Me and Tatsumi slowly trailed Ogre. Not going to lie, he was very vigilant, as if he had a feeling he was being followed, but he kept walking.
He separated from his men and began walking down a rather silent alley.
The whole time, Tatsumi and I were scaling the wall. More like I was the one doing all the scaling while carrying him on my back. Day after day, I find wall scaling pretty easy. My palms can easily stick to the wall for some reason.
Ducking behind a low parapet wall at the top of a rooftop, I nodded to Tatsumi, urging him to attack.
Gritting his teeth, he jumped down, causing Ogre to jump backward in caution. To my biggest surprise though, Tatsumi didn't attack.
"WHO ARE YOU?!" Ogre bellowed, threatening to pull out his sword, but he hesitated as Tatsumi raised his hands while putting on an innocent, harmless expression.
"Wait—sorry boss, I'm so sorry for startling you." Tatsumi said quickly, and Ogre lowered his guard a bit. Not entirely, as I noticed his body was still tense. This guy literally never lowers his guard.
"What do you want?"
"Ahem… sir, I've been wanting to speak with you, but I haven't been able to because your men wouldn't even allow me to get close to you. That's why I followed you. Please sir! I need your help to join the military!" Tatsumi said in a shameless pleading voice, acting as if he were completely serious. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought he meant it.
This was another reminder that Tatsumi remains the main character nonetheless. In everything he does, he's just exceptional. And me… on the other hand, I'm not even an extra. I'm below an extra in this whole thing.
However, I won't let my destiny be decided by fate just because I watched some anime. This is the real world. My life, my craft. With that new resolution, I clenched my fists and my gaze drifted back to Tatsumi and Ogre.
"Sigh… the only reason I'm sparing you is because I acknowledge your skill in being able to follow me while avoiding my detection. I could tell something was off, but I had no idea I was being followed. How splendid!" Ogre said, sounding almost excited.
"I will help you, BOY!"
"Really?!"
"Thank you so much, sir! Thank you!" Tatsumi exclaimed, expressing gratitude and using the opportunity to move closer to Ogre.
SWOOOSH!
With a quick, clean draw of his sword, Tatsumi slashed diagonally at Ogre, cutting across his face and neck. But Ogre managed to dodge just in time as he arched back and drew his sword at the same time, minimizing the damage.
"You! I knew something was off! This is why I don't trust people. Another reminder to stay evil!" Ogre said angrily as he charged at Tatsumi.
CHA-CHING!
Tatsumi parried the attack, but the force behind the blow nearly made him lose his footing. He quickly regained his balance and followed up with several slashes and a single thrust aimed at Ogre's liver, but Ogre deflected the strike, causing Tatsumi to sway to the side.
Then Ogre slammed the hilt of his sword into Tatsumi's ribs and I heard the sound of cracking.
"ARGH!" Tatsumi screamed in pain, but he quickly rolled to the side, barely evading a deadly blow from Ogre that would have chopped off his head.
I simply sat on the rooftop, enjoying the show. Though sometimes I felt a surge of adrenaline, as if something terrible might happen whenever Tatsumi came close to dying at Ogre's hands. I wanted to interfere and quickly end things, but I refrained from doing so.
At this point, both Tatsumi and Ogre were tired, panting heavily. Tatsumi looked the most worn out, and he already had a broken rib.
"I promise you will die a painful death. I'll chop up your body piece by piece and feed it to dogs! IYAAARGH!" Ogre roared as he charged at Tatsumi with terrifying momentum, his sword raised to deliver a killing blow.
But in a split second, Tatsumi sidestepped, causing the blade to slice off a chunk of his ear. At the same time, he slashed Ogre's sword hand, chopping off several fingers and sending the sword clattering to the ground.
Then he dashed forward and delivered a heavy strike to Ogre's neck, his blade slicing halfway through and severing his blood supply and airway.
"URGH!" Ogre's eyes bulged as consciousness slipped away from him while he watched his own blood gush out like a geyser.
Tatsumi delivered the final blow, chopping off his head.
Then he raised his head and looked at me.
"I did it. I finally did it, Okun–sama."
I smiled at him, biting into an apple.
"You did well, son. If your mother were here, she would also be proud of you," I said, but my statement made Tatsumi look at me like I was a psycho.
I mean, which mother would be proud of seeing their son take someone's head off? Fufu.
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