Chapter 226: Night Rule
———Wiina———
<7: 47 pm>
“...She just never stops getting in some sort of trouble.” Karra remarked.
“Cut her some slack, she’s clearly trying to do some good.” It seems like our previous speculation was more or less correct, she’s doing this more because of the possible consequence than anything else.
In the first place, she was simply a fashion model, she clearly never had the drive for violence or any sort of conflict.
Such a person becoming so strong despite lacking a lot of factors to elevate her strength is quite a nice story, but it does make everyone else look rather incompetent in comparison.
She’ll be surpassed by everyone in the class eventually, but as it is she holds a nice and comfortable position as one of the top puppies.
“It’s a bit worrying that she doesn’t want any help though.” Karra pointed out.
“Hey, it’s her choice, just let do as she pleases. She’s going to be fine. I get a feeling.” It’s just a hunch, of course, but I don’t really feel alarmed right now.
“If you’re that confident… Then I guess I feel a little better.” She replied. “Hopefully she doesn’t get traumatized. Seems like it’s gonna be a pretty big fight.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it, at least she technically wasn’t forced.” I said to take her mind off it. I think she should just worry about anything else right now. What even is her next stream gonna be about, or wherever she’s going in order to snap more photos to put on her socials?
“Do you really have to put ‘technically’ in that sentence?” She pointed out.
“It’s not even guaranteed that they even need their help, mind you, so she could technically not join and everything would’ve had the same result with more casualties.” From the wordings it seems like they just want all the best fighters they got on hand. They are being extra cautious, which is certainly a right mindset to have in the age where most things are uncertain, and some sort of random event could just pop in and ruin everything. Certainly more competence than I would’ve expected with everything seems to be deteriorating.
A lot of things crash and burn due to the Eclipse with the few months of very little work being done and such, people were so scared and paranoid when technically nothing about things such as supply chain have been hit in the crossfire.
“That’s just asking to be way too optimistic. They seem to be sending out soldiers and other fighters as well, no doubt a lot of them are gonna get hurt and killed.” Karra’s face darkened the moment she muttered the second sentence.
“...I guess if it was for peace of mind, maybe it would be for the best that she joined no matter what the odds are.” I’m not going to thread on that topic more than needed. “Onto another topic, do you have any big streams you are planning?”
“Nothing. We’re still kinda busy with school stuff and I don’t even have any ideas at the moment.” She explained. We don’t even have any homework right now, but okay. “...Hey, is it just me or is something happening outside right now?”
“That seems to be the case. The power output is rather low, so it may be some sort of skirmish of weaker individuals, or maybe some people just playing around with spells.” My hunch is telling me it’s nothing to worry about, but I don’t think she wants to hear that a second time when she can just infer from my wordings.
“...I heard a lot of stuff happen at night, usually. Feels like not much actually happened around here. You can really tell.” She remarked.
“It’d be foolish to try anything in this town. Not too long ago a man was sent to a fate worse than death. I’m sure most people realized by now how foolish it is to cause a scene in this town, be it at night or day.” It makes the place rather uneventful, but we all know that by now. “Other towns and cities don’t have such luxury, unless it’s a small area near an Ahdeid or something along those lines. The strong are quite the deterrent.”
“...Makes one wonder just how crazy things can get at night. There are also random monsters roaming around, which definitely doesn’t help.” Karra pointed out. It’s rather rare for them to cause a ruckus, but it certainly doesn’t help.
———Messi———
<8: 13 pm>
*Swing* *Clash*
“Ugh!” Maybe roaming outside at night was a bad idea after all. I keep forgetting what a bad idea it was. There’s a good reason nighttime is filled with a whole lot of nothing. In the dead of night people are much more willing to try something dirty and shady. “You got quite the balls to be doing this. I don’t care if it just turned dark out, a fight in the middle of the street is not gonna go unnoticed.”
“And who is going to stop me? Just enjoy the fight and savor it while it lasts.” He said with a grin. I don’t care who you are or what kind of face you got while saying it, that just sounds ridiculous to say out loud.
“Just leave me the hell alone already, what are you even doing this for?” I need all the time I can get to regain my composure. Talking is a pretty good way to get a bit of breathing room, assuming the opposing party is a yapping type.
“Oh? Well. I suppose you deserve to know, since you can still stand after those love taps.” Please stop with the theatrics. I know it technically helps me delay the fight, but the wording is gonna make me die of embarrassment. “Ever heard of tsujiguri?”
“…No.” Is that Japanese? It sounds Japanese.
“To put it simply, to test out a new blade, or a new technique. Usually in the middle of the night, and against anyone they come across.” He explained as he show off his katana. So basically using random unlucky shmucks as your target practice. How lovely. “No need to be alarmed. I don’t have the drive to kill today. You may come out of this alive.”
“Oh just shut up already.” Guess that’s why he’s wearing a mask and dark clothes that blend into the night. Just in case I lived, I wouldn’t have a good look at him from the muffled voice to body cloaked in darkness. “I’m going to wear you down and rip off that mask of yours, assuming you don’t keel over by then.”
“Quite the confidence despite your earlier attitude.” He said, no doubt smirking under that mask of his. Who cares if it’s false confidence or not, as long as the end result is the same. I’m not just gonna fall over now…
“…Bye.” I said as I put all the power into my legs.
*Leap*
It’d be suicidal for me to fight someone who is clearly stronger than me, especially when I have no information to go off on. He seems to recognize me from somewhere, he might know how I fight, but I know nothing about him. I could take a wild guess, but I don’t really know anyone with such a lunatic behavior.
“Get the hell back here!” He shouted as he chased me through the town. Does he really not think I could just dip if I wanted to?
*Spin* *Strike*
“Urgh!” I quickly turned around, seeing his approaching figure and struck him with my spear. That doesn’t seem to do much damage, but it staggers him for just long enough for me to follow it up.
*Swing* *Smack* *Punch* *Kick*
I swing the spear onto his head then follow that up with a punch to the face and a kick to his stomach, sending him flying.
*Swing* *Evade* *Crack*
Suddenly a strong pressure emerged from his body, and I instinctively moved out of its way to see the road suddenly cut open. It doesn’t even look like he cast a spell! And he did that the moment he touched the ground. If I got hit with that…
*Swing* *Evade* *Crack* *Swing* *Evade* *Crack*
“Stop destroying the streets, asshole!” I shouted at him as I dodge these invisible slashes and continued to run away. If he tries to use that technique more and more the collateral damage is gonna add up to quite a large figure.
*Swing* *Block*
How the hell could someone easily detect and reflect these invisible attacks? Just blocking one is already making my arms numb, and I think I got lucky figuring its trajectory. Damn it, did Karra ever say anything about this type of attack!
“You can’t run forever!” The masked man yelled out as he closed the distance between us.
*Swing* *Block*
The pressure the swing of his blade exudes makes it feels like my shoulders are about to dislocate. I block it with the handle of my spear, but it’s already feeling like it can’t take even one more blow.
This is bad. I only managed to get away earlier because the conversation derailed the fight, but there’s no way I’m going to pull off that trick again.
*Swing* *Parry*
“Huh?” The man let out a stupefied voice as something came between us and repelled his attack.
“Impersonation is a crime, just so you know.” The new arrival said. They both share the same style of clothing, but while the impersonators use dark blue and black, he uses lighter colors like pale light brown for his coat and white for his shirt.
Now that the lunatic stopped moving, I can actually make out that the man in black has dark hair in contrast to this guy’s light blonde.
“Damn it, James. Why did it take so long?” I can’t help but to snark at him after how close I was to potentially dying. “I almost thought that was actually you!”
“Oh please. I wouldn’t go around on the streets raving like a lunatic. A real fighter has class.” He said before unsheathing his own katana. “Well then, copycat, got any excuse you want to say for yourself, or better yet, any last words?”
“Heh… Hahahaha!” The impersonator is laughing like a madman. “To think you’ll actually show up! No matter, I want to see how it’ll work against you anyway!”
“Save your breath.” James said, clearly displeased that someone is going around cosplaying as him and copying his fighting style. Not that I saw the other guy using any elemental spells.
Still, to think someone would try to imitate the top dog of the guild. That’s just asking for all sorts of trouble even if you think you’re stronger.
**Dash** *Clash* *Leap* *Parry* *Clash* *Dash* *Block*
Both of them immediately ran at full speed at each other and tried to overwhelm the other with their swordsmanship while I could only watch. No way I’m not gonna be a liability if I try to join in. They are moving too fast for me to keep up consistently, not to mention jumping around and having some ability to manipulate their trajectory even temporarily to make their movement more graceful and less risky.
I can’t see their faces clearly, but just from their movement it’s clear that their attitude to the fight is completely different. While the copycat seems rather chaotic and erratic, James is much more calm and meticulous, with his expression unchanging as he dodge and parry anything attacks coming his way.
Not even a minute passed and then two landed back on the ground, neither side seems to have got a clean hit on each other, and the pace of the fight slowed down the last couple of seconds.
I didn’t register it during the initial exchange, but a few of those invisible sword beams were hitting the streets and buildings nearby, exclusively from the copycat.
“I’d admit that you have done quite the homework to have gotten this far.” James said as his posture relaxed, as if he’s no longer interested in the fight. “If someone wasn’t familiar with me, they might be fooled.”
“Haaa… Quite the praise!” The copycat said as I can make out the lack of breath in his voice. “Then let us continue!”
*Dash* *Swing* *Evade* *Grab*
“However.” He nonchalantly steps aside and avoids the incoming attack, then grabbing the impostor by his right wrist.
*Sizz* *Burst*
“AAAHH!?” He screamed in pain as his whole right arm got incinerated from the point he made contact with James, quickly breaking from his grip and dropping his katana. His legs shaken as his body tried to stay calm despite the pain.
“Still not even near my level.” James coldly said as he walked forward with his katana in hand.
*Slash* *Thud*
He coldly cut the man down, swinging the blade down on his torso and creating a massive gash on his chest that caused him to bleed out rapidly.
“D-Did you just…” I can’t help but comment at how brutal the last few seconds were.
“He deserved it. A rat like this shouldn’t be given any mercy anyway. Unless you want to let him off.” He replied, clearly knowing full well I’m not going to let him off easy anyway.
“Yeah. As if.” I just gave him the reply he expected.
“Good answer.” He said before putting the katana back in its scabbard. “Bad luck on your end. Were you going to a nearby shop or something?”
“No, it’s just that I want to get some fresh air today. Guess I had a brain fart or something, forgetting about the night rule.” It’s been a long time since I roam outside at night, I just miss it a little bit.
“I see…” He said before turning back to look at the bleeding corpse. “I’ll deal with this from here. Best for you to go back home.”
“Yeah. I’ll do that.” Best to quickly flee the scene before anyone else showed up.