A trace of a smile crossed Bulat's lips.
"But I refuse."
Taking a slender comb from his waist and repeatedly running it through his hair, Bulat struck a pose to proclaim how different his stance was.
"I'm different from you. Even if we worked together, I'd have trouble finding peace of mind."
"What matters most in life isn't what you lose or gain, but the peace of every passing moment."
"Heh heh... I never expected you to come here. Though perhaps you only came for a drink, we kill members of Night Raid on sight."
"Stop guessing. We didn't come for a drink. We came to kill you three."
Surrounded by the Three Beasts, Bulat remained perfectly composed despite being alone, as though he thought nothing of the three Teigu users.
"Stop bragging!"
Daidara's bulging muscles nearly burst through his clothes. The two great axes he had just hurled at Bulat had already returned automatically to his hands.
With a roar, he swiftly hurled one axe at Bulat, seemingly unconcerned that his flying axe might hurt innocent bystanders, while swinging the other great axe at Bulat.
Teigu: Two Great Axes: Belvaac could make its axes fly back into the wielder's hands automatically, and also had a tracking function.
Thanks to his extensive combat training, Bulat avoided the incoming great axe with only a slight tilt of his head, but the flying axe was merely a decoy.
Daidara charged through his blind spot and swung at Bulat. At the same time, the great axe that had just flown behind him was returning to Daidara's hand, about to cleave into Bulat's back.
"Got you!"
The pincer attack came as swiftly as a gale, yet Bulat paid it not a glance.
"Demon Incursion!"
In an instant, Bulat's body transformed into a dashing suit of armor.
Its silvery-white refined steel shone like jade, yet was hard and difficult to carve. Intricate, delicate patterns covered it like meridians, seemingly pouring endless power into Bulat.
"Red-Backed Shrike!"
In another instant, a red spear materialized out of nothing, gripped tightly in Bulat's hand. Its red paint was probably made from dissolved blood, and its spearpoint was so impossibly sharp that it struck terror into any attacker.
Demon Incursion was the first armor-type Teigu among all Teigu, while Wave's Teigu, Grand Chariot, was an imitation of it.
Clang!
Bulat had caught the great axe Daidara swung at him. With only two fingers, he had stopped Daidara's full-force blow.
The great axe flying in from behind struck Bulat squarely, only to drop to the floor with a crisp metallic clang.
"How could a throwing axe of this caliber possibly match my hardness?"
Seeing things turn unfavorable, General Liver's ring began giving off a faint dark-blue glow. He crossed his hands before his chest and lowered his head slightly, and the liquor in the glasses at the bar's booths surged upward, shooting toward Bulat like sharp swords.
Water Dragon Possession: Black Marlin, a ring Teigu, could freely manipulate liquids and display astonishing power by the sea.
Although the liquid in a single glass could not hurt Bulat, all the customers' drinks shot toward him together, making it an attack with no blind spots.
Locked in a stalemate with Daidara and with nowhere to escape, Bulat suddenly released his fingers and slipped sideways beneath Daidara.
Carried by his tremendous momentum, Daidara tripped over the crouching Bulat and fell squarely on top of him, before the liquor riddled him with holes.
"Still breathing, huh."
Bulat drove a straight punch into the fallen Daidara's abdomen. In his armored form, that punch was as heavy as solid rock. Daidara's breastbone and ribs shattered all at once, and he spat out mouthful after mouthful of black blood.
"Hey, hey, hey, Daidara, pull yourself together. You're not going to make me step in, are you?"
Nyau watched from behind the bar as though enjoying a sideshow, while Liver launched another offensive against Bulat.
With a wave of one hand, Liver sent droplets from a glass of liquor hurtling away like bullets.
Their target, however, was not Bulat, but the row of red wine bottles piled like a small mountain in the liquor cabinet in front of him.
The water bullets easily shattered every bottle of red wine. Liver then raised his other hand, and the vast quantity of wine practically transformed into a red water dragon that charged toward Bulat.
Water pressure grew especially powerful as depth increased. Resisting this kind of impact with the body alone could not negate it through the advantage of hardness.
But Bulat still had more than enough ability to dodge them.
Just as Bulat was about to dodge toward the bar to avoid the water dragon's charge, he saw the fallen Daidara throw an axe-and that flying axe was aimed at Lubbock!
He absolutely could not let Lubbock die like this. Bulat rushed beneath the table by the wall, letting the flying axe smash into his body, only to fall for the enemy's trick.
From the very beginning, the water dragon's target had been this spot by the wall!
The red water dragon battered Bulat's back without pause, consuming a great deal of his stamina.
Under the tremendous impact, the spray also blurred the armor's field of vision. Unable to see Daidara's position, Bulat frantically thrust his spear, Red-Backed Shrike, to the side.
But all he struck was cold wooden planking.
Bulat was suddenly caught in a difficult fight. Though he had more than enough ability to fight all three alone, his need to protect Lubbock had forced him into the enemy's trap, instantly reversing the situation.
"Little sissy, your name's Nyau, right?"
A man's voice Bulat had never heard before came from behind him.
Everyone turned to look, only to see a young man standing quietly at the bar's entrance, his eyes red and his killing intent chilling.
Strangely enough, he had stood there motionless for perhaps as long as half a minute, yet despite his intense killing intent, no one had noticed him. He was as silent as a shadow.
Hearing an unfamiliar man insult him like this, veins bulged on Nyau's face. More than anything in his life, he hated being called a sissy. Even being called a "femboy" did not bother him.
Only the word "sissy" was absolutely intolerable to Nyau.
His little-devil accessories, long socks, and shorts all had distinctly feminine features. Nyau had always had these tendencies toward cross-dressing and narcissism.
For someone who had wanted to become a woman since childhood, mentioning that word was tantamount to tearing open his physiological scars and stripping away the covering his appearance provided.
"You bastard... try saying that again! I'll send you straight to hell..."
"So it really is you... that perverted sissy who likes cutting off women's faces to collect them. Heh heh..."