Benimaru's lightning handled crowd control and paralysis.
Robert's kicks handled reaping and cleanup.
The two strolled through the hail of bullets as if dancing a deadly waltz.
Their coordination was seamless. Their movements were a feast for the eyes.
"Hey Benimaru, sniper on the left—I've got him. You take those guys on the right!"
"No problem! But the kill count's mine!"
"Dream on! Watch my Ryuko Ranbu!"
"Tch, let me show you my Raikou Ken!"
They bickered while efficiently clearing the battlefield.
The scene was cool, explosive, and somehow radiated an inexplicable... bromance energy.
...
But elsewhere on the battlefield, their elegance was notably absent.
On the main battlefield's periphery, another scene of chaos was unfolding.
"Young Lady! My dear Young Lady! Please come back! That's Krauser's territory—people die there!"
Benimaru Nikaido (yes, the same one who'd just been showing off on the secondary battlefield) was chasing after a girl in twin-tails and a sailor uniform, his face a mask of utter despair.
She was Aoi Kusanagi.
And the poor soul assigned to "protect" her was Benimaru himself.
Currently, this little witch of the Kusanagi clan was excitedly darting all over the battlefield. Far from showing any fear, she looked like she was touring an amusement park.
"Wow! Benimaru, look! That blond old guy's energy wave is huge! Just as cool as my brother's Orochinagi!" She pointed at Krauser's Kaiser Wave in the distance, clapping with delight.
"Those aren't fireworks, Young Lady! Those kill people!" Benimaru's face had gone white.
"It's fine, it's fine~ I'm from the Kusanagi family. I can use fire too!"
Aoi let out a cute battle cry and mimicked her brother's pose, waving her small hand!
"Watch this! Style 100: Mini Oniyaki!"
A tiny crimson flame—about the size of a lighter's—stubbornly burned in her palm for exactly one second before... poof—it went out.
Aoi: "..."
Benimaru: "..."
"Ahem! That was a fluke!" Aoi's cheeks flushed red. "One more time! Behold the Kusanagi-Style Art of Falling Flat on Your Face!"
Her foot caught on something, and she tumbled with remarkable precision—directly toward an active machine gun nest.
"OH MY GOD—!!!"
Benimaru let out an inhuman shriek, trying to rush to her rescue, but heavy suppressive fire pinned him down completely.
Just as this little Kusanagi princess was about to become modern art—
A golden figure appeared before her like teleportation!
It was Cloud!
He'd just finished off a clueless grunt with a Heavenscorch Scripture technique when he noticed the "emergency" over here.
"Seriously, fans these days are this hardcore? Chasing their idol all the way to a war zone?"
Cloud's internal monologue ran wild, but his hands never stopped moving.
He scooped the dazed Aoi off the ground and into his arms in one smooth motion.
Then with a casual wave of his free hand, a wall of golden flame erupted from the earth, melting every incoming bullet into molten slag!
BOOM—!
With that done, Cloud executed an elegant backflip while holding the girl, landing smoothly behind safe cover.
The entire sequence was fluid as flowing water, cool as hell.
"..."
Aoi Kusanagi froze completely.
She was being held in Cloud's arms in a textbook "princess carry."
She could clearly smell him—that mix of gunpowder and overwhelmingly masculine scent.
She could feel how solid and powerful the arms holding her were.
She could see that handsome profile, sharp as if carved from stone, mere inches from her face.
An indescribable feeling—like electricity—shot through her entire body!
Her heart began pounding like crazy, threatening to leap out of her throat!
Her cheeks flushed at visible speed, hot enough to fry an egg.
"Uh... you okay?" Cloud looked down at the girl in his arms, who'd suddenly turned the color of a boiled shrimp. He sighed.
"F-fine..."
Aoi's voice was barely a whisper.
Unconsciously, she buried her face deeper into Cloud's solid chest, like a startled kitten that had finally found shelter.
The way she looked—shy, excited, with just a hint of secret joy—was absolutely adorable.
Aoi's inner monologue: AHHHHH! Cloud-ge actually held me!
Cloud: "..."
He had a feeling he'd just attracted a very troublesome "little problem."
Meanwhile, Benimaru had finally broken free of the suppressive fire. He stared at his young charge, currently snuggled happily in Cloud's arms wearing an expression of pure bliss, and felt his worldview crumbling.
He'd chased her all this way, worried sick the entire time, and yet...
One "hero saves the beauty" moment beats all that?!
...
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