"It's getting a bit crowded… here..." Kusuo's voice strained, his body crushed under the gremlins.
"As long as the TV is fine…
As long as the TV is fine…" Leon chanted with his eyes closed. He was pinned behind the couch.
"Discharge!"
The sound of bells rings throughout the room, and tendrils of golden energy wrap around my body and shatter. A golden aura emanates from within me as I take a fighting stance.
"What was that?! I can't see!" Kusuo struggled.
"Did a priestess from another world come to save us?! I can hear church bells ringing!!" Leon… fantasised?
"I see, I see…is this how you view your power to be? A physical boost?" 'Miss Alice' questioned, her voice still raspy.
The small explosion caused by activating my ability cleared enough space for me to stand, blowing away the gremlins.
I flinch as the Higher Gremlin jumps onto the balcony wall, retracting its eyes and grin. 'Fuck, that was embarrassing…I thought she was gonna attack me.' My expression on the outside was still calm and determined.
"Humanoid, capture him. Tell the Commons to kill the others." Alice orders.
My heartbeat quickened.
Leon and Kusuo…they were fooling around, filling their free time with risky adventures. They never would've expected to die in the hands of an alien today.
If their antics had brought on this problem, I wouldn't have felt guilty, but…this time it was my fault. That much was clear. It's my fault that Tsiene and the Higher Gremlin appeared here. 'But… But!'
For no particular reason, I felt my palms get cold.
Kusuo, the flamboyant delinquent who had a soft spot for people who understood him.
Leon, the honour student who finds it hard to stay serious all the time.
I didn't want to sound pathetic, but these flawed people are my only friends in the academy.
I taunt Miss Alice, signalling her to attack me.
"Haha. I'm too much for you to handle at your level, boy." The meter-tall talking red sack replied.
Just because the situation is unfavourable doesn't mean I have to panic. 'Be as selfish as you want, Yuuhi! Being selfish will get you through any difficult time.'
Putting aside all thoughts, I dash towards the balcony. Miss Alice jumps off the wall and disappears into thin air.
Just then, the collar of my jacket is grabbed, and my surroundings blur and spin.
Before I knew it, I was thrown into a wall with a loud bang. My vision blurred as blood dripped down from my head.
"Yuuhi! Yuuhi!" I heard their frantic voices. 'Why are their voices so far away?'
…
"Here should be perfect." The monotone voice pierced through the confusion.
I had been thrown, no, dragged and slammed into a wall…of the opposite building, creating a large crater on the wall.
"Kh!" My body winces in pain. It took everything not to lose balance and fall off the crater. Looking down, I saw the ground 2 stories below me. My rapid breathing was starting to slow down.
Meanwhile, my opponent, Tsiene, was levitating in front of me.
'Of course, aliens can do that…'
This fight was too unfair. But complaining is not going to get me anywhere.
Since Tsiene didn't show any signs of wanting to attack me yet, I took the time to observe my surroundings.
We were currently above ground in a narrow alleyway between the dorm and the building I was slammed into. An idea had struck my mind!
'This is perfect indeed.'
I jump down into the alleyway and wipe the blood off my forehead. Tsiene followed me, hovering down.
"If you've calmed down, we can head to The Hut." Tsiene reached her hand out.
I clenched my teeth. "No." My voice echoed in the alleyway.
'In this narrow alleyway, my punches have a lower chance of missing.'
Forming a fist, I aim at Tsiene's chin. Before my punch could connect, her kick slipped through an opening in my guard and hit right below my chin, pushing me away.
I felt my surroundings spin for a moment before regaining composure. "Just now…" My eyes lock onto Tsiene.
She launches another kick from the side, which I block effortlessly with my elbow.
"I knew it…your attacks have no weight behind them." Holding onto her leg with my other hand, I pull her closer, throwing her off balance.
Using this chance, I lift her by the leg and slam her into the wall to the side.
"Gah!" She lost her breath, and the wall crumbled from the impact.
Tsiene's attacks focus on speed and precision. Perhaps her true firepower comes from the explosive gremlin dolls.
And since I was supposed to be captured alive, she couldn't risk using explosives.
That said, it's not as if her attacks didn't faze me. The initial slam had weakened me quite a bit. Even the 'weak' kick I received to the chin made my eyes spin.
…
I didn't realise I had been standing still for longer than I'd like to.
Tsiene had gotten up and dusted off her red mantle.
"I'll stick to the original plan" Her monotone voice brought me back to reality.
She disappeared before my eyes. And then, a second later, the alleyway was filled with red blurs. She was moving too fast for me to keep up, hopping between the walls.
'So, this is what she meant by the alleyway being 'perfect! What a mismatch, our fighting styles are way too different!'
My neck whipped to the opposite side as I felt the kick to my cheek.
Another, and another, multiple high-speed kicks thrash my body around.
I instinctively take a defensive stance, my vision still hadn't perfectly stabilised, causing me to struggle standing up.
Before I raised my hand to land a punch, aiming at nothing, the sound of glass shattering distracted me.
Seizing the moment, Tsiene launches a frontal attack; simultaneously, I fall forward, losing my balance.
The only thing I saw was Tsiene's leg thrusting toward my face.
--!
The sound of ice breaking resounded in the alleyway, followed by a small thump.
…?
A soft embrace…
"Yuuhi, try not to fall asleep." A soft, comforting smell and a soothing voice.
"Amari—"
"Don't talk. It's fine. I understand that you had to break our promise." Amari's voice graced my ears.
She had caught me from falling while simultaneously parrying Tsiene's attack with a strange amulet in her hand.
"Another strange human?" Tsiene's monotone voice questioned.
I felt my consciousness slip away.
-----