"Tch…!"
Lucy, with a clear annoying reaction, enacted her ability once more. But right before she could make any significant action, I landed a clear hit on her face and blew her all the way to the back.
"You little… ?!"
Lucy, with a distraught grunt, tries to stand up again only to be struck by Kyouka's blade. Although she's avoided it just in time, Kyouka then continues to pursue her as Lucy can only keep stepping back to avoid Kyouka barrage.
Without further attention to Kyouka's side, I then follow up with a clean kich to Twain's chest, with the latter barely avoiding my attack and begin to keep a distance from me with a bright smile.
"So, you're the newcomer?"
"The name's Jouno."
Twain asked me with an excited voice, as I casually answered him by establishing my name while beginning to sprint toward the guy. Twain easily dodged his kick, which was followed by a punch toward his face.
"In all honesty, I was surprised. How can you escape that room?"
"Like I say, a magician never reveals their trick."
Twain tried to ask for my escape, which I declined once more as my punch missed his face once again. Twain then, with an unbelievable speed, did a jab to my chin which I barely avoided in a nick.
Damn, that jab is so precise, not to mention that ridiculous speed. This guy truly lives up to his Guild membership.
Twain then pulled a side kich right at my stomach, which I also barely blocked by both hands, and that's a big barely as the attack still pushed me back a few meters behind.
Not stopping with just that, Twain let out a barrage of punches and crosses to ward his upper body, to which I can only bare myself to slightly adjust his hit with my arms and movement to avoid taking any full hits.
Still, the damage kept stacking on my body, as he finally landed a right hook on my stomach.
"Kuh…!"
Let out a painful grunt, I slightly kneel myself down while Twain's smile keeps brightening more. At that moment, I held his arm with mine which startled him a bit.
But then, his expression turns into a painful one, as the guy got blown away due to my powerful kick right at his stomach. And yet, to my frustration, Twain immediately took back his stance with an excited face, seemingly unaffected by my kicks earlier.
"Not bad mate, but you lacked just a bit more force."
"… Note taken."
I jokingly responded to him, trying to hide my nervousness that now started to build up. But still, his strength is ridiculous despite his slim figure…
Okay, this is a bit harder than I think. I could at least have a stance with the guy at the moment, but I can't keep this stalemate forever. His defense is also quite troublesome, due to the fact the guy just casually shrugged off my kick earlier.
Welp, I could try to kill him by making him trip over the edge, but I doubt that would be the case, but I can't really see this guy would fall to my trick that easily.
While thinking of any path to knock this guy out, I keep my eyes closely on Twain, guarding myself for even the slightest movement from him.
Luckily, I can still hear the loud swinging noise behind my back, meaning that Kyouka at least has kept her at bay, not letting her have any chance to activate her domain.
But still, without further control of her ability at this point in time, and the fact that Lucy somehow keeps dodging her attack for this long, I doubt that any of us could end the opponent any time soon.
"You're all open!!"
Twain screamed then brought me back right out of my thought, as I can clearly see his fist inches from my very face. Following the scene is an intense pain, as the whole view before me shifted all over the face while I got blown away by his simple punch.
Ghr…! He's fast!!
I then struggle to take back the stance, but Twain has already approached me with another right hook right at my side, which I can only try to lessen the damage with my hand.
Still, my effort proved to be useless, as another intense pain then came out from the impact, now involving the right arm.
Curs'it… that really hurts…
Swallowing back the painful moan that almost leaked out of my mouth, I strike Twain with a simple punch. No trick, no force or anything, just a simple punch led straight to the chest.
Of course Twain avoided such simple attacks without any effort, but that's exactly what I need. Taking the opening that the guy left me with, I fell back behind to keep the distance from him.
Yep, no more games.
Once I have secured a safe distance from both Lucy and Twain, I take out an old phone and whisper something with it. Immediately after that, the figure of a white woman holding a sword manifested on top of Kyouka, which startled Lucy who's still on the run from Kyouka attacks.
"That…"
Twain's eyes then widened in surprise with the manifestation of the Demon Snow, and then looked back at me, or rather the phone I held. But before he can actually do something, a sword has already pierced through his chest as the being now standing right behind him.
"Guh…"
Let out a seemingly frustrated grunt, he then falls to the ground all unconscious. I then carefully checked on him and let out a relieved sigh upon seeing that he's actually down for good.
I then shifted my attention to the other battle, with Kyouka having an upper hand against Lucy who's still struggling to keep her distance away from the certain death.
With a simple command on the phone, Demon Snow quickly knocked Lucy out with her handle at her back and shocked Kyouka.
"That's…"
"My deepest apology for using your properties, Mrs. Kyouka."
With an apologetic smile, I gave Kyouka her phone back as the Demon Snow figure slowly faded away. She reluctantly took back the phone and looked up to me with a complicated look for a sec, before turning away and looking down on an unconscious Lucy.
"So… what now?"
"What do you mean 'what now'?"
I tilted my head in confusion with her question, as my ear then catched another sound coming from the door. Without any further thought, I pushed Kyouka behind me and guarded myself before the door.
As we nervously waited for someone else, the door suddenly got blown away and a certain white-haired boy ran through.
"Kyouka!!"
He desperately screams Kyouka name while also making a stance, seemingly ready to take down any foes to save the girl… that is, until he realizes Twain lying on the ground.
"Eh…?"
Atsushi makes a dumb expression looking at the young man, and he then realizes our existence just right behind him.
"Take you long enough."
"You guys…"
I casually greeted him with a hint of sarcasm, as he still dumb his face looking at us. He then leaned back behind us, probably realized an unconscious Lucy, and asked us with a confused look.
"… Beat them all?"
"Why of course, although we just barely defeat them."
With a dramatic act, I answer him with a formal yet mocking voice. It's not like I hated him or anything, since I already knew Atsushi got "commission outed" by Twain earlier, I was just trying to joke with him.
"Um… are they dead?"
He looked at both Lucy and Twain again and asked with a concerning voice, to which I just casually shrugged it off.
"Nope I made Demon Snow hold back her strength when knocking them out. Yosano should be able to make them whole again."
"… Demon Snow?"
Atsushi tilted his head with my answer, while Kyouka started to leer up at me with a hint of doubt in her eyes.
"Well, I kinda 'borrowed' Kyouka's phone to use her ability there. Without it, we might've lost there."
I explained it to both Atsushi and Kyouka, as they now fall silent while looking back at me with a complicated look. Ignoring their weird look pinning on me, I made a call to the Agency with Atsushi's phone to notify them of the capture.
Hm, maybe I should ask for a phone when I return to the office…