Requiem of the Broken

Chapter 55: Fallen Angels

"This isn't a lost and found," Okimi said flatly.

"Give us the child Eri and we won't set foot inside your hospital." Snapped the woman.

"I see. So you want someONE, not something. In that case, I can't help you either. You'll have to leave the premises." Okimi said.

"So you won't give us the child?" Asked the woman, her eyes narrowing.

"No. And if-" Okimi's words were cut short when there was a thrumming noise, and a neat hole was bored through her chest.

Okimi fell forward, hitting the pavement with a sickening thud.

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It had been years since Sasakura had pushed his body this far. He wasn't sure how long he could keep it up. His body just wasn't what it was like when he had been young. He was effectively a sixty-year-old between heart problems and other health conditions despite being in his early forties. Without his quirk, he wouldn't have made it even this far.

He panted with the exertion as he dispatched the last of the rabble. The entire time, Zeus's lieutenant had watched, never once intervening. Whatever the man's reason, Sasakura took the opportunity to catch his breath and try to get his heart rate under control. Though he noticed distressingly that his heart rate was pretty high.

When he had taken a moment, he turned toward the Lieutenant, and the eight mercenaries arrayed around him. He flipped his sword around, the lethal end toward the mercenaries. These were not ruffians, they were a serious threat and he wouldn't risk the safety of the students.

The lieutenant narrowed his eyes at Sasakura, then he jerked his head toward him. Two mercenaries detached themselves from their group and came toward Sasakura. One manifested a chain out of his own hair, and the other raised steel spiked fists; Sasakura noted that he had extra joints in his arms and legs. They didn't try to circle around behind Sasakura, instead preferring to stand a few meters away. The lieutenant gave another jerk of his head and the two mercenaries charged at him.

It was like some kind of sick test, but if it meant an easier fight, then Sasakura would play along for now. He didn't fancy his odds against eight trained assailants all at once in his current state.

As he feared these mercenaries knew how to fight, they knew exactly when to press the attack and relax it. Sasakura evaded what blows he could, but the team was too well coordinated and some of the chain hair wrapped around an arm.

He tried to overpower the user, but a spiked fist slammed into his leg. The extra joints gave the other mercenary a ranged advantage Sasakura had never encountered before. Another chain wrapped around his other leg and with a quick pull he fell to the ground. Then another chain wrapped around his neck and the other arm, he desperately tried to free himself but to no avail.

His situation was dire, and so he used his quirk a third time. He summoned the old conditions once more into his mind and signed the second set, leaving only one more unsigned. Power once more surged through him and with greater strength he overpowered the hair chain binding his sword arm and sliced the hair around his neck apart with one deft swing. The mercenary binding looked shocked at Sasakura's casual display of immense strength. Able to swing his sword with enough force to cut through the hair with the same arm still being restrained.

Sasakura freed his other arm, then ripped the hair binding his other arm apart with his bare hands. The second mercenary tried to smash his face in with a punch that looked comically slow to Sasakura's newfound power. He casually severed the hand of the other mercenary.

The mercenary screamed and stumbled back, Sasakura stood up, slicing apart a chain that tried to bludgeon him, then threw his blade into the first mercenary's throat. Before the mercenary even hit the ground, Sasakura was pulling the blade free. The second mercenary desperately tried to dodge but Sasakura's blade found its mark in the man's chest. As the mercenary collapsed backward, he let the man's fall pull the blade free for him.