Shion's Questions

"Now . . . Answer the previous question, left to right in order." Shiki commanded.

Sasuke was first and replied.

"We overestimated our opponents, letting them know they were no match before we had them on lock and unable to escape."

Shiki nodded and turned to Hinata.

"We froze up at the enemy's decisive escape which was quite unexpected and so, we let them get away without being able to effectively pursue without leaving our operational limit you set for us." She said. To which Sasuke and Hanabi nodded in agreement.

"Very well. Anything to add Hanabi?" Shiki inquired.

The young girl pondered for a few seconds, making a but of a pause before opening her eyes and speaking.

"We let our opponents take the initiative without needing to do so and should've counterattacked directly after blocking their first combination attack even if we let them start first." She shared her thoughts.

Sasuke and Hinata had actually not thought of this, the former out of pride and the later out of a general lack of aggressiveness.

"Perfect! The first two mistakes can easily be chalked up to being your first battle and your opponents being weaker than your partners in practice but the last one was a tactical error and something to look out for." Shiki explained.

"Sasuke, you need to tone down that sometimes excessive pride and Hinata, you may lack aggressiveness but you can't lack initiative. Hanabi, you have proven your tactical insight so don't be afraid to lead just because you're the youngest when you feel you know the right course of action."

He gave each of the squad members some advice on how to do better next time.

"With that out of the way, Shiki and his team helped Shion and Taruho make preparations for journey to the Land of Marshes where the shrine in which Moryo's body sealed can be found.

When asked about the path to be picked, Shiki did not choose the path they had taken in the anime and instead elected to go through an actual road and even got a self driving palanquin for Shion.

Basically a car but made in the style of a palanquin so as to fit more into the world's aesthetic preferences.

Taruho worried that thi would make them an easy and obvious target for pursuers and assailants but Shiki said their enemies would find them either way so there was really no need to think deeply about their route as with his presence, the chance of SHion actually being harmed was close to nil.

Shion was prepared to suffer a bit with the trip and was not being nearly as fussy as she was in the anime which left Shiki wondering whether the movie simply misrepresented her like Haku was actually a woman rather than simply a beautiful man.

Whatever, the might be, once she discovered she would be able to travel and in one of the luxurious self moving vehicles she had hear about being all the rage in big countries made the Miko princess really happy and the 1000 watt smile on her face shared as much.

Along the path Shion kept asking Shiki al kinds of questions about himself and his life, personal stuff but since Shiki wanted to foster a close relationship with her as well, he didn't mind at all and answered all of her questions.

That he was an orphan but had an adoptive family, that he had trained from very young, he had very few but precious male friends and too foolish kids that were like little brothers to him and one of them was walking alongside them today.

Sasuke showing an annoyed face at the comment but being internally happy before wistfully remembering the good times he had with his biological older brother before everything went wrong . . .

Shion then commented Shiki must be very popular with the opposite sex though, as he was really handsome. Taruho was utterly shocked at seeing his princess so blatantly flirt with someone she only knew for a very short while.

Shiki respond truthfully, saying it was indeed true and even shared that he was already in a very serious committed relationship to see how Shion would react.

This seemed to reassure Taruho. Even though he was feeling a bit sad that SHion's first crush might end in heartbreak, he was sure that things were progressing too fast and the MIko ought to choose a proper husband from the Land of Demons.

Much to his shock however, and surprising even Shiki, Shion just blinked once before asking.

"What does Shiki-sama think about polygamy?"

Shiki's expression froze on his face, Taruho passed out over Sasuke who caught him while complained. Hinata froze as well unable to process how a such a highborn lady could just make such an obvious pass at someone that had said he was in a committed relationship.

Hanabi on the other hand, was glaring down the Miko as if picking a fight and spewing venomous insults in her mind at the thieving cat attempting to blatantly steal her Shiki-onii-sama right in from of herself and her older sister without the slightest regard.

Shion masterfully ignored all the other reactions though and kept her eyes fixed on Shiki, waiting with expectations and hope for his response.

Shiki looked at her extremely weirdly but honestly answered like he had done before.

"To tell the truth, my current serious relationship is of a polygamous nature so I'm obviously fine with it so long as all parties involved are aware and okay with the situation." He said.

The Miko beamed at the favourable response and began giggling and murmuring undecipherable things to herself with a suspicious smile on her face.

It was at this moment, that Shiki noticed the three attackers from before had returned.

"The stooges are back." Shiki warned his squad.

"Sasuke, rest Taruho against the palanquin and get ready for battle." He commanded, leading to the boy putting the unconscious Taruho on the ground, leaning against the palanquin as ordered.

"No need to worry about defence, leave that to me and focus only on taking down your opponents and watching out for each other while I hold position and protect Shion and Taruho." Shiki gave the orders for the engagement.

The three accepted the orders and Hinata and Hanabi immediately started watching for the assailants with their Byakugan.

Kusuna, the fourth member of the Gang of Four that had yet to show himself, stopped and stood a fair bit of distance away but the other three kept going.

The sisters immediately noted that their opponents' chakras seemed to be much stronger than before and that Shizuku, seemed to be bringing a huge mass of water floating behind her.

All three decided to just match up with their previous opponents and see how it went and, with Shiki telling them not to care about the defence of their client, they decided to mount a counter ambush rather than just wait for them to come and dashed into the forest on the side of the road.

Much like other members of Mugetsu, they carried around paper tags of various types and functions that were mass produced in the Desert Fortress but designed by Shiki himself. As such, they set about making a perfect field to fight their opponents in.

They predicted the path they would take and set up a trap for them by creating a barrier through the combination of multiple paper tags.

It was meant to stop the escape of their opponents but it had other functions as well. Other than that, they also spread various traps inside the barrier itself so as to give them an advantage during the fight itself.

Laying in wait, they waited for their enemies to reach the optimal position before springing their trap as Sasuke fired the first shot.

'Fire Style: Great Flame Flower'

The Great Fireball Jutsu but multiplied, creating a rain of fireball descending down on the targets, not an attack meant to kill or even hurt though, its true purpose, was to separate the opponents who scattered in order to dodged the barrage of fire heading their way.

In that instant, the barrier was activate and it was divided into three portions, splitting the enemy until the barrier itself was taken down but allowing the three of Shiki's team to move around freely.

Setsuna, Gitai and Shizuku were now getting worried. The larger doe of Moryo's chakra they had received boosted their confidence for a rematch but having their path of retreat cut off meant they had to finish it in one go without any refills . . .

It was no longer their choice though, this time, Shiki's team held the absolute advantage.

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P.a.t.r.e.o.n is officially up!

The link is: https://www.p.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/lusoba without the extra dots of course.

You'll get to read up to FOUR week ahead, a full month, but I'll still post here.

There's also my other novel Archon of DanMachi, do check it out!

I would greatly appreciate any support since this is going to be my breadwinner.