"Triple Layer", Ryota chanted quickly activating his skill, and over his shoulder circumference the strands of mana flashed and wove in a strange way three blue light panels engraved with some runic symbols and then gathered on top of each other parallel to the length of his arm until the end of his hand and by order of Ryota sunk inside him and merged with it.
At this time the attack arrived and the fatal bite met with Ryota's shoulder. The father clenched his fangs and pressed trying to cut the arm from its place. Ryota felt some slight pain and a few drops of blood flowed, otherwise nothing happened, but what was surprising was that the big teeth couldn't advance any further and stopped above the skin after leaving some light marks as if Ryota's skin was made of Iron.
Father's face convulsed and panicked for a while after seeing that his attack had failed. Ryota used this short moment to get rid of the enemy's jaw and then retreated suspiciously, because at the same time he began to ask himself the question he was supposed to ask from the beginning, who is this person?
...
In each of the three places, neither Kotaro Akina nor Ryota knew who the unknown person really was, especially Akina in front of which another Kotaro appeared and not one of her family who had died a long ago
Even more strange is that if someone could look from afar through the mist and see what was happening on the bridge, they would see three characters standing and holding each other two guys and a girl, and if anyone would recognize them, they'd say they were Kotaro Akina and Ryota.
...
Back at the edge of the bridge where Kotaro was facing his fake mother or more correctly where he thought he was, several strange battle rounds passed. The fake mother continues to act like the real person and try to convince and distract Kotaro while attacking him when he loses his guard.
Whenever he wanted to direct one of his attacks at her, he would find a picture of his mother in front of him, and thus he would retreat at the last moment. He realized that this was the enemy's tactic, yet he continued to evade, concentrating only on defense and evasion. The strength of this enemy was nothing to worry about and after Kotaro investigated with him, he found that he was on the elementary C level, two stations lower than him.
"Shit, what's happening to me here?" Little by little Kotaro became trapped. He was furious at not being able to do anything and tried to convince himself: "She's just a fake, don't be fooled by her looks."
"Fshsh" The enemy jumped again. His hand suddenly swelled up and his fingernails turned into five claws, which he shot toward Kotaro. Kotaro quickly formed a cloud of flames and repelled the attack, turning the claws into crumbly ashes.
The fake mother also avoided the fire, and that didn't stop her from continuing the attack from the side. Her arm had long since turned into a ferocious scythe and pointed at Kotaro's waist.
Kotaro sensed the killing intent from the sickle's aura towards him and walked on alert, but was standing at an unfavorable spot on the edge of the bridge.
"If I defend, I can't block the attack completely and he will be able to hit me, and as for escaping, it's also difficult from my position. There is only one solution and that is to attack from the front, but...", when Kotaro decided, he suddenly hesitated .
"Damn, what am I saying at this time?! Is this my excuse now? Am I really that cowardly? Am I really the same person who was saying that he would avenge his mother a while ago?" Kotaro's thoughts became complicated. At this time, where the enemy attack was approaching, his inner thoughts blurred: "What kind of revenge am I talking about when I can't even hit the person who was originally the reason why my mom isn't here with me today. If I can't even do that, I'd better die here and now."
Kotaro decided. If a small setback like this stops him, it would be better for him to go back to Pace City and go on with a quiet life without ever gossiping again about the topic of revenge.
"Come on," Kotaro shouted, addressing his mother's fake figure. At this moment he had returned to himself and his thoughts became clear again.
There was no time to carry out a powerful attack because it needed to concentrate mana and the enemy was about to reach so Kotaro summoned his magic: "Fireball", he instantly formed a fireball that was glowing above his hand and "Foosh" sent it towards his fake mother.
The fake mother's pupils contracted from the sudden attack and slashed the fireball with her arm blade, dodging it with difficulty but some parts were continuing to fall on her body and burned part of her clothes.
Kotaro did not stop and sprinted forward while the enemy was still distracted, and this time he had some space.
He arrived in front of his fake mother, clenched his arm, but before he punches a strange feeling suppressed him, he paused and looked for a while at his mother's face with longing looks inside of them. Then, without saying a word, his punch landed on her stomach.
"Kahh" blood leaked from the enemy's mouth, and she fell to her knees in front of Kotaro while holding her stomach in pain. Although this enemy was fake, with Lady Cristina's innocent face the look was very strange and sensitive, Kotaro's heart ached a little, he didn't use much of his magic in this blow for this reason.
The punch was not enough to completely defeat the enemy or knock him out, and another attack was required.
But just as Kotaro was preparing for this, suddenly in front of him a silvery light began to shine around the fake mother and before he knew what it was, every inch of the fake mother's body was fading into wisps of gray mist and then dissipating and merging with the initial mist that was over the bridge.
In less than 10 seconds, the fake mother completely disintegrated and silence fell again, even the bloodstains she had coughed up earlier turned into mist and disappeared.
"What happened?" Kotaro was surprised by the sudden change.
"Did he commit suicide after realizing he couldn't win?" He had this idea in his mind. The Yamikara was a very cautious organization and Kotaro wouldn't be surprised if its members had these ways to prevent some secrets from being revealed.
While Kotaro was thinking, he suddenly felt a hand holding his shirt from behind. "Another enemy!" ,without turning around to see who he was, Kotaro turned on his magic quickly. If he is going to have another fight now, he didn't want to be in a losing position from the start. He instinctively jumped back and prepared to attack at any moment but after staring closely he saw that this person was none other than Akina and behind her he glimpsed another shadow, when he checked in he recognized him as well. It was Ryota and he was also sticking to Akina's dress.
Kotaro let out a breath of relief.
"Guys, where have you been all this time?" Kotaro walked towards the two. Many things happened quickly and he had a lot to say after seeing his two friends.
But before he could reach them, his footsteps stopped. When he was far away he couldn't notice it because of the thick fog in the place but now that he got close he saw that both of them had their eyes closed and they obviously couldn't hear him either when he called out to them.
Kotaro was confused. First the enemy that turned into mist and disappeared, then Akina and Ryota appeared without even realizing them.
He did not understand anything.
This time he tried to wake the two of them. He kept slapping Ryota's face while tickling Akina's feet, but there was no response.