Elemental Cats

Toz turned around fast like lightning to see who had managed to sneak up on him without him noticing.

Only a dozen meters away, on the other side of the eye of the storm, a demon stood and leaned against empty air with crossed arms like it was a wall there. The pale red-skinned demon had a vest and a pair of loose-fitting pants on him. And two small horns poked out of the top of his forehead, right at where his grey hair started growing.

Since the vest only covered the sides of the demon's torso, Toz saw how well-defined his muscles were. And when the demon moved, Toz also saw how in control of his body the demon was.

Toz had undoubtedly encountered a formidable foe. Toz didn't think it was a fluke that he didn't sense the demon before he spoke. It was obvious that the demon had impeccable control over both his body and demonic energy. Suppressing his presence until Toz, who had just gone through everything he had gone through, probably wasn't even a challenge.

"Well?"

Fortunately, the demon had some manners and seemed like it would wait for Toz to get dressed first.

"Right. One sec."

Toz rummaged through his spatial rings quickly in order to find some clothes. However, he looked up with a slightly embarrassed expression after several moments.

"Does your offer still stand?"

"About the pants? Yeah sure. I have more pairs than I know what to do with."

Toz had never bothered much about his clothes. And he hadn't expected that the combat suit he got from Dyra would break that quickly, so he hadn't put any spare clothes inside his spatial rings aside from the overcoat he got from Joan. The white coat might be nice and have good pockets, but it wouldn't be able to endure the battle Toz would fight. And it also didn't cover the most important parts.

Thankfully, the demon seemed to be quite the gentleman and gladly gave Toz a pair of pants to use.

"Thanks."

Toz caught the pants that the demon threw over and put them on. It felt just the tiniest bit weird to be wearing the same kind of pants as his foe, but they were quite comfortable and easily allowed him to move as he wanted, so Toz didn't mind.

"I'm Anaster, the Champion of Strength. You?"

"Toz, the captain of the Paw Print Pirates."

"Sorry. I have never heard of you before. Are you perhaps not famous?"

"Well, I haven't heard of you before either, so I guess it's even."

Anaster rubbed the back of his head a little with a slightly apologetic face.

"I didn't mean to be rude. It's just that you're strong enough to make my blood boil. Literally and figuratively. I thought I would at least know your name."

While he spoke, Anaster held up his hands to show the burn marks that climbed up his forearms.

Toz thought for a few moments while looking at the burn marks before answering.

"Well, I'm also the Pirate King of Pirate Haven, if that helps?"

"No way! You're that guy?"

Toz was confused.

"You know me from that?"

"Of course! You fucked our plans!"

"I did?"

However, a light went off in Toz's mind, and he quickly realized what Anaster meant.

"I knew it!"

"You did?"

"Well, I was pretty sure before this as well, but your words helped me confirm it."

"So you're telling me that what happened with Pirate Haven wasn't intentional?"

"Not at all. I just wanted to become the Pirate King while I was in the area."

Anaster sighed and held his forehead as he crouched to the ground.

"What the fuck. No wonder those Tribe of Blood bastards were so angry."

It seemed like Toz had stumbled upon a treasure trove of information as Anaster's words revealed another important piece of information that helped him clue things together. However, he couldn't quite understand everything just yet, so he prodded Anaster for more information.

"Tribe of Blood? I thought I was fighting the Tribe of Death."

"Right, that was supposed to be a secret! I keep telling those fogeys not to ask this stuff from me."

Anaster rubbed his head with both hands in frustration.

"Well, the cat's out of the bag anyway, so I might as well tell you what you want to know."

"Great, then-"

"If you beat me first, of course."

Anaster stood up and began stretching his neck and cracking his knuckles. The atmosphere around him immediately went from friendly to violent, bloodthirsty warrior. Toz was a little astonished by how quickly Anaster changed tunes. But he wasn't drawn into the conversation deeply enough to drop his guard, and he took out his sword as soon as Anaster changed.

Toz moved to put himself between Anaster and the Fountain of Death before Anaster could approach him or it. Although it looked like Anaster was only interested in Toz, it could be a ploy to make him drop his guard before going after the Fountain and using it to attack Toz with innumerable unkillable zombies.

Anaster looked at Toz with a surprised face.

"You want the Fountain?"

"No."

Although Toz denied it, it was more than obvious he, in fact, did want it. Anaster chuckled lightly, slightly letting go of his burning fighting spirit.

"You know what? If you make this a fun fight, I'll help you take it away. Deal?"

"Even if I don't beat you?"

"Yeah."

"Sounds too good to be true. But sure. Deal."

Toz gripped his sword and enveloped it in blazing flames. He also roused the mana in his body and was ready to fight at a moment's notice. It seemed like the Baptism of Fire had helped him recover at least some stamina, which would undoubtedly be a great help if he was going to fight against someone who made his neck hair stand.

Since he had just undergone the Baptism of Fire and remade his body, Toz wanted to test out the power of his fire magic. But his foe probably wouldn't let him do something so lighthearted.

Anaster sounded like he was generally friendly. But his muscles and well-trained fists spoke volumes of how powerful he was. And the surging fighting intent showed how eager he was to duke it out with Toz.

Anaster raised his fists and faced off against Toz.