As the invasion of Grava City inches further to its climax, the situation in the west takes another turn.
After finding her sister beaten within an inch of her life, Akira stands off with Strout.
"So you're the one who did this to her," Akira says with a serious tone.
"Oh, don't give me that tone, Missy. She wouldn't learn her place and get out of my way, so I smacked her up a little," Strout remarks with a chuckle.
Akira looks back over at Emiko, who is lying on the ground covered in blood and bruises.
"I won't let you get away with hurting my sister!" Akira exclaims in an infuriated tone.
"Oh, don't tell me you're actually upset with me; that girl is just trash thrown away by her own father," Strout remarks with an intolerable tone.
After Akira hears the words from Strout concerning her sister, she begins to remember many words from her father.
"Listen, Akira, that girl is a waste of space. The only reason she's still here is because I'm trying to find a way to make something out of that failure."
"If a mistake like that one starts believing she can be something, it will be a stain on my status since she has my blood."
"She's a pure waste of my blood; it disgusts me to know she still wants to make something of herself. Weaklings with low potential like her shouldn't even try."
After remembering these words from her father, Akira stomps on the ground, and lava starts to come out of the ground around her.
"Father, why do you have to be so cruel?" Akira asks herself with a monotone tone.
"I'm...sorry...for...being...such...a bad big sister," Emiko says in Akira's head.
After remembering Emiko's words from earlier, Akira grits her teeth.
"I won't let them hurt you anymore!" Akira exclaims as she gets into a fighting stance.
"Ha! Is this some type of joke? Do you really care for her that much? From what I've seen, she doesn't seem that fond of you," Strout says while cackling.
Akira rushes forward to Strout with each step she takes, turning the ground into lava.
"Shut up!" Akira screams with an angered tone.
Akira makes the lava under her shoot out in a large amount directly under her. The lava launches her into the sky, and as she descends back down toward Strout, Akira surrounds both of her fists with lava.
"You don't know a thing about us!" Akira shouts with an aggravated tone.
"Oh, little Missy, only if you knew!"
Strout puts forth his right hand and puts out his right and middle fingers. Strout smiles widely and starts swiping his finger up, down, and in many more random directions.
"This oxygen at my front will become as solid as a shield, but after two minutes, it will cease to exist." Stroud chants.
Strout stops swiping his fingers and pushes his palm forward.
"Now curse!"
Akira gets directly in front of Strout and swings her lava-coated fist at him, but suddenly her fist stops before she can hit him.
"What's going on? Something is blocking my fist and lava from hitting him," Akira says with a struggling expression.
"You have a lot to learn, Missy," Strout remarks with a smirk as he uses the accelerate technique to get to the left of Akira.
Strout grabs Akira by the face and tosses her through a building.
"Ahhh!"
Strout chases after Akira and grabs her by the leg.
"Uh, oh, don't get too far, missy."
Strout whips around Akira and tosses her into another building, but when Akira smacks into the building, the building turns into lava, lessening her damage.
"His flex technique is strong; I guess he wasn't just made a teacher at random!"
Akira jumps out of the lava and surrounds her body with lava.
"Lava armor!"
Akira rushes over to Strout, drags her foot through the ground, and kicks molten lava at Strout; then she also rushes forward in pursuit of Strout.
Strout jumps out of the way of the attack and then starts swiping his fingers in the air once again.
"This oxygen at my front will bounce anything that comes near it, but after two bounces it will become poisonous to any human who breathes it in!" Strout chants.
Then Strout pushes his palm forward.
"Now curse!"
Akira rushes at Strout, but then suddenly she smacks into something and gets bounced miles away from him.
"Heh, I expected a little more from you, Akira," Strout says with a big smile showing all his teeth.
"Strout!"
After hearing his name, Strout turns around and sees Elias with multiple burns and injuries from his fight with Akira. With his body in shambles and breathing heavily, Elias walks to Strout.
"Oh, my dear Elias. I'm glad you are alive," Strout says as he observes Elias's injuries.
"Yes, thank you, sir. I apologize for letting that bitch get to you when I had one simple job to complete," Elias says in an apologetic tone.
"It's fine, my dear Elias. I see she did a number on you, but you did good. Akira is weakened now after your battle. She will be easy to kill, and once I'm done with her, I'll join you," Strout says with a serious tone.
"Join?" Elias says while still coughing blood.
Strout pulls out the level-three dagger he stole from Nixion's office and the same dagger class one discovered in the Snachro Sea Cave. Strout tosses the dagger to Elias, and he instantly catches it.
"Wait, this is—"
"Yes, it's the level three dagger Grava Acadamy had an entire tournament over," Strout says with a smirk.
"Of course, I know that I saw it on you earlier, but why are you giving it to me?" Elias says as he examines the dagger.
"I was heading over to Grava City Tower. I already let them know I was on the way but got distracted here, so since I'll be busy disciplining Akira, you can go ahead and drop this dagger off to them," Strout says in a commanding tone.
"Wait, you want me to give it away?" Elias screams with a shocked expression.
"Elias!"
The second Elias hears Strout's tone, he flinches.
"Trust in me. At the top of Grava City Tower, there will be a woman dressed like she's going to a business meeting. Give her the dagger..."
Strout pulls out a piece of paper and hands it to Elias as well.
"Hand this paper to her, and she will recognize you as an ally. Make sure you don't fuck this up or I'll have to abandon you," Strout exclaims with a serious tone.
"But—"
Suddenly a beam of lava shoots from miles away, heading toward Strout, but then the lava bounces away from Strout and hits a nearby building.
"Oh, there goes the second bounce; we should back away before the posionus air begins to spread too far. I knew she would go for a surprise attack. Elias, hurry up and leave and do as you're told Now!," Strout shouts with a deep tone.
"Right!" Elias screams as he rushes away to complete Strout's objective.
From miles away, Akira launches herself into the sky with a splurge of lava.
"My battle with Elias has weakened me a lot, and Strout is strong!" Akira thinks to herself.
After saying this to herself, Akira remembers the state she found Emiko in.
"I don't give a damn how powerful he is! I'll make sure he pays for hurting her!" Akira yells as she flies down to where Strout is.
"Now to finish this fight up so I can finally escape this dumbass teacher persona for good," Strout remarks.
Strout picks up a rock and starts swiping his finger in front of it.
"This rock will become a destructive force that deals severe damage to anything it touches but will slowly disintegrate after each use! Now curse!" Strout chants.
Akira lands on the ground and starts rushing toward Strout.
"Lava blitz!"
Akira gets on all fours and starts rushing forward with great speed.
"She's fast!" Strout exclaims.
"Rahhh!"
Akira gets directly in front of Strout, surrounds her entire body in lava, jumps up, and spins directly to Strout.
"Damn, I have to move," Strout thinks to himself as he steps to the side.
Even with his evasion, lava still smacks Strouts left side, burning his skin.
"Fuck!"
Strout turns around, and once Akira lands on her feet, he tosses the rock in his hand at her.
"A rock?" Akira asks with a confused tone as she notices the rock coming her way.
The rock hits Akira's arm, and suddenly she gets knocked into another building.
"Ahhh!"
"Heh, look at you trying so hard; why don't you just lay down and disappear from my sight, girl?" Strout remarks
Strout walks over to the rock that just hit Akira and picks it up.
"Not disintegrated yet. I have to be careful with this girl; she has the power to manipulate lava, and I know for a fact that her power could be limitless," Strout thinks to himself.
Suddenly Akirs uses a rush of lava from the ground to escape the rubble from the building.
"Rahh!"
Akira turns the ground into lava and starts to use it to slide around the battlefield.
"That stupid shit you keep doing with your hands! That's why I can't get near you!"
"Observative much, Missy?" Strout asks in a mocking tone.
Strout puts out his right index and middle finger, but suddenly lava erupts from the ground, forcing him to move out of the way.
"Of course now she's trying to stop me from creating my curses," Strout exclaims as he tears off his left sleeve, which has been burnt by lava.
"I know your tricks now, Strout!" Akira screams as she uses lava to propel her forward.
Akira coats her foot in lava and kicks Strout in the face, then punches him in the stomach with both of her first.
"Rahh!"
At close range, Akira lets out a beam of lava from her mouth, almost burning a hole in Strout's stomach.
"Damn brat!" Strout thinks to himself as he feels his insides boil.
Strout gets pushed back by the beam of lava but uses the flex technique to minimize his damage.
"Rahh! I'm not done with you yet! You will never hurt Emiko again!" Akira screams with a determined expression on her face.
Strout quickly tosses the rock in his hand and smacks Akira directly in the face.
"Yes, now the impact force I cursed it with will push her away," Strout says in a desperate tone.
After getting hit by the rock, Akira gets sent flying back, but then...
"Not again!"
Akira slams both her feet into the ground and turns the ground beneath her into lava, but then cools the lava to harden it, which stops her from flying back.
"Ouch!" Akira screams as she feels a few bones in her legs snap.
"What! Does she realize she could have torn her legs off if she timed that incorrectly?" Strout says with a frown.
Strout starts swiping his fingers in the air, but before he can start chanting, Akira blasts another beam of lava at him, but he quickly moves out of the way.
"Fuck!" Strout yells as lava lands on his right shoulder.
Strout looks over to Akira, and with her legs stuck in the ground, he sees that there is nothing in her eyes but anger.
"Don't look at me like that, you bitch!" Strout thinks to himself.
Akira uses a sprout of lava to get her legs out of the ground and rushes over to Strout.
"Damn it, would you let up for a damn second! Stupid girl!" Strout screams with an annoyed expression.
With blood leaking from her head, Akira surrounds both of her fists with lava and jumps up.
"This is for Emiko, you disgusting bastard!" Akira screams as she jumps up with both her fists behind her head.
"She's way faster than me. I don't have time to move! Annoying girl!"
Akira slams both of her fists onto Strout's head so hard that she does three summersaults in the air before landing on her feet.
"Damn girl! Her lava manipulation makes it difficult to even get adequate footing in a battle. Even if you dodge her attacks, the lava still finds a way to come into contact with your skin. I need to find a way out of this situation," Strout thinks to himself as blood spills out of his head at an alarming rate.
Strout falls to both of his knees completely at the mercy of Akira.
"So you survived that attack; you really are strong," Akira says while breathing heavily.
"Oh, don't give me that shit little girl. You did all that yelling about your sister and not letting her get hurt by me again when you've been hurting her your entire life!"
After hearing Strout's statement, Akira's face becomes saddened.
"Yes, you're right. I've been so strong my whole life, while my sister hasn't been so lucky and my father makes her suffer. I tried my best to help her, but I just couldn't."
The memory of Emiko attempting suicide pops into Akira's mind. Then Akira also remembers the words Emiko said to her.
"Not again; I won't let my sister suffer like that again!" Akira yells while clenching her fist.
"Haha!"
As Strout chuckles, Akira looks at him with disgust.
"You really have no idea, Missy! Do you really think that's the extent of what you've done to that girl?
"What are you talking about, you son of a bitch?" Akira says as she trembles.
"Don't act oblivious, you foolish girl! You know deep down that every minute you exist, that girl will suffer!"
"What are you tal—"
"How do you think you were adopted, Missy?" Strout asks in a maniacal tone.
"My father adopted me from my family because Emiko didn't live up to his standards. He wanted a new daughter that could live up to his harsh standards." Akira says as horrible memories of her father flow through her mind.
"Well, that's interesting. I didn't think a manifestation of my old life would be so dimwitted! Tell me, Missy, have you ever asked yourself who exactly your father adopted you from and why your sister seems to suffer more as you grow?" Strout asks with a devious smile.
As Akira hears Strout's questions, Akira's face starts to lose color.
"What are you saying? What the fuck are you saying?" Akira asks with frustration all over her face.
"Heh, are you sure you want to know? Once I tell you all you will want is death!"
Chapter 175 end