Chapter 156: Veronica's Struggles!

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After a few seconds of calming down the people inside of her hollow armor body, Veronica finally was able to fight, Derecho thankfully was drowning himself in the praises of all of his 'bros', so he gave plenty of time to Veronica to calm down the raging Shade, the roaring Ozgeth and the bloodthirsty Aqua.

"Well, well. Unlike Jason, I will try to give the people a good show! So let's make it big, Derecho!" said Veronica, getting into a slight stance.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say Armor Woman!" laughed Derecho, putting into a stance with his large and muscular body, he seemed certainly more intimidating than the slim and tiny Veronica in her thin and delicate armor body.

It seemed that Derecho gave Veronica the first hit, which she took such opportunity with great happiness, showing an adorable grin on her phantasmal beauty of a face.

She rushed towards Derecho as her armor body cracked, releasing various sounds across the battlefield.

Crack, clank, clank!

"Here I go!" said Veronica, extending her arm as if it were a noodle and aiming to punch Derecho in the chin!

"Eh?! You can do that?! A-Anyways! That's way too easy to block- Ugaaah!" Derecho could not finish his monologue as he was blown away several meters across the air… Veronica didn't put any strength into her fist whatsoever, just a slight push, which was enough for the Ghoul Man to be sent flying in the air.

Derecho fell to the ground with a loud sound of a 'bump!', as he quickly healed his dizziness and called himself back to battle by standing up… he did not seem to have any greater injury unlike Izquierdo when he received the punch of Jason.

Jason himself was surprised due to Veronica's ability to suppress her strength to such a level of mastery… he was but a mere apprentice compared to her.

"Veronica! Such mastery over her own strength! I wish I could achieve such a thing so I could spar more freely with those weaker than me…" muttered Jason, glancing at his own fists.

"Bah… t-that was nothing! I wasn't prepared yet!" roared Derecho, trying to clean his image after being punched into the air by Veronica to the rest of the Ghoul men.

"Really! I did not know she had noodle arms! But now I am going to fight knowing this secret! So, I will not lose at all nor I will be surprised anymore! You've already revealed all of your secrets, Armor woman!" laughed Derecho, running towards Veronica while raising his blue and glossy fists, which were covered in scars that showcased the gruesome training he had underwent to reach the stage where he was, he was not willing to give up his prestige at this moment and time, not at all.

Veronica had figured out as much by just glancing at him, Derecho was clearly someone experienced in fighting, and was trying to get even better through challenges, he saw in the 'Armor Woman', Veronica, a worthy challenge for the evolution of his own self, which he desired to reach and finally become someone equal to Leonidas.

"Good! That is the spirit, come at me!" shouted Veronica, running at a very low speed towards Derecho, which seemed incredibly fast on the blue-skinned Ghoul man's eyes.

"What?! So fast…! But I will not falter!" roared Derecho, using the 'Charge' Skill to run through the arena at an almost matching speed with Veronica's slowest speed of running that was still 'convincing' to the eyes of those that had never seen her running and that assumed that a Living Armor ran very slow, to begin with… Because well, they were made out of armor, how would expect someone like that to run fast? Or so was what many of the Ghoul people thought until this very day.

Veronica raised her metallic fist, not extending them as noodles this time but pretending to unleash a barrage of punches against the hardworking Derecho (on her eyes), while Derecho unleashed serious Unarmed Fighting Techniques one after another, his glossy and blue-skinned bare fist resembled blue meteors as they fell like jabs upon Veronica's metallic arms.

Clash! Clash! Clash!

"Good, keep going, Derecho!" said Veronica, cheering up the blue-skinned Ghoul Man, which only made him more enraged.

"Tsk, don't get cocky!" he roared, as every of his fist clashed against Veronica's slight movements of her arms that barely charged any intent, strength, or speed in them.

Derecho felt the hard and cold metallic hands of Veronica with great detail, they were incredibly hard, but he was able to handle the pain just well, and sensed as if her metallic coverture was slowly shaping to his blows! On his mind, he thought that he was quickly diminishing her arms!

However, Veronica was slightly converting her fists into Liquid Metal, making them very soft… or so she thought. But whenever Derecho punched into them, he felt as if he was punching towards a fortified Iron Shield.

"Your fists are strong! But can you predict this?" asked Veronica with a smile, as she extended her Soul out of her armor, surprising the crowd around her and Derecho.

"What is that?!" asked a Ghoul male.

"A ghost… claw?" wondered another.

"A hand!" shouted a third.

"No, that's like a tail, isn't it?" asked a young Ghoul girl.

"That's clearly her ghost insides!" said another little Ghoul girl that was fascinated by weird things.

"After all, all Living Armors are Ghosts possessing a set of rusty armor," said a middle-aged Ghoul woman who had studied monsters through her life by visiting dungeons nearby the Ghoul tribe.

"So that's what it is!" said a Ghoul male.

"Aniki, beat that ghost hand!" cheered another Ghoul man.

"It's just a ghost hand, what can it do anyway?" said the cheeky Ghoul man from before, unaware of what was about to truly happen.

"It's just a ghost hand, you cannot touch my physical flesh with it, remain inside your armor- Ugh?!"

Derecho could not even finish his speech as Veronica's 'Ghost Hand', which was the new nickname that they gave to her soul, moved towards Derecho's stomach, shaping as a fist, and slightly punching it.

Derecho was blown into the sky and then fell into the ground like a ragdoll, creating a small tremor due to the sheer size and weight of his whole body.

Boom!

Veronica sighed in relief after seeing that although Derecho received a lot of pain, her punch did not manage to make his stomach burst… what Veronica was truly doing was barely punching him while using the No-Attribute Magic spell 'Telekinesis' to send Derecho flying through the skies as if her punches were incredibly impactful and filled with all of her energy.

Although they were weak, her punches still hurt Derecho a lot, but their force was not enough for them to send him flying, which would end up similarly to how Jason defeated Izquierdo with a single punch, even when Izquierdo was not sent flying through the airs like Veronica was showcasing in this comical performance.

"Ungh… W-What is that strength… so her Ghost Hand… was pretty strong!" said Derecho, standing up again!

"Aniki… Keep going, you can do it! She must not have any more trump cards now!"

"Give it to her, Aniki!"

"Show her whose boss!"

"Come on, look at her, she looks exhausted already!"

"Can Living Armors even get exhausted?"

"Of course they can, look at her, sis"

The ghouls pointed out to Derecho about Veronica's appearance, which she was faking to seem as if she were very tired already, her appearance seemed to be gasping for hair, as her armored legs trembled slightly, she also seemed pained by her fist, showing the damage dealt with her by Derecho… well, the fake damage.

"Veronica, you're an incredible actress…" muttered Jason.

"She's… really good at it," said Ismene.

"I have to admit it, she is surprising me a lot… I never thought she could surprise me like this after all the amazing things that our lady is capable of!" said Mysticia.

"W-Woah… Is Lady Veronica for real?" asked Riaan, a bit surprised by her overly dramatic performance, which every Ghoul was buying.

"It is not like they cannot see through it, it is just that they are looking for any flaws in her to fill themselves with the hope of Derecho to win and retain their pride as strongest warriors… Ghoul men are very complicated in this regard… they are an incredibly stubborn race, that's for sure" said Pekoran.

"Everyone… is cheering for me! You will not win, Armor Woman! I will show you now my strongest technique and attack! Magic Fighting Technique!" roared Derecho, running towards Veronica while raising his fist and using Charge repeatedly, quickly exhausting his Man reserves, he was clearly going for a finishing move, thinking that just a strong hit was what it was needed to finish Veronica off for good due to how weakened she seemed thanks to her amazing acting talent.

Derecho covered his fists in crystalline water, which quickly sharpened and hardened into ice spikes! His trump card was an interesting Technique that created Ice Gauntlets on his arms, using them to hit his opponents with great strength and the sharpness of the ice spikes!

His fist and his icy aura seemed overwhelming, every Ghoul men cheered for Derecho as he approached Veronica and began to unleash countless jabs over her 'defenseless state'.

"Ungh…! No…! I am… being defeated?!" she muttered.

"Uuuuuoooooo!" roared Derecho.

"Joking," said Veronica, breaking the tension of the entire fight as she raised her arm and pushed it towards Derecho's face with incredible precision and speed!

Clash!

"Ungh?! Unngghyaaa!"

Veronica then crushed Derecho into the ground with a slight push of her hand… His face was a bit disfigured after the hit, but he seemed fine… but he had fallen unconscious the very moment he was hit.

"Phew! So, everyone, did you like the fight? Was it entertaining? Derecho is an admirable fighter!" laughed Veronica cheerfully.

Everyone was silent… And the Ghouls, just as before, were with their eyes poking out of their sockets and their mouths wide open.

"Gah! She was faking it the whole time…?! Just how strong is she really?!" roared Leonidas in disbelief.

"She's a good actress, isn't she?" asked Ervas to Alesia.

"I-Indeed she is, she got all of us…" muttered the chief of the Ghoul tribe.

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