As Himeko stood in front of the coalition of Kiana, Mei, Bronya and I, she scratched the back of her head.
"Seriously? You guys just want to find an excuse to fight, don't you?"
I gave her a bright nod.
"Yup!"
Himeko sighed. "I'm not in the mood for this right now but…" Her gaze steeled as she slammed her broadsword behind her.
"I'm going to have to discipline you guys as a teacher, don't I?"
"Hey! That patch of grass took like $10000 to do y'know?" I complained.
"What?" Her face immediately paled as she looked at the small indent into the dirt that her broadsword caused. "Shit…" Her voice came to a whisper. "Don't tell me I'm going to have my pay docked…"
Then, her head perked up in realisation. "Wait… you asked me to spar anyways! Why do I have to pay anything?"
She snapped her gaze back onto me.
I just shrugged half-heartedly. "I just wanted to blackmail something."
"Hey! That's enough talking!" Kiana suddenly interrupted. "Are we going to jump her or not?"
"Looks like someone's feisty huh?" Himeko dropped into a stance. "C'mon. I'm ready anytime."
"Alright." I raised my hands. "If you say so…"
I clapped.
Immediately, a fist was aimed at the back of Himeko's head. To her credit, she reacted almost instantaneously as she easily ducked under my blow and swung the blunt side of her broadsword at me.
Already knowing her attack however, I was already midair as I stepped on her weapon.
I wanted to throw a kick, but she used raw brute strength as she swung to destabilise me. Thus, I had to jump away instead.
This would be an equal exchange if I were alone but…
We were fricking jumping her.
Kiana, Bronya and Mei were already in position, their attacks coming from all sorts of angles. Himeko clicked her tongue as she had to bend her body in strange ways to dodge all the attacks.
As she landed on her feet however, her counterattack was fierce.
Her systematic training as what I assume was a decently high ranked Valkyrie made short work of the girls. Even together, they were barely able to match her superior prowess.
In the meantime, I stood back and watched.
Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't being lazy.
I just wanted to see how well the girls stacked up against a foe like this.
This was a good opportunity to test their combined strength against a human that wasn't me after all. There was no point just being skilled in fighting against a specific opponent. Generalisation of combat skillsets was what mattered.
"Arrgghh! What was that?!!"
Oops. It looks like they're in trouble.
Kiana made a hasty punch towards Himeko's ribs as she was distracted by Project Bunny and Mei.
Unfortunately, she did not stop to notice that it was a fake opening granted by the older woman as she pounced on the mistake ruthlessly.
She grabbed Kiana's offending limb and tossed her at Bronya.
The two of them let out brief shouts as they tumbled into the dirt.
"Kiana! Bronya!" Mei shouted worryingly as she glanced at them. That was the wrong move as Himeko closed the distance between them swiftly.
"You can't take your eyes off an opponent in combat, Raiden!"
But just as the blow was about to land, Mei smirked.
"Gojo! Now!"
Orange eyes widened as my fist collided into her ribs. A smile was on my face, as our eyes met at that moment.
Mei took advantage of this as her blade crackled with purple lightning. Her blade was poised at Himeko's throat, wanting to threaten her to surrender.
And in the meantime, Kiana and Bronya were also there.
Project Bunny's lance was up in the air as they threatened to pierce down.
Kiana was in motion of a spinning back kick, trying to hit her liver.
By all means, this woman was trapped.
But at this moment…
I felt something was wrong.
"You guys are pretty good!"
Himeko gritted out with a smile on her face as well.
And then…
She just… disappeared?
My eyes widened.
What just happened?
Boom.
At once, Project Bunny 19C and the girls were knocked back as a gust of wind blew through the surroundings. Then, I felt something collide with Infinity from behind, causing me to shoot a kick backwards.
Himeko easily avoided my kick and jumped back.
"Barrier?" She asked with a look of surprise.
She doesn't know then?
That means that Siegfried and Anti-Entropy didn't have some funny leaks…
Or they did, but the woman in front of me just didn't have all the info?
"What was that?" I asked. "You suddenly moved real quick." My eyes shifted towards the girls who were moaning out in pain.
Himeko placed the broadsword on her shoulders as she retorted, "I should be asking you that question. That barrier is sorta interesting." A gleam of interest appeared in her eyes.
Uh oh…
Please don't tell me she's a genius too…
"But I won't pry into your secrets for now…" She suddenly said as she pointed her blade at me. "Wanna know how I did that? Just join Schicksal and you'll be able to do it too."
"Some sort of technology then?" I theorised. "I saw you pressing something."
"Wouldn't you like to know?" She teased.
"Bah! I'd win!"
Oh boy…
Kiana…
She jumped in with a flying kamen rider kick at Himeko's head. In response, the woman shifted her glance to her and then sneakily pressed on a button on her thighs.
*Clunk*
You won't get past my eyes this time.
At once, I saw everything turn purple, with only Himeko remaining the same colour. I felt my movement come to a crawl along with everything else in the surroundings(Kiana included) as the kick was about to land.
I noticed one thing in particular though…
The birds in the sky…
They were moving really quickly…
Is this some sort of localised stagnation field?
Or even better…
Time slowing?
If so…
I felt a hint of pleasure shoot up my spine.
I'm going to adapt to it!
Himeko sidestepped the kick, immediately shooting towards me again.
I assume she wanted to test how Infinity worked.
But there was an interruption this time.
"Hmph. Just a cheap ripoff."
Mei?
No!
It was the other Mei!
I heard a snap of her fingers before the stopped world…
It fractured.
And the world regained its colours.
Being brought out of that world, Himeko's eyes widened in shock for a moment. She instantly stopped her attack at me as her eyes snapped onto Mei.
"That… was that the Herrscher's doing?" She asked with tension in her voice.
And at this time, Mei's eyes were hot pink, a sneer marring her face.
"Who gave you the right to look at me like that, you ant?"
And I… standing in the middle just blinked.
Don't tell me they're going to fight for real now right?