Chapter 28: Battle between swordsman.

"Now this is a place for hangout!" Gunnar said as he entered Garci's tavern and looked at how authentic the place was.

"Welcome back, Mykel!" Garci said as he waved at Mykel from behind the counter.

"The business looking good I see," Mykel said as he walked toward the counter with the others following him from behind. There were so many people in the tavern and by the look of it, most of them were Awakeners.

"Well it was all thanks to what happened while I was on vacation, you were the one who made this place famous. Some Awakeners came here and thank me for saving their lives which was I had no idea what they were talking about," Garci answered as he grabbed a bottle of vodka and a glass with ice then gave it to Mykel who sat at the counter.

"I see, but it's best for you to not tell them about who I am since I don't like the attention, or at least not like that," Mykel answered as he poured himself a glass of vodka while the others ordered their own drinks.

"Alright then, you're the boss!" Garci smiled as he took all the orders.

Agnez had been noticing that Jeanne was looking at her ever since they left the airport. "What do you want?" she asked as she stared at Jeanne from the corner of her eyes.

Jeanne was startled and it was too late for her to look away. "Are you a swordsman?" she asked while she was looking a the long sword on her waist.

Agnez furrowed her forehead as she drank a glass of gin. "No, I'm a plumber," she said. "Of course, I'm a swordsman. Why are you asking the obvious?" she continued.

Gunnar choked while he was drinking a beer, he then looked at Agnez who seemed to be annoyed by Jeanne. "Agnez, if you're feeling jealous, just say it,"

Jeanne smiled awkwardly and then sat straight while she stared at her drink.

"Don't take it to the heart, Jeanne. Agnez is like that to these three when she first met them, she will change once she knows how talented you are," Mykel said and drank his vodka.

"Are you serious, Mykel?" Agnez asked as she stared at Mykel from the corner of her eyes with her eyebrows furrowed.

"You're doubting me?" Mykel asked back as he turned his head and stared at Agnez. His gaze made Agnez regret what she said and immediately looked down and sighed. "If you think I'm lying why don't you two spar with each other?" he continued as he sat straight and looked at her.

"Right now?" Agnez asked as she looked at Mykel.

"Yes," Mykel said as he stood up and then looked at Garci. "Garci, can we use the backyard?" he asked.

Garci looked at him and nodded. "Sure! It's yours!"

"Come on," Mykel said as he grabbed the bottle of vodka and walked to the backroom.

They went to the backyard and it was big enough to be used as a training ground. Mykel looked at Agnez and Jeanne while he pointed his finger to the middle of the backyard. "The whole backyard is yours, now show me what you guys can do,"

Both of them walked to the middle and suddenly they heard thunder rumbling. Everyone looked at the sky as the dark clouds started to form. "Looks like we are going to have heavy rain soon," Rozan said.

The dark clouds covered half of the backyard where Agnez was standing and the sunlight covered the other half of the backyard where Jeanne was standing.

"You may start," Mykel said as he lit his cigarette.

Agnez proceeded to walk toward Jeanne with her hand ready on the handle while Jeanne readied her stance and used both of her hands to hold her sword. Agnez suddenly dashed forward and used [Sleight of Hand] then swung her illusion arms toward Jeanne the moment she was in range. Jeanne was shocked at first but she dodged all of them like it was nothing to her, she felt odd from those illusions that Agnez created because her [Keen] skill didn't show any threat from all of Agnez's attacks.

Jeanne took the bait and Agnez immediately swung her real sword at Jeanne but suddenly Jeanne blocked her attack as she stared back at Agnez which surprised Agnez. She smirked and proceeded on kept throwing illusions attacks at Jeanne until Jeanne realized that it was just an illusion and nothing more, then she started to swing her sword back at Agnez.

"Wow, that girl is really good," Gunnar said with his arms crossed as he watched those two fight.

The thunders were getting louder and the dark clouds covered the whole sky while Agnez and Jeanne were busy trying to hit each other. None of them were holding back as if they were fighting for life and death, Mykel was enjoying the show because that was something he would like to see since, in the original story, those two never swung their sword at each other.

The rain started to fall and those two were still swinging their sword at each other until Agnez cuts Jeanne's shirt on the stomach then blood started to come out. Jeanne didn't back away and kept swinging her sword at Agnez and made a long cut on Agnez's right forearm.

Agnez took a step back as she sheathed her sword and decided to go all out. She used all the illusions to distract Jeanne and instantly unsheathed her sword and thrust it at her. Jeanne who was distracted by the swords suddenly saw a sword right in front of her eyes and immediately moved her head to the right but Agnez flipped the sword and went diagonally to cut Jeanne's neck.

Jeanne used her left hand and grabbed the sword before it reached her neck. She used the opportunity and thrust her sword toward Agnez's chest where her heart was but then Agnez used her left hand as well to prevent Jeanne from stabbing her heart.

They both were drenched by the rain as their blood came out from their palm and ran down to each other's blades. None of them were stopping as they kept trying to harm each other. Jeanne's grimacing expression to endure the pain as she glared at Agnez while Agnez stared back at her with a straight face.

"Alright, that's enough, both of you," Mykel said and drank the vodka from the bottle then approached them. "Give me your hand, both of you," he said as asked for their hands.

Both Agnez and Jeanne showed the wound in their palm, Mykel without hesitation poured the vodka onto the open wounds and they both started to groan and scream. Gunnar and the others were just laughing at them from the distance as they watch those two screaming in pain.

"Let's get inside, you both are going to catch a cold if you stay out here," Mykel said as he walked back to the tavern.

Both Jeanne and Agnez were wiping their heads and body with towels after Mykel treated their wounds.

"Now I understand why Mykel came all the way here to pick you up," Agnez said as she drank a hot coffee.

"I was lucky, that's all. If my skill didn't see your movement, I might be dead," Jeanne said as she put her hands on a hot cup of tea.

Gunnar looked at them and put his hands on their shoulder. "This is more like it! Also, welcome to the team, Jeanne, you're awesome back there!" he said with a huge grin on his face. "Oh right, I haven't introduced myself huh? My name is Gunnar, you can call me Gun or Gunnar. Nice to meet you, Jeanne!" he continued as he shook Jeanne's shoulder gently.

"Yeah, having you with us will make things way easier now," Rozan said as he walked toward them. "My name is Rozan, nice to meet you, Jeanne," he said as he offered a handshake.

Jeanne nodded and shook Rozan's hand. "Nice to meet you, Gunnar, Rozan," she said with a smile on her face.

"Oh, this guy is Gerrard, our leader in the team basically since Mykel was just an observer when we are in the tower," Gunnar said as he wrapped his arm around Gerrard's shoulder. "He's mute, so he communicates with us through notes and whistles," he continued as pat Gerrard on the chest.

Gerrard waved at him with a warm smile and Jeanne waved back at him.

"Can you turn the volume up, Garci?" Mykel asked as he drank his vodka and watch the TV.

Garci turned up the volume and it attracted the others and so they decided to sit at the counter to watch the live report of the team that was attempting to clear the tenth floor. They were watching the reporter running and approaching Kastor and Caesar.

Mykel smirked as he grabbed a cigarette from his pocket. "Let's watch and see how many of them will come back alive,"