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| - “So... there was a door here all along?” Stormy asked, sweatdropping. “Seems like it,” Pura said somewhat sadly. The two girls were standing on the other side of the ship, that had been invisible from their vantage point on the Shooting Star. Right in front of them lay an unassuming, small brown wood door. “I suppose it’d be pointless to tell the boys about this?” Pura asked. “Completely,” Stormy confirmed, then sighed. “Well, we should probably just go in, right?” “Indeed we should,” Pura nodded. Bracing herself slightly, Stormy reached out and pushed the door open... They were greeted by a very spartan room, with the few bits of furniture visible in it pushed into the corner. Bare lightbulbs provided the only illumination in the room, surrounded by small iron bars made of the same dark teal that the rest of the room was painted in. “Welcome,” Canis Minor said, stepping into view in the light, “let us begin this promptly. I don’t want to prolong this battle anymore than I have to. Otherwise that dumbass would laugh at me, or something along those lines.” “You sure have prepared thoroughly,” Stormy remarked, still glancing around. “You’re mistaken,” Minor said, closing her eyes and placing one hand on her arm, “I have not changed the layout of this room for an instant since you first set foot here. This is how it usually is.” “That seems like a very boring way to live,” Pura remarked, stepping into the room itself. “I only live as necessary,” Minor answered, “if it is not absolutely necessary, I don’t need it. I’m a bit more frugal than that dumbass upstairs.” “You like calling him ‘dumbass’ don’t you?” Stormy said, her eyes closed awkwardly as she sweatdropped once more. “No matter,” Canis Minor said, “shall we begin?” “Absolutely,” Pura said, unsheathing Yamiryuu, “I’ll end this in an instant!” Minor chuckled. “How foolish,” she said, “for you both have already fallen into my trap.” “Trap?” Stormy asked. “Exactly,” Minor said, and then flicked her wrist. Immediately, ropes seemed to spring from the very walls and wrapped around the doctor! “What the?!” Stormy said as she started to struggle, “what is this?!” “I’ve overlaid this entire room with these ropes that I can control,” Canis Minor explained, “at any point, with nothing more than a simple tug, I can cause these ropes to spring up and protect me. Any attacks you throw at me will be ineffective.” “We’ll see!” Pura said, dashing forward and swinging her blade directly at the bounty hunter! Minor sighed, lifting up a couple of fingers. Several ropes exploded from the ground, ceiling, and walls, all combining and tying where they met in front of her, forming a large knot. And it was into this knot that Pura’s blade fell! Yamiryuu easily slashed through the rope, but before Pura could quickly regain her balance, Minor tugged a few more ropes, causing more to appear and wrap around each other into a tighter knot, before lunging forward and smashing into the swordswoman’s stomach! “Gah!” Pura cried as she was knocked backwards, toppling over a few times before righting herself. “Pura!” Stormy cried, “hold on a bit longer! Just give me a minute and I can get out of-” “No,” Pura said simply, standing up and gripping Yamiryuu tighter, “you just stay where you are.” “W-why?” “I was... so useless to you back at my home island,” Pura explained, “I want to make it up to you right now. To prove what I can do... and to show that you picked the right swordswoman!” With that, Pura charged forward, immediately... vanishing?! Nay, instead she had released a sudden burst of speed, causing her to appear multiple times around Canis Minor. These were afterimages, a technique in which Pura left thousands of imprints of herself in the air around her due to the sheer speed of her movements. As she continued to create afterimages, Pura began releasing random sword strikes with Yamiryuu! Minor reacted quickly as well, causing more ropes to appear and block her strikes. But this time, Pura was not to be taken by surprise, and she slashed through rope after rope without losing her balance! This continued for quite a decent bit, with Pura slowly but surely whittling the ropes down. “You’re slipping!” Pura said as she lunged in once more, angling another sword slash directly at the female bounty hunter’s neck. Though Minor once more slowed the technique with her ropes, Pura slashed through them with ease, the blade closer to her neck than ever before. “Slipping? Hardly,” Canis Minor replied, “I am merely warming up! Now, Rope Action: Collision Knots!” As soon as the words left her mouth, more ropes sprung from the ground, surrounding Pura! They quickly tangled themselves into smaller knots, and then launched themselves at the swordswoman! However, rather than attempting any dodge, Pura simply took a deep breath, then gripped Yamiryuu’s blade tighter. “Yamiryuu...” she began. “TSUME ARASHI!” At this, Pura’s hands blurred as her sword flew through the air, releasing hundreds of compressed air slashes that tore through the ropes, rending them to only shreds! Canis Minor took a step back in shock, impressed by the pure speed and power of the technique. Pura stopped her movements, then pointed the edge of her blade directly at Minor. “Now, this fight ends,” she said completely seriously. At this line, Minor allowed her hair and hat to fall over her eyes. “No...” she said slowly, “now it ends.” “ROPE ACTION: FABRIC NET TRAP!” Previous Chapter | Next Chapter
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