Level 7: Pirate Hijinks

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The exams took a toll on Yukio's brain considering that though it's not that hard it's just that Yukio didn't study for it, as he was carried away in the dream world and their preparation for the upcoming fight with Atsuto.

At least the exams are the least of his concerns now, he was now at ease when they visited the dream world again, since they've promised a week in preparation to challenge Atsuto for the Permission of Timor.

Yukio double downed saying that he'll fight Atsuto full force and that they won't held back.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say", "Dogs who bark louder have no spine behind" he replied, and he better talk the talk and walk the walk because Ren has expectations for him, or rather.

"They" have expectations for him.

He and his party maybe excited and all but with their strength and all, they aren't worthy enough to cross to Indonesia, the Indonesian Guardian will just make mincemeat out of them, the three of them would just end up as literal target practice. 

"That village chief, just how strong does he think he is?" Yukio thought to himself, visibly annoyed and in chagrin.

They need to make sure that he'll regret and swallow back what he said to them, they're confident in their skills. And good thing Yukio struck a bargain in a secluded shop that contains a holographic projection of Atsuto's movesets all for a cheap price of ten thousand credits. All his moves, techniques and sprites. Even his ability explained in neat and precise detail.

"That moveset is our only hope in passing the Guardian of Timor in the first try. Without it, our attempt for the permission may prove of a difficulty." said Keita, relieved.

"What if worse comes to us? Then shall learn about her movesets the hard way then." remarked Ayane who was not so confident about the moveset staying in his inventory until they faced Atsuto for realsies.

Yukio is confident that they wouldn't lose the moveset, the only thing that makes their passage easy.

As they open Yukio's inventory, Atsuto's movesets weren't included in order for them to study him at the last minute, opposite to what Yukio said that he wouldn't lose the only thing that makes their life easy in Timor. 

"If that treasure of a moveset is not here, who might've stolen it" Ayane wondered.

While Keita insists that someone from the tribe, maybe one of the elders or children had stolen the movesets they got from the secluded shop prior to them leaving the tribe or maybe someone did so before they logged out.  

Yukio thinks otherwise, he wouldn't just lose sight of the movesets that easily. It must be a professional robber or a bandit that stole it from him and he reckoned that Atsuto is a part of it, since he has wide connections across the nation.

But they don't know who is the one who stole their vital key to defeating Atsuto.

Who can it be then?

******

Meanwhile 

Sulawesi, Indonesia

On a pirate ship made of unadulterated mana, steel, and wood, with a mast that stood mighty in the Indonesian territory and a hull that withstands the rough wuthering waves of Indonesia.

"Right Sana, what the hell is this thing that you brought to me today, we're searching for valuable jewels called Imperium not some shoddy movesets." 

"Take this search seriously or I'll throw you on the depths of Davy Jones' locker along with yer old nemesis the sharks!" he scowled angrily.

With the movesets in his hands, he showed chagrin and disappointment.

The man scowling is the captain of this ship, Natsukawa "Purple-Eye" Haru, he analyzes each animated sprites provided by the moveset thoroughly and then asks each one of his underlings if this counts as a treasure.

"Kosher, is this treasure to you? And also for the love of god, can you please stop consuming our high grade kosher salt!!" asked an annoyed Haru to the helmsman of the ship, Kosher. 

"No boss" he said with a mouthful of salt in his mouth. Then he continues eating the salt by the handful. Haru then turns over to the other member.

"How about your Arturo?" he asked the swordsman, shipwright, and musician of the ship Arturo.

"Si, senor Haru. It is a wonderful treasure. After all it's brought on by my reina de mi vida, Sana" said by Arturo. Of course he'll agree because it's Sana who managed to steal it, if it was everyone else he'll just say this stuff is rubbish.

Sana grimaces 

"What about you Corsair Lyudmila?" He asked the cook of the ship and sniper, Lyudmila.

While polishing her gun and doing maintenance on her rifle, she takes one look at the movesets and nonchalantly lets out a simple no, as it looks nothing like Imperium.

And lastly he asked the primary shipwright, analyst, and second mate of the ship, Commodora.

"Nein, nein, nein, that is not treasure Kommandant Haru. Sana mein freund, that isn't Imperium, und lastly that is ze movesets of that village chief" she said in a confused German accent. 

"If Nikita is here right now, he'll say the same thing as Commodora and the rest." said Sana.

Haru then told his underlings to do a better job next time, and he's not just telling Sana, all of them should better up their capabilities in searching, he'll need that power to beat that main guardian.

What are they searching by the way?

They are finding Imperium, a type of gemstone whom can make anyone acquire its power and abilities if they eat it, it is not hard to chew and its durability is like a chocolate bar or that of a fruit and also its taste depends on its color for example the Earth Imperium tastes like chocolate because it's brown. 

Now Haru hasn't got one along with his underlings or crew of people whom they have different thoughts in mind.

He is feared by everyone in the island because of his fighting skills and also because of his complex and S1 tier sword fighting using his greatsword, a Belial Grade Weapon, named Kanashimi that is rumored to have been abnormally made out of steel, dark mana, and dead people's sadness thus giving the blade's purple amethyst color.

Some rumored him to rival Ren; the keeper of the dream world and be on par with him in a fight but it is just a plain old rumor, no such valid proof can be taken out of such petty rumors made by people with no future in life. He doesn't have enough Imperium in possession to be strong enough to defeat Ren in a 1v1 fight, let alone defeat Riku.

Thinking of something to punish this scallywag he told Sana, who was the ship's navigator; the one who stole the moveset from Yukio’s party, to observe Yukio during their fight with Atsuto and also for nearby enemies like the Shadow Troupe as it's bad news if other members of the troupe is present.

Sana took that to account as her captain decided to set eyes upon Yukio and his teammates but rest assured as Haru will fight those who wanted to take a high grade treasure away from him and will not use combat as a mean if it is just on Yukio's caliber but he has the Hokkyokugitsune which is an Asmodeus Grade weapon as well as for Keita who has also had a grade below Yukio's weapon.

But when it comes to Ayane, nothing much to expect, maybe she's hiding some abilities hidden from the eye she thought. And then she embarks out of the ship and then goes in land to observe Yukio as Haru ordered her to do so, all while Haru kept the moveset in his hands.

And then when Sana located and found the three thanks to Ayane's noisy chatter.

Yukio's senses felt a small rustling that continued for 10 seconds straight from different bushes, thinking it's probably from an animal he disregards.

After a few minutes the three then stopped for a moment as they had heard something much more than rustling in the back of the bushes in front of the oak tree, and when they saw no changes nor respond in the bush they assume that the one who is near them hoping for easy cash or loot must've ran away but Sana was still in the bush and doesn't move in order not to raise suspicions to the three. When they were in the mountains Yukio hears another rustling sound but its not strong because Sana is so careful to be silent.

"Something is definitely off, it's not just an animal or anything, there's someone behind our tails" said Yukio.

Unfortunately for Sana, Yukio has sharp ears and can still hear the rustling even if she slows down and then using his sword he then sends a shadow bird to the bush and when the bird reached the bush it exploded revealing Sana and now that she is in front of the three and she is now in danger, also there's a debuff imposed on her, it's called 'Conundrum'.

"Hey you, why are you following us lady?" asked Yukio who was on high alert.

"Yeah, who ordered you to follow us huh?" added Keita who was equally on guard.

What do you want?" Yukio added to the barrage of questions that he has.

"I won't tell you Yukio." Sana replied.

"Also I will return your moveset if you defeat me, by just the three of you!" Sana added.

When they heard about the moveset, their doubts that a member of the Tsuchiyama Tribe stole the moveset suddenly vanished.

They then attack her but then as she sighs Sana then becomes serious and then by using her nunchucks.

"Now try and test your strength to me!!!" She exclaimed loudly.

And then as she sees Keita, she then uses her weapon to stretch fast to Keita's veins in one hand making him let go due to pain and as he tries to hold it again it is painful.

Then up above, then comes Ayane while she is airborne for a chance to injure Sana by any chance and by using Shift she then punches her in the hips, and injuring her as a result, she then moves back and moves in irregular patterns to confuse Ayane's eyes then as she was now confused because of after images spawning every time she takes a step, Sana then dropkicks Ayane in the stomach accompanied by her nunchucks breaking the joints in her two elbows denying access from the hand and then spins and hits her in the neck and head making her fall to the ground, unconscious. 

Now with Yukio and Keita remaining they then decided to at least make a plan to subdue and easily defeat Sana, but as they activate their abilities she does too as she then begin to generate shining veins in her arms and her weapon begins to shine too and by increasing the length of the chain she then spins it rapidly and then struck in a fighting pose, Yukio's mobility is also helpful to Keita and it makes him a distraction to her and then they attacked her again. Keita uses the boost gained from the Hachizuki to make him a bit faster than Yukio and so Yukio then uses Glacio Clones and activating the Glacio Fog as well as the sword's abilities, then they start to hit Sana all over the place and once they dodged Sana's nunchakus it then hit the ground causing medium craters and cracks from behind. Keita thinks that if they are hit by one there will be broken bones and Keita is still on while using Moon Slash, subduing her and making her drop one of her weapons and then she then throws one into them but misses. 

Now weaponless, Yukio sees it as an advantage towards her and advises Keita to attack her and he did but she was calm at this moment and proceeds to slash her but as she heard the swirling sound coming she then slowly readies herself and then the nunchucks she threw came back to her but not first hitting Keita in the head but it was so powerful that after it him he then got knocked five yards and breaks a tree thus knocking him unconscious too. Now that Yukio is the only one left standing he needs to make advantages, by using Shadow Birds he barrages Sana with it and stacking Conundrum on her and making himself faster each hit. But not enough time for Sana to pick up her second weapon, making her receive slashes.

Upon seeing her body specifically she noticed that her hip, left thigh, right arm and chest are hit and it has a lot of wounds that bleed but she doesn't give up just yet and now proceeds to end it all. 

"Second Art: Frenzy" she said as she swiftly picks up her second nunchuck then spins the two weapons uncontrollably. Yukio thinks that if they let the fight drag on they’ll be defeated here so it's time for him to end this. He uses Glacio Fog, rendering the surroundings with low visibility, giving Sana difficulties to see even though she is the navigator of the Purple Eyed Pirates, then as the distance was closed between Yukio and Sana they then exchange blows and when she deals damage to it. It dissipates, then from a different angle another Glacio clone appeared which was instantly parried by Sana and dissipating him. But unfortunately the real Yukio is outside who proceeds to ignite the mist, as even though it's a mist made of ice magic, by the reasons he still struggles to explain he can change it into flammable gas. The flames engulfed Sana as it incinerated her inside, as she let out a scream of pain she slumped to the ground and was finally defeated by Yukio via the burns inflicted in her body but then as Yukio asked Sana about the moveset. Sana who was lying on the ground still smoking from the burns openly admits it after all, she lost.

She told him that she lied and wanted to test how strong they were for her objective from the captain.

Sana then left the party via a rift conjured from Haru's sword crawling weakly towards the portal until her whole body disappears and the rift closes. Meanwhile Atsuto who was watching the whole fight then suddenly appears and carries Yukio, Keita, and Ayane without any question at all.

"Hey why are you carrying us?" he asked

"Don't ask, you're hurt and I don't want to fight a party of injured dogs tomorrow." Atsuto said.

Meanwhile Ren, who was still in Cambodia then asks Tei if she wants to join him tomorrow as he'll watch Atsuto crush Yukio's party to a pulp.

“Sure, after all it's always amusing to see a group of ants being crushed by a rock.” she agreed with a soft giggle as she retracts her chain magic.

**Level 7 completed**

Hello, Lazycat here back again with another chapter. Thanks for giving this novel a read alongside its other prerequisite chapters. If you enjoy it please leave a reaction as well as your feedback. I'll be reading them. I'll strive to make as many chapters as I can to all of you  before my life gets busier once again. Your views, reactions and feedbacks are my motivation to keep on going!!! ✌️😸✌️