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Karen Tachibana was now stuck in a pinch so much that she hadn't even room to judge how much time had passed.
Maybe only a few seconds had passed. It could also be a few minutes, ......or perhaps, it had been an hour.
She had no leeway for that, but at the same time, the adversity she was facing required her whole attention. A lapse could turn her into a cold corpse.
She could tell as she focused on the colour of sound. She mustn't stop. She must staunch his nerves even more. She mustn't let any sound go unheard.
"Come on, Come on, Come onnnnn! Hihihi, you're amazing!! How many times can you hold still? One time, maybe two times, or even more, eh? ...... just hope you're not going to give up right now, you will not, right?"
"Yet still... this is not yet... more.... I can listen moreeeeeee!!"
"You damn smelly bitch!! Damn you! Damn you! Just drop for fucking sake!!"
As the man hurled down his fist still incessant rain drops, Karen somehow worked herself to dodge all of them. Her body bore more than a few wounds, but she managed to avoid any fatal injury.
However, it was nearly a miracle that she had managed to dodge the attacks this far. It was mere fluke.
Unfurling her inherent ability
<Enhanced Hearing>
at its maximum capacity, she had been evading any and all attacks of man, faster than the eyes could perceive, by listening to the sound, one of the five senses.It had been a great source of astonishment for the man. It was startling how an ordinary girl, who had yet to awaken a calling, could exhibit a fluid movement of this level.
"Amazing, truly amazing...... hey!!"
He thought she was a mere damsel, yet here he was, still unable to deal with her. It didn't make sense. It shouldn't have been happening. How the hell could she do that?
"Maybe, I should gear up the excitement," the man thought. It should be alright. It doesn't seem like she would die anytime soon.
"Let's make it more excitingggg.....ah?"
The man upped his attack speed by a slight margin.
But that slight difference turned fatal for Karen. It was a miracle in the end, and the miracles weren't supposed to keep going on.
"Argggghh!?"
By the time she had realised what happened, the man had already driven his fist into the stomach of Karne.
With a spin, the impact from the man's fist transmitted into her body, wrecking the internal organs inside.
An agonising pain courses through her body, almost causing her eyes to pop out.
Karen felt something rising from her throat, and the next moment she knew she was coughing out red blood, mixed in other stomach juices. A large amount of blood spilled out as she stumbled backward with momentum.
Her body knocked on the ground for so long, rolled on the concrete over and over before it finally came to an end when she crashed into a tree. Perhaps, the tree had acted like a cushion as that fortunately saved her from death.
"......Not yet...............you can................you can still go on, right?"
"It's too......early for me to die."
As if responding to the man's expectation, who let out a vacant murmur, Karen forced herself to stand up.
She pushed away the pain running through her body, and spitted out the blood that had accumulated on her mouth on the rugged ground while using her spear as a clutch to somehow hold herself.
Yet, a smile had crossed over Karen's face. She chuckled in a scoffing tone while flashing her sharp bucktooth.
Spitting out the blood and spit again, she then turned the tip of the spear toward that man.
"I'm going to be a professional......the best one out there!!"
"Hihihihi. So you're not even a pro?! You have me completely amused!"
"Come, you wicked. I have a long way to go before kicking the bucket."
Maybe it was the adrenaline pumping due to the heat of the moment that supported her determination as Karen taunted the man with a feral smile before......she shut her eyes.
The man, who saw that, let out a befuddled 'what the...?' shout, even pausing on his actions for the time being.
"Hey, hey, hey. What the heck are you playing at?"
"............"
Karen didn't reply back. She wholeheartedly focused on listening to the sound around her more than anything. She seemed to be pushing herself to shut other senses, leaning her being toward sound only.
(My eyes are a mere eyepiece to capture his size, so might as well focus on where I am better.)
The deafening silence that echoed into the place. Whoosh, a strong gust of wind swept over, typical of mountain regions. Gurr-Gurr, the frogs cried somewhere far away. There was the sound of a fly's wing flapping nearby. The sound of deer's footsteps treading on the grass growing at the animal trail. Huff-Huff, Her own rugged sound of breathing. The rapid beating of her heart. The sound of the fragment of concrete that the man stepped on. The man's breathing sound.
From one to two, two to four and so on, the colour of sound dyed Karen's world onto its own.
It was as if she had glimpsed at an unseen world. Her eyes were shut, but the world was far more clearer than ever.
"Drop deaddddd, you hook-nosed haggg----gah!?"
Karen dodged the power attack of man's with a paper breath margin and used the momentum of charge against him, slamming her elbow onto his ribs.
"..............."
This was the first attack that Karen had managed to land on the man after the initial scuffle.
Nevertheless, Karen didn't show any rejoicing look, only focusing on the colour of the man's movement with shut eyes.
The man stumbled backward from the counterattack and scratched his chest from frustration.
"Argh...what the hell was that? How the fuck did you do that?!"
"The sounds stirred, Mister."
"Sound?! ......Did you awaken?! I have heard that sometimes, it happens around awakening! Great, that just make it worth to---kill youuuu!"
"You're dangerous, but professionals will soon be here. It's a checkmate, Mister."
Hearing that, the man ruffled his hair, gritted his teeth for a while when the man ceased his strange act. Then he shook his head and stared at Karen with eyes seeping with intense bloodlust, incomparable from earlier.
"Hey, I am not going to play around anymore. Alright? So don't die on me, okay? Make sure that you don't!"
The following instant, that man's sound disappeared.
(Sound is!?)
The around of the environment was still pouring into her ears, however it was just that man's which seemed to have completely vanished from the place. His footsteps, the rubbing of clothes, breathing sound, heartbeat, the sound of muscles groaning---she could hear nothing.
Karen opened her eyes. Before him stood a black something.
"Did you get to hear the sound?
"?!"
"Your ears are sharp."
"Shut up."
"Have you noticed? The sound of your heart is getting smaller and smaller."
Black something had covered a portion of that enigmatic man' s body with itself.
The man grinned, savouring every moment as the death inches toward Karen with each passing second as she drew her hand from Karen's body.
Then, he brandished his hand strike ahead, ready to slash slanted downward.
"The final moment must be feeling good right? Being no longer having to hear anymore sound? I'm right, no?"
The man's hand trailed downward, yet it stirred not even a bit of air.
Karen closed her eyes, seemingly not wanting to look at the final moment. She prepared herself for the coming death.
She was regretful with the unfinished dream she had, but in the end, it was where she was going to lose her life. Just as she was slightly seized by the fear, she heard the man's laughter.
"Time to rain the blooddddd! It's going to be a great show!!"
"---You bastard, get away from my friend!"
"Huh?"
The man's eyes greeted the clear blue sky. Similarly, he felt an intense pain running through his cheeks.
Only then it struck him---he seemed to have been punched by someone. Shudder, a streak of fear ran inside him.