Chapter 59: The reason of the rampage

Part 1

3rd Person POV

Loitering the streets of Urakyoto, the man was thinking that he did not have lately in gambling. It all started when he thought he would get quick money after a young girl with blonde hair challenged him. He should've known even though she looked young, she meant trouble with no matter the game he chose, she beat him. From there on, he has been having trouble recovering his luck. No matter which gambling house he used after work, he hardly made anything good.

"*Sigh* Perhaps, it is time I stop my dream of making it big and getting tons of money to make a harem..."

Shaking his head sadly, he continued walking around doing his job, maintaining security in Urakyoto. He was sent to a less populated and there were not many youkais on the streets. Thinking that his partner chose a bad day to get sick, he complained about the lack of a chatting partner until he heard a strange sound and felt a magic signature.

It was probably some mischievous kid playing around or preparing to prank someone but he could not leave it like that. Taking shortcuts through the gaps in the buildings, he soon found the area where the sound came from. There stood a giant plush bear, and it made him question what kind of prank was this, but his attention was soon drawn to a new sound getting closer. A strange one-legged fifty-centimeter stone statue, possessing tiny wings on its back and a single horn on its head. It came jumping with some difficulty, using its one leg until it was close enough so he could detail it.

"What in the world..."

He tried to get closer to reach for it, but a blinding light came up from the statue, leaving him blind.

The man backed off with his hands covering his eyes, he tried to rub them to recover his eyesight faster but it never came back.

"It is useless, there are only two ways to recover your sight, and unfortunately for you..."

He heard a male voice before he heard the steps of something large getting closer and then-

"...you are not going to have the chance to survive."

The man felt something piercing his stomach, something huge, like claws. It did not take long for him to begin losing consciousness and falling to the ground. The pain was overwhelming, but at the same time made it impossible to even groan from the pain.

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Little by little, similar cases began occurring all over Urakyoto. However, it was happening far too quickly for a full brawl to break out. The ruckus was contained and it did not alert anyone at the beginning. Nonetheless, not everyone went down as easily so they managed to alert the guards of Urakyoto.

By the time a response team was sent, the culprits were long gone from the scene. From there on, numerous cases came up and the response thing figure out that there was more than one culprit so the search widened. However, they were far too late. Enemies had infiltrated the show, and they could not grasp their accurate numbers. Although they did not hide for long, after the response teams increased, they began breaking havoc all over. Murder was the most common crime, but arson happened repeatedly. Thanks to that, the citizens of the city were thrown into disarray.

That chaos soon reached a certain residence.

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3rd Person POV

Shaking the sleepiness off, Kuroka groggily moved her little sister's foot from her face. Not even bothering to retort to her sister's bad sleeping habits, she tried to reach and hug Nora, but her hands did not grab anything no matter how much she stretched them. She tried rolling on her futon, but his body heat could not be found anywhere. It made her furrow her eyebrows and she soon opened her eyes.

"No Nora-nya..." Kuroka complained.

Sitting up, she looked left and right but only her little sister that curled up in a ball, holding the collar that Nora always wore came in sight. Feeling a little jealous, Kuroka felt like she was more reliable to be entrusted with such a thing, but since she was the older one, she was more mature and broadminded, thus she accepted that her sister will keep it safe until Nora asks for it again. It was certainly not because of the vice grip her smol sister had over the stone, not at all.

Touching her stomach, she felt a little hungry so she decided to take a snack. She would try to cook in the middle of the night when she felt hungry and that almost burned the kitchen so Nora always left something for her ready on the fridge.

Licking her lips, she wondered what sort of delicacy would she eat.

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While making her way to the kitchen, she almost bumped into another of the residents of Nora's house. Her name was Alice, and she was a strange child. At least, Kuroka thought so. She played the good kid in front of Nora, but Kuroka was not easy to deceive, she saw through her facade. Alice was a mischievous child that like to push her sister to Nora. It made Kuroka jealous so she was not on good terms with the girl. However, for some reason, the girl liked to hang up with her whenever Nora or her sister, Artoria, were not around.

"Oh my, you woke up. A midnight snack I presume?" Alice smiled. "I thought you would sleep all day. This is a good news, I actually made something new today."

Pouting, Kuroka ignored the girl. She was too enthusiastic about doll making and would talk about them for too long. Sometimes she would interrupt her nap time to hang out. However, Kuroka could hardly stop her. It was a guess on her part, but the girl seemed like she would be hurt if she pushed her aside. Nonetheless, today was different. She was not in a good mood without her Nora pillow, he would cuddle her to sleep after she took her midnight snack so she will not get her headpats now that he is not here. 

"Are you sulking? I don't think I did anything to you... Ah! I know, it is because Nora-nii-sama is not here, right?" Alice nodded.

The girl was sharp, and Kuroka had been aware of it since a while ago.

"No headpats today-nya." Kuroka sadly said.

"I see, I see." Alice nodded in understanding.

The two continued to walk down to the kitchen even as they spoke, or rather, Kuroka was going to the kitchen and the other girl tagged along. She kept one of her hands hidden for some reason, and it made Kuroka wonder what she was up to.

"Fufu, I think I got something that will make you cheer up." Alice smugly patted her chest.

Kuroka smirked because she could tell that she was the winner in that area so she does not need to worry about this girl being a competition.

"Were you thinking something incredibly rude just now?" Alice narrowed her eyes at her.

"It is your imagination-nya." Kuroka avoided her eyes.

"Anyways, I have been working on a new project that even you would come to love!" Alice spoke with some excitement in her voice.

Inwardly saying, Kuroka did not know how to tell this girl that the only dolls she would like would be the ones that Nora gives her. There is no way that any random doll will-

"Taa daa!" Alice showed what she hid behind her.

Kuroka froze in place and her body moved at a speed that she would even be surprised if she had been paying attention to, but Kuroka only had in mind the object she was holding and staring intently with a focused gaze.

It was small enough to fit in one of her hands, but the details were delicate and accurate. Different from the usual style of dolls she made, Alice used a different base. The black hair on top of its head was silky to the touch and the green eyes that Kuroka loved were made perfectly. A pair of cat ears and tails adorned the figure along with a green hakama and a white haori.

"It's Nora-nya... Mini Nora-nya..." Kuroka spoke absentmindedly.

"Heh heh!" Alice smugly laughed. "Indeed, I am still far off from mass producing them sale- ahem, forget I said anything. I made this one as a test, and if the biggest Nora-nii-sama's enthusiast finds it likable, it means I did a good job."

"Amazing-nya! You are amazing-nya!" Kuroka leaped and hugged Alice tightly.

The other girl froze with wide eyes and was unsure what to do next, staying with her arms at her sides. For once, she did not look used to such a blatant display of affection and did not react even after Kuroka stopped the hug.

"Nyahaha, with this! Sleeping won't be an issue-nya! Nya? *Sniff*" Kuroka pulled the Nora-doll closer and began smelling it. "It even smells like him-nya..."

"That is a trade secret so I would prefer if you did not ask me about it, and if Nora-nii-sama's lacks a few of his belongings, I would like you to not mention anything. You have taken the doll, so that makes you an accomplice as well." Alice, who recovered quickly, smiled cheerfully.

Once again, Kuroka thought that Alice was a strange child that was quite 'evil'. However, Kuroka-

"Only if you give me any new creation-nya." Kuroka nodded.

A little taken aback, Alice just meekly nodded back.

"By the way-nya..." Kuroka put one hand over Alice's shoulder as she dragged- led her to the kitchen. "Something amazing happened today-nya. Nora-nya transformed into a super-duper-handsome version with fox ears and nine-tails-nya. I believe that cats are better-nya, but Nora-nya looked cool enough to make understand one thing-nya. Nora-nya is the best no matter how he looks-nya."

Ignoring most of the maidenly descriptions, Alice picked the important points and soon pulled a notebook and pen from somewhere, and began furiously scribbling what she heard.

"Describe him in more detail..." Alice did not stop writing.

Happy to hear that, Kuroka began speaking again.

That went on until they arrived at the kitchen, and a trip that would take five minutes max from the point they were, ended up taking thirty minutes.

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"My proud master....!!!"

"...to think we didn't see you because you end up like this!!"

A pair of voices spoke sadly and Kuroka had to do her best to not break into a fitting laugh. Alice and her were hiding a distance away from the kitchen as they watched the pair of maids Nora brought. The two silly ones were holding the Nora-doll like it was Nora in person and kept sadly speaking.

"I thought I had a bad personality, but I take my hat off to you." Alice muttered.

"It is revenge-nya. They are way too big and Nora-nya gets distracted-nya." Kuroka sulkily said.

Sighing, Alice could only nod at that. While not really lecherous, she had seen the boy get dazed often. Although she could hardly blame him, those were weapons of mass destruction.

Suddenly, the two maids stopped their actions. One second later, both Kuroka and Alice also noticed something strange.

"Alkaid, please protect our proud master." Sirius spoke.

Handing over the Nora-doll to Alkaid, the doll was secured in one spot that would make any male jealous. Due to the size, it was stuck there completely.

"You two, that is just a doll." Alice came out of her hiding spot and clarified the matter.

"Alice-sama? However, the smell was..." Sirius inquired.

"Just believe in what I said, I made that doll. Never mind that, did you notice?" Alice asked.

Kuroka followed behind the blonde-haired girl with furrowed eyebrows.

"I can hear a faint sound coming from the outside. It is usually noisy so that is nothing new, but I think I heard a scream just now." Alice mumbled.

The youkais shared a look and nodded, if even the human here could hear that, it means that they did not hear wrongly.

"Kuroka-sama, Alice-sama, Alkaid, you should all remain here, for the time being, I will take a look outside and activate the defense that Yasaka-san left in place." Sirius said. "Alice-sama, do you know where Artoria-sama and Akiko-sama might be? They left without saying a word."

"...I think they went to train somewhere, they did not have a particular place in mind so they were also looking for one." Alice replied in an unsure tone.

Nodding at that, Sirius bowed slightly before leaving.

"Alice-nya, you should create more of your dolls-nya." Kuroka seriously said.

Tilting her head, Alice was unsure why the catgirl wanted her to work on her craft.

"Your ability-nya." Kuroka added. "I think something bad will happen-nya."

Listening to the serious tone, Alice was a little surprised since Kuroka would not usually act that way. Nodding at that, she stared at her own shadow for a moment and concentrated. Soon enough, dolls of several sizes began appearing from it. They ranged from palm-sized to child-sized, wearing frilly clothes, they all had blonde hair and blue eyes, and in their hands, they carried wooden weapons.

"Sorry, I can't seem to make metal weapons yet..." Alice apologized.

"In the basement, Nora-nya has many weapons thingies-nya. He might get angry later-nya, but use those-nya." Kuroka muttered.

Alice nodded and sent some of her dolls in the basement's direction. She would have them retrieve the weapons and distribute them while sending some to patrol around the house.

"Alkaid-nya." Kuroka called out.

A little nervous, Alkaid jumped in surprise to being called and hastily hid the Nora-doll she was playing with.

"Y-Yes!?" Alkaid asked.

"I want you to listen to me-nya." Kuroka stood in front of Alkaid, but since she was too close, her view was blocked slightly so she took a step back. "Value your safety-nya. Nora-nya always tells me to value mine-nya. I don't want you to think differently, ok-nya? As the Onee-chan-nya, I need to properly protect the house-nya."

Blinking in surprise, Alkaid smiled and thought that her master and Kuroka were really alike. Outwardly nodding, Alkaid inwardly strengthened her belief in protecting them with all she had.

"I have some terrible news, after activating the security, I was able to observe what happened after taking a look around. There is chaos happening around Urakyoto. It is not a one-sided attack since there is enough resistance from this side, but the enemies are focusing on destroying material things such as buildings. This action was carried by using fire so many youkais had their hands full just to stop the fire from spreading." Sirius arrived and reported in one breath.

Furrowing their eyebrows, those who heard it had a bad feeling.

Part 2

3rd Person POV

"Hey, do you think it is a good idea to come here? We have a mission."

A somewhat nervous and unwilling voice muttered, it belonged to a man who kept looking left and right.

"It is ok, chances are on our side this time. We were told to break havoc so we will be doing this here... Hehe..."

Creepily laughing, a man walking in the lead said.

They were part of a team of five and they were walking amidst the streets of Urakyoto. Gaudy buildings were on the streets they were walking and they passed a sign that said 'Red Light District' to get here.

"The plan is bound to succeed even without our help. Besides, I am tired of being treated as cannon fodder by our leader, I say we take this chance to enjoy ourselves here. I heard rumors about the women here being incredible so I thought it would be nice to take a detour and 'break havoc' here..."

The man in the lead smirked and observed his surroundings, the place was deserted. It might be because of the hour since these people worked at night, or because the chaos going on in different parts of the city made the customers not show up. Either way, the man did not want to go back empty-handed so he choose a random building and after kicking down the door, he entered.

There was a cat-eared woman in his path but she was startled and began running away after she saw him. His companions entered after him and it was only then that he advanced. The hall was long and spacious, yet the woman was able to quickly make a dash and disappear deeper into the halls. The illumination was not that good the deeper you went, but she did not seem to mind.

"Alright, from here on, you are free to do as you please. I won't ask any questions so we can't pull each other's legs. As long as you keep your mouth shut, no one will know..."

Saying his piece, the leading man took his leave, hoping to catch the cat-eared woman. Most of his men followed him, except for the last one who took out a talisman and tore it off.

When everyone left except the last man, he shook his head.

"I hope our leader comes here and stops them, I got a bad feeling about this. I should go back to the mission, it might be our last chance for revenge so everything should be perfect..."

The man began leaving, but unbeknownst to him, long strands of hair began creeping from every corner of the hallway silently. Before he could take the last step outside, his leg got caught in something. Looking down he saw endless brown-haired strands sealing his movement, not only that but before he could call for help his mouth was covered and soon his whole body was entangled. What followed was that the door closed and his eyesight was robbed by the hair as well.

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"...from all the times she had to leave, this happened. Yacchan is getting too used to peace."

Sighing, a certain brown-haired and voluptuous figure said. She stood in front of a room where five unconscious people were hanging, tied by strands of hair.

"Sora-sama, it appears that the ruckus is happening around all the city but most of the damage is occurring near Yasaka-san's residence."

Looking up at Sora, from a kneeling position, a cat-eared woman explained.

"How odd, I don't think she keeps anything of value there. On the other hand, if they were after the prison, there are plenty of dangerous guys that were locked since long ago, and releasing them will be disastrous." Sora pondered. "Kunou-chan was sent to the hidden village to keep her safe so it is safe to assume that she is not the reason they are here. It happens every time she goes to that ritual so they would have more chances to kidnap her any other day. Nonetheless, they still came here..."

With a thoughtful expression, Sora rubbed her chin.

"None of the children should be there... No, wait, that boy picked up a few girls the other time so they could be in danger. I could charge him with a couple of massages if I lend my hand to them." Sora licked her lips. "In any case, the tengus will take care of the intruders. If I go around playing the hero, I would probably worsen my curse. Lending a hand to those girls should not be an issue, perhaps a couple of days in bed at worst. Yup, a good price to pay if I can get Stray-kyun to pat me all over."

The cat-eared woman covered her face shamefully and inwardly wondered why did this woman have such a perverted taste. The poor boy had to fend off her seductions every time he came so he began avoiding coming here, which caused all the girls with certain tastes to be sad, although in general, they all took a liking to his massages, perhaps a bit too much.

"Yosh, kill them after extracting all the information they have on them. Make haste and deliver the news to the tengus, the old man will deal with the rest." Sora happily said before walking away.

Nodding at that, the cat-eared woman, who usually acted as a bouncer, thought back at the origins of Sora, she used to belong to a group of extremist youkais that killed humans to create fear. Such a woman had become tame after meeting Yasaka and Says, but her merciless side still stood. After all, even if Sora told her to kill these men, it was more of a favor you would be doing to them, Sora had crushed their limbs so they could not escape, and they were unconscious because they fainted from the pain.

"Nora-kun, I am not sure if you have luck with women or not..."

Recalling the face of the bright boy who never treated them any different despite their workplace, the cat-eared woman prayed that his luck did not worsen, after all, like all the people working here, she liked him... Too much.

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"Fufu, I wonder, if I used 'those' aromatic candles, I might be able to hasten his mating season..." Sora wiped the saliva dripping from her mouth as she left the building before narrowing her eyes. "Ara? A human with such a neat appearance in this place? Did you get lost, young man?"

Glaring at the suit-wearing figure standing before her, Sora raised her guard.

"I am not young anymore, I am a middle-aged man."

The man commented.

"To me, all humans are just young sprouts." Sora shrugged her shoulders. "Did you come here to request our services? I am afraid that today is a rare day off for our girls so we won't be attending to any customers, however, I can do a special exception for you and attend to you myself."

Winking flirtatiously, Sora giggled.

"I would rather not to, and... using your charms won't work on me. I prepared some countermeasures before stepping here given the type of place it is."

Raising some praying beads, the man shook them.

"You are no fun." Sora stuck out her tongue. "So, who do I have the honor of entertaining today?"

"Hanezu, you might refer to me as such." Hanezu said before pulling a staff, a Khakkhara. "I would be troubled if you were to interfere in our task so stay still. Honestly, I thought the witch wanted to push me aside with some nonchalant excuse about some dangerous youkai living here, but I guess she was telling the truth. Had I known about this, I wouldn't have accepted her offer in the first place..."

Taking a stance, he was ready to face Sora.

"Is that so? I guess I have no other choice then..." Sora smiled but her eyes were cold.

Her long hair extended until it reached the ground and-

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"Here is another one, lit it like the others."

A man in a suit said.

"You don't get to give me orders, we are cooperating because our bosses have an agreement, but I dislike guys."

A woman wearing a cloak and witch had snorted and raised her staff but lowered it as she saw that it was a clothing store.

"Why are you stopping? We need to keep this up to distract the youkais..."

The man complained.

"Shut up, I don't think they will mind if I take a little detour for now. It has been a while since I had the chance to get some new clothing after getting chased all over. This is a good chance, I can get some good stuff..."

Giggling, the woman happily skipped into the store.

"Why did I have to be paired with such a troublesome woman? Urgh, I will have to use the gasoline I brought..."

Shaking his head, the man began spreading the gasoline outside and after waiting for a long time, his partner did not come out. They were the first to attack this zone so they could be found out if they took too long, thinking like that, he decided to look for his partner and drag her out if it was necessary. They had sacrificed so much already and this witch will not get in their way.

Walking into the store, he noticed it was pitch black and he wondered how his partner was able to walk around like that, but nonchalantly recalling that witches know any spells, he thought she might have used a spell that gave her night vision. However, after walking a few steps, he felt his feet stepping on something damp. Frowning, he took the lighter he was going to use to light the gasoline and he was scared shitless, the thing he stepped in just now was blood, for someone like him, it would not be strange to see such a thing, but the problem lay with the source of the blood. Looking down he saw the severed head of the witch he was talking to a second ago. Not only that, but her limbs lay scattered all over the floor as well.

"What the f*ck!?"

The man swore. It did not make sense, not only the window of time was too small, but he did not hear anything sound of struggle from outside, unless-

"She was killed soundlessly..."

"You are quite smart to notice that, but not enough to actually dare to enter here..."

A female voice was heard and soon his vision turned. He belatedly noticed that his head was spinning and from the light of the lighter, he managed two catch two details, a black-haired woman wearing a black kimono and what seemed to be thin strings that shone under the lighter's light.

"Now then, there is an actual challenge waiting for me outside so I will apologize for not staying until you are completely dead, that said, it will not take long so rest assured. I used to decapitate my victims long ago so I am confident that you will not feel any pain..."

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"My apologizes, my senses have been getting rusty lately so I failed to notice your presence." The woman in a black kimono, Shion, said.

"Kekeke, don't worry. I was just patiently waiting for you to take care of them. I did not want to make a mistake after all."

Those words were spoken by an old woman in her sixties, she was sitting on a flying broom and her outfit was the perfect image of a witch.

"I take your presence here as the fact that I am your target this time?" Shion politely inquired.

"Kekeke, indeed. My name is Helena, a witch of the Wizards of Oz, pleased to make your acquaintances, Miss Calamity Spider." Helena laughed.

"Please, that nickname is embarrassing, I go by the name of Shion right now. I am nothing but a simple shopkeeper that you can find anywhere." Shion said.

"If that is the case, every shopkeeper in the world are monsters." Helena smirked. "I heard about you from my teacher, you used to terrorize people everywhere you went and were known as a walking disaster... although I also heard that you retired because of an injury..."

"Oh my, is that so? I wonder if your teacher happened to be one of my acquaintances... however, given your origin, I can't picture anyone like that." Shion mumbled sadly. "Oh, I know. There was once an annoying witch that came to challenge me every time in hopes of taming me and making me her summon. She was a noisy one, yes, I remember, her name was Arlene and if my memory does not fail me, I think I brutally dismembered her."

Nodding, Shion pulled a pair of fans from her sleeves. Waving her left fan in front of her, she pushed away a fireball that was about to collide with her.

"My apologies, it seems I might've made you angry. I tend to use uncouth language when referring to my past so I prefer to not mention it too much." Shion smiled.

"You, bitch... I came to avenge my teacher..." Helena gritted her teeth.

"Is that so? Then I would like to see you try it." Shion narrowed her eyes at the witch.

Part 3

3rd Person POV

"How long until the barrier is broken-nya?" Kuroka worriedly asked.

"I don't know, I did not set it but just from the continuous damage, I can tell that it won't be long." Alice bit her lips. "Unfortunately, this barrier was made to be used by someone with a large amount of spiritual energy. Otherwise, it would run using the energy of the land, but that energy must be being used for other purposes right now. We could try to power it up with our energy, but there is no guarantee that we will be able to maintain it for too long."

"I ask you, Kuroka-sama, allow Sirius to go and face those people. If you allow me, I can at least make an opening for you to rush forward and flee, you can count on my sister to help you along the way." Sirius offered.

Nonetheless, the young girl winced in pain after a second and began rubbing her head. Her eyes looked pitifully at Kuroka who had knocked her head.

"No playing the hero-nya. Cats do not abandon their own like that-nya." Kuroka stubbornly said.

Feeling a little touched, Sirius also felt two different things, she was grateful and happy to be accepted in such a way by her master soon-to-be-mate (self-declared), however, she also felt that it was not exactly necessary to hit her, wasn't it? Nonetheless, she suddenly had an epiphany. Could it be that this child used the same methods as her master? She was imitating what she did on daily basis, that is to say, her master liked things like this? For some reason, Sirius recalled the contents of that famous book circulating around the guild and her heart beat faster with anticipation.

"...Kuroka-chan, I think you broke her." Alice worriedly said.

"Don't blame me-nya, I knew she was a strange one when she crossed that door-nya." Kuroka pointed at their house's door.

Looking flustered, Alkaid eyes shook. Her sister was acting odd (nothing new)  and the barrier would not hold much longer. However, the worse came in the form that they were unable to contact the maid guild for support. The communication devices did not connect no matter what nor did the communication spells seem to work. It was their secret resort and thankfully they did not try to announce that they could call for help before confirming whether help would arrive or not.

Taking a deep breath, she began considering her options. First of all, she knew that her sister will get her bearings back once there is a need to fight. They were maids trained to fight and Sirius was among the most promising members, her own strength only falling behind for a little bit. The issue was with the two girls, three if they count the sleeping one upstairs. She had to admit that the white-haired one was a big shot to be able to sleep despite the tension. However, it could be partly because she believed in everyone else's strength. The black-haired one was a little inexperienced but she had good senses, playing support rather than fighting ahead would be the best possible role for her, along with the blonde-haired one. The last one was quite the ace they had. She roughly guessed that the girl had a rather unique Sacred Gear that would help them greatly. I'm fact, even as they discussed about her sister, the blonde-haired one made different kinds of dolls emerge from her shadow and hid them in the garden. There were already quite a number of them lined up around them and inside the house, lying in wait in case anything happened. Not to mention the ones stationed in Shirone's room. Just from this arrangement, it could be said that Alice had gone all out using her powers, but Alkaid feared that it would cause a backlash since beads of sweat could be seen on her face. The girl tried to act like nothing was wrong but she must be having a hard time.

Cracks began spreading on the barrier and-

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There were no words, the first waves of attacks came from the flying witches. However, on the street there were other people facing the witches, they were wearing fox masks and some were flying with crow wings behind them. Thanks to this, the number of attackers was considerably reduced. Nonetheless, the group of Kuroka still had to muster a defense. The cat girl made hand signs and the earth in front of her shook, an earth wall raising to cover the group.

Fireballs rained for a second and soon the attackers noticed the sturdy wall protecting the other party so the witches spread out, hoping to find a better angle. Those that flew higher did not face any issue, however, those that circled around the wall had a grim fate waiting for them. They experienced a white and blue-ish blur coming out each side respectively and before the unlucky but closest ones had the chance to react, their chests were hacked. It was only then that the other witches noticed the assailants. Dressed in maid uniforms, their assailants had bushy tails and wolf ears on top of their heads.

"Do not lower your guards!"

"Tsk, that bitch got killed before paying me back the money I lent her."

"I don't think that is important now though!?"

Exclamations left the witches' mouths, but they all used magic spells to create translucent shields with a tinge of different colors to guard themselves.

"Do not lower your height, fly higher and avoid those two. Soon, our allies from the abyss team will arrive."

Those words were said to take advantage of the lack of flying abilities of the other party, however, the faces of the wolf girls did not change. Without even bothering to speak, Sirius ran in Alkaid's direction. Alkaid held her ridiculous large broadsword behind her and lowered her stance, when Sirius jumped in her direction, Alkaid swung her sword at her sister, but said sister was not hurt at all, in fact, Sirius stepped on the sword and used the force of it to add more power to her jump. Managing to catch a witch, that was preparing a spell, unprepared. Her actions caused another casualty for the witches' side, yet, that was not all there was to their side's attack. While the witches reacted and their aggro went to Sirius, Kuroka flew using her devil wings and managed to drop one witch to the ground where two dolls were waiting for her with their sharp swords.

The strategy that Kuroka and the rest performed put the witches in a difficult spot, but they adapted soon enough. They paired up and one was in charge of defense while the other was in charge of attacking. The change of tactics made Sirius be sent crashing to the ground more than once and she would've suffered from the fall if Kuroka didn't assist her by catching her mid-air.

The witches felt confidence building up since they found a safe way to deal with the group, and even now some of their allies from the Utsusemi had arrived after repelling the youkai's patrols. Yet, they got a chill when those allies strode into the property in order to provide for support since they did not get to advance too much before they were ambushed by dolls hiding in bushes. That itself wouldn't cause such a ruckus, but the thing that made the witches scared was that the dolls blew up. They attached strongly to the suit-wearing people and then they self-destructed, creating a gory spectacle.

Things did not end there, since the wolf girls did not have an easy way to deal with them, they changed tactics, working with the blonde-haired girl, and they began throwing dolls in the witches' way.

Explosions after explosions were stopped by the magical shields the witches deployed, but not everyone was capable of covering themselves completely and received damage from the reckless attack of the wolf girls. The black-haired cat girl did not stay idle either, she flew higher and made her job to drop rocks over one meter in size on top of the witches, making them evade or receive the impact and weaken their defenses so the explosions break their shields faster.

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Kuroka's POV

"Their numbers are not going down at all-nya." Kuroka muttered.

The black-haired catgirl remained suspended in the air and watched over the battle from above. She would occasionally assist the wolf girls, but their combined actions were capable to keep in check most of the witches. Thanks to the dolls Alice made, the fight on the ground was being taken care of, they were smaller and weaker than many of the people trying to attack them, but Kuroka could see how being overwhelmed by numbers can be dangerous. Unless your strength goes beyond common sense, you can't overcome certain walls. Such a thing, the girl had heard Nora say, and now she understand why.

There is one problem with what is happening though, despite the dextrous movements that Sirius and Alkaid were showing, and how easily they could take down a witch or those suit-wearing people... there was a limit to the group's stamina. Not to mention, their Ki, Demonic Power, and Magic Power are not unlimited. Sirius, Alkaid, and herself had no issue fighting for a while longer if the pace of the fight was kept like this, but Alice was not doing that well. Her breathing was ragged yet she kept forcing herself to use her abilities without stopping. Even if she tries hard to continue fighting, her dolls are not being created with the same quality. However, once she stops doing it, the other side would be able to turn the tables on them. Thinking until that point, Kuroka had a hard time coming up with an idea that could help them out. Not only that, the bad feeling from earlier kept bothering her, in fact, it got worse. It was like something bad will happen, but since a while ago, she felt like they were being observed, although it was not possible for her to find that person, or if that person even existed.

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...

"Alice-nya..." Kuroka mumbled.

The numbers of their attackers were reduced considerably after Sirius and Alkaid went berserk after she was hurt, not even the magic shields from the witches were capable of stopping their blades from wounding any witch. It was just after Kuroka got distracted because Alice fainted so they took advantage of that. Falling down hurt but Kuroka had no time to mind the pain, she had immediately gone to check on Alice while the tengu pair raged.

"*Sigh* She is only exhausted-nya, Nora-nya was right-nya, her ability is too much for her-nya." Kuroka said. "Without her-nya, we could get overwhelmed quickly-nya."

Thinking about what to do, Kuroka looked in the direction of the three places she thought of going to seek protection. The closest one was the place where Yasaka worked, and while she was not there, many people under her could provide them with a safe place to stay, however, there was a battle that caused her to feel scared happening there, purple flames could be seen as they tried to overpower strong gust of winds. The second place was the clothing store where she had secretly been going to learn how to make clothes, Shion's store was also being attacked. Her last option was Sora's place, but she had the feeling that it would be the same if she went to that place. Her only other option was to use the teleportation circle inside the house to go to Nora's other house, however, that proved to be troublesome. She had tried that option first but the magic circle did not respond at all, teleportation was sealed, and there was nothing she was capable of doing to change that. Besides, leaving here would mean abandoning their home. The place Nora had given them, a place they could call home and be able to live comfortably.

Suddenly, she got a chill. Now that Alice was unconscious, the dolls were beginning to disappear so that meant that Shirone will have no one guarding her.

Just as she realized this, she recalled that Alice was asleep on her lap. There were Sirius and Alkaid fighting as well so-

"Come inside the house-nya!" Kuroka yelled and carried Alice on her back.

Kuroka only said those words and did not look back to see if the tengu girls were going to follow her, however, she trusted their ability to follow her commands, after all, Nora had told them when they arrived here that they are second in command (Kuroka and Shirone) when he is not home.

The cat girl heard loud sounds behind her as she made her way to Shirone's location and soon, two swift pairs of steps followed after her. Angry yells and cursing were heard as well, but she had no time to mind it.

It might be because of her worry, but Kuroka arrived at Shirone's location soon. Her heartbeat was raised to the max when she smelled an iron-like scent, blood, coming from the room.

"Shirone-nya!!!" Kuroka shouted as she entered the room.

However, she was left speechless when she saw what had happened.

Her beloved sister was fine, she was standing unharmed in the middle of the room, she was changed into her favorite hakama and haori when Yasaka brought her, or that is what Kuroka believed, yet it was now stained with blood. Luckily, it did not seem to be her blood as she was standing calmly, her tail moving without a care in the world. Nonetheless, Kuroka could not be glad for long. With a height one head taller than Shirone, a shape covered in the darkness stood behind the white cat, using one hand to cover her eyes from the gruesome spectacle in the room, the gory demise of several men wearing suits.

"...you two are important to him."

The figure spoke in a surprisingly childish and cute voice that was unbefitting of the spectacle on the floor. Kuroka recognized the voice at once since she had met her before. She was a child they had met at Sora's place and she had become attached to Nora in no time, always stalking- following whenever they went there and whenever he did not go, she would tag along whenever Kuroka and Shirone came back, hiding in their shadows before entering Nora's. She always exuded a scary aura, but it turned almost pink-colored whenever Nora was involved.

While Kuroka was thinking of this, the girl walked Shirone her way and gently pushed her in Kuroka's direction.

"...Nora-sama will not be coming any time soon, that deity is having an important talk with him so his arrival is uncertain, Yasaka-sama is with him so you should not expect any support from her. Those impudent insects are destroying his properties, however, that will give us some time to rest."

Her sweet voice turned cold when she mentioned the enemies they were facing, but Kuroka noticed that this girl was thinking about the house when she said-

"Protecting his belongings should be a priority if you two were not here. However, now that you two are here, I have to change my focus."

The aura she exuded made the wolf girls stay on guard, but Kuroka knew that she was holding herself back. The first time she met her made Kuroka realize how scary she can be and this time she was acting very tame.

"I seem to recall that Nora-sama knows a pair of crow tengu girls from the patrol team, isn't that right?"

The girl asked and Kuroka nodded, as she recalled the orange-haired twins, the black cat felt somewhat jealous that they were older and one of the two had a more developed body. 

"We should flee while we have the chance and seek their support. I can take people out using the shadows, but I cannot take everyone at once. Two at most, and it will take some time to find a safe place. The remaining ones will remain here in the meantime, waiting for me to take them."

It was an arduous job that she will do, and Kuroka understood that she was going to exhaust herself greatly to help them.

"Thank you-nya. You are a good girl-nya." Kuroka smiled.

"I am just doing this for Nora-sama's sake, for him, I would..."

Kuroka could not detail her face, but judging from the sweetness of her tone, the cat girl imagined the other party blushing. At that, Kuroka's eyes lost the goodwill she had just developed for the strange girl helping them. There were enemies everywhere.

"Cats should only trust cats-nya..." Kuroka muttered with a vacant expression as she patted her little sister.

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...

The group was following Kuroka's command so it did not take long to discuss the order. Contrary to everyone's assumption, Kuroka did not send Shirone first, but she rather sent the unconscious Alice and Alkaid. The girl, who became annoyed with being called 'girl' or 'strange-looking girl', introduced herself rather proudly, puffing her chest, she stated that her name was Miyako and it was Nora who had named her as such. However, there was no time for her to brag any longer since attacks were raining in the house. It seemed that the outside group did not dare to enter the house and attack them. They instead chose to force the group to come out by destroying their hiding place. It made Kuroka and the girls angry, but they had no choice but to escape for now. Kuroka, Shirone, and Sirius stayed behind to not raise any suspicion of their escape, Kuroka and Sirius would attack the house, throwing the weapons Nora had saved, which were unexpectedly a lot, to the attackers. That said, what cause the most damage was some of the vials in Nora's room that had labels such as 'Do not touch', 'Kuroka-chan, this is not food', or 'Sirius, there is no need to clean them'. The screams from their enemies made even Kuroka feel that Nora was too much, keeping those at home.

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"...I have done my part, and now I am exhausted. You better praise me in front of Nora-sama." Miyako sighed and sunk into Shirone's shadow.

The catgirl playfully tried to poke at her shadow, but no response came out. Kuroka wondered who exactly was that girl since Sora did not explain too much about her. Her abilities were a mystery to her so Kuroka was not sure what was her race. Even Nora would only tilt his head and say 'It is complicated-nya'. Well, Kuroka had to admit that he did not add the 'nya', but he would not explain either.

"Our honorable master is amazing, Alkaid. To think he has this kind of person under him, I, Sirius, have come to respect him even more." Sirius commented.

Beside her, Alkaid, who was carrying Alice on her back, nodded with an equal respectful look. Kuroka felt that those two were unreliable so she grabbed her sister's hand and started to walk away.

Thanks to Miyako, they were a few blocks away from Nora's house. It seemed to be just in time since suddenly saw the place burst into purple flames, and since she could see it from her location, it meant that the person who did it wanted to burn the whole house at once. She could feel her eyes water for a bit, but Kuroka could only helplessly shake her head to get rid of her sad thoughts. Right now, she had to protect Shirone, as the big sister, it was her duty. She would apologize to Nora when he comes back, and perhaps, he will forgive her for letting their home be destroyed. Like she could understand her somber mood, her little sister clasped her hand strongly.

From here on, they would have to be extremely careful, since they did not know the location of their enemies.

As Kuroka was about to leave them behind, the wolf girls sprung into action and followed her. However, no one noticed, that on top of a building, at quite some distance from them, a man had just climbed and was observing them. Following after him, a strange one-legged fifty-centimeter stone statue, possessing tiny wings on its back and a single horn on its head had trouble climbing, but it soon stood beside the man.

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...

The burning houses and the creams for help mixed with the laughter of the attacker and the patrol's angry yell made Kuroka want to run away. It was a hellish spectacle that remind Kuroka of the evil side of this world. She had been forgetting about it, but the spectacle brought back memories of her time as Naberius' bishop. The fate of those that could not fulfill his expectations was not pretty and she was there to witness it, Kuroka could not accept it but back then, there was nothing she could do. This time, however-

"Sirius-nya. You take the lead-nya." Kuroka said.

Until now, Kuroka had been leading the group since she knew Urakyoto better, but she now left it to Sirus and took a position in the middle of the group. Her priority was Shirone, but-

"Do not stop no matter what-nya." Kuroka mumbled.

Curious, Sirus tilted her head but nonetheless did as she was told.

From there on, Kuroka would throw some spells at the attackers, and have Sirius lead the way until a group of patrols. Her goal was to locate the tengu girls that Nora knew so she was not delaying her goal too much. However, contrary to her thoughts of helping others, it would end up with an interesting result that she will be thankful for in the future.

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"Let's take a rest for now-nya." Kuroka muttered.

They had been running for a while and she did not want to end up too exhausted so they were capable of fighting if the situation required it.

Sirius and Alkaid nodded, since they had arrived at an area with a small playground, the location was open so they stayed close to an alley that would usually cause an adult to hesitate to go through given the dark it was, however, thanks to the very same darkness, it was a good spot to hide.

"Kuroka-sama, allow me to carry Shirone-sama on my back. Sirius has confidence in her stamina so I will not disappoint you. I will carry her and we should be able to run for longer." Sirius offered.

However, Kuroka shook her head. After Shirone got tired from running, Kuroka had carried her on her back, and while it was a little tiring, she could not allow Sirius to carry her. Her reasons were nothing like stubbornness to hand over her sister to someone else, or not trusting the capabilities of the maid. Kuroka considered the maids their strongest fighter, and with Alkaid already carrying Alice, only Sirius would be able to fight to her heart's content.

"Sirius-nya, right now you are our best card-" Kuroka wanted to explain Sirius, but a certain sound attracted her interest.

Sirius and Alkaid reacted as well, the three youkais ears had picked a certain sound they did not want to hear.

Footsteps and they were not hurried. In their situation, the slow pace of those steps getting closer to them could only mean that it was an enemy, however, did they know their location? Could they somehow run away without alerting them?

"It is useless. They even brought me here so there is no way you can run away now."

A cold female voice reached them and it came from the playground, however, the steps were not stopping so the enemy's number was not small. Kuroka tried to use senjutsu to locate their enemies and suddenly noticed that they were surrounded.

Glancing at Sirius and Alkaid, they both nodded and the group went to see who they were up against. However, Kuroka made Shirone transform into her cat form so she could move easily if the fight broke out.

A young woman wearing a uniform that Kuroka could not recognize was standing alone. However, through senjutsu, Kuroka could tell that her allies were close and would step in at any moment.

"Hand it over."

The young woman stated.

Unsure what the other party meant, Kuroka was going to ask what she meant but-

"Hmmm? I see. That cat, hand it over."

For a moment, the young woman seemed uncertain after they came out, but her brown eyes turned yellow for a second and the young woman nodded in realization before demanding again.

Of course, Kuroka would not do that, the wolf girls would not do so either, however, they did not have time to answer because the woman lost her patience.

"Don't try to fool me. My 'Path Finder' always shows me the right way to what I seek."

Speaking in her cold tone, the young woman seemed to assume that they were going to deceive her somehow. Kuroka furrowed her eyebrows at that. They were enemies and she seemed to have a strange ability, but Kuroka noticed something weird about the woman. She was looking in their direction, and her eyes landed on them, but there was this odd feeling that Kuroka got when she was stared at, and the feeling was solidified when the young woman spoke. It was like she was not looking at them.

"So you won't hand it over? I was thinking of sparing you but... whatever. George, Yosuke, Asuka, Kasumi... I did my part, it is time you do yours."

Shrugging her shoulders, the young woman just looked for a bench and sat down, ignoring what was happening around her.

"Heh, even though you would change your mind and kill them since your ability would tell you to do so..."

A creepy female voice was heard and Kuroka got a fright, she had been monitoring her enemies location with senjutsu and the location where the voice came from and besides the names not matching up the number of presence she felt, Kuroka had failed to detect that presence, and not only that, it came from a very close distance.

"Argh!" Alkaid groaned in pain.

Turning back, Kuroka saw Alkaid delivering a kick to a figure wearing the same uniform as the young woman, this one was another woman but she had a sadistic grin on her face. Alkaid stepped away from her and it was only when she was closer to Kuroka that she removed a knife that the woman had stabbed on her arm.

"Nice to meet you, the name is Asuka, or you could call me by my sacred gear's name if you want, 'Silent Stalker', I hope my little greeting was not too much for you. My hobby is 'greeting' people all the time and 'making' friends. Different from that apathetic idiot from over there, I am the friendly type so I hope we can get to know each other."

Laughing in glee, the young woman called Asuka waved at Kuroka. It made the skin on her body get goosebumps and Kuroka wondered which one was worse, the apathetic one or the 'friendly' one. Either way, the cat girl already labeled both of them as crazy.

"Alkaid, are you ok?" Sirius asked worriedly.

From her tone, Kuroka could tell that she wanted to turn around and aid her sister but she kept her sword ready in case any of the other enemies tried anything. 

"It is ok. She was aiming at Alice-sama and thankfully, I put my arm between by reflex." Alkaid explained.

Biting her lips, Kuroka marked her as very dangerous. She went after the weakest of the group so she would most likely attack anyone if an opening presented itself. However, her ability to sneak on them without being noticed made it hard to counter her.

"Kuroka-sama, Alkaid is ok. There is no need to worry, however, I advise you to be careful. It is a guess of mine, but these people seem to have unique abilities. They are most likely humans so having Sacred Gears is a highly likely possibility." Alkaid muttered while holding back a groan. "If my guess is correct, then the other ones hiding nearby will most likely be the same."

Monitoring their movements with senjutsu, Kuroka vigilantly observed any sudden change of location. Nora had warned about Sacred Gear users using one word, 'unreasonable', he told her to never let down her guard against those cheaters and expect any kind of, using his words 'all kind of bullshit can happen with them, there was this guy sucked the energy of a woman breast and he beat the strongest grim reaper with a blast of a canon, so you can expect anything with them'. Kuroka always thought that he was being silly, but the girl who called herself Asuka proved his words. You can expect anything.

"You guys will take forever if you start having a conversation with them."

Alerting Kuroka, one of the figures she was keeping an eye on using Senjutsu, moved and entered the alley, from the same location as Asuka. The man had a banged arm and he lazily raised it and unwrapped the bandage.

The appearance of the arm made the group back off slightly since a mouth was hidden by the bandage.

Their reaction seemed to have touched a nerve in the man because he clicked his tongue and a strange language began to be spoken by the mouth on his arm.

"Kuroka-sama, be careful!" Alkaid shouted.

The man seemed to have aimed at her and Alkaid got in the way, the words, spoken in an unknown language, sounded like a curse, and Alkaid had received the attack. There were no visible changes, but soon, she began shaking.

"No, no, no, no!!! Please, don't abandon Alkaid!" Alkaid muttered in a tearful tone.

Shaking her head left and right, Alkaid's eyes seemed to have lost focus, and using the hand that was not used to keep Alice in place, she took out the Nora-doll from her bosom.

"Master, I will do anything. You don't need to give me food, you don't have to headpat me anymore, just don't abandon me..." Alkaid cried out.

"Alkaid! Snap out of it!" Sirius could not stand it anymore and turned back to shake her sister.

Her actions seemed to have a positive effect since Alkaid stopped shaking and her eyes regained their focus.

While all this happened, Kuroka did not stay idle. Despite her initial surprise, Kuroka began to chant a spell and her hands sneakily made hand signs.

"Sirius-nya!" Kuroka called out.

As she yelled, Kuroka activated her magic spell. The walls of the alley began to shake since the ground below them began to deform and that made them lose their balance and fall towards the man with the arm-mouth and the woman called Asuka. The woman easily stepped back and avoided getting caught in the attack, but the man got hit a few times by the falling debris before he could get away.

Using the collapse of the walls as a signal, Kuroka ran in the opposite direction, towards the playground. She did not want to, but before she attacked, she detected a new presence getting closer from the direction opposite to the playground, and while that presence did not make any movement after getting closer, there was no telling what that presence will do if they tried to pass by her.

As she began to move, Kuroka began chanting again, she did not plan to stop. The enemies this time were a lot more dangerous than before, the man with the arm-mouth was able to put Alkaid into some kind of trance so he must be capable of using some kind of mental debuff, the range was unknown and how bad it can affect them was unknown as well.

"I guess it is my turn... Banshee ScreaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!!!"

A new voice greeted them after they stepped a few steps ahead, then it suddenly cause them to stiffen and cover their ears in panic. It was a rather short young woman whose jaw stretched all the way until her neck, the skin of her cheeks splitting until all her teeth were showing and her scream was loud enough to stun them in place.

"Argh-nya!" Kuroka's leg shook but she stood her ground and planted her hands on the ground.

Following her actions, a wall of earth doubling her size rose from the ground and the sound was no longer directly affecting them, giving the group some leeway.

"Sirius-nya!" Kuroka called out.

Without waiting for further explanation, Sirius understood what Kuroka needed of her, as a faithful maid, she dragged her body to slash their new enemy but-

"Heheh, I did not plan to step out, but... hehehe, it is all your fault, hehehe..."

A new woman's voice was heard and Sirius was intercepted by a... large plush bear, it had long claws and they collided with Sirius's broadsword. The strength of the wolf girl surprised the woman who commanded the bear. Since the strange creature was pushed back a few steps.

Kuroka grimly looked at the woman. She was not among the people that were called out, or so Kuroka believes since she had been keeping an eye on those that were watching, she recalled how many names were called and the one lacking was a man. Yet this woman acted, it could only mean that the man would attack at any moment.

"Tsk..."

The click of a tongue was heard and a man wearing the same uniform as the rest appeared. Following him, was a huge monster about two meters in height, with one eye and six arms. It possesses a large six-sided die in his hands, and when the man clicked his tongue, the monster rolled the dice on the ground and it stopped in number one.

Sirius panicked and stepped back awkwardly. Beads of sweat ran down her face and she tried to adjust her eyesight by the way her eyebrows were moving.

"Kuroka-sama, Alkaid, please be careful. I-I c-can't see. That creature with the dice must be the culprit..." Sirius muttered.

Things were not looking good, and Kuroka tried to find a way out of this while chanting another spell. However, their enemies were not going to wait for them. Before the woman with the annoying voice attacked, Kuroka managed to finish her spell, a hole appeared below the woman who fell while screaming.

"AHhhhh"

A short shriek followed by silence allowed Kuroka to sigh in relief, it was only three meters deep but if the woman used her ability inside, she would suffer from its effects. Nonetheless, her relief was short-lived, since the dice had been rolled again and the plushie bear was going to attack Sirius. On the other side, Alkaid had managed to deflect the attack from the silent stalker girl. However, that strange girl vanished along with her presence in the middle of the air when she jumped backward, and Alkaid was slashed on her thigh soon after.

"Uhhhh." Alkaid groaned in pain, but nonetheless maintained her position.

From the beginning, Sirius and Alkaid were covering for Kuroka and Shirone, only stepping away during their attacks, not evading, deflecting, blocking, or intercepting the attacks so Kuroka was not hurt. However, Kuroka was not exactly happy, and that would not help improve their situation.

The dice stopped in number two, and Kuroka felt that she was the target this time, she could see perfectly, but her hearing was stolen. She panicked for a moment and her breathing quickened. Looking left and right, she tried to take in all the information she could from her eyes to make up for her loss of hearing. Without meaning, her hand went to her chest, where her little sister was in cat form and she patted her, trying to reassure her sister, or perhaps, seeking her warmth to get motivated.

The dice was rolled again while she panicked, and even though she prepared a spell, the dice end up in two again, and for some reason, her hearing came back again.

"Tsk, lucky one... next time you won't be so lucky..."

Her cat ears caught the gloomy and annoyed voice of the man who ordered the strange monster to roll the dice again. However, this time, Kuroka made spikes grow from the ground below the monster and pierced it in the chest. There was no blood coming from the monster, but the man seemed to have received some damage since he put one hand on his chest.

Smiling in satisfaction, Kuroka shifted her gaze to Alkaid, she kept repeatedly trying to deal with the silent stalker so Kuroka wondered how to help her, but Sirius was not doing that well either, she received a couple of wounds and the area of the injury took a dark hue and recalling Nora's teachings (which she tried to escape in multiple occasions), Sirius must've been poisoned. The issue would be with the fact that she had no antidote to treat her.

"Hehe, your sacred gear sounds better than mine, but I don't have the downside of getting my debuffs removed for using it again..."

Just as Kuroka finished doing a series of hand signs to attack the bear, a strange one-legged fifty-centimeter stone statue, possessing tiny wings on its back and a single horn on its head appeared. Kuroka saw the enemy group all covering their eyes and before she could comprehend why a flash of light robbed her of her vision.

Part 4

3rd Person POV

The abyss team members watched in a mix of annoyance and amusement (every member had their own thoughts regarding what they saw), how their targets continued to resist. After the small statue did its job of robbing the eyesight of its enemies, it should've been easy to take them down. Different from the man whose monster needed a die to decide which sense to take and it would only rob one sense per roll, the statue could take the eyesight of anyone exposed to its light so not only the catgirl but the wolf girl who still could see should've been affected as well. Nonetheless, twenty minutes, twenty minutes after that, they still held on. The one fighting the plushie bear was breathing with difficulty and would kneel with ragged breath, but she would stand up again to face the bear, and protect the ones behind her, she had a monster-like endurance and the strength of her blows barely weakened. On the other side, the wolf girl holding a blond-haired on her back was equally a monster because, despite the blood loss from the wounds inflicted by one of their comrades, she was able to move, and maintain the girl on her back unharmed.

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...

Ten minutes later, the monster with the dice could be summoned again with some effort, with a little luck for the man, they managed to rob the remaining senses from their targets. The wolf girls went down a little later, and everything would've ended if the cat girl was not so stubborn.

Showing an incredible force of will, the wounds made from the claws of the bear or the slash from another of their comrade made no difference. She would just bite her lips and stand her ground. To make sure that they would not target her fallen comrades, the cat girl locked them in a dome of rocks, preventing any further attack on them. However, it made her the prime target for the abyss team.

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...

Two steps to left, the cat girl, Kuroka, almost avoided the claws from the bear plushie, creating a new wound on her side, silently groaning, she took the chance where the attack connected to grab the arm of the creature, creating a kasha and throwing it in front of her. The bear received the attack, but it seemed to anger it, this it began to attack without any pause.

"Hehe, it is not my fault, you made it mad, hehe, now it will chop you in little pieces, hehe."

Without care for the damage the bear received, the woman who summoned just laughed creepily.

"...shouldn't we finish the mission already?"

"Why? We can finish it any time, but it has been ages since I found someone I can 'greet' so much and does not die immediately."

Other members of the abyss team calmly conversated, one expressing her amusement and desire to continue her actions towards the catgirl. After finishing her words, she inflicted another wound on the girl, but besides crying for a bit, the girl swept her arm at the attacker who easily evaded with a smile on her face. Despite failing to counterattack, the catgirl formed several hand signs with her hands and planted her hands on the ground, making spikes grow around her, stopping one of the bear's attacks but not being capable of injuring the swift woman who attacked her recently.

"If we take too long, the leader of the youkais could come back."

"You are no fun..."

Complaining, but acknowledging those words, the woman shifted her gaze to one of her comrades.

"Can you get last sense? We should wrap this up, we can't be playing around."

"I won't guarantee anything, but I will try..."

Gesturing to the monster to roll the dice again, the man scratched his head. He had taken her sense of smell, hearing, tact, and even her capacity to speak, but the cat girl managed to keep fighting under those circumstances.

The dice fell, and the number four came up. Such a number made the man click his tongue since it would mean that she would recover her speech.

"I-I a-am, t-the Onee-chan, I-I have to c-continue, f-for Shirone-nya... I-I a-am..." Kuroka mumbled weakly.

Almost like she was hypnotizing herself, the cat girl kept mumbling those words.

"Hahaha, listen to her. I saw her moving her lips all the time, but to think it was such a pathetic thing."

The woman with the silent stalker sacred gear laughed at the cat girl's words, but it did not affect the girl, her hearing had been taken away so she only single-mindedly focused on repeating that.

"Enough, just kill her. I know you have been cutting places that would not risk her life so she could last longer."

"Tsk, you found out. We finally had a fun mission for once, I just wanted to enjoy it a little more."

Another conversation unfolded, and just before the next round of attacks started on the catgirl, there was the sound of people approaching at full speed. The silent stalker woman had a bad feeling so she hastily took her distance from the comrade who had urged her to kill just now.

It proved to be the correct choice since an attack that she could not follow with her eyes struck the man from the back. He was sent flying and the sound of something breaking at the moment of the impact made certain that he received critical damage.

"...the person you wanted to kill, she is someone important to Milord, there is no need to ask questions. You are enemies to her, you are enemies to Milord, that is more than enough to make you my enemies as well."

A voice that contained anger and unhidden animosity was heard and the abyss team turned to see who had just sent their comrade flying.

It was a purple-haired girl wearing a ragged haori and hakama, holding a wooden sword in her hand.

"Akiko, you had to recklessly march in. Can you at least time your entrance with me? We could've taken two down if you had listened to me."

A blonde-haired girl holding a similar wooden sword and wearing a similar outfit complained, but while her words contained reproach for the purple-haired girl, her eyes scanned the whole playground.

"Artoria, you were simply too slow." Akiko said.

Complaining about each other, the pair finished taking a look around and before any one of the abyss team could say a word, they moved, Artoria moved first. She dashed with her wooden sword ready to strike in the direction of the silent stalker woman, however, when the woman evaded her, Artoria did not pursue her, instead, she continued until she came to face the oversized bear plushie. Before it tried to attack Kuroka once again, Artoria got in between and hit the arm to redirect the attack to the ground.

"We followed after the trail of people you saved, I heard from them where you were going so we avoided pointlessly looking everywhere in Urakyoto. I also heard from them how you made Nora's maid carry my sister even though it might slow you down. You have my gratitude." Artoria muttered.

Trying to express her gratitude, Artoria turned to Kuroka but her anger rose a few levels watching the state she was in. Riddled with wounds, barely standing up, she kept muttering words to keep going.

"...I see." Artoria coldly said.

Walking to Kuroka, she very carefully put a hand on her back and rubbed it. Reacting to the gentle act, Kuroka stopped making hand signs.

"N-Nora-nya? Nora-nya, I-I did it, I-I protected Shirone-nya, I let h-her escape using a tunnel-nya, nyahaha, I-I am the Onee-chan so I-I had to protect her-nya... I had to lie to her... T-Telling her to look for help s-so she would leave-nya... Y-You found her already-nya? Nora-nya always does it-nya..." Kuroka mumbled.

Frowning for a moment, Artoria was unsure what to do. Nora was nowhere to be seen, and she inferred that he was not in Urakyoto, otherwise, this girl would never end up in this pitiful state. Pondering for a second, Artoria only patted Kuroka's back for a little more and with her other hand, motioned her to lie down. Like her energy was cut short, Kuroka lost consciousness. Following after her, the dome made of earth behind her also broke, revealing an injured Sirius and Alkaid, and an unharmed Alice. Noticing the difference in the damage that the wolf girls had on them compared to Kuroka, Artoria could tell that they all fought together until recently, but at some point, Kuroka faced their enemies by herself.

"Rest well..." Artoria muttered.

Looking around, she failed to see Shirone, like Kuroka had said, she had left somehow, and upon closer inspection, she could see a small hole on the ground that most likely was made by Kuroka, probably the way the catgirl escaped to request help.

Artoria was the type to repay favors, and she already owed a lot to Nora, now, however, she had a new debt with Kuroka. Her heartbeat quickened, and back then, before meeting Nora, it would've caused her pain, but now she could feel her body filled with more strength. Why was her heart beating like this? Artoria had an idea. She was angry. Silly as she might usually be, Kuroka was very friendly to someone who initially acted coldly towards her, even though she showed jealousy whenever she spoke to Nora, Kuroka did not treat her coldly or kept her at distance.

Thinking of that, her heart continued to beat quickly and loudly. Her anger was not only for Kuroka, she had seen to what state their home had been reduced to before coming here, which made her anger grow. However, above all, watching Alice unconscious, she guessed that she most likely fainted due to overusing her sacred gear. Her gentle little sister was forced to hurt others when she never wanted to use her abilities for that.

Probably, she spend too much time focusing on her inner thoughts, because an attack from the oversize bear came her way.

"Aren't you slow...?" Artoria said.

From the corner of her eyes, she saw Akiko rampaging while fighting against some woman wearing a uniform and carrying a knife. Her eyes caught the blood on the blade, but given that Akiko was unharmed, it was Kuroka's blood so Artoria could understand why Akiko was so angry. Tightening the grip of her wooden sword, Artoria coated it in golden light, using her ability. This time, she deflected the arm of the bear from the claws. One close look and Artoria noticed the blood on the claws along with some dangerous-looking liquid coating the claws so she made a mental note to not let it touch her. The creature seemed to be out of control since it did not seem to follow a fixed pattern of attack. Artoria would deflect its claws that came using easy-to-read patterns. Coating more of her wooden sword with her ability, Artoria added more strength to the swing of her sword. The more she repeated her actions, the more she was beginning to overpower the creature.

One, two, three, the strikes rose continuously and every time, Artoria would gain the upper hand. Adding more of the strength her body was giving her, she stopped a powerful blow from the bear and pushed it back. Following her streak, Artoria made it seem like she would split the bear but nonetheless, stopped at the last moment and jumped backward. Her actions were in time, if she had continued her attack, a slimy goo that was thrown at her would've landed on her body.

It was easy to tell that it was bad news given the smoke that was rising from the spot she was a moment ago. After getting her eyesight again, Artoria did not stop relying on her other senses to detect her surrounding, much less, her ability to detect presences. She had caught the man's presence getting closer when she started to overpower the bear. She was aware that this was not a just fight where the enemy would fight her one on one, but rather, they were eyeing them, expecting the proper timing to attack them. They were at disadvantage, not only because of their numerical difference but rather, the fact that they had wounded people to protect.

"You idiots, the cat escaped while you were playing around."

The only person sitting comfortably on a bench suddenly spoke. The woman had her head tilted and her eyes had a strange glow in them, making Artoria uncomfortable. After saying that, and without even explaining, the woman left.

Artoria and Akiko both reacted strongly to that, they both tried to chase after the woman, but their foes would not allow them.

Deciding to take a gamble, Artoria let her power overflow. Gathering her aura, Artoria took a stance where her sword could be drawn and slash at her opponent at any moment. The golden aura, which was a representation of her abilities, covered her wooden sword. The bear seemed to feel danger from her actions and began to recklessly attack her again, but Artoria did not slash out, she only used her footwork to evade. Not only her body was getting surges of strength as her heart beat loudly and fast, but it also felt as light as a feather. She knew her body, and she was aware that they encountered several enemies on their way here. Not only had Akiko and her been fighting each other as practice, but they faced several foes before they found her little and the rest. However, Artoria could not feel that exhaustion now. Her body was like she was at her peak condition, no, even further than that. Artoria was certain that her surging strength was surpassing any of her previous limits. She wondered what was happening, but that could wait until they survived this one.

Step to the left to avoid a claw to the face, and step forward to avoid the slimy goo. Artoria's aura kept growing bigger and stronger. Deciding on how to use it, Artoria swung her wooden sword at the bear, her attack did not physically connect, but rather, the aura she threw did. Following her movements, the golden aura slashed from the shoulder to the stomach of the bear. The damage done to it end up affecting the woman who had summoned since she kneeled in a place like she was in pain and the bear disappeared. Artoria thought that it would take a couple of more hits, but the bear could not withstand her attack.

Without wasting any time, Artoria gathered more of her aura and dashed at her other enemy. While she ran, she had to duck to avoid the slime spit by the man. Wooden sword raised high, she prepared a downward slash to deal with the annoying but dangerous guy, yet his luck seemed to be pretty good. One step back he took made him slip, mad he avoided getting fatally wounded by a hair's breadth.

"Ahhh!"

A superficial injury and Artoria was aware of it.

Just before making a sweeping slash that would behead the man was made, Artoria got a chill and hastily stopped her actions before practically running away from her position. The intense heat was felt from her previous position and she managed to see purple flames making a wall of fire to protect the man she almost killed. Looking around to see where the attack came from, Artoria noticed that Akiko had similarly been subjected to the same attack. A wall of purple flames surged at the location where she was fighting a second before.

"Kekeke, sorry Missy, but I am afraid I can't let you kill these people. They are people I was tasked with so I need to keep them safe or their teacher will get angry with me. That said, I also think that people with such amusing abilities dying would be a shame."

An aged voice could be heard coming from above. Artoria and Akiko tuned to the and they saw an older woman in witch garments riding a broom to fly.

Clicking her tongue, Artoria inwardly sweated coldly. She recognized the purple flames, being previously part of the church, she knew about this particular sacred gear. It was a fact that a Longinus of that caliber would be more than they could handle.

"...Akiko, have you made your last prayers?" Artoria muttered.

"Me? The one who should be making her last prayers is you. Have you gone crazy after I beat you earlier?" Akiko replied back.

Holding back the urge to knock the purple-haired girl's head, Artoria couldn't help but retort.

"Huh? You, beating me? The one who is going crazy is you, I beat you up." Artoria said.

It was stupid to banter now, but Artoria found herself relaxing her tensed muscles after the exchange. She was not sure if this was what Akiko wanted, but it was what happened. Part of her felt despair when the older woman appeared but she took a deep breath and took a closer look at the woman. Using a broom to fly was not uncommon for witches, since it was like a special tool that was made with the flight function since humans could not fly without using magic, and witches used the tool to focus their attention on attacking rather than concentrating on the flying spell. However, the reason the older woman was using that tool couldn't be because she found it hard to fly and attack using magic at the same time. Not only did she have her Longinus as a medium of attack, but her seniority meant that she was skilled enough to be capable of casting several spells while she used her flight one without any problem. Her use of the broom had to be for a reason. The robe she was wearing looked brand new, but there were parts of her skin that had some blood staining it. 

Thinking about the thing she saw, Artoria recalled the huge toll that certain Sacred Gears had on the stamina of the user so by connecting the two, Artoria could tell that the older woman had a fight that left her somewhat tired. Since she could still act nonchalantly, the woman still had tricks under her sleeve, but she was not in her top self. That was good news for Artoria and Akiko.

"Kekeke, being young means you are full of energy. Too bad that my disciple is not here, I am sure she would've gotten along with you two."

Laughing slightly, the older woman looked at the two in amusement. There was no fear or any sort of emotion that would indicate any sort of hostility, but that only made the older woman more dangerous since her previous attack came without considering their safety or not. Perhaps, the older woman did not see them as enemies she had to defeat because she was stronger. It was like humans would not even care about any ant they might step, the woman thought of them on a similar level.

"Miss, please don't make it sound like I get along with this stalker here." Artoria furrowed her eyebrows. "This one is a pervert, did you know that she likes to follow a boy a few years younger than her, everywhere? The bastard even got followed when he went to the bathroom. Don't let her chaste and serious look deceive you, she is a pervert."

Taking a few steps forward, Artoria pointed at Akiko.

While everything happened, the group of uniformed men and women were strangely quiet, they seemed to be allies of the older woman, but they gazed at her with a certain level of caution. Although some of them sent some weird stares at Akiko.

"You are twisting the facts too much. I am a faithful retainer of Milord, it is my duty to be at his side at every second in case he needs my assistance!" Akiko retorted.

Slowly backing away, Akiko got closer to the fallen group.

"Ahhhh!? Then explain to me why do you follow your master to the bathroom, and offer to use your body to clean him? Is that something a faithful retainer should say? You pervert!" Artoria said.

Doing her best to not appear suspicious, Artoria tried to conceal her aura gathering in her wooden sword.

"T-That did not happen... I would not dare to say such a thing!" Akiko refuted. "I have only offered to simply wash his back!"

Raising her voice, Akiko made known certain facts.

"...I was making that up, but you just confessed. What was the police's number in this country?" Artoria wondered aloud.

"Y-You like to point fingers but do not think I have forgotten about that time you straddle Milord naked! You were rubbing your body on him!" Akiko pointed at Artoria with a shaky hand.

After getting the proper position, Akiko continues her act (?).

"For the Nth time, I slipped in the bath!!!" Artoria retorted angrily. "You guys chased after me around the whole house for 3 hours, and I could not even wear anything the whole time. It was not my goddamn fault!"

Her grip on the handle of her wooden sword could not be stronger, although Artoria could not be certain if it was because of their act (?) or because she was having a hard time suppressing the surging golden aura inside her body.

"Then how do you explain the fact that after we all decided to let the matter go, you went and straddle on Milord again!?" Akiko fumed.

"...I have no idea what was wrong with the floor that day, but I swear, I just slipped." Artoria muttered with a blank look.

"...rather than one of you being a pervert, aren't you two feathers of the same flock?"

Half amused and half amazed by their ridiculous banter, the older woman retorted and she did not act like she was in a hurry.

" "There is no way I am the same as that pervert!" " Artoria and Akiko both spoke at the same time.

"Is that so? Keke, suit yourself. By the way, blonde-haired brat. Did your banter give you enough time to charge your attack?"

With an unperturbed look, the older woman pointed at Artoria's arm which was shaking slightly and a golden aura was being released.

Clicking her tongue, Artoria shared a look with Akiko before releasing her aura in seconds, not only covering her sword but her body as well.

To Artoria's annoyance, the woman only looked at her with interest and it made Artoria want to puke since the woman's eyes were similar to the guys that experimented on her.

Letting the aura on her body run rampant was not good so Artoria swung her sword at the woman who had made some translucent shield appear in from of her. The first attack failed, but Artoria kept repeating her actions and to the woman's surprise, the shield broke and the woman was forced to fly off to avoid getting hurt.

"Aren't you an interesting gal?"

Still having her nonchalant expression, the older woman made another shield. However, even though expected to be broken again, she did not expect Artoria to break it again on her first attack.

Being aware of why she managed to succeed so soon, Artoria kept her mouth shut. She has to maintain her concentration to make her ability fully active.

This time, there was not only a shield protecting the older woman but several and they had some differences. Artoria clicked her tongue. It was a different type from before so her attacks will need to change a bit to be able to break those.

Sweating slightly, Artoria glanced around her briefly. Akiko had taken the role of defending the fallen group so Artoria could attack without minding them. However, Artoria could not see any of the people before moving a muscle. Why...?

Shaking her head to get rid of those thoughts, Artoria attacked again. Her Sacred Gear was originally one used to slay devils. It manifested in form of a silvery aura that would cause great damage to devils. It would not be wrong to call it something with affinity to dispose of everything related to devil-kin, and hunting low-level devils were her job. Their teachings always pointed the evil of that race and she dutifully completed her missions. Back then, it was all she knew, and never doubt it, until that day. Artoria learned about the plans they had for Alice and for the first time, she thought that the people that had been teaching her were not good people. Once such a thought invaded her mind, she could not help but begin doubting more things. The fact she was raised to be a living weapon against devils never bothered her since they were evil, but the question in her mind made her ponder many things. Her faith wavered every time she saw the actions of her 'fellow' humans. Actions that were more vicious and evil than she had seen devils do. Thus, her questioning over her life began. Before she could reach a proper answer, the plans for Alice were put in motion and that made Artoria choose the only option she could. To run, to escape, and while there might've been another route she could take, Artoria knew that she would not be able to fight against the whole organization backed up by the church. Her heart in turmoil made the questioning girl to be distracted during her escape and Alice end up getting hurt by the dubious plan of the organization, using her former comrades and mentors to stop her. Her bottle-up feelings, her confusion, and her rage made her realize something. Humans were not different than devils, no, not just humans, all creatures could be said to become evil if the situation was right. Her ability was called Devil Eraser, Devil Slayer, Devil Executioner, and many other nicknames by the organization. However, it was only meant to affect devils. Yet, that changed that day. Everything she considered evil, became the target of her power.

Even though that was supposed to be like that... Artoria was losing confidence with how much trouble the shields were giving her.

"I am not really sure how you are capable of causing so much damage to them, but I guess you would have troubles if I change their nature mid-way."

Widening her eyes, Artoria was told what troubled her in the fight by the older woman.

"It is not like I know how your ability works, but I have some experience dealing with Sacred Gear users. How many people with bizarre abilities do you think I have faced? The fact that I am still alive should prove that I am dealt with them."

The older woman shrugged her shoulders.

"Before you ask, it is not like it was a secret. You would've learned if the fight continued for a while more. However, our time has to be cut short."

Like her words were a cue, a young woman arrived at the playing ground. In her hand, she held a struggling white cat by the nape of her neck. No matter how the cat turned or struggled, it was in vain, the grip did not get any weaker.

Artoria gritted her lips when she saw the young woman bringing the cat. She could recognize it. Who else could it be other than Shirone? The same Shirone that Kuroka had fought so hard to let escape. To the point, she could not even tell that she was not Nora. Since Artoria could identify Shirone, so could Akiko, and before Artoria could stop her, Akiko dashed past her with an enraged expression.

Normally, Artoria would be wary of interference by the uniformed people, even more by the older woman, but the fact that none of them acted made Artoria get a bad feeling.

"Akiko! Come back!" Artoria shouted.

Unfortunately, Akiko did not listen to her or acted like she did not. Wooden sword in hand, she showed off her superior physical skills inherited by oni-kins and crossed the distance swiftly.

"I have managed to capture this. With this, our job is finished- hmm?"

Shirone's captor cast a doubtful gaze at the approaching Akiko and she tilted her head. Eyes shining slightly, the woman did something absurd.

Nodding to herself like she understood something, she threw Shirone at Akiko. Her actions startled the purple-haired girl and she broke off her charge. Without hesitating, she dropped her wooden sword and prepared herself to catch Shirone, but she never managed to do so. Moving at an impeccable speed and with exactitude, the woman caught Shirone by the nape of her neck with one hand while with the other one, she delivered a blow to Akiko's solar plexus. Off guar, Akiko received full damage from the attack, but she was not the type to go down from someone like that. Artoria and her had fought almost every day so she learned of the purple-haired girl's stubbornness. Nonetheless, the young woman seemed to have expected that and threw the white cat at Akiko who easily changed from trying to counterattack to panicky trying to get a hold of Shirone.

This time, Akiko caught the white cat, but her enemy did not let her rest. She kicked the purple-haired girl's inner thigh and Akiko involuntarily bent forward as she crouched. Her actions left her vulnerable to the following attack, that being, the young woman grabbing the hair roughly with her hand and pulling Akiko's face to her knee. The impact made Akiko straggler backward and she did not try to fight back, but rather, she planned to turn back and run to Artoria. However, her enemy had already launched a kick toward her lower back, sinking the heels of her boots into Akiko's kidney. The pain made Akiko straggler once again but using her sheer determination, she continued.

Artoria could only helplessly watch Akiko get hit once again from her position, not only she was left with the task to protect the hurt ones, but the older woman stood in her way.

"Now, now, you wouldn't happen to forget that you were fighting me, would you? Before leaving, I would like to test a few things. It is not every day I get to face such an interesting Sacred Gear."

Her tone was light-hearted, but the older woman made purple flames attack Artoria. Her survival instincts kicked in and Artoria found herself using her Sacred Gear unrestrainedly. Brushing off the flames, Artoria slashed and caused them to disappear like they were not there in the first place. She was certain that she skipped many steps that she usually had to do to make her ability work, but she had no time to think about it. Not only she was feeling pressured due to the attacks coming her way, but she also could not take a breather to even think of aiding Akiko because attacks were raining on the injured people so she had to stop those as well.

...

...

...

Walking up to the older woman, a certain uniformed young woman carrying a white cat by the nape of her neck. The cat looked heartbroken and unwilling, but the young woman did not seem to care. Speaking in a slightly cold and dispassionate voice, the young woman shook her hand at the older woman.

"Augusta-sama, I have obtained our objective. My apologies for taking this long. There was a strange creature attached to this one's shadow, it took me longer than I thought to deal with her."

"Keke, well done. Sorry to have troubled one of Satanael's favorite ones." The older woman, Augusta, mumbled. "The cat must have the collar on her human form, I guess I will have to force her back so we can retrieve it at our base. Staying here any longer is not an option, very soon she will arrive. I have exhausted myself too much during this charade. Let us leave."

Listening to their exchange that included taking the white cat, Artoria wanted to jump in, but she had sustained heavy damage while trying to protect Alice and the rest. Her right leg had gruesome burns and her wooden sword was nowhere to be seen. The poor practice weapon made by Nora had turned to dust due to the fearsome purple flames. Her hands were not different from her leg, but Artoria remained standing. The enemy still could attack her again, and she needed to keep her guard. Her eyes were directed briefly at the figure of Akiko who desperate and bitterly tried to stand up, but the beating given to her by that woman was too much. Vicious and vicious blow after blow was connected to Akiko, always using the white cat to her advantage, rendering any possibility of Akiko counter-attacking, useless. Her sly actions left Akiko on the ground, trying to crawl after Shirone, but unable to do so due to the damage she received.

In all honesty, Artoria was surprised that she was standing, no, actually she had an idea that she was alive until now because the older woman, Augusta, had an interest in her and was playing until now. Like many magicians, she pursued her study in her preferred field at her own pace with caring for others. Luckily (?) for Artoria, Augusta seemed to still have interest in her so she had not been attacked with any unavoidable killer move.

"Hmm? Is she still alive? How odd, a Longinus user leaving her enemy breathing."

Tilting her head in confusion, and staring at Artoria with a pair of eyes that seemed to be looking at her like some strange creature, the young woman commented.

"She is quite interesting, well, her ability is." Augusta muttered. "But, I don't think there are many Longinus users active during these times. Did you meet someone other than me?"

"Yes, our teacher has dealings with the Boosted Gear user. He always goes for the kill."

Hearing their nonchalant talk, Artoria gathered more of her aura in her hand. If she could just take down any of them... she can save the white cat. It was been hours since Yasaka left to go back to Nora, they should not be taking longer going by Augusta's commentary. However, every time she pictured attacking the younger woman, Artoria could only imagine things getting uglier. Losing consciousness or getting killed will lead to a total wipeout for their group so Artoria was hesitating.

"Too bad, it seems she has made it here." Augusta looked in a particular direction and spoke with some regret in her voice. "Girl, remember my name. I go by Augusta of the Purple Flame, I am a witch belonging to the organization Wizards of Oz. In commemoration of our meeting, let me give you a final gift. I hope that if you don't die from this, we can meet again."

Moving her two hands, one up and one to the sides, Augusta cast a teleportation spell that instantly appeared below the uniformed people, and floating above her raised hand, Augusta made a large purple fireball It swelled rapidly from one meter in diameter to two meters and it only stopped when it reached the three-meter mark.

Seeing that attack, made Artoria grit her teeth. While she would not avoid it completely if she tried to dodge it, she could not do that. Following the witch's eyes, they were directed at the fallen ones behind her. She had to stand her ground to protect them so she began to madly gather all the aura her body could muster. While she did so, a certain feeling enveloped her. A terrifying killing intent was being directed in this direction, yet Artoria could only feel a certain relief. However, it seemed to startle her foes.

"Feel free to avoid it, but those behind you will- huh? What in the world...?" Augusta furred her eyebrows tina a certain direction but soon her eyes widened.

The young woman holding the white cat swiftly reacted and used the cat as a shield. Her action was precise and Artoria noticed the gleam in her eyes before she acted. Nonetheless, it was certainly the correct choice. Thanks to it, she was sparred from the approaching attack.

Busy with the teleportation spells, and conjuring the purple flame, her hands were tied and Augusta could not put on any defensive spell. Nonetheless, someone as crafty and experienced as her seemed to owe some defensive artifacts that formed some small shields in front of her. Feeling like it was not enough, Augusta simply threw the fireball at Artoria and hastily prepared a magic shield.

From the corner of her eyes, Artoria only saw some blurs, raining down on some of her uniformed enemies. Some arrows retained their shape but others swelled up and plants grew at a crazy speed. However, Artoria could not feel joy for his arrival. She could only put everything she had, to protect what was behind her. Her light was behind her, so she could not fail. His light as well, so she would give it her all.

Like that, Artoria's small frame covered in golden aura was swallowed by the purple fire as well as her consciousness.

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