Me and Megumi took our battle stances.

 

I told Megumi, “I will take on these A rank guys, you go handle the others”.

 

Megumi looked at me with a shocked face and said, “What are you talking about? You can’t take on two A ranks by yourself. Don’t be stupid, let me help”.

 

I looked at her and said, “Look we are currently surrounded and outnumbered, we can’t win if we fight together. Let’s split up and each take on different enemies. The B ranks shouldn’t be a problem, I’ll hold on these two for a while, after you take care of them, we can then fight these two together”.

 

Megumi looked at me with a troubled look and said, “But But…”.

 

“No buts, please understand”, I said.  She nodded finally relenting and decided to take on the cronies.

 

I faced the two A ranks. Derek laughed and said, “Finally, you guys done? Frankly I am surprised  you decided to take us both. I don’t know if I should praise you for courage or laugh at your stupidity. You know as well that you can’t stop us for long right? Heck the princess over there is stronger than you and she couldn’t even beat me. What are you going to do?”.

 

Well he is right, fighting two A ranks is a very stupid idea. But I have no choice, I am the strongest one here, those B ranks alone aren’t that much trouble but together they can cause problems. Not to mention with these two A ranks it would be impossible to fight. So I have to hold them off and wait for to her to finish.

 

Also, I am stronger than the princess over there so I think I should do much better than her against you. Though I have to admit even after Megumi comes back I have to fight an A rank experienced fighter one on one, I envisioned take him down together with Megumi but fate was cruel.

 

But thinking about it won’t solve anything, I have to face them, so let’s do this.

 

“We’ll see about that”, I said feigning confidence.

 

Derek laughed and said, “Feeling confident are we? Let’s see how long that lasts”.

 

With that he rushed towards me with twin dagger in his hands. What incredible speed. But I managed to block both daggers with my sword.

 

“Not bad”, said Ethan as he suddenly appeared behind my back with his spear and was ready to strike. But I have kept my senses sharp and I had detected him appearing, so I let go blocking Derek’s daggers and jumped up and used wind to put some distance between me and them.

 

Derek said, “It seems I misjudged you. You are definitely stronger than the princess but  that won’t be enough to stop us”.

 

With this he coated his daggers with fire and dashed to me. Ethan also coated his spear with fire and jumped to get on top of me.

 

Shit, I used wind tornado on my blade and swung at them, the attack formed a tornado and engulfed both  of them.

 

UFFF!!

 

UGHH!!

 

They said but then they both used their weapons with fire magic still on them and cut through the tornado. As expected of veterans. But nevertheless I succeeded in injuring bot of them.

 

“I must say, that was unexpected. Fine, if that’s how you want to play it, we will get more serious”, said Derek.

 

With this they both rushed towards me again with fire magic in their weapons but they were rushing in together.

 

I braced myself and parried both their attacks. Then Ethan smirked and sent a kick on my stomach. It was so fast I couldn’t react.

 

UFFF!!

 

I said as I slammed into the wall. There was crack in the wall and I felt that I was bleeding on back. I coughed blood. I could Megumi’s frightened and concerned voice saying, “Takeru-kun…”. But when I looked she was forced to defend against attacks, she can’t catch a break.

 

No more importantly I am in a worse state than her. Thankfully nothing is broken but it hurts like hell. These two are way more difficult to deal with than I thought.

 

I staggered to get up. Thankfully I still could.

 

Derek had an amused expression. “Oh you can still fight? You are tougher than I thought. Ok then let’s end this”. With a wicked grin he looked at Ethan and they both nodded at each other and attacked me immediately with flaming weapons.

 

I waited for them to come near me. It was difficult for me to move immediately. As soon as they came near me, I casted win tornado on them with my sword.

 

They were so surprised that they couldn’t react. Perhaps they thought I was unable to do anything.

 

As they were engulfed in it, I casted “lightning dance”, which consisted of multiple lightning strikes. It hit them through the tornado. This had to do a lot of damage.

 

But then a heard two voices simultaneously say, “Fire wall”. Two walls of fire appeared, completely negating my attacks.

 

And both Derek and Ethan appeared, they both were panting, anger clear on their faces. They had burn and cut marks on their bodies. They were clearly injured. It clearly wasn’t enough.

 

Though I felt a bit better, I did better than I thought. But at the same time I am exhausted due to pain, injury and use of magic. I don’t know how much longer  I can hold on. Those two however look much better than me.

 

Derek said, “Brat, you have annoyed us enough”. Ethan added, “Yes, this time we will surely end you”.

 

With this they both readied their weapons and coated them with fire and charged at me. Crap, I can’t use a spell immediately and I can’t move, is this my end? Will I die here? Father, I am sorry, I tried.

 

Just as I was thinking that, I heard Megumi’s voice, “Fire wall”. A fire wall appeared in front of me, shielding me from them. They both backed again with Derek saying, “Tch”.

 

I looked to see Megumi running in my direction. Her face anxious, Finally, it looks like she took care of all the cronies.

 

She arrived in front of me saying, “Are you alright? Are you ok? I came as fast as I could”.

 

I smiled and said, “I am doing good enough. I am still alive. But I am glad to see you. You sure took your time”.

 

She defended herself saying, “I tried, believe me, I really tried but but…they were good…I couldn’t”. With this she hung her head in sorrow.

 

I hurriedly said, “I know I know..I was just kidding”.

 

She angrily said, “You are so mean. I was genuinely worried about you”.

 

I said, “I am sorry, anyway , do you have any health potion? I could use some right now”.

 

“Yes” she said and took out a glass bottle with a blue liquid inside from her pocket. I immediately took it, I could feel the pain subsiding and my energy returning, I can fight now.

 

Then the fire subsided.

 

Derek who was waiting for it to clear said sarcastically, “What a touching moment. Can we now continue the fight?”.

 

“Yes”, I said.

 

All four of us took positions. Me against Derek and Megumi against Ethan.

 

And the fight began, I rushed towards Derek, this time using lightning. Derek tried to parry my attack with his flaming sword. But I having fought him, figured a bit about his movement pattern. SO I used wind on my legs and temporarily increased my speed to avoid his daggers and go to his back.

 

I then impaled him in the back with my electricity induced sword.

 

AGGGGH!

 

He cried in pain. He then collapsed. I guess the damage he took from al the attacks has finally taken a toll on him. He became unconscious. I sighed in relief. I guess I am a lot better than I thought.

 

Then I hear a “Kyaaa”, I saw Megumi being hit and she was flying towards the wall. I immediately used wind magic on my feet and rushed as fast I could towards her and caught her in time.

 

I asked, “Are you ok?”. Megumi opened her eyes and then immediately blushed and then muttered, “Yes, I am ok. Th-Thank you for saving me”. I nodded and said, “No problem, you did it for me too” and let her down.

 

But what the heck was that blush all about? We were in the middle of a battle, she is my comrade of course I will save her, she saved me, so what’s there to blush about? Was it cause I caught her in my arms? If so what a silly reason to do it.

 

Shaking my head I turned toward her and said, “Ok let’s take him down together”.

 

Megumi nodded and we both face Ethan together, ready for the final battle.