The cinnamon-haired eye-patched maiden leered down on me with her ruby red eye. Her cheeky smile displayed an energy of playful innocence, a look that suggested how much fun she was having in this whole situation.

She’s a real cutie, don’t you think? Fufufu!

Her cute demeanor would have been rather wholesome, if it weren’t for the fact that she was pointing two revolvers to my face.

Those metal legs of hers were no joke. I could still feel the pain lingering on my abdomen from that kick she gave me earlier. I let out a breath of air and looked at the holes of her pistols.

It was easy to guess where they were pointed towards. Right towards my head. I need to find a way to stall her from pulling the trigger.

“What’s wrong, Cat Bro? Cat got your tongue?” Scarlet giggled. “Or are you simply in awe of how cool and beautiful I am?”

Ah, she sounds pretty narcissistic. I can make use of this.

“I won’t deny it, but you do look pretty cute,” I said.

Might as well give her some genuine compliments.

“I know, right?” Scarlet nodded as her lips widened to an arrogant smirk. “You could even say I’m the prettiest girl of the Under Sectors-no the entirety of Subtramuros!”

That sounds a little too delusional….

“That long braid on yourleft side really suits you, I love the way it swirls down your shoulder.” I hope this works.

You’re quite the smooth talker, Lars.

“Hehe, didn’t think you would compliment my braid-”

As soon as she leaned her eye towards her hair, I made a break for it and immediately started running towards cover.

“Aw jeez, how rude!” The sounds of gunshots followed right after Scarlet’s words, with bullets scraping across the pillars and the bookshelves around me.

“How could you run off like that? You can’t leave a lady hanging! That’s not gentleman-like at all!”

I could care less about being a gentleman right now. I’m a swordsman fighting against a gunslinger, so I need to do everything I can to increase the odds of winning. If we were fighting in an open area, I would definitely lose. And that’s exactly why I agreed to fight her in the library.

I dashed across the ends of the bookshelves, with Scarlet chasing me down from the other ends trying to shoot me down with her guns. Our eyes would meet a split second every time I zoomed by another shelf, but our sights on each other would always be cut short before she could land a bullet on me. I couldn’t keep this pace for too long, so I swiftly shifted my body backwards and ran towards her side of the shelf. Due to the sudden change in direction, it took a short delay for her to react and turn back. That delay gave me enough time to swiftly grab a book on the shelf and throw it exactly when I saw her head pop out.

This prompted her to pull the trigger and shoot down the book before it could hit her face. As soon as she fired the shots, I slid across the floor to cut the distance and slash her with my sword. However, Scarlet blocked my attack with her guns.

“Eat this!”

She replies with a dropkick aimed towards my belly. Fortunately for me, I was able to block those powerhouse legs of hers, but the force was heavy enough to make me slide back. Scarlet rolls away and aims her guns at me with a chuckle.

Not good! I have to protect my vital organs!

Gunshots fired right after, with two bullets zooming straight towards me. But I won’t allow myself to get shot that easily.

I cut down both bullets with White and inhaled a quick gasp of air.

“W-Woah!” Scarlet dropped her jaw. ‘No way! You can block bullets? That’s so cool!”

“If I couldn’t do it, then I wouldn’t be fighting you right now.”

Master taught me how to do it before, but I was never the best at it. If it were my panicky old self back then, I don’t think I could have done it. Something’s changed, now I feel more focused than ever before.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Such is the blessing of experiencing despair.

“Heeh…” Scarlet tilted her head. “If that were the case, why did you bother looking for cover?”

“Um, well-”

“Let me answer that for you,” She looked at me with a cheeky smile. “You can’t block every bullet, right?”

Tsk, of course I can’t. It’s a high risk play. However, there’s one more factor that significantly contributes to how I’m able to block her bullets.

I decided to make a mad dash towards her to close the gap between us.

“You’re such a feisty boy!” Scarlet shoots her guns at me once again.

I weaved around deflecting the bullets coming my way and had her just within my sword’s reach. Scarlet lifted her metal legs up again to perform some kicks, and I blocked her heavy hitting feet with my sword. The clanging sounds of metal echoed throughout the library, making it seem like 2 swords were clashing against each other.

If I had a normal sword, this would be a lot harder to pull off. But White is a magical blade. What I loved about this sword was how it felt so lightweight yet so durable compared to an ordinary one. Every time I swung its blade, it always felt like just the right amount of force needed to match my movements, to the point where it felt like my fifth limb. It was like a blade that perfectly adjusted itself to my style.

Because of this, I was able to keep up with her incoming attacks.

“Appreciate the dance, but let’s make this a little harder, shall we?” Scarlet reloaded her left revolver in what looked like a swift swiping motion and pointed it straight to my face.

I weaved my head just in time and heard a loud bang right next to my ear. A kick comes in right after, with my blade screeching through its metallic exterior. One glance towards her and she’s suddenly swiping her right revolver across her bandolier, making a rolling and clicking sound before flicking it right towards me in the blink of an eye. I slap it away with my hand and her bullet goes straight towards a book on one of the shelves.

What the hell are those movements? How is she reloading so fast?!

“You seem to be liking my little gun trick,” she says while launching her kicks. “I call it the Quirkyreload!”

I think she needs to work on her naming skills….

Her deadly combination of gunshots and kicks were techniques I’ve never seen before. The immense pressure she was placing on me was starting to get in my head. If I let my guard down for even a single second, it was only a matter of whether her bullets or her feet could kill me first. We can’t keep going on like this forever, there has to be another way to beat her.

Just when I had that thought, a round metal orb was thrown up in the air.

“Surprise!”

Wait, that’s the-

The orb exploded into a cloud of smoke, forcing me to cover my eyes and cough out. A bullet pierces its way through my shoulder, causing me to groan in pain. More bullets started flying towards me, so I decided to dash towards the opposite direction, trying to escape the smoke. Another bullet flies straight towards the side of my abdomen, but this time I grit my teeth and force myself to keep my mouth shut to avoid revealing my location. Because of the smoke, I’m pretty sure she doesn’t know exactly where I am right now.

This is rather unfortunate, can you still do it, Lars?

Of course I can, this fight isn’t over!

I recommend hiding somewhere, you can’t fight her directly since you got yourself injured.

You’re right, there’s no way I can beat her that way anymore. I’ll have to resort to other methods.

“Hahahahaha, the smoke bomb trick never gets old!” Scarlet laughed. “It’s always funny to see it explode on people’s faces.”

What is this girl, a sadist?

“Why are you suddenly so quiet? Did I kill you already? Aw, I wanted to play with you some more!”

Thanks to that loud mouth of hers, I managed to pinpoint her location and sneak my way to the stairs of the second floor without her noticing. Or that’s what I thought.

“I knew you’d try to run off to the second floor!” Scarlet caught me with the glance of her crimson eye.

Damn it, she read my moves! Luckily for me, I was able to evade her bullets and escape to the second floor.

“Oh, so now you wanna play hide and seek? How cute!”

I could hear the thumping of her feet climbing up the stairs, with the sound increasing after every step. As she continued to approach the second floor, I could feel my heart beat faster on my chest. Now that I’m bleeding, I grew more tense than ever before. The grip on my blade quivered, but I used my off-hand to stop it from shaking.

Breathe, Lars. Breathe. 1, 2, 3. I can do this. It’s the only way I can beat her.

“Where areeeee you, Cat Bro? I’m going to find you!”

I'm going all-in.

The moment she reached the top of the stairs, I immediately popped out of my hiding spot and threw my black cloak all over her body.

"W-What is this?'"

You know what they say, you have the high ground, fufufu!

I didn't think it would work, but I was simply camping right beside the stairs to ambush her.

By the time she took the cloak off, I slammed my sword right on her forehead.

"Ouch!"

This caused Scarlet to stumble back and lose her footing at the edge of the stairs.

"W-Woah!"

Oh no, she's going to fall!

Before I knew it, my body was moving on its own.

Ah, typical Lars. I'm not surprised at this point.

[White Skill Unlocked: Protect]