Chapter 401: Furniture City God of War (Patreon)

Kazami Kazuki: "That's everything I wanted to say. Any questions?"

Guard Daddy: "None, Sister Kazuki!"

Button Masher: "Why do I have to be part of this, too?"

Kazami Kazuki: "My little brother's massage skills are pretty good, aren't they, Hacker?"

Button Masher: "Ahaha... What are you talking about? I don't understand a word."

Kazami Kazuki: "Don't forget, every drone you're using right now is a product of our company. What you can see, I can see. And what you can't see, I can still see."

Button Masher: "!!!"

[Button Masher has gone offline]

After the opponent swap, the battlefield for Takina and Jhin changed as well. The outdoor terrain gave way to an office of about sixty square meters. Judging by the minimalist decor and the rows of computer monitors, it was meant to simulate the interior of an IT company.

Is the Store Manager planning to train me in indoor combat?

Takina's beautiful large violet eyes narrowed slightly as she braced for a surprise attack. Instead, Jhin casually pulled out an office chair, sat down, and asked her, "Takina, tell me what you think of this environment first."

"Isn't this combat training?"

"That comes later. Right now it's theory time."

"Understood."

Takina pulled out a chair and sat up straight, hands flat on her knees. She looked the room over carefully before speaking. "The windows have been tinted against glare, but visibility from outside is still high. For a long-range sniping mission, this setup would be excellent. Judging by the height of the simulated buildings outside, the office should be on the eleventh or twelfth floor."

"Good call. Now talk to me about the interior. If a head-on fight broke out in here and you had no firearm, what would you do?"

"Hmm..." Takina lowered her head slightly and fell into thought.

Jhin's question was aimed squarely at a weak spot. Lycoris rarely went on missions empty-handed. They did take basic hand-to-hand classes in case a gun was knocked from their grip, but those weren't the main focus, so it was a shortcoming for them.

After a long while, all she could come up with was an answer she wasn't happy with herself: "Find cover first, then figure out a way to take the enemy down."

Jhin sighed, and her heart leapt into her throat. Then he picked up a ballpoint pen from the desk and said, "This is exactly why I think your fighting style and Chisato's are too simple. You're both so fixated on completing the mission that you tend to fight with your lives on the line."

"As long as the mission gets done, I don't see anything wrong with that."

"Takina, reality isn't as kind as you think."

In the blink of an eye, Jhin was behind her. The tip of an ordinary ballpoint pen, the kind found anywhere, gleamed with a lethal chill as it pressed against her carotid artery. One hard thrust and blood would spray like a fountain.

"Dying under an enemy's attack is the easiest way to die."

The cold tip withdrew. Jhin circled around to stand in front of her and looked down at her. "If you don't die, then degradation, torture, being broken in, and so on are the cruelest endings for girls like you."

Thick killing intent poured down her slightly parted lips and into her throat, pushing back the words "I was prepared for that long ago." Those golden slit pupils bore down on her like a mountain, pressing on her until she couldn't breathe.

"I don't want to hear what you didn't say. Think it over properly, then answer again." Jhin grabbed Takina's hand and put the pen in it. "Next, I'm going to teach you an indoor fighting style. It was created by a remarkable man from my hometown, known as the 'God of War of the Furniture Mall.'"

The pressure vanished in an instant. Takina steadied her breathing while she made her mind keep up with his explanation.

"The core of this style is that everything can be a weapon. Even an enemy, if you pick the moment just right, can serve as a tool for your attack or as a meat shield."

As he spoke, Jhin picked up a magazine, tore off its cover, and waved the sheet of paper. "Look, this is coated paper, the kind used for printing all sorts of magazines. It's thick and tough. All you have to do is this..."

He quickly folded the paper into the shape of the character "山" (mountain), except that the middle vertical stroke was especially long and sharp. Then he jabbed it at the backrest of the chair beside him. When he took his hand away, the paper blade had punched through the leather backrest and stood firmly lodged in it.

"Amazing..."

Takina had to admit her imagination in this area was far too poor. She never would have thought a magazine cover could be used as a lethal weapon.

Jhin smiled, full of "kindness." "Good. You've seen the beginner tutorial, so let's move on to the practical section."

"?"

Before the girl could react, the chair beneath her was kicked away and she crashed straight to the floor. But the instincts she'd honed over the past few days made her roll on the spot without thinking, dodging the attack that followed.

A monitor slammed into the floor with a wail that sounded like "scrapped," and tiny parts sprayed in every direction. Takina had no time to spare. She grabbed a chair leg and swung it at the spot where Jhin had been standing.

Right after that, she kicked over a nearby desk and leapt behind it to dodge for the moment, still remembering to snatch up the ballpoint pen and shove it into her pocket.

"Looks like fighting Makina wasn't for nothing. Your instincts, at least, have been trained pretty well."

The instant Jhin's voice surfaced, Takina threw the pen at it like a dagger without hesitating. It didn't do much, though. The pen spun, struck the glass, and shattered to pieces.

Where is he?

She couldn't see Jhin anywhere. Then alarm bells rang in her mind and a chill ran down her spine. She pressed both hands on the desk and drove her right foot backward with all her strength.

"Smack."

Jhin caught her shoe firmly. Takina didn't hesitate. She slipped her foot out of the shoe and launched another vicious kick at his abdomen.

"Nice reaction." Jhin blocked the attack with ease, then hurled the shoe at Takina's head.

So the two of them fought hand to hand in the office. Jhin stuck mostly to defense and counterattacks, since he was here to train Takina, not to beat her.

He also wanted her to realize she was nowhere near as tough as she imagined, so unlike when he trained Chisato, he didn't completely heal her wounds.

After about ten minutes, Takina was covered from head to toe in cuts and bruises of every size, apart from her face. Her Lycoris uniform was in tatters.

Her whole body kept sending screams to her brain. After the violent fight, every breath brought a coppery taste of blood up her throat, and her lungs ached as if scorched. Her arms had lost all feeling long ago, and she could only confirm by sight that they were still attached.

Even in such a miserable state, the hunger in Takina's eyes to grow stronger hadn't changed in the slightest.