[Unhinged]

Seeing his low battle power, I relaxed considerably. I even deactivated my Sacred Gear to conserve my stamina. If he had a low battle power with a Unique Skill, maybe I'd be intimidated. But as he was now?

This was just a baseline human according to my Appraise skill.

"Get out."

There was no need for questioning this man-child. A random person enters your home without permission? The normal response was to kick them out immediately.

I almost thought about asking him why he was here and who he was. My small run-in with the supernatural almost made me forget common sense. Just because someone seems important, doesn't mean you have to give a shit about them.

"Haah? I can't do that, I've got a job to do here!" Freed replied with a mock-serious face. I could tell he wasn't actually serious, no one randomly goes from relaxed to drill sergeant that fast.

Is this guy an idiot? I don't give a shit what job he has to do, this is my home.

"...Okay? You can do whatever job you came here for tomorrow, I'm telling you to leave." I state. I'm not gonna budge on this.

"Hm...I guess I could..." He says with a downcast look, resembling a kid who just got his candy stolen. For a moment, I almost feel bad.

That feeling is ruthlessly crushed when his deranged tone comes back in full force.

"But I don't wanna!" he then suddenly pulled out a gun and a hilt from his trenchcoat, the hilt whirring into life and a sword of light forming from it, "And you're a spoilsport. So I'ma stab you with my super cool sword and blow ya head off with ma sexy gun. Is that alright? Okay!"

On one hand, I can admit, that sword is fucking sweet. On the other hand, what the absolute shit just happened?

Why does he have a blade of pure light? I thought I figured this world is mostly the modern area with fantasy elements, apparently, now there's science fiction.

Absolute bullshit.

...I'm totally stealing those once I kill this guy. He threatened me first, and I do need that quest to be done.

Wordlessly, I reactivated Revelation Shatter and used Burst to juke to the side the moment he started shooting. Apparently, the bullets in that gun are made of light too, as they don't make a single sound when coming out.

Dangerous.

Probably some form of light magic is in the weapons because if it was actually light I wouldn't be able to dodge.

Despite only being a few meters away from me, he continues to shoot instead of using the sword. I can't get close with the way he's firing, so I opt to just dodge back and forth. Oddly enough, he's missing every shot. Is he toying with me?

"Pew, Pew, Bang! Dance, you shitty scum, Dance!"

Okay, yeah. He's definitely playing with his food.

I didn't think that fact would make me so angry, but realizing he thinks I'm just prey fills me with outrage. That anger seems to cause a certain feeling in my eyes to intensify in my eyes, my desire to kill him rising.

"Ooh, I like that passionate look. Are you in love with me? Ah, you wanna kill me really bad, don't you?!" Freed giggled at the scowl on my face, "Oh, how I love the feeling of killing in the morning. It just-"

Ignoring his stupid rant, I pushed my Burst even further. Now that my Touki skill increased, I could push out even more Ki through my body. Whatever that feeling was in my eyes must've activated it, because something appeared in my vision.

A hazy, indistinct line of light flowed from the tip of my knife straight onto Freed. I briefly took a look at them and decided to trust the lines and move with them.

The moment I decided that, my body seemed to move on its own. The grating sound of his laughter and talking faded away and was replaced by the intense drumming of my heart. Each beat fueled my steps and propelled me even further.

Without thinking, I dodged each and every light bullet flying at me. I got right in front of him and threw my knife into the air, the line fading away.

Our collective confusion at my action only lasted a brief moment, as another line appeared at my foot. I instinctively jumped and performed a spin kick, knocking the light sword he brought up out of his hand.

The moment the blade clattered on the ground, my hand reached out on its own and caught the knife that just came back down.

In one swift movement, I took advantage of my speed and slashed at his neck. Just as the line intended.

But it seemed that his training is better than I thought, as he crouched under my high-speed slash even as I'm right in front of him.

"Eh? Seriously? Did you really just try to kill me like that? You're seriously the best-" He starts to say before my knee slams into his face.

The line disappeared the moment he dodged my earlier slash. It seems that even if I follow it to a tee, him being a better fighter than me will make my Sacred Gear show me the closest path to victory. But not actual victory. Just as relying on my knife-handling skills would never allow me to win.

Though, does that mean I know how to do a jumping spin kick subconsciously?

...Questions for later.

Following up the brutal knee that slammed Freed into the wall, I run up to him and hold him down by his neck. I know he's just going to say something gross about me doing this, so I wordlessly squeeze as hard as I can.

If I was stronger, that would've snapped his neck. As it stands, he's just unable to breathe and is very much in pain from his straining bones.

Seeing as I'm not strong enough to just kill him with a squeeze, I activate two spells at once. The magic circles that appear for each spell hum with a green and red glow, representing Download and Deconstruction respectively.

Instead of trying to internalize and understand everything from my Download spell, I simply separate the molecules from each other the moment my magic comes into contact with it. It does sort of give me a headache, but I'm too hyped on adrenaline to really feel it.

Within minutes, Freed's head is separated from his body.

[Main Quest 2: Prove your Superiority] Complete!

Objective: Kill someone with a Battle Power of 0.

Reward: +1 Skill Upgrade Novice to Apprentice

Well, at least that's done. I'll save the upgrade for later, my head isn't clear enough for clear decision making.

With that whole thing finally over, I slump onto my back and deactivate all my abilities. That was more tiring than I thought it'd be. I really need to find a way to improve my training.

Sadly, I don't get to rest too much as I hear someone at my door. I'd rather not move, but I don't want to die this early. That'd be embarrassing after that whole fight.

"Are you done in here already? I'm bor-" A girl's voice calls out before she spots me.

Tilting my head backward so I can see her upside down, she's a small girl with blonde hair in twin tails with sky blue eyes. She's wearing a Gothic Lolita outfit to go with her small stature. I'd say about 4'10", max.

<Mittelt – Battle Power: 118>

<Unique Ability: [Light-Based Weaponry]>

Oh, another one? This should be good.

Leaning on my hands and back, I fling myself onto my feet with a Kip-up. While she's still dazed, I pick up the gun and sword that Freed had. Mine now.

I can't aim for shit, but I should be able to swing the sword good enough. Revelation Trigger should help me just as much as it did before.

In fact, I stare at her confused look and activate my Sacred Gear, holding the sword with two hands. To any trained swordsmen, I probably look like a dumbass, but this is the best I've got right now.

Oddly enough, she seems to relax as I ready myself to fight for my life. That nonchalant posture and the smirk that's growing on her face are annoying me, just as they did with Freed.

Once again, the insinuation that they think I'm easy to deal with pisses me off. My eyes intensify with a burning feeling. The lines aren't there yet, but I can feel them forming already.

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