#160 Zank the Beheader 2

Neither Kurome or Zank were planning to stop their attack to defend. Despite being caught off-guard a moment ago, Kurome was still in advantage and she would be able to kill Zank before he would kill her, however, she would still be probably severely injured.

Just when Kurome's katana was a few inches away from his neck and his hand blades a few inches away from her stomach, Kurome suddenly disappeared leaving behind only whoosh sound and raging wind.

"?" Zank looked confused by this, however, when he noticed another guard with a spear in his hand and other 3 spare weapons at him while holding Kurome in his other empty hand, Zank's eyes widened.

'What a speed...Would I be able to react to him if I saw him right from the beginning? So happy, I can't wait to find out! This excitement gives me even more motivation' Zank thought with a wide smile while looking at the newcomer.

"?! A-Akashi Nii-sama?" Kurome exclaimed with a shaky voice since she was aware that she disregarded his order.

"What was up with that hesitation? And why haven't you retreated instead of resuming your attack? You could have been severely injured." Akashi asked with a stern tone and narrowed eyes.

"Huh?" Kurome was immediately confused by his words, she knew that he was angry but he was most likely angry because of other reasons.

"I guess, you aren't regular guard either, right?" Zank asked while getting up to his feet.

"Keep your mouth shut when I am not talking to you." Akashi didn't even turn at Zank while saying this.

"I-I am sorry, I am ready to take any punishment once we are back. I suspect that man has the ability to turn into the person you think about at the moment, he can also read your thoughts." Kurome said hurriedly while not daring to look into Akashi's eyes.

'Mind-type of a Teigu? Hm, I wouldn't mind having something like that.' Akashi thought with a smile while holding his chin.

"Grrr. You sure talk big!" Zank who was already angry from before started gritting his teeth when Akashi didn't even consider him as a threat.

Akashi was aware that since the guards were the ones who shouted at Kurome, the said transformation worked only on one person at the same time.

"Kurome, we will talk about it back at home, for now, just watch how to win against someone who can read your attacks" Akashi patted her head and turned around at Zank, he stepped forward with a spear in one hand.

Akashi kicked off the ground, using similar speed to Kurome's speed.

'Kuku, midsection but that is a feint to attack my right shoulder.' Zank thought when Akashi arrived near enough to attack with his spear. Since he had a spear, he had greater range but once he would miss, Zank would have a chance to get near him, rendering his spear useless.

As Zank thought, Akashi's first attack was a feint aimed at his midsection so got ready to block his real attack but Akashi instead of moving his spear up aiming for Zank's shoulder, his spear when down in very strange movement as if it became a snake, attacking Zank's foot.

'What?! I wasn't able to even see any premature twitch of his muscles, he executed this move perfectly' Zank thought with a shocked expression as he tried to take a step back to dodge Akashi's attack but his spear strangely followed his foot as if the spear itself became a snake.

*Splash*

"UGH!" Zank groaned in pain as the spear pierced his boot and entire foot.

However, he quickly recovered and noticed Akashi's head within the range of his hand blades so he quickly slashed at his neck but Akashi already jumped back at his original position where he was before he rushed at Zank.

"How were you able to...land that attack" Zank asked with a pained expression and narrowed eyes. He himself didn't know what exactly he should ask for therefore he asked in this way, hoping that Akashi would understand it.

"The first lesson, if your opponent can read your mind where you plan your attacks, then to fool your opponent, you must first fool yourself. Second, if your opponent can read all your attacks by the smallest twitches of your muscles, you need to create more possibilities of which way you can attack and you mustn't use attacks that are unrefined." Akashi said while looking at Zank but it was all meant for Kurome and she was aware of that.

---

"*The lord is really strong, isn't he? I always thought that battle between Teigu users should be equal with each side having a chance to win but...*" One of the guards whispered to his colleague.

"*The lord hasn't even used his own Teigu, all he has shown to us was just technique. When we watched the battle between miss Kurome and that man, it was visible that miss Kurome had an upper hand. It was truly easy to see, however, the lord is completely-*" His colleague replied in a whisper.

"*dominating him, using him as a test subject to teach a lesson to miss Kurome*" The first guard joined in and both whispered the same thing in unison.

"*Talk about equality between Teigu users. The lord can probably dominate all Teigu users.*" The second guard continued.

"*What about General Esdeath?*" The first guard asked curiously about his colleague's opinion.

"*Same...I have never seen her fight personally but they say she usually overpowers everyone with her Teigu...Our lord can dominate Teigu users without using a Teigu, what do you think will happen once he uses it?*" The second guard said and the first guard nodded his head in understanding.

---

"Are you saying your true intention was still to attack my midsection and right shoulder?" Zank asked with slightly widened eyes in surprise.

'I see...Akashi Nii-sama said that I should become unpredictable if I meet anyone who can read my attacks but I didn't take into account that this man can't read my attacks but all of my movements. Unrefined and unpredictable attacks leave a lot to improve therefore you also make some premature moves making it even easier for him to read my next attack.' Kurome now realized what she was doing wrong but becoming completely unpredictable while using refined attacks was still beyond her current capabilities.

"That was only 1 weapon, 3 more to go" Akashi said while taking another spear on his back into his hand.

'Are those weapons, the weapons of those guards I killed last night? Doesn't matter, it had to be a coincidence, Spectator can't be wrong!' Zank thought while using another ability 'Clearsight' to check if Akashi doesn't have any hidden weapons under his clothes.

Akashi once again moved out and this time, their exchange was longer and Zank even got to perform one attack before Akashi's spear pierced his other foot and Akashi once again retreated to his original position. Just by doing this, he was extremely mocking Zank, adding into it his stoic expression, it angered Zank even more.

"2 more to go" Akashi said while drawing out both of the shortswords.

Akashi once again moved without giving any time to Zank to recover some stamina, thanks to dual-wielding, Akashi's attacks became even worse to predict for Zank. Although Akashi never really trained in dual-wielding, he had perfect control over both of his arms so he has no problem using both of them at the same time.

The exchange once again ended with Akashi getting some of his hair cut off while Zank got his arm pierced but this time, instead of retreating, Akashi let go of that sword and continued his attack with the last shortsword.

'If this keeps up, I will die! I need to catch him off-guard!' Zank thought with a slightly panicked expression while blocking onslaught of Akashi's piercing attacks.

When the onslaught of Akashi's attack ended, he prepared to perform stronger overhead slash than his usual attacks but when his hand was still facing the sky, Zank suddenly disappeared and was replaced by a black-haired beauty smiling at him.

"Akashi Nii-sama?!" Kurome shouted at Akashi once she noticed him stop for a moment.

Zank who was now projecting Akashi's most precious person in front of him finally attacked Akashi, releasing his bloodlust.

The moment, he released his bloodlust, Akashi's stoic expression changed to a cold and ruthless one as he swung down with the shortsword without any hesitation.

'Wha?!' Zank gritted his teeth as he crossed his hand blades in front of him to block Akashi's attack but upon the clash, his hand blades completely shattered and a large cut appeared from his shoulder to his waist.

Kurome who saw this, sighed in relief.

*Splash* "Agh" Blood spurted everywhere while Zank just groaned with a disbelieving expression.

*Thud* His body became cold and he has fallen on the ground on his back.

"H-How? You were supposed to see the most precious person to you!" He asked in a low voice while occasionally coughing out blood.

"You should have never posed as her. You are unworthy to even imitate her. She is someone far stronger than likes of you." Akashi said in cold tone while glaring down at bleeding Zank.

"That's not how it works...Spectator's illusion is absolute, once you get caught in its illusion you will still feel like cutting down your loved one even if you know it is me." Zank complained with a dissatisfied expression.

"It indeed felt like killing her but she would have never released a bloodlust towards me, I cut down anything that wants to kill me. Plus your illusion has limitations, as I said before...she is much stronger than likes of you. You can't create a perfect illusion of someone who is much stronger than you, plus my mind isn't that weak to be completely affected by the Spectator." Akashi explained before he proceeded to pierce his last shortsword through Zank's neck, finally killing him.

'I see...I can't hear anything...haha, so happy.' These were Zank's last thoughts before he died with closed eyes and a smile on his face.

"Finally, avenged all 4 of them." Akashi muttered while looking at Zank's bloodied body.

'Still, his illusion made me think of her a bit more...I really miss her, don't I? Tch! He only made me think of unnecessary things, I should have killed him quickly without giving him any chance to defend.' Akashi thought with a slightly sad expression before it was replaced by irritated expression as he took Spectator off Zanku's forehead.

"Hey, I think it is finally time for you to show yourself." Akashi suddenly said aloud with a bored expression while looking towards the dark alley some distance away.

Both the guards and Kurome looked there too with a confused expression.

"I told you that we should leave!"

They weren't able to make out what these voices were saying but it was apparent that they were arguing. The guards and Kurome's expression immediately changed to a blank one.

After a few more seconds passed by, 2 feminine figures walked out of the dark alley.

"H-Hi! What a coincidence to meet you here, Akashi!" It was Leone in her transformed form, waving at Akashi with an awkward smile.

"H-Hi..." The other person was Sayo who was looking sideways, most likely embarrassed by Leone.

"Yes, what a coincidence...Were you hoping that I would leave this on the ground?" Akashi asked while waving around with the Spectator.

"Well...Maybe?" Leone replied while scratching back of her head.