This was Sheele's first reaction.
It was also her most immediate feeling.
What followed that feeling was a flash of crimson light before her eyes.
"Clang!"
Sheele had just raised All-Cutting Shears to cut at Yorii Tsugikuni, but before she could close her Imperial Arms—
A tremendous force slammed heavily into All-Cutting Shears.
The force sent her flying directly backward, her entire body tumbling through the air.
"Sheele!"
Akame, who had been hiding in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to kill Oka, couldn't help calling out in concern when she saw this.
Without sparing another thought, her slender figure shot forth like a black dagger. She gritted her teeth and slashed at Yorii Tsugikuni.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
After clashing with Yorii Tsugikuni several times, Akame was sent flying just like Sheele, blasted away by Yorii Tsugikuni's terrifying strength concentrated at a single point.
"Sorry."
As he watched the two of them fly away one after another, Yorii Tsugikuni still wore the same calm expression, without the slightest hint of anger or excitement.
It had not been his intention to send two members of Night Raid flying with his blows.
Yet Yorii Tsugikuni's originally mild tone sounded intensely insulting to the members of Night Raid.
Brood's mouth twitched slightly as he gripped the longsword in his hand.
His weapon was meant for broad, powerful swings, so he had been unable to interfere in the fight just now.
Looking at Akame and Sheele lying on the ground, he did not charge Yorii Tsugikuni immediately.
Instead, he went with Leone to check on the two of them.
"Buzz!"
At that moment, an attack from the distant Romantic Cannon arrived.
The energy-based blast shot toward Yorii Tsugikuni's back from a tricky angle.
Clearly, it was a strike that had been waiting for a long time.
The Romantic Cannon's attack was faster than sound.
The attack arrived before the noise did.
But Yorii Tsugikuni, who held a longsword in his hand, seemed as though he had eyes in the back of his head.
Faced with an attack capable of blasting someone to death, he merely shifted slightly to the side.
And dodged it.
He did not even turn around to look.
The movement was so natural that it almost felt like a coincidence.
"Damn it!"
After confirming that Akame and Sheele had not suffered any fatal injuries,
Brood stomped forward with heavy steps and charged toward Yorii Tsugikuni, who stood in the street.
Though his entire body was covered in armor, Brood's senses were not hindered in the slightest.
He could clearly feel the three gazes behind him—Akame's, Sheele's, and Leone's—fixed tightly upon him.
Brood knew that they were comrades he could entrust his life to, people he could trust without reservation.
With them by his side, even if hell lay ahead,
he would not retreat.
When he was still more than ten meters away from Yorii Tsugikuni, Brood stared at his figure and slammed both feet against the ground.
Empowered by Demon's Possession, Brood's terrifying physical strength erupted at once.
The hard bluestone paving beneath him instantly looked as if it had been struck by a massive hammer.
Web-like cracks rapidly spread several meters outward, forming two shallow depressions in the ground.
Using that tremendous force, Brood leaped high into the air.
Crimson Buteo spun rapidly above his head in both hands, its sharp spear tip slicing through the air.
It whipped up rings of white currents.
A piercing howl rang out through the sky.
Brood's burly figure and overwhelming momentum made him look like a god descending from ancient myth.
Possessing boundless divine might.
A violent gale surged toward Yorii Tsugikuni alongside Brood's figure. The tips of Yorii Tsugikuni's crimson hair swayed faintly in the wind as its roaring howl swept past his ears.
Facing Brood's attack, Yorii Tsugikuni maintained nearly the same stance as before, only even more casual.
"Are you looking down on me?"
At that moment, Brood's huge, muscular body
bore down with fierce wind pressure as he gripped Crimson Buteo in both hands and hacked down at Yorii Tsugikuni's head.
The armor around his arms was slightly stretched open by the surging force within them.
Yorii Tsugikuni's utterly expressionless face was especially infuriating.
Brood's powerful, crushing blow
carried such terrifying force that its dreadful might could be felt just from its momentum.
The two Security Force members Yorii Tsugikuni had encountered earlier shrank farther into the crowd when they saw this.
Although Brood was only known as the Hundred-Man Slayer among the Empire's soldiers, his strength ranked among the very best Imperial Arms Users.
And after Brood, acting as the vanguard, had already closed in on Yorii Tsugikuni, Akame and Sheele, who had recovered from the previous exchange, charged forward again.
Mine, whose earlier attack had missed Yorii Tsugikuni, aimed at him once more.
The crushing Crimson Buteo, the death-bringing Murasame, the soul-rending All-Cutting Shears, the high-powered Pumpkin Cannon, and the watchful Lion Beastification—
Five attacks from different directions surged toward Yorii Tsugikuni once again.
There was no doubt that if even one of those five attacks was not blocked, Yorii Tsugikuni would die. There would be no room whatsoever to struggle.
The petite Mine stood atop a distant tower.
The Pumpkin Romantic Cannon in her hands was currently giving off heat. After firing it, she was waiting for Pumpkin to cool down.
The combat power Yorii Tsugikuni had displayed so far was difficult for her to believe.
Especially the shot Yorii Tsugikuni had dodged just now. She had seen it clearly through her scope, yet she still found it hard to believe.
At that moment, the battle in the street continued.
At such close range, there was practically no possibility of evasion.
And the attacks came from five directions, launched by an assassin organization rich in killing experience.
The danger involved needed no explanation.
For almost anyone else, it would have been certain death.
Yet faced with this situation, Yorii Tsugikuni's placid eyes finally rippled slightly.
"Shing!"
The instant Akame, Brood, Sheele, and Leone rushed in,
accompanied by a piercing sound of a sword being drawn, Yorii Tsugikuni's figure, which had been standing still, went from trembling faintly at first to becoming completely blurred.
"Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!"
Yorii Tsugikuni vanished from where he stood, followed by a barrage of collisions so rapid they nearly merged into a single sound.
They thundered through the silent street.
Nadjeshda, watching from afar, wore an extremely grim expression beneath her silver hair.
What she had thought was a sure thing
now seemed to be heading in an unpredictable direction.
Oka's Death, Night Raid's Retreat
Yorii Tsugikuni, surrounded by Sheele, Akame, Brood, Leone, and the distant Mine,
held his Nichirin Blade as though it possessed the ability to travel through space.
Afterimages flashed continuously before their eyes.
No matter where Sheele and Akame launched their slashes,
they were easily blocked.
Mine's shots were even more ineffective. Yorii Tsugikuni stood like a reef in the ocean; no matter how fierce the four's attacks became,
he remained utterly unmoved, without the slightest sign of strain.
On the contrary, Akame, Sheele, Leone, and Brood
were rapidly exhausting themselves under such high-intensity attacks.
They had fought countless battles, but they had never encountered an enemy who was nearly impossible to defeat.
The speed at which his longsword swung had already surpassed the limits of humanity.
Every one of their attacks was casually blocked by the man before them.
As time passed, the tremendous force continuously transmitted through their weapons began to injure them.
Leone's hands had long since turned into bear paws, Akame could barely hold her Imperial Arms, and Sheele's face had gone pale as she panted heavily.
Brood was in the worst condition. Operating the armor placed an enormous burden on his body.
By now, he was drenched in sweat. Half-kneeling on the ground, his entire body trembled violently as he forced himself to endure.
Looking at Yorii Tsugikuni, whose hair did not even seem to have been disturbed, Brood felt as if he were looking at a monster.
Locked in a stalemate with Yorii Tsugikuni, they had no idea what to do for the moment.
The situation had completely reversed. It was no longer they who had Yorii Tsugikuni surrounded; Yorii Tsugikuni had surrounded the four of them.
Brood fully believed that Yorii Tsugikuni had the ability to kill any one of the four.
"You should stay."
Yorii Tsugikuni slowly walked toward Brood and the others.
Seeing Yorii Tsugikuni approach, the four, already exhausted, supported one another as they looked at him with eyes full of wariness.
"Retreat!"
Nadjeshda, who had also been watching from afar, saw that Lubbock had failed.
Without hesitation, she gave the order to retreat.
From this day onward, they would raise their level of caution toward Yorii Tsugikuni to an unprecedented degree.
The attack power Yorii Tsugikuni had displayed just now was simply too terrifying.
After the previous few encounters with Yorii Tsugikuni, she had specifically investigated his background.
In the end, she discovered that Yorii Tsugikuni was like someone who had appeared out of nowhere.
And the weapon in his hand was not even an Imperial Arms.
Without an Imperial Arms, he had withstood the combined assault of every member of Night Raid without falling into the slightest disadvantage.
Before you continue