บท 144: Raynare vs Tobio
"The next one."
Raynare held an upright stance, showing pride in her victory.
Issei and Natsume helped Kouki retire. He couldn't move his legs, as they had been penetrated by Raynare's light spears.
As Tobio approached Raynare for the next fight, Drako used his "healing" ability on Kouki's legs.
He could only accelerate Kouki's innate recovery, but that was all that was needed. Byakusa placed its two tails into the holes in Kouki's legs, which improved his speed of recovery far more than Drako did. In the end, Drako's skill was still an offensive skill against beings of darkness, so his healing was limited.
"You've done well, Kouki."
"Tch. No need to comfort me, boss."
Kouki bit his lips. He did not like to lose, but he was angry because he had lost to the fallen angel he had called useless two months ago.
Drako was not comforting Kouki, he really thought the boy had performed well. After all, Raynare had managed to make Drako bleed, so defeating Kouki in a fight where he was not using the full power of Byakusa at all was as expected.
Of course, if Byakusa were to transform into the colossal tiger form, there was no way Raynare would stand up to that. Damn, even Drako would have trouble in a close fight against that, and he would even be at a disadvantage on his human form. Besides, from what Azazel had told him, this wasn't even the full form of the Sacred Gear.
If the Sacred Gears of the Four Fiends were fully developed, the creatures would be on par with the sacred beasts of the Five Great Clans. If these beasts did not reach to the power of a Maou, they were very close.
What will be the power of these beasts in their respective Balance Breaker?
Tobio was already facing Raynare, who had a light spear ready.
Jin and Tobio did not "merge" like Kouki and Byakusa did, but they also had their own fighting technique. From the shadow of his feet, Jin created a sword and held it horizontally with his mouth. Jin, who had lost the ability to create blades from his body, was now able to voluntarily create swords that came out of any and all shadows. That Jin was able to act independently was proof that he had "matured" compared to when he was a puppy.
But Jin was not the only one who had improved in this time. Tobio had also manifested a growth in his ability.
"Come."
Tobio, with a murmur as he concentrated, was demonstrating a specialized weapon from the shadow at his feet. Tobio held the handle that had grown under his feet, then pulled it out at once.
What he held in his hand was a scythe. Drawing an elegant bow, it was a specialized weapon for eliminating targets. It was not a scythe that was used to harvest weeds, but was similar to the large sickles wielded by grim reapers.
Jin was not the only one who could create swords from the shadows at will.
During the battle against the Utsusemi Agency, Tobio had personally experienced that not only his partner Jin, but he would also have to mobilize during the battle. If he had to run from place to place on the battlefield, giving orders to Jin, he would not survive what was to come.
Before selecting the scythe as his weapon, Tobio had tried to wield and swing all manner of swords. None of them had left Tobio with a satisfactory feeling, however. Unexpectedly, when Tobio picked up a scythe for the first time, he felt he had found his soul mate. Turning the scythe over and over, lifting it up, pulling it hard, and then swinging it down, Tobio was able to do all of that easily.
So Tobio, facing Raynare as a training partner, prepared himself after turning the scythe several times.
Neither one was ahead of the other, as they both attacked at the same time. With a loud "Clank!", both weapons collided.
The blade of Tobio's scythe was close to Raynare's neck, but the tip of the spear was inches away from Tobio's eye. But, neither of them could keep up the pressure on the other.
In this first move, you could say it was a draw.
The two parted and collided again and again. It seemed that the two were doing an exquisite dance, where both were trying to get the advantage but were unable to do so.
Tobio had learned from watching the fight between Raynare and Kouki. He was not a natural fighting genius, and it was not as if he could know how Raynare would move. Still, he had at least learned that he did not have to leave any room for Raynare, or he might end up like Kouki.
But, Tobio couldn't keep up with Raynare. He wasn't like Kouki, who had grown up on the streets like a delinquent, nor did he have a physical strength base to go with it. Two weeks of training had made him better, but it was still not enough.
Slowly, Tobio was cornered. At least he was defending himself decently. On his skin, you could see cuts, created by the Raynare's spear, but they were all superficial.
Or so Drako had explained to the eager Sae. She had a frightened expression at the sight of Tobio covered in blood, so Drako had had to calm her down before she ran to "help" Tobio.
Though it was Tobio who was suffering the most, it was not as if everything was a path of roses for Raynare. The difference between the quality of Tobio's scythe and the spears Raynare created was too much. If the Kouki could destroy Raynare's weapons with a little effort, Tobio could easily cut the spear if it made contact with the curved blade of the scythe.
Tobio's blade could cut through anything.
Drako had a feeling that in the hypothetical event that his defense was a thousand times greater than Tobio's attack, he would still be able to cut through his skin. After all, Canis Lycaon wouldn't be a Longinus if he couldn't kill gods. Longinus were cheats after all.
But Raynare only had to create another spear each time Tobio destroyed it.
Even with Raynare's advantage, it seemed the fight wasn't over yet. It was not Raynare's first fight, and she had been training for over two hours with Drako, so she was beginning to feel tired. If she was the Raynare that Drako knew long ago, she'd have been exhausted in the first minute of the fight. However, the intensive training of Drako and Baraqiel had made her the warrior she was now.
In close fights, it was always small accidents that decided victory and defeat.
As he retreated, the footwork failed Tobio, and he stumbled.
"The fight is over."
Tobio had barely stumbled, but Drako had already signalled the end of the fight. He had not finished the fight but already knew who the winner and loser were.
Raynare was surprised to see Tobio stumble, but she could no longer reverse her attack. If an outside force didn't stop her, the spear was going to stab Tobio's heart.
"Tobio!"
"Now!"
Sae shouted the name of her childhood friend, but it was overshadowed by the roar of Tobio himself.
From the shadows of a pillar, a black shadow shot out like a bullet. The shadow struck Raynare, and she was forced to the ground. When she opened her eyes, she found two red eyes and a blade grazing her neck.
No one had time to react, nor were they prepared for what had happened, except for Drako and Baraqiel. They had all been so focused on the wonderful fight between Tobio's scythe and Raynare's spear that they had missed Tobio's primary weapon.
Tobio might have some skill in using the scythe, but that was not his best weapon by far. He was the bearer of a Longinus, and everyone seemed to have forgotten this.
Drako could not help but marvel at what he was seeing. This was all the strategy Tobio had executed from the beginning.
He had shown Jin taking up the blade, focusing on the dog. Then he had drawn his scythe. Raynare knew that Jin was the greatest danger to her, so she had not paid attention to Tobio.
Tobio matching Raynare at first had forced the girl to pay more attention to him. By this time, Jin had already hidden in the shadows.
Slowly, Raynare's attention was drawn to Tobio. The scythe could break its spears, so she had to put much of her concentration on it. At the same time, Raynare felt that she was very close to winning, but she was just not able to deliver the final blow.
She gave everything to defeat Tobio, so she completely forgot about Jin.
That had scored the game.
Tobio, knowing that his skill was inferior to Raynare's, had devised a strategy to beat her. There was also the possibility of joining forces with Jin from the beginning, but the fight could have ended differently.
"It's over! Jin!"
Drako officially ended the game. With the boss' call, Jin released Raynare and the sword he held in his mouth disappeared.
Tobio fell to his knees, exhausted after the fight. The tension had been extremely high, and the adrenaline had helped him endure the pain of his injuries. Once the fight was over, his senses were overwhelmed, and he could no longer stand.
Sae immediately ran to help him, and brought him next to Kouki. Both had come out of this training with a vengeance, but both were satisfied. Kouki had lost, and he had complex feelings about the fight, but this had only motivated him to improve even more.
"Well, we're done here. Now, straight the showers, we don't want any people smelling like pigs on Nephilim."
Baraqiel, who had been silent the whole time, ordered seriously. Despite how showy the fights were, they were not going to change Baraqiel's strict nature.
In the end, almost everyone left the training room, but there were still two people left.
Raynare had not reacted since Drako had ended the fight. She was still lying on the floor, staring blankly at the ceiling, there seemed to be no trace of life in her eyes.
"Do you understand now? You would have died if it was a real fight."
Drako sat next to Raynare.
"Do you remember the last time you almost died? It's been months, but I'm sure you still remember."
Drako was talking about when Raynare's uncle attacked Shuri and Baraqiel's residence in Japan.
Raynare didn't respond, although Drako didn't expect her to either.
"All you did back then was scream, denying reality over and over again."
Drako let out a sigh.
"And now? A boy who knew nothing of the supernatural world two months ago could have killed you. As a result, you're incapable of reacting. You're in shock, you don't want to believe in what just happened. You've defeated Kouki and become arrogant, and now you don't want to accept how close you came to dying. I am sure that in your mind, you are trying to convince yourself that what is happening is not real. As if it were..."
"...a nightmare."
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So, finishing with Raynare for the time being... or not?
Well, and advice that the next chapter is going to have some eroero scene...
Can you guess who is the girl that is going to bring us some fap material?
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