TOBMW 41) Does It Hurt? (Unedited)

Dio, for the second time in his life, felt like he was about to meet his end. The first time was when they faced off against the tenth floor boss. Now he was looking at a small girl who was more than half his age as if she was the Goddess of Death herself. “There has to be a way!” 

He knew that if he did not kill Myu today that he would be the one to die. He took out his sword and waved his hand, sending more earth spikes toward Myu as she charged forward. He wondered what would happen if he sliced off her head. 

Myu’s lips were curled up into a bright smile seeing Dio charging forward. She wondered just how she should play with him. As the earth spikes came towards her, her entire body suddenly turned into flames as she dashed forward at an amazing speed. 

Dio, on the other hand, was used to the monsters on the higher floors, so such speed was not something unheard of, and in fact, he had fought against monsters with such speed. But he also felt that if he attacked while she was in this flame form that he would not even be able to hurt her. He was watching closely for any means of attacking her. He felt that had to be some way of actually killing her or at least doing some harm to her. Earlier, he remembered that she did bleed. Her body still had blood in it. But he did not understand how she was able to bleed so much and still stay alive.

“Where are you looking?” A young girl’s voice came from behind Dio, followed by a playful giggle. A chill ran down his spine as he slowly turned his head to see Myu staring up at him with a teasing smile. Then, a sharp burning pain was felt in his waist. He looked down to see a small hand sticking into his stomach. There was no blood. The area where her hand seemed to have been burnt, keeping it from bleeding. 

“You!” Dio quickly jumped back and went to slice his sword out, only to hear Myu giggle and ask: “Does it hurt?” As his sword sliced into her head. But what surprised him, even more was that even though the sword sliced into her head, he felt no resistance. The girl’s figure suddenly distorted into a flame, and before he could react, he felt another sharp burning pain in his back and out through his chest. He looked at the sword that was covered in flames passing through him and the chain that it was attached to, and knew things were not good! 

“Dio! Dio! DIO! Why are you not reacting!? Is this how a climber who made it to the tenth floor should act? Where are your instincts!? Where are your abilities to fight the monsters on the tenth floor!?” Myu was quite disappointed. She thought she could test herself against Dio since he was someone who had fought on the tenth floor like Aeko and Kori, but she was very disappointed. The way he reacted, the way he attacked, none of it made any sense. It was as if he was a beginner with more power than those who first started.

“You!” Dio did not know how to reply. He could only watch in horror as Myu retracted the chain sword covered in flames. The sword jerked back and ripped back through Dio’s body, leaving a large gaping hole. If it was not for his blessing, he would have long died. He realized that Myu was aiming for spots with no vital organs, but she was hitting spots that made it hard for him to even speak. The pain he felt was overpowering at this time. He gritted his teeth and waved his hand once more before slamming it on the ground. “Dojin’s Grasp!”

Myu pursed her lips when she saw Dio go to cast another spell. She could tell this was probably one of his trump cards. The ground under her began to shake violently before a large hand reached up from the ground and wrapped around her small body. Myu was caught off guard and ended up in the stone hands palm as it gripped onto her trying to squeeze her to death. 

“Myu!” Kori, who was watching from the side, yelled out in horror. She knew this attack well. It was the same attack Dio used to help them escape the boss room on the tenth floor. It was solid enough to block two attacks from the tenth floor boss.  If Myu were to be crushed by such a thing….

“Relax.” Yuu snorted. There was no way her blessing would be so easily defeated!

“How can I relax!?” Kori yelled and glared at Yuu. She did not know who this girl was, but she was acting as if she did not care if Myu was killed or not! “Dio’s attack just now is not simple!”

“Just watch….” Yuu pursed her lips. She shrank back a little. She had to admit, in her current form, Kori scared her.

Aeko did not know where this girl came from, but she could not sense much power from her, yet at the same time, she had a strange aura around her. She wondered just who this little girl really was. She had introduced herself as Myu’s partner, but Aeko knew Myu well and knew that the little girl did not have any friends like her before entering the tower, which meant they met in the tower, but she also did not hear of any other girls Myu’s age awakening the tower. She could only hope that with this girl’s confident gaze when she spoke of Myu being okay that things would somehow work out.