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nChase looked up from the bandit he had just slammed onto the floor. Then smiled.

n“And what is a pretty lady like yourself doing here?”

n“What am I doing here? This is my place!”

nThere was a young woman standing at the entrance of the grocery store with a deep frown on her face. She had dark red hair, which could’ve been dyed, or maybe some byproduct of the red sun.

nThere was an ugly scar that stretched across her eye. The wound still looked like it was in the process of healing, so was probably recent. Covering the eye that had been slashed through was a black eyepatch. She had a relatively slim figure, but nothing too different from average.

nHowever, the most notable thing about her was the blood-red katana she held in her hand.

nShe looked around, seeing all of the corpses and decapitated heads.

n“It seems you all have made yourself at home.”

nKairos shrugged his shoulders.

n“It seems you are a wannabe pirate trying to sail the seven seas.”

nThe corner of the lady’s mouth twitched.

n“You all have some nerve…”

nShe began walking up. From behind, another ten bandits began walking out of the grocery store right behind her. Most of them froze once they saw all the bodies outside, but kept walking forwards once they noticed the lady in front did.

nAs for Chase, he smirked as he pulled the bow off of his back.

n“Now don’t be unreasonable, little flower. It’s just business, as one of my friends would say.”

nThe lady tilted her head to the side and began smiling as she looked at Chase.

n“You’re the type that pisses me off the most.”

nShe continued walking up. On the other hand, Chase began backing up as a mana arrow formed on his bow.

n“You’re not the first or last person that’s going to say that.”

nThe lady looked around.

n“…There seem to be eight of you.”

nShe narrowed her eyes.

n“And you have been able to kill so many of my men.”

nChase continued to back up, while Kairos got next to Chase.

nThe lady then smirked.

n“But only two of you are actually capable of fighting, and you seem to be tired from your previous fight.”

nThe woman and her two kids from earlier were currently cowering in fear, with the kids hiding behind the trembling mother. As for Nicole and her parents, they froze in place like a deer in headlights. It seemed that they still weren’t used to gore. At least not when there were several heads rolling across the ground with their eyes wide open.

nChase laughed.

n“You need so much just to convince yourself that you have a chance?”

nKairos smiled.

n“Seems like someone’s scared.”

nDespite their taunts, the lady was still smiling. She began to walk a little faster.

n“Hah. You must be talking about yourself.”

nKairos whispered to Chase.

n“Hey, I don’t think I can hold all of them off.”

nChase kept the smile on his face as he whispered back.

n“We just need to kill the leader, then the rest will be unable to pose a threat.”

nKairos sighed.

n“Alright…”

nHe then took off his backpack and set down his glasses. As though that was a signal, the lady dashed forth, pulling back her katana. Chase slowly backed off as the mana arrow in his bow formed.

nKairos kept his position and stared at the lady with wide eyes, not daring to blink.

nOnce they were only a meter apart, the katana shot through the air with a strange trajectory.

nKairos almost missed it, but was able to twist the axe to block the blade with the handle. However, with his future vision, he saw that the katana would cut straight through it.

nKnowing that would essentially mean death, he strained his muscles to spin the axe blade.

nA loud metallic bang rang out.

nTheir blades collided against each other loudly, both going undamaged.

nThe lady immediately disengaged, getting out of range. As for Kairos, he similarly backed off. However, there was also cold sweat on his back. This person was very much so different from the others.

nIt was probably how she gathered all of those people to work underneath her.

nThe fifteen bandits were getting closer, but before they approached, the lady lunged forth once more. Her katana weaved through the air smoothly, but erratically. It was as though the katana had become some strange combination of a snake and a fish swimming through the water.

nKairos was able to just barely block with his four points in agility as his future vision.

nAnother blaring metallic crash ran out.

nTheir weapons collided once more, but the lady decided to continue with her assault, attempting to overwhelm Kairos. Her blade twisted through the air once again.

nKairos furrowed his brows, but just barely blocked it again.

nThat was when the katana suddenly shot towards his abdomen like a spear. Kairos’ eyes got a little bloodshot as he twisted the fire axe so that the flat metallic part would defend him.

nWith a loud metallic bang, the katana landed against the axe head which slammed against his stomach.

nThe lady then backed off, as did Kairos.

nAnd now, the rest of the bandits had gotten closer. Kairos could only barely defend against the lady. The only chance he had for attacking was if he gave up defense entirely and swung his axe. However, Kairos would definitely take a really bad hit for that, while he wouldn’t know if his attack would land.

nAs for Chase, he had one eye closed, watching the entire time. But there was no good opportunity to shoot. As such, he kept holding onto the arrow.

nRealistically, the best opportunity was when the lady charged in on her own. However, Kairos wasn’t able to take advantage of it.

nA bitter smile formed on his face as the bandits began encircling him.

nHowever, right as he was about to go for a desperate move, a set of footsteps approached from behind. Kairos turned to the sound with a bit of confusion, as he could tell they weren’t coming from Chase’s direction.

nAnd he saw Nicole who had the red watch on her wrist along with a metal bat and a wooden bat in her hand. Her eyes were clearly bloodshot while her breathing was heavy. However, it seemed like she had control over her emotions for now.

nChase raised an eyebrow and muttered to himself when he saw this.

n“Hm… it appears she is more than just a ball of cotton.”

nKairos blinked a few times.

n“You ok?”

nNicole nodded.

n“I think so.”

nAt that moment, the lady shot forth, trying to swing at Kairos once more, but it was blocked. The rest of the bandits closed in as well, but Nicole smashed one of their heads into pieces with her wooden bat.

nThe lady saw this as an opportunity and shifted targets to try and stab Nicole. However, Nicole was able to block it with her metal bat. Though her agility was relatively low, the red watch and also the fact she could use any part of the bat to block it let her do so.

nHowever, the katana did lodge itself halfway through the bat.

nKairos wasn’t just going to stand by. Despite the fact a few of the bandits were in the process of attacking him, he swung his fire axe at the lady horizontally.

nUnfortunately, he underestimated how agile that woman really was, as she withdrew her katana and bent backwards, dodging it entirely. It was too late to stop committing to his attack.

nA bat slammed against Kairos’ side while a metal pipe hit his shoulder.

nHe cursed internally as he whipped his fire axe towards one of the bandits’ heads, decapitating them.

nKilled Creature – 0.1 points awarded

nAs for Nicole, she dodged several of the bandits’ attacks before slamming her wooden bat against their heads, exploding it once more. The crack on the wooden bat expanded a little further, but was still fine.

nUsing her other bat, she promptly gave an uppercut with it, making their skull pop off of their spine. The metal bat bent pretty badly but was still more or less in one piece.

nAt the same time, the lady decided to try and attack Kairos once more, lunging forth with her katana. A bandit attacked alongside her, swinging their metal pipe towards his head.

nKairos grit his teeth as he moved his head out of the way and moved his fire axe to block the katana. Unfortunately, the bat still ended up hitting his shoulder, bruising him further.

nKairos cursed internally as he swept out with his foot.

nThe lady easily backed off and dodged it, but the bandit next to her tripped and fell, landing onto the pavement with his head.

nKilled Creature – 0.1 points awarded

nThe lady continued trying to land attacks on Kairos, using tricky strikes one after another. However, with Kairos’ future vision, he could tell when each of them were coming and accurately block them with the head of his fire axe. By now, several scrapes had formed on it, but it was still holding on strong.

nThe lady wasn’t necessarily strong. However, she was extremely agile.

nNonetheless, Kairos was also fairly agile, thus they were essentially stuck in a stalemate.

nDuring that time, Nicole let out a frenzied yell as she charged straight through the bandits, swinging her weapons recklessly towards them. She ended up taking a few hits, bruising her body. However, she was essentially unstoppable anyway, smashing skulls one after another.

nThe wooden bat continued to crack further, until it split vertically. Nonetheless, Nicole kept using it. However, the top broke off soon after.

nAs for the metal bat, she swung with it despite its deformity, causing it to bend one way, then bend back over and over. When she finally came across the last bandit, she slammed with all her might, exploding their skull, but also breaking the metal bat entirely.

nNicole then shifted her gaze towards the lady, who she was currently behind.

nAfter picking up one of the metal pipes that the bandits left on the floor, she ran towards her recklessly, with no intention of slowing down.

nIt looked rather promising.

nAll the bandits were now dead. As for Kairos, while he was bruised, it didn’t affect his combat ability, thus keeping himself alive against the lady’s assault. There was even Chase, who still had the bow pulled back.

nHowever, things didn’t always work out perfectly.

nNicole lifted the metal pipe high into the air, running as fast as she could. Yet, right when she was about to swing it down, the lady suddenly twirled around, whipping out her leg in a full circle.

nKairos was able to dodge, but Nicole was hit straight in the knee.

nShe ended up cringing before falling down to her knees. Then, another foot swiftly whipped towards her head, slamming against her and knocking her out entirely.

nKairos dashed forth and did an overhead strike with his fire axe.

nHowever, right as it was about to hit, the lady and her katana disappeared into a mass of red mist.

nSince Kairos saw this with his future vision, he pulled back his attack early. He also saw with his future vision that the lady would reform, however, she would do so mid-swing towards his neck.

nKairos’ eyes widened, not expecting that the lady had this sort of ability. He knew that there was no time to pull back his axe to defend.

nAn air of despair came over him as the threat of death rapidly approached.

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