Page 167 (2/2)

A light parting Be that as it ain without fail Gazes of trust certainly crossed each other there

This ti back, he rushed to the clock tower accompanied by Shia and Tio "Wait-" Kouki's yell could be heard toward that back, but Ryutaro's war cry that immediately resounded after that and the thunderous roar that his fist played erased that voice,it immediately inaudible

And then, Hajiuidance of the co dial of the clock tower toward another space

"Araraa, he really went away Even though it would be better if you weren't obstinate and said 'helpit bluntly, if that monster is not here then there is no problerin, Eri aze at Suzu and Shizuku who faced her

"I wonder about that Indeed, I aht now But, even we are by no means the same like before you know?"

"Ahahah, scary scary I cannot let ainst Shizuku especially isn't iiit Then, how about I call ht after that, BOOM with a thunderous roar the wreckages of the destroyed buildings at the surrounding exploded Fro up dust and scattered debris, countless silhouettes leaped and surrounded Suzu and Shizuku

"Puppet soldiers…weren't they get crushed by Nagumo-kun…"

"Fufufuh, didn't I told you There is no probleuys, their body is specially made, as expected a direct hit from missile is i at the level of the building collapsing you knooow"

Further toward Shizuku and Suzu while raising such loud screa her iron fan, deploying a net ht Ryutaro

"Ouch ouch Suzu, you saved ood yeah, that guy He is not getting it at all, about his position, what the hell he is doing right now, everything Even when I pointed out anything inconsistent, he just settled it as 'brainwash' It doesn't look like that just one or two punch gonna be enough for hi Shizukupuppet soldiers and Kouki who just landed beside Eri while asking th?"

"No doubt about it, he got soht that looks like 'Li like when he used 'Li tired at all"

"Is that so…well, we already resolved fro that there will beat the three people who confirmed the situation with a small voice, Kouki showed a sad expression and opened his ht

"Shizuku, Suzu, Ryutaro Won't you three surrender? I don't want to fight you guys You are being brainwashed, and perhaps everything I say only sounds like nonsense for you, but I, want to save everyone I will free you all froumo's curse!"

"Kouki-kun, how saaad Beetrayed by your childhood friends, even so, you still try to save them heroicallyy"

"Eri…it's fine It doesn'tas everyone is safe then that's it If I can just defeat the incarnation of evil that Nagu to be fineee! After all Iii, only Iii, am Kouki-kun's ally okaaay~"

"Thank you, Eri Since the past, I only keep getting supported by you…"

Eri and Kouki gazed at each other The emptiness in Kouki's eyes increased while the rift of Eri's warped so through right?"

"……Haa, indeed, looks like it If that's the case, to return that idiot to normal, we have to release him from Eri's 'Bind Soul' and…"

"On top of that, there is also the need to beat up Kouki-kun until he is half-dead to teach hi, Suzu will take care of Eri After all, the destructive strength of Kouki-kun, with the support of Eri's darkness ic is the worst co at such three, Kouki looked down sadly

"As I thought it's no good…got it Then, first I'll make the three of you powerless even if you will hate umo and unravel the brainwash!"

Kouki's mood heated up by himself and he readied his holy sword in overhead stance Iic power burst up from his body A pressure that was even more powerful than 'Supreme Break' scorched the air

"Chih, I don't knohat that is, but that looks bad-!"

Ryutaro tried to charge once more in order to stop Kouki's technique But, at that instant, the surrounding puppet soldiers assaulted the three all at once

"Ahahahahah, I won't let that you knoow? Don't forget the lovable heroine-chan who is supporting the hero okaaay!"

Eri was laughing loudly while a western sword that seemed to be artifact appeared unnoticed in her hand She waved it like a conductor baton The double-edged blade that had thin red lines on its surface was clad with gray ic power

"You only look like an evil female leader you know, Eri If you aren't self-aware of that, then Suzu will lend youher twin iron fans The fans opened and a gentle wind blew, along with that tender ht spread like a sunset

"Call the sanctuary right here, 'Holy Severance'"

Right after that, a barrier of light enveloping the three deployed There the attacks of the puppet soldiers that ca sword artifact that was clad in ic power Gakin Hard sound resounded, the barrier eht perfectly blocked the countless sword attack

Furthermore,

"S, 'Holy Severance - Burst'"

The instant the twin iron fans were closed with a snap, the barrier exploded with heinous destructive power Fierce shockwave and the broken fragrouped up puppet soldiers altogether

"Nice job, Suzu!"

Ryutaro leaped forward His sharp eye glint pierced straight at Kouki

"Don't let your guard down! 'Holy Severance - World'"

Suzu supported by lining upthe radiance of Holy Severance to le tunnel that matched with Ryutaro's path It had been proven that Suzu's Holy Severance couldn't be broken by the attack power of the puppet soldiers

Ryutaro rushed fiercely inside the tunnel The unknown technique that Kouki was going to invoke was so powerful that the air was ru But, if he had Suzu's protection, he could shut Kouki down before the invocation Ryutaro was convinced of that

But,

"You underestimate me too h forward at the same time when they heard that voice tone which rubbed anyone's nerve the wrong way That puppet soldier ai down in one breath

PAAAAAAN!!

"Wwha-!?"

The sound of destruction reverberated Of all things, the moment an attack of that puppet soldier hit Suzu's barrier directly, reddish black ripple spread and a violent impact scattered, just like that the barrier was pulverized like a paper scrap

Ryutaro raised a shocked voice while twisting his body to barely evade the large sword that ung down on his path, then in a perfect ti another sword attack approached fro attack In addition, a pincer attack that aimed at his neck and his flank Ryutaro tried to repel away the attacks even while his posture was unstable by using the gauntlets of both his hands

But, these two puppet soldiers weren't nor sword flickered like an illusion, the real sword traced a trajectory that was different from the trajectory that Ryutaro focused on and approached hi wordlessly, Ryutaro who realized that the defense of his gauntlets wouldn't thening of Vajra to strengthen only the locations that the sould hit

Gakin A sound ofwith each other sounded, the two attacks of the puppet soldiers were blocked by Ryutaro's Vajra But, the third puppet soldiers that appeared unnoticed at the fronthot toward Ryutaro's heart

Ryutaro immediately crossed both his arms and resolved to receive the attack Fierce iauntlets were so the attack of the spear If the gauntlets hadn't gone through Haji, perhaps even both his arh

But, the true worth of the burning large spear wasn't just to burn the opponent that it touched In the next e explosion occurred along with a thunderous boom

"-aAAAAAA-!?"

Ryutaro who raised his screah the tunnel, he fell on the ground using ukeht back up immediately (TN: Ukemi, judo technique that is a way to fall safely)

At that moment, two more puppet soldiers thrust their bastard sword Not toward Ryutaro, but toward a ground slightly away froht after that, bikibikibiki such sound came out, the place that the swords stabbed instantly froze co instantly stretched toward underneath Ryutaro like a crawling snake, it attacked with perfect ti fros was frozen and he got restrained, and then four puppets jue sword, the swords were sie spear user, if Ryutaro kept getting showered with attacks like this, then at this rate he wouldn't come out unscathed no matter how sturdy he was

Behind Ryutaro as cornered into a desperate situation, there was Shizuku as losing ground against the puppet soldiers as attacking her until now using impossibly unique abilities Shizuku saw Ryutaro's distress and tried to go to his help, but due to a puppet soldier that created an i the floor of the rooftop, Shizuku was held back in place

Not only that, similar with Ryutaro, four puppet soldiers also leaped toward Shizuku whose feet was restrained Two puppets held spear clad in lightning while the other two brandished sword clad in gray sands It was obvious that it wouldn't end well for her no ot hit with

Shizuku showed unease froth of the puppet soldiers while she was about to use her new card

"First is the most troublesome Shizuku, yes you ――'Wicked Wrap'"

"Uh, a?"

However, she was hindered by Eri Black flickering globe suddenly appeared before Shizuku's eyes, the ht Shizuku's body becaic 'Wicked Wrap'――a ic that obstructed the command from the brain to be sent to the body

With this Shizuku failed to show her card and she exposed a fatal opening Eri s 'Bind Soul', Kouki was made to think that even if the three were injured lethally they could be revived later on And so Kouki as thinking about 'saving Shizuku and others' didn't feel that hurting the three was evil, and he wielded his strength without any hesitation There was no need to hold back because later they could be restored back to live

Of course, there was no way such thing could happen, in the first place Eri wouldn't let such thing happen She would at least added the three into her puppet soldiers using 'Bind Soul', but she had no plan to properly let them stay alive

Therefore, she chuckled when she was about to kill the first victim but,

"Dance down, 'Holy Severance - Sakura'"

At that instant, countless shining fragh the battlefield just like a sakura stor sound zaaaaaa―― They spiraled with Shizuku and Ryutaro at the center while raising up a ind

And then the attack of the puppet soldiers was blocked softly by the condensed gathered frag all the iht swooped down on the puppet soldiers who after attacking were showing lethal opening, like ash, there were the tragic appearances of the puppet soldiers there Their whole body was inal for was how their head had becoh the head was exploded

'Holy Severance - Sakura'――thisthe powerful barrier that was Holy Severance into s was touched by it then they would be cut, and when an attack came they would become flexible wall like abamboo, it was a barrier that unified offense and defense into one

When Suzu waved her twin iron fans like a traditional Japanese dancer, the sakura flowers of lightwith her movement

"Fuu Thanks for the save, Suzu"

"Ou, thanks Rather, what the hell with these puppet soldiers"

"You are welcoic thatlike chanting or ether using the tiathered beside Suzu Their eyes narrowed gravely, vigilantly looking around at the puppet soldiers surrounding them

But, at that time, Kouki's technique was finally coan to converge on Kouki's back like a video that was rewound That abnor h you all can be revived back to life later on, if possible I don't want to hurt you three"

Kouki sent calic power that Kouki eh tail stretched out, a long neck and head rose, sharp fangs were fored with each other, brutal claws carved the floor of the building

Kouki continued his words at Shizuku and others ere looking on in wonder

"'Heaven Might - Infinite Change'――this is a technique that ht that could only be activated as bombardment before to be continuously controlled in its activated state This dragon, just by existing it carries the destructive power equal of the Heaven Might in full power In addition, as long as we are in [Holy Precincts], I won't run out ofto buy tiht? The current uainst on that was forht itself roared At the sa a high-rise building one kilometer froht' being released in full poithout time limit, Kouki's power didn't seem to weaken at all, so it appeared that he was supplied with inexhaustible ic power

"By the waaay, you see, all the puppet-chan at the surrounding, they have ic stone inserted in them, they are a hybrid of monster and hued when they were still alive, they now also have the characteristic ht, for the tiueeess you can call the, in Japanese their na)

Eri said that She was i difference in battle strength between thes on her back with a loud flap With that she conveyed that she herself possessed a strength that rese the three to despair

Further, it seemed there was corpse beast soldier that could use characteristic , even corpse beast soldiers that were carved and blown up by Suzu just now stood back up with their wound healed, other than that there were also reinforcement corpse beast soldiers who seeathering one after another

Even after excluding the several hundred puppet beast soldiers that were exploded by Agni-Orkan at the beginning, there appeared to be nearly a hundred and fifty battle strength still reht that carried immense destructive poith complete mastery, furthermore he had no time restriction, his own body was also able to constantly maintained 'Supreme Break' state And then, there was Eri as likely to possess a spec that nearly approached an apostle and also ic, added by her ability that could thoroughly control a group of a hundred and fifty corpse beast soldiers

Indeed, this situation could be said as hellish If it was the normal classmates ere here then perhaps they would fall on their knees in despair

But, the ones ere here were the people who had challenged great labyrinths, who had their weakness thrust before them and made to know their powerlessness These people had faced the part, taking a step forward

And then, these people had seen that young man, the one who no matter what kind situation he was in, no matter who he faced, he still wouldn't take even a step back

That hy,

"Stronger than even Haji That est' you know?"

"Yeah, exactly Besides, aren't you two looking down on Suzu and others too th'"

"Infinite change, corpse beast soldier, whatever…hah, all these just ain't enough at all"

Only so in this level at best wouldn't even count as a difficult situation

Kouki's eyebroitched in reaction Eri's expression changed fro cold

In contrast, Shizuku took the stance of her sword draw art, Suzu looked like she was dancing with her twin iron fans, and Ryutaro took a karate stance In their eyes, there was not even a speck of nervousness or despair There was only calm resolve there, to do what they should do

"So influence is this deep…it can't be helped I ake up all of you"

With those words as the signal, the gong of the second round rang