She continued staring at him.
She didn't exude any overt pressure. Yet the air around her seemed to chill a few degree nonetheless.
STEP
She took a step.
...
STEP
STEP
STEP
Squire Janeau, to his credit, didn't run away immediately. His expression intensified as he tried putting on a brave front.
"Bring it on, you bi-!"
He froze as he felt a profound wave of malevolence radiating from her, unlike anything he had ever felt.
Malevolent, yet innocent.
"Before we fight..." She murmured. "May I do you a favour?"
Her tone was soft, yet earnest
She meant every word with sincerity.
Yet something was profoundly wrong. He could feel that in the depths of his heart.
"...What?"
His voice was stiff.
"...Ah, it's not much," She smiled. "There's something wrong with your teeth, you see."
Her words were ordinary, yet the horrifying sense of peril growing inside his heart disagreed.
"My teeth?"
"Indeed..." She murmured, her eyes fixating on them. "The problem with them is that they are..."
Her presence grew heavier.
A single word escaped her mouth.
"...disgusting."
He felt a shiver crawl down his spine.
"Before we fight... allow me to get rid of them for you."
Pure horror gripped his heart.
He leaped back, dashing away at top speed.
Yet, the very next moment, she appeared before him.
She didn't even care to look into his eyes.
No.
Her eyes were fixed on his sharp canines.
CLASP!
Her body coiled around his faster before he could even process what happened.
One moment he was standing.
The next? His head was in her lap. His right hand buried under her feet, while his left shoulder was firmly gripped between her legs. She herself squatted on the ground, hold his shins firmly to the ground with her knees.
Her hands were on his face.
"We can fight after I get rid of them, okay?" She murmured, almost in a trance as she fixated on his teeth.
"Wait! I resi-!"
"Ssshh," She pried his mouth open with both hands.
His eyes widened with horror.
"Don't speak, you'll only make this harder for both of us."
Her tone was composed.
She resembled a dentist who truly wanted the best for her patient.
"AAAAAAARAARRHRGRHRG!LSKSHLSS!!!" His body shivered as he felt a horrifying pain flash up his skull.
Every muscle in his body revolted.
He exerted every grappling technique.
Every supplementary technique.
Everything he had.
To break out of her grip.
Yet he felt as though his body was cast in Senior-level esoteric alloys.
He couldn't even budge.
"There we go," She said with an encouraging tone as she tossed one canine away. "Thirty-one left to go... Oh?"
Squire Janeau shivered as his instincts warned him of what was to come.
"Your teeth heal and regrow?" She murmured unhappily.
The following words she uttered reminded all those who witnessed the battle, if it could even be called that, of the terror that was the champion of the Martial Contest.
Her hand caressed his face.
A troubled expression appeared on her face.
"No choice... I guess I'll have to keep pulling them out until they stop regrowing."