OTO Chapter 85

[Lullaby of Fierce Battle]

Face Punch didn’t hesitate to punch.

Approximately five minutes after the battle with Setsuna began, he fired his third ‘One Time Impact’.

The city was scraped off with such a momentum that made it look like a mound of sand that was kicked. Besides, Setsuna, who was caught in it, slipped into the dust cloud generated by the impact.

The residential area was pushed away by the shock wave emitted in 60 degrees angle in front of Face Punch. It’s a power that sets it apart.

If one were hit directly, one won’t be able to escape death.

However, this was the first time that Face Punch faced an opponent who was unscathed after receiving that ‘One Time Impact’.

Like the second time, he emerged from the side of the dust cloud, and approached Face Punch while making his way around it.

“Haha-! It’s no use!”

Another ‘One Time Impact’.

With this, Face Punch used his ability for the fourth time.

A power that had no concern about harming allies. It is correct to say that it was unreasonable.

If it wasn’t in District B, which was the closest to the enemy’s invasion point, the damage would have been even greater.

Shion, who was the quickest to evacuate, deployed only Face Punch at the point so that he can rampage unbridled.

However, the result of the battlefront did not turn for the better.

The man called Setsuna. This situation, in which he stops Face Punch alone, was not favorable to Shion.

Setsuna retreated far away again at the release timing of ‘One Time Impact’.

Face Punch’s One Time Impact, which exerted high firepower in a single shot, had the property of being easily seen through.

Most of the ability user had no way of dealing with it even if they saw through it, but Setsuna had one.

His ability is ‘Moment Guard’.

It was the ability to momentarily create a strong barrier around him. The barrier that spring forth from inside him when deployed could also be used to attack as it pushes away the surroundings. And it was possible to draw others into that barrier.

Face Punch saw through Setsuna’s ability with the fourth ‘One Time Impact’.

He comprehended what kind of ability it was with the second attack, reconfirmed it with the third attack, and investigated it further with the fourth attack.

Seeing as he retreated when attacked, Face Punch judged that it is dangerous for him to be hit directly at a close distance even though he has a barrier. Or perhaps he took a distance because he will produce a small gap after using his ability, just like Face Punch.

Whichever it is, is fine – Face Punch thought, coming to a conclusion.

Battling with ability is no use. If this continues, Face Punch who had several limitations will be at disadvantage.

The dust cloud cleared up again, and Setsuna emerged from it.

Face Punch distorted the corner of his mouth and said,

“This is boring.”

“Hm?”

“Let’s stop using ability. Let’s fight with only bare hands, Setsuna.”

Face Punch was a bold man. Having pulled out all the knives in his holder and leaving them on the spot, Face Punch took one step forward.

He made a provoking gesture and took a fighting pose.

He was a man who would do such a thing even if he’s going to fight to the death.

Setsuna grinned.

He was also confident in brawling. Originally a member of Nursery Rhymes, Setsuna came here to enjoy the fight.

At the beginning, Setsuna also thought that endurance battle with Face Punch would be boring.

Therefore, he was delighted with the proposal. Setsuna didn’t hate this kind of fight to the death.

He threw off his white coat and sweatsuit, exposing his trained upper body.

Similarly, Face Punch also threw off his jumper, showing the physical beauty of his upper body.

“I’m glad you are the enemy I faced, Setsuna.”

“Haha! Me too!!”

Setsuna used light footwork to close the distance with Face Punch.

Face Punch set up both of his hands in front of his face and step forward.

And immediately after, Setsuna jumped in front of Face Punch.

‘One Time Impact’

Particles quickly converged on top of the fist that Face Punch launched.

Setsuna eyes opened wide, surprised seeing the particles.

His barrier was, of course, not in time.

Along with Setsuna, the landscape was blown away.

The impact sound that sounded like a lightning strike is accompanied by earth tremor.

A breeze blows through the B district, which looked as if just being hit by catastrophes.

Face Punch stood on the piled-up rubbles and stared at the empty sky.

“Sorry. I wanted to fight it out with you though.”

ーーー

Sakasegawa, Byakurei, and Hitsugiya. These three were old friends.

They who used to live on killing, got to know each other by triple-booking at a certain job. It became the first time that they were working together.

They hit it off well and formed a team.

Feared individually to begin with, each was a well-known killer, so their team quickly became famous in the underworld.

However, after a while, having noticed that their direction of killing didn’t match, the team was disbanded.

After the disbandment, they founded the ‘Association’ in order to improve the work environment of the industry and to get a better job.

Eventually, Sakasegawa became the manager of the ‘Association’. Hitsugiya rarely went in and out of the ‘Association’, but sometimes, he took work there.

And Byakurei, as a matter of fact, worked in the ‘Association’.

In the course of it, Byakurei became the member of Anonymous because he accepted a request to assassinate Hyde, the leader of Anonymous.

Being defeated by Hyde after challenging him, Byakurei was invited to become the member of Anonymous.

Thus Sakasegawa, Byakurei, and Hitsugiya walked their respective paths.

And now, fortunately or unfortunately, the two men met again. As enemies.

“It seems that you’ve been sitting in your position all these times, Sakasegawa. Are your skills not getting rusty?”

“Maybe your strength has been deteriorated, Byakurei.”

“Don’t be stupid. I’ve always been stronger than you since the olden days.”

“My bad, but it’s been a long time since I last fight. Sorry if I can’t kill you easily.”

There was no conversation after that.

Sakasegawa kicked the rock at his feet toward Byakurei and flew high to the sky.

The rock did not reach Byakurei. The rock fell to the ground in front of him, blocked by an invisible wall.

The appearance of Sakasegawa changed as he climbs into the sky.

Strengthening abilities could be divided into forms by training.

For the strengthening system, which had various troublesome aspects such as tearing clothes, it was a standard practice to train to stop the transformation change while still in the humanoid state during transformation.

Now, Sakasegawa was transforming into an eagle. Feathers grew from all over his body, his originally sharp eyes became sharper, and a beak extended from the tip of his nose.

Abilities of the strengthening system that made huge changes like his have a disadvantage, that is to be mistaken for a demon beast sometimes.

Strengthening system ‘Black Eagle’.

The jet-black twin wings were unfolded, and Sakasegawa, which became a huge eagle, stopped in the air and looked down at Byakurei.

The height is approximately 300m. The eyes of the current him could even clearly see the texture of the concrete on the gound.

Having targeted Byakurei with his sharp eyes, he began to descend in order to hunt his prey.

Twice and thrice he flapped his wings.

Having reached his maximum speed in an instant, Sakasegawa sensed that there is an invisible wall in front of him and then he made a big detour around the sky.

Byakurei’s ability. ‘Room Impair’.

Sakasegawa sensed the invisible wall by a slight change in the airflow.

In order not to be caught by the ability of Byakurei, he had to move at a speed at which Byakurei cannot react.

The space where Sakesagawa headed earlier is fixed.

Byakurei predicted Sakasegawa’s movement and used his ability. He couldn’t fix many spaces at the same time. Though it could be deployed at the same time, his ability could at most fix five ‘surfaces’ of a certain size.

Therefore, it was incompatible with Sakasegawa’s strengthening system’s ability that allowed him to move freely in the sky. A normal human’s dynamic visual acuity could not keep up with the reaction speed of ability user of the strengthening system.

However, Byakurei knew that Sakasegawa had to take a distance for acceleration and transformation.

The reason why Sakasegawa landed first was because Byakurei was wearing a mask and he didn’t know it was him until he got closer.

However, Sakasegawa didn’t regret the delay in development. There is no such thing as a head on bout for killers, but it exists between Sakasegawa and Byakurei, between friends.

Byakurei was aiming at Sakasegawa’s lack of stamina. He continued to fix the space at Sakasegawa’s destination again and again.

He predicted Sakasegawa’s trajectory and used his ability while forming an image of an invisible maze in his mind.

Sakasegawa gradually narrowed the distance to Byakurei with a reaction that exceeded that prediction.

From the side, it looked like Sakasegawa is dancing strangely in the sky, but the reality was that they’re having a fierce battle.

Byakurei didn’t make a mistake in making an instant judgment too. His eyes that were opened wide to the limit are slightly congested with blood.

Experts always anticipated the movement of their opponent. Sixth sense, cultivated intuition, and talent. People who had these factors showed a response that is close to a precognition.

Byakurei crushed the ‘shortest’ of Sakasegawa.

Sakasegawa ‘reconstructed’ the “shortest”.

And they were imminent.

Byakurei reached for the sword on his back.

The talons of Sakasegawa were approaching.

Byakurei fixed the space on all direction as if to confine himself. However, he didn’t make it to set it up above him.

Sakasegawa’s talons approached from above his head.

The next moment.

Sword draw(Battou).

Byakurei released the fixed space and made it possible to draw out the sword.

The fixed space was released, and Sakasegawa opened his eyes wide to the attack from an unexpected position.

Hesitation arose. If he swung it down without hesitation, Sakasegawa’s claws would definitely crushed Byakurei’s head.

And Sakasegawa took a single stroke of Byakurei’s sword.

With a splash of blood, Sakasegawa rolled vigorously behind Byakurei.

“Haa…haa… See, aren’t you getting rusty?”

When Byakurei turned around, Sakasegawa, who had been cut through the vital spot, had already died.

ーーー

The first person who came into contact with the enemy was Face Punch-san.

I confirmed the death of two enemies to the first hit of Face Punch-san. One of the survivors headed for Byakurei-san.

Listening to the conversation, I found out that the person who went was Sakasegawa, the chairman of the ‘Association’.

The fact that he will face Byakurei-san is a good miscalculation. I heard that Byakurei-san was one of the founders of the ‘Association’; he must have some sort of relation with Sakasegawa. In that case, he will know his way of fighting to some extent.

Almost at the same time as the battle of Face Punch-san started, the battle of Getsuri and co started. Getsuri-san and co seem to have done well, they have succeeded in annihilating the enemy.

As I thought, Getsuri-san’s ‘Skill Lock’ is strong. If he has a suitable partner, there’s no way he would lose.

“Inshi-san, the enemies were splitting into 7:3, but just keep going to F-44. Their number reduced to seven.”

[Roger that.]

“Chiyaku-san, please head to F-66. Please annihilate the three enemies as soon as possible and then go to Inshi-san’s location at F-44.”

[Got it.]

I check the time.

It’s about time for Renga to arrive. I want to put the battle situation in order to some extent by the time the two generals arrive.

It also depends on the reinforcements though.

The battle in H district has not started yet. Is it because the distance is quite far?

There are several people who are idle anyway, should I told them to head there from here.

I think while tracing the map with a marker.

At that time, a sound suddenly appeared behind me.

I look back vigorously.

“I thought something was wrong, and it turns out you are in command, huh. That means that Yoiyami’s intuition was right on the mark after all.”

At the end of my gaze, a man with a white mask on his face stood.

Grayish hair and silver earrings. And when I saw the navy-blue jacket, I immediately knew who it was.

When I realized it, he took off the white mask and jokingly bowed

“Hitsugiya… Banri…!”

“Ha, how impolite of you.” (TN : For calling him without an honorific)

Hitsugiya Banri.

The one in front of me was one of the strongest killers.

“You… are a member of Nursery Rhymes, huh.” I shift my eyes to the white mask and said.

“That kind of thing doesn’t matter, right?”

Dammit, with this guy in such a place. It is the worst.

If I left, the battle front would be messed up.

“Let’s dance, sound user.”

-Shion VS Hitsugiya Banri-

Prev | ToC| Next

---

A rematch…

Want more? Check out my patreon for 4 more chapters!