The ringing in his ear continued for a long time. Arthur didn’t have tinnitus, so it felt strangely fortunate to have experienced it now. And it would have been something he would’ve written down in a notepad, if not for the massive knight on top of him. Armor covering his body, Vil had rolled himself on top of Arthur to protect him from the debris.

  The cost? Way too many pieces of broken concrete had directly hit his head. Now, with blood slowly trailing down his hair and dripping on the floor, the knight did not look like he was in any condition to fight. Yet, he smiled like always and gave Arthur a pat on his chest for being alive.

  Slowly, he started moving, one inch at a time, as he slid off Arthur’s body and fell on the ground. The loud clang of armor caused dust to rise in the air and make its way into Arthur’s body. He coughed, and the meter on his HUD went down to 83 instantly. Ignoring it, he pushed himself up and managed to stand in the rubble. He still couldn’t see much, since it was all covered in dust, but he could feel the blade by his feet.

  Lana’s second katana.

  He bent down, which took most of his effort, and picked it up. Shaking off the dust, he noted that it was completely fine. Normally, he would have expected some chipping, or maybe an entire half of it to have been broken. But no such change. A touch from his finger, and it confirmed that it wasn’t exactly regular steel. Certain changes had definitely been made to make it more durable.

  Coughing some more dust off, he readied himself as the dust began to settle. At a short distance, he could hear another body moving and rising out of the mountain of concrete. Lana would attack soon.

  “Arthur…”

  Vil barely managed to get the words out. He was in no condition to be fighting anymore. At least he wasn’t dead. The knight put a hand on his ankle and pulled on his pants.

  “Yes?”

  “Arthur, don’t fight. Run. Right now. Run.”

  “Run?” Arthur scoffed, “Oh, come on. I’ll keep her distracted until you get up. Then, you can handle her for me.”

  “You will die…”

  “Well, not if you quickly teach me how to fight with a sword, alright? I am exactly sure how to operate over here.”

  Vil coughed, tried to push himself up, and failed. One of his hands went to his wounded head. Seeing the blood on his hand once he brought it back, he sighed and shook his head, “Track her sword. Dodge and block only. It’s like…playing a game. You move your sword according to her movement and keep blocking. Don’t attack. No need to attack…”

  Every time he spoke, his voice trailed off. The figure in the smoke was getting clearer by the second. Lana was coming back to her senses. Was this part of her calculation, though? How did her ability even work? It clearly put her in harm’s way, too. Or maybe it was so impartial and strong that she had decided to put herself in harm’s way to attack them.

  “And I mean, if I die,” Arthur didn’t want to consider the possibility, but there was nothing wrong about covering all of your bases, “I’ll just loop back, right?”

  “What?” Some blood sputtered out of Vil’s mouth.

  “The, uh, survival skill? The one which activated last time. I fell to the ground and died. Then I came back and you were at the door.”

  “Ah, no.” The knight shook his head and tried to push himself up once more.

  Lana’s shoes got louder as she made her way through the rubble. The dust was completely gone now, and her slightly ripped stockings were covered in it. She held her katana above her head and started rushing forward, jumping on top of any massive blocks of concrete she could to make her way towards them.

  Arthur put his blade up, remembering what Vil had said. Just block. It was a bit like table tennis, if he thought about it. Or just regular tennis. Or badminton. You tracked something else and intercepted it with your own tool. Easy, right? He had played a lot of badminton when he was in his teens.

  “You can’t keep coming back.” Vil looked up, “Survival skills are…way too strong, Arthur. Their cooldown is much, much longer than every other skill in your arsenal. It takes…two whole days for it to reset and work again.”

  “Wha-”

  Lana’s sword clashed against his and sent him flying back at once. Crashing on the uneven rubble on the ground, Arthur held the sword tight. No matter what, he couldn’t let it go. Otherwise, he would lose his last line of defence.

  30 seconds left for Object Reversal to come back.

  He pushed himself up and moved backwards. He was quite close to the edge of the destruction. Arthur jumped as much as he could and got out of the uneven floor. It was only going to make things more difficult for them. Then, he put both of his hands on the katana’s handle and got ready to block once more.

  “Arthur, are you alright?”

  He bit his tongue, but did not make a sound. Why did Celia have to come all the way over here? The building had blown up, obviously, and that was cause for concern. But he had told her that he would handle it. He had told her not to interfere. Hopefully, she would leave.

  Lana reached for his once more. A single kick to Vil’s face for disrespect, and it seemed like she had accepted her victory over the first opponent. Now, she boosted off one of the broken bricks and aimed right for his throat. He brought the sword up and pushed it forward, hoping it didn’t get too close to the flesh. And it worked. Her sword met his, and it sent a shiver down his spine; quite literally. The clanging metal was a good conductor of sound and vibrations. His body shook, but he stayed in place and put some force into pushing her katana backwards.

  She lost her control and withdrew. And after that, it became a matter of timing and determination. Every time she moved her sword, he noted where she was going to aim and changed his position to best protect that area. She might have been trained, and she also had a lot more experience. But she was only human. At the end of the day, there was a limit to how fast humans could move their hands without just tearing them off. That much speed was fine.

  The neck, the knee, the stomach, the crotch, the neck again, and then his head. She was relentless, but he kept up. One clang after another, and he slowly began to feel himself moving at her rhythm. As if they were dancing, and not fighting. A choreographed response to every single one of her actions. It was easy; it was doable. All he had to do was hold out until Vil got back up.

  “Arthur!”

  Celia was still here. Go back, he thought. Please, go back.

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  Lana needed to go too. Otherwise, Celia would get caught in the crossfire. Arthur pushed the assassin’s sword back once more and decided to take advantage, pulling the katana back and aiming the tip at her sternum. He shoved it forward. A quick attack. Hopefully, it would work. As the blade got closer, though, Lana used hers to deflect it, pushing it from the side until it had been turned around at a ninety-degree angle.

  It fell out of his hand and clattered on the floor.

  “Oh, fuck.”

  He tried to step back, but his shirt got caught in the blade’s path. A clean cut through the fabric, and it spread open wide. The cold wind hit his chest, sending more pronounced shivers through his body.

  “Is that you, Mr. Cross?”

  “Celia, get out!”

  There was no other option. He had to acknowledge her, even though it put her into danger. Arthur used his momentum to run towards the fallen sword. Lana, on the other hand, decided to run the other way, towards Celia’s voice. She was going to use her as a hostage. Being so close to her earlier had been a mistake.

  He picked up a massive rock before he could reach the sword and threw it in the direction the voice had come from. Lana dodged it, but it grazed Celia, who yelped. Arthur took a quick look at the teacher. She was standing a few dozen meters away, with her hands raised forward as she tried to stop the approaching madwoman. The rock fell on the ground and broke into pieces.

  Skill Activation

  Object Reversal

  Humans forget easily. Especially things that have only happened very recently to them. It takes time and repetition to learn a lesson.

  The rock appeared behind Lana once more, this time with much more speed and at a much closer distance. Just as she raised her sword to try to attack Celia, the rock clocked her in the head and sent her falling to the floor. Arthur took the chance to quickly grab his katana and run towards Celia.

  “Get her sword!”

  He shouted as he got closer, and it did not take any time at all for Celia to keep up with the order. She clumsily picked up the blade and moved backwards to get away from the assassin. Arthur jumped over Lana’s body, but not before kicking her in the head as payback and pushing her down once more. Grabbing Celia as he got away, Arthur created distance between them once more. The fight had reset back to where it started.

  The only difference was how prepared he was. Mentally, a lot more. Physically? He took a quick look.

  Health at 78. Stamina at 27.

  Dangerously low. Adrenaline was indeed a hell of a drug. It had never hit him so hard and so effectively before. The next time he taught a class, he would know exactly what he was talking about if he mentioned that word. What a great learning experience this had been.

  “I’m sorry. I just…”

  “It’s alright.” Arthur calmed her down, “Just run. Throw the sword somewhere outside the school and get out.”

  “Y-yeah. And you-”

  “I’ll be fine! Just go!”

  Celia nodded and started running with the katana. Lana stood up with gritted teeth and looked at the two of them. Arthur brought his sword up, putting it between the line of sight of both women so that the assassin understood Celia was not hers to take. No matter what, she was uninvolved in this conflict. If dying meant he could not come back, then he would rather die and save her life once and for all. But he was not going to let her get hurt.

  But that train of thought did not end well either.

  Lana ran straight for Celia, and Arthur jumped in the way. Aiming for her neck, he swung with force, but it was mid-swing that he realized he was using it as a baseball bat instead of a sword. That would obviously not end well. The assassin took note of this and shoved it away with a flick of her hand. But he kept his grip on the handle this time. It wasn’t going to fly away once more.

  Celia looked back, but then instantly increased her speed. She was already at the school walls. With a throw, she sent the sword flying over to the other side. A shriek from the sidewalk confirmed that it had indeed found its way away from them.

  The assassin stopped and looked at the man with disgust. Her arms empty, she took a long breath and locked her eyes on the sword in his hand. Arthur got it ready and swung once more. This time, he added more technique and angle. She would not get away when the blade was headed for her. It struck her skin and sliced across it, but not for long. She took the wound and smacked him on the chin with an open palm.

  His lower teeth rattled and hit the top of his mouth, piercing through the skin and sending blood dripping inside his mouth.

  Then, with rapid movements, she kept striking his body. A palm strike to the stomach and the chest, a chop on the neck, and a kick on the shins. He had assumed that she was only good at swordplay, but this was to be expected as well. And when there was no weight from the sword added to her movements, it made it much easier for her body to move in quick succession.

  Concentrated pain began to spread throughout his body as the hits added up. Every single place she struck, there was an inner vibration that spread through every muscle of Arthur’s body. The katana fell out of his hand as the grip loosened. Then, in a completely overkill manner, Lana pushed him backwards and closed her eyes. Her hand raised in the air like she was slapping the floor, she got into position.

  One. Two. She brought the hand down, palms open, in a swift motion. Three.

  Skill Activation

  Atomic Resonance

  The air right above him smacked Arthur across the entire body. As if gravity itself had increased and suddenly fallen down on him. He was Atlas, carrying the entire sky on his shoulder. Except in his case, he did not carry anything and just fell to the ground with the feeling that his bones had been cracked. His shirt was definitely ripped apart in way too many places.

  Rolling through the floor, the blood poured out of his mouth and fell down. He curled up, waiting for another attack.

  Why had he done this? If he had just died back then. If he had just fallen down and accepted his fate. But the moment the thought came into his head, he looked at Celia in the distance through his cracked glasses and decided that he was wrong. He could not think like that. Not in front of her. Arthur tried to get himself back up, but his muscles did not support him.

  The screen in front of his eyes felt like it was glitching out.

  Health at 49. Stamina at 08.

  He was done for. There was no saving this. At least, if he looked at the silver lining, his death would mean the assassins would move on to a different universe. Celia would be safe.

  But then another Celia would be in danger.

  Arthur tried once more and failed again. Lana huffed, picked up the sword from the ground, and got it ready to stab him through the neck.

  Then, a speck of dark blue appeared in the sky. Arthur took a long breath and smiled, blurred through the silhouette was. Dee rushed down from the sky, picked up the assassin in his claws, and flew up with her. She struggled, lashing her arms out in anger and frustration as the sword fell out of her hand.

  Dee roared, and Elle laughed above him. The dragon circled in the sky and threw the assassin to the ground. Flailing her arms, she still did not scream. It was weird how she completely refused to speak, but even now, not a sound escaped her. Was it some sort of compulsion? Or was she just mute? But even in that case, a scream was only natural.

  Before she could crash on the ground and die, however, Dee spoke up.

  “Elle! Can’t let her die!”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know, alright. Shut up!”

  Elle smiled, took his glasses off, and put them in his shirt pocket before closing his eyes and stretching his arms out. The assassin got closer to the ground every second. But his skill also charged up as she did. One. Two. Just as she was about to hit the floor, three.

  Skill Activation

  Sin

  The ground below her transformed in the blink of an eye. The hard concrete of the floor turned into a rubbery trampoline as she flew into the sky once more due to the bounce. Then, little by little, as she slowed down, the dragon landed on the ground, and Elle hopped off.

  Taking a small vial out of his pocket, the variant broke open the cap and chugged it at once. Then, as the assassin had calmed down and was lying on the floor, he stretched his arms once more and closed his eyes.

  Lana tried to stand up, but to no avail. One. Two. Three.

  Skill Activation

  Sin

  Diagonal pillars of rock jutted out of the ground and covered her up completely. Locking her in place by making a small, hollow mountain over her body, they stayed there as she tried to break free. Elle sighed and sat on the ground, taking long breaths.

  “Hey…” He managed to whisper, despite looking like he was way too tired to do anything at all, “Good job, I guess?”