I could see the glimmer of a barrier where the exorcists were, and once the spears stopped we could see the gunslinger standing up with the Desert Eagle equipped in his hand.
"… Never say the job is done until you do all the checks." Koneko said flatly.
Yup.
...
"Whew! Good going Lyle." The one called Creed whistled as he came out of his cover.
"This is a very bad situation. We must leave now." Lyle lowered the Desert Eagle and looked at us while muttering. "All of that should have attracted the other devils in the area."
"I agree, except this is the last barrier we have and I doubt that guy is going to let us go so easily." Creed pointed to me with somewhat dangerous eyes. "I think we just found some interesting people in this town."
"Yes, you have a point." Lyle narrowed his eyes at us. "You know what, I am feeling the need to let loose a little. I am guessing you too want to go crazy?"
"KEKEKE! Finally you are speaking my language, Lyle." Creed let out a scary smirk just as the barrier around them started breaking. "Would you mind if I can kill a few and take the sword from them?"
"Do as you want, but prioritize the sword if you are doing so." Lyle holstered the Desert Eagle and took out a new gun. "I will deal with the latest additions to the group. The others don't seem to have that much battle strength, so you should have no problem."
"Hey I want to fight the strong guy too!" Creed replied in an excited tone. "The others are so weak, I already got Excalibur Mimicry away from them. You should be able to grab the other one in one minute."
"Perhaps." Lyle took out the sword and activated the blade. "For now, let's focus on getting out."
"Sounds like they finished their strategy talk." I remarked as the last bits of the barrier came down.
"Well then, we would need to take out the gunslinger. As long as he is taken out, we should not have to worry about the big gun he has." Ise clenched his fists as he got up. "Let's move now!"
"Wait you guys, stop!" I called out to Koneko, Ise and Saji who ran forward to try and get that weird tentacle attached to Lyle, but they were too open about it and that fellow must have anticipated this as he took out some controller and pressed a button to blow some explosives in the ground.
"What! How did he get them there?" Xenovia yelled out as we watched the devils get blown to the trees nearby.
"Don't you guys get it? He knew that you would target him, he guessed that you would go straight for him." I narrowed my eyes as I looked on. "This was his plan from the start, in case they ever got into a fight with you guys. He is pretty good in his strategies."
"That guy is dead!" The two exorcist girls and Kiba jumped out of their cover and headed straight for Lyle, only to be intercepted by Creed swinging his sword.
"Sorry kiddies, but you guys will have to make do with me." Creed spun the blade by the handle as he talked. "My partner has an appointment with your buddy there."
Great, just what I needed.
I projected my bow and a few swords around my body for ammo before running along to the side, using the floating swords to act as my shield from Lyle's shooting. I grabbed a random sword and twisted its form before letting it loose at Lyle, who immediately grabbed a big wooden plank and threw it at the arrow before firing a round at me. At the same time, the both of us jumped forward and swung our swords in time to hit each other's blades.
"Damn, that guy is moving in the same way as Shirou is!" I overheard Ise's groan from my spot and I could only agree inwardly. This person's fighting style was more mercenary than the other fighters I have met in this world, and perhaps this one could actually grow up to be the Kiritsuguru of this world, and that was a very scary thought.
"Oh my, this is a definite first. Someone is actually keeping Lyle on his toes." Creed remarked while he lazily deflected the attacks by Kiba, Xenovia and Irina like they were kids trying to attack him with sticks. "Now I am interested in having a go at him."
"Don't you dare look down on us?!" Xenovia swung the Excalibur Sword at his head, but Creed merely moved to the side and used his sword to deflect her blade before kicking her.
"You are not getting away so easily, you will tell me where is Galilei Valper!" Kiba snarled as he projected multiple swords and detonated them to catch him off guard, but Creed emerged from the flames unharmed and merely stepped on Kiba's head as a foothold before landing on the ground a few away from them.
"You know what? You guys suck." Creed held up the sword briefly before swinging hard at the ground to break up the soil and scatter the loose dirt to rob them of their sight, giving him the opportunity to rush forward and kick the twin-tailed girl hard, lightly stabbing Kiba at the side and punching the blue-haired girl all at once. Without stopping, he grabbed the girl's hand that was holding the sword and pulled her right in, using the momentum to throw her at Kiba and releasing her grip on the Excalibur Shard.
"HAHA! I'll be taking this!" Creed lightly spun the sword before holding it firmly. "Why don't you kids take a nap?" He turned to look at me with eyes that seemed to resemble the slits of snakes. "I will be having fun with the wizard who can fight a lot better."
Crap.
He dashed forward in a single leap and struck the ground with the sword, creating a huge crack in the ground from which emitted miniature explosions that scattered rubble all over the area and blocking my view. Using the distraction Creed came forward to swing the sword right at my abdomen. Cursing my lack of vision, I barely had enough time to move Bakuya into position so as to block the sword and…
'CLANK!'
"Thump~ Bump!"
That odd feeling again, and this time the Excalibur Sword started to glow very brightly at the contact of Bakuya. I did not dwell on it too long, as the sword started to cut through my blade easily. I leapt back in time to avoid a cut that could have bifurcated me like my sword.
"Oh, what's this?" Creed lifted the Excalibur Sword with a curious expression. "It seems to be very happy for some reason, I guess that it is overjoyed to have a real opponent rather than these kids." He aimed the point at me with a rather disturbing smile. "Let's have some fun knowing each other then."
'I hate you.'
I started projecting multiple swords to block if not deflect his strikes, but his blade kept making short work of my blades and cut them like a hot knife through butter. Damn it, none of my usual swords would be able to handle it, but I do not want to bring out the big guns just yet. I needed a sword that could handle the destructive power of that blade, I needed either a holy sword or a demonic sword to do that, I would need…
Ah, there was one.
"Trace On."
The outline of the sword I had in mind appeared in my hand, then in a brief flash of gold, the sword of Turpin materialized to aid me in my fight. Having not been used for quite some time and in the presence of another holy sword, the sword's etched characters glowed radiantly in anticipation of a good fight.
"Let's go, Almace." This time I took the initiative to attack first and swung the blade at the Excalibur Sword, smiling at the satisfying sound of the sword holding its own against the enemy and pushing him back without any effort. I pushed forward with my attacks and was able to pick up speed and put more pressure on him.
"HAHAHAH! All right! Now this is a fight!" Creed gleefully let out a scary laugh and smile as he exchanged blows with me. "How long has it been since I last had such a good opponent?! All the others back home are so lame!"
Great, I think I just found Regeis's long-lost brother from another mother.
...
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