"Aaaargh" Souta screamed charging towards Mai the both began to exchange and block each other's blows till finally, Mai displays a new fighting technique, darting towards Souta she lands a single yet vital blow on one of his pressure points which caused him to be temporarily paralyzed, "Sorry Souta forgot you were still a beginner" Mai apologized picking up Souta from the ground and carrying him on her back.
"It's all cool" he laughed "also what was that move, when do I learn it"
"Calm down one at a time" Mai laughed
Since the 25th floor incident, a lot of members began to jealously stare at Akiko and Souta since they did not only assist in the kings' defeat but received praise from the guild masters "who do those two think they are they just suddenly showed up out of nowhere earning Master Kuro's respect" Karin a member of the crimson demons thought to herself while walking through the streets of Aramoor when not looking at where she was going she bumped into a strange man.
"Huuuuuh, who the fuck are you, are you blind or something" Karin screamed
"But you were the one who bumped into me" the man sighed "ummm....have you seen this girl anywhere" the man asked holding a picture of Akiko.
"Hoo, seems like luck is finally on my side" Karin grins and told him everything because she had finally seen the perfect chance to get rid of at least one of the two.
The strange man tells Karin to come with him and meet his leader, and without hesitation, she did so. When they arrived he introduced her to the boss who became riled up after hearing everything Karin told him.
-----
During their next raid Karin suggested Souta follows Kuro and Mai's group since they were ascending to an even higher floor while Akiko led theirs, nothing seemed wrong with the idea so they each went their separate ways. "Is Akiko going to be ok?" Mai asked as Souta begins to brag about how she was the best mage he knew and that she could handle herself.
BOOM a loud explosion occurred after Akiko used the fireball spell; "Wow Akiko you're good" Karin complimented her. After minutes of raiding, they didn't come across any more monsters.
"Guess that's all of them" Akiko thought to herself "Let's head back guys, the others should also be rounding up" she suggested only to turn back and see that her path is blocked by all the members not letting her leave. "What are guys think you're doing" she asked looking confused, Karin approaches her explaining the situation she was currently in;
"Yo, Akiko"
As soon as Akiko heard the voice she recognized it immediately only to turn and see Juzo Asahi someone she once knew. "Akiko, what the hell are you playing adventurer for, Sister even sent me here to get you" he stated "Do you know how big of a deal that is"
"No thank you" She rejected
"Boss we'll help".
"I'll do it, if the Sisters find out how rough you were with here we'll all be dead" Asahi smirked
Akiko quickly creates five fireballs and launched them at Asahi who easily dodged all of them. "Spirit of Light" She chanted causing a bright flash to shine everywhere leaving everyone temporarily blinded.
"Spirit of Light, you really are special" he smiled "Too bad I won't be able to see such a magnificent spell" he undid his blindfold revealing that he was blind
"What happened to your eyes" Akiko asked
"Each time I failed to retrieve you the sister took something from me" He clenched his fist "my left eye, my right eye" he grinded his teeth "But in exchange they gave me something even more powerful than my eyes and with it I shall successfully capture you" He laughed
She tried other spells but he kept dodging them until she finally decided to use a high-level spell she began to gather an insane amount of mana which caused Souta and Mai who were on the 29th floor to wonder what kind of monster would require such a high-level spell to be defeated.
"Ol flames, come forth and destroy my enemies; FIREBALL" she created and launched a blue-coloured flame towards Asahi only for him to pull out a blade and cut the flames in half.
"How" she fell to her knees in a state of shock "That thing you git in return was it a-----"
"BINGO, a holy weapon" he revealed "Goodnight Mrs Prodigy" he whispered before knocking her unconscious "Let's move".
[5 minutes later]
"HEY, what happened here where's Akiko" Souta asked
"Some strange men came and took Akiko away" she revealed "we tried to stop them but.....but...." she started crying.
"Do you know where they went" Souta asked
"I'm not sure"
"Let's go if we leave now we might catch up" Mai quickly zoomed off with Souta following behind, they caught up to Asahi who after a few hours of pursuing, finally came to a halt at votcroft woods only to see that he was no longer with Akiko. "where's Aki—" Mai cuts Souta short telling him to go after her while she handles Asahi, Souta dashes off in the direction they all went in while Mai stayed behind.
"Don't be offended, young missy. But I'm not into hitting women" He stated with a smirk on his face
"Hoo, then you wouldn't mind if I attack first" she replied before instantly appearing in front of him landing a blow so hard he folded in an awkward position and went through the trees into the woods.
She launches another quick attack but he swiftly took out his dagger, "A sacred weapon ay, interesting" she grinned and summoned Aetherius which clashed with his, sending a large shock wave which destroyed a few buildings within the vicinity
"First form" Mai murmured causing the large blade to become as slim as a fencing sword so it would be easier for her to move about
"How did she get her hands on a sacred weapon" Asahi thought to himself as both of them charged towards each other engaging in Kenjitsu. "Neverland" Asahi chanted causing illusions of himself to leave his original body "What now" he smirked.
"This is nothing" she dashed towards him only to bang her head on nothing
Asahi gave a loud laugh "You retard my it might seem like there's nothing there but you just dashed straight into a tree"
"Illusions huh" she placed her hand below her chin "if I can't find the real one I'll just have to single you out. First play, Symphony No. 41 Mozart….Enhance" she said lifting her blade which created and launched multiple energy balls that scattered all over the woods causing a large explosion.
"Urgh" Asahi groaned while getting up after it stopped raining energy balls, he suddenly feels immense pain and noticed that one of his arms had been taken off by Mai's Attack.
He looks ahead and sees Mai slowly walking towards him he picks up his dagger standing his ground;
she quickly appears before him before he could even blink or react. "If I mess this attack up Souta and Akiko could get caught up in it, guess it's worth a shot" about to attack he vanished from her sight
"An Illusion"
"Fooled again" Asahi laughed appearing behind Mai suddenly he was split in half
"What are you doing here" Mai asked a bit surprised
-------
Souta finally makes it to Akiko and stops the thugs in their tracks, "Give Akiko back" he requested but with a bloody look in his eyes. The thugs set her down and all charged at him trying to kill him, though Souta dodged a few of their attacks he still ended up taking a considerable amount of damage. He tries talking them out of it because he knew he could beat them if he wanted to but they refused to listen, after a few minutes Souta finally snapped.
"Arrrrgh" one of the thugs charged at him but is grabbed on the face by Souta and squeezed it till it popped, the other popped from behind only to stab an afterimage of Souta. The real Souta appeared behind him and snapped his neck. The look on Souta's face was so vile he looked like a psychopath.
Souta charged towards them slicing every one of them dead with his dagger, "Now for the grand finale, No" he paused and zoomed towards the last thug "go to whoever sent you and tell him or her that Akiko is my party member".
He slowly stared at his palm covered in human blood and laughed a bit before walking up to Akiko and carrying her on his back
-----
"Thank you for saving me, not like I needed it" Mai pouted
"Thats not a problem but----" he paused "Keep your student under control " Kuro said
"Huh what are you talking ab----" Mai became speechless after seeing the corpses scattered everywhere