'Damnit! It's practically every man for themselves out here, isn't it?'
Mr. Oshieru could be seen lunging to the front of the massive crowd that surrounded the Village Information Center. As he leaped over the citizens, he couldn't help but notice how people constantly shoved and pushed one another, racing to be the first ones to safety.
'Can't say I blame them…'
Suddenly—"Kyaa!"—a shriek ripped through the crowd, catching Oshieru's attention and speed.
With one push off the ground, Oshieru found himself soaring through the air, landing back on the ground at the source of the scream. It was a female carrying a baby; her eyes widened in fright. Standing before her, the invaders in kitsune masks brandished their weapons.
Hastily, Oshieru flashed his tachi blade at the invaders, his legs parted and bent in preparation.
"Take a step closer and I'll ensure that my blade will be the last thing you see!" Oshieru threatened, grounding his feet.
In response, the masked invaders hunched into their stances, making Oshieru mentally sigh. Of course, why would they invade the village and not want to fight?
One invader took the liberty of dashing forward first, swinging a clever with an elongated handle. Oshieru jumped, blocking the attack with his tachi blade, and then jabbed his palm into the stomach of the invader—*boom!*—blowing them away with a single blast of his Aura Sense.
As that invader crashed to the ground, two more lunged at the blue-haired instructor. Oshieru ducked under the first swing that came his way, then hopped to the side to dodge another. His tachi sword shone a bright blue, allowing the instructor to swing in the direction of the invaders and release several magic-copied clones of his sword, only managing to impale one of the invaders.
'Damn,' Oshieru cursed. 'This might prove to be more difficult than I thought.'
In the corner of Oshieru's eye, he spotted a different masked invader rushing to him. A long spear of yellow magic formed in their hands, revealing itself as an aura print.
Oshieru's sword clashed against the aura print spear, slicing it into two pieces. The invader then used the other half of the spear and slashed at the instructor, missing by a hair. As Oshieru stabilized himself again, he noticed that the spear quickly reformed its fallen half, returning to its original state.
"It may be easy to break, but it comes back just as fast," Oshieru murmured, his grip tightening around the hilt of his tachi sword.
Before Oshieru could move, he felt his senses become alert, prompting the instructor to spin and conjure a small, blue, square barrier with his left hand—*clink!*—which efficiently ceased an incoming dagger that was flying through the air.
As his senses acted sporadically once more, Oshieru used the same barrier to halt an incoming attack from the spear-wielding invader from before. Then, with his sword, Oshieru slashed the masked invader across the chest, forcefully kicking them back to the ground.
'I might need to resort to more volatile attacks with how many there are.' Oshieru thought, his eyes flickering all around him.
As Oshieru found his eyes locked on an incoming group of invaders, the instructor enabled another blue hue to encompass his tachi blade. With a little bit of force, Oshieru sliced in their general direction, releasing a wide, sharp wave of magic towards the invaders, swiftly slicing through them with ease.
The sound of boots falling onto the ground radiated through the area, catching Oshieru's attention. Turning around, the blue Aura Sense instructor spotted an invader—but no mask concealed their face. It was a female, with short brown hair but clothes that matched the rest.
Yui from Team Ganbaru appeared.
"You're more ballsy than the rest, aren't you?" The woman spoke, her tone sounding arrogant.
"KRAGH!"
In the distance, villagers screamed in pain as red tendrils shot right through their bodies, dropping to the ground like flies. As he towered over the bodies of those villages, a man with a scar below his eyebrow retracted the red tendrils back into his hand, his gaze gradually shifting to Oshieru.
Touma of Team Ganbaru appeared.
Oshieru observed the two, his eyes darting from one person to the other. Neither of the two wielded any weapons, but the scarred male had proved that he wasn't helpless, seemingly using an aura print to eliminate the civilians.
"Yo! Not too late, am I?" A new voice bellowed.
A peach-blonde-haired male made his presence known, landing on the ground and completing the triangular standoff with Oshieru in the middle. Multiple purple tails were grown from the back of his body—specifically from his tailbone—each hovering at his sides.
Kono, the last member of Team Ganbaru, appeared.
The three members of Team Ganbaru had their eyes glued to the blue-haired instructor, awaiting his first move.
Oshieru's shoulders slouched.
'Well… shit. This changes the fight quite a bit, doesn't it?''
XXX
Kaminari Nozomu rolled his shoulders as he glowered at the Juggernaut soldier before him. The lightning continued to arc off various parts of his body, ostensibly enticing the bulky opponent.
They no longer stood outside the Nozomu residence, ending up in an entirely different block within Buraun.
"Refuting your capture will only make it more painful, Tansu vessel." The Juggernaut declared, his voice muffled by his mask.
Nozomu scoffed. "Your armor can't compensate for everything, jackass. You destroyed my home—one way or another, you and your friends will end up dead."
'Besides,' Nozomu spoke to himself, 'I could rip this guy apart with a single hand if I had more of my original strength.'
The Juggernaut clenched his alloy-covered fist. Within a mere second, the hulking soldier dashed forward, reeling his clenched fist back and slamming it down on Nozomu.
The punch, however, was too slow. Nozomu easily lunged to the side in a flash, making the Juggernaut level the ground with his punch. The Juggernaut's eyes fixed themselves on the Tansu vessel through the corners of his eyes, his eyelids narrowing.
It was a good thing that no villagers occupied these pathways, as getting caught in the mix of this fight wouldn't end well for anyone.
As the Juggernaut removed his fist from the ground, he threw himself at Nozomu once more, only to miss another swing of his arm. Nozomu parried under the Juggernaut's arm swing, landing a solid punch on the bulky soldier and forcing him back a few feet.
'Relying on my natural strength may not go well this time.' Nozomu analyzed the small dent he left on the alloy plates that fortify the Juggernaut's real body.
"Insignificant blows." The Juggernaut mocked, his eyes meeting Nozomu's. "I expected more from a Tansu vessel."
Nozomu's face was unchanged, but he immediately pushed himself off of the ground and at the Juggernaut. With his right fist, Nozomu went to strike the bulky soldier. This warranted the Juggernaut to catch Nozomu's arm, halting the white-haired man's assault.
"Weak." The Juggernaut claimed, raising his fist and slamming it into Nozomu's face.
The sheer force of the punch at Nozomu's face sent pressurized winds blowing in all directions, making nearby buildings crumble. It was as if a hurricane ran rampant throughout this section of Buraun.
Surprisingly, Nozomu still stood in place, the plated fist never leaving his face. Soon, the Juggernaut felt something grip his alloy-plated forearm tightly. Looking at his arm, Nozomu had wrapped his left hand around his arm, crushing the plates.
There was a discernable difference with Nozomu. In the sleeve of Nozomu's white cloak, black lines traced his entire arm. This modification to his skin seemingly allowed Nozomu to forcefully remove the giant fist from his face without struggle. Looking at Nozomu's face, the black lines danced around Nozomu's eyes and nose, appearing to stem from his neck.
"Bad move, asshole."
With a light punch to his plated abdomen, Nozomu sent the Juggernaut flying backward, landing in the rubble of a fallen house. The bulky opponent pushed himself back up, feeling the stinging pain in the center of his body.
With his gaze returning to Nozomu, the Juggernaut noticed how the lightning that stuck to the cloaked male was more prominent than before, and that his strength had increased enough for him to push him back so far.
The Juggernaut growled. "Lucky strike."
The Juggernaut's palms shone red, the center of his plated hands resembling a certain seal. A seal that was distinctly familiar to Nozomu.
'The Seal of God. He plans to extract Kanden with that?' Nozomu asked himself, taking a rough guess with his observation.
Pointing his massive hand at Nozomu, the Juggernaut chuckled. "Puny vessel."
*ZOOM!*
A solid beam of magic left the palm of the Juggernaut, heading directly for Nozomu. The white-haired man wrapped his fingers into a fist. In this instance, time slowed down for Nozomu, and the beam was moving at a much slower speed. This gave Nozomu the time to reel his hand back, his knuckles facing the incoming attack. Then, with the right amount of force, Nozomu's fist surged forward, time returning to normal.
It didn't take long for the power of Nozomu's punch to part the heavy beam into two, dense winds colliding with the Juggernaut, destroying both the alloy-plated armor and his surroundings.
Nozomu crept toward the fallen Juggernaut, taking note of the armor that now sprawled all over the ground like littered trash. The once bulky soldier was now nothing but a skinny trooper, even with his mask in pieces.
Raising a lightning-filled hand, Nozomu looked down on the soldier.
"I told you that your armor couldn't compensate for everything."
*ZAP!*
Nozomu released a streak of lightning down onto the fallen soldier, vaporizing him instantly.
Nozomu sighed, walking away. But, suddenly, the white-haired man heard an explosion in the distance.
*BOOM!*
It was a beacon of light that practically reached the skies. It consisted of multiple colors, flashing above the village.
Old Man Nozomu scowled. "Shit."
XXX
Akogare was fretting.
Multiple masked invaders surrounded him and his classmates. It happened so fast—going from assisting the civilians to being stranded between dangerous people.
"We can't just give up here!" Meisei shouted, standing behind Akogare.
"What!?" Utsukushi hollered. "Are we supposed to fight them!?"
Naderamu, who stood off to the side, scowled. "We agreed to keep these civilians safe, did we not? Us standing here won't save us, and none of these frantic villagers will, either!"
With that said, Naderamu conjured three aura print shurikens in each of her hands, assuming a fighting stance. Her eyes locked on all of the masked invaders, her mind replacing them with the wooden boards she once practiced throwing shurikens on.
Sukudo, who was beside Naderamu, created several hawks and sent them to the sky. "I'll survey the area and inform you guys how many there are."
"What about that massive light in the sky that we saw!?" Akogare yelled, looking at his classmates.
"Ignore it." Naderamu prompted. "It isn't relevant right now."
"Guys," Sukudo's voice garnered their attention again. "Roughly twenty of these assailants are on our side of the crowd. Mr. Oshieru seems to be distracting the rest." The brown-haired teenager's eyes were closed, looking through the eyes of his hawks.
"Is Mr. Oshieru okay?" Utsukushi questioned, looking toward Sukudo.
Sukudo nodded. "He appears to be—!"
"Watch out!" Akogare screeched, jumping forward suddenly.
Looking up, Class 1AB noticed an incoming beam, and Akogare leaped before it. In his palm, Akogare did what he could to conjure a Genso-Kyu—*boom!*—then managed to prevent the beam from striking his classmates.
"Nice work, Akogare! But there's more than just that!" Naderamu appraised, her expression becoming steeled.
Naderamu tossed six of her shurikens at the masked invaders. Most of them hit the ground before they could reach any of the adversaries, eliciting a scream from Akogare.
"Naderamu! You missed!"
Naderamu grinned. "No, I didn't!"
Without warning, the shurikens that were stuck in the ground imploded, wiping out a few masked invaders with them.
"Alright!" Meisei uncharacteristically cheered.
Suddenly, a figure towered over Meisei, making the student fearful instantly. When the figure went to slice Meisei, three blue tails wrapped around the assailant, preventing Meisei from being killed.
Looking at the source of the tails, Utsukushi was restraining the masked soldier, pulling them in and kicking them in the side of the head violently, concussing them. Shortly after, the pink-haired girl relinquished her grasp on the invader, noticing the burn marks her three tails left behind.
"Bastard!" Utsukushi mocked, smiling at her victory.
"Careful! There are more incoming!" Sukudo warned, his eyes now open.
"That's fine," Naderamu proclaimed, forming more shurikens.
"I'm getting the hang of this!"
XXX
One of the last chapters! Nozomu beat the Juggernaut, Oshieru is now facing Team Ganbaru, and Class 1AB—excluding Tanjo—are finally fighting! Speaking of Tanjo, where is he? Stay tuned for more!
Have a Great Day!
Peace - Cr1ticalz_