42 Attack on the Street

Human World, Japan, Kuoh.

As the order to attack was given, James was actually the first to make a move. Unsheathing Ochiru Sakura, he activated [Senbonzakura] and directed the petals to separate the four high-rank youkai into three. With Mizore facing one, Cu Chulainn facing two, and Moka facing the last one.

The first of the three to move was Cu Chulainn. Once he saw James' [Senbonzakura], He dashed forward without hesitation. He immediately thrust his spear at the first enemy he saw. To his surprise, the straightforward thrust was easily deflected by a pair of kodachi. Taking a step back, Cu Chulainn's expression changed to something much more savage.

"You're better than I thought you'd be." Cu Chulainn said with a battle hungry smile. He then licked his lips and asked. "Is the other one as good as you?"

"He's not quite as good as I am." The assassin with dog ears and a bushy tail replied. "But you shouldn't underestimate him."

"You don't need to worry about that," Cu Chulainn said as he rested his spear over his shoulder. "Just give me a second."

Cu Chulainn then disappeared in a burst of speed. Shortly after the sounds of weapons clashing could be heard behind a building close to the dog-eared assassin's location. After about fifteen seconds, the sounds of weapons could no longer be heard. A few seconds later, he could see one of his comrades being thrown in front of their protection target and her guardians.

"Well, he was pretty good like you said." Cu Chulainn said as he rounded a corner to arrive where he had been standing less than a minute ago. "He fell a bit short compared to you, though."

The dog-eared assassin gritted his teeth at the sight of his comrade 's fate.

"I'll avenge you." The assassin said faintly.

"Take it easy, dude." Cu Chulainn said nonchalantly. "Your buddy is still alive. We're gonna need answers, after all."

The assassin decided there was no point in any further dialogue. So, he charged forward with the kodachi in his hands. Before he could enter his range, Cu Chulainn unleashed a barrage of thrusts at different locations from different angles. The assassin, using his pair of kodachi, skillfully deflected the majority of Cu Chulainn's thrusts. However, to his horror, he found that with time, the speed and frequency of the thrusts were increasing. Understanding that this could not go on, He caught the next thrust with his kodachi crossed and forced it to the ground before Cu Chulainn could withdraw the spear.

Once the spear had been lowered, the assassin stepped on its shaft and began to run toward its wielder. Much like he had done in his very first spar with James, Cu Chulainn released his grip and kicked the butt end of the spear to make it stand straight up. However, the assassin was expecting him to release the spear in some capacity to get him off of it. As soon as the spear left Cu Chulainn's hands and while his foot was about to contact the spear shaft, the assassin jumped laterally and performed his most deadly technique. At the same time, Cu Chulainn's spear stood straight up thanks to the kick. Yet, because the assassin was no longer providing resistance, the spear tipped over away from Cu Chulainn.

"Oni Waban Style: Double Kodachi: Kaiten Kenbu Rokuren!"

At that moment, the assassin closed the distance with Cu Chulainn and performed what seemed like six simultaneous slashes with his two kodachi. At the same time as the assassin started to move, Cu Chulainn dove forward to retrieve his spear. Cu Chulainn's quick movements most likely saved his life, as he managed to avoid the two strikes that were in the most vital areas. This, of course, left the assassin baffled. Using his opponent's lapse in concentration, Cu Chulainn picked up his weapon and thrust it forward.

"Gáe Bolg!"

As he thrust the spear, Cu Chulainn infused his demonic energy to activate the curse on the weapon. As the assassin attempted to guard against the seemingly straightforward spear strike, the spear head began to avoid his weapons as though it had a mind of its own. As it was impossible to avoid, the dog-eared assassin's life came to an end at that moment.

"*Pant* *Pant* *Pant* Damn it!" Cu Chulainn cursed, exhaustion beginning to set in. "I forgot how draining the curse of Gáe Bolg was. I haven't had to use it since I tested it when Master gave me the spear."

At that moment, Cu Chulainn froze.

"If Master found out about my performance..." As Cu Chulainn thought about it he began to shudder. "There's no way she would find out about this fight. She's back in the Land of Shadows, and there are only two people who can..."

When his thoughts reached this point, Cu Chulainn made eye contact with James. And he broke into a cold sweat when he saw the grin on James' face. A grin that grew wider when James saw the realization in his eyes.

'Damn! I'm fucked!' Was the only thing that came to mind after seeing James' expression.

At the same time Cu Chulainn was fighting with the dog-eared assassin, Mizore had just made it to a suitable range to do battle with her own opponent, a tsuchigumo. The well-endowed six-armed, eight-eyed woman was charging at Mizore with a kunai in each of her six hands.

Realizing that close quarter combat would be to her disadvantage, Mizore sent a volley of ice spikes at the tsuchigumo woman. Using the kunai in her hands, the tsuchigumo deflected most of the flying ice spikes, except for one that pierced her left thigh and one that grazed her lower right arm. It need not be said that her left leg was rendered immobile. The fact that surprised her was that a thin film of ice began to spread from where the spike grazed her. Usually, a wound like that would be ignored as it did not affect her combat ability. However, as the ice film spread, her arm began to grow sluggish.

Not giving the tsuchigumo woman the time to think over her situation, Mizore, using her ice to propel her forward, passed by her opponent's right leg and turned to strike it with a palm thrust covered in freezing energy. After immobilizing the tsuchigumo woman's other leg, Mizore systematically attacked each joint in the five remaining mobile arms. And just for good measure, she froze the tsuchigumo woman's lower jaw so she would be unable to bite off her tongue.

"Mizore's integration of Tiger Style Kenpo and her ice ability has improved greatly." James thought aloud as he watched Mizore's fight. "I would have let her fight the first one Lancer took down if I knew she had improved so much."

"You spar with her almost every night, right?" Rias asked confusedly. "How are you unaware of how much she has improved?"

"It's because she has trouble maintaining focus in a spar." James explained as his attention shifted to Moka's fight. "She exceeds my expectation by too much whenever she fights in a serious fight."

Moka's fight is not what James would call a fight. Her opponent, an oni, seems to have no martial arts training at all. Using simple brute force with no techniques, Moka picked him apart with ease. At this point, it looked like Moka was just practicing her Muay Thai and wrestling takedowns on the poor guy.

"Moka! Just end it already." James said with a chuckle. "There's no need to torcher the poor guy."

"If you say so..." Moka said, disappointed that her training dummy would be taken away.

'I had to put a stop to it, or that ultimate-rank guy would have made a move against Moka.' James thought to himself. 'I can feel the anger radiating off him in waves.'

A few moments later, Mizore, Cu Chulainn and Moka returned with their dead or immobilized opponents. The only one who sustained any injuries was Cu Chulainn, which was due to his carelessness. As soon as he returned, Tsubaki began checking his injuries with great concern. Once it was confirmed that his injuries were not life threatening, James turned his sight to a cloaked figure that had appeared in front of the group. The aura this man was emitting indicated that he was in the intermediate level of the ultimate rank.

"So, now that that little song and dance is over, will you retreat, or will you still attempt to complete your mission?" James asked the cloaked figure in front of him.

"*sigh* If I didn't need the money, I wouldn't have even taken this job." Said the cloaked figure.

At the cloaked figure's reply, James raised an eyebrow. Although the thought of an impoverished assassin was a novel one, the more surprising thing was that the assassin seemed to be female. Not that he was looking down on female assassins, but an impoverished female assassin was not something he expected to see in his lifetime.

"So, I should take that as a no then?" James asked as he placed his hand on the hilt of Mangetsu no Shita de.

"Well, if I fail, I'll probably die regardless." The assassin replied. "So, I might as well give it a try."

"*Sigh* Well let's get it over with then." James said disinterestedly as the petals that made up James' other sword, Ochiru Sakura, returned and floated around him.

James pointed the sword in his hand in the assassin's direction and with this gesture the petals around him rushed at her. Producing a kunai in each hand, the female assassin either dodged, parried, or blocked the incoming petals produced by [Senbonzakura]. With acrobatic movements and superb bodily control, the assassin was slowly closing the distance with James' group.

"*Whistle* She's pretty good." James praised sincerely.

"Is now the time to be praising her?" Rias asked incredulously.

"Well, I like to give credit where credit is due." James replied nonchalantly. "Besides, I think it's about time to end this."

Just as James' words fell, the assassin dropped several pellet shaped objects. A moment later, all the objects released a large amount of smoke that engulfed the entire group. Shortly after, several clanging sounds were heard. By the time the smoke dispersed, James and the assassin were in their original places.

"That was a nifty little trick." James said with a smile. "But if I had been careless and lost to it, I can't imagine what my master would have done to me, if she found out."

Hearing that, Cu Chulainn began to shudder, then he groaned in pain as his shuddering agitated his wounds.

"So, like I said before." James said, his expression becoming more solemn. "it's about time to end this."

Dropping down into an iaido stance, James soon vanished from his position with the Flash Step. When next he appeared, James was standing behind the female assassin, calmly sheathing his sword. Once the "click" from the handguard meeting the sheath was heard, the assassin's cloak fell from her body in two halves on either side of her.

When the cloak was destroyed, what was revealed was a tall woman with long silver hair, dark grey eyes, and red framed glasses with a beauty mark under her right eye and monkey ears on top of her head. Her busty body was wrapped in the top of a martial arts gi held closed by a red obi. She wore dark blue forearm sleeves and a matching scarf. On her lower body, she only wore a pair of black hot pants and boots.

'Another crossover, I think. But her species is wrong. Then again I've never seen that series, so I could be wrong.' James thought to himself as he looked over the assassin in front of him.

At the same time, the assassin was amazed.

'To think his skill with the sword is so high.' She thought to herself.

"Well, I'm not really into killing beautiful women." James said nonchalantly. "But if you choose to continue, I'm even less into failing assignments."

The girls in James' group all frowned at the compliment James gave to the assassin, but were sensible enough to not interfere, right now. Meanwhile, the assassin shivered when she saw the total disregard in James' eyes while he spoke to her.

"So, are you saying you won't kill me?" the assassin asked with a blush on her face.

Unsure as to why she was blushing, James responded.

"As long as you don't give me a reason to." James said in response, then his aura grew sharp as he continued. "I assume you were hired to kidnap the adorable fox over there. If you insist on that, I'll put you down."

Feeling the hostile aura, the assassin shivered once again, and then she lowered her head and spoke.

"I'll abandon this mission." the assassin said. With her head still lowered, she continued. "Even if that means being hunted by those who want her capture. At least I'll survive their pursuit. But I'm certain opposing you will end with my death"

As her words finished, a cloud of smoke covered her figure. Once the smoke dispersed, the assassin was nowhere to be seen.

"She gave up easier than expected." James said as he scratched his head.

"So, she's a beauty, huh?" Rias said with her arms crossed. Jealousy clear in her tone.

"Wasn't she?" James asked with a tilt of his head. "Or is my sense of beauty off?"

At James reply, Rias fell silent. She was unsure how to respond. The other girls who wanted to complain were left speechless as well.

"Well, it's getting late. It should be Kunou's bedtime soon." James said with a smile, then put on a more solemn expression when he continued. "I have some things to explain to Flora as well."