I mix up my attack, following a fake full-on straight with a power jab. It easily catches Yoru off-guard, as he's sent sprawling across the ground.
It's one of my several pratice sessions with Yoru, as part of my promise with him. Mainly, I use it as warm-up for my own practice sessions, one that mainly focuses on my swordmanship and Magecraft exercises. After seeing some skilled actions lately, by Night Raid and the Imperial forces, I can never be too careful in a fight. I've converted the shed into a Workshop, too.
Yoru instantly gets up, ready for another beatdown. His determination lifts my spirit up as well, so no harm done.
"Yoru, I think that's enough for now. Let's grab some food and water. We haven't had lunch yet."
"One more time, Aniki. I need to get stronger if I want to fight beside you one day!" That being said, he rushes at me recklessly, determined to land at least one hit.
His stamina is excellent. Just... well, the techniques I taught him haven't sunk in yet, so he's rubbish. I simply dodge his attacks with minimal footwork and body weaving, then I counterattack twice to his face, one sweep to his feet. Finally, he seems to be out of breath, for now.
"Nope, I'm pretty sure we're done here for now. Give it at least until after lunch before you try again." I say while offering an arm to him.
While nursing his cheek and limping around, he mutter, "Yeah, lunch sounds pretty good right now."
Two of my subordinates bring out some sandwiches and water for us to eat.
As I'm eating, I notice the strange demdeanor of the boy next to me.
"Yoru."
His head snapped up in surprise.
"Yoru, tell me, what's bothering you?"
Yoru looked down at his sandwich. "There's nothing wrong. I'm fine."
'I don't need to point out that's a lie.'
"You're not fine. The Yoru I know would have finished that sandwich in an instant, and don't deny it! Quite frankly, you can be a glutton like that."
He makes a complicated face, a mix of shock and annoyance. After a few moments, though, he folds and sighs. "OK, there might be something bothering me."
I let him continue, and he takes a breath first.
"I feel like... I'm not doing enough. I know we've had this conversation before, but I want to do more than just gathering information! I see you going out, cleaning up the streets of the capital, visiting important political figures that could become powerful allies in the future, and all I'm doing is just talking to people in the streets. I want to go with you, Aniki! I want to fight when you fight, where you fight! You're the only person I have left in my life, and I want to be more useful to you. So use me!"
His voice becomes more and more animated as he talks, and into a crescendo on the last few words. His words have touched me, honestly. His drive to succeed is a strong point to him, however... There's something, some light in his eyes, that makes me worry. And not in a good way.
I force his lowered head to face my eyes.
"Yoru. I appreciate your words, and I promise you... no, I swear, one day, you will be able to fight beside me. But, Yoru," my grey eyes harden, "never, ever refer to yourself as an object that should be used. You are a living being, not a tool to be used and thrown away."
'Hypocrite, much?'
"If I hear you refer to yourself like that again, I will beat the living shit out of you, and I will never send you out to the field again. Do you understand me?"
Yoru visibly gulps, as I put more pressure on his head and with my glare. He nods, not a satisfying a sight as I'd like, but it'll do. For now.
"Hurry up with your sandwich. After you're done, I'm going to teach you a style of fighting that I feel could work for you."
Yoru's eyes sparkle at those words. The young teen finishes his sandwich in record time.
I lead him back to the fields we use for sparring, filled with a few wooden training dummies I set up.
"Even from the beginning, I was preparing your body to learn this fighting style."
Yoru rises an eyebrow in curiosity.
"This style is called 'Snake'. The main idea of the style is to confuse the opponent, and kill them before they can understand the mechanics of the fighting style. The crux of the fighting style is to keep your arms flexible and whip-like, striking in unexpected angles to keep your strikes from forming any concrete patterns. In practice, it is a really difficult and complex style, but if you can execute it correctly, then you will be able to take down someone stronger and more imposing than you, before they have the chance to take you seriously." I explain lengthily as he walks closer to a training dummy.
"I used this style earlier against you without telliing you. Did you notice?" To my question, Yoru only gives me an embarassed smile, inciting a shake from my head. "I don't use it often, merely as a compliment to my main style."
Without warning, I let loose a barrage of left jabs, then I send a right straight at a training dummy. I relax my right in the beginning of the motion, before letting my joints to work and curve my fist, straight into the back of the dummy's head.
I imagine the size of Yoru's eyes as he watches me on. 'Snake' is a style using unpredictability as its main advantage, and sends hits from the enemies' blind spots to their vitals. Its attacks doesn't require the user to move outside the enemies' vision, but utilize rapid shifts in direction to surprise the enemy. Human's eyes and reflexes aren't built for instant and pointy changes in direction, which is why, using a boxing analogy, a ducking move is very effective. Simply put, immediate movements to the outside an enemy's range of vision will buy you a split second when you're out of his sight, ready to attack.
My assistant's body is still young and flexible, giving him a good foundation to learn Snake. I wish I met him a few years back, as his body mature, it'll be more and more rigid and unsuitable for the style. Snake requires continuous training from an early age to fully master, which I don't expect him to. This training only serves to give him a means to defend himself against a superior opponent. No more, no less.
Ah, he's getting a bit distracted, no doubt imagining himself as a comic book hero using this style. I cough once to attract his attention back to Planet Earth.
"Now, Yoru," I put my hands up in a stance, "Let us begin your first lesson, shall we?"
I show him my best impression of a Glasgow grin.
Good. He's trembling already.
XxXx
After knocking Yoru around for 3 hours, I called it a day for his training. Again, I had to give him props for not giving up, even after I... maybe hit him a little bit too hard to knock those self-deprecating ideas out of his head. Leaving him to the care of the maids, some of my informants came and told me about the drug trafficking and prostitution ring, ran by some officials of the Empire.
It only caused my sombre mood to worsen.
Those... pigs, they're profiting from other people's own misfortune and despair. They didn't care about wrecking other people's lives, both directly and indirectly connected to them. All they care about was themselves, about pleasure and greed. Sadly, it's a never-ending problem in the world, no matter how much I eradicate them. Like cockroaches, they withstood all attacks, and came back as parasites to humanity. In my mind, they're on the same level as those insects, as well.
Because humans could only attain happiness from other's misery.
The area I was pointed towards was simply called 'The Slum', appropriate enough. It's miserable living conditions was caused, and maintained, by those oppresors... simply because so the people could only count on them as a ray of hope.
Bastards... No swear words in the world were enough to describe them.
However, the parts I arrived in was... lively, to put it into words. They're poor, evident from their personal hygiene and choices of fashion, but everywhere I look, all I saw were hardworking people: men, women, children.
It only meant I hadn't dug deep enough.
I knew very well that appearances could be decieving. I was only monitoring the main streets, during daylight, so I assumed I'd only observe some superficial actions. Maybe I should return later at night... At least, I'd marked the building used as the traffickers' base to deal with them later.
'Oops, hold that thought.'
My ears caught a commotion not too far away. Then, not even half a minute later, two familiar figures passed below me, chased by a small mob.
"IT'S TIME TO SETTLE YOUR GAMBLING DEBTS!"
"I WANT THE MONEY YOU SCAMMED OFF MY BROTHER!"
Yeah, it's definitely them.
From their... civilized conversation, I immediately assumed Leone as the cause of the ruckus. She definitely had this 'troublemaker' moniker slap bang across her face, and Tatsumi was only dragged along by her. Maybe they had a mission together today, I wasn't very sure, but this mustn't be in their plans for today.
'Now, let's see the fruit of my conversation with Lubbock...'
Predictably, like the outgoing lady she seemed to be, Leone went into a bar after shaking off her pursuers. Tatsumi was lost somewhere in the commotion, but I decided against following him as it'd be an unproductive investment of my time. Of course, I didn't want him in any danger, but I presume daylight would be a safe time for a young man like him to walk around town a bit.
Well, at least I hoped not to have to dig my elbows into her stomach again...
Pushing the doors of the bar open, I quickly identified Leone, her blond hair and unique choice of clothing making her stood out. Additionally, even within this damp room, her scent wafted easily into my nostrils. I never took note of it, as my main sense of detecting people was my sight and touch, but since coming here, my senses became sharper and sharper every single day, as I adjusted myself to daily life in this world. For now, I could follow the mix of sweat, perfume and pheromones unique to her even with my eyes closed.
Her back tensed as I stepped through the door, so I decided to forgo subtlety and sat right next to her at the bar.
Fortunately, her tension lowered slightly as I took my seat, though her body language was still very wary of me. Their group must've decided not to oppose me, after I sent Lubbock back with his tails between his legs.
She's a strong woman, though, and still managed to make her smile looked natural as she faced me. She even draped an arm over my shoulder in a playful manner, although I suspect it's only to reduce my close-combat capabilities, being this close.
I wasn't a Saint just for show, but I she was a very beautiful lady. Not unworldly like Semiramis but defiinitely a beauty in her own right.
Her soft breath tickled my ear as she spoke in a seductive voice.
"You know... it isn't nice to leave a girl all by herself at night, especially after being so rough with her." She pressed herself closer to me. "I'm so soorreee all over the place, know what I mean?"
There're immeasureable amounts of murderous intent from the men behind me, so much I wondered if the devil himself had manifested right there and then.
Well, I could play that game, too.
"I apologize for that. I did inform you and your friend that I was in a hurry, and had someplace I needed to be. It's not my fault that you two were so forceful in making me stay."
Leone grinned, enjoying the current situation.
"But you took what we wanted! It was only fair for you to give us something in return... leaving my friend stuck by herself in a corner as we tussled! You didn't even give us your name," Leone pouted slightly at the end of her statement.
I put on a look of sorrow. "Again, I apologize for my rude behavior. My name is Shirou Kotomine, but just call me Shirou. If I heard correctly, your name is Leone right? How may I make up my rude behavior?"
Leone grinned wickedly for a second, something I sadly missed. "You heard correct! My name is Leone, and I think I know the perfect way for you to make up for your awful behavior from back then...!"
Leone turned to the bartender, before yelling, "Bartender! This white haired young man here said he would buy this beautiful onee-sama drinks! Load me up!"
'Shit.'
We switched to serious mode ten minutes into the drinking match. I could metabolize my system faster to avoid getting drunk, but this self-proclaimed onee-sama in front of me just looked like a drunk wench. Downing mug after mug, but her eyes kept their clarity, which I hypothesize was due to her Teigu changing her body's metabolism cycle. But damn, this girl could drink.
"Before we start anything, I'd like to sincerely apologize for our last meeting."
I tried to pull an innocent look as I said that. It's an honest statement, but I was sometimes told I looked like a suspicious snob, by Karna. It worked, as at last her drinking was stopped momentarily.
Her face also lost its playfulness. She smiled at me softly. "Stop. This drink'll taste bad if you look like that." She took a gulp, and winced. "Agh, there goes my mood..."
"How is she? I mean... after that night?"
To that inquiry about Akame, the blonde clenched her fist a bit tighter, causing the mug to crack. She didn't seem angry at me; her expression was more of a regret, rather than hate.
"That bad?" I asked. "Leone, I can make her feel better, if that's wha-"
"She's fine," Leone cut me off, "she's a strong girl."
After a thought, I pulled out a vial from my pocket, slipping it into her empty palm. To her questioning look, I answered, "For the daydreams."
A hypnosis that strong could cause not just nightmares, but also delusions in the middle of the day. It's already a dangerous symptom in itself, but the black-haired girl's occupations made it more so. I couldn't afford Night Raid to be weakened at all, to achieve salvation for the people...
The lioness made a face. "I'm sure you know about that, don't you?" Her tone was slightly hostile, though she hadn't emanated any killing intent.
"I was overboard. That's why I kept apologizing, for what it's worth."
She closed her eyes for a moment, reigning in her desire to rip me to shreds. Not that it'd work, mind you, but it's a good sign. Sighing, she's back to a small smile. "Well, it's business risk. Rather, we should be thanking you for letting us off."
'If you're this mellow all the time, I would've develop a crush on you, you know?' I half-jokingly thought.
Instead, I went for her weakness.
"You're a fine woman, Leone."
I looked at her straight in the eyes, without hypnotism this time.
"H-Huh?" Her composure cracked. "Wha-Wha-What are you saying? Jeez!"
She tried to regain her stance, but her face turned scarlet. A woman like her... she's experienced much. I'm sure, despite her youth, her spirit had become jaded after dealing in this world for too long. Someone like her was always weak to sincerity and innocence...
It's a compliment she's heard often, but said with spontaneity and conviction like I just did, it left a different mark on her heart. If only I had this knowledge back in my youth, my dream would've been achieved easier... Even so, using words to manipulate someone's heart so coldly and mathematically always left a bad taste in my mouth, however results are important.
"Do I look like I'm lying?" I pressed onwards, cornering her for a KO. Staring straight into her eyes, which were trying desperately not to look at my face, I piled on the combintations.
"You put up a strong front, playing the big sister role for others beside you. I understand it very well; after all, who wouldn't want to protect their precious family? So, you try to be playful, to be cheerful, just to reassure them that 'it's all good'.
"Looking at you, people always have misconceptions and misunderstandings. They think you're brash, rude, and uncontrollable... And even your teammates think so too, right?"
To that question, she didn't even try to retort.
"You're loyal, brave, beautiful..." She went red to her ears, still looking away from me. "Strong... caring... an alcoholic." I get a punch to the arm for that one.
I pulled her closer, forcing her to look at me. At this point, I could care less of what the other guests thought about us.
Gone was her confidence, in her place, a meek, shy woman. The image gap was huge from the tease she she presents herself as.
"Night Raid is lucky to have you." I finish
I stand up, leaving some coins to pay for the bill. I made a gesture to leave. "It was a pleasure talking to you Leone, I hope we can meet again in the future."
XxXx
Just after I left, I saw Tatsumi finally making it to the bar. Regarding the traffickers, I decided to leave it to those two. When I was... chatting with Leone, I noticed a small bag in her trouser's pocket. It had a small logo on it, one I recognized as the brand of drugs used in the red light district to dope the prostitutes there, from the information I gathered.
Okay, buttering up and seducing her like that was low, I admit. I just wanted to sincerely make amends for my actions, and I... ended up going with the flow. Being on her good side was only meant to have her put in a good word for me, to improve my relationship with Night Raid. I could only hope it wouldn't distract her from her mission.
Thinking about it more deeply, I resisted the urge to bang my face to the nearest solid object. Repeatedly.
Now, it'd be a waste to just went home like this. Maybe I could patrol the area? Night Raid often did it, according to some sources, so I'd like to try my hand at it.
Killing intent.
My body instinctively turned around and head towards the source. My head's already formulating plans to ensure maximum survival for everyone, all the while limiting my Prana output to a minimum for stealth.
It's a wide park. There's three young girls and... a dog?
One girl had pink hair tied into twintails, with pink eyes and a pink dress, the only article that wasn't pink was the black leggings that she had on. Her small body was carrying a gun one-and-a-half her size, showing her tremendous physical ability. The girl beside her was Night Raid's Sheele, recognizable from the some new wanted posters around town. Some people from my old world might scream 'Power Rangers' at their colour-matching getup, as the taller woman wore all purple. Of course, her Teigu, the scissor Extase, wasn't purple, as was Pumpkin the gun, held by all-pink girl.
I was a bit hysterical about their choice of clothing. What's with their taste in clothes?! Aren't they assassins!? Pink and purple don't really blend in with the dark...
The last girl had the garb of an Imperial Guard. She had auburn hair tied into a ponytail that flowed to her lower back with amber eyes. It seemed the dog belonged to her.
I remember... there's the infamous biological Teigu owned by the Empire, Hekatonkheires. I had to admit, the dog was a far cry from the hundred-armed guardian giant from the Greek mythology, so I was confused at first.
It showed one of its capabilities by enlarging itself, making it looked like a Hulk-puppy.
Much as my desire to keep Night Raid's combat potential from dwindling, I decided to stand back and observe them. I'd assessed Tatsumi, Akame, Leone, and Lubbock, so the both of them piqued my curiosity.
Oh, how I would regret it later.
XxXx
Mine is the rear support, while Sheele is the vanguard.
It's a mistake to yell out your comrade's name in the heat of battle, especially if you're a member of a secret squad. Fools.
Really, my expectations for Night Raid has become a roller-coaster.
The petite Mine fires her gun at the dog, but it shrugs it off and regenerates quickly. Sheele tries to overwhelm and cut apart the Imperial Guard in front of her, wielding the giant scissor with incredible dexterity, but the other person keeps her at medium range with a mixture of guns and prostethic parts. It's a balanced tag-team battle, so it can only develop into a battle of attrition.
Unless... one of them is holding the balance-breaker.
Pumpkin increases its firepower the more danger its user is in, so Mine's baiting Hekatonkheires and luring it around, always managing to escape at the last second with a powerful blast. The dog's stamina is slowly crumbling down, faster than the petite assassin's, and the fight begins to tip towards Night Raid's advantage.
Frustratingly, Sheele's Teigu is incredibly one-dimensional. Its main strength is its invincibility to damage, with its trump card being a flashbang. A strictly close-quarters weapon. The curvy woman is handling it extremely well, but because of Extase's limitation, she's spending far too long to finish her part of the fight.
Far, far too long.
"KORO! SECRET SKILL, BERSERKER!"
'A very fitting name for a skill.'
Similar to Mad Enhancement, the Teigu's body begins to redden and bulge larger. Regarding the effects to its mental capabilities, well, I'm not sure it's smart to begin with...
What's evident is it's sudden increase in speed and strength. It manages to catch Mine off guard, cutting off her movements in a blink of an eye. It swings its arm, catching her, and if that log-sized thing squeezes her small body... it'll be gruesome.
Mine's only chance is for Sheele to kill its owner, forcing the mad dog into dormancy.
In a display of immaturity, however, the purple-clad woman rushes in and cuts Hekatonkheires's arm.
'She's an idiot.'
I'm contemplating jumping in.
Too late.
In slow motion, i see a gun appears from the Guard's mouth, barrel smoking. Sheele's stomach has a red spot in it that's growing larger. Before I can throw my Black Keys, a humongous jaw bites her in half.
I look into her eyes.
"Save... her.."
That's not a request I can deny. My time with the Church has influenced me at least enough to honor a dying request.
A blinding light explodes from Extase in her hand.
The surrounding Imperial Guards drop dead from a Black Key through each of their heads. Before Mine's body touches the ground, i catch her bridal-style in a flash, then activate Prana Burst to disappear from the scene.
Just from being in that thing's grasp, Mine's arms, torso, and right leg is badly damaged. Not critical, but enough to send a normal person into a shock.
Turns out, it's not the physical injury that I should be concerned with.
"-ee... She... eel..."
She's screaming, moaning, whimpering, sobbing, all in the same time. Like a broken record, the mix of voices keeps on playing, until she passed out on her own.
The good news... well, I don't have to slow down to prevent further internal injuries, since her physical conditioning as an assassin is top-notch. That's good.
Right?
I don't bother with the doors, instead choosing to go through the window of the guest room.
My subordinates' response time deserves praise, but I instantly bark for warm water and clean towels, sending them sprawling to follow my orders. Yoru arrives with a medical kit, but I dismiss him to stand guard on the mansion's perimeter.
'This'll be cutting it close...!'
"Left Arm – Xanadu Matrix!"