"Brother, don't be angry! This guy's just spewing garbage!"
Katie Dee panicked as Ryuuto's brows lowered further and further. She threw up her little fists like she could fight the world herself.
"So you don't need to step in," she insisted. "Sister Susan went out to fight in your place! She'll beat that big jerk. I wanted to follow her but… if you came home and didn't find us, you'd be worried. So I stayed."
Ryuuto placed a hand on her head.
"Guy, it's enough. I understand."
He let out a slow exhale and crushed the challenge letter into ash between his fingers. His gaze hardened.
"But this is my mess to clean up. Someone came knocking on my door. Fine. I'll tear it off the hinges."
His voice chilled.
"I'll bring Susan back. You stay here. Don't run around."
"But—"
"No buts."
He didn't wait for persuasion. Something about this enemy felt wrong. Dangerous.
Which meant speed mattered more than explanations.
Ryuuto formed a Shadow Clone to watch over Katie, then vanished with High-speed Movement—gone in an instant.
…
Susan was already waiting at the challenge location.
An underground parking lot.
Flickering lights.
The cold smell of steel and gasoline.
The kind of place where violence came naturally.
She stepped across the concrete in red heels, her silhouette sharp under the dim lamps.
"Where are you? Didn't you want a fight?" she called. "Come out."
She already sensed the gaze watching her from the dark.
But fear? Not even close.
She had come here not as a hostage or substitute—
but as a wall standing between danger and Ryuuto.
"Hmph. A woman dares step into my arena? You don't value your life."
A body dropped from above like a falling meteor.
When his boots hit the floor, the entire concrete sheet buckled.
A massive figure.
Black trench coat.
Muscles like steel beams.
A silver blade strapped across his back that hummed with killing intent.
The Blade Warrior.
"So the kid Ryuuto was too scared to show up? Sent you to beg for mercy instead?"
His eyes were cold, metallic.
Susan didn't step back.
If anything, she leaned forward.
"Your big mouth is premature. If you want results, come test them. And dealing with a second-rate thug like you doesn't require Ryuuto at all."
Her voice rang across the entire lot, crisp and cutting.
The Blade Warrior paused.
Silence fell like a blade.
Then—
Clap.
Clap.
Clap.
He returned the sword to his back with one fluid motion.
"Not bad. A little fire in you. Fine. I'll see for myself."
He burst forward like a human bullet, sending shockwaves through the cars around them as alarms screamed.
Susan raised her hand.
"Back off."
A force field detonated from her palm.
The Blade Warrior was blasted upward.
But he twisted midair and cut through the force field with raw strength alone.
"That ability of yours—force projection, right? Unfortunately…" His lips curled.
"It's not enough."
He stepped through the collapsing energy like it was smoke, grabbing a pillar and ripping it free with one hand. He hurled it like a spear.
Susan sprang onto a platform of force field under her feet, letting the concrete spear crash harmlessly beneath her.
"I told you—I can beat you myself."
But the Blade Warrior blurred behind her.
"Too slow."
Susan whipped her hand back, firing another force burst—
but he simply punched through it, unharmed, laughing.
"Did you think a woman could take on the Blade Warrior? Don't kid yourself."
His fist shot forward like lightning.
Susan vanished.
"What—? Invisibility?"
He scanned, jumping onto a steel beam overhead, focusing every sense.
He wasn't giving her a chance to blindside him.
"Found you! DIE!"
He smashed downward, splitting the steel beam in half—
and hit nothing.
Her voice echoed above him:
"Idiot. I'm above you."
A force field exploded downward from her palms, aimed directly at his skull.