Realizing that there have been many victims who have fallen as a result of these creatures, I immediately asked for a weapon from the one near me.
"Oy, I borrowed a gun, whatever it is."
She handed me a gun from her thigh pocket.
"Thank you."
Even though in front of me is a crowd of Astral Beings in front of the line is the village chief, but I am also worried about this behind me. How not, we were surrounded from the front and back. In addition, the whereabouts of Astral S-rank Beings had yet to be discovered after being pinned down many times.
With the gun in my hand, I aimed at the village chief.
However, suddenly the woman beside me said, "Hey, can you use it or not? It's upside down."
Hearing that sound, I immediately adjusted the position of the gun that had the trigger of the gun on the top.
"I-I can use it. Don't worry, it was just a joke."
After I focus on my aim, I shoot straight at my aim. And as it turned out, the bullet hit the windshield of the car that was there and made me slightly push back even though it was only one shot, and made me have to hit the body of someone behind me.
The black-haired woman behind me immediately turned to me.
"Don't push me! I'm focused right now!"
"Sorry…" I looked down and felt guilty about this.
What I hit was the woman who was Shiva's captain.
Shiva who glanced at me could only stay silent and continued to shoot towards the Astral Beings who were behind me.
Having absolutely no marksmanship, I really can't do anything in this state. Even though all this time I've always watched action films that feature shooting scenes, but it turned out to be not as easy as I thought.
Indeed, I can still handle the weight of this weapon, but when I start to pull the trigger, I feel something I can't hold with my balance, and it pushes me backward. Plus, what I'm aiming for doesn't even match what I want. This is so hard for me, am I not worthy to be a soldier?
While thinking that, I slowly walked a little further away from her and tried to shoot a few more times.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
But unfortunately, again I missed the target, and instead, I was pushed back until I fell.
"Ouch..."
Shiva who saw me immediately tried to approach me.
"Akio, are you okay?"
"Shiva, don't mind it, we still have to deal with this one!"
But the captain prevented her from coming near me and Shiva complied.
"Mori and a few others, you guys take care of the ones in the back! Don't let them come near!"
"Roger."
Seeing 4 people turn around, I immediately stood up.
"If you can't use it, you better take care of yourself, don't die."
"Yeah, right, it's too dangerous here for you."
Even though both of them looked the same age as me, but their shooting ability was much better than mine.
I looked to the side and saw someone engrossed in shooting at the creatures.
"Lifelike Cowboy!!! Hahaha…" A bald man shouted. And after a while, the machine gun he was holding suddenly didn't come out, "wow, it looks like I've run out of bullets, I have to reload now." He turned to his friends, "you guys keep shooting, I want to get the bullets."
"Okay, Captain." They answered in unison and the man walked straight to a nearby Van.
When he opened the back door of the Van, I saw a huge variety of weapons in there and including bullets, knives and swords, a black vest, and a grenade.
Looking at it, I suddenly remembered when I was talking to my sensei and was practicing kendo in my village. There, I learned a lot from my sensei even though I didn't understand what he was saying at the time because I was only 8 years old.
"Akio, if you had the power, what would you like to do?"
"Of course, to make money."
"No, that's not what I meant. I know you're poor and don't have much money, but don't ever show that to others, just let yourself know."
"Is that so, Sensei?"
"Yes, is that so. This world is neither poor nor rich, this world only has beauty."
"Beauty?"
Sensei turned to me.
"If this world is destroyed by some force, what do you do?"
"Of course, fix it."
"Yes, it is true. But fix it in what way?"
"Of course, with power too."
"You're just talking, aren't you, Akio."
"Hehehe..."
"But it's also true. If this world is corrupted by a force, then we as people who fix it must also have power."
"Hmph? I don't understand, Sensei."
Sensei approached me.
"Strength is not only from the physical but also from the mind. What you're doing right now, all comes first from your thoughts, Akio. If you are calm in all conditions, you will be able to regulate your breath to gain strength within yourself. Even if we don't have spirituality, we can still gain strength by whatever means we have."
"Hmmm..."
"Listen to your sensei, Akio. You are already proficient in using this bamboo sword, but your mindset is still not calm because you always think about your family's financial condition."
"How did you know, Sensei?"
"Your father told me."
"You traitorous father."
"So, try to focus and calm your mind. If you have controlled your breath well, you will get that strength within you. Never mind holding a sheep, you can even lift an adult cow if your breathing is well-regulated because you're calm."
"I can lift Tono too, Sensei?"
"Who is Tono?"
"Tono is Shiva's cow which I named Tono."
"You're always cute, Akio."
"Hehehe."
I don't understand what he means at that time. But when he died and the kendo closed, I stopped practicing swordsmanship and went on with my life, and I always remember him saying that to me.
What my sensei meant was that calm would make me gain strength, and my breathing pattern would be well regulated. If calm can be like that, then now I try to obey my sensei's words.
"Calm, calm, and calm."
It turns out that maintaining calm is so difficult. I always imagined my family being killed and the corpses scattered as a result of that Astral Being. From then until now, why is it so easy to talk about it, but so hard to put it into practice?
"Okay, one more time." I took a deep breath and exhaled.
While closing my eyes and letting go of the departed, I continued to maintain my composure in this state. Although my heart remains emotional, I must be able to calm my mind.
When I think I've calmed down enough, I slowly open my eyes.
"Relax, like water in the sea."
But when I opened my eyes, suddenly my left eye's vision was not clear, while my right eye's vision was normal.
"Eh?" I was taken aback by that and it made me panic, so I became restless again.
After a while, my left eye's vision finally returned to normal, and that's when I tried once again to calm my mind.
Even though the sound kept coming to my ears, I ignored it and kept my eyes closed.
"Just relax, like seawater."
It's calm enough, I immediately opened my eyes and saw the condition of my left eye was not clear anymore, like when diving in the water.
But this time, it didn't surprise me anymore and made me panic right away, because I had to be able to keep this calm.
Taking a deep breath and closing my left eye, I immediately stood up and ran towards the van.
Arriving there, the bald man noticed me.
"What do you want here?"
"May I borrow something there?"
"What do you want to borrow?"
"Hmm... what is it? I'll just borrow the katana."
"You can use it?"
"Of course, I can."
He started taking what I asked for in the Van. After picking it up, he handed it to me.
"Are you sure you can use it?"
"Yes, I'm sure. And besides, instead of me just sitting here, I'd better help you guys too." I continued to maintain my breathing pattern well even when I was talking to him.
He looks confused with me because my left eye is closed.
And sure enough, he immediately asked me that.
"By the way, what's wrong with your eyes?"
Holding the katana sword in my right hand, I held my left eye with my left.
"Oh, this. My eyes seem to be covered in dust, it makes my vision blurry."
"Oh, I see. Then, what do you want with that katana?"
I turned around and looked at the creatures.
"I want to fight them."
"Are you sure?"
"I am very confident."
"Wouldn't you be close to the creature later? It could be dangerous for you."
I turned to him with a smile.
"Isn't that how close I was to them?"
Yeah, I've been close to even being tricked by that Astral S-rank Being. So, what I'm saying is the truth that you were once close to those Astral beings.
And besides, right now I'm completely calm in this state, so why should I be afraid of them. So, it's my decision that I took against them because I'm not good at using pistols, rifles, machine guns, or anything else.
By unlocking this katana sword and pulling it out, I slowly walked towards them.
"Be careful! If it's in danger, run!"
"Ah. Thanks for the advice."
It turned out that the man was a good person, he didn't even tell me not to interfere in this fight. But still, his head kept bouncing off the lights and dazzled me while talking to him earlier.
"Let's do it!"