[center][img]https://78.media.tumblr.com/a3b148938837c8380c1eb6e43f0d31fc/tumblr_pcvta2YxeN1w6599so1_1280.png[/img][/center]

[center][h3]Hero's district[/h3][/center]

	The two captains listened to the foreigners talk, not speaking until they had all said their part. 

	[b][color=00ddaa]”There seems to be a misunderstanding.”[/color][/b] Crunch didn't look very amused with anyone's suggested actions. [b][color=00ddaa]” These documents do not make you legal citizens of Lugnica. What you've been given is some identification that proves that you aren't allied with the bandits. That's it. You're foreigners with just enough documentation to prevent the guards from throwing you in jail.”[/color][/b]

	Mono pointed at Ashton. [b][color=royalblue]”If I wanted control over you fucking worms, I have ways of doing it that don't involve becoming your father.”[/color][/b] 

	[b][color=00ddaa]”Furthermore, you don't meet any of the required criteria to work under Mono. He is one of the finest captains, and you'd have to a knight to work under him at the very least.”[/color][/b] Crunch leaned forward and placed a hand on the desk in front of her. [b][color=00ddaa]”In order to become a knight, you need to pass a grueling physical and mental exam, as well as demonstrate extreme competence. Before that, you'd need to become a soldier, which requires owning and maintaining your own equipment. You also need citizenship, which isn't something that's being offered in this city while these bandits run around.”[/color][/b]

	[b][color=royalblue]”And what's this shit about needing your trust? You earn one's admiration before you get what you want. I'm not going to give a bunch of fucking foreigners fucking swords that they can run through my fucking back!”[/color][/b] 

	[b][color=00ddaa]”Your reason for appearing here is still a mystery to us. Until we can figure that out, it would be best if you stayed as far away from anything that has to do with the country.”[/color][/b] She eyed Chieko. [b][color=00ddaa]”Becoming an adventurer is certainly an option, but you'll need to buy your own equipment. Working for a reputable guild is recommended, but you might have difficulty joining one without any collateral to offer. If you are going to become traditional adventurers, just be careful. There are people out there who would be willing to lead an adventurer to a grim end just to loot their belongings.”[/color][/b]

	[b][color=royalblue]”As for you...”[/color][/b] Mono turned to face Yuuki. [b][color=royalblue]”Whatever sort of curse that's on you, we don't understand it, and neither do you.”[/color][/b] Mono reached for a tea cup that was sitting on the desk. [b][color=royalblue]”Even if Crunch says you check out, there's the possibility that you could just spontaneously transform into a devil beast, or your father could take control of your body directly and cause chaos. There's no fucking way you're going to work hand in hand with the city guard like you're any normal runt. There's something [i]very[/i] wrong with you, and even a dungeon might not be a safe place to keep you.”[/color][/b] 

	[b][color=00ddaa]”It's actually a very complicated situation.”[/color][/b] Crunch folded her arms. [b][color=00ddaa]”It's evident you can be trusted. But your father, we have no idea what he's done to you, or what his plans are. But the fact that you're here is undoubtedly his doing.”[/color][/b]


[hr]

[center][h3]Peppin's house #1, Cham, Priestella[/h3][/center]

	The cloaked figure lowered her head. [b]”I see”[/b] She rolled her eyes up to look at Hiro. [b]”Then there's only one thing left to test...”[/b] The woman reached into her robe and pulled out a banded club. It was a crude weapon to be sure. The band going around the club was a spiral rather than multiple rows of bands. The steel was distorted and had an inconsistent shape. Scorch marks ran up and down the length of the weapon. It was quite evident that this wasn't the work of a trained smith. But such thoughts quickly fled from Hiro's mind when his opponent charged. The club was resting on her shoulder, but could be swung in a moment's notice.

	Hiro was startled, to say the least. But really, what had he expected? Some sort of cryptic question session? Well. . . kinda. But that was clearly not going to be the case. It still bothered him that this hooded figure knew who he was. Who could have leaked that? Was it the people that he had split from just a short while earlier? Or was it Fritzi? Trying to do something to him. Test? Or maybe it was the people that brought him into this world. They couldn’t have just dumped him onto this world for no reason. Maybe something was waiting for him. 

	This all jumped through his mind in an instant. In that fleeting moment, Hiro lowered his stance and shifted his position to give him the widest range of responses. At that moment, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flit of movement. The tiny figure had charged inside. [s]H-hayai[/s] They were fast! But he didn't loose sight of his opponent. When she swung her club down on him, Nobuhiro slightly lifted the chair, angling and diverting the blow away before sliding across the ground and into a position that gave him a better view of the whole situation.

	The attack might have been deflected, but the stranger had no intention of waisting her attack's momentum. Having her arm pitched off to her right put her in position for another attack. The taller woman dropped to one knee and swung at Hiro. like a professional ball player hitting a low flying ball. This caused the club to fly under the chair Hiro was holding. 

	[i]S-shit![/i] Lucky for him, the smaller figure had decided to make a move elsewhere, leaving him in a one on one duel. This was his favorite place to be. In response to the club rushing at him, he threw the chair at his opponent, discarding it completely. He used the momentum to push himself back out of range of the club before dashing forward once more, hoping to catch his opponent with a gut shot while they were tangled up in the chair.

	The chair caught Hiro's opponent at the right moment, and they staggered backwards while trying to stand up again. This increased the distance Hiro had to move before following through with his attack. Before he could close the distance, the chair erupted into flames. Hiro shielded his face from the heat on reflex. Moments later, the chair fell to the ground in several smoldering pieces. The woman's hood had fallen back, revealing her face. She didn't seem bothered that Hiro knew her identity. Perhapse she knew it would make little difference if she killed him. She flexed her fingers before coiling them around the club again. [b]”I was not expecting someone who could fight back. That makes this more interesting.”[/b] There was a small cut above her brow, negligible damage to a true fighter. [b]”How many lives have you ended, Hiro?”[/b] The woman circled the boxer, but made no attempt to attack. 

	How many. . . . lives had he taken? That was a. . . difficult question to answer. Hiro had never intentionally killed someone, but sometimes in the heat of a fight, you don’t hold back. There was indeed at least one person who had died from his fists. But now was not the time to think about this. He was grateful that this question had given him a moment to steady himself after the chair had combusted. Now, he had to think. He had to plan. He had to do more than just react. That cut could bleed into his opponents eye. That would give him an advantage. They would either have in unintentional flinch when the blood leaked into her eye, or in time it would obscure her vision. These are all advantages to be had. 

	[color=slategray]”I don’t think it matters in the long run, now does it?”[/color] 

	He had to keep them distracted until he had his strategy planned out. He was, for obvious reasons, not the most practiced in facing an enemy with a weapon. It was just lucky that this club was not a bladed weapon, or he may very well have frozen up, remembering his previous ‘death’.

	The woman shrugged. [b]“I suppose not.“[/b] She strode towards Hiro, pulling her robe off of her shoulders as she did so. She wasn't charging, nor was she moving slowly enough that he would be able to easily retreat while facing her. The distance between them was closing. She pulled her arms out of her cloak, one at a time, always keeping a hand on her club. [b]“Who's going to die next, that's always a more interesting question.”[/b] Once her cloak was off, Hiro could see the rags she was wearing underneath. She looked no different than the vagrants who had killed him last time. The woman was still holding her cloak firmly in one hand, and her club in the other. [b]“We should answer that as soon as possible.”[/b] The woman couldn't have been standing more than maybe ten feet away from Hiro when she hurled the robe into the air. It expanded and entirely concealed the woman from view, but only momentarily. [b]“Goa!“[/b] Next the woman lunged forward and swung her club through her robes. Only this time, there was a long blade around the end of it. The woman had heated up the metal band around the club, which made it soft enough to unravel from the club. It was essentially a molten whip, and it was hot enough to burn away her robe in seconds.

	Of course it was obvious to Hiro that the robe in the air was a diversion. As such, the moment the robe left her hand, Hiro shot forward. It was obscuring her view just as much as him, and if he had guessed correctly, she would be on the offensive. He was right. Now, he was definitely not expecting the molten blade that extended from the edge of the club, but it was a moot point if he got close enough. And get close enough he did. Before he cut his momentum, he reached very near. His assailant’s outstretched hand was about on par with his body before he jerked his elbow onto her grip, hoping to dislodge the weapon. This was the game plan. A weapon was a non factor as long as he was inside its effective range. It was like fighting someone with a longer reach than him. He just had to be in the minute area where he was effective and she was not. 

	Whether he actually got her to drop the weapon or not as also irrelevant, because at this point he was on the rush. In one fluid move he fired off that elbow, and using the momentum rocketed off an uppercut, trying to knock her lights out in one move.

	And in his home world, that might have been the end of it. Hiro was not just some random boxer. He had a title, he had a championship belt, he had all of the things that a master of an art should have. This was not the first person he had ever fought, and it likely wouldn't be the last. Hiro had done battle with people way above his weight class before, and won.

	But none of them possessed magic.

	[b]“Goa!“[/b]

	He passed his opponent's outstretched sword hand, but held behind her was a hand coated in fire. In an instant, the boxer was bathed in flames. But Hiro was well trained, and had already committed to his actions. Despite the searing heat, he managed to deliver a blow to his opponent. But with the flames caressing his body, there was no way for him to see exactly where he was punching. But he hit [i]something[/i] that caused the flames to stop. By this point, he had burns  of varying degrees all over the upper half of his body, and burns on his chest that went almost deep enough to burn  away his muscles. 

	[b]”Gkkk!”[/b] It sounded like his opponent. By the sound of it she was still standing. It took Hiro some time to open his eyes again, but he could see she was standing in front of him. [b]”Gkkk!”[/b] She was still holding her club, with the band now hardened into some strange sculpture, and her other hand was on her throat. [b]”Gkkk!”[/b] She looked very angry, but was backing away from Hiro. She was having difficulty standing up straight.

	His body was wracked with pain and his eyes were having a hard time focusing. Fuck. It hurt. It hurt so bad. He had never had an injury that hurt this much. His muscles were spasming and his breathing was ragged. He couldn’t stop. He charged without end. A flurry of blows flew at his attackers face and torso. An onslaught of punches. He didn’t know when his body would give out on him, so he had ensure that even after he had no more strength, his attacker wouldn’t be able or willing to continue this fight. 

[color=slategray]”[/color][color=gold]Jiwald[/color][color=slategray]”[/color]

	This one word was whispered during his charge, giving him just a bit more energy. A bit more power. It wouldn’t heal him of his injuries, but it just might give him the time to finish this fight.

	Hiro's attacker had a pretty serious throat injury if her inability to speak was anything to go by, and was forced to drop her weapon and defend herself with just one hand. She turned her body sideways in an attempt to brush aside some of Hiro's attacks. But they still found their mark. The right side of her lower jaw, her left temple, her stomach, Before long her head and torso were covered in dark colored bruises. But there was only so much energy Hiro's spell could grant to his body. He eventually wore himself down to the point where she was able to take hold of his shirt and rock her head into his, butting Hiro's face with the top of her skull. The two seemed to bounce away from each other, with Hiro stumbling and falling onto his back. The assassin didn't fair much better, sinking onto her hand and knees. With one hand on her throat, she coughed and splattered blood over the lawn. Both fighters struggled to return to their feet, but were unable to stand up again. Was the fight over?