The Red Hand

Chapter 45 – The Hero v. The Assassin (Part 1)

Not long after the announcement, people began to gather at the athletics field and take their seats in the bleachers overlooking the track. Upon arrival, it was explained that there was to be an exhibition match between Akagi and Hishya. Most people had little understanding of just how powerful the returnees were, and Akagi figured this would be a great way to show off and have a little fun. As for how Akagi got the school to agree to this? Lets just say that Akagi can be very persuasive when she needs to be.

When she brought up the idea to Hishya, the dragon girl couldn't resist the challenge. She and Akagi had always enjoyed facing off against one another and this would be the first time they'd fought in two years. Kana and the girls took front-row seats. They knew that Hishya and Akagi were powerful, but they'd never seen the two fight, and frankly, they underestimated just how strong the two were.

Akagi and Hishya moved to the center of the field, a good ways away from the audience. Yumi followed and placed a barrier around their fighting area. It wouldn't stop powerful attacks from either fighter, but it would stop debris from flying toward the onlookers and give a sense of safety. The fight was being streamed to those with AR devices so they could watch it in full detail.

"I can't wait to see this." Mika's eyes shined. "It's gonna be like some anime fight. I bet they're gonna fly around and shoot lasers at each other!" Mika was excited when she was told Hishya and Akagi would be fighting.

Naomi and Kana let out a laugh.

"I don't think they'll be going that crazy... I hope." Kana gave a wry smile.

"Still, it should be interesting. It's not every day you get to see two super-powered people go at it for entertainment." Naomi chuckled.

Airi took a seat next to them. "I mean, Akagi is strong, but I don't think she can do anything that crazy, right? And that Hishya girl isn't as powerful so I think it will." Airi was underestimating just how strong the two were.

"I mean, we've seen a little bit of what Akagi can do." Naomi thought for a moment. "But we've never actually seen her fight before."

"Yeah, I know Onee-chan was able to beat the military, but we never saw just exactly how she did so." Kana gave a wry smile. "She told us not to watch the videos online."

"I did!" Mika smiled. "It was awesome!"

Suddenly, Chloe took a seat next to them along with a familiar blue-haired maid.

"A fight between myaster and Hishya isn't something to be missed nya!" the cat girl was as excited as Mika.

"I never really paid attention to her combat ability before, so it will be quite interesting to see." Mizumi was also interested in seeing how her new master performed

"Hey, Chloe. Hey Mi." Kana greeted her. "I didn't expect to see you here." She hadn't seen her or any of her sister's followers at the festival so the cat and maid appearing was unexpected, since Akagi didn't trust her. Akagi had instructed Kana to hide Mizumi's true identity, and Mika and Naomi thought she was simply another one of Akagi's followers. This was mostly to prevent information from leaking, since if it was known that Akagi was harboring the one who caused the FWO incident, it would be problematic.

"Nya ha ha ha." She laughed. "I couldn't very well miss this; it's not too often I get to see myaster let out some of her power." the cat took a seat. "I wonder how far they will go. They're both battle junkies after all." Chloe's eyes glinted slightly. She was just as guilty as her master for enjoying the thrill of the fight.

Hearing the term battle junkie caused the three girls to let out a nervous laugh.

{I just hope those two don't take it too far and destroy the school or something.} Kana sighed in her head.

Akagi and Hishya stood across from one another in the middle of the field. The two had fought each other countless times over the years, and in FWO, they'd once intended to kill one another. Today's fight wouldn't be to the death, but that didn't mean they weren't going to take it seriously. Once their audience arrived, they two were signaled to start the fight at any time. However, before they came to blows, they decided to have a little fun.

"Akagi, what do you say we start off with a little display of power?" Hishya put her sword in its sheath.

"Funny," Akagi laughed. "I was just thinking the same thing. You first."

Hishya returned a laugh as she closed her eyes.

Everything grew quiet, and little more than the sound of the wind could be heard as Hishya began to release energy from within her body. Suddenly a wave of energy shot out and engulfed her. Her body was covered in a thin aura of flame-like energy, her eyes reverted to their draconic version, and small red scales appeared on her face. As her power climbed higher and the aura raged, she let out a roar and the ground cracked underneath her. The audience couldn't believe what they were seeing and hearing. The ground began to shake and the air itself seemed to get heavier as Hishya screamed. After a few moments, the flame-like aura shot up high into the air as it erupted from her body.

"I-I guess Hishya really is a dragon, huh?" Naomi gave a nervous laugh. Hishya's energy made her hair stand on end.

“Ye-yeah.” Kana nodded nervously.

Once she was finished, Hishya cracked her necked to loosen up as electricity coiled around her body. From the outside, she looked as if she were on fire and the grass around her had been burned to a crisp.

"Ahh, it's so nice to stretch a little bit." She let out a laugh as she flexed her hands, her voice sounding more authoritative as she grinned. “So much power, its quite nice.”

"I'm sure it is. You keep your power all bunched up most of the time, so I can imagine it gets quite annoying." Akagi understood the feeling all too well, since she dealt with a similar issue. Hishya hadn't really let her power out since she'd gotten back from FWO, and she never fully transformed in the real world, so her body was likely craving some form of release. Just like Akagi.

{Good to see you've gotten stronger since we last fought.} Akagi was getting excited seeing just how much power Hishya was putting off.

"Now then. Since you were kind enough to show me yours." She crossed her arms in front of her body. "Let me show you mine!" She let out a scream as her body began to twist and morph. A large black shadow appeared behind her and began to swirl into a vortex. After a few seconds, it engulfed Akagi's body, and a demonic laugh could be heard coming from within it. A moment later, the black shadow dissipated, and Akagi's visage could be seen once again. She looked slightly different; her hair was now completely black and flowed and flickered like a flame, and she stood at over six feet tall. Her left eye was orange instead of gold, and her entire outfit was now black. On top of that, her entire body was covered by a black flickering flame-like aura similar to Hishya's.

"Ahh, that's better." Akagi chuckled. "I think this will be a good enough power level for our battle, wouldn't you say?" Akagi asked her opponent. She had to be careful, if she delved too deep into her powers, she was worried it might trigger something dangerous. This was about the limit of what she could safely release at the moment.

Hishya didn't respond with words. Instead, she broke out into maniacal laughter which lasted for nearly a minute.

"I'm sooo going to fucking enjoy this." Hishya drew her blade, and Akagi followed suit.

“That makes two of us.” Akagi laughed.

An outside observer would be correct to note that these two were quite obsessed with fighting powerful opponents. Kana would later joke that while her sister wasn't capable of feeling sexual attraction or romantic feelings she was definitely fight-sexual. Something Akagi didn't refute.

The two warriors slowly approached one another, each with looks of pure delight on their faces. When they reached the center of the field and were around 10 yards apart they began to circle one another like a predator stalking its prey. This dance continued for almost a minute before the two flashed forward, their blades clashing together.

"Oh, you actually took that head-on?" Hishya commented.

"Don't assume you know everything about me. It's been a long time since you last saw me in action!" Akagi yelled as she pushed Hishya back.

Hishya wasn't phased and quickly righted herself, bringing her blade to block a follow-up attack by Akagi. In a test of pure strength, Hishya would likely win, so Akagi jumped backward to gain some distance. However, Hishya was no fool, and just as Akagi landed, she rocketed forward and caught her once again. She wasn't going to give her any time to recover.

The two clashed, and Akagi changed tactics deciding to parry Hishya's blow deflecting them toward the ground rather than trying to stop them. Each time she did this, the heat from Hishya's sword caused sections of the turf to incinerate. The spectators couldn't believe what they were seeing and even Kana and the girls were left speechless as they watched.

Annoyed that her strikes weren't getting through, Hishya opted to try some magic. As Akagi deflected her next strike, Hishya threw her left hand forward and hit Akagi point blank with a massive fire blast which caused a huge explosion. A moment later, Akagi appeared to her left after reforming from her dark shadow; she seemed unharmed.

"You're going to have to do better than that!" Akagi bolted forward hoping to catch Hishya while she was experiencing the recoil of her move, but was surprised when Hishya used the back of her left hand to deflect her oncoming strike. Seeing an opportunity, Hishya drove her knee into Akagi's stomach, momentarily stunning her as she brought her blade around for a swing. Akagi knew she made a mistake and tried to contort her body out of the way. She was partially successful in her attempts to avoid her, as Hishya's blade still managed to make contact and easily severed her left arm.

Seeing the disadvantageous situation, Akagi used one of her abilities to temporarily blind Hishya so that she could gain some distance and re-focus. Losing her arm was annoying, but not crippling, but Hishya took the opportunity to mock her for her mistake.

"I think you forgot something." She held up Akagi's severed arm. "Too bad. I was aiming for your head." She used her flames to incinerate it.

Seeing this, Akagi let out a laugh and quickly regrew her arm. Her body was little more than a vessel, so losing a limb or two didn't really matter.

"I thought you were supposed to be stunned after that attack, but I guess the game rules are much less concrete in the real world." Akagi spit out some blood. "I won't make that same mistake again."

Akagi rocketed forward and coated her blade with a dark mist as she swung down at Hishya.

{Hmpf... This will end the same every time.} She mocked Akagi in her head.

As she leisurely moved to block the attack, she was shocked when both the blade and Akagi suddenly passed straight through her.

{Wha- an Illusion?!} Hishya scrambled to figure out where Akagi really was, but before she even had a moment to collect herself, she was greeted by Akagi's fist slamming into her temple. She was sent flying and tumbled across the grass. After a moment, she righted herself just in time to narrowly dodge Akagi's blade aimed at her head. However, it wasn't a complete dodge as she felt a stream of warm liquid run down her cheek.

"I guess the both of us underestimated our opponents. I had no idea you could create illusions and attack in quick succession." Hishya wiped away the blood.

"But I think that's good enough of a warm-up. How about we move on to the real thing!" As she said this, a small burst of fire came out of her mouth.

It looked like the real battle had only just begun.

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