Then he felt something that sent shivers down his spine—he could sense bloodlust in the air. His body reacted before his conscious mind.
“Meow-meow! ” Adlet rolled to one side just as the sword stabbed into the roof where he’d been. The other man had approached from behind without making the slightest sound. “Hiya,” Hans said. “I thought ya’d show up, Adlet.”
“Hans. So it’s you.” Adlet had forgotten—Hans was an assassin. Traps and surprise attacks were his field of expertise. Hans had probably predicted his arrival and concealed himself beforehand somewhere in the forest.
Hans yanked his sword out of the roof, and then, grasping a hatchet-like blade in each hand, he whirled them around, moving only his wrists. It looked like he was playing, yet he revealed no openings. His movements were bizarre. “I thought all ya could meownage was cowardly tricks. Yer better than I thought.” It sounded as though Hans was surprised that his ambush had failed.
“Well, damn,” said Adlet. “Now that I’ve run into you, it looks like I’ve got no choice but to do this.” He drew his sword and faced Hans. But that was just bluster. Since negotiation was off the table, Adlet was already considering his only option: flight.
“Come at me like yer gonna kill me. If ya don’t, this’ll be over real fast.” Hans had a broad smile on his face as he swung his sword. It was as if he enjoyed fighting so much he could barely control it.
“You go first,” said Adlet. “It’ll be a nice learning experience for you.”
“Mya-hee. Mee-hee-hee. Hmya-mya-meow! ” Hans emitted a strange laugh and leaped at him.
Just what I wanted , Adlet thought. He would block Hans’s first attack and use the opportunity to throw a smoke bomb in his face.
But an instant before Hans would have struck, the assassin dropped to all fours and came to a halt. Adlet wasn’t ready for that. Hans threw a spinning roundhouse kick to smack away the smoke bomb in Adlet’s left hand. “That same trick ain’t gonna keep workin’ again and again.” Hans swung his sword, using the momentum of his spin. Adlet jumped backward, barely avoiding it. Hans twisted his body and pounced once more.
The two fell from the roof of the temple. Adlet landed, and when he saw Hans falling headfirst, he thought this would be his chance to run. But Hans landed on his fists, swords still in hand, and smoothly, with the strength of his arms alone, launched himself at Adlet. “Yah!” Twisting through the air, he struck.
It was all Adlet could do to block the blow with the flat of his blade. Hans’s full weight behind the attack threw Adlet off-balance. Hans landed on his hands and then, of all things, ran upside down toward Adlet. Then he flipped forward to plant his feet on the ground again, aiming for Adlet’s head with both swords.
“Ngh! ” Though Hans’s build wasn’t that large, his strike was terrifyingly heavy. Just blocking it made Adlet’s shoulders scream. Hans’s stream of attacks was continuous—he flipped upside down, rolled forward, cartwheeled to the side, all four of his limbs working freely to harry Adlet. It was as if gravity didn’t even exist. How can a human move like that? Adlet wondered. He had no idea where the onslaught would come from next. Though it seemed as if Hans was just messing with him, his manner of movement was utterly efficient. He followed Adlet about like a cat playing with a ball, keeping his prey from getting too far.
“Tsk! ” Adlet tossed a poison needle from his sleeve as he kicked at Hans with a nail hidden in his shoe. But neither hit their mark. There was no way they could. Adlet’s weapons were all for catching an opponent off guard. But at the moment, Adlet was the one off-balance.
“Hnnmya! ” Hans grunted as Adlet’s desperate kick connected with his stomach. Hans dropped both his swords. In that brief moment, Adlet tried to throw a smoke bomb.
“Hnnmya-meow! ” But as the swords flew through the air, Hans caught them between his feet. Then, spinning his body with the strength of his arms, he lunged at Adlet. Adlet somehow managed to block the attack from Hans’s feet with a sword, but Hans took advantage of the opportunity to grab his opponent’s legs and pull him to the ground.
“Damn it…” Adlet fell on his face. He didn’t even have time to cry out. Hans was instantly on his feet, pressing a steel edge against Adlet’s neck. Hans had defeated him utterly with little effort. Adlet had been crushed. Dumbfounded, the boy gazed at the blade at his throat. It prevented him from moving at all. If Adlet so much as twitched, he would be unceremoniously decapitated.
“Meow , too bad for you, Adlet,” Hans said, smiling. “It wasn’t a bad plan. Most people wouldn’t have thought up turnin’ themselves into a fake Brave. If I hadn’t been here, ya might’ve done a better job foolin’ everyone.”
“Hans, I…”
“Are you gonna say yer not the impostor? That’s not gonna work.” Hans was smirking. “I was blown away when ya went and took a hostage. I thought ya had more brains than that.”
So that had been a poor move, after all. At this point, Adlet was regretting it. But there was no time for that. He had to get himself out of this.
“So why don’t ya spit it out?” goaded Hans. “Who’s behind this? Why’d ya betray the human race and join up with the Evil God? I won’t do ya no wrong if ya come out and tell me all proper-like.”
“I won’t ‘spit it out,’ because I’m not the impostor,” insisted Adlet.
“Ya don’t need to hesitate here. I get it. Ya got yerself a little sob story to explain why, don’t ya? Ya need medicine for yer ailin’ mama? Yer cute little gal got taken hostage?”
“I have no family. I have no lover. I’ll say it as many times as you’d like. I’m not the impostor.”
“Well then, there’ll be nobody left to grieve when yer dead.” Hans’s sword nicked Adlet’s skin.
As it did, Adlet made his move. He hadn’t exhausted all his secret weapons just yet. A single thread was woven through Adlet’s sleeve. He grabbed it with his fingers and pulled. Instantly, one of the pouches at his waist exploded with a bang, and yellow smoke enveloped them.
“Nghmrow! ” With a cry, Hans pressed his hands against his eyes. This wasn’t a mere smoke bomb; it was tear gas that worked equally well against fiends and humans alike.
“Shit! You made me use it, you stupid ass! This hurts so—agh! ” Adlet had taken the hit at point-blank range, so the tear gas had affected him far worse. But still, he had escaped Hans’s grasp. Adlet turned from Hans and tried to run away, but with his eyes stinging so badly he couldn’t see straight, he ran face first into a pillar of salt.
“Mya-mya-mya! Just how stubborn do ya gotta be?!”
“As stubborn as it takes for me to get away, duh!”
As both Braves rubbed their weeping eyes, they fought. Adlet had used his trump card and had only a few of his secret tools left. He knew he couldn’t beat Hans. And at the very least, it was highly unlikely he could get away from him in a head-on situation, either. He couldn’t flee unless he caught Hans off guard with some kind of inspired plan.
Hans could barely see a thing, but his attacks were still extremely fierce. His swords struck at Adlet’s feet, from above, from every direction, as he stuck to Adlet as if they were dancing together.
“Stupid genius,” Adlet muttered.
Hans was unmistakably brilliant. His talent was one in a hundred thousand, or maybe one in a million, or perhaps he was the only one of his kind in the world. How could he wield such fighting technique otherwise? Adlet wasn’t like that. He was ordinary. Hopelessly ordinary. But Adlet thought, Just who decided an ordinary man couldn’t become the strongest in the world?
“I’m not lettin’ ya get away meow!” Hans somersaulted forward in the air. Adlet couldn’t predict what kind of attack was coming. He doubled his guard against the strike from above by blocking with both sword and scabbard. Hans landed, and with a cartwheel, he struck simultaneously with both swords and a kick. While Adlet was busy blocking the swords, the kick slammed into his stomach.
“Ha! That didn’t work at al
l!” Adlet yelled, even as he felt like he might puke.
The man who’d taught Adlet to fight had never held back. It was by going through hell that Adlet had become strong. He’d trained his body, practiced his sword, and learned all there was to learn about his master’s secret tools. But the more he had trained, the more keenly he’d felt that there was an insurmountable wall between the mundane and the genius.
“Over here!” Adlet taunted, and the moment Hans leaped, Adlet threw his final smoke bomb on the ground, dove underneath Hans, and ran.
All of Adlet’s training had enabled him to somehow manage to block Hans’s attacks—but he couldn’t go on the offensive. An ordinary person couldn’t surpass a prodigy. However, even if he wasn’t as powerful as Hans, he could still win. He could beat a genius, though he lacked innate talent himself. Believing that had allowed Adlet to come this far.
Adlet’s breath was ragged. Their fight had dragged on for a long time. Adlet had used up most of the tools on his belt. Hans was barely scraped, while Adlet’s body was covered in wounds. Even so, Adlet could see the faintest signs of fatigue in his opponent. Hans’s attacks were growing just a little bit less aggressive. Adlet had been waiting for this—the momentary lapse in his assault. Adlet removed one of the belts from which his various pouches hung and threw it away. Confused, Hans stopped. While Hans hesitated, Adlet quickly whipped off the second, third, and then fourth, tossing them all away. The belts fell to the ground between the two warriors.
“…” For the first time, Hans looked leery. He was not so simple a man as to think he was at an advantage because Adlet had thrown away his tools. “Hey…what’re ya doin’?”
“Come at me,” said Adlet. “I don’t need any more tools. I can beat you fair and square.”
“This is some kinda ruse.”
“Yes, it is,” Adlet acknowledged readily. Hans was overwhelmingly his superior when it came to swordplay. It would be crazy for him not to assume it was a trap.
“Meow… ” Hans groaned. He seemed at a loss as to how to continue. It was curious. Hans had been utterly dominating the match thus far, and now that Adlet had thrown away his tools, he was at an even greater advantage. But despite that, Hans was unable to move.
The truth was, if Hans were to charge him without a single thought, Adlet would have been unable to do a thing. But Adlet was convinced that Hans wouldn’t attack. Hans was sharp. And it was that sharpness that immobilized him. Even if Hans realized that the trap was the pretense that there was a trap, he couldn’t attack.
“What’s wrong, Hans? You scared?” taunted Adlet.
“Yeah, I’m scared,” said Hans. “I can’t fool ya there.”
“You’re honest.”
“I do kill people, but I don’t lie. Lyin’ ain’t good.”
Adlet thought about it. In this situation, defeating Hans wouldn’t spell victory. Victory for Adlet was clearing his name and finding the seventh. That was what he was aiming for.
“Meow. ” Hans eyed Adlet warily—looking for something in the boy’s clothes or mouth. To see if there was a weapon he could use among the paraphernalia strewn on the ground. But Hans wasn’t paying attention to the one weapon Adlet still carried—his sword. Adlet took advantage of that.
“!”
Adlet grasped the hilt of his sword and twisted. Instantly, there was the sound of a powerful spring, and the blade of his sword shot out in a straight line, piercing the scabbard at Hans’s waist.
“Meow! ” Hans jumped away.
Without a pause, Adlet yelled, “Hans! You get it, don’t you? You can tell that miss was deliberate!” As he spoke, he threw away the hilt that remained in his hands. Now he was completely unarmed.
“Why’d ya miss?” asked Hans.
“A man of your caliber should understand that, too.” After throwing away the hilt, Adlet then removed his armor and stripped off his clothes. He showed Hans that he was completely unarmed. “Think about it, Hans. If I were the seventh, would I have any reason to deliberately miss? That shot was my only chance to defeat you. Why would I let that opportunity slide by?”
“…Meow. ”
Adlet would use this desperate situation to win Hans over to his side. A man of Hans’s caliber should have understood that Adlet wasn’t the seventh. Please understand , Adlet prayed.
“Yer not gonna trick me,” said Hans.
“If I were the seventh, I would definitely kill you, but not necessarily trick you. It’s incredibly unlikely that I’d be able to deceive you, but I could have almost certainly killed you.”
“…Ngh. ”
“I’m one of the Braves, for real,” said Adlet. “That’s why I couldn’t kill you—you’re my ally. That’s the answer. That’s the reason I missed. Let that convince you!”
Still clenching his sword, Hans agonized.
Adlet was sure his argument was logically consistent. He was certain that it could convince Hans. But there was one big hole in his plan. If Hans was the seventh, then Adlet was completely defenseless and standing before the enemy. This was a gamble. Adlet had no choice but to bet on the chance that Hans wasn’t the traitor. Adlet prayed. Please, Hans, let this convince you. And please be one of the real Braves.
In the end, Hans’s body abruptly went slack. “Okay. You’ve convinced me. Yer a real Brave.” Adlet had convinced him. Suddenly, the boy burst out in a cold sweat all over. It had been a risky bet, but he’d won. What Hans said next, though, chilled his spine. “It’s a good thing I was the one who stayed behind here,” Hans mused. “Ya could’ve convinced any of the others.”
“Huh?”
“You were close. You were real close.” Hans smiled. Adlet ran toward the belts he’d discarded, groping for them. “Too bad I’m the seventh!” Hans cried, moving in the same instant Adlet did. The moment Adlet grabbed one of his belts, Hans sliced Adlet’s throat in a horizontal sweep.
The searing impact ran through Adlet’s body. He felt the sensation of his own head flying away.
But…Adlet was alive, still grasping for his belt. When he touched his neck, his head was still attached. Not a single layer of skin had been cut.
Hans stood behind him, smiling, as he said, “People can lie with their words. They can deceive with their actions. Ya can’t trust their eyes or their voices or the looks on their faces. But right before they’re about to kick off, their expressions don’t lie. A man’s true nature is always there the meowment before he dies.” Adlet wasn’t really listening to Hans. “If ya were the impostor, ya would’ve had a look on yer face like, That’s ridiculous . But the look ya had said, It’s all over . It looks like yer not the impostor.”
“I thought…you’d…cut off…my head…,” Adlet barely managed to squeeze out.
“Right? ’Cause I cut ya in a way that made ya think that.” Hans smiled and then gathered up Adlet’s armor and clothing and threw it at him. “How long are ya gonna stand there like an idiot? Get yer clothes on. I’m not into oglin’ naked men.”
Adlet composed himself and stood. He put on his clothes and belts and reassembled his sword.
“I’ll be countin’ on ya from here on out,” said Hans. Now that Adlet was all equipped, Hans extended a hand to him. Adlet accepted the handshake. “To be honest, I thought it was a little strange. ’Cause if ya were the seventh, there’d be no reason for ya to try to protect Fremy.”
“If you thought so, you should’ve said that in the first place.”
“Meow-hee-hee , sorry.”
Adlet had taken the first step forward, and it was a big one. He now had a dependable ally—and the one who had suspected him most, too—on his side. Adlet was finally starting to feel hopeful.
Fremy and Mora were at the location where Adlet had spent the night.
“There are various traces of his passage here, but…I cannot determine which way he ran.” Mora, who had been crouching as she examined the ground, seemed to have given up as she stood to go.
“The bloodstains
and the footprints all cut off partway,” commented Fremy.
“I am forced to consider that scoundrel first-rate when it comes to flight.”
Fremy looked around. “I wonder if he’s still nearby?”
“The possibility is remote. I doubt he would remain here to be found,” said Mora.
“He may have purposely made us believe that and then stayed in the area.”
Mora folded her arms and pondered for a while.
“What’s wrong?” asked Fremy.
“I don’t know. What is Adlet’s aim?”
“He’s just running because he’s out of options.”
“No. He must still be plotting something. His plans thus far have been meticulous. I cannot imagine that this is the end.”
“Whatever the case, we just have to catch up to him. Let’s go. We have no choice but to search for him randomly.” Fremy turned her back to Mora and began walking.
But Mora called out to her. “No need to rush. Let us talk a spell. We can make our move once we have put our thoughts in order.”
“All right,” said Fremy.
“First, I would like to ask you something. Did you know about this trap?”
“No.”
“You have not heard fiends talk to one another of any of this?” Mora asked.
“Is this an interrogation?”
Mora put her hands on Fremy’s shoulders and said, “Wait. Don’t misunderstand me. It’s no surprise that you are cautious around us, due to what occurred yesterday, but we doubt you no more.”
“Oh? What about Hans? And Chamo?” Fremy sounded skeptical.
“Let me amend myself. I doubt you no more. I believe you are our valued comrade.”
“I see.” The pressure of Mora’s gaze caused Fremy to lower her own a few degrees. “Sorry, but I don’t know anything. Fiends split off into their own small units, and there’s almost no interaction between each cell.”
Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers, Vol. 1 Page 14