6 Chapter 6: The woman with red hair

"So we finally meet..." Tatsurou said with a monotonous tone to the woman while preparing himself, for anything she could do.

"Indeed, we do..." The woman answered in a harsh yet cold tone to Tatsurou, as if she hated him with every piece of her soul, but if that was the case, she didn't need to worry because whatever bad thing she felt towards him, it was mutual.

"So what do you want? If it is an apartment, I'm sorry but they're all already taken..." Tatsurou said jokingly to the woman, but she wasn't taking any of it.

"The shire maiden, were is she?" The woman asked with a calm yet cold tone, paying no mind to Tatsurou's commentary.

"I'm sorry but as you can see this is an apartment complex, not a Shinto shrine, so there are no shrine maidens here!" Tatsurou responded to the woman again with a joking tone, but this time it was also cold as the woman's words towards him, you could see in her face that she was getting tired of this.

"Enough with the jokes! Tell me where the shrine maiden is, before I make you!" The woman said with an angry and authoritative tone as if she was trying to intimidate Tatsurou, but she was out of luck, as he wasn't someone that got intimidated easily.

"And I will tell you again, there is no shrine maiden here so you can go away..." Tatsurou said to the woman but she was growing impatient, she raised her left arm up and suddenly, the Knight that Tatsurou fought in the park entred the complex.

"No way...this can't be real, Yumeko trashed that knight, how can he be back as nothing ever happened..." Tatsurou thought to himself surprised, as he saw the knight approaching and placing himself behind the woman, Tatsurou got a bit nervous and the woman took notice of it.

"Impressive isn't it, who would have said that just a few hours ago, he was beyond repair and now look at him up and back on his feet" The woman said with a joking tone as she thought that since Tatsurou got nervous, she had the upper hand,

"I wasn't expecting this, but in a way it's good that she showed him, like that there won't be any surprises..." Tatsurou thought as he regained his composure and looked at the woman and the knight.

"Don't you think that threatening some kid, just because you can't find what you looking for, going a bit over the top?" Tatsurou asked to make it as if he was just surprised by the knight's sudden appearance and nothing else, but the woman was growing even more impatient as she heard him.

"Just stop pretending, I know she's with you, there's no way you can talk yourself out of this one!" The woman said to Tatsurou with a tone that made her sound as if she was sure of what she said, Tatsurou couldn't talk his way out of this, and so...

"Very well, you got me, she is with me..." Tatsurou said to the woman and her face suddenly brighten up.

"That took you long enough, but I knew you would talk..." The woman said as she smiled.

"Just because I said, that she's with me, it doesn't mean that I'm going to let you take her!" Tatsurou said with a determined tone to the woman that caught her by surprise, but she quickly came back to her.

"I'm telling you this now, but you better stay out of things that don't concern you, believe me..." The woman said as if she was trying to dissuade him, but at this point, nothing in the world would make Tatsurou back down, and she noticed that and as she finally understood that there was no way they could end this without crossing fists.

"Very well then kid, if that's how you want to do things be my guest, any last words or wishes?" The woman asked Tatsurou this as she signaled the knight, to stay out of the fight while she she took on a battle stance, and Tatsurou took her up on that offer of "any last words or wishes"...

"Well then, there are three things that I want to know, first what is your name, second are you working alone, and third what do you want to do with her?" Tatsurou asked as if he took her threat like a joke, the woman got taken aback agin but not for long as she smiled.

"That's a first but since your going to die might as well, so my name is Tiana Sokolova a priestess from the Black Bear Unity, belonging to the Orthodox church, and despite my affiliation, I am working alone and as for what I want with the girl let's just say it's going to make the world tremble a bit..." The woman said this to Tatsurou in a way, considering the situation they were in, very politely and with a friendly tone, as if she was presenting herself for them to become friends, but the reality was far from that, but at the very least Tatsurou got her name and that she was working alone, which was always better than nothing.

"So her name is Tiana and she is working alone, I see so the knight really was stolen..." Tatsurou thought to himself while thinking back to what Yumeko had said at the restaurant.

"So is that all or do you have anything else you would like to know?" The woman asked in a joking tone to Tatsurou that just shrugged her off.

"No, not really, that's more than enough for me!" Tatsurou answered Tiana as he started to get a firm grip on the ground with his feet.

"I can't run now, I have to protect Shirayuki even if I have to use my power, but I think I will manage with half level 1 power, I just need resistance and a bit of strength that's all..." Tatsurou thought to himself as he clenched his fists, and it was true that Tatsurou disliked fighting and the power he had, but right now he had to do this, and yet he was afraid, not of his enemy, but of himself.

"Very well then, since you already asked all the questions, you wanted, I think it is time to get you out of the picture and get the girl back!" As Tiana said this she lunged at Tatsurou which got him off guard, and when she got close, she hit him with a kick that even with Tatsurou blocking it, he was sent flying, now he was hitting and rolling on the ground, but Tatsurou managed to turn himself back up during all that rolling around and now he looked at Tiana shocked by her strength and speed, and as for Tiana herself she just stood there smiling at Tatsurou in a way she reminded him of the knight earlier in the park.

"I never thought, she would be this strong, just a kick was enough to send me fly, I gotta stop shaking and do something, Shirayuki is counting on me!" Tatsurou thought to himself as he looked at his apartment, where Shirayuki was hidding.

"Come on Tatsurou, stop shaking and use half of it, only half will be enough just do it, don't be scared, do it! Think about who you're doing this for and everything will be alright!" Tatsurou thought to himself once again and started to concentrate and soon enough his body was beginning to get covered in a light blue aura and his eyes also turned light blue, now it looked like he was never hit at all as he slowly got up.

"Impressive, your back on your feet and here I was thinking that it was already over..." Tiana said as she looked at him with a face that was making fun of Tatsurou through and through, but that didn't affect him, such a small commentary like that, wouldn't make Tatsurou waver.

"I got to admit, you caught me off guard, but that won't happen again so you can stop looking like you won!" Tatsurou said with a confident tone that made Tiana look at him a bit impressed, but not for long.

"I see, come at me then..." Tian said in a mocking tone to Tatsurou while she kept that joking face on, but then Tatsurou was this time the one to lunge himself at her and before she knew it, in a blink of an eye, she was face to face with Tatsurou, he then proceeded to punch her in her torso which made Tiana drag her feet as she was pushed back by his punch, that by consequence left a trail of dirt behind.

This took Tiana by surprise but she wasn't given any time to think about what just happened, as Tatsurou once again went straight for her, but this time, he hit her with a barrage of punches, but she reacted quick and placed her arms in front of her to protect herself, and after Tatsurou was done with the barrage, he hit her with a left hook punch that made her be the one flying this time around, but unlike Tatsurou instead of rolling on the ground she was caught by the knight.

"Got you!" Tatsurou said as he saw Tiana being held in the arms of the knight, Tiana looked as if she was unconscious, but after a brief moment she got back to her senses and was put back on the ground by the knight, she took her hand to her mouth and with her thumb, she wiped a bit of blood that was dripping from it and looked at Tatsurou, she was impressed but not that much, after looking at her hand and rubbing the blood in her fingers, as she looked at Tatsurou again.

"Not bad kid, not bad you, actually got me good, its been a long time since someone made me bleed, tell me what is your name?" Tiana asked with a curious tone and this question caught Tatsurou off guard, but not too much.

"You want to know my name? Well, it's Kurokami Tatsurou..." Tatsurou said as he looked at Tiana that just gave him a smile.

"Kurokami Tatsurou, I will remember that name, I will, now Tatsurou, I kind of underestimated you so now it's time to end this..." Tiana said to Tatsurou as she smiled but Tatsurou didn't understand until he saw the knight disappear out of thin air and before he could react the knight appeared behind him and hit him with his shield, Tatsurou was once again, sent flying and he only stopped thanks to a tree in the garden.

And when he hit the tree, Tatsurou let out a small cry of pain, and when he finally hit the ground, Tiana appeared before him, and before he could react she grabbed him by his hoodie's collar, put him up, and pushed him against the tree then she proceeded to attack him with a barrage of punches like the ones boxers do, a mix of left and right punches and uppercuts to his face, to his torso it didn't matter as long as it hit and hurt Tatsurou, it was enough.

She then ended this seemingly unending onslaught with a left hook then a right one and the real finisher came when she gave him a sidekick that broke the tree in half and sent Tatsurou crashing straight into a wall with his back, and when Tatsurou hit the wall, this time he let out a scream of pain and agony, of his mouth, came saliva and blood as he screamed, he then fell on the ground in pain and unable to move, the knight then got close to Tiana, as she stood next to the tree she had just broken in half

"This was easier than I thought, looks like you just got lucky!" Tian said as she looked at Tatsurou's motionless body and laughed, but then Tatsurou's hand started to twitch and Tiana stopped laughing, as she saw Tatsurou slowly getting back up, while he breathed heavily and out of his mouth came painful and agonizing moans.

"This...this isn't over yet, Tiana!" Tatsurou mustered what looked like his last strength to say this to Tiana and matter of fact, she was very impressed, upon seeing that Tatsurou was back up and ready to go again, when he just endured something that would have killed someone by now.

But her impressed expression, quickly turned into an annoyed one, when she saw that Tatsurou wouldn't give up.

"Honestly, this is starting to get very ridiculous, just kill him and let's get this over with already!" Tiana said this with a angry and annoyed tone, as she signaled the knight to go and kill Tatsurou, and Tiana didn't need to say it twice as the knight began to walk towards Tatsurou.

"Shit, my whole body hurts, I can't move...does this mean that...this, is it? No, I could go further...but..." Tatsurou thought to himself as he saw the knight getting closer.

"If I just used a higher level, I could win but...it's no use now, I'm going to die...I'm...I'm so sorry...Hime..." Tatsurou thought to himself once again, as began to cry inside his mind, as saw the knight getting closer and closer to him.

"Shirayuki, I'm also sorry, that I couldn't protect you, if I just stopped being scared of myself, of my power, of hurting people, I could have done more..." Tatsurou thought to himself once again as the knight finally stood within range and as he prepared to pierce Tatsurou with his lance...

"I'm sorry...for being such a coward..." This was Tatsurou's last thought as he closed his eyes and prepared himself to accept his fate, loathing one of the things he hated the most in himself, his cowardice.

But just as the knight prepared himself to pierced Tatsurou with his lance, the unexpected happened as Shirayuki, suddenly appeared and placed herself between Tatsurou and the knight, as she opened her arms wide.

"Stop!" Tiana said this to the knight, as she saw Shirayuki placing herself in front of Tatsurou and if it wasn't for the knight's quick reaction time, he would have pierced both Shirayuki and Tatsurou.

And as the knight stopped his Lance only a few centimeters away from Shirayuki, he created a gust of wind that made the trees and Shirayuki's clothes move with it, but the most surprising thing to everyone present was how Shirayuki was unfazed by the knight's sudden stop or that she could have died in this very moment hadn't he stopped just in time, it was something rather impressive.

"S-Shirayuki-san..." Tatsurou said both worried and surprised, as he couldn't believe that the person he was trying to protect, was the one who saved him from certain death...