Headed by a Snake

⟬ Elsewhere... not in the Plane of Fire, nor in the Plane of Dirt... ⟭ 

The doors to the Core Room burst open. 

It was an Elven door, so it didn\'t have hinges... but if it did, those would have been busted, too! 

The Elf-Captain bounced off the uneven floor, tumbling and rolling and getting all sorts of f*cked up. He left behind a sick trail of blood, as well as bits of his green skin. 

He was still alive. 

His mutant physique and the triple-thick wood mana in the air made him hard to kill. 

But if Kimura Taree knew exactly how to fix that.

--she just had to kill harder. 

The tough sonuvab*tch struggled to the kneeling. He lifted up his broken sword as if it could save him. 

Ree crossed the distance in a mana-empowered leap. 

Her kick struck the side of his neck. 

His sword didn\'t do shite. A shattered blackstone edge wasn\'t enough to pierce Ree\'s skin. 

She dropped her body, smashing her fist into the green elf\'s chest. Cracks spread out in the wooden flooring from where her knee hit the ground. 

It was hard to keep her strength in check, knowing just how close she was to getting revenge. 

"And then," Ree lifted her head, whipping her long ponytail to the side, "there was one."

Snatching her hand back, blood spurted out of the elf\'s chest, adding yet another stain to her robes. 

Hells yeah. 

The blood fountain made her look badass as f*ck. 

The boss room looked it was a hollowed-out underside of a tree-- a bunch of weirdly symmetrical roots sticking out of the ceiling. Those roots crawled down at the edges, lining and broadening into parts of the walls. 

The walls were too thick to punch through, even for her. 

If any reinforcements arrived, they\'d have to take one of three entrances. She had to pay careful attention to those... 

The Flamebriar Monarch sat on his throne at the chamber\'s center. Red worms slithered in the empty sockets of the ram skull he wore as a helmet, making it look like he was glaring down at her. 

Ree kicked the corpse of his last defender so it would land at his feet. 

That should\'ve made her challenge pretty obvious. 

Kimura Taree of Sol Invictus had arrived. 

And she was about to choke a b*tch for ruining her f*cking life. 

Ree grinned and held her hand out, middle finger extended, "What\'cha think about that, f*ck-face? Let\'s fight-- just you and me." 

The Monarch\'s voice crackled like an ugly fireplace. 

"The Voice... Does Not. Reach You?" 

"AggGGghhh~" Ree shook herself, flexing all her muscles at once to alleviate the feeling of ice crawling all over her back, "That\'s right, b*tch! Drank a vial of liquid agony before I got here-- so I might be just a TINY bit cranky!"

Right as she finished, Ree immediately lowered her body, ready to attack. However, the Monarch stood up and threw his hand forward. 

Fearing the worst, Taree threw herself to the side. As she rolled on the ground, she tossed out a trio of iron darts to show how happy she was. 

The walls all around her started to rumble and groan. When she checked her surroundings, the chamber\'s exits were all sealed by thorn-covered roots. 

Did that mean... the Monarch agreed to a one-on-one duel? Could the bastard that killed Tamaki and Vanya know the meaning of honor? 

Ree turned back to the Monarch, but the throne was empty. The iron spikes capable of turning any fae creature into a withered husk stuck harmlessly in the briarthorn vines. 

"⌈Folium Cyclone⌋"

Ree felt the magic thrumming in the air before she saw its effects. 

Kicking off from her position, she managed to barely avoid a green tornado of wind mana. 

Hah. She wasn\'t the smartest Hero in the Realm, but she\'d have to be as dumb as rocks to get hit by a nature Spell! 

Spinning about in mid-air, she bounced off one of the walls and headed straight for the Monarch. 

All the arrangements were made to introduce his face to her FIST!! 

"⌈Iron Tiger Assault⌋!!!"

"Useless."

Ree\'s mana-empowered punch connected with the Monarch\'s ⌈Mana Ward⌋. 

It was her strongest attack, sending a web of cracks all along the defensive Spell\'s surface. 

--but it was also the kind of attack she could only execute once at her full strength.

She growled through her teeth. 

Boss would have definitely scolded her for being impatient-- for not breaking the enemy\'s defense before committing like she did. 

Shite. Some people could win with strength alone... but she had a long way to go before reaching that level. 

"⌈Razor Shield⌋"

Ten thousand spinning leaves enveloped the Monarch\'s form. 

Ree was a half-step too slow in evading. Her left leg and arm suffered a hundred tiny sharp cuts before she sprang away. 

Magic... 

Kimura Taree had a special hatred for Caster Classes. 

Even Vanya... 

Pale liked her a lot-- but even still, Ree was never fully comfortable around her. 

"⌈Choking Grasp⌋"

The Monarch cast another Spell. Dozens of briarthorn vines surged toward her, swimming through the wooden floor like hungry river carp. When they got close, they lashed out at her, threatening to wrap her up and stick her with their dagger-long thorns. 

Ree kept her distance, jumping, dodging, slapping the vines away or cutting them down with knife-hand swipes. 

Muto Hisato was a Caster. 

Because of his dark magic, her best friend Yoshio would have never turned against her. 

That dickless bastard... 

He was old news. 

Boss Tycon ruined him, breaking his limbs and taking away his ability to cultivate. 

Even Yoshio was dead. 

Boss killed him...

Boss killed him, but Ree still saw him in her nightmares... blaming her for being weak. 

--for being a disgrace to the Ivory Judge Sect. 

--for being a talentless piece of trash, unworthy of the Kimura name. 

She worked so hard, all throughout her life, because she had no talent. 

She couldn\'t be a Shugenja like the daughters of the other high families-- or like Mister Wroe. 

She was shite with a bow... unlike her mother-- unlike Tamaki. 

Ree was her father\'s daughter... and he wasn\'t even that strong-- not like Tycon or Dragan. 

Yet all she had was her strength...

--and her will. 

And her WILL WAS ROCK AND STONE!! 

Ree slipped through a gap in the ⌈Choking Grasp⌋ vines. She got close enough to see tiny cracks in the Flamebriar Monarch\'s skull mask. 

"⌈Nonsexistent Lizard TAIL!!!⌋"

Her domineering kick slammed against the Monarch\'s ⌈Mana Ward⌋. 

It held-- barely. 

But that brief moment was long enough for the vines to catch up to her. They wrapped around her shins and forearms. They tried to pull her down. 

If it was anyone else, they\'d have been finished. 

The black thorns were dangerous, but they couldn\'t pierce the Ivory Judge Sect\'s ⌈Stone Body Art⌋. 

Seven hells... Even though she didn\'t have the talent to learn her Sect\'s signature Skills, literal years of training still had its advantages. 

The ram-skulled bastard didn\'t say anything-- but that only filled Ree with confidence. 

Surprised? Haha. Good. 

"Get f*cked," she grinned. "⌈Consectuve Stone Punches!⌋"

She barely felt the vines holding her back as her fists shattered the Monarch\'s ⌈Mana Ward⌋. 

She couldn\'t feel her hands. Her whole body was wracked by pain. 

Her head felt airy and light. Ah-- she was bleeding all over. Not great. 

But she\'d be satisfied if she could get ONE. Solid. Hit. with a ⌈Dragon Tail⌋ kick. 

Then, the vines suddenly jerked her away. 

They released her after the sudden momentum shift, sending her rolling across the room. 

Tucking her body in, she rolled to her feet... only to realize she was right back where she started. 

She was at the foot of the Monarch\'s throne... next to a corpse...

--and... a sword? 

But... where did it come from? 

Was she really that stupid? To have missed a sword when she entered? 

And why was there a steel sword in a place filled with spirit elves? Anything with iron in it was poison to anything from the Faewyld. 

And... it wasn\'t a Kingdom sword. 

Its shape and hilt-- it was a jian, a sword produced by the Hidden Sects. 

Instinct and familiarity made her reach forward to grab it, but she stopped herself. 

Was it a trap?

She stood up warily, ignoring the pain present in every extending and contracting muscle. 

The Flamebriar Monarch... a familiar sword had appeared in his right hand-- another jian... and from where she stood, it looked identical to the first. 

The worms on his body began to recede, revealing dark studded armor under his cloak. Though his face stayed hidden underneath the ram skull, the Monarch\'s sword arm became distinctly human. 

"I\'ve been waiting... for someone like you."

Even the Monarch\'s voice became familiar to her. 

Ree wanted to think back... on where she\'d heard it before-- but it was hard to think clearly about anything other than killing him.

Pain was a b*tch. 

So maybe the Flamebriar Monarch was human underneath that mask. 

Maybe there were some sort of weird, f*cked up circumstances that made him that way. 

That was a good sign.

--but not because someone with a tiny sliver of humanity could be saved. 

It was a fatal flaw that Ree could exploit for MURDER!