#167 Taeko, Loris & Meela

----Taeko vs Enshin----

Taeko moved her left foot forward while her right foot was a small distance behind her left foot, she held her katana in front of her in both hands.

"Haha, I won't wait any longer!" Enshin shouted with a wide smile and rushed forward while sending a few aerial blades towards Taeko by slashing his weapon from the great distance.

'That weapon must be a Teigu, but unfortunately for him, I can perform such an attack without even having a special weapon, now that I have this pseudo-Teigu, I can combine it with my current sword arts' Taeko thought calmly when she noticed aerial blades attacking her.

'Summit Gust!' Taeko performed overhead slash while standing still and her already aerial blade created from her technique was enhanced by the wind element in her weapon, making it much stronger than before.

*bang* *whoosh!* The aerial blades negated each other after trying to overpower each other for a moment, spreading a strong wind all around.

"Hm?! Who would have thought that you can do a similar thing to my Shamshir!" Enshin was slightly surprised to see this but he hasn't stopped moving at all.

'Looks like it's still a Teigu, to be able to block my empowered technique...whatever.' Taeko thought calmly with closed eyes before changing her stance, spreading her feet apart and putting her katana next to her, pointing at the ground behind her.

'Scattering Breeze' Taeko concentrated and an imaginary circle formed around her in her attack range.

'What is she planning? ....?!!' Enshin thought but still rushed into her attack range without worrying but once he truly stepped into her attack range, his eyes widened in horror when he felt the pressure.

'Not gonna make it back!' Enshin thought and instead of focusing on defending or trying to stop and jump back, he used all his leg power to jump as high as he could to jump over Taeko.

*Splash* 'Tsk! This bitch is stronger than she looks!' Despite his quick reaction, his leg was still slashed by Taeko, however, it wasn't anything that would stop him from standing or walking. While he was still in the air, above Taeko, he sent a few aerial blades towards her head.

'Hmph!' Taeko opened her eyes and looked up with her stoic expression which actually made Enshin slightly nervous this time.

'Scattering Breeze' Taeko once again blocked his aerial blades with hers.

'...Now! Quickly before she gets into that strange stance once again, it takes some time, as long as I keep close to her, she won't be able to perform it again!' When Enshin has fallen on the ground, he ignored the pain in his leg and quickly kicked off the ground, rushing at Taeko from behind.

Taeko quickly turned around and blocked his diagonal slash, while at the same moment she blocked his attack, she opened her mouth and spit a hidden needle at his face.

'Wha-!' Enshin tilted his head to the side so quickly that it almost snapped his neck but thanks to this, he was able to narrowly dodge the needle even though it scratched his cheek a bit. While he was focused on the needle, Taeko kicked him into his midsection to which he had no time to react.

"Gah!" Enshin spat a little bit of blood while sliding back on his feet from the impact.

"Are these all of your tricks, assassin? Your struggle only makes it more enjoyable when the time for you crawling will come!" Enshin said with a crazy smile with blood coming out of his mouth. He was looking for an opening and in case Taeko would try to get into that strange stance once again, he would send numerous aerial blades her way.

Finally, after constantly keeping quiet the entire time, Taeko frowned a bit and slowly opened her mouth.

"Are you just all talk? As far as I can see, you are the only person struggling." Taeko said apathetically.

'This bitch is getting on my nerves!' Enshin thought while gritting his teeth.

'If I was here all alone I would have waited for the poison inflicted by my sword and needle to start affecting his movements but since everyone is here, I guess I can go all out to test just how much I improved ever since Akashi left...' Taeko thought before she finally arrived at the decision.

'Limit Removal'

'Twister' Taeko's pupils became invisible and her eyes enlarged.

This change surprised Enshin as he waited for her next move with a cautious expression but then he suddenly saw Taeko completely disappear from his sight without any trace. He could only widen his eyes in shock before he felt a stinging pain coming from his back so he quickly turned around while slashing his weapon in advance but all he met was wind while Taeko appeared once again behind him, cutting his hand holding a weapon.

"Impossible! I won't lose in swordsmanship!" Enshin instead of cowering in fear, shouted with a crazy expression while kicking with his leg behind him without turning around just to see Taeko appear in front of him once again which was his intention but as he tried to grab her neck, his other hand was cut off by Taeko.

"Agh! You bi-! *cough*" Before he was able to say his favorite word, Taeko pierced his heart.

"You swordsmanship was...just so-so" Taeko said as Enshin could only see her apathetic face looking at him as he was falling down back first.

Currently, there were only a few special people who could match Taeko's swordsmanship, however, her ultimate technique, Twister, that she created thanks to combining her swordsmanship and Limit Removal was truly trump card that granted her speed even faster than that of Akashi's or speed on the exact same level as his skill [Phantom Strike].

---Loris & Meela vs Dorothea---

"I am up against kids, huh?" Dorothea muttered, revealing her almost like vampire fangs. Those fangs were her Teigu, Absordex.

"You are of the same height as us so shut up" Meela and Loris replied while drawing out a set of dual dagger knives.

Both Meela and Loris looked at each other and nodded their head before kicking off the ground, sprinting towards Dorothea with a smile on their faces. As they were nearing her, they were exchanging their positions, trying to confuse their opponent.

'They are pretty fast so I guess I won't get a chance to take a bite...' Dorothea thought as she narrowed her eyes.

Loris was the first one to struck her knife towards Dorothea's midsection, Dorothea quickly moved a few steps behind to move out of her range but Meela suddenly appeared behind Loris and jumped over her shoulders, slashing her knives at Dorothea's neck.

Dorothea ducked down to dodge her attack while trying to grab Meela by her ankle.

'Hm?!' Before she was able to grab her ankle, she was intercepted by Loris once again.

Meela was once again behind Loris who once again struck her knife towards Dorothea's shoulder.

In a counter-attack, Dorothea lowered herself a bit to let Loris's attack miss by a little above her shoulder and she quickly used that chance to grab Loris's wrist and throw Loris over her shoulder.

While Loris was upside down, instead of having panicked expression, she was still smiling as she used her other hand performing a piercing attack towards Dorothea's face.

'?!' Dorothea's eyes widened a bit when she noticed this attack but she was still able to quickly enough tilt her head to the side, resulting only in a little scratch on her cheek.

*BAM* *cough* Loris's body finally got slammed against the ground as she coughed out. Dorothea wanted to use this chance and take a bite of Loris but she sensed danger coming from behind her.

'Tsk! These two kids are so annoying!' Dorothea thought as she performed roundhouse kick from the spin.

Meela put both of her hands up to block Dorothea's kick but she was still surprised when the attack actually blew her small petite body a few meters away. Although she completely blocked any damage, the impact still forced her back but when she stood up, she actually smiled at Dorothea despite failing to attack her.

*splash*

Dorothea who still had one leg in the air after that attack felt a stinging pain in her Achilles' heel from the other leg which made her almost lose her balance but despite feeling the pain, she once again spun around and kicked Loris who was still lying on the ground.

Loris put both her hands in front of her face before receiving the kick head-on but Oarburgh had their own body manipulation so despite her having a small and petite body, she was able to easily fight numerous muscular men. She actually used Dorothea's kick to get up and retreat some distance away from Dorothea.

'This teamwork of theirs is really annoying!' Dorothea gritted her teeth in frustration since the entire series of attacks happened within a few seconds and she was falling behind.

Meela didn't let her have a moment to breathe so she once again attacked when Dorothea's back was facing her, just for Dorothea to turn around with an irritated expression on her face. She took out a weird tube and released a gas inside it at Meela when she was near enough.

Meela was confident in her poison resistance but she still took a deep breath before preparing to rush through the gas to surprise Dorothea.

However, to Meela's surprise when she entered the gas, her entire body became paralyzed. Dorothea finally smiled as she quickly jumped at Meela to take a bite of her.

"Meela!" Loris shouted as her pupils enlarged, she kicked off the ground, trying to get to them in time. Her speed reached completely new level.

"Tch! You are annoying!" Dorothea noticed that if she were to take a bite, she will also lose her head so instead of biting Meela, she kicked her into her face and Meela had to take it head-on without blocking.

"MEELA!" This enraged Loris as she started furiously attack Dorothea.

Dorothea began dodging Loris's attacks but she was slowly falling a short due to her injured leg, she also felt her body becoming slower each second.

'What is this? A poison? I should be resistant towards most of the poisons...it must be a special one for it to work on me. Anyway, at least I have only one person to focus on-' Dorothea thought with a small smile as she continued successfully dodging Loris's attacks, she even began reading her attack patterns and the only thing remaining was to wait for the perfect time to attack back. However, as she was thinking about when to attack, she felt a danger behind her.

'She can already move, are you kidding me?!' Dorothea perfectly knew who it was but she had to stay focused on Loris so she just kicked out behind her.

Meela who finally recovered was completely furious with a footprint over her face so when she saw another kick aiming at her midsection she grew even more furious. She hardened her muscles and actually took the kick head-on but she immediately caught Dorothea's leg with one hand just not to get blown away and with her other hand she pierced Dorothea's entire calf with her knife before letting go of Dorothea's leg and jumping away from her.

"Aaagh!" Dorothea screamed out and after the entire battle, a few wrinkles even appeared on her face.

With both of her legs injured, she was no longer able to dodge Loris's attacks and it just began her being slashed over and over before Loris pierced Dorothea's heart while Meela pierced her lungs from behind, finally ending her suffering. After the entire battle what remained was completely bloodied corpse covered in numerous cuts lying on the ground.

"Look at her face, no wonder she called us kids, she is most likely even older than grandma Babara" Meela said while giving a frustrated look at Dorothea's wrinkled face.

"Are you alright, sis?" Loris asked with a worried expression.

"I am perfectly fine!" Meela turned at her twin sis as her angered expression changed to a big smile, she replied while flexing her biceps, still with a footprint over her face.