Round two ( Part 2: Time to win! )

   The killing intent was coming from outside the factory.

However, that mass of killing intent did not invade in full force. Mixed among it was some kind of hesitation and it halted temporarily.

Perhaps unsure how to attack, but there was also the possibility they were waiting for backup.

I had a bad feeling.

No matter which possibility, staying in the factory wouldn’t be a wise choice.

“Let's go. Come with me.” I grabbed her hand as we started running away quickly. I certainly wanted to attack them, but I knew that it was definitely a trap they were setting.

The concrete factory where we were staying for the night was a two-story building.

Due to its location, even if a fight suddenly broke out, the enemies had no worries about the noise or even blowing everything up.

The annoying downpour from earlier would also play a role in covering up the sounds of battle.

We moved quietly. Hiding behind a pillar, walking down the stairs where concrete was flaking off, leaning our backs against the walls left and right of the main entrance, we peered out slightly to see outside the building.

There were three figures standing under the rain without any attempt to hide themselves. With the lightning striking a nearby building, the darkness disappeared making me able to identify them.

“If we don’t attack first, they will gain a huge advantage.” I walked slowly to reveal myself.

Rin looked at me silently with a worried expression. She thought that I was trying to mess things up again or use myself as a shield to protect her…

A meagre smile appeared on my face as I whispered: “Do the thing only you can do!”

“And here I thought you would hide in fear and oblige us to blow everything up!” A maniac smile appeared on the second commander as he swung slowly his new claws.

I started walking toward them slowly while Rin kept hiding waiting for her chance to strike.

“You’re alone?” The third commander asked as he leaned a bit trying to take a quick pick at the interior of the factory.

The fire that was set by the lightning strike just moments ago had gone already.

I pulled my sword in silence and continued advancing. I wasn’t holding anything in my left hand since I was trying to hide the fact that I was still struggling with the last injury… Thus, the battle to the death, taking place under the darkness of night with mud splashing all around, started.

While the first had his annoying gauntlets, the third commander was holding a giant hammer just like the last time…

Having fought them once before, I started to feel familiar with their attack patterns. All I had to do was to avoid being hit by the giant hammer, sliced by the metallic claws, or getting punched with nuclear pasta on my face… Well, getting hit once meant immediate loss.

Nothing surprised me in that fight until the second commander exceeded my expectation with the fierce attacks that he executed using the new claws that were longer than the older ones.

Having his two hands equipped with those blades, it seemed to me that I am fighting a two-sword wielder. But in terms of range, he outmatched the range of a spear wielder.

With a dancing motion, he kept swinging his claws one hand after the other. Compared to the first strike, the second attack executed with a short delay was more of a threat that one must not be careless with.

Not only that, using his arm strength as an Initiator, he was using the long claws to knock the ground at his feet, producing shockwaves resembling earthquakes. The ground was shaking so much that I almost lost my footing.

At that time, the first and third commander would seize the opportunity to jump over for a sudden attack.

“So, you’re getting serious right from the start?” I asked as I kept moving my legs trying not to stay in the same position for more than half a second.

I had to neutralize the second commander first.

The first commander was indeed a problem. He knew that my only way out was to use a straightforward quick strike with my sword. Everyone there knew what my single strike attack was capable of, that's why they always pulled back whenever I made the preparatory motions leaving the first commander before me who blocked my sword with his hands forcing me to cancel the attack and go for the defensive once again and wait for another chance.

Seeing an opening I quickly pulled my EMP gun and fired simultaneously with Rin who appeared suddenly in the battlefield.

Upon realising that the second commander, thought to be cornered at that time, reflected everything as he moved his claws, I couldn’t help but feel stunned.

“Is that...” I murmured as I stood with a wide-open mouth.

“Magnetite” He answered while laughing. “You know that my claws have no electronic devices inside the blades themselves. Using magnetite to cover them wasn’t a problem!”

Our combined surprise attack failed utterly…

The battle was slowly developing into a despairing and vicious fight.

I had more spare time since Rin joined the fight which helped me to launch an attack from time to time forcing the second commander to stop the earth rumbling that he was doing whenever he had the chance.

The enemies’ attacks were getting quicker and more precise by the time. If Rin were to leave the front lines for a mere moment, I wouldn’t be able to handle the three opponents ganging up on me, thus entailing my death. Understanding that, Rin carefully avoided taking on lethal blows, only providing cover fire from afar.

We were slowly getting pushed back inside the factory since I couldn’t find any chance of victory.

In this situation where anyone would surrender, only I was continuing to fight while exhibiting movements that astounded our opponents.

“Why!?”

Supposed to be in a situation of overwhelming advantage, the third commander screamed while shaking her rain drenched hair.

“Calm down brother!” The first commander replied as he dashed toward me trying to capture me only to be forced to retreat by Rin.

Hearing them getting a bit confused gave me some confidence that we can pull this off. I was surprised to know that the first and third commanders were actually siblings but thinking about something like that was nothing but a waste of time.

I narrowly dodged another quick three consecutive strikes from the second commander while blocking the hammer of the third and the clenched fist of the first with my sword, which lost its vibration again due to its contact with nuclear pasta.

My left leg sank into the ground as I gritted my teeth and endured.

Mustering all my strength, I pushed my opponents' attacks back, causing the siblings to stumble unsteadily. Immediately after that, Rin jumped on top of the enemies in the air as she pointed the rifle that she took from me when we were in the middle of the clash.

Apart from the second commander who had realized our intent and hastily retreated, the other two were struck by the EMP discharge and fell. That wasn’t enough to defeat them of course but had a big impact on them. They will probably stand up again after a minute if we let them switch the busted devices they had on their legs and arms. We didn’t have the choice but to let them be.

I ignored them totally as I dashed toward the second commander who thought that he’s going to protect his allies only to find that he was the one targeted. This battle could not possibly be won unless he was defeated.

Preparing to engage, the commander stood in position as there were still ten meters between him and me.

Originally thinking that he had gotten the wrong timing due to miscalculating my charging speed, I suddenly shuddered with terror.

In a split-second decision, I jumped to the side before hearing a heavy splitting sound that made my back froze in terror. The ground at my former position was just sliced into two. That was definitely terrifying.

The next strike that came after a second of delay was swung horizontally.

I ducked down to evade the slash, only to hear a splitting sound behind me. Not daring to stop moving, I glanced back to see the second floor of the factory collapsing diagonally while giving off black smoke.

I pretended to jump to the left while Rin slowly sneaked behind him.

The first commander shouted to warn him about our plan. As a result, he turned behind him to glance at Rin who was about to attack only to be surprised that it was all a decoy, and I was the one who was aiming to attack him.

He quickly tried to protect himself from my sword with his claws only to get hit by a normal bullet in his stomach, which was indeed a human part in his body.

As he was falling slowly on the ground the siblings were up again. The third commander dashed at me first trying to smash me to the ground with his giant hammer. I jumped back a bit to evade it. That was the moment where he decided to go for our backline and attack Rin using the force of the hammer impact on the ground to jump high behind me to attack Rin.

That was our perfect chance.

I didn’t bother watching what happened since I knew that there was no way that he could land a hit on her. I jumped to intercept the first commander who was charging at me.

As he extended his hand toward me, I used that opportunity to stick my sword in the knuckles of his gauntlets. It was the only weak point that my sword could penetrate. Of course, since it lost all its energy, my sword could cut anything but that wasn’t my intention. I pulled my hand quickly before letting the enemy realize that he messed up taking the gauntlets with me. In other words, I disarmed him from the weapon he was bragging about the whole time.

On the other side, Rin using her special weapon dodged the strike of the third commander and its impact. Then quickly fire her EMP gun making him unable to move once again. This time, there was no one to protect him until he changed the fried electric circuits in his arms and legs.

“No backup… huh…” The first commander sighed as he looked at his naked metallic arm. “As if there is someone in Japan right now that can back us up except for the leader…”

He looked at his brother who was lying on the ground unable to move then dashed toward me to fight me once again…

Two minutes later…

I stood still in the muddy ground, struck repeatedly by falling raindrops nonstop. Lying beside me were two people: The first and second commander.

I sighed deeply then sat on the ground looking at the crazy damage this fight left in the area. Thankfully, no one lived there…

“I told you! I won’t make you go through the same things you had to go through six years ago!” I looked behind me to see Rin who was approaching quickly with a large, cute smile on her face as she said those words.

She sat next to me and kept staring waiting for a response.

A smile appeared on my tired face as I stood up and walked toward the destroyed factory. “Come on, let's prepare ourselves to move on again.”