Chapter 174 – Aoba / Spartan (2/2)

「We’ll give you a fatal blow!」

「Now, die!」

「Roaaaah!」

They saw their chance as they dove in for a new attack. The three all attacked them with their weapons at once.

Cold flashes of light chased both Taiyou and Aoba.

「Don’t mess with meeeee!!」

Suddenly, the air was filled with the sound of roaring yells.

They both attacked as Taiyou shot out his right arm.

The two swords scratched his cheeks, while the last sword was caught by his arm.

「Wha?」

As he held onto the blade of the sword, he put power into bending it.

The sword was bent until the guy holding it let go.

Taiyou ignored the pain in his hand and spun the sword around as his own, and swung it.

Then, he stabbed out at the fellows that had attacked him.

「Ah!」

At that moment, Taiyou’s movements stopped.

His arm was spun around somehow from the back.

When he looked, somehow Anna had gotten behind him and had grabbed Aoba and spun her and Taiyou as she pulled Taiyou’s arms behind his back.

With Anna’s power she could only pretend she was powerful in that instant.

However, as it was a surprise move, he didn’t understand what had happened and was slow to defend.

「Now get him!」

「Raoooohhhh!」

At Anna’s command, the other guys came charging at Taiyou.

He didn’t think that Anna would sacrifice herself to make that attack.

「Huff…pant…」

Taiyou was nearly out of breath, and it wasn’t that his breath was hoarse, but he had also taken quite a bit of damage.

「I never thought…anyone would make a move like that on me…」

Anna’s strategy…he was taken aback by her unexpected strategy of self sacrifice.

He thought it was an impossible move for her to do, he had been struck in the side of the head, and was stabbed in the shoulder by a sword.

All of Anna’s troops now were knocked out.

In Taiyou’s counterattack, the three guys were face-up on the ground, while Anna was holding a broken rib and spitting up blood.

It was a dirty win for Taiyou, but he had taken some damage as well.

「Natsuno-kun, are you okay?」

「I’m fine…and you? Okay?」

「Yeah…totally…」

「Is that so?」

Taiyou nodded, and walked towards Anna.

「We’re passing through.」

「Go ahead, you can see we can’t stop you.」

「…yeah.」

He breathed deeply, as Taiyou spurred on his damaged body and passed by Anna on the side with Aoba next to him.

As he passed, Anna called out to him.

「Wait…you’re not going to kill me off?」

「Purpose and means…there’s no reason for me to.」

「You don’t hate me?」

「Aoba is untouched.」

「So that was the result?」

「Results are important.」

Anna suddenly fell quiet as Taiyou and Aoba walked in through the door.

「Where next?」

「Um, the email says climb the stairs to the second floor.」

「And from there?」

「Go in the door that’s decorated the most tacky.」

「This one.」

As Aoba led him with her smartphone in one hand, he followed, and they progressed to the center of the building.

「Ugh…」

He became dizzy.

His arms fell behind his back as he stood, and Aoba came out from under him.

「Natsuno-kun, are you really okay?」

「Don’t worry, it’s no big deal. Do we go left next? Or right?」

「Um, right.」

「Okay!」

They turned right as Aoba said.

Taiyou’s feet stopped as the corridor opened up.

There stood the next group of enemies waiting.

「Saegusa…Tsukumo.」

In the back of his mind, he had expected this after meeting Anna, but it seemed that he had brought the three daughter/mother pairs with him to fight as well.