'I need to prolong this fight for as long as I can. I have zero confidence in winning against him in frontal exchange so either I must win by some surprise attack or by depending on Akame and others to finish their own fight.' Green thought with narrowed eyes and tried his best to find any weakness in his opponent's weapon, however, such a task is extremely hard and not to mention that he still isn't aware of all its functions.
Green switched to defense instead of trying to attack, hoping to see any gap in his opponent's attacks where he could strike. He was trying to make him impatient by simply defending.
The one who only defends and can let go of any chance to attack enemy is someone who can never win the fight in long terms but it is also almost impossible to kill such person unless one has the overwhelming power to do so.
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'? What is he trying to do?' Even the cloaked guy noticed the change in Green's movements and his attacks were slowly becoming sluggish.
Despite being a little confused, Green's strange change in the pattern of his movements made him only warier.
However, that was fine with Green because the longer this fight will continue, the cloaked guy will start feeling restless by constantly being wary of any of his movements. Green had no chance of winning against this guy on physical side so his plan was to play a mental battle with him. The winner will be the one who can endure the pressure put on them, Green has to endure physical attacks from that guy while the other guy needs to endure the pressure Green is generating without doing anything special in particular.
This is where real battle between those two began.
On the other side, Akme's group was somehow holding their ground. They were constantly attacking the armored guy while being wary of Najenda's attacks.
"You are really skilled for kids but I will no longer be lenient with you!" The armored guy said with a cold tone while 3 of them were rushing at him from each side and front.
A spear suddenly materialized in his hand...yes, he was fighting the entire time barehanded only with his armor, making them think that he has no weapon, to begin with. Making them think that his defense and agility was something he traded for an offense.
"Wha-?! Gin, Natala jump away from him!" Akame instantly shouted at them loudly with wide-open eyes.
Unfortunately Gin and Natala had slower reflexes than Akame and despite being enhanced by the drugs, they weren't trained in the same way as other kids from Elite Seven. Their training was more or less simply combined with training of obedience but that only made them puppets ready to die for the Empire at any time.
"Too late!" The armored guy shouted and swung his spear overhead at Gin with intention to split her in half.
"?!" Gin put her sword above her head to block his spear since she had no time to dodge. She was quite confident in her strength and thought that she would be able to block it without much problem.
The next moment when the weapons met each other, Gin's weapon was able to withstand the impact with the spear without breaking but her arms gave in after feeling the strength in her enemy's slash, making her sword drop down a bit and spear slide down deep into her shoulder before stopping.
*Splash* Blood splashed from her wound despite having that spear still stuck inside her shoulder and she could only look at the armored guy in front of her with a confused and shocked expression.
"Gin?! Why you!! Trisula!!!" Natala instantly attacked the guy's back while extending his spear's length, aiming to pierce his neck from behind because that spot was usually one of the weak points in armors.
"Wait, Natala!" Akame shouted at furious Natala but he wasn't listening to her at all. She was also angry at most likely losing another comrade but she knew that this guy wasn't their only enemy. Unfortunately, Natala at that time could only see him...
*Bang* A beam of yellow energy was shot at Natala who was no longer paying attention to Najenda and that shot just robbed him of a large chunk of his waist.
Green who saw all of that was shocked but more worried about Akame who would be now alone against 2 of them. Despite wanting to help her, he kept calm and kept on baiting the cloaked guy for any real openings.
The armored guy finally pulled his spear out of Gin and looked behind him at Natala who has failed with his attack and has fallen down on the ground. Slowly creating a puddle of blood under him.
"So...Are you planning to fight any longer? You had no chance even with 3 of you, now that you are alone...There is nothing you can do." The armored guy turned his attention to Akame who was still a bit shocked by Natala and Gin's state.
"!!! Of course I will!" She gritted her teeth and darted towards him while swinging her katana at him.
*Clang*
'? Her speed has gotten much faster and her strength also increased a lot...Was she holding back earlier or is this effect of seeing her comrades' deaths?' The armored guy thought with a slightly astonished expression under his armor when he blocked Akame's slash without much problem.
Although her speed has gotten faster, she was still nowhere near him with experience. He has gotten through numerous battles where numerous people fought. This was simply the disparity in the experience.
He also started attacking since there was no need to draw out the fight any longer. Their goal was to also discover their strength in teamwork and it was by no means bad but they still lost it once they saw their comrade die. They were still young and inexperienced in this department.
At least that's what they have thought but Akame never lost it, she was furiously attacking but her thinking was still there, being cautious of Najenda while attacking the armored guy.
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'Her speed is still improving, she was able to even slash my armor a few times but she didn't leave even a scratch. It also seems like she is attacking the same spot over and over which makes it only easier to defend against it but even if she would have succeeded in doing this, her weapon is far inferior to my Teigu. Incursio wouldn't break just from this.' The armored guy thought calmly but hew as still astonished by the speed of Akame's growth. She was quickly adapting to his movements and he was slowly losing his advantage but he has yet to go all out and there was still Najenda...
"Akame, look out!" Green shouted when he noticed that Akame was preparing for another attack.
*Bang*
Akame obviously heard his shout and glanced to the side just to see the beam of yellow energy nearing her ribs so she twisted her body to quickly dodge it but at the same time she was attacked by the spear in front of her.
She quickly put her katana in front of her to block the attack but she was still blown away into the trees.
*Thud* *Cough* "Agh" She coughed out blood before she released a low groan in pain. She was trying to get up despite feeling as if all of her bones were broken, however, before she could have got up, the armored guy was already standing in front of her with his spear pointing at her throat.
"Akame?!" Green who was able to keep calm despite seeing both Natala nad Gin being cut down, finally lost it when he saw Akame in trouble. He turned around and tried to help Akame but his hand holding the whip was entangled in strings and soon enough, even his neck was entangled in strings.
"You have finally lost it...I was beginning to think that you don't even care about your comrades but it seems that's not the case. That girl is just more important to you than you can ignore." The cloaked guy said while approaching him from behind, he was in no hurry to kill him since he was already in his hands. He also didn't know what Najenda would like to do with them so he waited for her orders.
'...FUCK!!' Green was forced to hopelessly watch, he tried to move forward but when he felt strings tearing into his skin, he stopped the pointless struggle.
"Don't move around too much if you don't want to die yet." The cloaked guy said with a serious tone.
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In the dense forest, Kurome was desperately trying to find her sister, she even followed the red smoke in the sky but when she arrived there, she only saw Najasho and Poney and Tsukushi running away. Since it looked like they no longer need help to get away from their enemies, she decided to ignore them. She was starting to feel completely hopeless but then she remembered that there are only 2 villages around this mountain and she was currently on the west side where one of those villages is situated and she even saw a half of Akame's group.
With that thought in mind, she instantly made her way towards the village on the east side of this mountain.
'Maybe I am just needlessly worrying but I have a feeling like big sis is in the danger!' Kurome thought with narrowed eyes while traveling through the dense forest. When she was nearing the village, she suddenly heard a few low sounds, few hundred meters to her right.
'That didn't sound like Danger Beasts fighting each other but more like weapon clashing!' Kurome decided to take a look and stealthily approached the location from where she heard the sounds.
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When she finally arrived, she saw the scene in front of her. Natala and gin lying in the puddle of blood, Green being restricted by the strings while her own sister having the spear held close to her throat.
'Big sis!!!' Kurome fought the instinct to jump in and attack the armored guy but in the end she was able to control herself and looked more carefully around just to notice the person right under her while she was observing the situation from the branch of the tree.
'? Is that General Najenda?! ...There is no time to think about what she is doing here!' Kurome thought and silently jumped down behind Najenda with her katana already drawn out.
"Huh?" Najenda exclaimed in shock when she felt a blade on her neck. She glanced down just to see katana with a black blade and green edge of the blade.
"Stop this at once! Release both of them!" Kurome shouted, finally revealing herself to others.
"? What? Reinforcements?!" Armored guy exclaimed with a shock apparent in his voice but he didn't put his spear away from Akame's throat.
"Najenda!!" The cloaked guy exclaimed with a worried tone.
"Looks like I am not the only one who is losing cool when he sees someone he 'cares' about being endangered." Green muttered with a mocking tone and wide smile.
"...Shut up" The cloaked guy replied with a cold tone while tightening the strings around Green's hands, making them completely numb and blue.
'Agh! That hurt you fucker! Anyway, it is still a surprise to see Kurome here but she is really a lifesaver!' Green thought with a pained expression but he was still smiling.
"K-Kurome?! What are you doing here?!" Akame instantly looked towards the direction from where shout came from just to be shocked after seeing her sister.
"Kurome...?" Najenda was unable to see the person behind her but when she heard Akame's shout she exclaimed with a slightly surprised tone as if she never expected her to be here.