"Looks like there is no other choice but for us to fight!" Cornelia shouted with an emotionless voice and she tapped on the bracelet on her arm which turned into a gauntlet that covered half of her arm up to her elbow.
Looks like a very strong weapon...
I thought with furrowed brows while observing Cornelia's weapon.
"I will make it fast, I don't want to disappoint him." Taeko muttered and got into her stance, ready burst forward to attack at any time.
---
'Disappoint him? Are they really married? If yes then why is he just watching?' Cornelia thought while warily looking at Taeko and then she threw a quick glance at Katsura.
---
Taeko noticed how Cornelia looked at me and appeared in front of her at unbelievable speed.
"Mountain Gale!" Taeko slashed with her katana in upwards motion, cutting through the floor like butter without slowing down a bit, it even looked like her attack was gradually becoming faster.
"?!" Cornelia's eyes widened, not due to her being caught off guard but due to seeing Taeko's speed. She quickly moved her hand with gauntlet in front of her to block Taeko's attack.
Cornelia succeeded in blocking Taeko's attack but she was thrown off balance and had to retreat back however Taeko didn't let her take a breath and immediately followed right after her with a face devoid of any emotions.
---
'Tch! She is extremely fast and her strength is also something I have to be aware! She isn't letting me take a breath and I can't get near enough to attack due to her superior range. Then...' Cornelia thought while blocking Taeko's relentless barrage of attacks with each attack aiming to claim her life before she suddenly punched the ground under her legs when she finally had a chance.
---
*bang* Cornelia's punch created a curtain of dust and debris flew everywhere so it was even harder to see from which side she will attack.
"What a good tactic but...Taeko is not some weakling." I muttered to myself a praise for Cornelia's strategy but then I smiled when I saw Taeko already getting into her deadliest stance.
Even I don't dare to approach her carelessly when she is in that stance, now, show me what you will do, Cornelia...
I thought with an amused smile.
Cornelia suddenly appeared from the curtain of dust on Taeko's right side. However, Taeko instead of panicking or preparing to receive her attack, she just glanced at Cornelia with eyes as if she was looking at something already dead.
"?!!!" Cornelia noticed her eyes and immediately stopped her advance and jumped far away from her while her forehead was full of sweat just from seeing Taeko's lifeless eyes.
Well, this result was kind of expected...Taeko's technique is indeed very deadly and close to perfectness but anyone experienced and strong will be able to feel danger from such deadly technique.
---
'That was extremely dangerous! I almost could feel her weapon split me in two without even entering her range yet. What to do...I will use my advantage in raw strength.' Cornelia thought with wide-open eyes before she calmed down.
---
"HA! Catch this!" *Crumble* Cornelia used air pressure from her punch to destroy already unstable pillars that were keeping the last part of the ceiling from falling down and she caught it with her gauntlet and then threw the ceiling at Taeko.
"Huh?...!" Taeko was surprised by her move but she immediately narrowed her eyes.
Hm?
Even I was slightly surprised by how strong Cornelia is to throw the entire ceiling at Taeko...
However, it wouldn't be so easy to defeat Taeko, she used her other technique named Summit Gust and slashed the air in front of her. Her attack tore the air itself and send it towards the ceiling, cleanly and easily cutting ceiling of a few meters thick in two halves.
When the space in front of her was no longer obstructed by the ceiling, Cornelia was no longer there.
Suddenly one of the halves on Taeko's left side was destroyed, revealing Cornelia flying towards her with her gauntlet aiming at Taeko's shoulder.
Taeko didn't panic at all and only thrust her katana forward to meet Cornelia's weapon head-on.
? Why is she meeting her head-on? Cornelia is much stronger than her in raw strength.
I tensed up a bit and looked more attentively at their fight due to Taeko's weird behavior.
"HAA!" Both of them shouted right before the impact.
The wind immediately burst forth from them, creating a strong enough wave of wind to make cracks appear on the ground around them.
"Oh...Aaah...safe" I started balancing on the pillar due to strong wind but I was able to regain my balance.
"Agh!" However, in the end, the result was as expected and Taeko flew back, colliding with the wall, making a small hole in it. While Cornelia on the other side only slid across the ground on her legs until her back hit the wall.
---
'I won, there is no way she was able to take the full impact of my Crushing King without attaining heavy injuries. Cornelia thought with a small smile.
---
I saw Cornelia's small victorious smile but instead of worrying about Taeko, I just released a smirk and Cornelia who glanced at me also saw this.
---
'? What is-' *Cough!* Cornelia narrowed her eyes when she saw Katsura's smirk but she immediately coughed out blood from her mouth with a surprised expression.
On the other side...
*Cough* Taeko also coughed but it was only due to her being short on breath and no blood came out.
'*gasp* I swore...to myself *cough* that I won't lose to anyone else except for Akashi!!!' Taeko punched the wall out of frustration, deepening the hole and thought with a new resolve to fight even harder.
---
I noticed that Taeko suddenly moved out of the hole she created inside the wall and spat out bits of blood to the side with a new determined expression while walking towards Cornelia who was still surprised by her sudden bleeding.
"My blade is coated in poison and you only helped me spread it by moving around so much..." Taeko explained with a cold expression when she saw Cornelia touching the small wound on her cheek.
Looks like it's Taeko's win. Not like I expected anything else but it looks like she won quite easily without even removing her limiters. Although Cornelia isn't done yet, Taeko has got a new life into her after receiving that Cornelia's attack head-on. I can feel that she is as sharper and stronger than ever.
I thought with a small proud smile while looking at Taeko's figure standing straight and strong.
"Hah! I won't let some poison get better of me!" Cornelia gritted her teeth and shouted at Taeko when suddenly...
"Cora!!!" We heard a distant voice and when I looked behind us outside of the building, I noticed Akame and her other 2 friends.
? How come they discovered us so quickly? I mean the sounds of battle were quite loud but they still had to be in the vicinity to hear it. Well, whatever, looks like I have finally a job to do.
"Girls?! ...Looks like you run out of luck, Taeko." Cornelia looked at her friends running towards them with a pleasantly surprised expression and then turned back at Taeko and said when she saw Taeko looking at her friends with wide-open eyes.
After hearing her words, Taeko turned her head back at Cornelia with her stoic face before a small smirk appeared on her face which slightly surprised Cornelia.
"...You might have friends but I am not entirely alone either." Taeko replied with a gentle and soft smile that appeared on her face for the first time in her life.
---
'?! How exactly strong is Katsura?' Cornelia suddenly thought of something she never thought of before.
---
"CORA!" Ponytail girl sped up and when she was about to enter the building...
"Poney, dodge!!!" She heard Akame's shout behind her and she noticed a small shadow above her so she quickly jumped back to her friends' side.
*BANG!* Debris flew everywhere and dust was everywhere.
Akame and others readied their weapons and waited for the dust to disperse.
"*Cough* *Cough* I should have lightened my fall" I muttered while waving my hand to get rid of dust around me before it finally dispersed, revealing my appearance to the girls.
"Yo~! I am sorry girls but I can't let you pass, my wife still has business with your friend." I said and raised my hand as greeting with a wide grin, showing off my white teeth while having closed eyes.
"I knew it...so you two are really assassins sent to kill us. I will cut you both into pieces!" She said and her eyes changed to slightly similar eyes that Taeko has during her deadliest stance.
"Assassins?! Not at all!" I exclaimed with a horrified expression with my hands up in a sign of surrender.
"Then why is she trying to kill our friend!!!" A ponytail girl named Poney shouted at me with an angered expression, trying her best not to just rush towards me.
"My wife is pretty jealous and your friend happened to see me naked in the hot springs, sorry." I scratched my cheek with my finger while wearing an embarrassed smile before giving them an apologetic smile.
Both girls were dumbfounded by my words while Akame's eyes widened a bit before her eyes became even colder and rushed towards me with her drawn katana.
She quickly appeared in front of me.
"Heeh?" I looked at her unbelievable speed with an amused smile while revealing the sound of being surprised.
"I will cut my enemies without mercy!" She coldly said and slashed with her katana, intending to split me in two by horizontal slash. There were absolutely no emotions in her attack only the cold ruthlessness of her blade and eyes.
*bang* The sound of a gun resounded.
"Whoa, calm down a bit, don't you understand how wives can be jealous?!" I ducked to dodge her slash and then tried to trip her but I suddenly felt something coming at me from my blind spot so instead of tripping her, I kicked her into the stomach while tilting my head to the side to dodge the surprise attack.
I was able to dodge the bullet coming at me and also send Akame flying a few meters away from me but it wasn't the end.
"Huh?" I looked above me just to see Poney performing ax kick so I put both my hands in front of me.
"HA!" She shouted and when her kick connected, the ground under me dangerously shook while my own legs were slightly buried underground.
[-5 Health]
[Health: 745/750]
What a leg power, I guess everything she eats goes into her legs instead of her breasts.
I thought with a wide smile and closed eyes.
"You know, now that I have a closer look at your whole figure, you are quite beautiful despite your flat chest." I said with an honest expression and a nice friendly smile without any lust in my eyes.
"Hah?! DIE!!!" A vein immediately appeared on her forehead and she tried to kick off my head with her other leg but I bowed my head down to dodge her attack.
"Oops, I shouldn't say such things so close to my wife or she will have "business" even with you" I said while covering my mouth with one hand and using the other hand to take hold of her ankle and then I threw her into one of the walls.
"Gah!" She groaned a bit but she slowly got up.
"Poney?! Are you alright?!" Both Akame and the other girl came to Poney's side to help her.
I used this chance to take a look at Taeko's side and she was definitely winning, Cornelia was already on the defensive side, trying to delay Taeko for as long as she can. Taeko will still have a problem with killing someone who is fully focused on defense...
"I am alright, he is incredibly strong, he blocked my kick with his bare hands...Tsukushi, Akame, we need to be careful with this guy but we don't have much time!" Poney said while gritting her teeth and glaring at me.
"Tsukushi, you go help Cornelia, I and Poney will keep this guy busy..." Akame said while her eyes were filled with resolve.
"Are you sure about this?" Tsukushi asked with a worried expression, it was visible that she couldn't decide what she wanted to do first.
"Yes! I am not hurt at all and I will be more careful around this guy since he already got me once" Poney said and bumped her fist into her palm with a confident smile.
---
[+2 SPX to your special class] x5
Special Class: Yato (Lv. 4, +13 Str, +13 Const, +13 Agi, +4 Int) 22/80 SXP
---
Hmm, I won't be able to stop that girl named Tsukushi from helping Cornelia with her gun. She can freely change the trajectory of her bullets, judging from which angle her bullets flew to me.
"Dear?! Looks like you will have a small annoying company. Her bullets can change trajectory so be careful~!" I shouted with an amused tone and after that, I started to completely ignore Tsukushi's presence.
Taeko should be able to take care of weakened Cornelia and annoying bullets but she will need to be careful.
The girls in front of me were surprised how easily I gave up on keeping Tsukushi here with me.
They looked at each other and nodded.
Tsukushi run towards the building and I didn't bother to even look at her which surprised her but she didn't stop running since she was worried about Cornelia.
"Now that annoying enemy is out of the way...I would like to ask you for a little dance ladies but I am afraid that I would be strangled by my wife later~" I said with a silly smile.
"She won't have a chance to do that since both of you will die here today!" Akame shouted and got ready to attack with Poney in tow.
Looks like I will have a chance to gather a lot of experience for my special class.