Razel took a battle pose as did Chandler.

The two were ready to start the fight when they heard a strange sound.

Avenger had shielded Iris and Liddy from an attack coming from above.

Then turning around, Razel realized someone was behind him.

"Huh?"

It was a mysterious figure wearing black attire similar to a Japanese exorcist, known as onmyouji.

A black headdress covered its head and a long green veil covered its face which reached down to its chest.

Its hands were covered with bandages and it inserted a small electrified needle into Razel's neck.

The voice of an elderly man spoke to him.

"I have just punctured your carotid artery. The moment I remove the needle, a large amount of blood will gush from there."

"It's all over."

Chandler bristled at the sight of him.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing, it's my fight!"

The man snapped back at him.

"Racer-sama and Jet-sama were defeated by one of the men you defeated. We shouldn't waste time on petty trifles-"

"Hey."

He noticed that Razel had turned his neck fully around to look at him.

That movement had to be enough to break the needle that was thinner than glass.

If he broke it, he would die even faster as it would pierce muscles and arteries.

But the man noticed that not only was the needle broken, Razel's neck was intact, as if it had never pierced him.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing behind me?"

He quickly fled before Razel sent a high speed punch at him.

He looked at Avenger who was wounded in the leg by his needles.

"How come you didn't get hurt? That needle is so thin that even the surface of the water wouldn't notice it was touched."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Well. I'm special, and I'll just say that my body really likes to do violence against assholes like you."

Chandler yelled back at her.

"You were the rookie Eraser-sama sent, weren't you?"

"Stay out of my fight, rookie! I'll kill you!"

"I refuse. Time's up, I left some trouble scattered around for the captor of those two to waste time."

"Hey."

Razel spoke to both of them.

"I don't care if you both attack me. I'll kick all of your asses equally."

Gesturing rudely, Razel declared war on them both.

Chandler fixed himself and the man on the roof got even angrier.

"Okay. I'll be quick!"

"Garara. don't get carried away!"

The two approached Razel, who quickly grabs the man by the head, but dodged him at the last minute.

Razel realized something.

"You... do you have the same magical power as me?"

Little green lights in the form of electricity coursed through his legs.

"So what if I do?"

"It's nothing. Just that for a weakling you're pretty good at escaping."

"...!"

The man was so angry that he threw several electrified needles at him.

Razel saw Chandler approaching and stepped aside.

The needles impacted on the plates covering his body and were ejected at high speed.

Razel understood how those plates worked.

(It's a magic tool, no doubt about it.)

(The moment the needles approached, they slowly receded driven by a greater force.)

(It would be the same as two magnets that do not attract each other, only one would have greater force than the other and that is why it is repelled.)

(I still don't understand how it activates them.)

"It's time to experiment even more."

"Lightning spear!"

The spear was sent to his head, Chandler ducked it and his muscles took over and lifted the plate covering his shoulder blade and reflected it.

The spear of electricity was sent back to Razel who only turned his neck.

"I see. You don't look like you'll be easy to defeat."

"Be it physical blows or magical strikes, you seem to be immune to them."

"Garara."

Chandler started laughing at that.

"That's right. This is a gift from a certain person."

"Since I was a kid I had a good command of my muscles and this magic tool works perfectly with me."

"I can repel all attacks thanks to my perfect synchronicity with my muscles and reflexes."

"That's why I'm the third strongest of the twelve night spears."

"Oh?"

"That means there are two others who are even stronger."

"You're a cheat! It means there are two guys who are stronger than you!"

"You're just a liar! You're no big deal and besides you're easy to beat if you're the third one."

Chandler hearing the taunts, only got angrier.

"I see."

His eyes were bloodshot.

"Killing you won't be enough. I'll make you beg for mercy before I do it."

Razel spat near his feet.

"You're not the first idiot to say it. The only idiot I'm afraid of is on a scale none of you could match in a 1000 years."

"Hurry up and come and get me!"

Both the mystery man and Chandler were really mad at him.

Iris was seeing this battle with her own eyes and couldn't believe it.

"It's unbelievable."

She said with a tone of awe and admiration.

"He's facing two enemies, with one of them having a clear advantage, and yet he taunts both of them with a confidence that he's won this fight."

"That level of self-confidence. I wish I'd had it, or had someone close to me like that."

Her heart began to beat in a rush. She thought it was a pain in her chest.

But even with that pain, her eyes didn't leave Razel who once again prepared to fight.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Chandler shouted as he rushed over.

He readied his fist and threw it at him.

Razel wanted to test the kind of damage he would give him, so he minimized the power of his Blut to the bare minimum.

Razel was hit squarely in the face and sent flying swiftly through the skies.

"I see. This kind of damage is on the level of-"

"It's too soon for you to relax."

The mystery man approached him and used his bandages to grab his body and with a tornado created in midair, they both headed for the ground.

Razel being the only one to suffer the impact.

"With that he had to-"

"...!"

He was terrified as he watched Razel get up as if nothing had happened to him.

As if being buried in the ground at high speed and from a great height hadn't really meant anything.

"No doubt. This kind of damage is on par with the hit Eli gave me that time."

He looked at both of them with boredom.

"Astraea. would using the Blut against them be cheating or taking them as a threat?"

The vampire queen in a bored tone said.

(In the first place, using the Blut against them would be an embarrassment to me.)

(One hit is enough for me. If you can't do it, then you're a weakling, child.)

"I see. It reminds me of last year when I fought that shaved hairstyle, he wasn't strong, I was weak."

"To fight low level enemies requires the mythic. A single fist."

Despite blood running down his head, Razel didn't care and hid one of his arms.

"With a single fist I will defeat you both. Give me your best blows before you are sent to sleep."

◇◇◇

As Razel fought, Iris along with Liddy watched in bewilderment as Avenger suffered from the wounds caused by protecting them.

"Iris-sama, what do we do?"

"What are you talking about?"

"This person, is he our enemy?"

"He is."

"But. He has protected us all this time, he even received harm for us."

"I know and that leaves me very confused."

Iris was in a roll.

(He's clearly an enemy because he belongs to the Phantom Troop.)

(But I won't deny that he protected us against all attacks using his body.)

(What should I do?)

Then she remembered Razel.

(Is this a test?)

(Is... this the test sent to me to see if I deserve a new chance?)

(I have trusted people who turned their backs on me.)

(Only Liddy has stayed by my side.)

(But right now, there is someone who I distrusted and fights to save me, as well as someone who protected me even though it led to him being attacked by his companions.)

(What choice should I make?)

A strange memory appeared in his mind.

It was night in his room and his sister was there, the strange thing was that Liddy was there too.

Her sister's voice said to her.

(Iris. Trusting requires only one step, don't take the step that your logic chooses, but your heart.)

(The heart never deceives you. Liddy came from that heart and not from logic.)

After remembering something that was never supposed to exist. Iris cried.

(I see. Even at times when I thought you were gone, you were still helping me, sister.)

She wiped her tears and said to Avenger.

"I want to trust you. Please make me trust you."

"Tell me who you are?"

In a tired tone of voice, he told her.

"For now. I can only tell you, that I didn't join them for some horrible reason like the others."

"I'm looking for someone, who is inside that organization."

"I... I saved you because I don't want more innocent people to die in front of me."

She saw his eyes, those tired eyes showed total sincerity.

"I understand. I'll have you tell me the rest later, for now let me get those needles out of you and then I'll give you the elixir."

"Thank you..."

Iris was starting to feel weird about trusting strangers, but she felt like she was accomplishing something great by doing so.

A large explosion sounded from where Razel and those two were fighting.

◇◇◇

"Damn you brat!"

The mysterious man was throwing electrified needles with increased power straight at Razel.

He without feeling threatened, just ran in the surroundings while his dominant hand was on his back.

"That's good exercise, you're better than those guys at least."

"...!"

He just circled around in circles and despite his attacks being very powerful, he couldn't hit any of them on him.

"Garara! Don't forget about me."

Chandler stepped up and began to throw several punches.

The man's needles were sent at him as well, but they were repelled at the ends.

Razel was between two dangerous typhoons and yet he didn't consider them a threat.

This was the level of improvement he has received after a whole year of various fights against dangerous enemies.

So many battles have given him a sharper and more developed sense of fighting.

The young man who started out as a simple background character had finally started to become a man worthy of being called a warrior.

Both Chandler and the man were beginning to feel more and more insulted, a mere young man was giving them the humiliation of their lives by dodging their attacks. Even having two opponents, he had the luxury of restricting their movements.

The man couldn't take it anymore and used an attack he didn't want to teach.

"You've fed me up enough to use it. It's a good thing they're not around."

"Ninpo!"

He threw bandage covered needles near Razel to tie him up.

Chandler was pushed away so he wouldn't be affected as well.

He placed his hands to make some Japanese exorcism seals.

"Junkan denki jigoku!"

A circle of flame-like electricity was created and spread straight at him.

"This is my most powerful attack. You won't make it out alive without a miracle."

Razel seeing that green inferno approaching, said.

"Impact bazooka."

Using his hand that could move, he brought it to the ground quickly to cause a loud blast of energy that made everything around him collapse.

The man was falling to the underground as he muttered.

"Huh? Was that even a Kiken?"

"How does he know how to make one? Even I haven't been able to master it."

"Because you're a loser."

"...!"

Razel came at him leaping over the rubble and with his free hand, he gave the man a mighty punch and sent him into the depths to sleep.

He then jumped onto the wall and climbed up to the surface where Chandler was waiting for him.

"Garara, that was amazing, but you won't manage to save yourself from me."

"The truth is... I'm bored with you guys already. I'm getting hungry and surely Leila must be biting some knight."

"I want to keep her from eating someone, so let's get this over with."

"I'll let you hit me for ten seconds. Then I'll hit you in ten seconds, how's that sound?"

Chandler stared at him. Then he began to laugh.

"Garara!"

"You're crazy! I like that!"

"Come on, start."

"One..."

The punches and kicks sent by him using his plates only caused Razel's body to be turned into a punching bag.

Razel counted as he was bombarded by punches from Chandler.

Barely three seconds had passed since he started counting.

"Four..."

"Garara!"

"This is the reason I joined them."

"The reason I could exercise senseless violence against others is something I've always wanted to do."

"But they were limiting me. Society was limiting me to putting up with me."

"Six..."

"But it doesn't matter anymore. I'll be able to do as I please from now on."

"There will be no limiters for me."

"The world will tremble at the name of Marius Chandler! No. Big Pino-sama! Garara!"

"Eight..."

It was then that Chandler took notice.

He was beating Razel. But he was still counting.

"Ten. Your time is up, now it's mine."

Razel held out his free hand and began to slowly open and close his fist.

"One."

Chandler thought as he looked at it.

(Why is he just covered in blood?)

(Shouldn't I have smashed his skull in with all that damage?)

"Two."

(No. I'm sure I should have smashed his skull in.)

"Three."

(There's no way he's still on his feet after that beating.)

"Four."

(My fists are rated at the same level as a horse riding at over 100 kilometers per hour.)

"Five."

(He should be on the ground unconscious.)

(He should be...)

"Six."

It was then that it dawned on him at last.

"Seven."

Chandler's hands, which had little plates around his fists, were shattered.

"Eight."

His exposed bones, destroyed tendons and torn muscles.

His hands were so destroyed that it looked as if an explosion had done this to him.

"Nine."

He understood everything finally.

"Ten."

(I see.)

Razel's fist began to glow and lightly placed his palm in the center of his body, the only place not protected by a plate.

Chandler was starting to break out in a cold sweat.

He was scared.

It was the first time in his life, that he understood how his victims felt being with him.

A deep fear of a superior monster.

The monster who boasted that there was nothing superior to him, saw how a little man showed him that genuine power is held by those who do not underestimate their enemies.

They do not, because they do not consider them a threat.

(He had all to lose from the start.)

It was the last thing he thought before Razel said.

"Bazooka impact. Boosted to 100%."

The blue light was so powerful, it generated a small explosion.

The plate armor covering Chandler's body were totally destroyed.

Chandler himself was defeated with a single move.

His eyes were blank and blood was pouring out everywhere.

He was sent flying straight into a house and completely destroyed it.

Razel asked Astraea how it went.

"How did it go?"

(Umm. Not bad, for a rookie.)

"Rookie!"

"I let you use my power without limiting you. And yet you limit yourself unconsciously, you even need the Blut."

(You'd better have become a vampire and with that you can defeat them with the dirt under your fingernails.)

"No. You're just making fun of me."

(Ah, you noticed.)

"R-Razel."

Iris came running straight to him.

She left Avenger in Liddy's care.

Iris saw what happened.

She couldn't believe it.

"I... I don't know what to say."

"This whole thing is... something I never thought would happen as long as I lived."

"What you did here was... not just amazing."

Iris looked like an amazed child after seeing a fireworks display for the first time in her life.

She didn't know what to say to him, but one word escaped her red lips.

With a wet expression, ducking her head and with it her golden curls falling she said.

"Thank you. For helping me before, thank you for all your help you've given me."

"You really, are really-"

Razel pulls Iris by her hand.

She was reddening, she didn't know what to say.

Her head was placed on his chest.

In her mind flashed a theater show she saw as a child.

All the women screamed when the protagonist was embraced by the knight, now she understood their reasons.

Her heart beats when a strong and reliable man, who also saved her life, embraces her.

Iris thought that maybe he is asking for a reward, she closed her eyes because she did not expect this.

But when she opened them, she noticed that her arm, Razel's arm was pierced by a small scythe which came from a long chain that reached the bottom of the hole.

Out of said hole came the man with his clothes severely damaged.

"You survived, that's amazing."

(I told you, you were a rookie.)

"Tch. Because of you I'll get a lecture."

The man covered his face with bandages, one green eye and aged brown skin was glaring furiously at Razel.

"I will not forget this."

"I will kill you next time."

"In my clan there is a motto, lose once is shame, lose a second time gives no chance for the coward to have a third."

"I swear I will make the Phantom Troop. Both you and that woman, kill them in the most painful way possible."

"You will have to live in fear every day of your life because of the stupidity of opposing in the face of a threat-!"

"Shut your mouth. You bark a lot, but you don't bite anything."

He threw a lightning spear at him that pierced the man's leg.

"Guh..."

He groaned in pain and then fled, jumping between the neighboring houses.

"I would have liked to at least know his name. To use when it's my turn to go to the bathroom and yell out that I found him."

Razel commented before noticing Iris looking at him with a strangely warm gaze.

"Y-Your arm. How is it?"

Razel looked at his arm and then doing a little pressure made the scythe come out expelled, the Blut ran through his veins managing to close the wound as if nothing had happened.

"It was nothing, worse things happened to me that should have killed me."

"Now then. Will you tell me what's going on here?"

"I-I will..."

Iris began to tell him everything.

As her story progressed, his serious face became disfigured by a childish cry.

"Uwaah! How sad is that!"

"She really is a good big sister. I should try to be one for my little siblings since I've never given them advice. I feel ashamed of Annerose. Uwaah!"

Although he seemed to be mocking, his cry was sincere.

She continued to tell her story and gradually Razel's expression was disfigured by one similar to an ogre's.

"That damn Karl."

"That bitch Muriel."

"All those pile of NPCs."

"I swear, if I have them around, I'll kick all of their asses."

After telling her story, Iris was relieved.

Liddy was a friend, but in the end she was a person who would always tell her what she wanted to hear.

Razel was an outsider who had an opinion from his position.

She thought maybe she did something wrong, but he grabbed her shoulders and said words she would never forget.

"You never did anything wrong, remember that well."

"Those guys are just unscrupulous bastards."

"I'm sure they had it planned even, should your father be able to tell the king of this country that his future king is an asshole who would get them all killed on a whim."

"Good. While I'm on my own, I'll be sure to get revenge on the prince for you."

"Together, you watching from afar, you'll see how I kick his ass and force him to apologize that stupid prince."

After hearing everything he said.

Iris smiled heartily.

"Thank you."

"Your words... it's the first time someone gave me support from the perspective that didn't make me think it was wrong."

"I realize that now."

Iris collapsed due to her knees not being able to take it anymore.

Razel rushed to hold her up.

She was crying with happiness, a happiness she had never imagined before.

"What I was only punishing myself for not having inner strength. It's as you say, it was all orchestrated by those bastards no doubt."

"But now I don't care anymore."

"They can go to hell the two of them, since surely the queen won't let an idiot like him to the throne."

"Sounds like you know the queen."

"Ah, Leila! I forgot about her."

Razel shooed after remembering that Leila was still alone.

Before he could move.

"Sorry to interrupt your romantic talk."

The same orange-eyed man stood beside them.

"You guys will come with me, I need to ask you questions."

"Basically. You're under arrest."

"... Huh? Excuse me?"

"I said put your hands up and I'll lock you idiots in a stinking cell."

And with that arrest, ended that crazy day.

_________________

Ninpo: Junkan denki jigoku/Ninja Art: Electric Hell Circling