Finishing The Fight (1)

She was a terrifying opponent to stare down. Especially for me since I can’t hurt her too much because of my soul-binding contract.

I put a hand on the shisu blade and started thinking through the different arts, hoping there was one I could use to quickly knock her out.

But this is a sword, not a club.

I’m not sure exactly how good her healing factor is, but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t taken into account when the For The Greater Good Clause was made anyway.

It said, no severely or mortally wounding, right? I hate to ask exactly how much severely would be… but just knocking her out without doing too much damage in the process should do the trick.

It’s either try that or get ripped apart limb from limb anyway.

I think it’s best to start with the second art, Swift Counter.

I moved my hands to the position, waiting for her to strike… or do anything at all. For some reason she’s just staring at me instead of doing anything.

Does she think staring me down will make me give up? Didn’t we already go over this?

It’s hard to tell, but I think I see the slightest bit of hesitation. I would try reasoning with her again, but I think that me talking will actually worsen the situation.

Best to just keep my guard up in case something happens.

“Why…?” she asked. “Why protect him…?”

“I honestly don’t really know why I should protect this guy. He attacked you, didn’t he? That alone makes him my enemy-”

“So why?” Marion interrupted.

“I’m not trying to protect him, I’m trying to protect you.”

“Don’t be absurd. How could you possibly be protecting me?”

“It’s simple really, I’m just trying to keep you from doing something you’ll regret.”

“Regrets, regrets, regrets…” she said. “I’m sure you have so many regrets, don’t you?”

“Yeah… I guess I do.”

“And why would someone like you care so much about me having regrets? All you really care about is not regretting it if you don’t do anything.”

“That’s not-”

“Your regrets have been piling up, haven’t they?” she said “Especially with your stupid friends and family back on earth.”

“What…?”

What is she- how does she-?

“Huh? Is it really that surprising that I know about that?” Marion asked, interrupting my now scrambled thoughts. “Come on, I’m sure you have a working brain at the very least. Didn’t you ever stop to think why I trusted you so easily? Sure you saved my life and all, but with my current situation why would I choose you to serve as my bodyguard? Because you beat back one assassin?”

I thought something was weird, but… I guess I was just thinking it was just normal ‘isekai’ shenanigans… I didn’t really give it more thought than that, even when I noticed odd things.

“How do you know about the… earth thing?” I asked.

“That’s your response? Do you really think you’re that subtle?” she asked. “Even if I didn’t know beforehand, I’d like to think that I would’ve pieced it together. I mean, why would you start searching for things related to earth from the get go? Most people nowadays don’t really care about that type of thing. And judging by where you were in that book, it’s fairly easy to tell that studying earth isn’t a hobby of yours, otherwise you wouldn’t have stopped after the prologue.

“Although, I was curious as to why you fell asleep, but that was after you started asking about the Great Artists. So I began to piece that together, too.”

“Piece what…?”

“I get that you’re a reincarnated hero from another world and all, but I don’t actually know their reasons for bringing you here. All I really know is that Palette’s supposed to make it so that you help me with my problem. That was the deal after all…”

“What deal?” I asked.

“And why should I tell you anything about that?” Marion responded. “The point is you’re supposed to be helping me, not fighting against me. There’s very little you can do to stop me from killing Trigger Happy. But since you cost me so much, I’ll give you one last chance to move.”

“What do you mean by that? What did it cost you?”

“You really don’t know anything…” she sighed.

In the next split second, Marion was right in front of me. My blade in a deadlock with her claws mere inches from my face.

“…So how about you just shut up and do what I say?”

I…

I don’t even know what to make of this situation anymore, not right now anyway…

This entire thing is confusing, but I’ll have to figure it all out later…

“I already know what I have to do…”

“Huh?”

“I’m sorry, Marion…” I said. “I’ll try to make this as quick as possible!”

Using Miracle, I pushed my back with enough force that Marion was shoved a few feet away. I used Accelerate and quickly put my blade back in its sheath before taking the sheath off and wrapping the sash around it so that it won’t fall off when I swing.

It’s the only way I could think of fighting without hurting her too much. Although this is gonna make it harder for me to use the shisu arts, and basically impossible to use the fire ones…

With that in mind I ran towards Marion and used Unseen Slash. She dodged under the blade and tried to claw my stomach open, but I managed to counter before she could.

I jumped back and used Swift Counter to block her claw attacks. Amidst the clashing of sheath and claws I threw in another Unseen Slash, but she quickly dodged backwards.

I’m gonna have to get more creative if I want to pull out of this stalemate.

I used Miracle to push myself off the ground, going into the third art, Flying Razor. She managed to block with one arm and then with the other one she punched me in the gut.

Somewhere along the line, I must have forgotten exactly how strong Marion was. No, that’s not it, what I forgot was exactly how much I suck. I don’t think I’ve gone through a single fight without being overpowered by my opponent in some way or another.

I hate this stupid world…

Anyway, I went flying through the air and crashed into a tree. I’m pretty sure I heard something break, but I can’t tell if it was one of my bones or a branch of the tree I hit.

I decided not to look back and check, instead getting up and readying the one art that actually seemed to work for me.

Just in time too, because here she is again. Although I can’t win by just countering.

Marion’s reflexes are fast, so any of the piercing arts are out of the question. I don’t feel like trying the third art again after failing so badly the first time, and the other aerial arts don’t seem like they’ll actually help, not without some fire anyway.

Taking all the arts I can do into account, it looks like I’ll have to use the fire style arts I know to get in any real damage. Even if she blocks or dodges those the fire might still hit her. Hopefully.

Unfortunately for me, I wrapped the blade in its sheath and I doubt I’ll get enough time to undo that before I have to use it again.

Miracle’s power output is too unpredictable and I don’t want to accidentally trigger the contract’s curse. So maybe if I abuse Accelerate until I can get the sword unsheathed, but I don’t know the actual time limit for it before I… burn up.

Well, here goes nothing.

I tried running away with Accelerate to get some time to refix the sheath. Marion is fast, but luckily for me, I’m still faster.

After getting some distance on the now slowed Marion, I began to undo the shash, making sure to keep moving so that she couldn’t catch up.

By the time I had finished undoing the sash and putting it back on, my whole body felt like it was burning. I could feel the sweat as it ran down my face.

I deactivated Accelerate after getting into position for Swift Counter. That took way too long.

Even though I can use the fire arts now, I can’t exactly hit her with the blade anymore. I feel like I’ve actually gotten further away from winning this than when I began.

Ugh.

I can use the fire arts to keep her at bay, but I still need to knock her out.

If I hit her indirectly with a Miracle attack, I don’t think that’ll do enough damage to activate the contract, and it could possibly knock her out, but…

How am I supposed to do that again? I can’t seem to get the drop on her with regular attacks.

Bang!

Huh!? Was that a gun!?!

I activated Accelerate again after hearing the gun shot in time to see Marion dodge a bullet, but now that bullet’s coming straight towards my face.

I blocked with the blade of my sword, and the bullet bounced off at an unnatural angle before hitting Marion’s leg.

I looked towards where the shot came from and saw that guy Marion was about to kill standing. He looked a little less beat up then before, maybe he had an elixir or something?

Marion was now focused on him instead of me, and she looks even more angry than before. I watched the bullet shell get pushed out of her leg as it healed itself. That healing blood is no joke.

As soon as the wound closed she turned and ran towards him. Of course I followed and quickly overtook her, coming between her and the guy. I stopped right in front of the guy and quickly turned around, getting into position.

“Please dodge this…” I muttered under my breath before yelling out my next move. “Hidden Flame!”

I swung my blade across from the side. Marion stopped in her tracks and jumped back as fire burst out along the line of my swing.

I got ready to use Swift Counter again before asking the guy a question.

“What’s your name?”

He didn’t respond initially, probably confused why that’s the first thing I’d say. But I’m getting tired of referring to him as “the guy”.

“Call me Trigger Happy…” he said.

“Okay, Trigger Happy, first off, how are you standing right now?”

“When she slammed me into the ground earlier, one of the elixir containers I had on me broke,” he said. “I have some glass shards in me right now but the elixir itself helped stabilize my fatal wounds. Didn’t do much for my right hand though… When I finally came to, you were fighting her so I decided to try and help out.”

“I should probably be a little more concerned with you technically being my enemy, but right now I could use some help with this situation you caused.”

“You’re pretty harsh for a kid,” Trigger Happy replied. “But then this is my fault for not taking her down when I had the chance.”

“I don’t care about that right now,” I responded. “I can keep up with her, but I need an opening so that I can neutralize her.”

“You saw how my bullet bounced off your sword earlier, right? If you get up in her face and deflect the bullets I shoot at you, I’ll make them bounce off and hit her arms and legs. It won’t do much, but each hit will slow her down until that wound gets fully healed.”

“Fine,” I said, “Just make sure you don’t miss…”

Without waiting for another reply, I sprang into action again. If I’m going to keep Marion at bay, I’ll need to use the strongest art I know.

“Shisu Style, Tenth Art: Dance of Death!”

Starting with the fourth art, Flurry Cutter, I ran towards Marion, putting her on the defensive. She blocked my attacks with her claws while staying in constant movement, making it harder for Trigger Happy to get a good shot towards us. I guess strategizing in front of her wasn’t the best move but what are you gonna do?

While chasing her I jumped into the third art, but this time since the blade wasn’t sheathed she just dodged the attack all together instead of trying to counter.

Coming out of the spin I did the fifth art, Skyward Strike, followed by the fire style sixth art Falling Fire. The resulting burst of flame wasn’t much, but I actually hit her with it.

Before the fire had a chance to die down I pulled my sword out of the ground and prepared to use the first art before hearing a gun fire off.

I quickly used Swift Counter and blocked the bullet, which then hit Marion’s right arm.

I resumed my onslaught with the fire style fourth art, Fiery Assault. This time, her counters were slower than before, meaning that the plan was working.

Then I heard two shots go off and used the second art once again to deflect them. One hit her left arm and the other her right leg.

This should hopefully be enough, I’m starting to feel the effects of doing the Dance of Death. Especially the burns from all the fire moves I used. I charged up Miracle.

“I’m sorry Marion, but if you could just take a nap for a while that’d save me a lot of trouble!”

Marion realized what was about to happen and almost tried to run, but two more bullets bounced off the ground, one hit her left leg and the other went through her right knee, causing her to stumble.

I jumped forward and grabbed her head with my right hand.

Not enough to seriously hurt her! Just to make her lose consciousness! That’s the Miracle I need right now!!

As I was about to deliver my finishing blow, I felt her claws dig deep into my arm.

“Miracle Slam!!”

I slammed her head into the ground and in an instant I felt her stop struggling, her skin returned to her usual pale color. She was out cold.

“That hurt…” I groaned as I pulled my arm up. Her claws were gone now, causing her hands to fall from the wounds she had just inflicted on my arm, but my blood still remained on her hands.

Wait- why is my blood purple? And why is this the first time I noticed this? I know I bled before when I got stabbed by the Liquid Assassin, but I guess I wasn’t really paying attention to that at the time.

I felt my muscles painfully contract as the strain of doing the Dance of Death spread throughout my body. I guess it can’t be helped.

I checked Marion’s pulse and breathing. She was fine, and it looks like I’ll get off without having the contract’s curse affect me.

I breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Finally…” Trigger Happy said. “That colorless was a lot more trouble than she’s worth… Good riddance.”

I almost corrected him and told him that she’s not dead before realizing the true meaning behind his words.

I quickly activated Accelerate and deflected the bullet. Looks like my battle isn’t done yet.