The Crazy Women's Catfight (2)
The atmosphere grew icy cold. Audrey flashed a frosty smile at Calathea and turned the provocation right back on her.
"Hmph. What are you, a little kid? Making such a fuss over a simple hug? I kiss the manager all the time, you know. That includes plenty of hugging."
"…What does that have to do with anything? A hug is just a hug!"
"……."
Calathea's mouth clamped shut, completely at a loss for words. Audrey rubbed her face against my neck like she was showing off and continued.
"It's not one-sided! Like I said earlier, the manager also—!"
"What the hell are you even—"
"Pitiful…? Me?"
As I watched the two women's glares clash in midair like sparks flying, I felt an overwhelming urge to abandon everything and run away.
Why the hell are they fighting over me all of a sudden?
Ever since they'd unlocked kissing and hugging with their wish coupons, they'd seen each other kissing and embracing me countless times back at the dorm. So why were they suddenly comparing who did it better…?
Was this just an extension of the argument they'd had during cooperative training earlier? They were acting like actual children.
"…Manager. Praise me too."
"What kind of praise?"
"I don't know, just say something! Hurry!"
Calathea must have had some thought after hearing Audrey's words. She yanked hard on my collar, stubbornly demanding praise. But in a situation like this, there was no way any compliments would come to mind.
When I hesitated and couldn't speak right away, Calathea's brows furrowed… and then—
"……Pfft."
"Did you just laugh?"
Calathea glared at Audrey with murder in her eyes as the latter let out a small, expressionless chuckle. But Audrey didn't falter in the slightest. Instead, she tightened her arms around my waist and performed a perfect act of teabagging.
"…Manager, this isn't fun for me at all, okay? So just praise me already!"
"What am I, a praise vending machine? I get what you want, but I need some time to—"
"But you gave Madness a ton of it like a damn vending machine, didn't you?!"
The moment Calathea grabbed my collar with a face that said she was about to die from injustice and started shaking me—Audrey's snow-white hand shot out and seized Calathea's wrist once again, stopping her cold.
"…Let go, Madness."
"Then should I make you let go by force?"
Calathea stared at Audrey with a rare blank expression, then slowly turned her gaze toward me.
"…You're seriously going to fight? Two S-class hunters? Are you insane?"
"You're still going to do it, huh?"
Calathea's face remained expressionless, but one eyelid was twitching violently—she was clearly furious. Audrey simply stared back at her with an indifferent look. In the bone-chilling silence before the storm, I desperately racked my brain.
I don't know Calathea's full power, but Audrey…
Back when Audrey had been traveling to uncover the truth behind her father's death, she'd hacked into black market transaction records and learned that bandits were responsible for his murder. She then headed straight for a bandit gathering point somewhere in Seoul. With a single use of her ability, she had massacred dozens of bandits—including multiple A-class ones—on the spot.
The scene had been bizarrely beautiful: pale blue ice spreading upward from the floor, covering everything. The bandits, frozen alive into blocks of ice, had been split into two or three pieces each while still encased, then scattered across the ground with hollow thuds.
Because of the brutality of the scene and the government's concern that it might instill unnecessary fear of hunters' abilities in the public, the details had been suppressed. The news only reported that a massacre had occurred. But I had already seen the full report in the documents the Association President gave me.
If Audrey goes all out with her true intentions, this entire building is done for. And if you add an enraged Calathea on top of that…
This wasn't just dangerous. Sirens were screaming inside my head. Still, trying to forcibly stop them now would only make things worse. Their pent-up resentment would keep building until it exploded at an unpredictable moment in an even more dangerous way. It was better to let them vent it now.
Besides, I was curious to see them fight for real instead of just against training dummies.
"Fine. Go ahead and fight."
"Even if the manager says no, I— Huh? What did you say?"
"I said spar with each other. But you have to control your strength like we promised. Got it?"
Calathea looked dazed. Audrey looked like it was only natural. After giving me one last glance, the two women—who had been engaged in a murderous battle of nerves—finally stepped away from me and moved to the center of the training room.
If things get out of hand, I can step in.
Of course, if I forcibly twisted someone else's mana flow with my ability, the backlash would hit me too… so all I could do was pray they wouldn't go too far.
"…Madness. Ready?"
Calathea stood there in her revealing crop top and ridiculously short hot pants, casually resting a baseball bat on her shoulder with a cocky grin. Audrey, dressed in her usual neat suit, loosely held a black pistol. The two of them met my eyes one last time, nodded, and then—
"Here I come—!"
With a manic smile plastered across her face, Calathea kicked off the ground and charged. She sprinted toward the elegantly standing Audrey at a speed that left afterimages, then—
"And dieeeee—!!"
Despite my warning to control her strength, she swung the bat with a battle cry that suggested otherwise. But the bat, contrary to its ferocious momentum, smashed down with a loud crack on a spot quite far from where Audrey was standing. Audrey had simply risen onto her toes and easily slipped out of Calathea's range.
"Hah, look at you… pulling cheap tricks?"
Calathea yanked her bat out of the floor with a savage growl while Audrey shrugged her shoulders with perfect composure.
"Something like that? I'll ignore it easily!"
With an even wider smile, Calathea charged at Audrey again with another battle cry. But again… and again…
The bat, swung with terrifying whooshing sounds loud enough for me to hear from a distance, only smashed the innocent floor over and over, producing explosive booms like detonating charges.
As expected.
It wasn't Calathea's fault. Every time she planted her foot to rush at Audrey, a thin layer of frost formed on the spot, interfering with her movement. The fact that she could charge at that speed without slipping and still accurately close in on Audrey showed just how monstrous her athletic reflexes were.
Of course, Audrey—who was restraining her with simple localized ice formulas cast at precise moments—was equally impressive.
This spar isn't without its gains.
Calathea fought with animalistic instinct, while Audrey seemed to place heavy emphasis on efficiency. Most ice-type hunters would have flooded the area with cold air to slow their opponent down, but Audrey, mindful of both mana efficiency and collateral damage, was controlling Calathea's movements with incredible effectiveness using only small-scale, localized abilities. Even in what looked like a simple spar, that level of skill proved these two were far from ordinary hunters.
"Haha, ahaha—♡ Isn't this fun? Hmm? If you want to live, you'd better stay focused like that! The moment you slip up, it'll be like thiiis—!!"
"Tsk…"
Despite Audrey's constant interference, Calathea adapted like an animal, reducing the margin of error in her movements. Only then did Audrey's previously idle pistol begin to emit a blue glow.
"That kind of thing doesn't work on me anymore!"
Frost continuously forming on the floor. Mana bullets flying toward her torso. But Calathea, now fully in her groove, accelerated even faster than before, swatting the bullets aside as she closed the distance.
And then—
"Kuhk—?!"
"One hit for starters!"
Intentionally taking a bullet to her left shoulder, Calathea slammed her bat deep into the floor to use it as a pivot, then swung her outstretched leg sideways like a scythe, slamming it straight into Audrey's abdomen. The always-composed Audrey's pale face twisted with pain as she was sent flying backward.
"Where should I hit you next? How hard? Hmm? Just say the word and this Calathea will do anything for you♪"
"Tsk…!"
Calathea pulled her bat free and approached leisurely, even with one shoulder frozen solid. Audrey, who had always maintained an elegant demeanor, grit her teeth and raised her pistol again—but I cut in.
"Alright, that's enough. It's over."
"…What? For real? I was just getting started beating the shit out of Madness?!"
"No. The training center rental time is already up."
When I gestured around us, both Calathea and Audrey finally looked at their surroundings.
"Oh my god… You can do that much damage with just a baseball bat?"
"It's possible if you try, but doing it while moving like that…"
"Those two… they're from that prisoner unit, right?"
The floor was riddled with massive craters as if landmines had gone off. Two stunning women stood in the middle of the destruction, breathing heavily. A crowd of unexpected spectators had gathered in a circle around them.
"You've caused enough of a scene, haven't you? …Let's go."
Apparently neither of them wanted to become zoo monkeys. Both Audrey and Calathea quietly gathered their gear and trailed after me without complaint. The compensation for all this destruction… I'd just bill it to the Hunter Supervisory Department.
"So, did sparring help relieve some stress?"
"Yeah, well—hitting her once made me feel a bit better."
"…I'm not satisfied yet."
"Ahaha, that made me feel so much better♪"
"……."
With the two of them still exchanging barbs until the very end, I dragged my exhausted body back toward the dorm.
That evening.
"…Calathea?"
The bedroom door opened. Calathea, wearing nothing but a thin gown, stepped into the room with a seductive smile.