"Echo Veil" (049)

The training exercises were over for the day, and Codey became sloppy.

He chewed into noodles while leaning on the chair and stretched his legs on the sofa.

"I'm speechless... Who'd have guessed that a beautiful Goddess like you would be envious of my power? I'm sure you just wanted to brag about your culinary prowess in order to feel important and strong."

Ayuka, on the other hand, continued to stare at our Demon, sweat flowing from her face. "... you've got a lot of nerves right now, don't you know?" Ayuka leaned her jaw into her palm and smacked her elbow on the table.

"Do I? Really? You couldn't take my awesomeness! Not my fault..." The next spoon of noodles was slurped down.

"Will you please shut up already?" When Ayuka's palms smacked against the table, our friendly Demon misplaced his spoon and dropped it into the soup when the bowl bounced against his forehead, spilling soup all over his hair.

Nobuhiko saw this as flames erupted from his nostrils as he laughed. "We've got a new hairstylist! The noddle boutique, of course!" When Codey's eyes went dull, Nobuhiko burst out laughing.

"... I was looking forward to that dinner..." Codey got up and entered the bathroom.

Alpha and the others completed today's hangout back on the boundaries of the Spiritual Realm.

"Man, these sushis were incredible!" Elliot was licking his lips while touching his belly. "All I have to do now is fill some females, and I'll be ready to leave!"

And as he spoke, the pole shook and fell, revealing a young woman standing a few meters away.

"Keep an eye out! I've got you covered!" When flying through the air, Codey sped forward in electricity and caught something.

"I'm the best, I know. Why don't we share a kiss?" However, as soon as Elliot opened his eyes, a dog barked and licked his face.

Elliot, understandably, was upset by this and screamed in terror.

Instead of helping the girl, it just so happened that Shigeru was able to save her.

"Sir, thank you very much!" The woman bowed in thanks when she was let go.

"... I suppose you're welcome..."

"Woah! That was a nail-biter. Is everything going well for you?" Yumi inquired, her gaze falling on the woman. "Thanks to your friend!"

"I knew you could do something with your muscles!" Kiyoshi laughed and softly tapped Shigeru's shoulder. "... I don't give a damn..."

Elliot, who was standing still and glancing back and forth, became embarrassed when he returned his gaze to the puppy. *"Bark"*

"At the very least, you're cute..." Elliot spoke up as his face was licked by the puppy's tongue. "Hey! Come on, come on! Stop it! That tickles me!"

"Please accept my apologies... Thank you so much for saving Ruby! I was afraid she'd be harmed by the pole." Elliot was thanked by the woman. "Yes, sure. Your pet is secure here." He carefully placed the dog in the woman's arms, and they both walked away, thanking each other once more.

"Hey... At the very least, you managed to rescue something..." But, despite Kiyoshi's efforts to cheer Elliot up, our Hero remained melancholy. "... yeah..." The wind blew in from the west.

"That was a completely unexpected occurrence..." Yumi said this while crouching next to the pole and inspecting it. "Eh, it's probably simply rusted out and stopped functioning..." Alpha spoke forward, her hands in her pockets.

But, in the midst of all the unusual and good things that had been happening to our Heroes, our Heroine Nina continued to do what she had been asked to do.

Her progress became more effective as she began creeping between the Spiritual Realm's open streets and following Saraki.

Someone clothed in crimson with a collar concealing his mouth, a black scarf over his neck, and two katanas on his back approached Saraki in a crossing.

"Did you come by yourself?" The man spoke in a deeper, more solemn tone. "As you can see, I'm completely by myself..." Saraki sneered and spit to the side.

"That's good; I don't want anyone to find out about our affair." Ayana and Shijo appeared on either side of the man at that same moment. "Who's that? H-Hold on...that? I'd never seen him before..." Nina asserted, her face flushed with embarrassment and surprise.

"Kunio! He was the one who told us about the Spiritual Duelists who made our commander distraught." Ayana explained as she stood up and removed her mask, revealing her face.

"After the enormous fire tornado arose, those *allies* of yours wounded my eye... We'd like to learn more about their Dueling Style..."

"I'm not sure, to be honest... I last truly faced their squad leader numerous years ago, and he didn't have his current level of strength... He hadn't even begun to use his method properly..."

"However, I can reveal his flaw..."

"Then, speak to say..." Claimed Kunio in the front. "The Half-Demon has a bad emotional control so doing something to make him rage is a key to killing him... Their leader on the other hand goes by the name of Miyazaki Timoshi, I'd lie to tell you the truth, but by chance, they arrive together you should focus your fatal attacks onto the white hair girl..."

"Ayuka? That was her name, right?" Shijo claimed, supported by the Spiritual Hoaxers. "Yeah, I am quite sure she is the main target you should prioritize... If you do something to put her on the verge of death, I'm certain that their leader will lose proper focus."

"How about their physical flaws?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that since I'm not sure myself..." Saraki explained, with the Spiritual Hoaxers' three lieutenants in front of him.

"So, since you've already given us a lot of information regarding their talents, we don't need to go any further... Hoaxers, get out of here..." Only the three lieutenants remained after Kunio's claim.

"You did a fantastic job..." Kunio whirled around and walked back, his arms folded. Saraki lunged for his blade and swung it forward, but Kunio didn't notice until it was almost too late.

His sword grew and waved like a whip without him asking it to.

"... what a critical blunder..." Kunio swooped in and opened his palm, unleashing a burst of burning crimson energy that deflected Saraki's blade.

"Planning an assassination, were you?"

"Kunio, how are you doing?" Shijo drew his blade out in response to Ayana's question. "Not worried at all... I'll take care of everything..." Both Ayana and Shijo vanished without a second thought.

"You had the opportunity to strike me and you took it, but you failed miserably... I am dissatisfied..."

Kunio reached for his collar zip and carefully unfastened it.

Saraki's eyes widened in amazement. Kuni's jaw and mouth had been obliterated completely.

"... This was the result of my own abilities... Do you want the same thing to happen to you?"

Saraki's sword was brought back and pressed against his shoulder while he listened. "I didn't give you those details in the hopes of failing to assassinate you... I guess I was right to underestimate you..." Saraki spoke up, visibly annoyed.

"I assumed you wanted to work with us, but it appears I was mistaken. Only after the perpetrator has been eliminated are betrayals considered complete. So now it's time for your soul to suffer as a result of your plans to kill me..."

"After all, the 'Echo Veil' is the name of my skill..."

"It seems like a fun strategy, but I'm not sure if it's useful or completely pointless." Saraki sharpened his sword and waited for one of his opponent's katanas to be drawn.

"Wait... I don't understand what's going on? Saraki provided them our information, but then tried to assassinate the Spiritual Hoaxers' first lieutenant?"

Nina quickly jotted down the notes and was startled when she heard two blades collide, the echoes of which horrified her. "Christ!" She had already seen... after shouting in her head and peering around the corner...

Saraki and Kunio began a fight to the death.

Saraki's opponent instantly slashed in a cross and bounced the extending sword by sweeping the blade ahead and whirling it forward.

Kunio surged forward into close combat after a successful guard and slashed with one of his blades. Of course, Saraki, who had become stronger over the years, was wary and immediately leaped back and cut.

Kunio, on the other hand, vanished into a tunnel of deafening echoes in order to shock Saraki and face him up close.

Saraki was clearly unable to bear and listen to the cacophony, and Nina was in the same boat, so both of them had to cover their ears, putting Saraki in an awkward position.

As a result of Saraki's shocked state, Kunio was able to slice through his flesh and sweep behind him, stopping the veil of loud echoes, and with a leap, the evil opponent swept the ankle into Saraki's head and tossed him to the side.

After landing precisely, Kunio immediately crossed both of his blades to clap together and produce a cross-like wave that reverberated and crashed into Saraki's sword, shattering the earth with the vibrations.

Kunio twisted the blades between his fingers before bringing them to a halt behind his back. As the vibrations began to swim through the air, he began to charge up echo on the very edge of his blades.

"Damn! I need to act quickly before he unleashes them!" He attempted a similar approach of extending his blade by elevating it and then stabbing it forward.

However, Kuno immediately pounded his sole in the ground, whirled into a side rollover the blade, and eventually pointed one of his swords forward after landing behind the blade.

"Echo Burst..." When Saraki's voice echoed, a loud screeching noise flew at him.

Our Lieutenant came to a halt, and in less than a second, he was smashed up against the wall by the curtain of echoes.

Saraki's body eventually vanished as he moved to Kunio's side and wrapped the blade around him.

"What-" Kunio's eyes were astonished at the same time Saraki's were bleeding. When he swept and ran around him in a circular motion, then slipped backward and pulled the blade, the long blade was forced to press deep into Kunio's torso, and blood spurted out quickly.

"That was something I picked up during training..." Saraki grinned, but he became overconfident, and just when he believed he had squeezed Kunio to death, the opposite happened.

"What?! There was no way you could have gotten away with it! I noticed you being pinched!" But Kunio surprised us by pointing his palm at the back of our Lieutenant's head and opening his lips on the palm.

"Is that a mouth? In the palm of your hand?! What's going on?!" But it was too late; a huge explosion echoed, ripping Saraki's garments and, finally, cramming Saraki's body into the wall as the rubble dropped on top of him.

Nina was taken aback when Kunio raised his palm, and she hastily averted her gaze while covering her mouth, but then a long tongue began to wiggle. "Look at this. Is our boss finally making use of us?" The mouth was giggling. "I guess he got bored with being the only one who spoke, chahaha!"

Two mouths conversed and laughed incessantly.

"... silence..."

"... that's just revolting..." Nina claimed as she turned to the side, but Kunio shifted his focus to the exact spot where Nina had been hidden.

He started walking slowly in her direction, which irritated Nina even more. "No, no, no... don't come here, don't come here..." She was trembling because she couldn't easily flee and had to rely on concealment.

But just as he was about to step behind the corner, the blade wrapped itself around him and wrapped itself around him again.

When Saraki flung his arm above his head, Kunio hurriedly turned around to face the back.

He hauled Kunio high into the air and began spinning him over the head with his strength. "Who said you were going to win?" Saraki swooped the blade down at the ground and destroyed Kunio's corpse with an enraged attitude.

A huge sandstorm emerged.

Nina remained hidden behind the corner, feeling the tremor as much as the sand blowing around her.

She peered around the corner after the sand had swooshed away and saw Kunio's body severely hurt and smashed to the ground.

"Did he... did he get him?"

To be continued...