Kenta clenched his fist and knocked them together with eagerness.  He looked around at the others, who held cautious eyes.  This was always the plan.  They all knew it.  Even if they didn’t commit.

Changing plans meant a whole new string of problems that Chiharu tried to juggle.  She looked over to Nao.  “Exactly how many people are there?”

Digging in deep to her power, Nao focused on the patrol below them.  Their hurried approach added unnecessary stress.  “There’s five of them.  I think one of them is a child.”

“A kid?  What messed up cult is this?”

“Calm down, Kenta.”

“Yeah, boss…”

“They’re grouped together, so it’s harder to pick them out.  But I can see them clearly.”

“Good, let’s move and get into position.”  Chiharu quietly motioned to the top of the stairs.  She leapt up to the railing perfectly balanced.  “I’ll explain the plan.”  She then disappeared out of sight with the expectation that they followed.

It hadn’t been the first time that they saw her actually act like a ninja before, but her grace still left them surprised.  Once they picked their jaws back up, they did their best to follow in like mind.  Their leg strength largely saved them.  There she waited at the entrance into the hall.

Chapter 632 - Ambush of Shadows

Two floors up from their triggered trap, they gathered in the threshold of the hall.  Nao continued to monitor their time.  “They’re not moving fast.”

“Probably on edge and cautious.  That’ll work to our advantage.”

“So what’s the plan, boss?”

Chiharu pulled out a small tablet from her tool’s pack.  Using the touch screen, she illustrated crudely the plan to them as she talked them through it.  “You will hide in waiting within my shadow.  As they arrive, I’ll use my portal to transport all of us to the rooftop.  From there, you will divide each up and keep them from providing support to the other.”

“Isn’t the roof a little small?”

“It’ll be enough, but if you need there are three other roofs.  Just keep them up and away from the lower floors.  We don’t need more attention.  Since we don’t know what their powers are yet, test them out.  If it’s a poor match for you, swap with someone.  Don’t forget to communicate if you need to, but don’t fill the line with empty chatter.”

Everyone nodded to her.  With the plan in agreement, she opened her shadow once more.  It stretched out from her feet encompassing the area around them.  The four quickly sank into the ground as she went into hiding.

Chiharu leapt to the ceiling pulling open the shadow and partially submerged her feet.  Locked into place, she leaned forward to lay down letting the shadow grab a whole of her torso and waist.  Finishing the stealth, she drew over the cloak of shadow blending into the lightless hall.

While she waited and listened, her mind started running scenarios.  The encounter with the lightning woman left a strong impact on her.  Not as though as needed to be reminded there were always more powerful people out there, but it made it acutely clear how close they might be.  ‘We know so little about this patrol.  They could have someone comparable to that woman…  I won’t be able to protect them if that happens…’

As the seconds ticked away into minutes, the tension mounted.  She noticed the patrol approaching.  Slowing her heart down as best as she could to present a low profile.  If they were anywhere as good as she, they could hear her at this range.  Chiharu assumed they knew roughly her location.  But that was part of the plan.

Lights shown through the hall bouncing illumination.  They remained cautious as their hunt for the intruders hung close.  There was no indication that they knew they were walking into a trap.  Chiharu remained unnoticed, for now.

From her vantage, she could finally see vague glimpses of the team that tracked them.  Nao had already given her a pretty good sense of what to expect and they proved accurate.  Three women and two men, though one was a child and the rest ranged from teenager to adult.  She knew it was a cult, but seeing the child still bothered her.

‘They’re all grouped up still…time to act.’  A muffled scattering came out of the door.  It was only two away from the group.  They quickly gathered around the door with one of the women leading them.  She gave whispered directions to the others.

With a countdown, they burst into the room to find it immediately empty, a vase knocked over.  Chiharu slipped down off the ceiling and closed the door.  While they were distracted by everything happening, she sprung the trap.

Black shadows stretched out under the patrolling team’s feet unnoticed in their confusion.  Everyone was already surrounded before they realized what was happening.  Chiharu completed the trap, expanding the shadows rapidly to stretch up and engulf them.  It dragged them deep into the shadows of her world.  ‘If only I could keep them here, but maintaining this place takes a lot of effort.’

She sank into her shadow and rejoined Ayano and the rest.  A quick nod and glance signaled her expectations for them.  Everyone disappeared through her dimension.  Seconds later, all of their senses returned and the cool air of the night hit them all.

“Miss Satake?”

Those of the patrol looked around dazed and confused about what happened.  The roof came as something familiar, but uncertain how they reached the top.  But the woman called Satake stepped forward, noticing Chiharu’s team.

Without a word, Chiharu blinked out of sight and struck deep in the gut of the woman.  The weight of the impact sent the woman flying across the roof.  Chiharu followed after her target, quickly sprinting past the woman to grab her and slam her into the concrete cratering it slightly.

The explosive opening set the tone of the next few seconds.  Kenta checked with everyone as they only had one choice now.  He charged in just taking whomever came up to him.  They had no plan in picking which enemy.  On the left of the patrol team, an older teenage woman became his pick.  Following Chiharu’s lead, he dropped in and gathered up some of his plasma.

In the center of the group, he released the plasma into the concrete roof for barely a second.  It was enough to produce an explosive reaction.  Steam and small shards of concrete shot out forcing the people to separate.  Kenta jumped towards the girl and kicked her out to the opposite side of the roof.  He quickly gave chase.

Ayano followed in after Kenta’s move with Nao and Yuichi behind her.  They finished splitting the team up.  Ayano picked off the other woman, taking her to a different corner.  Nao threw the child and chased after him.  Yuichi whipped the adult man over his shoulder and tried to drop him with a single punch.

Chiharu noted passively through her shadows the success of Ayano and the rest.  It gave her the focus to drive home another punch into the woman, but the surprise finally wore off.  She missed the target.  ‘Those two hits weren’t enough to knock her out?  She’s tough…’

Rolled out of the way, the leader of the patrol team slammed into the wall of the roof.  She blinked trying to recover her senses, but Chiharu sped towards her.  Satake attempted to dodge out of the way, but found her leg stuck.  Glancing down, her foot was locked into a shadow.

The ninja struck with her knee into the chest trying to finally bring the woman down.  It did little more than stagger her back.  Flipping backwards, Chiharu took a sprinting lunge straight for the woman.  Once more, she kicked her in the stomach needing that knock out.

Whether toughness or training, the woman refused to go down.  The leader certainly was built differently from others that Chiharu had faced.  Each second wasted made the plan slip away.  Sending a curse the idiot nerd’s way, she unleashed a heavy barrage of attacks.  It knocked the woman into the short wall cracking the concrete.

A final strike completely shattered the concrete and steel barrier.  Chiharu put as much of her strength into the kick that she could from such a stance.  It sent Satake flying off the roof.  Quickly reacting, Chiharu leapt after the woman, giving her another hard kick to force her trajectory to the other tower.

On the distant apartment tower, a cloud of concrete and dust coughed up into the air.  An unknown outcome, but Chiharu knew it hadn’t ended yet.  The woman felt as tough as the musclehead.  Their ambush started to run out.

Kenta squared down with his target.  She crashed into the corner of the wall cracking it a little.  Noticing that that alone hadn’t been enough, Kenta jumped in.  ‘I need to see how strong this one is…perhaps this will work…’  He threw down several punches testing her defenses.  The powers that she possessed remained unknown at the moment.

However, he noticed nothing happened.  Unlike before, there was little to no movement out of the girl.  And each hit with his fist felt almost like hitting a wall rather than flesh.  ‘Is this her power?  I wonder if it’ll be the right one I need…’

Suddenly, the woman kicked her foot down, throwing up a debris screen.  Kenta backed off in defense only for an inhumanly large hand to burst out from the smoke.  Surprised, he never expected for the massive hand to grab him and slam him into the floor.  ‘Dammit…I’m going to have to fight for real…’

In another corner, Ayano closed in after the woman following Chiharu’s instructions.  She grabbed the stunned woman by the leg and slammed her down into the roof.  Cracks shot out around the impact.  Quickly, Ayano leapt on the woman’s back, pinning her arms as taught.

She remembered the training and went straight for a knockout.  Ayano gripped the woman’s neck and head in her arms praying for this to end.  ‘Please…please…please…no more death!’  Even off guard, the stranger struggled in her grip.  Her arms tightened more trying to balance to not kill.

The woman fought her more, but with the unfavorable angle, could do little.  Until suddenly, an explosion at the side of Ayano completely took off her head, spraying blood everywhere.

A heavy gasp came out of Ayano’s mouth as she awoke from her fatal future.  She whispered in her mind the altered fate and saved herself the grim reality.  However, a minor blast hit her stomach, breaking her hold.  The momentary stun gave the woman enough time to elbow Ayano free.  They separated to recover themselves.  ‘I failed…’

Nao felt her heart pounding as she raced after the kid.  ‘Why is he out here?!  This shouldn’t be!’  She bit on her lip as she leapt up to kick him in the stomach.  ‘Please just go to sleep!  Please!’  Her hopes were not answered.  Grappling him, she had the size advantage to pin him down.  He barely even seemed to react.

Unnervingly, the kid just sort of hung there not resisting her.  It felt a little strange for Nao.  Panic made her rush to try to finish things.  Yet things looked to be going her way.  She just needed to see it over fast.

A heavy punch slammed into her face knocking her off the kid and crashing her into the wall of the roof’s edge.  She felt the sting of blood on her lip.  The power stunned her as she blinked trying to figure out what happened.  ‘Did someone come to his aid?’

She looked back at the boy to see him standing up.  Casually, he straightened out his straight and then crossed his arms looking over his shoulder at Nao.  Standing behind the kid a two meter tall blue muscle bound man matched the boy’s stance.

Yuichi remained at the center of the roof with his feet pressed against the man.  Yet there was something wrong about the feeling.  It didn’t feel like he hit the man, rather air.  He narrowed his eyes, noticing some sort of odd shimmer.  Something appeared to protect him.

To his surprise, the man kicked back at him, knocking him into the air.  The man followed by shooting upwards to strike Yuichi in the chest.  A quick slap in the face sent Yuichi crashing into the roof.  The man landed with a heavy thud, but no longer looked like a human.  Horns came out of his head twisting and his muscles bulked up hunching him over slightly.  ‘What the hell have I gotten myself into?!’