"You're that guy!" Tione shouted.
Tiona also stood up while dusting herself, "What do you mean?"
"That's the guy who threw me into a stall when I was about to accidentally hit him! I'll never forget that sensation!" Tione explained.
Tiona and Ais looked at Kisuke with a dumbfounded expression.
In reaction to that, Kisuke just grinned, "I wonder what you're talking about?"
"No shit! I'm sure it was you!" Tione stomped her feet and resumed attacking Kisuke.
"Now this changes everything... He even has a way to deal with us in close combat aside from his strange magic. I refuse to believe that he's just a Level 2." Tiona muttered as she rejoined the fight.
Ais only kept silent but was fascinated by Kisuke's techniques. It gave her even more motivation to learn from him. She knew that she was just going to annoy him with this or that he would even outright hate her for it. But regardless of that, she wanted power and there was an answer right in front of her. Ais rejoined the fight with a renewed resolution.
Tione reached Kisuke first and sent out another punch. Now, that she became wary of Kisuke's 'touch', Tione immediately pulled back her fist when she saw Kisuke reaching out for it.
However, Tione saw Kisuke's grin growing wider, so she became even warier of his next movements and decided to retreat for now. But at the very moment when she took a step back, she tripped, "!?"
Tione hurriedly looked below her and saw a folded white fan sticking out of the ground, 'What!? When did he...!?' She then recalled the moment when Kisuke reached out for her fist, it blocked a portion of her view and she didn't see him throwing the fan into the ground earlier.
And thanks to that his grin which grew wider, Tione became hesitant and retreated. She knew that it was at this moment that she fell for his trap. 'Damn it! I messed up!' She thought as she tried to regain her balance, but the moment she looked back up, Tione saw a foot wearing wooden sandals coming after her face.
Crossing her arms, she blocked Kisuke's kick. Although it wasn't that strong, it was enough to force her back due to her earlier parry in midair, "Kuh!"
The clash between Tione and Kisuke happened in an instant, so it was only now that Tiona reached Kisuke. Seeing that Kisuke was in a kicking posture, Tiona immediately sent a kick towards Kisuke's supporting leg. After witnessing what happened to her sister earlier, Tiona decided to make a safe move.
But even without looking at her, Kisuke used his supporting leg, to flip himself and dodging Tiona's attack. And due to the weird angle he used to flip himself, he arrived on top of her.
Kisuke then thrust his finger towards Tiona's left eye without any hesitation which made Tiona panic a bit. Although her defense was strong, due to her basic parameters, her eyes were still sensitive parts that could be destroyed without too much effort. So in response, Tiona tilted her head to the side.
But using that gap in her consciousness, Kisuke grabbed her foot with his free hand and threw her towards the now standing Tione, "Wahh!!!"
Thanks to the momentum of throwing Tiona, Kisuke was able to align himself parallel to gravity to meet the charging Ais.
Kisuke immediately put his right hand in his left sleeve and pulled out a large white cloth, spreading it in front of him and blocking Ais' view of him.
Ais slowed down a bit and focused on her surroundings. She was able to hear a bit of noise to her left side but considering Kisuke's antics he was probably on the right side and the noise she heard was just bait.
Adjusting her magic, Ais turned to her right but at that moment, she only met some soil and Ais heard the warning calls from Tiona and Tione, "Ais!!!"
Due to the soil distracting her for a split second, she wasn't able to react as fast as she normally could. She felt a tug on her collar before she flew towards the Amazoness sisters and crashed into them.
While dusting off his hands, Kisuke said with a grin, "Too bad~. You've guessed wrong~. I'm truly on your left side~."
While Ais and Tione gritted their teeth, Tiona only laughed out loud, "You've got us! But don't think it'll always be like this!"
Standing up, the three resumed attacking Kisuke.
However, a few minutes later, the three of them could only stare with dumbfounded expressions at the grinning Kisuke as they laid on the ground, recalling what just happened. Instead of evading, like he did until Tiona and Tione joined the fight, Kisuke confronted them head-on and despite being obviously weaker in basic parameters by far compared to them, they actually lost.
Although they didn't actually have any injuries, their minds were shaken and that harmless grin turned into a sinister one in their minds. Even Tiona couldn't laugh anymore.
"You might be proficient at fighting monsters, but against another person that uses skills, technique, and mind games? Not so much. This is getting tiresome. Cool your heads first before coming after me." Kisuke suddenly said before jumping backward, hiding himself among the trees and disappearing entirely.
"Riveria... Did you expect any of this?", asked Finn, as he came out while looking at the three girls which were still on the ground.
Behind him, Riveria answered while shaking her head, "I didn't think that he'll be proficient in hand-to-hand combat too."
" 'Too', huh..." Finn muttered.
"C-Captain! Were you watching!?" Tione immediately stood up and asked.
Finn nodded his head.
"What do you think?" Tiona asked.
Finn rubbed his chin while looking towards the direction where Kisuke disappeared, "What he said is right. Although you girls are strong against monsters, you don't have much experience in fighting another person."
The three of them looked down on contemplation.
Ignoring this, Finn continued with a wry smile, "But you don't have to be so down. That guy is just abnormal. If I were to guess, even if we have the same physical abilities, I have no way of winning against him."
While Riveria only nodded, Tione and Tiona's eyes opened wide in shock. After all, they knew for sure that Finn didn't neglect his ability to fight against another person and he was already a veteran. For him to say something like this, it could only mean, that Kisuke was indeed the better fighter.
Ais, on the other hand, wasn't as shocked as the two because she already knew Kisuke's real capabilities and was just wondering what he had to go through to achieve such strength, "In hindsight... I'm trampling over his efforts in my request for him to teach me. However... I can't stop now. Not now, when there's finally a clear path ahead."
It was then, that she recalled that Kisuke was the one teaching Sona, Aika, and Koneko and a dangerous idea came through her mind, 'Do I have to become his lover for him to teach me?'
But before she could delve deeper into that flawed logic, Riveria's voice suddenly resounded, "What are you going to do now?"
Ais was roused from her deep thoughts and remembered what they were doing and answered while standing up, "I'm not giving up yet."
Also bothered by this enthusiasm, Finn asked, "What do you want to know or request?"
However, Ais only kept silent.
Hearing no answer from her, Finn could only sigh, "Fine... Just keep things in moderation. It would also be nice if you really could catch him." He then turned to the other girls, "What about you two?"
"Of course! We'll be helping Ais!" Tiona answered with a big smile.
"Alright. Then good luck." Finn nodded at her before turning around and leaving.
Before Riveria followed Finn, she gave them some advice, "You really have to think carefully before you can catch that bastard. But once you do, give him a whack or two on the head for me."
The three girls could only remain speechless until Riveria and Finn disappeared from their view, "U-uhmm... It looks like Riveria has some dissatisfaction with Kisuke. After all, you almost never hear her cursing at someone.", Tiona muttered.
Ais could only nod and wonder what happened between her and Kisuke.
"Either way, we have to plan out our next move before we could catch him." Tione scratched her head.
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Editors:
28th00: DANGEROUS THOUGHTS THERE AIS! Riveria still holds a grudge for her poor ears being absolutely molested to climax, multiple times… Kisuke has a couple centuries of mastery/training/battle experience against both monsters and people on the deity level, this is his literal specialisation (combat wise) after all.
Alexander: It would bring forth a nice scene of tea, dancing in the air, if she brings this up to Kisuke & Co.