The port was awfully silent.

Clouds of steam were rising from the water around submerged ships.

Emmanuel was looking at the Western ironclads and frigates, and was trying to say something but no words could leave his mouth.

A bit more than dozen of steam warships were sunk, and no traces of their crews could be seen from the land.

At the edge of a waterfront was standing a girl in a plated dress. Her golden hair was fluttered by sea breeze.

“It doesn’t look like you are going to surrender.”

The girl chuckled, and turned around.

Veronica’s expression was calm. She can win easily but this time we will not hesitate.

[4 versus 1. Even she won’t be able to stop us.]

Veronica started walking towards us, without drawing the rapier.

Emmanuel was about to walk towards her but we all gripped him.

‘You bet it is she who sunk the ships.’

‘Nonsense.’ (E)

“How about we talk this through…?” I tried to catch the girl’s attention.

“Let us try~?” Veronica smiled.

“Why did you destroy everything here? Why would you even want to fight us now? It’s over!” The smile disappeared from her face.

“She will go on a rampage, should anything happen.” Veronica looked at me with disdain, before gripping the rapier’s scabbard.

“What do you mean?”

“This is a nice place where I can fight you freely, without unnecessary interference.” (V)

“Come on! Why do we even need to fight? If you surrender…!” Veronica only laughed, and pointed behind us.

As a dummy cat, I had to turn around and look. No bad guy would let an opportunity to talk about his evil plans slip by.

A small squad of soldiers was approaching us. They were led by Alba.

“There is only one person missing.” (V)

“Sorry, Daddy couldn’t come.” (A)

“As he always did.” (V)

With every second of Mother-Daughter chat, Alba’s expression was becoming darker, until the woman gripped a dagger.

“WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!” Alba shouted, and prepared to order the troops to open fire.

‘ ‘Quick draw’.’ (E)

BANG

‘PING’

---

In a split second the fight broke out.

Yuriko stepped back a bit, bracing herself for some reason.

“Be cautious! I can’t feel anything from her!” (Y)

“Rude.” Veronica crossed the distance between us in one leap.

Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang

“Don’t interfere!” (V)

“AARGH!” Veronica kicked Alba so hard, that the woman flew several meters.

“YOU DARE?!” Patricia tried hitting Veronica in the back but the sword hit only her afterimage.

Veronica was already poking holes in Yuriko. I hurried to assist, and managed to block one of the rapier strikes.

“ ‘Grandmaster’s prowess’.” (V)

Before I could guess what happened I was hit several times, and could only catch a glimpse of Veronica flying off at someone else.

“GHA!” Patricia was the next one to cross swords with Veronica.

Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang

In between attacking Patricia, Veronica deflected all of the soldiers’ and Emmanuel’s shots. I couldn’t fire because I risked hitting Patricia. I had to rush to assist once again.

Before I could even approach Patricia, Veronica was already by Alba’s side.

“AAARGH!” The girl mercilessly pierced both of the woman’s legs, before disappearing again.

BANG BANG

“Espicha!” The man tried shooting the rapidly approaching girl but to no avail.

Instead of fighting us, Veronica was just running around. She was inflicting light wounds, without actually trying to fight.

I had no idea if she didn’t even consider us a threat, or she was just having sadistic fun of draining us of blood and strength.

I was the next to be attacked.

‘Ping-Ping-Ping’

I somehow managed to block the girl’s attacks, which somehow made her delighted.

Instead of running at someone else, Veronica continued fighting me.

For an unknown reason I was managing the attacks well, and parried almost everything she threw at me.

“Bye~!” My katana slashed air, and I heard screams.

When I turned around, Alba’s soldiers were already dead, and Veronica was pulling out the rapier out of Emmanuel’s stomach.

Patricia was patching wounds on Alba’s legs, and Yuriko tried to stop the crazy dance of Veronica.

For a moment I felt my sanity going somewhere else. After all, we were just playthings for the girl.

“Just stop already! ‘Whirlwind’!” Yuriko swung the tsurugi, and a wave similar to my ‘Air slash’ hit Veronica.

The girl staggered and stopped.

She started trembling, and laughed.

“HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!”