You don't even want to call me godfather

Chapter 29: Long-term planning

"I'm going to do it, Silk Cicada!"

Koshei shouted, signaling the start of the competition.

The party members around were also concentrating and watching this showdown.

Koshei placed the long sword at his side, with the tip of the sword facing forward, and paused for a moment as if he was gathering strength.

The next second, his body rushed forward, closing the distance between him and Si Chan, and stabbed forward with his long sword with unstoppable force.

It was a very rough but extremely swift knife attack, but Si Chan simply dodged by stepping backwards.

Her right hand was on the hilt of the knife. The moment she landed, she leaned to the left, facing the direction of Koshei. While taking a step forward, she drew her long knife and slashed horizontally from the left.

Koshe was still stiff after the thrust. By the time he steadied himself, Sichan's knife had already been unsheathed. He had no choice but to hold the knife upright and put his left hand on the back of the knife to block the blow.

"clang!"

The blades collided, creating sparks.

Koshe's strength is not small, but it is a bit difficult for him to forcibly take the blow. The attack of Silk Cicada is different from that of Lappland. Compared with the latter, the former's fighting style is more flexible. Whether it is the angle of the knife, the landing point of the blade, or the distribution of physical strength, Silk Cicada is better.

"clang!"

After Sichan's horizontal slash was blocked by Koshe, she did not stop attacking. Instead, she took advantage of the opportunity when the knife was bounced away to cleverly resolve the force of the bouncing knife and chopped down again.

Koshe changed the angle of his block, and the knife seemed to be chopped from the top of his head, but the actual point of force was in front.

Although he blocked the attack, his body was knocked back and the soles of his shoes rubbed against the ground for dozens of centimeters before stopping.

“Cross Slash?” Koshei, who has been using short swords for many years, pays more attention to technique than strength, but this is obviously useless in front of Sichan who has both. He took a deep breath and looked at her. “You didn’t draw your sword from the beginning just for this move.”

"Hehe, it seems that Koshe knows me well enough," Sichan put on a proud expression. She stood up straight and held the sword at her side. "Yes, the biggest advantage of this move is that you can draw your sword and attack first when the opponent attacks. It can be regarded as a kind of Iai, but the effect can only be regarded as-"

"Cang! Cang!"

Before Sichan could finish her words, Koshei suddenly rushed forward and swung out two swords in succession, but both were blocked by Sichan with one hand.

"It's not a good habit to interrupt someone in a fight, Sichan."

Koshe made a joke, then immediately jumped to the right and swung a knife at Sichan from above at an angle opposite to the direction of his body.

Sichan also jumped to the right, avoiding Koshe's attack while making sure he was in the center of his field of vision.

As the two exchanged positions, the distance between them became farther. The moment Si Chan landed on the ground, he reached his left hand into his waist bag.

"If it's a situation where you have nothing to fear, then maybe it's a different matter."

Sichan retorted, taking her left hand out of her waist bag, as if holding something.

The next second, she waved her hand vigorously, and a shuriken flew towards Koshei. She dived forward to chase and kill, and at the same time pulled out the rusty ball from her waist.

"Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!"

Koshe raised his sword to deflect the hidden weapon, and then blocked Sichan's series of attacks.

The continuous blocking made his palms hurt, but he didn't care. After blocking all the attacks, he jumped up on the spot, used his own weight to drive the blade, and chopped down.

Sichan tried to block the attack by holding her sword horizontally, but Koshei's sword did not hit her sword, but deviated slightly in the middle. After the sword missed, he immediately turned the blade over and swung it upwards.

"clang!"

The force of the upward strike was so great that even for Si Chan, her knife would be deflected, but she did not block the move head-on. Instead, she followed Koshe's force and somersaulted backwards to the ground.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Koshei also stepped forward, ready to continue the attack.

But after landing, Sichan slipped, turned his back, and took out something from his waist bag again. While turning around, he used his body to create a blind spot in Koshe's vision and swung the thing in his hand out.

Koshe seemed to hear a sound similar to that of a mechanism, and his intuition prompted him to steady his steps and jump up.

The thing that Si Chan was holding also revealed its true appearance. It was a retractable spear. When she turned around, the spear was extended and swung in a circle at an extremely fast speed.

The tip of the spear passed over Koshe's feet, and he reached out and grabbed Sichan's shoulder.

“There are a lot of tricks, but it’s over.”

Koshe used the force to roll over behind her and swung his long knife backwards.

He believed that Sichan could block the knife, so he did not stop, but unexpectedly, the blade went straight through Sichan's body.

"You're right, Koshei, it's over."

Si Chan's voice came from behind him. He turned his head and saw that the blade of a sword was against his neck.

The cicada in front of him that he had chopped turned into a ball of black feathers and dissipated.

"..." Koshe sighed softly, raised his hands and placed them on both sides of his head, "I lost."

As the competition progressed, the surrounding gang members had already fallen silent. They all held their breath and carefully observed the movements of the two men.

But every step taken by Koshe and Sichan was almost beyond their expectations, and the outcome of this confrontation was even more surprising to them.

Just when Koshe flipped behind Sichan, they really thought the outcome was decided.

Only Ou Ya stood at the back, frowning slightly.

The moves used by Sichan, as well as the hidden weapons, spears, and black feathers, all reminded him of a position in the East Country.

ninja.

It stands to reason that people who carry out assassination work would not be able to leave their country on their own accord, let alone live in another country.

Unless it is a long-term job, or...

Ou Ya's eyelids twitched. He didn't think that Koshei wouldn't think of these things. For something like this that was already out in the open, and since even Koshei himself didn't say anything, there was no need for him to say anything more.

"Assemble! Line up!"

Looking at the party members around him who were already ready to make a move and started whispering to each other, Ou Ya shouted angrily.

As soon as Ou Ya shouted, they quickly left the surroundings and lined up in front of him.

Koshe nodded to him from a distance, and Ou Ya understood and continued to train his followers, no longer paying attention to him and Si Chan.

"Today's competition was very enjoyable," Koshei sheathed the long sword and handed it to Sichan, saying with emotion, "It feels like I haven't had a fight like this in a long time. Dealing with matters related to Syracuse is really too boring."

"Clerical work must be boring, but if Koshe needs it, I can help," Sichan waved his hand and pushed the long sword back, "I'll give you the sword first. If Koshe wants to fight again to vent your anger, you can always come to me."

"Hmph... I'd better obey your command," Koshei chuckled, untied the rope on the scabbard, fixed it at both ends of the scabbard, and carried it on his back, "But it's just paperwork..."

He glanced at Sichan with a suspicious look, which made her feel a little uncomfortable.

"Why, don't you believe I can do it well?"

She pursed her lips and said angrily in a sullen manner.

"It's not that I don't trust you... Well, let's take a long-term view on this matter," Koshei shrugged. He turned back to look in the direction of the gang members. Perhaps Ou Ya specially wanted to leave private space for him and Si Chan, so all the gang members had their backs to them. He said to Si Chan, "Then next, I'm going to go to the innermost part of the training ground and try some things with the target. Si Chan, you wait here first, it should be over soon."

"Oh... is it something that I can't see..." Sichan stared at Koshei with suspicion. Although Koshei pretended to be calm on the surface, what was their relationship? They had known each other for more than ten years. No matter how much Koshei pretended, she could see the clues. But she pretended to know nothing, put her hands on her hips, and said to him, "Well, I'm just kidding you. Get it done as soon as possible. Don't you want me to take care of that person?"

Koshe nodded and walked into the depths of the training ground alone.

He walked around several big trees and entered the shooting range. There were many obstacles here and people outside could not see what was going on inside at all.

Koshe looked back, and after confirming that the cicada did not follow him, he found a nearby wooden stake to serve as a target, stood in front of it, stretched out his right hand and placed it on it.

He had a vision of Adam burning himself to ashes.

If Msisha's flames would burn his body as well, would covering the surface of his body with something help protect him from the flames?

With this thought in mind, Koshe controlled the hound cub and covered it on his right arm.

"call……"

He took a few deep breaths, rested his right hand with the cub on the wooden stake, and recalled the feeling of summoning the fire.

"Fuck."

But unlike what Koshe expected, cracks suddenly began to appear on the wooden stake where he had placed it, and quickly covered the entire stake like a spider web.

The next second, blue-purple flames rose from his hands, and the shattered wooden stakes immediately turned into powder and scattered all over the ground.

It seemed different from what he imagined.

Koshe frowned slightly, looking at the pile of dust under his feet. It was normal for the wood stake to be carbonized by the flames and then shattered, but he did not see any signs of flame erosion on the wood stake. Instead, it seemed as if it had been shattered before being touched by the flames.

This was not normal. Although he knew that Msishha's fire was not an ordinary power, it was completely beyond his cognition.

'Msisha, you—'

"boom--!!"

Just as Koshe was about to call out to Msisha in his mind, the flame in his hand suddenly grew larger and spread around in an instant. In almost the blink of an eye, Koshe was engulfed by the raging fire.

His consciousness was also invaded.

Chapter 30 Let bygones be bygones

"Koshei! Koshei!"

In his hazy consciousness, Koshei vaguely heard someone calling his name.

He wanted to open his eyes, but his eyelids were heavy and he could only vaguely see a few figures walking back and forth beside him.

Koshe thought to himself as if he were being carried on a stretcher, feeling the touch on his back.

It seems that he was often carried on a stretcher when he was a child. At that time, he often practiced until he was exhausted and was finally carried to the hospital for infusion.

"Kosh-e!"

very noisy.

It's so hard to breathe.

He seemed to feel someone putting a breathing mask on him, and they were turning up his eyelids and shining a flashlight into his eyes.

So dazzling.

He tried to resist but his body couldn't move. However, those who shone the flashlight on him seemed to relax a lot and were talking about something.

He could only see their lips moving but could not hear their voices.

sleepy.

His body was sending him signals of fatigue, and Koshei gradually gave up trying to force his eyes open. He followed his instinct and let his consciousness sink.

……

"Drip, drip, drip."

When Koshe opened his eyes again, he saw the white ceiling.

His vision was a little blurry, but it returned to normal after a dozen seconds.

He heard the sounds of medical equipment and raised his hand which was hooked to an IV drip. He clenched it and felt a little weak.

He wanted to get up, but felt as if his body was pressed down by something. He carefully propped himself up and found Si Chan lying beside the bed, already asleep.

"Hmm... um..." Sichan made a few meaningless sounds, as if she was awakened by Koshe's movements. She straightened up in a daze, and after her eyes met Koshe's, she woke up instantly, "Koshe? You're awake!"

"I am... in the hospital?"

Koshe held back the cicada that was about to pounce on him with his hand, rubbed his dizzy head, and asked.

"Well, I was waiting outside the shooting range when I heard a sound like an explosion and a heat wave, so I went to take a look," Sichan explained after Koshei's hand stopped her. She sat back in the chair beside the bed and said, "When I got there, I saw a shallow pit that looked like it had been burned by fire, and Koshei was lying inside it."

"Did I faint directly..." Koshei carefully recalled the situation at that time. Indeed, he lost consciousness the moment the flames grew bigger. "So I was sent to the hospital, right?"

"Well, the doctor said Koshe passed out due to suffocation, but the specific reason is unknown, so we can only let you observe the situation in the hospital first."

Sichan's words made Koshei fall into deep thought.

It seems that the flames burned violently at that moment, sucking out the air around him, causing him to suffocate, and then when he fell unconscious, the flames dissipated.

In other words, it is still difficult for him to master the use of this fire at present.

"Koshei, how do you feel now?"

Seeing that Koshei suddenly stopped talking, Sichan asked with some concern.

"Well... my limbs are weak, I have trouble breathing, and I feel like someone hit me on the back of my head with a stick. In short, there's nothing serious."

"Is that so... No! Isn't this extremely serious?!"