"Ngh...!"
Marquis Cattleya hastily dodged the fist swung at him.
It was a sharp strike, devoid of hesitation. He could tell at once that she genuinely intended to punch her own father.
"Stop, Yuri!"
"I won't!"
"Guh...!"
Yuri drove her other fist into Marquis Cattleya's side.
Yuri's fists were small, and her weight was light — but those blows were far heavier and sharper than her frame would suggest.
(So this is oni disease...!)
Marquis Cattleya endured the hit through sheer willpower and physical toughness.
Any ordinary warrior or martial artist would have been knocked unconscious by that single blow.
"What's the matter, Father? Do you intend to just lie there defenseless?"
"You...!"
Marquis Cattleya's fighting spirit ignited.
If he let this pass without doing anything, he would be utterly humiliated — both as a father and as a warrior.
(I won't kill her, but I'll make sure she can't move for a good while...!)
"Hmph!"
Marquis Cattleya unleashed a body blow aimed at Yuri's torso.
Yuri braced both hands in a flash and caught the strike.
"Mm...!"
But she couldn't fully absorb the punishing impact and was sent flying backward.
Her back slammed into one of the gravestones in the cemetery.
"As expected of the man they call the kingdom's strongest fighter... that was a devastating blow."
"Yuri, that's enough!"
"There's no reason for me to hold back here. I haven't been beaten yet."
Yuri shook both hands loosely.
Despite having taken Marquis Cattleya's blow, there wasn't even a bruise on them.
Her body was extraordinarily tough. In terms of pure physical strength alone, she might very well surpass Marquis Cattleya.
"Oni disease... what a tremendous nuisance this is..."
Marquis Cattleya drew a deep breath, coming to the realization anew that he could not capture his daughter unharmed.
There existed a demihuman race known as the oni tribe.
Unable to use magic, they compensated with physical abilities that far surpassed those of humans.
They inhabited the forests to the north of the Kingdom of Aiwood, and Marquis Cattleya had fought them on countless occasions.
He knew all too well just how troublesome they were.
"Here I come, Father!"
Yuri kicked off the ground and lunged at Marquis Cattleya.
Fists flew from her left hand. Her right. Both together.
A barrage of blows rained down on Marquis Cattleya.
"Ugh...!"
Marquis Cattleya deflected his daughter's fists with both arms.
With minimal movement, he blocked and dodged — then unleashed a counterstrike.
"Hmph!"
"Ngh...!"
Threaded between the countless attacks coming his way, a single sharp blow was launched.
Marquis Cattleya's fist buried itself in Yuri's abdomen.
She was sent flying with even greater force than before, bouncing off the ground over and over.
"Ooooooooh!"
But Marquis Cattleya didn't stop his pursuit.
He knew this much wouldn't be enough to stop his daughter. That was precisely why he chased after her as she tumbled and grabbed her arm.
"Unngh!"
"You...!"
Yuri tried to punch her father, but Marquis Cattleya tilted his head and dodged the blow.
And then — without letting go — he yanked her arm and hurled her body through the air.
"Whoaaaaaaa!"
Yuri's flying body mowed down gravestone after gravestone.
Eventually she came to a rest, buried beneath the rubble of shattered stone, and stopped moving.
"…………Hah, hah."
Marquis Cattleya stood there, his expression twisted — then rushed to his daughter's side.
"Yuri, are you all right?"
Coming from the one who'd done it, asking whether she was all right was a pretty absurd thing to say — but it wasn't as though he'd struck her out of hatred.
Marquis Cattleya's love, twisted as it might be, was genuine, and the worry he felt for his daughter was no pretense.
"Stay with me! Yuri...!"
He tried to dig Yuri out from under the rubble — but the next instant, the debris was blasted toward him.
"Hei!"
"Whoa—!?"
Marquis Cattleya frantically caught the flying rubble.
"Opening!"
Yuri came bursting out, blood streaming from her head, and drew back her right fist.
Another punch was coming — or so Marquis Cattleya realized. He hastily raised both hands to guard.
"Yaaah!"
"Guh...!?"
But... the impact he was expecting never came.
A blow from a completely different direction struck him, sending Marquis Cattleya's body flying sideways.
This time it was Marquis Cattleya's turn to go tumbling.
He knocked several gravestones aside, bounced across the ground, and finally collapsed onto the stone pavement.
"What... just..."
As he spoke, Marquis Cattleya felt a throbbing pain in his side.
"Ah, good... it seems to have worked out."
Yuri walked up to her fallen father.
On her beautifully composed face was the grin of a child whose prank had succeeded.
"I was worried I'd fail! When it comes down to it, nothing beats well-trained legs!"
"Trained... legs?"
That was when Marquis Cattleya realized what had been done to him.
Yuri had feigned a punch to make him think a fist was coming — then launched a kick instead.
Come to think of it... since this fight began, Yuri hadn't used a single kick.
It must have been a strategy to draw his attention away from her legs.
"That was my special kick. Even you, Father, won't be getting back up! A deal's a deal — I'm leaving the marquisate!"
"W-wait...!"
"Well then... take care!"
With a beaming smile, Yuri called out and waved vigorously at the fallen Marquis Cattleya.
"Ah..."
The moment he saw that smile... he stopped trying to get up.
Honestly, he hadn't been beaten yet.
His side ached. A few ribs were probably broken.
But... he could still fight. If he wanted to, he could rise and continue the battle.
"Ah..."
But... looking at Yuri's smile, even that resolve melted away.
(When was it... that she stopped smiling...)
Locked away in the manor, smothered by an overprotective lifestyle — somewhere along the way, the smile had vanished from Yuri's face.
"...Wife, was I wrong?"
His heart ached even more fiercely than the bruised ribs.
Marquis Cattleya lay limply on the ground, watching his daughter's back as she departed with a cheerful, skipping gait.