Level 8: A Rock And a Hard Place

*****

Back on the ship

Sana came back to the crew injured, with burns in her body. And clothes with black spots and holes. "What a bummer of a trip you had Sana, are you alright ?" asked Kosher to Sana who was in a dampened mood. 

"I'm okay" she replied. Then came to her room and locked the doors.

Corsair could only smug and laugh as it seems that she was unable to defeat the trio, from the looks of it, she was given a thorough beating. If only Sana trained more in the ship and sparred with the people here, including her. She's more than happy to pass time and fight anyone who dares inciting a fight here, even the captain. And also, she reminded Kosher to soften his tone even more, or rather just not talk to Sana when she's feeling that way as it'll further irritate her, by which Kosher nodded as a reply. 

Without another word she stood up, picked up her rifle and jumped off the ship into the waters below as she planned on gathering some fish to eat. Some say the fishes on the deep parts of the waters taste better. Unfortunately, halfway through the jump, just as she was about to hit the waters and make a splash, she suddenly warped back to the ship and almost dived head first on the wooden floor. Thankfully her gun saved her fall.

"No diving at this moment Corsair, the ship will travel to the waters of the Tsuchiyama Tribe at full steam. Do it once we reach the destination" Haru told her, ordering the crew to sit tight as Kosher will be throttling the ship full steam.

As Haru sat on the ship's mast he then ordered Arturo to cook something on the ship's kitchen as it seems that aside from the waves crashing on the hull, some of the crew members' stomach grumbles are filling the ship too, including himself so making something out of what Corsair caught yesterday would be needed.

Meanwhile Yukio, Keira and Ayane are sleeping peacefully after they've returned to the Tsuchiyama Tribe. Recovering as they slept and logging off the dream world as they rested their heads. 

*****

After they defeated Sana and rested their heads for a perfect 8 hours, the day for them to defeat Atsuto arrived, it was also their first attempt at acquiring the Timorese Permission and going straight to Indonesia to prepare for the second Permission Guardian. Yukio is now invigorated, as well as Keita and Ayane and they're ready to beat some Guardian ass. The healers of the tribe too can vouch for it as they've double checked the party's condition to ensure no complications occur during combat and to also make sure that they're mentally and physically fit to fight their tribe leader toe to toe.

At the same time, the Purple Haired Pirates have arrived at the tribe and are one hundred fifty meters away from the shoreline of the Tsuchiyama Tribe. And even though they have good vision, the distance covered by their eye sight is limited to a few tens of meters only so they have no choice but to use the ship's telescopes. "Alright all of you, stop it this instance." he pitied his crew using telescopes to see the upcoming battle. They've been all loyal and doing their best in finding Imperium so a little reward for them wouldn't hurt.

So Haru decides to let them enjoy themselves. By first touching his sword's blade until it reaches the tip generating a calm violet mana in his index finger then by using that index finger with the Kanashimi's mana, he draws a huge circle like a screen and the moment the circle was completed, Tsuchiyama Tribe can now be seen up close like its a television broadcast.

Now all they need to do is watch and eat, that goes for Haru as well, thankfully Arturo and Nikita are both here assisting Lyudmila in cooking what she caught earlier this day. The job of a ship captain has never been so easy and fulfilling, to have your crew cook for you while dominating them with your power. 

For the party's lineup, Ayane is in the back as support, Keita in the left for defense while also being this team's secondary offense and finally with Yukio for primary offense as planned in the real world, the night before their fight.

By now the tribespeople are now in the forested area on the outskirts of the tribe on an nearby island owned by the Tsuchiyama Tribe. As there lies a battleground ideal for fighters like Yukio and his party who wanted to rush their progression and go to Indonesia for no reasons, they're probably desperate to defeat Ren who is far stronger than them. As they left the tribe, they rode a small boat to reach that island. Now Yukio and his party are hoping that they could at least defeat him with minimal difficulty, but however Atsuto didn't come along with Yukio's party to play, he's here to fight nothing else. And as they reached the forested place, a stone floor with an intricate tribe design with a sun symbol in the middle confronted them. "If the sun shed its light into this sun, it distributes the light it absorbed and shares it to the rest of the floor causing it to shine." Atsuto told them.

Atsuto then added something, they must wait until noon to see the sun give the battleground a little illumination, also in this allotted time he gave them time to warm up a bit to give them edge towards Atsuto and condition their senses. Technically, fighting him is free as it also applies to all permission bosses, though it's only effective to the first 2 attempts, for the third attempt and so on you must be willing to pay something to the permission guardian, though it differs from guardian to guardian. Not all the time do they get a free lunch so Atsuto told them that they got two free attempts to beat him and if they failed all 2 free attempts they must gamble their weapons to him for a third fight. No buts, no excuses.

A few hours later, as 12 in the noon strikes the floor illustrating the sun opens its mouth, then receives the beams of sunlight and gratefully and shares it evenly in the room around it illuminating the whole place revealing ruins that blend in with the forest. Atsuto then removes the bandages in his hands and strikes his typical fighting stance as well as Yukio and his friends. "Good Luck!" he said to them.

Atsuto being a kind and gentlemanly fellow. He allowed them to deliver the first attack. After all there's a first for everything, today is also their first time on a permission fight so they deserve it. The party fired their first attacks to Atsuto but dodges it with a handspring and plants his first to the floor creating a quake but the three lands on both feet even after that. "I said I'll give you the privilege of delivering your first attack, but I didn't say that I'll catch it also." he laughed. 

Ayane was a bit impressed with the speed of Atsuto's handspring, slowly activating her Shift with each word of praise, Yukio sent out the Shadow Birds that chased Atsuto and exploded as it came into contact with him. While that is happening, Keita activates the Hachizuki: First Moon observing and pinning Atsuto's position.

Finally predicting his next position, Keita releases it and knocks Atsuto back to a corner. Now they caught Atsuto, Keira fired another First Moon Slash that was followed up by two slashes that wounded Atsuto. Kind of unusual that Atsuto doesn't move as Keita is attacking him. He was about to deliver another First Moon Slash when Atsuto kicks him away and distances himself from the corner and goes to the center on the battleground where Yukio faced him head on, exchanging blows as well as with Atsuto evading Yukio's Shadow Birds.

Yukio, finally uses the Hokkyokugitsune's abilities. Yukio, though little by little inflicts the Conundrum debuff onto Atsuto to make him more vulnerable to the damage of the upcoming attacks. Seeing that it's not enough he fogged up the place diminishing the light received by the sun, causing the battleground's temperature to drop and with traces of ice magic forming on the foliages of the trees, as well as the ruins that came with its illumination. On this condition also, Yukio's Glacio Clones materialize and fights Atsuto alongside him with their each slash inflicting the same Conundrum debuff as the original.

Atsuto tries to evade the clones but his feet are entwined by roots and it's a bit strong, he's having difficulty removing his feet out of it. "It must've been that Ayane girl's magic who's responsible for this." he said in pain. 

Seeing Atsuto full of cuts, Yukio then finishes the job by having his clones cast Shadow Birds onto his wounds. The shadow magic ruptured inside causing significant internal damages inside Atsuto. Groaning in pain he almost got knocked unconscious by the pain. "Ren, what the fuck did you fed these children? They're so strong." Atsuto wondered to himself as he let his guard down for a moment. That moment is all the three needed to deliver the finishing blow.

"They may be strong." he thought to himself as he grabbed both Yukio and Keira by their right hands. 

"But... I'm stronger" he added as he sinks a grin. Then with a spin he threw them back to the side.

As Atsuto walked slowly toward them, his top clothes started to slowly be burned away by the activation of his magma magic. The wounds made Yukio's Glacio Clones are steaming, healing and eventually disappearing like it's nothing, black steam soon follows as the Shadow Birds get dispelled off his body.

At the same time, the temperature of the battleground increased. The conditions for using the Glacio Clones as well as the Glacio Fog has been disabled. The system warns Yukio regarding the increase in temperature as longer exposure to this temperature in this enclosed space will be bad for them.

Yukio as well as Keira then rushed to Atsuto together, with Atsuto punching the ground causing two pillars of rock to rise and cancel their attacks. While airborne, Yukio then tries using the Hokkyokugitsune's water magic and again recasted his Glacio Clones, then rushes to Atsuto's proximity and then changes phases into their water forms as water can kill fire. 

Taking advantage of the temperature Yukio then uses Mist Breath to once again lower the visibility, luckily it shuts the illumination of the battleground as for Atsuto cannot see and then he thinks of some plan by first sucking the mist off the battleground that instantly restored the temple's visibility back to normal, and thwarting Yukio's advantage.

Atsuto stored the mist that he inhaled that was converting into fire inside of him. Atsuto was impressed that they could go head to head with him and fight at the same pace as him. Each strike the party gave, Atsuto automatically counters with kicks and punches, maybe that will work. He was busy parrying and attacking the main Yukio alongside Keita and Ayane. When he feels another stab on his side, he turns around to see a Yukio that stabs him and when he punches it, it dissipates. 

Then as he turned his back four more joined the fight and slashed him eight times in the back. Perfect timing as the three are on where he wants them to be right now. After inhaling all the mist in the room, the moment when he sees the three in the desired location he expected he then uses Conversion to turn the mist into fire and by focusing it in a fan shaped area he starts burn the place down like a dragon and when it was over he was then countered by Keita by using a standard Moon Slash that cuts deeper than the last in his hand.

Keita repeats the move and was able to cut deep in his other hand, injuring Atsuto and reducing the efficiency of the magic he threw at them. They must take this chance to their advantage as in a few moments he'll regenerate the wounds in his hands, urging Yukio and Ayane to attack Atsuto alongside him. Meanwhile Atsuto then starts to be real serious and gets a bit too overboard. 

Now as Keita was about to land a third Moon Slash. Andito effortlessly catches him on the left arm and then throws him towards Yukio pinning them against the wall and punching them in the wall three times while Ayane heals them continuously making it a bit worthless to attack the two boys. Atsuto sees a little blunder, a support without any defense. Yukio and Keita understood and knew it was a huge mistake.

"Ayane watch out!!!" The two boys shouted to her as she's now exposed to Atsuto without protection. He closes the distance between him and Ayane then commences a triple suplex to her but not before he goes behind her cutting the protection from the tome loose. After the third slam, the tome Ayane was holding then sprouts giant vines that attack Atsuto, which Atsuto quickly throws in a fireball that spreads to the plants burning them, and also making them weak.

Keita and Yukio's last attempts are near, Atsuto decides to at least make them fight more violently and now because why not he already disabled their support slash healer, she's now unconscious and unable to battle. He parried every move, dodging them effortlessly. Yukio strikes Atsuto but he is easily dodged and disarmed by a knee kick to the hand. While quickly dodging Keith's First Moon Slash, in a millisecond he goes behind Yukio, hugged him and commenced a double suplex ending with an enhanced piledriver that disabled Yukio's senses and knocked him hard into unconsciousness. 

And lastly for Keita, to make up for all the trouble the brat put him through, he then subdued him by first punching him hard on the gut, followed by an uppercut that disrupts his senses. After making sure that Keita is stunned, Atsuto then commenced a double piledriver, the subsequent slam made Keita bounce off a bit which Atsuto caught by his left hand, threw him onto the air, jumps towards Keira to catch him and hug him again, ricochets onto a higher altitude with Keira in tow while spinning, threw him back to the ground and finally finishing it off with a body press that resonated throughout the whole island and causing a small quake to happen on the vicinity.

After rising up from the body press, he rose up like nothing happened and looked at the three all knocked out and unable to battle. 

"Good grief you have insane powers yet the three of you are sloppy to use it. Train more, study more or else your weapons will be under my care forever." Atsuto remarks and then walks away.

Before leaving, he advised the remaining handful of spectators to look after Yukio and his party until they wake up before returning to the tribe for supper. 

Meanwhile, Haru and his crew were amused with the wrestling match that they witnessed. At the start of the battle, they thought Yukio's party would just be looking forward to an easy victory but they were wrong. Near the end of the match, Atsui just starts to body them one by one and by using insane reflexes and excellent grappling techniques. 

"No wonder he's the chief of the tribe, yeesh." Sana said, in a rather terrified tone.

**Level 8 Completed**

Hello, Lazycat here and I'm back with another chapter for y'all to read, I apologize if it took longer this time and please expect chapter releases to take longer from here on as I'm now battling a disease called laziness XD. 

Anyways thank you tuning in to this novel, and I hope that support will remain even if my publishing dates change. If you like, feel free to give this chapter and its subsequent chapters a react or maybe your feedback. Don't worry I listen. ✌️😸✌️