Chapter 171: Supreme Magic Bullet
When Asagiri told the three of them to come at him together, Kato Megumi hesitated, clearly surprised.
"All three of us? But… with Crazy Mita present, you can't summon any other Personas. You don't have Human Asura's passive enhancement, and you can't use King's Gambit either. Even if Ashikaga sensei is just an ordinary person, just Crazy Mita and I…"
"Kato, that's a little hurtful."
Ashikaga Miwa frowned and cut in at once.
"I am still a trained martial artist. My physical ability may not compare to that of professional fighters, but I'm not just here to make up the numbers, am I?"
After saying that, she looked at Asagiri, who stood there calm and unreadable, and gave a light snort.
"It's about time this brat suffered a little too."
"Suffer a little…"
Kato Megumi's eyes still held uncertainty. She had seen Asagiri's strength with her own eyes.
Even without his Persona, even without Human Asura's passive enhancement, even without King's Gambit, even with all those restrictions piled on him and even in a three against one…
She still did not think their side could win.
After all…
Utsunomiya had never lost.
"Tell me the rules, then. Wooden weapons only, stop at the point…"
Before Ashikaga Miwa could finish, Asagiri said something astonishing.
"Ashikaga sensei, you brought a gun, right?"
"A gun?"
She froze for a moment, then hesitated.
"I do have a handgun on me, but if we use a gun in sparring and something goes wrong…"
"There won't be any 'if.'"
Asagiri shook his head, voice flat.
"No rules. Treat it like real combat."
"This…"
"Stop rambling."
Crazy Mita's impatience showed immediately. Without any obvious movement, a cute blue and yellow handgun appeared in her hand.
"You don't actually think a handgun can hurt him, do you? Don't hold us back later."
Kato Megumi could not help the faint smile that touched her lips when she heard that.
This Crazy Mita, once their enemy, really did have an awkward and complicated personality.
She clearly refused to admit defeat, insisting that if her plan had not been exposed, and if she had not been forced to face all four of them at once, she would never have lost.
And yet the moment Ashikaga Miwa's words sounded even slightly dismissive of Asagiri, she got irritated on his behalf.
Could this be… tsundere?
Or maybe Crazy Mita was simply a masochist, knowing full well she could not beat Asagiri and still wanting to lose to him all over again?
It was impossible to tell.
"Hmph."
Seeing that, Ashikaga Miwa stopped hesitating. She stepped forward, pulled a handgun from her shoulder bag, held it in her left hand, and with her right drew a short blade from the nearby weapon rack. It gleamed with a cold edge, slightly longer than a dagger.
Kato Megumi equipped her dark purple dagger and Indian tomahawk as well. The moment those weapons settled into her hands, the gentle and quiet girl gave off a strange aura that mixed assassin and berserker in equal measure.
Crazy Mita pouted, put the handgun away, and drew a long katana instead.
"Let's begin."
Once Kato Megumi, Ashikaga Miwa, and Crazy Mita had all taken their positions, Asagiri smiled faintly and spoke.
The instant his words fell, he had already rushed straight at Ashikaga Miwa.
"Hm?"
Ashikaga Miwa's brows tightened. She lowered the muzzle slightly and aimed at his leg instead. She still had no idea what kind of trump card Asagiri possessed as a Player, but she did not want to accidentally kill him with a shot to a vital point.
Then, in the next instant, Asagiri's figure blurred.
His speed suddenly jumped several levels, appearing less than three meters away from her.
That abrupt change triggered Ashikaga Miwa's martial instinct. Without thinking, she pulled the trigger.
Bang!
After the shot, Ashikaga Miwa froze.
Asagiri stood in front of her with one hand raised just a few centimeters from the gun's muzzle. The spent bullet casing slid from his palm and dropped onto the wooden floor of the dojo with a clear metallic clink.
"That really hurt."
Asagiri smiled as he withdrew his hand and glanced at the mark on his palm.
"This will probably leave a bruise."
Ashikaga Miwa: "?"
A bruise?
Was he serious?
She lowered her gaze and checked again and again, confirming that the weapon in her hand really was a pistol loaded with live rounds, not a toy gun.
Then she looked at the casing still rolling on the floor and confirmed it again.
It was real ammunition.
"You… caught a bullet with your bare hand?"
She looked up at Asagiri, her usual composure shattered by genuine disbelief.
This was too absurd.
And Kato Megumi, who had seen enough of Asagiri's power to understand what was happening, knew even better that what had just shocked Ashikaga Miwa was nowhere near his limit.
Right now, because Asagiri had Crazy Mita summoned, he did not have Human Asura's passive enhancement. In game terms, that meant he was relying only on the resistance boost granted by [Regeneration of the End], and even so he had almost become immune to handgun fire.
If Human Asura were equipped as well, and his raw physical stats rose another level…
Then pistol rounds would probably fail to do even this much.
A bruise might not even be possible.
Most importantly…
"Utsunomiya, didn't we agree this would be real combat simulation? Don't hold back."
When Kato Megumi said that, Ashikaga Miwa felt even more shaken.
He was still holding back?
"I'm just helping Ashikaga sensei get used to it."
Asagiri smiled, then returned to the center of the dojo. A black long trench coat appeared on him without warning, and a dark gray mask covered his face.
"Alright. Let's begin again."
This time, the moment he gave the signal, Kato Megumi and Crazy Mita moved first.
Their figures blurred at the same instant as they rushed him with speed that Ashikaga Miwa could barely follow.
A dark purple dagger and a sharp katana struck from left and right at the same time.
Clang!
Asagiri raised his right arm. Chains wrapped around the sleeve of his black trench coat and directly blocked the katana coming down from Crazy Mita.
At the same time, his other hand swept up, condensing an ice spear that radiated freezing air, and aimed it straight at Kato Megumi.
Bang!
Kato Megumi could only dodge, and the instant she moved aside, the ice spear smashed into the floor where she had been standing.
Wood splinters exploded outward, and the entire dojo trembled.
Then Asagiri clenched his right hand into a fist and drove it into Crazy Mita's chest.
She instantly released the katana and threw both arms up to block, but the heavy impact still sent her flying nearly five meters backward, her shoes carving two deep tracks into the wooden floor.
"Your attack is too reckless."
Asagiri shook his head lightly as he said it, then turned to Ashikaga Miwa, who was still rooted in place.
"Ashikaga sensei, aren't you attacking?"
At that moment, Ashikaga Miwa's expression had completely frozen.
Who am I?
Where am I?
What exactly am I doing here?
The speed and strength Crazy Mita, Kato Megumi, and Asagiri had just shown were already enough to leave her dumbfounded.
If it had only been that, perhaps she could still barely accept it. After all, top fighters existed. Some people really could hit hard enough to send someone flying several meters, or move like beasts at the moment of attack.
But putting aside Asagiri's outrageous defense, such as catching a live bullet bare handed…
What the hell was that ice spear?
This was no longer a fight.
This was a superpower battle.
Ashikaga Miwa realized, with cold clarity, that in a battle at this level, her body simply could not keep up. Fortunately, besides close combat, she had some confidence in her marksmanship.
She immediately raised the handgun and fired two shots at Asagiri.
Even if he could catch bullets bare handed, forcing him to move might create an opening. As for the decisive strike, she would have to leave that to Kato Megumi and the twin tailed girl.
Bang! Bang!
The shell casings dropped.
Asagiri did not dodge.
He did not even sway.
He simply lowered his eyes and brushed the chest of his black trench coat with one hand.
"Ashikaga sensei, bullets can't hurt me. Out of the three of you, the only attack that can actually threaten me is…"
Before he finished, Asagiri suddenly shifted sideways.
A blur streaked past him.
Boom!!!
The Indian tomahawk Kato Megumi had thrown with [Throw] crashed into the dojo wall. The sturdy thick wood was pierced through instantly, leaving behind a crater several meters deep. Even the ceiling and the floor cracked from the shock of the impact.
"That's right. Only that."
Kato Megumi did not look surprised that he had dodged.
[Throw] had a large and obvious wind up. With Asagiri's reaction speed, and the fact that he was completely unaffected by her exclusive talent, trying to end the fight with one surprise strike had never been realistic.
Just as Crazy Mita steadied herself and prepared to rush again, she suddenly saw Asagiri's black eyes beneath the mask turn bright gold.
Dark red patterns, like lines of an incantation, spread around him.
At that moment, all three of them, Ashikaga Miwa, Kato Megumi, and Crazy Mita, felt an indescribable terror.
It was as if the vague concept of Death itself had suddenly taken shape before their eyes.
"That is…"
The usually fearless Crazy Mita stared at him, and for once even her manic confidence cracked.
Fear flashed clearly across her face.
"Supreme Magic Bullet!?"
.....
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