Fighting with Alysia wasn’t just a matter of having an extra hard punch, but as a sentient weapon she could somehow add her stats to mine. I could punch with not just my strength, but the strength within Alysia too. I wondered a bit if she was still leveling, or if her status was trapped at the current level. I couldn’t see jobs with her anymore, let alone levels to those jobs. As far as her helping me fight, we still had a long way to go before we were completely at ease with each other, so it was hard to say if she was getting stronger or if we were just getting better at fighting together.

Either way, the lioness met my attack once again, likely eager to see what else I was bringing. So, I made sure not to disappoint her. Even with her adding her speed to her strength, the results of our attack were one-sided. The lioness was thrown back, slamming into the ropes. Had she been airborne, she would have been knocked out of the ring. She let out a hiss and then attacked again, her body blurring as she attacked at full speed.

However, I was able to combine Alysia’s battle sense, her speed, and her understanding with my own, and together we caught her, causing her to fly off again. She slammed into a pole, and then coughed out a bit of blood. She looked up at me while on all fours, a smile on her face.

“Hehe... so, you were holding out on me,” she said. “Good... good.”

“Why don’t you stay down for good!” I leaped up and then slammed down with my fists in an overhead cutting motion.

“Disqualified?” The girl asked innocently. “Oh, do you mean these?”

She lifted her hands innocently, revealing her long nails. At that moment, I could feel a stinging on my face. Reaching up, I felt blood. She had scratched me across the face in that last attack. My mask had thankfully remained on though, just barely continuing to mask my identity.

“They’re a sharp instrument!” The referee declared, causing even more booing.

The woman herself seemed more amused than angry. She jumped onto a post looking down at me, her eyes containing that predator’s gaze.

“I’ll give you this win, but we both know how the outcome of this match would have gone without such rules.” She licked her claw innocently.