks of legends and becoming one just by protecting his village. The little ogre had become a legend whose name made the youth tremble. A symbol of renewal in the new generation. But he had run into Rita, and even though he had defeated her once, he knew how strong she was. So he had wanted to awaken the sleeping warrior within her. The result? He was the one who got knocked out.
"I see. The world is small, after all."
However, when he tried to get up, he saw Rita also knocked out on the ground. He had just woken up first. Who had won or lost? He didn't know anymore, but he strongly suspected he had lost this fight that day.
*
Later, they both found themselves around a cloth spread with tons of food, resting.
"I won."
"No."
"I won."
"No."
"I won."
"Are you deaf or what? I won."
"Oh really? Well, I think you have selective memory."
"And I think you have the soul of a sore loser."
"Could you please just eat without arguing?"
In the end, both absolutely wanted to know. If one had to admit defeat, the other had to accept it first.