With my hand, I motion for him to bring it on.

Gallo laughs and pulls out another knife.
With superhuman speed, he's right in front of me.
Blade to the right, I dodge to the left.
A slash to the left, I shift to the right.

Thanks to [HASTE] and the buffs, I manage to keep up with the assassin's speed.
But suddenly... a knee strike!

His martial ability catches me off guard, making me step back in pain.
I quickly recover and avoid Gallo's double thrust.

I take the opportunity to strike him with my alchemist's knife.
Being just a hair too short, the knife fails to harm him.
Gallo steps back and deflects the blade with his weapon.
He strikes with the other.

Using the kunai his sister 'gifted' me, I block the blow.
We remain tense for a few seconds.
Then he steps back.
He studies me.

"It's not possible that you can keep up with me..." the guy comments.
"In reality, I'm outclassing you," I taunt him.
The expression that was one of mockery and disdain just minutes ago has now shifted to one of ferocity.
Gallo Schrecken wants to give it his all.

He quickly casts a spell.

[SHADOW SHADING]

Darkness engulfs the area within a few meters.
Visibility is close to zero.

Not for my opponent, though, as he possesses the passive ability [DARK VISION], allowing him to see quite well in darkness and among shadows.

Highly useful skills for an assassin.

I sense the air movement.
I dodge. But...

"Aaargh..." One of his blades grazes me.

Blood flows from my right arm.

I can't fight in the darkness.

Luckily, Luysia knows just the spell to dispel the darkness.

[LIGHT]
I spend another 12 MP.

My blades turn into magical torches.
The light consumes the darkness of Gallo's magic.

Now I see him again; he was in front of me, ready to strike.
Stunned by the sudden light, he remains motionless for a moment.

"You're in too much of a hurry; slow down a bit," I taunt him, then I cast the [SLOW] spell on him.

"What the hell?!" the bully exclaims.

Now he's moving at half speed.
His movements are no longer frightening.
I dodge the attack, now too slow for me, and land a kick that knocks him down.

I immediately cast [HERETIC SUFFERING], taking advantage of him being on the ground, and inflict the debuff.
Total cost: 60 MP.

Gallo is currently neutralized.

However, that's not the only problem.

*WHOOSH* *WHOOSH* *WHOOSH* *WHOOSH*

I narrowly avoid a rain of kunai coming at me from behind.
One of them grazes my leg. "Urgh!"
Fortunately, it's just a minor wound.
If I didn't have poison protection, I'd probably be poisoned again by now.

"Brother! Get up!" the silver-haired woman yells.
"I-I'm trying... B-but i'm so slow... Argh!"
His HP is starting to decrease due to [HERETIC SUFFERING].

An interesting ability to use in a prolonged battle over time.
Suitable for a war of attrition.
Good to know, but maybe not ideal for this fight.
I'll make a note of it for the future.
Luysia will need to change her combat strategy into a TANK role, where she can make the best use of her new OATHBREAKER abilities.

Anyway, back to reality, Bicrista has finally decided to help her brother.
"Well done, that's how bullies behave. You should always exploit the numerical advantage," I say aloud.

"Who do you think you are? Your stats shouldn't make it possible for you to stand up to me. You're cheating!" protests Gallo as he tries to slowly get back up.

"Exactly, but I wasn't criticizing you, actually. It's foolish not to use every advantage to win," I explain.
Attacking one at a time has simply made things easier for me.

"When facing an enemy, it makes no sense not to use every means to defeat them," I try to drive some sense into their empty heads.

"Wagner, you talk so much! I wonder how you scream... Why don't you let me hear how you scream? Please!" the woman deliriously hopes to intimidate me. It might have worked on her previous victims, but she hasn't realized yet that in this situation, she's the victim.

Then she poses like a cat, getting on all fours.
Seriously, the girl is a bit unhinged...

With a powerful leap, Bicrista reaches me.
She attacks with the same speed as her brother.
She attempts to harm me with an oversized kitchen knife.
I manage to deflect the thrust with my more modestly sized knife.

The problem is that I don't have any serious weapons with me at the moment.
The fight becomes increasingly frenetic, and I'm forced to move cautiously.
My main goal is to dodge the attacks and find an opening to counterattack.
I need to conclude the battle quickly.

Bicrista chuckles, then casts [SHADOW SHADING].
I'm enveloped again in the dark shroud.
Hasn't she learned anything?

I cast [LIGHT] again and dispel her magic.
It was a distraction.

[SHADOW STEP]
She's behind me.
I can't dodge the blow.
She thrust the knife into my back.
Pain.
"ARGHHH!" I scream in agony.

With an effort, I turn around, flailing my arms.
This makes her step back.
The wound is quite severe.
She knows it and savors the victory.

I let Bicrista approach.
I can see her twisted face, eager to harm me.
She's close.
Very close.

It's perfect.
[DEMONIC HOLD]

Just a few seconds are enough.
The woman is immediately restrained by a mysterious force.
Her expression changes to one of terror, while mine becomes the embodiment of evil.

I retrieve another potion from my 'bag of wonders,' this one containing a different substance.
I pour the contents onto the blade of my knife.

"You wanted to do this to me, right?" I whisper maliciously.
She despairs as I mercilessly plunge my knife into her stomach.
"AHAHAIAARARARAAGH! IT HURTS!"

Then I release the demonic spell.
But the woman still can't move.
The blade of my knife is coated with a paralyzing substance.

"Ahahahahah!" I laugh, watching the terror and suffering of the silver-haired woman.

"Bicrista!" Gallo exclaims.

The brother is behind me.
The effect of [SLOW] makes him embarrassing for me.
I throw the kunai that the sister had 'gifted' me, hitting him in the leg.

*WOSHH*
*TWACK*
"ARRRGHHH!" He touches his injured right leg.
Does he have protection against their own poison?
I wonder if they're so foolish not to consider such a possibility.
I scan him.
The rate of his HP decreasing increases. I facepalm.
In addition to the damage over time from [HERETIC SUFFERING], he is now also poisoned by the sister's blade.
I've overestimated them.

However, I decide to let him experience what his sister went through.
It seems fair after all; good siblings should share everything.

"Stay still for a moment."
[DEMONIC HOLD]

"W-why can't I move?! I-it's not possible... Damn it, you bastard!"

The same knife I used on Bicrista pierces Gallo.

"UUAUAUUARGHH!" he screams, torn apart by the pain the blade causes.

Now both of them are paralyzed.

"Boring!" I exclaim dissatisfied.
I had prepared for this down to the smallest detail.
Mere Rank B level 1 ventures are no longer a problem for me.
I'm too overpowered.
Nevertheless, this test has been very useful.
I didn't even have to resort to my curses.
I'm almost ready to face combat classes in a direct confrontation.
Luysia's abilities are useful, but they don't adapt well to a fast and fierce combat strategy I want to implement using my own skills and techniques.
I need abilities that allow me to crush the opponent immediately.
With only temporary buffs and heavy drawbacks, prolonging the fight is too risky.
Assassin abilities might be useful, to set up ambushes and gain further pre-combat advantages.
[SHADOW STEP] seems particularly useful, especially for strategic retreats, and of course, for hitting the opponent from behind.

I still have 135 MP left.
Having so many magic points at my disposal is definitely an advantage.
If my Servants were nearby, I could also use them through the [TRANSFER MP] ability.
But it's not necessary, after all.
I open my bag and take a blue potion.
By drinking it, I can recover a whopping 150 MP.
I'm full of resources.

[MINOR HEAL]
I recover some HP and close the wounds that the two of them inflicted on me.

"L-let me go... sob... sob," Bicrista cries, the only action paralysis allows her to take.
"Could it be that you're such amateurs? No support strategy against negative statuses?" I reprimand them.

"W-Wagner, who the hell are you..." Gallo asks, in pain.

"Rather, who are you? Third-rate villains! I expected better. Do you think you were foolish enough to attack me outside of school, so I didn't even have to hold back."

"Sob... sigh... [SCAN EYE] shows that you're only a rank F. Your stats are very low," says Bicrista.

"First, you haven't gathered enough information about your target."

"Second, you rely too much on statistics. Unlike you, I utilize all the abilities at my disposal. All my talents."

I realize that in the end, statistics are relative. What matters is the quantity and quality of the abilities available, and thanks to the Master-Servant contracts, I'll always have more at my disposal.

"I... I... have been scanning you all this time..." Bicrista protests, revealing her stalker obsession with me. "You only have three abilities!"

"Do you really think I'd show my full potential to the first person who scans me? How naive can you be?" I say with a smile.

"Can you hide your abilities?" Gallo asks, surprised.

"You have no idea how to fight. You're just kids who think they're at the top because they have a high rank," I make them realize the reality.

"I could have won this fight in at least ten different ways," I reveal the truth to them. "I didn't even fight well. I wasted MP and experimented with abilities that turned out to be unnecessary."

I can see from their expressions that they are struggling to understand.
The twins expected an easy prey, a low-ranking F Venture they could easily bully.

"Drusla is dead... Vonner will be soon, and even though I don't need any more subordinates, I can't just kill you," I think out loud. "What should I do with you?"

Completely at my mercy, they turn pale at the idea of what I can do to them. They can't even imagine that the moment they decided to go against me, it marked the beginning of their suffering.

I approach Bicrista Schrecken.
So now, even psychos can feel terror.
I smirk.

"Hey Gallo, do you like to watch? I'll fuck your sister right in front of your eyes. What do you think?"
I laugh like a B-movie villain.

I'm back.