Volume 6 Chapter 53 Escape Battle vs The Twin Princesses of Thunder and Frost
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”What’s with that face? You look like a griffon that just got pelted with rocks!” she said.
Her long white hair tumbled down her back, accented by a pair of twitching cat ears.
”Well, I can’t blame you for being shocked. Who would expect such a reunion in this desolate hole? Or”—she grinned—”maybe you’re just dazzled by my beauty?”
That arrogant smirk was unforgettable: the delicate features, the haughty eyes that looked down on others, the mischievous mouth curled into a foxlike grin.
”The Great Mage Hermine’s prized disciple, first princess of the Beast Country Il Rasiella, Lady Elna, White Lightning herself! Bow, Klock Livorno—kiss Lady Elna’s foot!”
Her corset skirt twirled as she thrust out a pale leg, flawless and untouched by labor or callus.
After that booming declaration, silence. The cavern stilled. She swished her slender tail and waited for his reaction, eyes locked straight on him.
”…Wrong guy. Later,” Klock said.
He turned his back on her smug entrance and bolted, gravel scattering as he hurled himself toward the way he’d come.
Why her? Of all people? The question burned, but survival came first. There was only one option: run.
”Like I’d let you escape! I can read you like a book!” shouted a voice.
The cave froze. Literally. A wave of winter air swept in, swirling snow obscuring his sight. Ice spiked up from the ground, jagged spears blocking his path.
”No escape now! Unless you’d rather be skewered!”
The shrill, eager cry came from behind. He spun. Next to Elna now stood the other one—the black twin.
Princess Lona. Short bob cut swinging, smug grin plastered across her face, her aura crackling with floating ice crystals, each shard aimed at him.
”Running off without a word? Rude! And why aren’t you rotting in a cell where you belong? Don’t tell me—you broke out? That calls for the heaviest punishment!” she said.
”Yeah! The mole patrol never came back, so I smashed them to pieces. Turns out it was you! Klock Livorno, we’ve come to drag you back to Cat Tower for judgment!”
White Cat posed with her hands on her hips. Black Cat crossed her arms. Both tails flicked as they blocked his way, grinning triumphantly.
The Twin Princesses of the Beast Country: Elna and Lona.
So that earlier explosion—of course, it was them. For a moment, Klock had hoped it was Cianie. Instead, it was the last pair he wanted to see. The Beast Country had jailed him—and it was Elna’s word that sealed the deal.
He’d been so close to freedom. Now, these bratty princesses stood tall at the final step, barring the exit.
”Come to play house again? Run along home—your mama misses you,” Klock said, flipping them the finger.
”Hmph! You’re the needy one! Couldn’t stop suckling at Elna’s breasts when you were little!” Elna shot back.
”Disgusting man! We’ll punish you so harshly you’ll regret being born!” Lona yelled.
Their shrill retorts rang out, endless. Against girls their age, there was no winning with words. They’d always snap back, especially at a boy.
Before, Suzette had bailed him out with her Jump Scroll. Not this time. Alone now, with no retreat, he had only two choices: fight, or surrender without even swinging.
He exhaled, raised his weapon, and bent low into a stance.
”Well, at least you’ve got guts, standing against us! Think you’re a cornered rat?” Elna sneered.
She raised a hand.
”Catching rats is my specialty. Doesn’t matter how sharp your ‘killer front teeth’ are—I’ll be faster and sink mine into your neck!”
(T/N: pun on 必殺前歯 “killer front teeth”—mocking rodents’ bite.)
Lona mirrored her, hand raised.
”Thunder Lance—Lancia Fuminia!”
”Ice Lance—Lancia di Ghiaccio!”
Elna’s hand blazed with writhing lightning, a jagged spear of storm.
Lona’s hand formed a crystalline blade of white ice, glowing like an aurora.
As if that weren’t enough, each raised their other hand to the cavern roof. Flame burst forth—real fire, bright and violent, painting their faces in orange light.
Four spells. Two princesses. Two elements each.
No way. No damn way. Impossible! How the hell was he supposed to deal with this?!
Memories surged. Back when the Federation caravan burned, their flames alone had torn wagons to wreckage in an instant. Their main weapons were the lances—but even their “subs” were lethal.
”Now, surrender! Or kneel and kiss my foot—I might spare you!” Elna laughed.
”Or beg to become Lady Lona’s servant! I’ll consider it!” Lona added.
They both grinned, pointing burning hands at him. The slightest mistake—he’d be ash. Klock swallowed, focused every nerve.
”Not necessary, Klock,” came a voice. “Leave the grave-digging for cats to me.”
A gust tore past him. In that instant he glimpsed a flash of white hair streaked with black.
”You—!” the sisters shouted together.
A deafening roar followed, thunder and ice exploding in a shockwave that split the cave.
Their spears clashed mid-swing, the air cracking with the strike. The momentum tore gouges through the gravel beneath their feet.
Seriously. You came…
The wall of ice thorns shattered as a figure ran along the cavern wall with impossible agility, slipping easily behind the sisters. She landed with a sharp grin—the Wolf Princess, as untouchable as ever. Hearing the cats’ voices, she had leapt into the fray, planting herself between Elna and Lona with her next attack poised.
”—I’m not alone,” she said.
In that instant, something black lunged from behind Klock. Four wide strips of shadow, like cloth but alive, unfurled toward the cat princesses.
The two sisters spun at once. Their spears flashed—one batting away a strip, the other searing another in a bloom of fire. Magic burned in tandem with raw reflex. Back-to-back, they braced to fight both front and rear.
”Don’t spoil things,” a cool voice said. “I was planning to finish this quickly. Now it’s ruined.”
She descended like drifting silk, landing beside Klock. With a sweep of black hair, she revealed herself in practiced elegance—the Fox Princess, Kuzuha. Her arm was bare: the magic-blocking shackle gone. She had her power back.
The Wolf Princess must have removed it. Punishment had to wait; their enemy was a greater threat. Kuzuha agreed—her eyes locked only on the cats, never once glancing at Klock.
”Well, well! If it isn’t RosRos!” Lona sneered. “Still reeking like a mutt! Must be all the scraps you gnaw on—your stink seeps from the inside!”
”You must be Kuzuha,” Elna spat. “The Foxkin princess who disguises herself as poop to sneak out of fights! Filthy and cowardly!”
”You dare mock me?!” the Wolf Princess snarled.
”Of course not! Who spread that lie?!” Kuzuha shot back furiously.
No role was more hopeless at trading barbs than a princess. Lona cackled gleefully; Elna snickered behind her hand.
”Anyway, you two don’t matter,” Lona snapped. “We only want him.“
”That’s right. Judgment time, Klock Livorno,” Elna declared. “Your soul must be foul and filthy, but we’ll cleanse it snow-white!”
Across the way, the Wolf Princess frowned, already suspecting the ploy. The cats had said their goal out loud. Maybe careless, maybe a trap.
Klock was the target. Which meant the wolf and fox could flee—if they trusted each other. Which they didn’t.
”No need to fight to the death!” Klock barked. “Play them off, then break through together! All of us!”
The Wolf Princess and Kuzuha shared no bond, but they read him well enough. Both shifted stances, readying to fight, not abandon him.
”Heh. So you’ll fight,” Lona grinned, sly. Elna giggled knowingly at her side.
It was a bad sign. Though surrounded, the cats seemed the hunters here.
Klock’s own options were limited. While he thought, the Wolf Princess hurled herself forward—her body springing up past the cats, slamming the cavern ceiling, then diving with the same nimble ferocity she’d once used against Kuzuha.
At the same instant, Kuzuha wove signs, murmuring. Black characters swirled around her arm. She pressed her hand to the ground, summoning more strips of living shadow.
”I already said,” she hissed, “he’s the only one I need.”
The Wolf Princess was about to strike when a wall of fire surged across her path. At the same moment, something pale and swift shot through the seams of Kuzuha’s magic, spearing toward her.
”Lady Elna, Lady Lona. You shouldn’t run off without us.”
”Truly. You vanished so suddenly—we were worried.”
The Wolf Princess barely dodged, rolling back. Kuzuha blocked with her arm, only to be blasted aside.
New arrivals. Klock pressed to the wall as fresh chaos erupted.
”Mr. Klock,” one said sweetly. “Been a while.”
”Since Deep Cat, wasn’t it?” the other smiled.
They looked almost glad to see him. Klock was struck dumb. The four princesses fell silent too.
”You two… from that tavern…?”
Two women now stood beside the cat princesses. One with blazing red hair, ears, and tail—flames licked at her feet. The other with white hair, white fur, and breasts that strained her tunic.
Deep Cat. That name snapped it together. Even here, they greeted him with businesslike smiles. They were the women from Lushelara Port—the ones who’d run the Beastkin tavern.
”What?! Meina, Larana—you know him? Then what Auntie said was true!”
”Doesn’t matter. Sisters, seize that man!” Lona’s spear tip leveled at Klock. “The wolf and fox, smash them aside!”
The newcomers slipped smoothly into stance, ready to fight.
”Wait. You two were supposed to be civilians!” Klock shouted.
”Ah, sorry, Mr. Klock,” Meina said lightly. “That tavern’s under Beast Country control.”
”And all staff are with the Hooded Cat Law Group,” Larana added. “Which means—yes, we’re the ones who kidnapped you.”
They even apologized without guilt. Klock barely had time to gape before the fight shifted again.
”—Tch.”
The first to move was Larana. Klock only noticed because his gaze had been drawn to the massive bulk of her chest. She crouched low and, with shocking speed, launched herself straight at Kuzuha.
Kuzuha spun her fingers into signs, cloth snapping to life and whipping through the air, circling her like protective serpents. Foxfire coursed along the fabric, weaving it into a wall of fire.
”I’m good with fire and speed,” Meina called, her grin sharp. “It’s been a while, fox-girl.”
”—Red Cat Meina!!” Kuzuha gasped.
The towering fire-wall was shattered in an instant, Meina’s foot wrapped in flame as she drove it through with a spinning kick. Her acrobatics were brutal and precise. Kuzuha tried to twist away but stumbled, her stance broken.
”Sorry. I’m here too,” Larana whispered.
She darted behind Kuzuha with impossible swiftness, her oversized chest bouncing wildly as if to mock the laws of physics. Ignoring the strain on her clothes, she locked Kuzuha in a crushing hold from behind.
Kuzuha’s face was buried in Larana’s heaving chest, suffocated as if dragged into an abyss. In that helpless instant, Meina’s merciless strike slammed into her stomach. The fox-girl collapsed without a sound, limp and defeated.
”You’ve got to be kidding me,” Klock muttered.
It had been over in a blink—too fast to intervene. He turned toward the Wolf Princess, whose lips bit hard into her lower lip, brows drawn in frustration. She, too, had wanted to leap in, but Elna and Lona kept her in check with leveled spears.
”Two left!” Meina jeered. “This is so easy it makes me yawn.”
”More like one,” Larana purred. “Klock Livorno. Surrender now and we won’t hurt you too much.”
They stood grinning, relishing their advantage. The humiliation cut deeper for Klock because his opponents weren’t grizzled warriors, but smug young women. Sweat slicked his palms as he gripped his knife tighter, glaring back with desperate defiance.
Lona frowned at his eyes, clearly unsettled, while Elna only smirked wider.
”Run, Klock!!”
The shout rang out, startling the cat-women into shifting their gaze away from him. His heart pounded. This might be his only chance.
He gathered what little mana he had—barely a dish’s worth—and poured it into the circle. Acceleration. His body blurred as he cut the motion of bending forward, springing into a full sprint.
”I said you’re not getting away!!”
The black cat-girl reacted first, her ice spear swinging down with lethal intent. The shriek of metal rang out as the Wolf Princess’s claws struck the blade aside, tearing through the sisters’ line in a burst of momentum.
Acceleration would last barely ten seconds. Klock dashed straight down the corridor, feet hammering stone.
”Go! Keep running!!” The Wolf Princess’s voice cracked with urgency, chasing after him.
Somehow, she had caught the sisters off guard. But their pursuit came swift—the flame-footed Meina darting along the wall, Larana bounding like a storm despite her weight.
”No. Not this time, Klock Livorno. You always run, but I swore you’d never escape again.”
It wasn’t murder he sensed, but a deadly promise, a predator’s intent. The Wolf Princess felt it too, spinning with him just in time. The wall ahead shattered, collapsing inward like a fist smashing through plaster.
”Wha—aaaugh?!!”
A shockwave hurled them all like rag dolls. Larana slipped past it, but Meina and the Wolf Princess slammed against the wall, while Klock was whipped into the main corridor, skidding to a bruising halt.
He rolled, gasping. Pain lanced through his back and shoulders. Breathing felt ragged, each inhale scraped raw from the impact.
Memory stabbed through him—Empire Art Museum, where lightning had speared him through the wall. Yes. This was Elna. Her thunder could pierce walls with obscene force.
The wall before him smoked black, glowing with faint red embers, white steam drifting off in hissing curls.
Elna stood still, watching him, hand empty. A thrown lightning spear then. If it had hit directly, he’d have been reduced to vapor.
”Idiot! Don’t freeze up—run!!”
The Wolf Princess shoved him forward, smacking his backside to jolt him. But he couldn’t. His shoulders throbbed, his back screamed with pain. Full sprinting was impossible now. Worse, the magic was gone—Acceleration ate mana the moment it activated. The next attempt would sputter out instantly.
Larana brushed dust from her exotic dress, Meina patted grit off her shoulders, unconcerned. Elna and Lona approached, steady and unhurt. Klock’s side was shattered, theirs pristine.
”Damn it. Run as far as you can,” the Wolf Princess muttered, stepping forward to bar the path.
Her hips swayed, hair rough and wild, claws raised against the four enemies.
”Thirty seconds, max. Dash while I hold them. If they catch you, I’ll do it again. Repeat until we’re out.”
To Klock’s shock, she still meant to fight their way free. And why not? She had already broken their formation once. Maybe—just maybe—she could.
One against four? Was she serious?
He glanced at her, silently calling her insane. She only jerked her chin forward, eyes blazing as she faced Elna’s group.
Fearless. Too fearless. Like the holy knight he once knew—pampered and praised, yet fierce as steel. The Wolf Princess’s body radiated killing will, her every muscle burning with intent.
”Come then. I’ll tear you apart, one by one.”
Her stance declared: trust me, go.
Klock’s breath caught as she crouched low, her aura fierce enough to choke the air.
”Well. Then you’ll be my opponent,” a voice purred.
Meina and Larana smirked—but the words hadn’t come from them. The voice rose from deeper down the main street, ahead of Klock.
”Come then. I’ll tear you apart, one by one,” she said.
Her stance declared: trust me, go.
Klock’s breath caught as she crouched low, her aura choking the air.
”Well. Then you’ll be my opponent,” a voice purred.
Meina and Larana smirked, but the words had not come from them. The voice rose from deeper down the main street, ahead of Klock—someone from beyond the outer rim of the Bastili Hundred Pits.
He spun in panic just as something rushed past his side. The beast barreled straight toward the Wolf Princess. Violent pressure radiated from its approach, an invasive force pressing down on her small frame as it stepped in, careless and brutal—
”Wh—sister?!” cried the Wolf Princess.
A leg, sleek and merciless, lashed in from the side.
”Meow… well, I figured it would turn out this way. Can’t be helped, meow.”
The newcomer who ambushed the Wolf Princess moved like a beast: a woman with stark white-and-black hair. While Klock’s eyes were caught by her, he realized too late—he had already been flanked.
A hand tapped his shoulder. In the corner of his vision, claws gleamed, sharp enough to sever a throat with ease.
He understood then that it was over. Quietly, Klock raised his hands.
”…That voice…” he whispered.
”Mm. Glad you remembered me, meow,” she replied.
”…Yeah. Would’ve preferred we met back at the tavern or the inn.”
Meina came forward, Larana with Kuzuha in her arms, and the two Cat Princesses trailed close behind. All of them converged on the main street, their gazes fixed on Klock, kneeling with both hands lifted—
”What are you doing—sister! Sister!!! Don’t joke with me! Why—why are you obeying cats?!”
The Wolf Princess’s voice cracked into a scream. Her body folded sharply as a knee drove deep into her stomach. She collapsed, gasping, sprawled across the ground.
”It’s finished, Boss,” someone reported.
”Mm. Good work, meow. Those kids don’t have the right to walk free. Sad as it is, toss them into a cell, meow.”
It happened in an instant. Their escape attempt had been utterly crushed, broken without a trace of hope.
”…Innkeeper…” Klock muttered.
”We’ve got to move the guests, meow. Another time, we’ll talk. I’m sure we’ll meet again, meow,” she whispered at his ear.
The moment he recognized her words, something smothered his sight. How had it come to this? Where had they gone wrong? Why had they failed?
The thoughts barely formed before a heavy blow slammed into his head.
Notes:
• Il Rasiella – A region within the Beast Country, divided into areas each ruled by a local lord.
• Hermine – Daughter of the Emperor of the Second Empire of Dusselhelm. A companion and friend of Anna. The mage. She is pragmatic and encourages Anna to focus on her duties as a hero rather than her personal revenge.
• Elna – Female. A young apprentice mage. Her appearance is that of a child with white hair reaching her shoulders. She wears a black hooded mantle with strange patterns. Her relationship is as an apprentice to Hermine, the Great Mage. Her power involves advanced magic, including spatial teleportation. Her combat style is magical, and she is described as childish and easily provoked.
• Lona – Female. A young apprentice mage. Her appearance is that of a child with black hair reaching her shoulders. She wears a black hooded mantle with strange patterns. Her relationship is as an apprentice to Hermine, the Great Mage. Her power involves advanced magic, including spatial teleportation. Her combat style is magical, and she is described as childish and easily provoked. Elna’s sister; a black cat Beastkin who’s relatively normally developed physically compared to Elna.
• Cianie – A noble girl with a fluffy white and light blue dress, indicating her high status. She has a hesitant and flustered personality but is kind and courteous. Her relationship with Klock begins as an accidental encounter and develops into a romantic interest. She has a fiancé but expresses feelings for Klock, complicating their relationship.
• Suzette – The older maid from Viscount Fennec. The head maid at the Viscount Fennec’s villa. She is confident, clear-spoken, and professional.
• Lushelara – A port in the Federation, accessible from the imperial capital by ship. It serves as a gateway to the Beast Continent, making it a potential escape route for Tiet and his companions.
• Larana – Her white hair contrasts with an aggressive seductress attitude, as she entices with her body and a calculated air, once the gold coins appear.
• Meina – She is a golden-haired catgirl employee of the beastman (Larana the cat woman) Inn, appeared performing fellatio, desperate and tear-streaked, with an inexperienced yet earnest approach to her work.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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