Chapter 108: Storms & Serpents

As soon as the battle began, Nadeshiko charged towards me, pink eyes blazing with bloodthirst.

"HAHAHA!" she laughed like a maniac as she cleaved downwards with her scythe, striking the ground below me.

I jumped upwards elegantly and pulled out my own weapon, Dokujin, then landed on the blunt side of her scythe.

She tried to sweep me off, but before she could, I pushed off the surface and headed directly for her throat. Unfortunately, she dodged out of the way with Vanishing Clouds, an evil smirk on her face.

The two of us ended up exchanged locations through this ordeal, but we wasted no time leaping back towards one another in combat.

'Replica: Shadow.'

I created a clone of myself as she did the same. There were now four figures on the battlefield, the 1v1 evolving into a 2v2 of sorts. However, this didn't last long, as we both ended up cutting down each other's clones.

The two of us glanced at one another's real bodies, before wordlessly dashing to each other once more. She had the range advantage with her large scythe, but as long as I could avoid her initial attack and get closer, I held the advantage.

'Vanishing Clouds.'

Dashing straight through her attack, I cut down towards her using Dokujin. As long as I could draw blood, I could win using the power of Corruption.

However, Nadeshiko was no easy opponent. With an AGI stat of over 200, hitting her was proving to be quite difficult, even though I had an AGI stat of 300. That said, she couldn't hit me either, given how fast and agile I was.

The two of us backed away from one another. I had been planning on discussing something with her here, but she left me no room to do so as she dashed towards me once more, spinning her scythe around in her hand and grinning like a psychopath.

"Tch… troublesome," I muttered, then dashed out of the way instantly as the scythe slashed the air where I had just been.

'Vanishing Steps.'

I turned invisible and tried circling around her, but she used the same skill as me. The battlefield was now empty, from a normal person's perspective. Unfortunately for me, she used her Vanishing Steps slightly later than me, meaning hers would end after mine did. That was a huge disadvantage for me. I had to plan this extremely carefully, or else I would actually lose this fight.

She had no idea where I was right now, but the same could be said about her to me. Precisely because of this, however, there was a slight chance the two of us would run into one another accidentally. When that happened, it would just be a matter of who can react first.

Suddenly, I felt wind whiz past my face. My eyes widened.

Nadeshiko… she's randomly swinging her scythe around in the hopes of hitting me. Not risking anything, I quickly pulled away from my original spot. My invisibility was running out.

Her strategy was valid, abusing the range on her weapon. I could not do the same with Dokujin - it would be rather ineffective.

"There you are…" I heard a faint whisper right as my invisibility wore off. However, I could not determine which direction it was from.

Then, I looked up.

"DIE!" Nadeshiko yelled, dropping down on me as she swung her scythe downwards.

I quickly blocked the attack with Dokujin, gritting my teeth.

"Tch…"

She had the power of gravity on her side. If this went on any longer, I would run out of energy.

So, instead, I stepped to my left, sliding Dokujin down the curved side of her scythe. Her eyes widened as started falling to the ground.

As if I was going to let her land safely.

I grabbed the handle of her enormous scythe with my free hand as she fell, then used that as momentum to jump up and finish the fight with Dokujin. Nadeshiko was extremely light, so this was possible. However, all of a sudden, the weight on the scythe increased, swinging me upwards before pulling me down to the ground with it.

My eyes widened as I lost my grip on the scythe's handle and Dokujin both from the sudden movement, but at the same time, Nadeshiko did as well.

I fell directly on top of her but somehow avoided crushing her beneath me by hitting the ground first instead. I stared into her eyes as she stared back into mine, both of us bewildered at what just happened. We were in a pretty… easily-misunderstood position, a boy on top of a girl. Neither of us were armed anymore… or at least, that's what she thought.

I still had one final ace up my sleeve - the Claws of Deception.

Glaring at her, I silently wished for them to become reality in my mind, then prepared to stab down, but to my surprise, Nadeshiko suddenly wrapped her arms around my neck and brought my head downwards, directly into hers.

"Mmfngh!"

Our lips met. I was unable to stab down at her anymore, since then I would have to stab myself as well.

"Mmn…" she moaned as she kissed me.

It took me a moment to realize what was happening, but once I did, I quickly broke free from her grip, tearing her hands off my neck and standing back up. The audience was just as shocked to see this display.

"… What are you doing?" I asked, rubbing my lips with my sleeve.

Nadeshiko climbed back to her feet as well, then smiled. "I judged that I can't beat you in a fight, so I figured I would capture your heart instead. How was it? Did my first kiss taste good~?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Does this mean you've acknowledged your loss?"

She shrugged. "No. I would say… this is a tie. Don't you agree?"

"Heh," I scoffed, then smirked in triumph. "Tie? Don't underestimate me."

In an instant, I used Blink paired with Vanishing Clouds to arrive directly in front of her, my Claws of Deception still activated.

"Take a look now."

In my mind, I set the Claws of Deception to visible mode so that everyone could see it. Nadeshiko's eyes widened at the three sharp claws millimeters away from her throat, and she blinked a few times in surprise.

But then, she smiled. That smile turned into giggling, then finally, laughter.

"AHAHAHA! That's the first time someone's ever put me in this position, y'know~? As I thought… you're a lot stronger than you seem on the surface. A man worthy of me… hehe~"

She stuck out her tongue playfully despite the position she was in.

"Do you forfeit on your own, or do I have to make you?" I asked coldly, expression unchanging.

She stared into my eyes for a few seconds, then giggled.

"Fine, fine~ I forfeit. Happy?"

"… Good. Now I hope you will fulfill the deal."

I moved my Claws of Deception away from her throat, turning them invisible and untouchable once more.

"Hehe, don't worry… I'll become yours, just as the deal says~" she flirted seductively, then grabbed my shoulder and leaned in close to my ear. "You can do whatever you want to me… Master~"

I scoffed. "In that case… I want you to stay the hell away from me."

"Sorry, not happening~"

"…" I shook my head and walked off the stage, Nadeshiko following closely behind.

"W-Well, that was an interesting… fight," the mayor cleared his throat. "But without a doubt… the winner of the match is Igarashi Kaze!"

When I returned to Hina-nee and Furuwa, they did not look happy.

"… Kaze-kun."

"Y-Yes?" I gulped in fear towards Hina-nee's serious face, unsure of what she was going to do next.

"Wahhh…!" She suddenly began crying loudly, attracting the attention of nearby audience.

"W-Woah, hey, what's wrong?" I quickly pulled her into a hug, trying to calm her down.

"S-S-She took your first kiss… sniff… sniff…" Hina-nee sobbed, hugging me back tightly.

All around me, the audience began to murmur.

"Look at that kid… having multiple girls around him? What a playboy…"

"What do they see in him anyways…?"

"What a shame…"

"That's right, Kaze-kun~" Nadeshiko joined in, licking her lips and caressing her own cheeks. "I took your first kiss. But did you know? That was my first kiss too… so now you have to be responsible for me, forever~"

"You forced yourself on me!" I yelled, trying to clear up my name.

"Oh? Weren't you the one on top~?" she giggled.

"K-Kaze-kun… am I not good enough…?" Hina-nee cried, looking at me desperately.

"No, you're better than enough, Hina-nee… ugh, this did not go as planned…" I muttered, trying to find a way out of this.

"Sniff… sniff…"

"… Idiot," Furuwa commented unhelpfully from beside me, folding her arms and shooting me a cold glare.

I wanted to rebuke her statement, but I was kind of trapped in the middle of too much shit right now.

In any case, the three of us have all completed our battles for today, so I took Hina-nee in a princess carry and left the scene before it became too embarrassing. Furuwa followed closely behind, and for some reason, Nadeshiko did as well.

Damn it, Nadeshiko… you screwed up my plan. In the end, I still underestimated just how crazy you can be, apart from murdering others.