14: Ryouko Tamiya

"A?!" Ryouko was stunned. Everything had happened so fast that she hadn't even seen what had killed him.

How did a weak prey suddenly become the hunter?

This girl had been disguising herself as prey, waiting for them to take the bait.

Realizing she had walked straight into a trap, Ryouko reacted instantly. Without a moment's hesitation, she turned around and fled.

On the other side of the street, about fifty meters away from where it had happened, Hilda stood hidden within a narrow alley. She stretched out her hand toward the fleeing Ryouko and calmly recited a chant.

"Let the great protection of fire be on the place thou seekest. I call the bold heat of a torch here and now. Fireball!"

A blazing fireball ignited in midair and shot toward Ryouko at bullet like speed. It streaked across the street, leaving a shimmering trail of heat in its wake before crashing into the ground barely a meter away from her.

BOOM!

"I missed! Sorry... If only I hadn't neglected my magic training," Hilda said softly, biting her lips, as she lowered her hand.

As a noblewoman, she had never needed to concern herself with managing territory or fighting. She had only learned magic out of curiosity and had never participated in a real battle before. She had spent her entire life surrounded by luxury, while combat had always been left to her servants and guards.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. You already did your job," Natsuo said with a reassuring smile as he pointed toward Ryouko. "Look, your attack injured her and stopped her from getting away."

The fireball exploded with enough force to blast a crater several meters wide into the asphalt. The shockwave sent Ryouko, who had been trying to flee, tumbling across the road.

Although the fireball had missed her by about a meter, the searing flames still scorched her body. One of her legs suffered particularly severe burns, leaving it badly injured and making it difficult for her to run.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

At that moment, Chelsea slowly approached, three more needles resting between her fingers.

"Ryouko Tamiya," she said calmly, "it's a shame things have to end like this, but you have to die."

"Who are you?" Ryouko Tamiya asked.

Her eyes moved unnaturally within their sockets as she glanced around, unable to understand what was happening.

First, someone had ambushed A and killed him before he could react. Then, a fireball had suddenly been sent flying toward her, blocking her escape route.

Everything had happened too quickly, and she still couldn't figure out who these people were or why they were targeting them.

"You're going to die anyway, so what's the use in knowing?" Chelsea shook her head faintly before asking, "Are you in contact with any of your kind?"

The reason she hadn't finished Ryouko off immediately was because she wanted to try extracting some information from her.

"Will you spare my life if I tell you?" Ryouko asked, her tone remarkably calm.

"I'll consider it, depending on your answer," Chelsea replied.

"A was the only one I've been in contact with." Ryouko remained silent for a long while before finally answering.

"Is that so..." Chelsea's gaze remained fixed on her for a full ten seconds before she spoke again. Before she could finish, however, she flicked her wrist and shot three needles.

Clang!

A sharp clanging sound rang out as the needles were suddenly stopped by the sharp blades. Ryouko's body hung in the air, suspended by her tentacles as she hovered a few centimeters above the ground. Two tentacles held her body aloft while the other two moved to deflect the incoming needles. Unfortunately, she couldn't stop one of them, and it pierced straight through her shoulder.

Swoosh!

Ryouko didn't bother looking at her injuries. She immediately launched another attack against Chelsea, her tentacles moving at an insanely fast speed, so fast that Kana, Hilda, and Natsuo couldn't even see them.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

However, what they could see was that Chelsea managed to block every attack. She held a dagger in each hand, moving swiftly as she deflected the relentless barrage of tentacles.

After exchanging blows for more than ten seconds, both of them finally stopped. Chelsea smiled, "Oho~ It seems I underestimated you."

Chelsea was relatively weak in direct combat, but that was only when compared to monsters like Akame, Kurome, and the others, who were absurdly powerful and capable of killing thirty meter tall Danger Beasts with a single blow.

In reality, compared to normal humans, Chelsea was insanely strong and fast. After all, she had once been a member of the Oarburgh Clan before joining the Revolutionary Army, a clan that was once known as the most terrifying assassination organization.

Unfortunately, they were exterminated by the Elite Seven, which had Akame at that time, and the Four Rakshasa Demons.

"I understand now. You're working together with Shinichi Izumi. This is a trap set by him!" Ryouko spoke, with her face split into four sections; she had multiple eyes appearing across it. She kept looking at Chelsea while simultaneously searching for whoever had fired that fireball and looking for Shinichi as well.

"Who knows~!" Chelsea chuckled. In the next instant, she flicked her wrist again and sent another volley of needles toward her.

Clang!

Ryouko quickly tried to deflect them, but they moved incredibly fast. She only managed to block one this time, while two pierced straight through her body.

'This is bad! Am I going to die?'

Chelsea didn't allow her the luxury of pondering her situation. With one hand, she fired three more needles, while with the other, she rushed toward Ryouko, a dagger gripped tightly in her hand.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

They once again began exchanging blows, with more wounds continuing to accumulate across Ryouko's body. A few seconds later, Ryouko suddenly roared like a wounded beast as three of her tentacles stretched taut before splitting away from her body and rushing toward Chelsea from every direction.

"What is this, some new trick? Useless!" Chelsea laughed lightly. She was completely relaxed as she casually dodged and blocked the incoming attacks. Then, without even seeming to put any effort into it, she threw her dagger. It shot forward and pierced straight through Ryouko's heart.

"You..." Ryouko Tamiya's head wiggled as she whispered the single word, but she never got the chance to finish. Her body completely died, and the monstrous head that had been split into multiple sections twisted into a grotesque, dried up parasite.

"Another one down," Chelsea said as she took out a bottle to dissolve the corpse, but ultimately decided against it. She retrieved her needles and turned around. Before leaving, she glanced one last time at the three tentacles lying motionlessly on the concrete, then walked toward the trio waiting for her.

Dissolving the parasites' bodies could certainly erase any clues of their involvement. However, if the corpses remained, the police and authorities could study them and gather more information about the parasites, which would be a great help in their future war against them.

As for the police tracking them down, that was nearly impossible with Chelsea around.

She never showed her true appearance while hunting, and even if that ever happened, she had her own ways of covering up the traces and protecting her friends.

"Good job, everyone!" When she reunited with Natsuo and the other two, she waved her hand and returned to her original appearance before high fiving them with a bright smile.

The group of four didn't linger around. They quickly left the area, leaving behind only the elderly woman, who remained paralyzed with fear on the ground some distance away. She had no idea what the fuck had just happened.

She had only witnessed two people fighting, but due to the distance, she couldn't clearly see who they were or, more accurately, what they were.

"W-what the hell was that?" she muttered, rubbing her eyes. Even after witnessing the entire scene, she couldn't believe what she had just seen. She thought her illness was acting up again and that she had started hallucinating.

Last time, she had hallucinated that Kento Yamazaki had visited her at night... Hehehe, how embarrassing! She held her face and chuckled wistfully.

If only it had been true! 

At that moment, she suddenly noticed something twitching on the floor. When she looked closer, she saw that it was one of the tentacles, still wiggling slowly like a worm. Curious, she slowly stood up and cautiously walked toward it.

 ...

Bang!

Chelsea gripped Natsuo's arm, twisted her body, and brutally slammed him into the ground with a shoulder throw. The impact was so powerful that he felt the air violently leave his lungs.

"Ugh!" Natsuo groaned in pain. He wanted to complain that Chelsea wasn't going easy on him at all, but he didn't have that luxury because her foot was already moving, quickly shooting toward his face as she tried to step on him. He hurriedly rolled across the ground in an unsightly manner, dodging her attack, then scrambled back to his feet and ran away.

"Stop running and fight like a man!" Chelsea shouted as she chased after him, suppressing her laughter. She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and slammed him back onto the ground as effortlessly as if he were a lightweight pillow.

"I am just a boy!" Natsuo groaned, the dull pain from the impact making him feel as though his bones were about to break. He stood up, dusted off his clothes, and complained, "Take it easy on me! It's depressing that I can't even land a single hit on you."

More than a week had passed since they killed A and Ryouko. During that time, Natsuo had been training under Chelsea. At first, he had been excited about it, but he soon faced the harsh reality. Despite her cheeky manners, Chelsea was incredibly strict and wasn't lenient in the slightest.

She beat him up in the name of training, just like she was doing now, and once she was finished beating him into the ground, she would make him lift weights.

Even so, Natsuo didn't want to give up! He still wanted to grow stronger, but it seemed there was still a long way ahead of him before he could achieve his goal.

"Then work harder if you want to do that," Chelsea smiled at his antics and said mischievously, licking her lips. "Or could it be that you lack motivation? How about this? If you manage to land a hit on me, I'll give you a kiss~!"

"Wait! Why are you suddenly getting excited? Do you really want to kiss me that badly?"

"Ara, ara~! How cute."

...

"Let the great protection of fire be on the place thou seekest. I call the bold heat of a torch here and now. Fireball!"

Magic drained from Natsuo as a small fireball was conjured in front of his outstretched arm. Under his command, the fireball shot forward and hit a small boulder, creating a small explosion as dust and debris scattered everywhere.

Thud!

The moment he cast the spell, Natsuo dropped to one knee. He could feel nearly all of his magic power draining away after casting a single spell, but that didn't bother him in the slightest. He stared at his hand and shouted, his voice filled with excitement.

"I succeeded! I did it!"

...

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