Oni’s Attack(2)

Juri looked at Neon standing in front of her.

What Juri herself needed to do now was to compose herself and convey the story she had finally organized to Neon.

The words she wanted to say to Neon were unbelievable even to Juri herself, but she gained confidence from Neon’s straightforward gaze and was able to start her explanation.

“Um… about what happened last Friday…”

But that explanation had barely begun.

Thump—

Suddenly, Neon’s hand grasped Juri’s shoulder, cutting off her words, and Juri couldn’t help but open her eyes wide.

Neon’s hand that had suddenly grabbed her shoulder.

And whether she was unconsciously applying force or not, as her shoulder was gripped tightly with a squeeze, causing pain, Juri frowned.

“Ugh, why suddenly the shoulder…?”

So Juri tried to ask about the reason for that sudden hand, but.

“…Eh?! Kyaah?!”

Before she could finish her words, in the blink of an eye, her body was thrown backward, and Juri couldn’t help but scream instead of asking questions.

Thud thud thud—!!

Her body briefly flew through the air and soon collided with the ground.

Juri was thrown and rolled on the ground fiercely a couple of times, and with her body instantly covered in dirt, what Juri chose was naturally to get up from her spot and express her anger.

“What do you think you’re doing…!”

“Everyone run away!!!”

If it weren’t for Neon shouting like that with an urgent expression, Juri would have vented her anger.

“…Wh-What? What’s going on?”

Neon shouts with a voice so loud that even Juri herself, who was about to get angry, was surprised.

When such an ear-piercing shout burst out from Neon, whom she had thought had a fragile personality, Juri couldn’t help but be bewildered, and she asked back with question, but there was no answer from Neon.

Rather than answering Juri’s question, Neon looked up at the front again and pulled out something from her waist.

And only after a huge shield sprang out from what Neon had pulled out did Juri understand what Neon had told them to run away from.

Swoosh—

“…Something from the sky.”

Looking up in the direction Neon was staring, a faint black dot-like something became visible.

That something falling from the sky was undoubtedly flying towards this direction.

It was flying straight towards here, harboring massive hostility.

And the moment she saw that, Juri could be certain that the reason Neon had spread out the shield was none other than because of that thing.

But even realizing this, it was impossible to avoid that thing which had already come close enough to almost touch her nose.

Therefore, all Juri could do was to watch the back of Neon, who had already spread out her shield and changed into a completely different person from just a moment ago.

“I don’t know what kind of person she really is, but…”

Neon, the only one remaining in her lost memories, and now with an aura completely different from her first impression.

Although there seemed to be more to ask about that back view full of doubts, for this moment, Juri put aside such curiosities and looked at the slender but firm Neon, hoping.

That she would be able to block it.

Immediately after, a massive impact enveloped the area with a deafening roar.

---

BOOOOM—–!!!

The shield vibrates with the collision, and the impact that couldn’t be fully absorbed shakes the ground of the field.

“Kyaaaah!!!”

“W-Wait a minute!!”

“What’s this all of a sudden?!!”

And the children scream as they lose their balance and fall due to that shaking.

However, perhaps because the shield Neon was holding absorbed most of the impact, fortunately, there were no children who suffered direct damage, they just fell from their spots.

A sigh of relief escapes naturally at that.

But the next moment, Neon looked down at her own arms, which were throbbing and trembling slightly.

“That was tremendous power…”

Of course, it’s not strange that it was strong since it was a fist struck while flying down at such speed, but this was the first time Neon’s arms had throbbed like this since gaining goblin power.

She had suffered this much damage even though she had drawn out her full power due to an uneasy feeling.

If she had only released 50% or 80% of her power to save strength, her arms might have turned to powder, so Neon swallowed a small gasp.

“…Who on earth was that?”

If Neon hadn’t seen wrong, what flew from the sky was undoubtedly a different race.

A different race with a pair of horns and vermilion twin-tails had flown through the sky and come to this field of Gaeam High School where Neon was.

Therefore, Neon looked around to find that different race, but the field that had already been swept by the massive impact was filled with hazy dust.

Unable to secure proper visibility in that dust, Neon had no choice but to raise the club handle once again.

“This time, a fan.”

She imagines the form of a huge fan large enough to blow away the dust of this big field at once.

And mana begins to extend according to that form.

Finally, as the mana formed a huge fan as she had imagined, Neon readjusted her grip on the handle and swung the fan horizontally.

“Hup!”

Whoosh—!!!

The fan pushes away the dust, causing an intense wind befitting its size.

The dust that had filled the field in an instant was helplessly scattered with one swing of Neon’s fan, and with the dust cleanly gone, Neon looked around once again.

“Where is it?”

If it had already hidden its appearance in the dust, she needed to find it as quickly as possible.

If such a strong opponent’s surprise attack aimed for Neon’s neck, it would surely be fatal.

“Where…”

However, as Neon was busily turning her head like that, she eventually had to stop abruptly, looking straight ahead.

Because the different race that had just flown through the sky was standing right in front of Neon.

The different race was standing still right in front of Neon with a proud attitude, making Neon’s busy looking around in guard against a surprise attack seem foolish.

And the appearance of that different race was exactly as Neon had seen.

A girl with vermilion twin-tails wearing a blood-red dress with an antique atmosphere. Two horns protrude from the girl’s forehead as if her skin had grown out.

Although she didn’t know why such a different race had attacked Neon herself, the important thing for now was one thing.

‘I mustn’t let my guard down…’

That this girl was undoubtedly an enemy.

Needless to say, at this obvious fact, Neon glared at the girl while maintaining her heightened state of alert.

And as if Neon’s attitude was funny, the different race girl burst into laughter and then opened her mouth which had been closed until now.

“Kahahahat!! You’re someone who knows how to fight, aren’t you? Your aura is different from those humans behind you?”

“…”

“No need to be so on edge. The reason I came here now is just to take you away.”

“…Me?”

The girl who happily tells Neon, who is maintaining her guard, that she came to take her away.

And at the girl’s words, Neon slightly widened her eyes and let out a questioning sound.

Why had she come to take her away? Neon’s mind starts to work at the girl’s purpose, which she couldn’t understand the reason for.

However, before Neon could fall into deeper thought, the girl took the initiative and threw a question at Neon.

“Honestly, I’d like to half-kill you in a fight and drag you away, but I don’t have much time right now. Just in case, I’ll give you one choice.”

“…A choice?”

“The humans behind you, and the humans coming out of that school.”

The girl gestures with her chin, pointing at the children behind Neon and the security guards and teachers rushing out of the school.

Pitter-patter—!!

“Protect the students as the top priority!!!”

“Capture the intruder if possible! Focus on tying their feet, reinforcements are coming!!”

“Move quickly, quickly!!!”

Of course, given such a commotion, they were rushing out of the school swiftly and running towards where Neon and the girl were.

They were running with weapons in hand, trying to evacuate the children who were still in shock and capture the girl in front of Neon.

But the girl looked at them and snorted as if they were ridiculous, then stomped her foot hard.

Thud—!!!

The ground shakes as the girl stomps her foot.

The running security guards and teachers lose their balance and stagger.

Then, black mist suddenly rising from the ground blocked the path in front of them who had momentarily stopped in their tracks.

Those who belatedly regained their balance seemed to try to break through the mist, but the black mist didn’t even budge when cut or stabbed with weapons.

And having blocked the support troops with just one stomp of her foot like that, the girl looked at Neon again and continued speaking.

“If you don’t want to see those weak humans die by my hand, quietly crush your own arms and legs and stay still there. If not, I’ll kill those guys.”

“You call that a choice…?”

“Of course. It’s your life or their lives. It all depends on your choice, doesn’t it?”

The girl grins as if asking what’s wrong with this simple and clear choice.

Then, as the girl’s words echoed, Neon closed her mouth at the gazes of the children starting to reach her back.

The gazes of the children who heard the girl’s words reach Neon, trembling with anxiety.

Was it to create guilt by drawing gazes like this that she spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear?

If so, Neon wanted to tell the girl that it was truly successful.

The place of the ordinary life she had dreamed of, the children who had treated her kindly, the school she would continue to attend, these were the causes of the joy Neon had felt today, so from Neon’s position, she couldn’t help but hesitate at the gazes reaching her back.

‘…It’s simple.’

However.

‘Yes, it’s a simple choice that doesn’t even need an answer.’

Even if there was that moment of hesitation, in the end, there was only one choice Neon would make.

‘My life comes first.’

She abandons the hundreds of lives behind her.

Neon answered the choice thrown by the girl like that and composed herself.

It would be a lie to say she didn’t feel sorry for the children looking at her and the people beyond the mist.

Neon undoubtedly felt sorry to them for choosing her own life over their lives.

But apart from that, for Neon, who was born in the slums and cut ties with the slums by her own hands, this was a choice that could be called natural.

‘If I die, it all becomes meaningless.’

Throwing away one’s life for a sense of justice and guilt is reckless and foolish.

Anything only has meaning if one is alive.

As long as she’s alive, she can find a new school and cultivate an ordinary life again.

Therefore, rather than not resisting at all to save everyone’s lives, Neon chose to abandon everyone in order to somehow protect her own life.

“If possible, I’d like to run away…”

But the surroundings had long been covered by the black mist spread by the girl.

Neon considered whether she could break through it at once, but it didn’t seem likely that she could instantly destroy that wall set up by a strong opponent like the girl.

So the method left for Neon was ultimately to confront and defeat the girl in front of her.

“…This won’t be necessary.”

Therefore, Neon looked down at the club handle she was holding once and muttered like that.

“I’m not used to it yet.”

The club handle received from Shin-yeon was certainly an excellent weapon, but now when she wasn’t yet accustomed to it, it was worse than not using it.

So Neon tucked the club handle back at her waist, and instead raised her tightly clenched fist.

“I just need to kill you here, right? Is that it?”

Then she could survive, and if lucky, might be able to save a few people.

“…Puhahahat!!!”

And at these words from Neon, the girl lowered the hand she had on her waist and burst into laughter once again.

Then, as the girl burst into laughter, the corners of her mouth curved into a clear smile.

“Yeah, honestly, that guy begged and pleaded for me to give this choice, but this is what I was hoping for!”

The girl looks at Neon as if pleased and bursts into laughter over and over.

Then, seeing Neon’s posture with her fist raised, the girl also threw away all the weapons she had on her back and waist and showed her own fist.

“Well then, although it’ll be short… let’s fight!”

The girl’s joyful voice echoes loudly.

With that shout as a signal, the fight between Neon and the girl began.