Chapter 78: No more Mr. Nice Raid: Part Three

“Alright then, Mr. Reliable.” Says the Shadow condescendingly. “I guess this is somewhat good for me, as it means this battle won’t take nearly as long as I previously expected it to.”

“Master, are you sure you don’t want me to kill him?” Dawn asks. I can tell she isn’t saying this because she doesn’t think I can do it on my own anymore. Right now, she’s just genuinely pissed at how much her Master is being looked down on. I chuckle and answer her. “I’m sure.”

“I’m guessing you’re not gonna try to kill me and instead take me in alive, huh? Much like number three?” I say smirking at the Shadow.

“Initially, I won’t try to kill you.” He says as he takes a battle stance. “But I’m a very flexible man. If you prove to be a somewhat difficult opponent, I’ll end you without a second thought. And then, I’ll gladly take the punishment my Lord will inevitably see fit that I deserve afterwards. For the sake of the Reinhardt Family Household, that much is a small price to pay.”

“Master, you were right. These guys really do love kissing ass.” Dawn comments telepathically.

“Yeah, I know, right-hey, wait, you’re days old! You’re way to young to be using such language!” I shout internally. I couldn’t give you an honest answer if you asked me where that came from. It just got blurted out. Dawn can only pause in response. While I can’t see her, I can feel her utter confusion at my outburst. Sure, she’s days old, but she’s a Spirit, and a very special one at that. A Candidate. Furthermore, she looks my age and is as smart as me to boot. Why do I have a problem with her using profanity exactly?

Doing my best to ignore it all, my face flushed with embarrassment, thank you black skin, I shift my focus back on the Shadow.

“Number one.” He flicks his left eye as I say that. “You’re number one, aren’t you?” I ask. The question is sincere, but I already know that I’m right. He’s a tad surprised, like he hadn’t expected me to figure out who he is.

“How did-”

“C’mon, it’s obvious.” I cut him off. “What you just said. If that’s not your typical signature boss’s strongest surbodinate one-liner, I don’t know what is.” I affirm.

“Now, going by the information in the Warriors Association’s data base that I skimmed through when I was checking out the Hi-Watch Uncle Chadwick gave me, on the Twelve Guardian Shadows, the number one most powerful Shadow is codenamed…”

Taipan. After the insanely venomous snake.

“But then if you’re the one who came after me after number three, instead of number two, then… Heheh, did you tell you’re fellow Shadows to resort to attacking me all at once if you somehow didn’t come back from fighting me?” I ask with a condescending chuckle. “Where you afraid that if you had sent someone else, someone weaker, that they would probably die needlessly without having gauged accurately just how strong I might be?”

“Hmm… I’ll give you this much, F-Rank. You’re a smart one.” He says. It feels genuine. There’s not a single hint of sarcasm behind his words.

“Why, thank you.” I thank him genuinely. “But we’ve let this back-to-back drag on long enough, don’t you think? Let’s get this over with.” I declare.

“Agreed.” He affirms.

Then, he’s gone. The wind blows quietly as if responding to my opponent’s sudden disappearance.

“No. I’ll be damned if I let you do that to me a second time!” I declare as I turn my body clockwise, my daggers in tow.

They slide swiftly through the air and immediately clash with another pair of daggers. My opponent’s.

A loud clank echoes and whistles through the wind. My opponent is a tad taken aback. Seeing that, I act swiftly and push my daggers further, turning my body fully to face him as he’s thrown back a fair distance away from me.

“What?” I utter, as I slowly approach him, with Right Fang resting on my right shoulder. “Did you really think you’d be able to sneak attack me like you did earlier? You really expected me to drop my guard that easily again? Just what the hell do you take me for?” My head titled slightly to the left, I say with an ear to ear devilish smile. Though my eyes… my eyes aren’t smiling in the slightest.

After landing and sliding back against the snow due to my previous counter, he looks back at me. “I see. Yes, impossible as it may be, you’re no normal F-Rank.” He says with a calm tone. “I doubt you’re falsifying your Rank, I doubt you’re falsifying your Class. Whether I want to believe it or not, and I really don’t want to believe it, I’m fighting the world’s one and only F-Rank, who just so happens to be as strong as an A-Rank. It is what it is. The how doesn’t matter anymore. Not when the stakes are this high. I see how you were able to defeat number three now. If you’ve managed to be this strong in a matter of a few days. I can’t fathom how much stronger you’ll be in the future, if you’re left unchecked.” He straightens himself up and points his left dagger at me.

He then raises it slightly upwards afterwards, and then swiftly swings it down, perfectly vertical, and quietly utters:…

“Venom Slice.”

“!?”

Multiple deep-obsidian waves of slashes, in a cross like pattern, travel at an impossibly supersonic speed, straight towards yours truly.

“Hmp!” I hurriedly activate the barrier Skill, Spatial Guard, only this time, I’m not stupid enough to believe that it’ll amount to much unless I really put an effort. So with it, I conjure out multiple human sized diamond shaped barriers, one after the other, at different angles. They stack and stack and stack at great speeds, while the black slashes my opponent sent my way keep slicing them into pieces. The slashes slowly dissipate as they slice through each barrier formation, until finally only a few are left. Seeing that, I run head first towards the slashes, and immediately jump up just before they make contact with me, flipping sideways over them.

Landing down as the slashes continue on their merry way behind me, I immediately dash at my opponent, at a speed even greater than the slashes.

~Clank!~

We clash, our daggers meeting each other with an overpoweringly furious force.

The clash creates a resulting shockwave that briefly pushes both of us back, separating us for a moment, only for us to clash once more.

I launch consecutive jabs with Right Fang, more like stabs really, each aimed expertly for his upper body’s vital points. He parries them all with his right dagger, seemingly with ease as countless sounds of metal clashing hard against metal traverse through the snowy planes. He parries the next of my attempted stabs so hard that he basically sways my entire right arm far enough to the side to give him a clear opening. Seeing that, he draws closer, his right dagger in tow, ready to deliver a nice clean slice to slit my throat, but then-

~Thump!~

Is the loud sound of my soul connecting with his jaw. The kick sends his ass flying. Even as I landed it, I could swore I saw the look of utter surprise on his face. Made me feel really good.

He back flips in mid-air to land safely back down. He gets up afterwards and starts grabbing his chin, looking at me like a kid I just stole candy from. Translation? He’s pissed.

“You just fell for the oldest trick in the book. How does that feel?” I ask with a dim expression.

“I’ll be honest. Not my best moment.” He answers truthfully.

“Some might say it might even be your worst, considering you just got your ass handed to you by an F-Rank and all.”

“Master. Are you constantly trying to be amazing or does it just happen naturally?” Dawn asks.

“My dear, sometimes even I don’t know.” I answer.

“Don’t get too cocky.”

“Hm?”

“If you delude yourself into thinking that I’ve been fighting you seriously until now, you’ll end up dying faster than you can even react.” Says Taipan.

“I’m aware that I haven’t been fighting you at your full strength. But you ought to be aware that you haven’t been fighting me at mine as well. How about this. Let’s both stop with the games and start taking this seriously. I assume you’ve already made up your mind, haven’t you? You don’t plan on letting me leave this Dungeon alive, correct?”

“Precisely.” He readily affirms.

“I figured. I have mixed feelings about letting you live too. SO LET’S GO NUMBER ONE!” I roar with raging abandon, my signature devilish grin fully formed on my face, while my daggers, the Emerald Fang Twins, rest on my shoulders in a cross like position. The sudden outburst seemingly sends a slight shiver down my enemy’s spine. But I ignore it as I continue. “LET’S DO IT! LET’S HAVE A RIDE OR DIE DEATH BATTLE! RIGHT HERE! RIGHT NOW! WINNER GETS THE SPOILS!”

With that, not even considering giving my opponent time to answer my proposal, I dash at him. Seemingly seeing that he needen’t say anything in return, he does the same. Dashing at me at an impossible speed.

And then, just as we’re but two to three metres away from each other…

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