Valleta Grede

**SLASH**

**THUD**

With the sound of a sword slicing through the wind, the arm of one of the spiritual soldiers fell to the ground with a dull thud. The man collapsed heavily to the ground, unable to maintain his balance. His severed right arm was now slowly attempting to regenerate.

"Heh, let's see if you can still use that arm to defend your head." Tsubaki's voice rang out, a mixture of mockery and disdain as she watched the soldier fall, panting slightly. She raised her sword, setting her sights on her next target.

Around her, the five spiritual soldiers, covered in deep gashes and wounds, stared back with their vacant, unfocused eyes, madness etched into their gaze.

**ROAR**

One of them advanced with an inhuman screech, quickly followed by the other four, their movements synchronized as if guided by an external will.

"This fight has gone on long enough. It's time to end it." Tsubaki tightened her grip on the hilt of her katana, her eyes analyzing the state of each of her opponents. She had identified a pattern in their regeneration: it wasn't instant nor unlimited. That gave her an opportunity.

With a swift move, she lunged toward the group, aiming for the soldier leading the charge. A clean diagonal slash split his chest, leaving a deep wound that would hinder any rapid regeneration.

"They can't keep up with my pace," she thought as she spun on her heel, dodging the next soldier's attack and delivering a precise slash that severed his leg.

The others tried to surround her, but Tsubaki, leveraging her superior speed and experience, kept them at bay. With every strike she dealt, the soldiers fell faster, their regeneration unable to match the calculated cuts of her katana.

Focusing on her next target, Tsubaki moved with great speed toward the spiritual soldier whose arm she had severed earlier. Wielding her katana firmly, she aimed to decapitate him in a single blow.

To her surprise, however, instead of retreating or dodging like the others, the spiritual soldier charged straight at her in a completely suicidal move. His madness seemed to have reached a new level.

Though startled, Tsubaki didn't halt her strike. Like a bolt of lightning, her sword arced toward the man's neck, certain that this blow would finish him for good.

**SLASH**

The katana traced a flawless arc, slicing with precision. The soldier's head hit the ground, but his body didn't stop.

"What the hell?" Tsubaki quickly stepped back, her eyes fixed on the headless body that kept moving with erratic motions, as if losing its head wasn't enough to stop it.

Before she could react, the headless soldier's body lunged at her with unexpected strength, using its weight to try to make her stumble.

The impact caught her off guard, forcing her to take several steps back to maintain her balance. However, the sheer weight and unexpected nature of the attack caused Tsubaki to fall to the ground, her katana clanging against the dirt.

**SLASH**

**SPLASH**

Sensing extreme danger, Tsubaki rolled to the side with all the strength she could muster. Despite her quick reaction, a sword managed to strike her. The blade slashed across her lower back, leaving a long, burning horizontal cut.

"Tsk!" A pained grunt escaped her lips as she quickly got to her feet. Blood began soaking her clothes, and the intense sting slightly clouded her senses.

**SLASH**

The sound of the wind being sliced alerted Tsubaki. Another sword was swinging fiercely toward her, this time aimed at her neck. Instinctively, she bent backward, narrowly dodging the attack.

She didn't waste any time. Seizing the proximity of the attacker, Tsubaki pivoted on one foot and delivered an upward slash with her katana.

**CLANG!**

The blade of her weapon collided with another sword, blocked at the last second by another spiritual soldier. "They just won't stop interfering!" Tsubaki growled, clenching her teeth as the vibration ran down her arm.

Backing away several steps, Tsubaki took a deep breath, taking a moment to reassess her situation.

The headless spiritual soldier's body now lay completely still on the ground, showing no signs of regeneration. The confirmation of its death briefly relieved some of the tension in her thoughts, though it didn't lessen the danger she still faced.

"Did that fool sacrifice his life to give his comrades an opening?" Tsubaki murmured, frowning as she glanced at the corpse. She recalled the man's suicidal move and couldn't help but feel uneasy.

"No... there's no way mindless beasts like these could come up with a plan like that."

Her gaze shifted to the remaining spiritual soldiers surrounding her. Despite the wounds marking their bodies, they still advanced steadily, their eyes glowing with inhuman madness. However, something about their actions deeply unsettled her.

"Are they being controlled?" she thought as she observed their oddly coordinated movements, which didn't align with their seemingly irrational nature. "Is someone guiding them?"

The thought struck her like lightning, prompting Tsubaki to focus on the strange metallic devices covering their necks and mouths.

"Control..." she muttered, her eyes narrowing as she scrutinized every detail of the artifact. The pieces of the puzzle were beginning to fall into place.

Frowning, Tsubaki quickly began to inspect her surroundings, searching for something or someone.

"They must be nearby…"

The glint of a sword interrupted her thoughts, appearing in her peripheral vision. Without missing a beat, Tsubaki raised her katana, blocking the attack at the last moment.

**CLANG**

The metallic sound rang out loudly, and Tsubaki felt the vibration travel through her arm. Her jaw tightened as she pushed the soldier back with a firm motion.

"Tsk." She frowned, her eyes burning with determination. "Forget it. Don't waste time… just kill them."

Shaking her head to clear her mind, she set aside her thoughts. Whoever was controlling them or how those devices worked wasn't something she could solve at that moment.

A fierce glint flashed in her eyes as she adjusted her stance. "Instead of wasting time looking for answers, I'll finish them right now."

With a cry filled with energy, Tsubaki charged forward, her katana tracing a lethal arc through the air.

The first spiritual soldier barely had time to react before the blade of Tsubaki's katana struck.

**SLASH**

A clean cut tore through its chest, leaving a deep gash that destroyed any chance of immediate regeneration. The soldier stumbled back a few steps before collapsing to the ground, motionless.

"One down."

Without stopping, Tsubaki spun on her heels, her katana slicing through the air in a wide motion. Another soldier tried to lunge at her, but her speed and experience far exceeded her opponent's brute force.

**CLANG**

Blocking a lateral strike with her sword's guard, Tsubaki used the opening to counterattack, driving her katana into the enemy's torso.

"Is that all you've got?" She growled mockingly, a fierce smile on her face as her breathing grew heavier.

The two remaining soldiers, still with fierce and indifferent expressions, seemed to briefly retreat as if assessing their next moves. However, Tsubaki didn't give them the chance to reorganize.

"Already tired? Then let me put an end to this."

In an explosion of speed, she closed the distance to the next soldier. Before it could raise its sword, Tsubaki was already inside its guard.

**THUD**

A brutal knee struck the soldier's abdomen, forcing it to bend forward, losing its balance. Before it could recover, Tsubaki traced an arc with her katana, the blade slicing cleanly through its leg.

**SLASH**

The soldier fell to the ground, motionless, as Tsubaki quickly turned to face the last standing opponent.

**ROAR**

One of the remaining soldiers roared in fury, charging at Tsubaki in a frontal assault. Its sword descended with force, but Tsubaki sidestepped with agility, letting the weapon smash into the ground.

**CRACK**

The impact shattered the ground into pieces, but Tsubaki was already in motion. Her katana gleamed as it arced through the air, slicing cleanly through the soldier's torso.

**SLASH**

The enemy's body collapsed, splitting in two amidst a mist of blood.

Tsubaki watched the remains vanish as she exhaled forcefully, swiftly cleaning the blood from her katana with a quick motion. "Two down… two to go," she muttered, adjusting her stance as her eyes locked onto the last two enemies still standing, staggering but ready to keep fighting.

Tsubaki exhaled deeply, her gaze fixed on the two remaining soldiers. Both were gravely injured but still displayed that unnerving will to fight.

Her eyes narrowed, quickly analyzing their movements. Despite their condition, they seemed to be trying to coordinate an attack on her.

"Still not giving up?" she murmured, gripping the hilt of her katana tightly. "Fine. Then I won't leave you any chance to."

The soldiers charged simultaneously, one from the front and the other attempting to flank her.

Tsubaki smirked fiercely. "Do you really think you can beat me like that?"

**CLANG**

The first attack was blocked with precision. The impact sent a vibration through her arm, but Tsubaki used the momentum to spin her body, evading the second soldier whose sword was already descending toward her side.

**SLASH**

In a fluid motion, she traced an upward arc with her katana, cutting off the nearest soldier's arm. The limb fell to the ground, accompanied by a spray of blood from the wound.

"Now you!"

Before the second soldier could react, Tsubaki lunged at it, her katana shining with a silvery gleam.

**THUD**

The blade cut cleanly through its neck, and its body instantly fell to the ground, slowly disintegrating.

Now there was only one left.

The last soldier, staggering and bleeding, raised its sword with a desperate roar.

"If it weren't for your evident madness, I'd admire your fighting spirit." Taking a deep breath, Tsubaki walked toward the spiritual soldier, ready to end the fight and rejoin her group.

Raising her katana, which glinted with a sinister light, Tsubaki didn't hesitate and swung her sword toward the spiritual soldier's neck.

**CLANG**

However, as if fate were playing a cruel joke, at the last moment, a crimson sword struck her katana with force, preventing Tsubaki from cutting the spiritual soldier's neck.

Tsubaki froze, her katana halted mid-air, its blade brushing against the crimson sword that had appeared out of nowhere. The force of the impact caused Tsubaki to take several steps back, a chill running down her spine.

"What…?" Her gaze shifted to the origin of the sword that had stopped her strike, and there, standing in the shadows, a figure emerged.

A slender woman with pink hair and yellow eyes, a sharp face, and a mocking smile watched Tsubaki with immense satisfaction.

Behind her, four more figures emerged from the darkness. Two burly men equipped with the same devices as the previous spiritual soldiers. Their unfocused eyes and the drool dripping from their mouths made it clear they were also spiritual soldiers.

The other two figures were a man in an elegant black suit with red hair, his slit eyes smiling mockingly. Behind him stood an older man with ash-gray hair and red eyes, a small letter "D" inscribed on his left eye.

"I was originally quite angry with these pieces of trash…" Looking at Tsubaki with a wide grin, the woman gestured disdainfully toward the dead spiritual soldiers. "However, at least their pathetic existence kept you here."

With an even bigger smile, the woman dangerously approached Tsubaki. "Though I think you already know me, I still wish to introduce myself…"

"Valletta Grede, Captain of the Thanatos Familia, and also… the woman planning to kill you."

The broad smiles of the dark faction and Tsubaki's grim expression met on this dark battlefield, the tension in the air palpable, anticipating a fierce battle.

---

First of all, I'm sorry for not uploading chapters yesterday, I had a problem at work, well I had to work overtime, and I got home too tired to start writing.

As compensation, I'll upload chapters today and tomorrow, I hope you like it.

Thank you for your power stones, and for your reviews.