It hit the concrete, sending up a puff of dust and rubble, and sending a splinter of it into Miku's cheek. She yelped in surprise.
"Fuck me, they are trying to kill us!"
"It's a sniper." Tysone said, ignoring Miku's colorful language. "They're not fucking around."
"You don't say!" Miku snapped.
He risked a peek around the edge of the container. Another shot. Another crater in the concrete. He flinched back.
The sniper was good. Very good. Impeccable reaction time and aim, as even a millisecond of exposure gave them enough time to adjust and fire again. This wasn't some average joe with a gun. This was a professional, which could only mean one thing—Black Label.
Of course they'd have a sniper. What kind of elite organization didn't have a sniper?
Tysone had made a mistake in getting involved here.
No, he had underestimated Black Label's reach and resources. At least, he didn't think they'd made an entrance like this; in fact, there was very little he knew about them, especially in this new world.
His whole body went rigid as he sensed something rapidly closing the distance. Footsteps, or perhaps it was someone jumping between rooftops.
Something heavy smashed against the top of their container, denting it inward, the shockwave jostling Saeko and Miku.
CRACK.
The steel split, cracked open by some enormous force, peeled outward like tin foil.
Standing above them, illuminated by the pulsing red lights of the dock, was a voluptuous, beautiful young woman with long white hair and dressed in tight clothes. A jacket that exposed her midriff, and long white pants. The familiarity of her was completely shattered by the glint of her katana, which came straight down.
Tysone moved purely on reflex.
He grabbed Miku by the collar and threw her sideways, then pivoted his own body in the opposite direction.
The katana came down between them and hit the concrete with a sound like a thunderclap, splitting it, sending a hairline crack running two meters in both directions. That was not something a civilian could've accomplished, but Tysone had long been aware that he was not dealing with civilians, or normal soldiers for that matter.
He landed in a roll and came up with the halberd already spinning into position; he didn't underestimate the woman in front of her. Each spin of his halberd left embers like fireflies trailing behind, and scorch marks on the ground.
The woman on the container above them was already pulling the blade back up.
She tilted her head at him, white hair catching the red dock lights, her expression far from angry or murderous.
She looked mildly curious.
"You move fast." She observed.
Finally in the mood for conversation, huh?
"You swing first and talk later?" Tysone said, scowling.
"We're in a restricted area." She shrugged.
"We noticed."
"What're your names?" The katana shifted subtly.
"Not your—" Tysone cut himself off as the woman vanished in a burst of speed, and the edge of his halberd skid off her katana, leaving a shower of sparks between their rapidly retreating bodies. A brief shockwave rippled outward. The residual force of the impact was enough to turn that hairline crack on the ground into a proper crater. "Damn business."
Saeko was rising now too. Miku picked herself up from the ground where Tysone had tossed her, cursing softly and frantically reaching for her fallen crossbow.
"Oi. Girl with the pretty face." Saeko stepped forward, her eyes locking onto the white-haired beauty.
The white-haired young woman stared at Saeko from her perch atop a container, the katana loosely hanging from her right hand.
"Hmm?"
Saeko leveled the tip of her sword in the girl's direction. Her eyes were flinty.
"As the saying goes..."
She lowered her stance.
"...a flower in full bloom is most beautiful when seen from afar. Its scent becomes undetectable." Saeko advanced. "Naturally, after you've plucked it, no beauty remains."
The white-haired woman tilted her head in a carefree manner. "And what is that supposed to mean?"
"I am about to enjoy plucking that flower. I suggest you surrender while you still can, and let my friend help you with the plastic surgery necessary for keeping that beautiful face." Sakeo said in a dark, delighted tone.
Yuuko dropped off the container. "I'll make you take that back." She said lightly, landing four meters from Saeko, not even bothering with a stance.
She just stood there, katana loose at her side, head slightly tilted.
The first exchange happened so fast that Miku, watching from behind her container, only caught the afterimage of it.
Two blades, two women, one direction each collapsing into the other and then pushing apart. The sound was a single sharp note.
They separated. Three meters between them. Neither one breathing hard.
Miku looked at Tysone. "Should we—"
"Give them a second." Tysone frowned.
This was the wrong kind of situation to interrupt.
...
Saeko had fought evolved opponents before. She'd fought people faster than her, stronger than her, people who'd absorbed cores and come out the other side with abilities that broke the rules of what a human body was supposed to do. Take Tysone, for example. His monstrous strength and fire ability.
What she hadn't fought was someone whose technique was as good as the speed behind it.
Yuuko's form was solid and unassailable. There were no flaws, nothing for Saeko to try and get into her head, and she kept her movements just short enough of overextension to make them useless as feints. In two exchanges, Saeko's certainty in her victory had cracked.
So she took three swift steps and drove the katana into Yuuko's side, hoping to catch her in the liver, which would drop the bitch in her tracks—only for her katana to encounter an equal level of resistance, which flowed smoothly across Yuuko's frame as the girl slipped just ahead and around, a few drops of blood the only sign the cut was real at all.
This time, Yuuko cut a streak down Sakeo's chest, parting the cloth and leaving a thin line of red in its wake.
Her breasts nearly spilled out of the torn cloth.
Saeko stepped back.
Yuuko eyed her, then dropped the tip of her katana down and scratched at the dirt with the point, turning a small furrow.
Saeko studied her.
Then, they moved, and there was only the wind.
She came in low on the third exchange, going under Yuuko's guard, trying to force a close bind where her own strength advantage could do something useful. Yuuko simply wasn't there when she arrived. A half-step sideways, and her katana slashed harmlessly past.
Sakeo had seen Tysone pull that dodge a couple of times, and she didn't expect anyone else to be able to react as quickly, to get their center of balance that perfect and straight in order to move like that.
And then she felt Yuuko's sword hilt in her stomach, driving out the air, dropping her.
Saeko immediately rolled back into a crouch. Her eyes stung. She couldn't get a clean breath, but she wasn't evolved for nothing, so despite the strength of the blow, she came back up, staggering, and barely avoided having her leg cut off.
Yuuko followed, calm and fluid, and the next cut almost opened up her ribs, if Saeko hadn't parried with all the speed and force she could muster. She shoved Yuuko back, who only gracefully backpedalled. Saeko spat out a mouthful of blood as she took in the sight of the silver-haired woman. At the tailend of Rank 2, probably touching Rank 3 already, though if that were the case, she'd have already overwhelmed and likely killed her.
Despite Saeko being at disadvantage, it wasn't an entirely one-sided affair, and even as Saeko felt a thin trail of blood run down her cheek, cutting into her mouth, making her wince, she realized there was a savage grin on her lips.
'Yes...' Saeko thought to herself. 'Yes. Yes. Yes.'
"This is more like it."
And then she sped off again, faster this time, pushing her body to its absolute limits. Saeko licked the blood off her lips, enjoying the sting of the cut as much as the coppery taste itself.
Was this how it was like, truly challenging one's limits? She didn't know, nor care, because everything around her seemed to blur away, leaving her and the katana, Yuuko and her blade, the feeling of wind and momentum and movement.
Nothing else made her feel so alive.
Yuuko kept up, and Saeko felt her foot slipping, losing traction on the uneven ground, but managed to torque around, turning a mistake into a surprising counterattack.
The white-haired woman's blade slipped harmlessly past the slow-mo of Saeko's swaying breasts as the latter flipped and rolled mid-air, before coming to a skidding stop at Yuuko's left, purple hair fluttering in the residual wind of her movements.
The blade would've met the woman's pale neck, hadn't she somehow managed to retract that vicious blade like a snake to her left hand, parrying Saeko's katana with the flat of her weapon.
Author's Note:
If you're enjoying the story and want to read ahead or support my work, you can check out my P@treon at [email protected]/LordCampione. But don't worry—all chapters will eventually be public. Just being here and reading means the world to me. Thank you for your time and support.