86 A Side Job: Conclusion

Shiroa wanted to say something but she didn't know how to answer. If she admitted it, then that was as good as saying that the Sanming Sect didn't honor their deals with others and that would be the end of the cooperation between Kirou and her sect. Conversely, if she denied it, that was the same as turning her back on Blade Warlord, directly before his men. This situation left her between a rock and a hard place. Fortunately for her, Kirou turned away from her and now had the smiling Blade Warlord in his sights.

Seeing the smug smile on his face made Kirou's hands itchy. Kirou genuinely felt the urge to wipe that smug look off of Blade Warlord's face but kept his urge in check as he spoke, "You know what, I just figured out the best way to decide whether or not I join the Sanming Sect."

These words caused everyone, Shiroa included, to lock their eyes on Kirou. Feeling a bit full of himself, Blade Warlord queried in a cheery tone, "And what method have you decided on, Mr. Kirou?"

Kirou gave Blade Warlord a peculiar look. Instead of answering directly, Kirou posed a question of his own, "Tell me, Blade Warlord. You can be considered one of the elite members of the Sanming Sect, am I right?"

Without even batting an eye, Blade Warlord gave a quick response, "That is indeed correct, Mr. Kirou. While I cannot say I am the strongest person on the elite roster, I can say that I am within the top ten."

To those words, Kirou inwardly nodded but showed nothing on his face as he spoke, "Since that is the case, then this should be easy. Let's settle this using strength. I'll fight you, along with two other players that are here. We'll do it 1v1, knockout style."

Everyone looked at Kirou in shock when he said those words. Most looked at him like he was a fool, while some gave him looks of pity, thinking that Kirou was just overestimating himself. Out of the entire lot, only one person looked at Kirou with an unsure gaze. That person was naturally Shiroa, who had witnessed Kirou taking down a level 23 monster practically solo.

Just as she wanted to say something, however, she noticed a gaze from Kirou, which promptly sealed her mouth shut. While Kirou still had a simple smile on his face, his eyes told Shiroa very clearly that she would suffer immensely if she uttered a single word. Cowed into silence with just a glance, Shiroa now understood what that unnatural feeling she that she felt earlier was. It was fear. It was the kind of fear that seeped deep into her being, making her feel a chill up her spine, even though she's playing the game.

Completely oblivious to Shiroa's current thoughts and the bit of strength that Kirou has displayed to members of his sect, Blade Warlord was now making a faux troubled face as he spoke, "That isn't fair, Mr. Kirou. I couldn't possibly use such a method to get you to join our sect."

Kirou could see the glee that was hidden behind the troubled expression that Blade Warlord was currently making. Instead of calling him out on it, Kirou inwardly sneered at the man while he maintained a simple smile on his face as he spoke, "No, Blade Warlord. I have made up my mind. If I am to join your sect, we will play by those rules, or we can just forget about it."

Those words made Blade Warlord hastily reply, "No, no, no, Mr. Kirou. We'll do this your way. In fact, I'll even allow you to choose the other two opponents."

Hearing this, Kirou subdued the smile threatening to form on his face as he spoke, "Let's do it like that. To make it fair, I'll even swap my weapons between fights." While Kirou said the second sentence under his breath, everyone in the clearing heard him, prompting a round of laughter to ensue.

At this point, Blade Warlord was practically over the moon, wondering just what kind of chump he was dealing with. He almost couldn't believe that this guy refused to work with Guardian Knight. Almost. While Blade Warlord was elated, that doesn't mean he wasn't suspicious about this ordeal, at least slightly. For now, he would reserve his opinion while watching.

*******

Since the rules of engagement had already been set, both sides got to work. Blade Warlord had the group clear an area for the fight while Kirou went around, examining the other players and made his picks. To hide his intentions, Kirou went around and asked everyone about their equipment and levels. After ten minutes of this, Kirou finally settled on a warrior and a fighter. Kirou went for two of the strongest persons present but made it seem like he chose them randomly.

Blade Warlord watched this but said nothing. He didn't mind Kirou picking strong opponents. He was instead worried that Kirou would pick weak opponents, preventing him from seeing thought him. Now that everything was ready, everyone got into position.

Kirou's first opponent was the warrior. Equipped with a kite shield and a sword, the warrior stood before Kirou in a ready stance. Kirou said nothing as he took out a pair of knives from his inventory. While most of the group thought Kirou either lacked a better weapon to select or chose poorly, both Blade Warlord and Shiroa thought differently.

With both combatants ready, Shiroa, the designated referee gave the start signal for the match. Immediately after the signal was given, the warrior dashed over to Kirou quickly using . As if he had already predicted this action, Kirou barely allowed himself to roll out of the way in time. During this action, Kirou managed to slash the warrior as he passed by him in the back, dealing a bit of damage.

Following that, Kirou got to his feet and rushed over to the warrior where both started to engage in a close-quarters fight. Since he had something in place, Kirou capped himself both on speed and skills that he could execute. This resulted in him receiving a few hits here and there during the exchange. Besides any hit that might have been too fatal or result in annoyances for him, Kirou allowed himself to be hit multiple times, allowing his health to lower just as steadily as the warrior.

By the end of seven minutes, the warrior had finally fallen. That being said, Kirou's health wasn't any better as it was currently only hovering just above five percent. Everyone watched this and thought that the warrior was quite close in almost bringing Kirou down. Even Blade Warlord was almost convinced by this performance. Again, almost. While he couldn't see through any faults with Kirou's attacks and defensive maneuvers, that last attack of Kirou's made him feel a bit suspicious.

'Could it be a coincidence or is it something else.' That was Blade Warlord's thoughts as he saw the warrior retreat back to the crowd with a sullen expression. Falling short when one gets so close to the goal tends to bother everyone. As the fighter left the crowd, Blade Warlord thought to himself, 'Let's see if that was just a fluke or not.'

*******

The second fight was just as close as the first one. The only difference in this one was that Blade Warlord found nothing to be suspicious with this one as Kirou had kept the fight clean from start to finish. Besides the times when the fighter got lucky and managed to land two critical hits on Kirou's body, Kirou kept the fighter cornered and eventually defeating him after making use of a sword technique that forced the fighter to back off or get stabbed. After getting a feel of the sword just once, that removed a good chunk of his health, the fighter no longer allowed himself to get too close. Conversely, this led to him ultimately looking, this time leaving Kirou with fifteen percent health.

With two fights down and now with his health back up to full with potions, Blade Warlord came over to Kirou and spoke, "Those were two amazing fights, Mr. Kirou. Watching you take down my men just have me itching to draw my blade. I'm really glad that it's my turn now."

"I'm glad it's your turn as well, Blade Warlord. I would personally like to experience the strength of one of the Sanming Sect's elites. Regardless of how this fight turns, just this experience would be worth it." With those words, Kirou got into position and withdrew a giant hammer from his inventory. It looked mighty and very well made.

Seeing the hammer, Shiroa had flashbacks of Kirou's fight with the level 23 shadow wolves from earlier in the week. She could only release a sigh as she already figured out how this fight was going to end. At the moment, she could only hope that Kirou doesn't demand too much for his silence.

With the combatants set, Shiroa gave the start to this match. Blade Warlord rushed to Kirou, but unlike the warrior from before, this was done without the use of . As soon as Blade Warlord got in close and was about unleash his skills, however, he momentarily lost sight of Kirou.

'Where did he go?' That was the last stray thought Blade Warlord had before a large hammer greeted him to the face.

WHAM

[-50]

Blade Warlord's body flew back like a kite with its strings cut. before he could even recover, or even notice what happened, he was once again greeted to the face with said hammer. His body flew in another direction once more. Since both hits were just normal attacks, the damage they dealt was pretty much negligible to Blade Warlord. That being said, he suffered from the knockback effect of the hammer to the face twice, resulting in his body being sent flying. Just as his body was coming to the end of its flight, Blade Warlord was giving the same treatment once again, another hammer strike to the face, sending him flying towards the very first area he flew from.

While it definitely wasn't obvious during the two earlier fights, every player within the area now understood that Kirou was indeed holding back. This fact was practically cemented into their minds as truth when they saw two more Kirou's rise from the shadows and joined the original in playing tennis with Blade Warlord's head. Off to the side, Shiroa could only shake her head and release a sigh in depression as she saw this.

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As for Blade Warlord, his time as a tennis ball came to an abrupt end after a short two minutes, as his body turned into a mass of light, completely disappearing. That signified that he had been killed during combat. Seeing this, Kirou and his clones looked a bit disappointed, as if they found that their game ended a bit too quickly.

The surrounding players stood where they were as Kirou put away his hammer and approached Shiroa. It was only a moment later that everyone reacted and surrounded Kirou, their eyes red with anger. Kirou paid no attention to this as he stared at Shiroa with a smile on his face.

Though the smile looked completely harmless, to Shiroa, that smile was akin to that of a beast, staring at her with the intent to devour her. She didn't even have to ask to know why Kirou had approached her. After sending a trade request to Kirou, she placed all the blueprints that she had planned to give him for completing the job, along with a few extras for the recent issues.

Looking at the haul, Kirou nodded his head before speaking in a voice that only she could hear, "And with this, the job has been concluded. Since you've given me more than I expected, along with that special blueprint, I'll let today's matter end here. That being said, this will be the only time."

Following those words, Kirou's body sank into the shadow of the area he was in, completely disappearing from the encirclement of players completely surrounding him. The players that were red in the eys with anger were now stunned, completely clueless as to what had just happened.

As for Shiroa, she was currently covered in a cold sweat as she fell to her knees. Kirou's parting words and the look in his eyes as he left caused Shiroa to see her death, quite vividly. And this wasn't an in-game death but one she would experience in reality. It was only now that she truly understood that she wasn't dealing with a simple player. No, she had just crossed paths with a bloodthirsty monster and barely escaped with her life.