5 Asagi's Power

Probably Far Earlier.....

Cid, under the guise of Shadow, began his duty of fighting crime under the shadows once again.

One of his goals involving "taking the criminals' money to its rightful owner", that was himself.

Honestly it was becoming boring just to find and fight random criminals, even if slaying or beating up some corrupted officials were honestly getting old.

Hearing their generic lines wasn't since he could be led to a trap that most possibly won't get him anymore.

Shadow wanted to spend time fighting several demons at once without much trouble.

"Let's see.... Hm, it seems like the streets are empty." He commented while he was up several stories above a building in some streets of Tokyo.

"Well, too bad. I did blow up my cover at one point, after all."

Proceeding to fall onto the ground silently, he decided to begin wandering the area aimlessly, his boots not making a single sound every time he steps forward.

"Now I wonder.... should I stop hunting in Tokyo and do my thing somewhere else? Or maybe.... Hunt underground?" He asked himself as he put his hands on his coat's pockets.

This wasn't such a hard question to answer, it's only about his own decisions that will affect what happens soon.

He kept walking, occasionally stopping to look around and use Magic to sense his surroundings. After using hand signs to enhance his ability to sense his surroundings, he felt something on the west.

Naturally, he wanted to investigate it. So he approached whoever was on that general direction.

Only to see someone approaching him. That someone looked familiar though, possibly a side character.

No.

'Isn't that Sawaki Kyosuke, from the Sawaki Clan and the Fiancee of Asagi-sensei? What is he doing this midnight?' He thought, looking closer at the man.

It seemed like Kyosuke wasn't looking very well, as if sick like a zombie. Strange.

"Hey, you shouldn't be here this late at night, it's already curfew." Shadow spoke out loud, still staring at the approaching figure.

No answer.

Then a thought appeared in his mind.

".... Yeah, it's probably a doppelganger." With this conclusion, he formed a broadsword from his coat and approached the man.

Suddenly, Kyosuke's eyes widened. He wanted to speak out, but couldn't. His body was not in his control.

How did this even happen?

'But, I just wanted to be with Asagi! This isn't fair, how do I convince him?! Earlier, I just bought a cheap, yet expensive looking ring from a strange lady who.... crap, I bought a cursed item, didn't I?

It's strange that I didn't feel any demonic influence from the item, therefore it's dangerous....'

Suddenly, Kyosuke heard a voice of a woman in his head.

"Kyosuke, show him our gift!" She said, and suddenly, he ran towards Shadow with a crazy grin, and many parts of his flesh became filled with demonic influence.

'No! Don't!'

His body didn't listen to his mind.

He didn't even know what was happening anymore.

Kyosuke hoped that the man should have noticed by now, yet due to his expressions and actions being completely manipulated, it's now impossible.

When he was about to punch the man, he casually weaved down and landed a knee strike on his chest, forcing him to cough out saliva.

Then, he was turned around and stabbed right in his heart from behind. Right at this point, Kyosuke regained control over his body.

"I'll allow you your last words, so speak up right now." Shadow asked as the poor guy began to drop down.

Kyosuke was about to answer, yet he noticed Asagi who had just arrived at the scene, catching his falling body.

"Asagi.... Sorry.... I wish... For your happiness in the future...."

'I see..... Wait, why is Asagi also here? Ah, damn it, this happened at the wrong place at the wrong time.... Haaa...' Shadow couldn't really help but sigh right now.

Obviously, he forced a Main Character's plot to happen right at this moment. So does that mean that he had become an antagonist?

Yep, that seems to be the case now that Asagi had cried out loud.

A few tears came from her eyes, before she put Kyosuke down of the ground, and glared deeply towards Shadow.

She had grabbed her katana that was on the back, and in a moment, her figure was engulfed in white energy.

"....!!!"

And immediately as that appeared, Shadow nigh-instantly teleported to the side using his Void Art, and turned his vision towards Asagi, who had suddenly appeared behind where he previously was, her sword having cut the air.

"Hmmm... Interesting..." he said, glancing over his shoulder to notice a slight cut on it that was not much of a problem. His skin wasn't even

'How fast did she move just now? That took me by surprise, I didn't even blink before she was suddenly there. No, this is the work of her own Ninja Art that supposedly gives her speed surpassing any current taimanin.' He complimented inwardly.

It does seem like he also had to focus if he wanted to fight her evenly, since she had possibly intended to cut off one of his limbs.

Not his problem, honestly.

Asagi's figure vanished, this time without using her Ninja Art, allowing Shadow to clearly perceive her movements and fight back.

And, to be honest, Shadow already noticed that although Asagi was clearly giving her best, years of not being in real fights made her feel incredibly weak.

Naturally, many R-18 porn animation and manga Heroines usually have this trait in order to (poorly) explain why they immediately lost, like some asspulling many other similar porn animation heroines have.

Her only chance at even wounding him was to use her Ninja Art.

Shadow wasn't even taking her seriously, making his strength equal to hers, and she knows it, making her realize that she really was underestimating him.

It struck a blow to her pride as a Taimanin, and yet she refused to just back down.

Each clash the two made created ripples in the air and sparks from the impacts of their swords, blowing out strong wind that would blow away leaves and lightly sway a tall tree.

Many dozens of sparks flew around the air, and the figures of the two appeared and disappeared all around the area, before appearing again on the ground.

Here, Asagi decided to briefly throw her sword towards Shadow while closing in towards him.

His coat extended several tendrils to grab it before tossing it away like it was something irrelevant, rendering her weaponless.

And as if knowing what she was about to do, Shadow let his sword assimilate into his coat, then leaned backwards to evade a kick from Asagi.

Throwing his own jabs, the woman in front of him weaved beside them and tossed a counterattack that he evaded with a sidestep.

Their hand-to-hand combat masteries were now on display, as the two attacked each other with rapid punches, kicks, and other techniques they both had.

Once she saw an opening, Asagi went on the offensive, using her rage to fuel her next strikes as she grabbed Shadow's shoulders and pulled him down, striking his chin with a hard knee.

Then, using her Falcon Art to accelerate herself and slow down time to her own limit, she began to deliver a quick, sorrow-filled beatdown towards her opponent.

Even if he was slowly moving, something which surprised her.

She hit him with a strong uppercut to move his figure up in the air, then with several swift hooks to his abdomen ending with a straight, before sending a series of rapid kicks towards him.

He was hit on his shoulder, abdomen, thigh, neck, crotch, leg, and chest before she kicked him with both her legs.

At this point, her Falcon Art's duration was over, and Shadow took all the damage, before it hit her body with heavy amounts of exhaustion.

Her breathing became harsh as she stared at Shadow, who took a flip and skidded his boots on the ground to cushion his body.

"Interesting...." He said, patting his body from dirt as if he was barely unscathed. "But, not enough. Where is the Asagi I know?"

"What?"

To be honest, Shadow really expected Asagi to be quite strong, but even with that incredible boost of speed, it could barely do anything but probably make her attacks bruise his skin without protection from his Slime Bodysuit.

It was weakened a bit due to the Taima Particles Asagi had, but it was negligible since it would recover soon enough.

Then he heaved out a deep breath, feeling quite disappointed.

"You don't get it, do you? You haven't noticed this, but I might as well say something along the lines of: I am not your enemy." He said, while thinking of ending this fight soon.

"After what you've done?" Asagi was now stepping to where her sword was, thinking that if she could stall him long enough, then she could land a final blow before she immediately retreated.

"Funny you said that. I know it doesn't justify my action, I did kill him out of self-defense, then you were there." He replied.

"Now, let's end this right here, I've got no time to waste since there's bigger threats you cannot handle in your rusted state."

In the blink of an eye, Shadow leaped towards her, before using a Ninja Art to create 6 clones that looked like himself. He and his clones surrounded Asagi, moving and teleporting around her in order to confuse her.

Since she was too late to reach out to her sword, and activating her Ninja Art for the third time was already taking a toll out of her, her energy is also low enough for her to be open to someone as strong as Shadow.

Therefore, she only steeled her mind at what she expected would come: the fate of a defeated Taimanin. She now focused on defending herself.

She was hit with a barrage of hits by the seven Shadows, being tossed around and juggled like a ball felt humiliating already, let alone being hit again and again until the moment she noticed that she was on the air.

He was right behind her, tightly wrapping his arms on her waist as the two began to drop down to the ground headfirst.

'This is one of the old Hayabusa Clan's grappling techniques! Tsk, there is no escape now.... I've got to brace myself for impact...'

Using as much Taima Particles as she could, she enhanced her defensive capabilities to the limit just before crashing onto the ground headfirst, losing consciousness as that happened.

Shadow remained unbothered as he hopped away from Asagi, letting his clones assimilate to him.

".... Well, that happened." He said, stretching his body and rubbing his chin that had been briefly bruised.

Shadow then picked up Asagi's body and carried her like she was a princess, not forgetting to carry Kyosuke's corpse through the self-made tendrils of his coat.

He also did not forget to steal money from the dead guy for convenience, and as he left, he encountered a bunch of guys that he killed without much effort, even beheaded a crazy lady that used two claws.

They didn't have anything valuable, other than some cool guns that couldn't even make a dent to his clothing. Sadly Kyosuke had been hit with several dozens of bullets along the way by being used as a human shield.

She said something about giving them what was for this "Master Black" guy, yet Shadow just didn't care and proceeded to enter the Virgin Forest afterwards, putting Asagi down to rest below one of the trees, and burying Kyosuke right in front of her, then left for his home.

Asagi would soon be recovered by a worried Sakura, and would wake up being put in the medical station of Gosha Village to recover.

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