<h4>Chapter 354: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger</h4>
Kat looked over at the pir with everyone standing on it with a sheepish smile and asked. "Um, what just happened? Is he ok?"
"For a certain definition" said one of Percy''s brothers. Kat couldn''t see their tabards from this angle to figure out which one it was.
"Um… borate please?" asked Kat.
"Can you bring him up first?" asked the other brother. "Just so Uncle can heal him an ensure no permanent damage"
*Oh right. That''s actually a great idea I really should have done that first thing.* Walking over to Percy, Kat grabbed him by the armour and then jumped back to the pedestal using her wings a little to ensure she had the extra height alongside a softnding. As soon as Percy was ced down Uncle wrapped him up in a doubledyer of beard hair.
"Ok, now that he''s getting healed up" said the second speaker, now revealed to be Sekron. "He should be fine, Uncle''s healing is spectacr and if it was anything Uncle couldn''t take care of, he would have been teleported to the hospital, D.E.M.O.N.S is smart like that. His pride however… well that might never recover.
"See, we all have our own way to reduce iing damage substantially, with Percy having the best ability for it. I won''t say how it works exactly, but it does mean that he never really trained to dodge… or fight. He''s supposed to be an immovable object but… well you just punched him into a wall.
"That''s the sort of thing that really breaks a man''s confidence, and it didn''t even look like it was that hard for you. Hopefully he won''t remember that part though" Sekron finished speaking and looked over at the cocoon of his brother with a wry smile.
*Well, it wasn''t that hard really. I didn''t even use my legs with that punch. Probably all the energy I could pack into my arms, but yeah my body really wasn''t in that punch still though…* "Why would that break him so much? I''m Rank 2, isn''t it kinda expected that I''d be able to win the fight?" asked Kat
Sekron shrugged. "Well, in matters of pride it isn''t necessary to set reasonable expectations."
Kat nodded, not fully understanding. *Perhaps it''s close to me being weird about my tail…? Then again that is just a demon thing from what I''ve been told. Is it possible that pride as a whole is something they can''t take? Eh seems a bit extreme.* "Sure… I guess I''ll keep in mind"
"So, I am required to ask but, who won that fight" said Uncle.
"Kat" responded everyone else.
"Yeah, that''s pretty much how it is. Percy only had one tactic and Kat thoroughly outssed him, leading to his defeat. This is actually a rather textbook example of what I''m trying to teach you six today with Kat and Kamiko''s help" said Uncle.
"I''m not as strong as Kat is though" said Kamiko
Uncle shrugged. "I''m not too sure about that. It isn''t as though Kat used her abilities, just some basic strengthening. I''ll admit, she can probably put more force behind it than you but I doubt the margin is significant in a case like this"
Percy''s muffled growling could be heard from his cocoon but was swiftly ignored. "If you say so Uncle. Personally, I think Kat is much more impressive than I am. I certainly don''t think I could have defeated Seralina… however that actually does leave me wondering why she is so strong. I''ve never really fought across Rank barriers with too much seriousness if you don''t count my parents training us… and I mean I don''t, they could have sneezed and won those fights."
"Seralina do you want to answer that, have me answer it or not have it discussed?" asked Uncle.
"Hmmm" hummed Seralina. "I''d like to try if you don''t mind, and then you can jump in if I get something wrong correct?"
Uncle nodded in eptance and Seralina started speaking. "So, the biggest thing is my transformation to full snake. That actually isn''t standard at all for a Lamia. Many of us don''t get it till muchter on, and I know some people who retire before they do.
"Our full snake form isn''t just a transformation to remove the Subus looking half, it also makes the entirety of my body a bit stronger, a bit faster and increases my eyesight by quite a lot because well… my eyes are like four or five times the size. That''s the big thing is the true upgrades.
"The second big thing is that I simply have so much additional masspared to everyone else." Seralina blushed a bit at the confession, as if it wasn''t immediately obvious with her muchrger form. "So, I can actually use more of my strength. Um… just as an example Kat might have… say fifty? Sixty? Kilograms of muscle in her body.
"She can use them much better than I can, as well as pumping more energy through them because of Rank but… at the end of the day I have at least twice as much muscle, perhaps even three times when in my full snake form as Lamia have a hard time getting fat unless they are Gluttony demons.
"We just get longer with more muscle, up to a point of course. The final thing that helps, is that I can use most of my muscles at a time to help me with my tasks. Whereas Kat has to use her legs for movement, I can use the whole length of my body. That pretty much covers it all."
Uncle nodded. "A few extra things to consider as well, that Seralina might be embarrassed to admit, but she is one of our best trained fighters, having been trying to learn how best to use her body before she unlocked her me. She''s been doing this basically as long as she possibly could and the effort she''s put in really shows. While Percy, Sekron and Krekron have also been doing some training, it really is nothingpared to Seralina."
"What about Meron?" asked Kamiko "It''s rather hard to guess how much training he has had"
Uncle nodded. "Yeah, it''s actually really hard for us to train the same way you all do. Moving our beards around isn''t exactly a muscle, and Meron is actually the weakest here, no offence"
"None taken" said Meron with a shrug. "I know I''m mostly here to watch the other fights and try to learn to control myself in intense situations."
Uncle nodded, but Krekron stepped in. "Actually, would it be possible for the next match to cover everyone who hasn''t fought yet?"
Uncle frowned and stroked his beard with his beard. "Well, I suppose it is technically possible, it''s not like we are working on strict rules here… but why?"
Krekron shrugged. "I''d like to try and work with my brother and Meron to beat Kat. I doubt we''d get much more than Percy out of a one on one duel"
"Well, if Kat epts, I''m going to say it won''t be to first blood. There''s no point in either you or Sekron managing a light cut on her while she''s distracted with three enemies, especially when she doesn''t need to normally watch for something like that so I imagine it would be a very different style ofbat. If Kat is willing to ept of course. Do you have all your energy back?" asked Uncle.
"I have full energy. So that part is no problem" said Kat
*But do I want to fight them. Well, it could be interesting, but… I don''t know how hard that would be. I do get to use my regen this time, and I can probably manage but… do I really want to fight three people?*
*What about Kamiko? Will she feel left out by missing a bunch of fights?* Kat nced at the girl in question, who looked back with a grin and a tilted head as if to say, ''what''s wrong?''. *Ok so Kamiko is fine with this… wait why am I hesitating?*
*What''s the downside to fighting these guys?* Kat rolled the idea in her mind for a while and realised… she really couldn''t think of a reason not to. *Huh… I kinda expected some words of wisdom to help me realise this was a bad idea.*
*But I''m just… well I''m faster, stronger, and just better in general than they all are, and I can actually use one of my best abilities which is my regen. I think this could actually be a really interesting fight.*
"Well, as long as Kamiko doesn''t mind, I''m ok with it" said Kat
"Yeah go for it Kat!" said Kamiko cheerily. "I believe in you, and I''m perfectly happy to avoid more fighting. I mean, if you don''t really want to I can fight some more but… well what I mean to say is I can take it or leave it really? I mean… just do what you want"