"… You all just wanted her for the Demon, am I right?"
"Hm?"
The lady, after seemingly calming down from the sign of outbreak just now, quietly speaks up to us with a mocking tone which earns back a confused look from me.
"That expression… I see, so I was correct."
Seemingly mistaken my confusion for confirmation, the lady let out a faint giggle to mock us, and then spoke out the following words…
"After all, Demon Snow is the one who killed her parents."
"What…?"
My confusion now showed more on my face, as Kyouka behind me started to tremble uncontrollably with a pale face. Seeing our reaction, the lady squinted her eyes with a hint of anger, and something else then appeared on top of me.
[KACHIN!!]
With a silent yet deadly sound, a blade impaled through my chest with blood then spilled everywhere. The figure, namely Golden Demon, then threw me like a pillow toward the stone monument nearby. After a loud sound of me crashing to it, my body helplessly fell to the ground and knocked me out completely.
"Hello there, miss Kouyou."
A voice of a certain newcomer then echoes throughout the park, as my consciousness falls into darkness…
"You are…"
"The new target of your boss, yes. It's a pleasure meeting you here, miss Kouyou."
Answering her question with a rather honored tone, I place my hand on Kyouka's shoulder with a hint of comfort, as she then slowly peeks up at me with a scared face. The lady, Kouyou Ozaki, leers back at me with a deadly yet curious glare, but I just casually take her gaze without much of a care.
"I see, you did possess something odd… But still."
Without further notice, the Golden Demon then manifested on top of my head without me acknowledging, swinging down her blade with the intention of killing me instantly. But at the very last second before it connects, another blade stops it dead in the track.
"?!"
Kouyou widens her eyes with a surprise expression, as the figure of Demon Snow has stopped her Golden Demon attack without any order.
"How uncivilized, miss Kouyou. But still, you have to put in more than that to kill me."
I casually provoked her with a neutral tone, as Kouyou's face then became distorted with anger.
"You… !"
She sneers back right at my face with a clearly bloodlusted gaze, as Golden Demon begins to strike me down with countless blade work which are all blocked by Demon Snow.
Using such precious spare time, I immediately sprinted toward her after secretly whispering something in Kyouka's ears, earning a surprising face from both Kouyou and Kyouka.
But then, just immediately after, she took back her stance and drew her blade ready to take me head on. After some more moments, I have finally caught up with her, as she swings her blade toward my face without further hesitation.
As already anticipated beforehand, I swiftly fell back a bit to dodge that albeit barely, and during the few precious moments of her retracting the blade mid-attack, I landed a straight jab at her chest and managed to push her back a few meters.
"Ugh…!"
Kouyou let out a painful grunt, but I didn't let her gain back any stance as I immediately held her blade hand, locking her completely from making further movement.
As I expected, although she did try to remove my grasp from her, her physical strength, even after many battles of the underworld, was still lackluster compared to a well-trained man like me.
She seemingly also tried to command Golden Demon to come for her aid, but Demon Snow still managed to lock her in the place albeit barely, freeing me from yet another problem.
Originally, without Demon Snow I wouldn't even consider facing off Kouyou in a 1 on 1 like this, as her Golden Demon could easily decapitate me in no time. And come to think of it, the Port Mafia seems to possess many ranged-based abilities, even more so compared to the Agency and the Guild.
Like, the only one in the organization having any shred of close-ranged ability is the old man Ryuro Hirotsu, who honestly was kinda trash compared to others.
"You!!"
Right, thinking about that later, gotta finish her first.
As on cue with her distress scream, I kicked her in the stomach and blew her all the way to the stone chair at the back, with her blade now confiscated from her as a result from the impact.
The Golden Demon, seemingly resulting from Kouyou distorted focus, has also faded into nothingness along with Demon Snow.
… Hm, isn't this kinda easy? Was my strength this formidable?
"Um… you okay, miss Kouyou?"
Looking at her immobile figure, I started to feel a bit worried for her well-being and called out for her with a worried face.
Erm… is she out cold for real or what…?
(?!)
A sense of dread subtly filled my head, as my body subconsciously fell back behind. And just a moment later, something sharp swept at where I was just standing, with the clear image of the Golden Demon now floating just before me with her masked face.
Damn!! That's sneaky!!
Silently praising Kouyou barely missed an effort, I leer at the Golden Demon while sweating bullets, carefully watching her every move…
[SHINK!!]
Another clashing sound echoes right by my ears, as Demon Snow once again bailed me out of the death door just in time. Holy crap ~ Their speed is unreal ~ !!!!
"Ugh…"
A fainted grunt coming from my back, signaling the tigerboy awaking from his sleep. Without further hesitation, which I didn't have anyway, I fell back to the duo place.
"You okay, tiger boy?"
"Y-yeah, I'm fine… But what's with th–"
"Could you come into battle by now?"
"Eh?"
I then point to the current battle field just a few meters away from us, where 2 ghost-like figure trading clashes and making a mess everywhere reside, as his face becomes dumber with each passing seconds, and I then take a peek at his bloody body now fully healed due to the tiger.
Damn, the tiger seems pretty OP even at this point in time… Wonder if I could get it with the quest?
"Y-yeah… probably."
"Well then get in there, we need as much help as possible! Kunikida-san's already laying there all bloody right now, and I doubt Kouyou will just leave it with just that!"
"… I understand!"
Atsushi let out an uncertain assurance which I ignored, as I then pushed him to interfere with the battle, as Demon Snow now seems to lose her ground against the Golden Demon.
He nodded back at me with a hint of discomfort, as the guy then launched himself into the fight with both his arms now taking the shape of the tiger claws, successfully blocking a strike of Golden Demon and even slash her away.
Then, without any words, both Demon Snow and Atsushi begin their barrage at the Golden Demon with precise combinations, which overwhelms the figure immediately.
Huh, talk about fate…
Suddenly, some black car parked just outside of the park near Kouyou, now standing up again, and coming out of its many black tuxedo guys holding a tommy gun.
Without further notice, all the mens then point their guns at me and Kyouka, ready to open fire at any given moment. But as they're ready to take their usual approach…
"Stop!!"
All the men immediately lower their guns down following Kouyou orders, as she herself steps forward and looks straight into my eyes.
"Could you please let her go?"
"Deny."
"Hm…"
Kouyou slightly twitched her eyes with my rejection, seemingly having enough with such lowly life. But she can't just make her move right now, as I am still with her precious side.
And yet, despite that, I can't also leave the damn park, or else they would just do their job already… In other words, both of us are stuck in a stalemate…
… You know, considering how all of them could just snap me away with their power scaling, I'm surprised with how many stalemates I made in just some days in this place…
"I see… but I wonder, can you still be with her after knowing the truth?"
"Truth? What kind?"
Kouyou let out a slight giggle with my confusion, as she then slowly spoke up the answer as to let them sink in my heart…
"The kind of her ability, The Demon Snow, brutally her own parents?"
"Huh…"
Kyouka begins to shake with terror showing deep in her eyes, as she still can't let the whole truth sink in that easily…
"You know, for someone who seems to treasure Kyouka, you sure are terrible at showing that."
"Hm?"
Against her devious answer, I just sneered back at her with a clear sign of disgust, which clearly triggered yet intrigued her interest over there, with the battle of Demon Snow/Atsushi against Golden Demon still raging on…