"Touya, look at this." = Normal speech.

'Touya, look at this.' = Thoughts/Telepathy.

(One hour later.) = Time skip.

"Come forth, fire!" = Chanting.

[Kingdom of Belfast] = Title/Place/Rank/Weapon Name.

{Gate} = Spell name.

=-=-=-=-=-X-=-=-=-=-=

(In the [Silver Moon Inn].)

"Jeez, just how many null magic spells are there." Touya sighed, closing the book he had been reading for hours.

It had been roughly a week since their trip from [Alephis], and during that time frame, they were able to register Yae in the guild and get her up to speed. Now being the same rank as them after a few quests together, boosting her rank up.

Now, they're a balanced team with Elze and Yae as vanguards, Linze for back support and Touya who can fill any role when the situation calls for it.

And thanks to Yae, their workload had gotten lighter with another pair of hands, so now they could finish a quest faster which left some days free. This was one such day.

It was a rainy day so they all agreed to postpone their adventuring, so to pass the time, he decided to read the book Linze lent him. Though after thoroughly reading it for hours, most of them were nothing noteworthy and were more for some gimmicky uses. But he might use them at a later date, for now, he only had four out of the many that caught his eyes.

"So far, only four from the various null spells here I consider useful." Enchanting a fire spell, Touya played with the fireball in his hands and then dispelled it afterwards.

The four aforementioned were {Modeling} , {Enchant} , {Paralyze} and {Search} . There was also {Multiple} which lets him chant multiple times of the same spell.

That was definitely going to be useful, like buffing himself with {Boost} and {Power Rise} multiple times or chanting elemental spells without having to do them repeatedly.

He was also experimenting whether or not he could recreate other magic from franchises he knew. Their buffing magic specifically.

Buffing is an essential mechanic that he intends to abuse without a second thought.

Yawning, Touya stretched out and cracked his knuckles, he took one last glance at the book and took his coat, putting it on, and left his room. While he was disappointed about the null spells, he still learned quite a few so it wasn't a huge loss of time.

Like this morning when he tested {Modeling}, using it to create a Shogi Board and pieces. That was a good use of his time. He also thought of making a few more things from his world but decided against it for now.

Walking down the stairs, Touya was greeted with the sight of Barral and Dolan, Micah's father, playing shogi. Both were pretty engrossed in their match that they didn't even notice his arrival.

'Huh, they're really into shogi.' Touya smiled, ever since he taught them to play the board game, they've been playing it since the early morning.

"Hey guys, having fun?" Touya greeted, the two older men finally took notice of him and waved back.

"By the way, Barral-san, will your shop be okay?" He asked, the man in question nodded.

"With this rain, there won't be any customers." Barral told him, "Besides that, can I ask you a favor, Touya?"

"Hm? Sure."

"Could you make one more shogi set for me? Simon at the tool shop said he wanted one too, please?" Barral asked. Wanting to give his friend something.

"Sure, I don't mind." Touya took a seat next to a table across from the duo.

"Thank you, really-"

"Checkmate!" Dolan declared, while Barral was busy talking with Touya he didn't realize he lost.

"The hell?!"

Touya shook his head, Barral said that didn't count because he was distracted, so he wanted a rematch. Micah came carrying a plate of food and a mug for Touya.

"Thank you for waiting." She set the meal down and stared at her father, "Would you guys give it a rest already?"

Touya asked the female owner where the others were, she said that Linze was in her room reading some books she brought from the capital while Elze and Yae were out buying something.

"In this rain?" Touya inquired, finishing his meal.

"They went to buy [Parent]'s new sweet." She answered, Touya hummed, so Aer finished the recipe he gave her already.

One of the first things Touya recreated from his old world was ice cream, Aer, who was Miach's friend, asked them what kind of sweets they could give her to add to her menu lineup.

Touya made the ice cream recipe and it was a huge success, now he remade vanilla roll cake with the vanilla being from a weird fruit he found that had the same properties as vanilla. So, giving her the recipe, he was pleasantly surprised it got popular so quickly. It hasn't even been a day yet.

Touya decided to engage in a bit of idle talk with Micah when Elze and Yae finally came back from [Parent].

"We're back!"

"We have returned."

Turning his attention to the newcomers, Touya welcomed them back and asked them how their trip was.

"We're soaked, for one thing." Elze told him, drying her hair, "Second, we bought the roll cakes!"

"It was delicious," Yae added.

"Right?" Elze agreed.

'Is that why you guys took so long?' Touya wondered, what was it with women and sweets? The two girls then began handing out the sweets they bought to each other and to Micah, leaving just one box left.

"Hey, Touya, this last one is for the Duke, can you give it to him?" Elze requested.

Touya raised an eyebrow, why would they ask him for that? It's not like he's a delivery boy.

"Huh? Why me?" Touya countered.

"Because, you have {Gate} and who else is gonna go in this rain?" Elze reasoned.

"Well why don't you join me?" He complained, both girls shook their heads, shooting down the idea.

"Nope."

"I would rather not."

Touya tsked, looking like he was outnumbered, he just opted to sigh and asked for the box so he could take it to the Duke. Elze handed him the last sweet roll and booked it along with Yae.

Touya sighed and opened {Gate}, walking through it and meeting with the Duke again.

=-=-=-=-=-X-=-=-=-=-=

"So good! This is so good!" Sue squealed, taking another mouthful of sweet cakes into her mouth.

Just like him, the Duke and his family were stuck in their home to wait out the rain and were pleasantly surprised that Touya appeared, although there was a little accident when the on-site guards tried to apprehend him, thinking he was an assassin.

Thankfully, the Duke cleared up any mishaps and misunderstandings, asking Touya why he was here and how. Seeing as it was no reason to lie about it, he told Alfred he could use {Gate}.

The Duke was impressed, he heard of the null spell but has never come across anyone who could use it, but now here was one such person. Touya then told him he was here to visit and handed them sweet cake rolls.

They easily loved the sugary treats, Sue moreso, most likely because she was young or because of her sweet tooth, either way, she loved it immediately.

"That's not very lady-like, Sue." Her mother playfully scolded her, but she too was beaming at the sweet taste in her mouth, "But I'll let it slide, this sweet roll cake is very delicious."

"Agreed, I wish I could eat this anytime I want." Alfred agreed, taking another bite out of his roll.

"I mean, I can just give you the recipe, it's not that much of a secret, that way you can have your cooks make it how many times you want." Touya offered, sipping on the tea Leim prepared for him.

"Really, Touya?!" Sue blurted out, "Mother! Now we can eat this every day!"

"Oh, Sue." Ellen giggled, "If you eat it every day, you'd get fat, so limit yourself to every other day."

' I don't think that'll be any different.' Touya smiled, letting the mother-daughter duo figure it out themselves.

He then gave the Duke a shogi board as a souvenir. Alfred inspected the item and was curious about what it was.

Smiling, Touya told him how it works and how to play it, Sue wanted to join in but her father assured her that she'll get to play after he was finished. Pouting, she obeyed and ate her sweets in the meantime.

Touya then showed Alfred step-by-step how to play before they could have a match, confident, the Duke requested a real match and Touya obliged.

However…

"Once more! Let's play one more game!" Alfred exulted, joyfully pleading with Touya to play again, "The next one will be the last!"

Instead of a quick one match, Alfred continued to play a rematch with him,

"You said the same thing last time…" Touya groaned, mentally exhausted as Alfred was only getting more and more fired up.

His eyes fell on Sue's sleeping form, she tried to stay awake so she could finally take her turn, but the waiting eventually bored her out and caused her to sleep.

Touya smiled, she looked cute while sleeping but then frowned, realizing that because this world was medieval in setting, there wasn't much entertainment.

"Hey, Duke Alfred." Touya began.

"Touya, I said it before. We're not in a formal setting, just call me Alfred." He restated.

"Right, right, Alfred." The adventurer nodded, "What forms of entertainment are there?"

"Hmm…" Alfred pondered, recalling what would fall under the category of entertainment, "Well, other than the occasional festival, gatherings, and celebrations. Not much, why do you ask?"

"Nothing, just wondering." Touya smiled, checkmating Alfred's king while he was distracted with his question, "Checkmate."

"Gah?!" Alfred choked, surprised by the sudden loss of his king.

Touya smirked triumphantly while a downcast Alfred was on the floor on his knees, cursing as he was soundly defeated once again.

"It seems I am no match…" Alfred admitted to himself, getting up to his feet and gazing straight into Touya's eyes, "Touya Mochizuki! I may admit defeat today, but heed my words, one day I will defeat you in shogi! I swear in my name as Alfred Ernea Ortlinde!"

He then dramatically pointed at him, laughing awkwardly at the Duke's declaration of war, Touya decided to humor him and struck a dramatic pose.

"Very well! Duke!" Touya began, "I humbly await when we clash armies once again! Until then, the name Touya Mochizuki shall haunt your nightmares!"

Both men huffed after their respective declaration, and after seconds passed, both men broke into a laugh, they shook hands and said their conclusions to another great match of shogi.

Whether directly or indirectly, Touya has gained a rival in shogi, one who would keep his skills sharp not only in the board game but also in real life.

However, that was a tale for another time, let's get back to the present.

"Haha! Thank you so much for showing me the art of shogi, Touya!" Alfred laughed, thanking the young man who introduced him to another form of entertainment.

"No problem." Touya nodded, happy to show another person the joys of shogi.

"Would it be too much to ask if you could make one for my brother?" Alfred inquired, Touya smiled and said that it wouldn't be too much of a hassle.

=-=-=-=-=-X-=-=-=-=-=

(In the [Eastern Forest].)

A day had passed, the rain stopped and now Touya, along with Yae, were in the [Eastern Forest].

"I must thank you again for accepting to be my sparring partner, Touya-Dono." Yae huffed. She was drenched in sweat after an intense sparring match.

Why?

Because after showing her the video on his phone, Yae wanted to practice right away, however, the problem was that no one in [Reflet] was skilled enough nor had the time to help her.

Downcasted, Touya offered to be her sparring partner which promptly got the samurai perk up, happy to spar with a fellow countryman - to her knowledge - as well as a fellow swordsman even if he primarily used a yari and had his katana as a sidearm.

"No problem, Yae." Touya smiled, sitting next to her while he dried himself off of the sweat.

While he initially offered to spar with her so he could get better with his katana, as they spend more and more time together, Touya actually sparred with her more as a bonding experience rather than just improving his swordcraft.

He had to admit, he learned a lot more of the sword after sparring with Yae, while Touya was confident he could beat her when it came to an actual one-on-one with all their equipment, when it came to just swordplay he was outmatched.

While she was leagues more skilled than Touya was when it came to swords, he was just faster and stronger which closed the gap enough to a stalemate. But he felt himself steadily closing the gap in skills as well, he wouldn't be surprised if he won a match one of these days.

In the meantime, he was just about to use {Gate} to get them back to the [Silver Moon Inn] but Yae's voice calling out to him stopped him in his tracks.

"Touya-dono, I have been meaning to ask you something." Yae inquired after she finished drying herself off, "Ever since you suggested we spar in this forest, you seem… Distracted at times."

He raised an eyebrow at the question, while yes he originally intended the offer to boost his sword skills there was also another reason why he wanted to spar in the [Eastern Forest].

Ever since he first used {Gate} to get here, he felt a nagging feeling that someone was watching him, at first he thought it was just some [Horned Wolves], but he knew the difference between an animal and a human's gaze.

But as he and Yae sparred more and more in the forest, it never went away, Touya originally tried to find the source of it but it would immediately vanish like it was never there.

It still got Touya to scratch his head in confusion.

"I'll be honest, ever since we sparred here, I keep getting the nagging feeling that we were being watched," Touya answered truthfully.

"In that case, why not use [Search] to find the culprit?" She suggested, wondering why he hadn't used it in the first place.

"Would you want me to?" Touya asked, while he did think of that, he wanted to know if Yae wanted to go for it, for all they know it could just be a goose chase, "We just finished sparring, do you want to search for our culprit?"

Yae nodded, even if it took the entire day, it's not like they have something important to do anyways.

With no objections, Touya pulled out his phone and enchanted it with {Search} and used it to find their staring culprit.

However, surprisingly, it didn't work, nothing came up on his phone which left him confused, letting out a sigh of frustration.

"Is something the matter, Touya-dono?" Worried at his uncharacteristic silence, Yae asked if he was alright.

"Yeah, yeah, seems like we'll just have to find the culprit the old fashion way," Touya reassured her, placing his phone back into his pockets and went to equip his gauntlets and boots.

Thankfully he could just use {Long Sense}, so he just zoned in on where he felt the staring was coming from and found out that it was inside of a cave.

He informed Yae where it was and told her to get ready, they might have to fight in the coming future, nodding, the samurai walked side by side with him and they made their way to the cave.

The trek there was mostly uneventful, however, the nagging feeling got stronger the closer Touya and Yae were to the cave.

Standing just outside the entrance to it, Touya and Yae looked at each other for confirmation, when none of them was gonna have any second thoughts they both went in, hoping for the best.

"Hehe… "

Upon entering the cave, both adventurers heard an ominous giggle.

It sent them on edge, Yae had her hand hovering over her katana just in case, while Touya was readying to pull out his yari, however, in such an enclosed space he might find it hard to swing his lengthier weapon around.

Relaxing himself, Touya marched onwards, there's no use finding their answers here just standing around. Yae fell in line and continued their journey deeper into the cave.

Touya summoned a light source using light magic as it started to get darker the deeper they went in. Despite the shining light in his hands, Touya felt as if the walls of the cave were still too dark. As if it was endless.

Thankfully, the further they went, they encountered another light source that wasn't the one Touya made.

It was a trail of torches leading through a cavern.

"...I have a bad feeling about this, Touya-dono," Yae warned him, her hands now on the hilt of her katana.

The feeling was mutual, Touya still had that nagging feeling and it was stronger than ever.

As they followed the trail of torches, it inevitably led them to a giant sealed door.

The sealed door was adorned with some sort of ancient writing. Touya tried to figure out what it said but he couldn't. Yae meanwhile decided to keep watch, watching their backs as Touya tried to decipher the writing.

'Now, how does this work…' He hummed, trying his best to open the seal.

'Turn the circle.'

"Huh?"

Touya looked around, trying to find who whispered those words but all he saw were the torches and Yae looking at him confused.

She asked him what was wrong but he just shook his head and went back to the door.

Using what the voice suggested, Touya started to find a circle he could turn, after seconds of searching, he found it, he pressed the circle and then proceeded to turn it clockwise.

Once he did, the door rumbled, Yae turned back and unsheathed her katana, ready for whatever would burst through the door once it was open.

As the door fully opened, a large gust of wind appeared, Yae would've been blown away had Touya not grabbed her hand and planted his yari deep into the cavern floor.

"Um… You can let me go now, Touya-dono."

Once the wind died down, Touya still held Yae's hand however when he pulled her close to him it ended up having her body close to his to shield her against the wind.

Letting her go, Yae coughed into her hand as she fought down the blush threatening to appear on her face, while Touya sighed, her body was surprisingly soft despite her training but he kept that to himself.

When they finally calmed down, they strode forward, entering the room that the sealed door was keeping shut.

Inside was a large space, with a creak of light illuminating from the top, shining down on a pedestal with a black scythe chained onto it. There was a red and gold carpet running down towards it with a lineup of weirdly shaped suits of armor.

Touya and Yae looked at each other, she asked him if he could search up and see if there were any traps laying around. He nodded and used his phone to search for any of them.

Finding none, they then stepped forwards toward the pedestal, on their guard for anything. The closer they got to it the stronger the ominous feeling got. Touya was readying a spell just in case something jumped them.

Yae approached the armor, inspecting it, she had never seen these kinds of armor before and something about them was… Interesting to say the least. They must be enchanted if there was no rust or erosion to be seen.

Meanwhile, Touya scanned his surroundings, the moment he entered the room the feeling of being watched was gone but the ominous feeling was still there, but he couldn't locate where it was coming from.

Nonetheless, he continued to search for it even if it came to ultimately be fruitless. On the other hand, Yae stepped closer to the scythe. It shone as the light reflected off the blade part of the weapon.

Its blade was colored in black with what seemed to be blood on the sharp end, Yae skimmed her finger on its surface and found out that the blood-red color was more or less decoration than anything, white wrapping around its handle. Looking down she saw a small amaryllis flower.

Just as she was about to pick it up, she suddenly felt a shiver down her spine.

"Hehe… It's playtime!"

A second ago, Yae was just about to touch a flower ornament, the next, she was on the ground looking up as Touya fought to hold back a scythe blade that was threatening to slice her.

Yae was a literal hair away from getting her head sliced off, case in point as a strand of her hair floated down in her view.

"Ooh~! You're fast and strong!" Said a young-looking girl, her outfit was a gothic red and black dress, a psychotic smile on her face. In her hands was the scythe that was previously chained to the pedestal now freed.

Her piercing crimson-colored eyes gazed deep into both their souls, it sent shivers down their spines.

Even with Touya's defiance, he was actually struggling to hold the assailant's weapon off him. Despite her appearance as a young girl, her strength was incredible and nothing to scoff at. In fact, Touya was glad he bought the [Herculean Gauntlets] because if he didn't he would've been thrown away like a rag doll.

Quickly getting over her shock, Yae stood back on her feet and proceeded to slash away at the enemy. She smirked, expertly twirling her scythe and blocking the strikes with ease. When she decided to fight back, Yae had a hard time trying to dodge the scythe's blade, each strike she dodged. she could feel the air pressure it left behind. And when the scythe slammed to the ground it broke the floor.

Yae jumped back, trying to get some distance between her and the opponent, but she was relentless in her pursuit. The assailant swung her scythe in a wide arc, forcing Yae to block with her katana but the strength behind the swing was too much and threw her away.

Twisting in the air, Yae managed to land on her feet, trying to rebalance herself and defend against another attack, unfortunately, it came too soon as a shadow was looming over her. She looked up and saw the assailant in the air, her scythe about ready to come crashing down. Yae dodged away as the scythe made an impact with the ground, destroying it.

Debris flew everywhere, forcing Yae to shield her eyes, but when she did it left her wide open to the assailant. Grinning, she was about to slice the samurai in half, only to get interrupted by her partner.

"Strike true, Light! Sparkling Holy Lance: Shining Javelin!" Pointing in a finger gun gesture, Touya's light spell was flung towards the assailant.

Of course, she dodged out of the way, but another one struck her shoulder while she was airborne, causing her to whine in pain. Quick thinking on Touya's part to use {Multiple} in conjunction with {Shining Javelin} to create a perfect flanking shot.

"Muuu~ No fair! Trying to hit me while I was distracted!" She complained, taking the javelin made out of light out of her shoulder, a second later a white flame cauterized her wound.

"So is surprise attacking us, but fighting never involves being fair huh?" Touya quipped, brandishing his yari towards the assailant.

"True, then how about this?" She then disappeared from sight, Touya's eyes widened as he quickly turned around and brought his yari to block a swing from the assailant. "Well now, I'm impressed you could even see that."

Hissing at her comment, Touya mustered up his strength and pushed her scythe away, creating an opening, he tried to thrust his spear into her flesh only for her to easily avoid it.

So began a dance between the two, when their weapons met sparks flew, painting the air like it was a canvas. The strength behind each strike was immense. Each one struck faster than the eye could see.

'...I'm glad I enchanted my weapons when I had the chance…' Touya mused, dodging a swing and countering with a thrust. His yari was holding up quite considerably, owing to its increased durability via {Enchant}. Had he not done so, his spear would've snapped on the first clash.

"This is fun!" The assailant remarked, weaving away from a thrust and answering with a quick swing.

"Fun? How is this fun to you?" Touya scowled, twirling his spear and blocking a series of swings.

"Because!" Blocking a swing from him, she pushed it away and tried to slam her scythe down onto him, "This is my first fight in such a long time!"

Not commenting on that, Touya quickly chanted a light spell, and a bright light emerged. The assailant whined as she was blinded by it which gave ample time for Touya to thrust his spear forwards. Unfortunately, even when she was blinded, her instincts helped her dodge the thrust, albeit with some difficulty. Not wanting to waste the time he took to chant a spell, Touya proceeded to fling the assailant away with a side kick to the chest.

Coincidentally enough, he kicked her towards Yae who was running toward them, seeing that their paths would meet. She tried to slash her while in midair, and although it was a good idea, the assailant simply twisted her body and swiftly avoided the slash. Using the momentum of her dodge, she kicked Yae's back and flung her towards Touya. He rushed to catch her and although he caught her, they still crashed into each other on the ground.

Using his strength, Touya was able to cushion the fall and stand upright, carrying Yae in a princess carry.

"You okay, Yae?" Touya asked, worried about her breaking anything during the fall.

"Yes, I'm quite alright, Touya-dono." Yae nodded.

"Wow, I'm jealous."

Remembering that they were not alone, the two hurriedly separated as they took a fighting stance.

Their opponent giggled, her scythe's blade buried into the ground and using the handle as a makeshift chair, swaying her feet.

"Just who are you anyway? Why attack us out of the blue?" Touya inquired, surely there was a reason why this girl would attack them.

"Well, firstly, I'm Sally, [Sally, The Red Lotus]." Introducing herself and doing a mock bow, "Secondly, I've been watching you two for a while now and decided to have a little fun!"

"Is… Is that all ? You only wish to cross blades for fun ?" Yae narrowed her eyes, frowning at the carefree manner Sally's reasons for attacking them.

"Pretty much." Sally nodded, hopping off her scythe and getting it out of the ground, "You have no idea how long I've been stuck in this godforsaken cage. Bored out of my mind for the past thousand years."

"Occasionally, I get to watch adventurers do their first quest here, killing wolves, but it gets boring after a while y'know?" Smiling, she continued, "So imagine my surprise when you two came back and started sparring here. I thought, oh hey those two look fun Imma watch!"

"But eventually, I got bored of watching and decided, I want to have some fun too! So here we are!" Sally explained, her grin widening.

Touya and Yae were dumbfounded, so all this trouble was so she could have some fun?! Just how inconsiderate was she to think attacking people was fun?

"...You're insane." Touya retorted. Yae nodded in agreement.

"Meh, not the first time I've been called that." Sally shrugged, not affected by the insult.

"But enough about me, let's continue our game!" Sally grinned, brandishing her scythe, "And I thought, how about we up the ante? If I win, you die."

"And if we win?" Touya remarked.

"You get to do whatever you want with me." Sally's grin widened, "Oh, and don't try to use {Gate}, The moment you entered this room I already set up a barrier, I may not be good at magic but I'm not exactly weak at it."

Case in point, when Touya tried to use {Gate} to get out of there with Yae, he found out that he couldn't, growling in annoyance, Touya and Yae briefly glanced at each other. No words were said but they already understood the plan.

Touya kept his eyes on Sally. Yae on the other hand had her sword positioned to block and redirect at a moment's notice.

Seeing the two ready to engage in combat, Sally twirled her scythe around to point at their general direction and prepared for her onslaught.

The three combatants stared each other down, looking for the faintest of movements.

Just then the faint drop of water echoed through the room. Taking that as their cue. All three rushed down each other.

Yae was surprised she was able to cover this much distance in so little time, but she brushed it off, focusing on the task at hand. Unbeknownst to her, Touya was the one who buffed her speed to at least keep up with him, using a buffing skill he recreated from a game, {Heat Riser}.

Touya went ahead of Yae and clashed blades with Sally, the impact from their weapons meeting sent a shockwave that rumbled the cavern in its wake. They engaged in combat, their swings a blur to the naked eye while sparks flew with every hit. The brief exchange went into a stalemate, both combatants in a dreadlock. Jumping from behind Touya, Yae swung her sword down onto Sally, she backed off from the dreadlock and parried the strike away from her.

Not wanting to let her get the chance to counterattack, Touya joined in, he threw a series of thrusts that were so fast they were a blur to the naked eye, but Sally was able to block all of them with ease. Yae came from behind her and tried to strike her while she was distracted. Only for it to be fruitless as Sally already saw the attack coming and parried accordingly, wanting to get some breathing room, she spun her scythe and swung in a wide arc. Forcing her opponents to back off lest they get cut in half.

Sally went for Yae, thinking of her as the weakest link that would break their chain of focus. She was somewhat surprised to find out that Yae was able to hold out, the samurai was actually keeping up which Sally found interesting.

'She's gotten faster.' The assailant mused, ducking under slash.

They clashed blades. Yae jumped over a low swing from Sally and slashed her midair. The assailant blocked it and tried to swing again but by then Yae's feet had already touched the ground. Yae re-engaged once again. Her speed catches Sally off-guard, barely having enough time to react in order to bring her scythe up to prevent a sword thrust.

From the multiple times they had clashed blades with each other, Yae was steadily getting to understand a bit of the assailant's attack patterns. Frowning, Sally was just about to up her game when Touya came to her side and thrust his yari forward. She did avoid it of course, but that only served to line her up for Yae's slash which she managed to block. Even if she got faster, Sally was leagues quicker in reaction speed.

Not forgetting about the other one, Sally twirled her scythe and moved Yae's blade out the way in order to parry Touya's thrust. They regrouped with each other and then synchronized their attacks. Touya started it off with a swing and then Yae came around with a slash. When one backed off the other would engage.

This forced Sally to pay attention double time as both were perfectly in sync with their attacks and she was actually having a hard time trying to counter a prolonged fight with the two at the same time, nonetheless, but she was grinning from ear to ear. A sidestep to avoid a thrust from Touya, Sally parried away Yae's attempt at striking her. Now that they were into the fight, Sally finally decided to let loose. Adding her powers into her strikes.

White, fiery flames combusted out of her scythe, this caused Yae and Touya to back off. Sally brandished her scythe and charged.

This time aiming for Touya. She went for an overhead slash and their weapons met, another shockwave and the ground beneath Touya broke from the mere pressure. Touya grunted, pushing the limits of his strength and gauntlets as he held back the overwhelming strength Sally had. He silently chanted a water spell, {Ice Javelins} began to form behind him and shot towards Sally.

This unfortunately did not go the way he expected as the ice spell melted away from the intense heat Sally's flames gave off. Frowning at the news, Touya twirled his spear and used all his strength to kick Sally away from him. The kick launched her a few feet away from him, Yae took the chance and attacked while Sally was in midair, not falling for the same trick twice, Yae swiftly avoided the kick and returned with her own, hitting Sally square in the stomach.

Grabbing Yae's leg, Sally pulled her close and headbutted her to the ground, Yae's back slammed into the ground dazed but recovered quickly in order to roll to the side and avoid a scythe's blade. Using her downed position, Yae swept kicked Sally's legs, causing her to crash down to the ground. Both combatants stood back to their feet and clashed once again.

Yae tried her hardest to avoid the fiery white flames as she did not want to find out how much they would hurt. However, she was eventually backed into a corner as she neglected to account for Sally's proficiency in her scythe skills and so a blade was headed straight towards her, aiming to slice her head clean off.

'I must try it now!' Yae huffed, and the world slowly came to a halt, even Sally momentarily stopped in her tracks.

Yae closed her eyes, focusing on all her energy into this one attack.

Then, they opened .

She quickly unsheathed her katana and sliced through Sally's defenses and just as quickly sheathing her sword back with a click.

A second later, multiple slashes appeared on Sally, each one cutting through her and causing massive amounts of damage. Coughing up blood, Sally was able to recover quickly enough and swung her scythe in a wide arc, Yae tried to block it but the sheer force behind the strike flung her across the room.

"YAE!" Touya yelled.

"Ahhh!" Screaming as she was thrown around like a rag doll, Yae landed hard into the ground.

Touya tried to run towards her but a pillar of white flames stopped him in his tracks. It was Sally, her hand outstretched in his direction, breathing heavily as that one attack Yae inflicted a lot more damage than she anticipated.

Yet, she wasn't mad, she was more delighted if anything.

"Now… That was exhilarating." Sally exulted, running her bloody hand through her face. White flames are already getting to work on healing and closing her wounds. Giggling to herself, Sally brandished her scythe towards Yae's fallen form, "Count yourself a lucky winner, samurai! You're the first in a thousand years to actually harm me!"

Yae groaned, wobbly standing to her feet, the crash did a number to her but she was steadily recovering from it. Just as she was about to join Touya again, a wall of flames erupted from the ground and denied her movement.

"What is this!" Yae yelled, trying to slash the flames away only for her sword to bounce off it.

"Sorry but right now I need some alone time with Mr. Spear over here. Just sit tight okay?" Sally sang, her eyes directly on Touya as he prepared his weapon and for another clash.

He recast {Heat Riser} on himself along with {Boost} and {Power Rise}. And just like before, Sally disappeared.

Turning around like last time, Touya thrust his spear but it only hit the air as an afterimage of Sally dispensed, ducking under a swing, he rolled away. Creating distance between him and his opponent.

Sally went on the offense, slashing and swinging with ferocity, sparks flew every time she had her strikes blocked or parried. She added her flames into the mix, keeping her target on his toes. Ducking from a swing, Touya redirected another one away from him and thrust his yari forward, hitting Sally's scythe as she quickly spun her momentum around to block it. Her weapon combusted which forced him to back off from it.

She charged forward, dodging a stab and leaving an afterimage, Touya tried to predict her movements but he kept lagging behind a second as all he hit was nothing but air. When he did get ahead of her, she swung her scythe, forcing him to block only to get flung away like Yae.

He tried to recorrect himself in the air but Sally was already behind him, quickly bringing up his weapon, he met her scythe again and just like before he was flung around, this time he was thrown to the ground, destroying a portion of it. Groaning, Touya rolled over to the side, narrowly avoiding Sally's scythe. He flung another barrage of {Shining Javelin} spells which she blocked by twirling her scythe around, creating a cyclone.

Touya seized the moment, thrusting his yari forward and catching the scythe in its tracks, not letting it go, he pushed forwards forcing Sally to backpedal as she was still holding onto her weapon. With an opening presenting itself, Touya moved his yari to the side, forcing Sally's to do the same as he headbutted her and then followed up with a side kick.

Staggered, but not out, Sally, with a surprising amount of strength, violently forced her scythe out of the dreadlock, debris flying everywhere. Sally took this brief moment of distraction and swung her scythe, a series of slashes and swings commenced, Touya tried to block them all but each one was fast and strong. Some broke through his defense, like the one huge gush on his chest.

Now he was the one on the defensive. Sally's onslaught grew more ferocious, and he couldn't even get a hit in as she took every chance she could get to swing away at him. To make matters worse, Sally fully incorporated her flames and shadows into her fighting style, so now Touya had to not only defend against her physical attacks but her magical attacks too.

Case in point, Sally slammed her scythe into the ground and it combusted, white flames erupted and grazed Touya's clothing, only saved but his coat's fire and magical resistance. He backed off, trying to reorient himself but Sally wouldn't let him, relentlessly pursuing him. Just then, she appeared behind him with a smirk on her face.

"Hey, how does this feel?" Sally remarked, kicking Touya's back hard and flinging him across the cavern. She giggled, finally getting one in after she got kicked multiple times.

Stopping himself from being flung further, Touya planted his spear into the ground, holding onto it as his boots were skidding on the ground. He groaned. The irony of getting to be the one on the receiving end of a kick was not lost on him.

"Welp, you got something else up your sleeves, Mr. Spear?" Sally taunted. Having her fill of combat by now.

"Just one, {Slip}."

As soon as he said that, a magic circle appeared underneath Sally which made her slip rather comedically. She tried to get herself back up only to slip again. Satisfied by the spell, Touya healed himself with {Cure Heal}, stretching his body and hearing his bones crack, relieving him of the stiffness.

"That's so not fair." Sally pouted, finally out of the accursed {Slip} spell. Watching as Touya healed all of his injuries and looking good as new. Undoing all her work.

Ignoring her comment, Touya went and charged, Sally twirled her scythe and prepared to meet him head to head.

Which is exactly what he wanted her to do.

Quickly, he chanted {Gate} in front of him and went through it. Sally was surprised, but quickly jumped back, narrowly avoiding Touya's yari as it came down from top of her.

He was not letting her go, he intends to finish this fight now.

Because of this, Sally's the one who was on the backfoot. She idly noted that Touya was getting more aggressive and relentless. His speed was actually matching hers now. She blocked a swing and was surprised to find out that she got flung back. In the air, she tried to twist herself upright but the moment she did Touya was right up her face. He swung his yari down and it met her scythe, the sheer force created the biggest shockwave yet.

The air around them imploded, dust and stone thrown around, even causing a small tremor inside of the cavern and it flung Sally straight to the ground, a giant crater and debris flying everywhere. She tried to get up but Touya launched his spear and lodged itself into the ground and locked her scythe in place. While in the air, Touya unsheathed his katana and used {Gate} to quickly teleport to his downed opponent, he crouched down, pinning her right hand with his left and pointed the blade close to her neck.

"I win." Touya declared. The light above illuminates his form, his eyes glowing.

"You sure did." With a smirk on her face, Sally surprised Touya by lunging forward.

Instead of going for a kill like he thought she would, she instead wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the lips.

"!?"

"Mmmph~"

Touya was more than surprised, he was flabbergasted by the development. He tried to pry Sally off him but she only tightened her grip on him in response.

'What the fuck is going on!?'Touya yelled in his head, his protests were muffled by Sally's insistence on sucking his face.

"Touya-dono!?" Catching Yae from the corner of his eyes, she was steadily running towards them, a raging blush on her face as she drew her sword, "Unhand him!"

And as if waiting for her arrival, Sally finally pulled away, avoiding the blade and forcing Touya to bring up his arms and block it with his gauntlets.

Sally swiftly avoided Yae's attempts at slashing her, all the while laughing at her embarrassed face.

"Yae, stop." Touya reasoned, the samurai reluctantly obeyed but kept her eyes on the raven-haired assailant, "We won. She doesn't want to fight anymore."

"Now, tell me why the hell did you just kiss me." He emphasized, agaited at the fact that his first kiss was stolen by an enemy.

"How else am I supposed to make a contract with you, master?" Sally said, in an innocent tone.

"You fiend!"

"Excuse me."

Yae and Touya, respectively, had different reactions to said statement, and the latter was holding the former from actively cutting the female in front of them.

What the hell has he gotten himself into.

=-=-=-=-=-X-=-=-=-=-=

(Sometime later, in [Reflet], [Silver Moon Inn].)

"So, could you repeat what you just said?" Elze asked, rubbing her temples, as she felt a strong headache from the explanation.

"Which one, the fight or her?" Touya quipped.

"Both."

Touya sighed and began to explain the story once again.

It has been a few hours since their scuffle with Sally, who was sitting next to Touya while he explained the story, so far she was being introduced to Elze and Linze, who, unsurprisingly enough, didn't like her at all.

Which was a far cry from earlier when Touya and Yae came back from their sparring, they came back later than usual but it wasn't a raise for concern.

However, when Touya stepped out with Yae and Sally in tow. The twins were excited at the prospect of a newer addiction, but stopped when they saw how Yae was giving the stink eye at the newcomer.

And then Touya explained who she was.

And then they dislike her because of it.

Apparently, approximately one thousand years ago. Sally was an assassin who worked for a man named Ptolemaios. A dark mage who had almost enough power to take control over the world, but was foiled by a man simply known as [Red Goblin].

She was powered by the rituals within Plotemaios' cult, giving her her abilities and weapons, but she was sealed away for being too powerful and uncontrollable. She fought till her last breath and ultimately perished, but her soul still lived and was now bound to her beloved scythe.

Now, she kissed Touya and accepted her as her master which transferred the bond to him.

Yae kept her eyes on her, never once breaking contact even throughout the explanation. Still angry at what she did to her friend. Sally didn't care one bit, smiling even.

"So, this girl attacked you and Yae because she was bored, you two fought her and managed to win and now she's bonded to you by a kiss?" Elze repeated.

Touya nodded, that was basically it.

"Just what did you get yourself into…" Linze mumbled. Her gaze fell onto their newest addiction to the party. Which Sally happily returned.

If you focused hard enough, you could actually see sparks flying from her staredown with Sally.

"To be honest, I have no idea, but I'll need to talk with the Duke about this." Touya stood up, Sally following suit.

"And where do you think you're going?" Elze interrupted. Raising an eyebrow.

"To follow my master, wherever he goes I follow." Sally declared. Touya was not in the mood to argue and wanted to speak with the Duke on this matter.

"Touya, you seriously won't let her join you right?"

"Yes, I feel as if you shouldn't bring her along, Touya."

"I agree with them, Touya-dono."

All three present voiced their complaints. Protesting Sally and demanding she not join him. Touya sighed, he was too tired right now and he just wanted to get this matter resolved.

He thought of something to satisfy both sides, and came up with one.

"How about instead of that, why not come with me instead? That way you can keep an eye on her while I talk with the Duke." He compromised, while he didn't like Sally, she still needed to come with him as proof of what he was gonna say.

All three frowned but could not see any flaws with his proposal, sighing in defeat, they reluctantly agreed.

Nodding, Touya opened a {Gate} to the Duke's manor hoping to get answers to his questions.

They worked through the spell, and were just outside of the Duke's mansion, at the front gate. Touya learned his lesson from before, when he just waltzed in like he owned the place.

Just as he was about to ask the guard to let them in, the gates shot open and a carriage was just leaving which got them all to stare in curiosity.

But, instead of passing them, the carriage stopped just shy of the gate and the doors opened revealing the Duke who looked like he was in distress.

"Touya! And Party! Thank goodness!" He frantically held their arms and pulled them into his carriage, "Quick! Get in!"

"What the heck?"

"Hey! Stop pushing!?"

"I'm sorry sis!"

"There is not enough room!"

"Can't sit anywhere, I'll just take this spot!" While everyone was forcibly dragged into the carriage and couldn't find a way to sit down correctly, Sally took her chance and sat on Touya's lap.

All three girls stared daggers into her, jealous and angry while Touya was awkwardly shifting in his seat, he had to adjust for Sally's added weight.

"To think that you would visit me in a time like this!" Alfred ignored the scene in front of him, looking as if he was praying to God, which he was, "God must be allowing me to use you!"

"What are you talking about? What's going on?" Touya asked, choosing to ignore the girls in favor of what the Duke was going on about.

He stopped his prayers, looking straight into Touya's eyes. The younger man paid close attention, the atmosphere around Alfred was serious.

"My brother… Has been poisoned."

Which a bomb dropped, all of the antics inside of the carriage ceased. A deathly silence followed.

"...The King has been poisoned ?"

This day just keeps getting better and better…

=-=-=-=-=-X-=-=-=-=-=

Enter Sally, from the mobile gachapon game that got me into gachapon games, Metal Slug Attack.

Now, admittedly I have no personality to go by with her, but other than the wiki and scouring through the internet and Youtube, I just decided to make a teasing, bloodthirsty and affectionate type.

Plus she has a scythe, I love women with scythes.

EDIT: Fixed a few things, 20/12/2022.