71 Despair and Hope

" But, how?! I'm sure I've pierced your vital point! " Chelsea roared angrily, refusing to believe the sight in front of her.

Hearing this, Kurome smirks as her malicious grin becomes even more ominous than it had been while she draws Yatsufusa and answers Chelsea's question.  " You see. After Nee-san revolted and turns to the Revolutionary Army, they did more experiments on us and they also manufactured new drugs which are more potent than the usual one. It's putting quite a stress on my body, but apparently we can't be killed unless one pulverizes our heart or lops off our head. "

" I see. " Chelsea said calmly as she slowly regained composure.

Then, she takes out a smoke bomb and threw it to the ground, creating black smoke that hinders Kurome's view.

Kurome then raised Yatsufusa as she attempted to summon her puppet, but...

" Nata- "

Before Kurome can activate Yatsufusa, from the dark smoke, Chelsea leaps towards her and kicked Yatsufusa on her hand, away from her.

" Don't think that I'm going to run away. You're severely wounded. With that amount of blood loss, who knows how long you'll last without Yatsufusa even with that boost. " Chelsea stated firmly as the smoke slowly dissipates.

' Uh... True enough. I've lost huge amount of blood. Not to mention I'm reaching my limit. ' Kurome thought while gasping for breath. ' However! This bitch killed Bols-san! I can't let her go! '

With the determination of avenging Bols, Kurome clenches her fist tightly as she lowers her stance until her face reaches her clenched fists.

" From your kick just now... Are you sure you can kill me? " Kurome snorted. " These fists are more than enough to kill you if you didn't run away. " She added.

" Well, let's see about that. " Chelsea smirked as she places her palms in front of her body.

" ... "

Kurome then leaps back as she heads towards Yatsufusa behind her, however, Chelsea is one step in front of her as she leaps towards Kurome and kicked her leg, causing Kurome to stumble into the ground.

" Kuh! " Kurome gritted her teeth as she hits the ground with her hands as she pushed her body to the air, somersaulting towards Yatsufusa.

Then again, Chelsea grabs Kurome's ankle and slams her to the ground again.

" Oya? Didn't you say your fists are enough to kill me? Why are you heading to your sword? " Chelsea snickered as she throws Kurome away from Yatsufusa.

Once again, Kurome leaps towards Yatsufusa only for Chelsea to intercept her. However, Kurome spins her body and delivers a roundhouse kick, directed at Chelsea's face.

" !!! "

To her surprise, Kurome once again, got slammed by Chelsea to the ground.

" Ugh... " Kurome groaned as she coughed up a mouthful of blood.

" Looks like I owe you even more now... " Chelsea looked at her snow white palm.

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After the assault of the thugs, Gilga summoned Chelsea to a park.

" Why did you call me here? " Chelsea asked while looking around with suspicion.

" What? Not even a thanks after I saved you? " Gilga said. " Putting that aside, why did you do that? " he asked.

" Do what? " Chelsea asked while looking away from Gilga.

" Acting like a tough person like that. It doesn't suit a pure assassin type person like you. " Gilga said. " Well, I'm also at fault here for not noticing that. " He sighed.

" So, I'll teach you how to defend yourself against people stronger than you. " Gilga said.

" ??? " Chelsea tilted her head in confusion.

" Try throwing a punch at me. " Gilga said, and then Chelsea directly directed a punch directed at Gilga's face.

Gilga then ducked a bit and grabbed her wrist before doing a shoulder throw, but he made sure to slam Chelsea lightly to the ground. He then placed his hand above Chelsea's face.

" !!! "

Everything happened so fast for Chelsea to process as she dazedly received Gilga's help to stand up.

" What did you just do? " Chelsea asked, still confused.

" Well, I used your force against you. That's it. " Gilga shrugged his shoulder. " And, we're going to train till you could masterfully use your opponent's momentum against themselves. "

And so, Chelsea's hellish training begun.

Two weeks later.

" Ugh! "

Chelsea groaned in pain as she got hit by Gilga right on her face again.

" Don't you know the meaning of holding back?! " Chelsea cursed while rubbing her reddened cheek.

" If I keep holding back, when will you progress then? " Gilga retorted. " Besides, you have good reflexes and observation abilities. It's not like I'm doing this for fun though. " Gilga added.

" Listen well Chelsea. Being an assassin doesn't mean you should end everything in one blow. " Gilga started. " Try imagining a freak that won't even die when you pierce their vital point on their nape. And then that freak forced you into a close combat battle, then what could you do? " He continued.

Hearing this, Chelsea looked down and started sweating. " There's no way someone like that existed right? "

" If someone like that do exist, what would you do? Run away after putting up a smokescreen? " Gilga asked, surprising Chelsea.

' How did he? ' Chelsea thought.

" Yeah. Considering you don't have any close combat battle technique, running away is the best option. But, if you could master this technique, then facing someone even stronger than you would be a piece of cake. " Gilga said.

' ... '

" The better an assassin is, the more techniques the assassin have in their arsenal. " Gilga said. " That's Najenda's lame pun by the way. " He added.

" Oh? Is that so? Then, should I report to the boss what you said just now? " Chelsea grinned naughtily.

Gilga then directs a punch towards Chelsea's face as a reply, but Chelsea caught his wrist, and slammed him to the ground powerfully.

" Gah! "

Gilga let out a gasp of surprise after hitting the ground. He then looked at Chelsea who is smiling brightly at him.

" Well, well, well, it seems like I need to increase the difficulty of your training later. " Gilga grinned evilly.

" Wha... No! " Chelsea protested.

" What? Only because you succeed once you want to laze around? Fat chance! " Gilga snarled as he continued to train Chelsea for the next weeks before their reunion with the Night Raid members.

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" But still, are those beatings necessary? " Chelsea protested silently as she focuses on Kurome, who is slowly standing again.

" Ugh. Get...out of...MY WAY!!! " Kurome shrieked as she leaps to Yatsufusa again.

" Like hell I will let you get close to that accursed sword of yours! " Chelsea hissed as she slams Kurome to the ground again.

*Bang!

A gunshot can be heard coming from the forest direction.

" Eh? "

Chelsea felt a burning sensation from her left shoulder as it has been shot.

Chelsea then looks at the forest and notices a blonde girl wearing cowboy outfit, pointing her gun, which is still releasing smoke, at Chelsea.

She is one of Kurome's puppet. The assassin sent in by the Northern Tribe who got killed by Kurome, Doya.

" But... Mine has shot her down right? How come...? " Chelsea gasped as she holds her bleeding shoulder.

" Doya's body indeed has been damaged... However, as a corpse, that kind of damage is meaningless! " Kurome stated as she already has Yatsufusa on her hand. " It's been fun... Assassin whose name I didn't even know. But, it's time to end this! " Kurome added as she unsheathes Yatsufusa.

" NATALA!!! " Kurome screamed and purple lightning strikes down and Kurome's childhood friend rises from the ground with his Trishula on his arm.

" Cheh! " Once again, Chelsea throws smoke bomb and starts to run for her life.

' Ugh. I didn't account for the fact that she hadn't store away that gunner corpse. ' Chelsea thought angrily as she bit her lips. ' If that gunner isn't there!!! What's important is I must run awa- "

Chelsea takes out her Gaea Foundation and attempted to transform, however, Doya shoots her gun repeatedly at Chelsea's hand which is holding Gaea Foundation.

As a result, Gaea Foundation is destroyed along with her hand, leaving only her thumb.

' Damn it! Goddamn it! ' Chelsea cursed as she keeps running away from Kurome's puppets.

" Ahack! " Kurome coughed up a mouthful of blood as she weakly tumbles to the ground while using her knee and Yatsufusa as a support to prevent herself from falling to the ground. " I can't move anymore... But... "

" NATALA! DOYA! KILL THAT WOMAN! SLICE HER TO PIECES! " Kurome ordered angrily as she pointed at Chelsea.

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*Gasp! *Gasp! *Gasp!

The sound of rough breathing can be heard as a girl with auburn hair exited the forest, albeit with her destroyed left hand.

Hope filled the girl's face as her expression brightened, however, a man suddenly appeared in front of her. A man that shatter that thing called hope.

The man then swings his halberd, severing the girl's right arm.

Despite having her arm severed, the girl still keeps looking for a way to escape.

*Bang!

However, a hot metal shot through her right abdomen, causing her to fall to the ground on her back weakly. She has reached her limit as she's been fighting against blood loss that caused tiredness and drowsiness.

The girl could just look at the clear sky before the man that severed her arm stand above her as he choked her while glaring at her hatefully.

Dark clouds can be seen as it starts to drizzle.

The man then proceed to place his halberd above the girl's neck, attempting to decapitate her.

The girl then is struck by what they call flashback before death.

What she saw is a blonde man with crimson red eyes. He has a playful aura surrounding him as he smiled at her teasingly. The man slowly walks towards her and pets her head, telling her 'You did great!' with a huge warm smile on his face.

" Even though I'm the one who faces retribution... I refuse to die... Not like this... Not here... " Chelsea muttered as tears of despair formed on her eyes.

However, even after hearing her muttering, the man's glare didn't even face as he puts strength into one of his arm, pressing down the halberd.

Chelsea closes her eyes as she felt a burning sensation on her neck. She's been cut... It hurts... It hurts so bad... So bad that she wishes she was dead...

But, strangely, she could feel her breathing getting harder as the man's choking her harder and harder.

Chelsea slowly opens her eyes and tear continues flowing again. However, this time, it's not tear of despair, but the year of joy.

What she saw is a blonde man with blood red eyes is holding the end of the spear, which Natala tried to use to head her. He's glaring at Natala furiously while blood is flowing from the side of his lips because he but it out of frustration.

" Gilga... " Chelsea whispered with a smile weakly as she slowly closes her eyes, succumbing to the tiredness as she's been fighting fear, tiredness and drowsiness altogether for the first time in her life.

" You take a good rest. I'll deal with you tonight... However, this bastard... I'll deal with it now. " Gilga growled with a low dangerous tone as he glared at Natala menacingly.