The centre Plaza ( Part 1: Enemy backups )

   In every fight, where two groups do their best to use their best moves and skill to win and eliminate the enemy, you can notice that there is always someone who fools around without achieving anything. Just like in video games, the key to winning a team fight is to destroy the enemy's psychology and inner communication before destroying them physically. The only difference that you can find is that if you lose in real life you’re doomed. There is no reset button or a revive spell or timer in reality. Well, not yet!

But that small difference has a big impact on the people’s psychology. You have to try harder in real life to taunt the enemy and push them to make mistakes…

What I did when saving Rin in the vacant area near the Meguro ward was one example of a good way to taunt a bad enemy who hadn’t any type of immunity against trash talk… On the other hand, the best example of an attempt to taunt an enemy is definitely Sasaki Yamato’s attempt…

“Let me introduce you to my comrades!” The man bowed once again as he dodged another shot from Shuna.

We looked around us to realize that the enemies were walking slowly to surround us from all directions. They were marching quickly yet silently from both sides.

I jumped back immediately as I screamed and talked to Shuna: “…Forget about the man temporarily! Stop those idiots from marching toward our backs!”

Rin and the others started retreating immediately. If the enemy manages to surround us from all directions, then it will be all over. All they have to do is to fire bullets at us from all directions. These people were the real enemies after all I thought it was safe to assume they had normal guns.

“Are you done with your calculations Asahi?” I asked.

“I have Ai here helping me but even with that I can’t manage to determine the correct number of enemy fighters there.” He threw those words quickly as he kept looking through the three screens before him.

The retreat plan was easy and effective. The two assassins and Rintaro had to run first while both me and Kazuto were running slower to cover them. Kazuto with his damage sustain shield and me with my ultrasonic blade that can destroy anything that comes in contact with him, even bullets. Well, it isn’t like I can dodge bullets easily or hit them with my sword in mid-air, but I tried blocking one in the past during the training and the result was more than satisfying. The bullet made of iron turned into ashes blown by the wind before even reaching the blade.

Shuna started targeting the enemies who were running on both sides with EMP sniper. After landing a direct hit on the first one making him unable to move, she kept missing her shots but even so, she was able to hold them down. The thing that helped both us and Asahi a lot…

After retreating immediately, Akira and Rin started the counterattack. Each one of them jumped to a side of the plaza to hold and assassinate one of the enemies.

“That’s it finally!” Asahi screamed all of a sudden. “…Shinji you’re hearing me?”

“…Roughly, with everything going on here! So, you are able to find the number of enemies?” I asked as I drew my sword preparing for the fight.

“…I think this fight won’t be a problem for you there! They only have 15 members!” He replied with a happy tone.

The man called Sasaki jumped to fight me once again but this time he was intercepted by Rintaro.

“6 years ago, five cities in all of Japan were near destruction and that was all made by only five men!” I said as I walked toward the left side where Akira was keeping a strategy of sudden attack and immediate retreat. “Do you still think that the number of the enemies is still small?”

Since Akira was a dagger user, supporting him was an easy task. Meanwhile, Rin, who uses guns, needed someone that can cover her to shoot all her bullets from a safe distance, that's why Kazuto went to help her.

With us joining the fight, the two assassins stopped retreating and went more aggressive in the attack.

“So… Is this a bad situation?” Asahi asked.

I jumped on one of the enemies to chase him as he tried to dodge my sword swing. A satisfied smile appeared on my face as I saw one of his metallic arms flying in the air. “…Who said this bad? If they came with double this number, then I guess we would’ve had some difficulty!”

All of us trained really hard in the past years. That is why we were a bit confident in our skills and acted rationally although the situation didn’t look to be in our favour…

Rin was rarely moving as she kept simply firing her guns while Kazuto was pushing the enemies, blocking their short-range and long-range attacks with his shields. Slowly yet surely the enemy was retreating trying to regroup. Those who try to turn their back and run receive a shot from Shuna’s sniper. Sadly, they dodge it since they were expecting it…

Shuna became frustrated after all the dodges the enemy has done. This was the first time in her life after all the training that she did, she missed all those shots. As for Rintaro, he was having fun exchanging blows with Sasaki. If anyone saw the way that they jumped simultaneously either to fight or to retreat, he would assume that they were equal in terms of power but for us, the members of the squad, we knew that Rintaro was holding back. He was fighting carefully, very carefully! The scene of me getting hit that easily was the thing that helped him to understand that the enemy was hiding his true potential. He got lucky at that time since I wasn’t expecting that attack but in normal circumstances there was no way he could reach me like that easily.

Finally, Kazuto was able to land a good hit on one of the enemies who kept jumping everywhere dodging him and Shuna’s hits simultaneously. As a result of that powerful hit, the enemy got casted in the air making him vulnerable to both Rin and Shuna’s attacks. It was pretty amazing how Shuna was covering the whole area of the fight without missing any opportunity to land a perfect shot.

“Master! They hit one of the enemies with EMP!” Ai informed me as I kept trying to hit the enemies.

I looked at the other side of the plaza to see a man with two blades that are integrated in his hands falling on the ground without being able to move any muscle. That scene made it clear that we have the upper hand at that time.

“…They got the first enemy down before us!” I told Akira as we kept jumping in and out as he attacked and dodged. “… Are you happy with that!”

“Can I use mine?” He asked.

I laughed then answered: “So you were fighting all this time without it? Your special weapon! Go ahead!”

Akira retreated immediately a few meters away leaving me to handle everything on my own. Then suddenly and out of nowhere he appeared behind one of the enemies and stabbed him in his neck. His daggers were sharp enough to deal some damage although the part he hit wasn’t made only of flesh and blood. His unexpected attack made the enemy freeze for a second or less. That time was enough for Shuna to hit him and right after her a swing from my sword cut both his arms. Just to verify that he won’t try escaping I cut off his artificial legs too.

“Well played!” I yelled in excitement as we gave each other a high-five.

With that 2 of the enemies are down. 13 more to go…

“… Exactly as they told me!” Sasaki laughed. I looked at him in surprise then screamed: “Don’t hold back Rintaro!”

“You guys really don’t kill your enemies unless you’re obliged!” Sasaki continued. “You’re soft enough to prioritize capturing the enemy over eliminating him.”

Rintaro kept throwing his fists whenever and wherever he can but none of them actually hit the man before him who kept moving from one place to another quickly as if he was dancing.

Rintaro was giving it his best at that time, but he simply couldn’t keep up with his speed. After all, speed wasn’t his speciality. Shuna wasn’t providing him with any backup. Since she kept missing anyway, she decided to focus on the other sides and leave him alone. That was another thing that made his mission harder. I looked at Akira who was jumping from one place to another at a very high speed and decided to go help Rintaro for a bit.

“You’ve finally chosen to fight a leader?” Sasaki screamed as he saw me walk towards him. “I got bored of fighting one of your allies, Shinji! This fighter is too sturdy! He can’t hit me, and I can’t do anything to him!”

I felt a bit of relief as I knew that the enemy wasn’t able to do anything just like Rintaro. It wasn't a difference in power levels but a difference in fighting style that led to that result. Both of them considered the other as a bad enemy…

“Rintaro! Switch with me!” I said as I prepared myself to use my EMP gun and sword simultaneously.

“So far, this was my worst performance! I am sorry!” He said as he ran to help Akira.

“Don’t worry about it, this is your first time! Everyone is having a bad time!” I comforted him a bit as I looked at Rin and Kazuto who were about to take down their second enemy.

[It looks like someone was having quite the success today]

“… You’ve finally decided to act like the leader you’re and fight a leader?” Sasaki asked.

I started the attack immediately with some random EMP shots as I answered: “If by acting like a leader you meant beating you up then you’re correct!” When I got a bit close to him, I swung my sword. He jumped back as he laughed. “… If I get to defeat you today, I may get promoted to the position of fifth or even fourth commander. Those two positions are vacant anyway…”

I retreated back as I returned the gun in my pocket and decided to use the rifle: “…So you mean that the ones we were fighting here weren’t old members of the red claws?!” I asked.

The moment I looked away to pick the rifle from my back, he charged quickly towards me. “They are old members indeed, but they couldn’t rank up lately and ended up working under us!”

I escaped his fist at the last moment making no room for him to change direction or escape. And before he could even move, I fired an EMP bullet from my rifle from a very close distance. The trick of switching to an unconventional weapon always works well with excited enemies after all.

After that shot, he got paralyzed for a few seconds. A shot from Shuna following mine made him completely stunned. I walked toward him slowly with a large smile then said: “It looks like you won’t have the chance to get that promotion today!” As I walked away to help the others, he said: “I should’ve waited for the other! I was too greedy!”

“… You finally learned the lesson not to push your luck so much?” An unfamiliar voice echoed in the whole area surprising everyone there.

“Master another 3 men are approaching. I am detecting a high level of hostility! They are enemies.” Ai informed me.

After beating three people, another three came to the scene... What an ironic situation! I looked around me to see large smiles on the enemies’ faces to understand that the ones coming are going to change the power balance…

“Shuna! Do you hear me?” I asked as I stood in my position unable to move waiting for the arrival of the three men.

“Yes leader” She answered.

“The enemy got backups! We need you here!”