Outside of the commercial city, Sawyer.

“I told you, I can handle this myself.”

“And I told you that it was too dangerous, Hina.”

Hina and Luka were approaching the city’s gates.

“Miko said that I can fight her.”

“He said that you could fight against the she that he fought. He also said that he can’t predict how she’s grown.”

The two argued back and forth.

“It doesn’t matter. Ill cut her down regardless.”

Hina gripped the katana on her waist tightly.

“It’s because of that reckless mentality why I have to come with you.”

Luka spoke with a sigh.

“Are you sure that you’re not here because you want to take revenge yourself?”

“I’m upset about what she did to Miko but I’m not trying to steal your kill. So, relax.”

The two stopped in front of the gate.

“More importantly, don’t you find it strange? There’s no one near the city.”

“Not just near the city. I don’t sense any malice in a mile radius.”

“Oh, yeah. That thing that Miko taught you made you sensitive to dark feelings ….Since it’s a war, there’s zero chance that anyone in this country won’t have any dark feelings. Which means…”

Hina nodded.

“The city is deserted.”

The two stood in silence for a while before speaking in unison.

“Like hell it is.”

Hina pulled her sword while Luka started looking around cautiously.

“You two have good instincts.”

They heard a voice above them and looked up. There they saw a woman with silver hair and eyes dressed in a suit.

“Isabel Luna!”

Hina’s grip on her sword tightened and she clenched her teeth.

“Hina.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t rush in.”

Isabel jumped down from the gate and landed in front of them.

“If I remember correctly, you two are Miko’s women.”

Isabel frowned.

“I wanted another match with him but he sent you two instead?”

“He didn’t sent us. I wanted to take your head personally.”

“Oh? So you’re a swordsman?”

Isabel looked at her for a bit before shaking her head.

“You’re not a swordsman. You just happen to use a sword. There’s a difference.”

She pulled her sword.

“Well, I’m getting paid to kill you guys so I’ll just be professional about this and kill you.”

(The Slaughter Moon Sword Style is the hardest sword art to defend against. It wouldn’t be strange for her to be preparing an attack before she even drew her sword.)

Luka positioned herself to defend and attack at a moment’s notice.

“Wait, Isabel.”

“?!”

Luka span around when she heard a voice behind her. She saw a man with similar features to Isabel with a sword on his back.

“Where did he come from?”

She drew closer to Hina and pulled out two daggers.

“What is it, Didier?”

“My adorably stupid sister, don’t tell me that you were going to fight these two alone?”

“Did you just call me stupid? Anyway, yes I was.”

“And yet you ask why I called you stupid. Listen, these two are strong. If you take them on alone you’ll die.”

He pointed at himself.

“Which is why I’m going to help you out.”

“Do what you want.”

“That was the plan.”

He looked at Hina.

(If I remember correctly, this girl is a favorite of Ringo….The Kaiser said that we can kill everyone but I’m not sure about this one.)

He looked like he just remembered something.

“Wait, there’s three of them. Sami doesn’t know about them. I hope he isn’t trying to kill one….Oh, well. I’ll just blame everything on Kaiser later.”

He nodded with a satisfied look on his face.

“Hina, since it’s two on two let’s do this. You take on Isabel as you originally planned. I’ll take on this guy right here.”

Hina nodded while facing Isabel.

“Go!”

Hina sprinted towards Isabel. Isabel lifted her sword in front of her and it started glowing. Her body then flickered and she appeared in front of Hina.

“Lunar Strike.”

She thrust her sword forward and Hina saw a moon rushing towards her. She clenched her sword and swung in front of her. The sound of metal clashing resounded after Hina deflected the strike. Isabel quickly follow up with another strike. A crescent moon appeared in front of Hina.

“You really think little of me, huh?”

Hina lifted her sword behind her and blocked another strike. She clenched her free hand and slammed her fist in Isabel’s midsection.

“You think those attacks would work on me?!”

Isabel was blown back and her feet skid on the ground before she stopped. She looked down at where she was punched and saw a hole in her suit.

(I hardened my body on reflex…It seems that was a good move.)

She looked at Hina with a bit of shock.

“You said yourself didn’t you? I’m not a swordsman, I just happen to use a sword. I’m different from Miko.”

Hina clenched her fist in front of her.

“I’ll use everything at my disposal to kick your ass all over this country.”

Isabel looked at her with a weird look before she started smiling.

“I see.”

Isabel’s sword started glowing, reminiscent of a moon in the night.

“Let’s see what you got then.”

Meanwhile, Luka was facing off against Didier. She attacked him with her daggers aiming for his throat, wrists, underarms, and fingers. Didier would see her attacks coming and move out of the way.

(She’s good. She’s trying to make it impossible for me to use my sword.)

Didier stopped moving and Luka slashed at his neck.

*Clang!*

Instead of cutting him, she heard a metallic sound.

(Shit! I forgot they can harden their bodies!)

Didier hit her with a palm strike. An explosive sound rung out and cuts spread out on her stomach.

“Ahhh?!”

Luka screamed out in pain and tried to retreat. Didier swung his leg like a whip and she ducked underneath it. She turned to run and saw a cut in the city wall behind her.

(Did his kick do that?!)

The daggers in her hands grew into two swords. She span around and used them block a stomp from Didier. With a loud sound she saw sparks fly off her blades. She pushed him back and activated her vita. She accelerated and stabbed at his face. He sidestepped her and threw a punch at her. She used one of her swords to block the punch and chopped his arm with her other sword.

*Clang!*

“I knew it.”

She leaped back threw her swords at Didier’s face when he chased after her. The swords bounced off his face with a spark.

“So there’s no weak spot?”

She pulled several more daggers and threw them at his crotch and saw the same effect.

“The hell?”

This made Didier a bit shook.

“You’re a merciless woman. What if it wasn’t protected?”

“Then it gets chopped off. That’s all.”

Black wings sprouted from her back and she took flight to create some distance.

“I was right to fight him. He’s more dangerous than Isabel. He can turn his body into a sword.”

“Hmm…Say, do you think you can make me pull my sword?”

Didier pointed to his back.

“You see, I didn’t expect anyone to be able to force me use it which is why I was reluntant to bring it. I’m asking if you can actually make me draw my sword?”

“….Huh?”

If there was one thing that Miko and Luka had in common….

“Huh?!”

It was their hatred of being belittled.

“You son of a bitch…”

She stretched her hand to the side and her regalia appeared in her hand. Her Vita expanded and a wounded warrior appeared behind her. It was her battle avatar. Vine-like markings then appeared all over her body with a flaming heart at the center.

“For that, I’m going all out from the start!”

At the same time, Hina and Isabel were clashing at high speeds. Their katanas clashed over and over creating sparks. Isabel ducked under a slash and thrust her sword at the Hina’s chest. Hina twisted her body out of the way and aimed an elbow strike at Isabel’s face. Isabel slid under it and slashed at her legs. Hina jumped over it and swung down her sword. Isabel leaped back and flames scorched where she was just before. Hina chased after her and fired lightning from her sword.

“Lunar Drill!”

The tip of Isabel sword started spinning like a drill as she pierced through the lightning with it. She sheathed her sword and accelerated towards Hina.

“New Moon: Invisible Strike!”

She pulled her sword and cut Hina across the chest with lightning speed. She had to block a kick from Hina the next instant. She created distance between them and observed her opponent.

Hina was grimacing while blood poured from the wound on her chest. Her skin quickly darken and her hair whitened. She had entered her dark mode. She also formed another katana in her hand.

“Let’s take this up a notch!”

She accelerated and instantly cut the distance between the two. She swung her swords from two opposite directions. Isabel backpedalled and drew a circle in the air with her sword. Hina saw a full moon appear in front of her, Isabel thrust through that full moon and fired a white beam. Hina cut the beam with her swords and went for Isabel’s head. Isabel smiled.

“Moon Mist.”

She disappeared into a white mist.

“Wha?!”

Isabel suddenly appeared out of a mist and thrust her sword at Hina’s neck. Hina had to quickly moved her head out of the way and countered with a slash. Isabel ducked under it and slashed at her legs. She jumped over it and swung her swords down as hard as she could. Isabel disappeared into the mist again and Hina missed. She then felt the temperature drop.

“Lunar Frost Cut.”

A long cut appeared on Hina’s chest, crossing the one before and creating a X. Blood gush out of it before instantly freezing.

“You know, you fight just like Miko. I can see that he’s a huge influence on you.”

Isabel appeared out of the mist with a smile.

“Too bad you lack the ferocity that he had.”

Hina tried to move but had trouble doing so. She could feel her muscles tightening up because of the cold invading her body.

“Dammit!”

*Bam!*

Something crashed into her and forced her to the ground.

“Ah, sorry about that.”

Isabel turned around and saw her brother walking towards her.

“That’s a good look.”

Didier’s clothes were cut up so bad that they were pretty much rags.

“Yeah, she had more fight in her than I thought.”

He pointed to a bloody Luka who laid on top of Hina.

“Hey, Luka?! Are you okay?!”

“….I have cuts all over my body…Do I look like I’m okay?”

Luka sat up and glared at Didier, whose sword was yet to be unsheathed.

“Hina, this is bad. Really bad. If we don’t do something we’re gonna be killed.”

“Then…”

Luka nodded.

“We gotta throw all caution to the wind to survive.”

The girls struggled to get up and faced their opponents.

“Oh? Good expressions. Looks like they’re gonna put their lives on the line, Isabel.”

“It would be boring otherwise.”

“Hey, Luka. Do you remember what we promised if we ended up in a situation like this? Is the bet still on?”

Luka looked at Hina and smirked.

“Of course. Whoever wins first will get to marry Miko when we go back to the Dragna Empire.”

Hina had a big grin on her face.

“I suddenly feel more motivated.”

“Me too.”

The girls pointed their weapons at their enemies with bold smiles on their face.

“I’m going to marry the man I love!”

“Or die trying!”

They rushed towards their opponents and shouted simultaneously.

“So you two can fuck off!”

Meanwhile, the prize of the girls’ wager, Miko was sitting on a pile of headless corpses. They all belonged to enemy soldiers and had all their blood drained from the necks. He held his head in his bloodstained hands.

“Miko, are you okay?”

Tia asked.

“It seems like my symptoms are coming back.”

He clicked his tongue.

“I thought that all the fighting that I’ve been doing would take care of my dark and chaotic desires….”

He lifted his head and Tia saw one his eyes glowing while the other was dark like the night. He spoke with an enraged expression.

“Are you telling me that you haven’t had enough? Just how much more must you destroy before you’re satisfied, Miko?”