Gazing forward, seeing his friends come to his rescue seemed like a blessing to Kou; whose lives could've been turned into demise-like.
"You've called upon a friend, yet you were the one to intervene the first. That I dare to say is of a coward-like move." Spoke Luca, observing Yumiko standing not but a foot away from him.
"I've come here to help by my own decision that *I* wanted to do. Besides, friends tend to help each other, right? Then how about you leave him out of this and dance around with me." Yumiko raised her sword in front to point its tip at Luca's face.
"Seems that you're a swordmaster too, and a dual wielder for what I see. Two swords require quite a lot of training to be able and be utilized in a battle, yet I sense a strange presence from that blade. Could it be one of the cursed blades that people keep talking about, or is it just a coincidence that a woman such as yourself holds something so admirable?"
Yumiko's eyes glimpsed at the sword for a brief moment then focused back on Luca, where she explained. "Aren't you curious? The blade I hold could possibly contain a hollowed spirit that perished years ago, so I can't deny it; this blade might really be cursed."
Luca exhaled out calmness. "Kou. I don't know what's the reason behind you causing a ruckus around these parts, but you sure screwed it up." At the moment of hearing Yumiko's disappointment, he grasped his chest in pain.
"Do you think I wouldn't have a reason to cause it? I came across a girl that one of these guys was hunting for. I couldn't leave her there by herself in danger. I did what had to be done, to a practically innocent person." Yumiko's interest grew.
"It'd be great if you would explain this more detailed, but brief." Kou stood up straight and to their surprise Luca allowed him to explain.
"You just need to know that a girl I tried to help was a "thief" who stole her belongings that these people stole from her. She just took it back and then she was considered as a "thief" while at the same time an invader. They took her hostage and now I don't know if we'll have enough time to rescue her."
Luca closed his eyes. "It suffices. He didn't lie, however, what Niklas keeps for himself, we aren't allowed to keep those people free; those who steal from him. It doesn't matter to who it belongs or did belong, what's in his possession is his to keep."
Disturbed by their way of going about things caused Yumiko's facial expression turned serious. "I don't contemplate your urges to hunt down an innocent girl. Your sense of explanation is beyond comprehensible. If the item belonged to a girl there's nothing wrong with her taking it back if she didn't agree for you to keep it. She's not a thief, you're the thieves." Luca cared not one bit.
"Think of us however you'd like, we do what's best for this island. It's feeble to debate over that. Have you come here to talk or fight?" Yumiko stepped forward, turning her body sideways while grabbing the second sword in her left hand.
"Kou. Go find that girl, I'll take care of things from here on now, got it?" Kou stood up straight, a tad bit embarrassed. "I would, but I've run out of stamina to continue at a fast pace, I'd need to slow down and I don't think I could catch up to her quick enough."
Yumiko didn't seem to be bothered. "It's fine. You just need to go after them. This guy won't attack you, I'll make sure of it. If he tries I'll guard you. Although based on that look on his face, he probably won't try anything stupid." Kou trusted her, noticing that Luca had his eyes shut, and hurried out of the area.
"But be careful, Yumiko." He called out and ran behind the building. "Oh, I will..." She stepped forward, spinning both of her blades in front, and prepared for a sword-to-sword standoff.
"So, are we doing this or not?" Luca reached for his blade and prepared a hanging left stance with it. "You know me well. Seems like you understood that I'd back away from harming that kid. Good eyes."
Yumiko stretched her right arm behind her, her left sword stretched behind above her extended left leg, allowing the tip of the front to peek to the side of her face. "It's just a skill; I can be very observant, depending on human or terrain."
"That is quite an important skill for a swordswoman. Precision is key in both defense and offense. You have my commendation. However, this shall be an event that you will not be able to revisit in the future or fix; good riddance."
"Sure..." Yumiko's only word, followed by a sudden stare down.
Luca dashed toward Yumiko, bending his entire body forward, and slashed at Yumiko's head with the sword in an oblique motion from one side to the other.
Yumiko protected her body by slicing forward with her left blade to create a strong collision. The blades produced a metallic echo-like sound that moved in a circle, starting in the middle and ending at the outermost tip.
The second time, she moved forward, slicing ahead of her with her right-handed sword from behind. Luca moved forward and dragged his sword away before launching into a backflip and disappearing into black ash in the middle of it.
He suddenly reappeared behind Yumiko in the shape of a sphere of ash, sprinted forward, and hurriedly sliced at Yumiko's upper back.
She caught sight of it with a quick glance out of her right eye and raised the swords above her shoulders so that she could use both blades to protect her back from harm.
Luca took use of the opportunity to transform into black smoke, weave around her body, and return in front of her while slashing the sword upward as she was vulnerable in the stance. Yumiko swiped both swords over her head downward despite having very little space to maneuver.
She wanted to slam Luca's sword into the ground as he transformed back into the smoke to avoid her attack. However, as soon as she missed him, he reappeared in front of her and hopped in the air above the ground before planting his right foot into Yumiko's face and throwing her back.
Once more taking the form of smoke, Luca teleported above Yumiko's body. He then quickly executed a frontal flip, which he used to quickly descend toward Yumiko and slice the sword downward when he was near enough.
"You really love using your ability!" she yelled, cutting both swords up from below her waist to make another blade collision, then quickly used her second blade and slashed it up in front of her, diagonally.
To confuse Yumiko, Luca took the shape of his trademark smoke and maneuvered it around the sword's blade before teleporting behind her and striking forward.
She was briefly duped by his deception before realizing he was slicing at her. As with the previous instance, it was simply an afterimage, and she cut an intangible body that wasn't literally formed.
She was tricked a second time, causing her eyes to shake, when she felt an odd presence on her right side and noticed Luca emerging from the dense cloud of smoke and charging toward her from the left.
She slashed both of her blades to her right side hoping to finally strike, but for the third time, it was only an afterimage with no touchable sections, much like that of an illusion. She was understandably bewildered about what was going on. As a result, she recognized that Luca had used his method to phase through her whole onto the last side of her position when she felt a weak wind current going through her stomach.
Luca's torso began to get visually obscured as he turned his head just a little. "I'm not impressed by you. In the blink of an eye, you've lost." He clarified, distributing Yumiko as evidence that he was the fourth afterimage.
Where Kou had been standing, his true body suddenly materialized in the distance. Yumiko was falling forward as he watched, but he noticed that she was holding on and had landed in a kneeling position, grasping the wound on her chest.
"How can you move this quick? It's not ordinary... damn it." She asserted, casting a glance of her gaze at Luca as he shook his blade to remove the blood.
"Not just Lord Niklas has the ability to employ these tactics. I created my mobility using Migration. Yes, I have trained in Forbidden Techniques and unlocked their potency." Yumiko shook her head in disgust as she listened to his explanation, which made her doubt her prospects of winning.
"You certainly have a knack for making your opponent become sick of your devious movements. But I'll find a way to handle it." She rose back up, slightly clutching the ache in her body.
To be continued...