Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume6 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 2===

Five blocks of wood simultaneously appeared amidst the crisscrossing ghostlights and were shot out successively at high speed as though by a Gatling gun.

Konoha and Kuroe ran on the pool side as they dodged, pursued closely by the sound of hard concrete getting smashed behind them and noisy splashing of water.

"Who will actually pay for this damage..."

"How would I know!? In any case, it won't be us!"

"...Simply stated, I have no intention of paying either."

Fourteen spoke candidly as she conjured bricks to shoot as ammunition. Konoha and Kuroe jumped apart. The bricks exploded in the space between them and even created a large hole on the pool side.

"Ah, seriously... We can't go on the offensive unless we get close, but she loves shooting bricks...!"

After entrusting defense to Kuroe, Konoha had succeeded a number of times in skillfully evading the incoming projectiles by slipping underneath them. But every time, Fourteen would retreat and create distance between them.

"But at least, this can stall for time."

Kuroe took a look at the entrance behind them, leading to the next zone&mdash;the Coast Area.

"True, but the way she keeps firing consecutively, even our lives are at risk here. Furthermore, I'm worried about Shiraho-san and Sovereignty-san's safety."

"Yeah. Even if they're inside that cape, it would be troubling if the enemy tells us that they are weakening as time goes on. A quick conclusion would be best&mdash;Kono-san!"

A broom was flying handle-first towards them like a spear. Konoha turned her body and just as the broom was about to strike her shoulder, she chopped with her hand. Although it caused numbness in her hand, she managed to deflect its trajectory. As she heard the sound of the broom penetrating into the wall behind her, she spoke:

"To think I would be unable to slice through a mere broom, what a blow to my self-esteem... Let us switch to offense now. Kuroe-san, you'll first attack her while I take advantage of the distraction to charge her. As for evasive maneuvers, we'll just have to manage independently."

"Understood. Well then&mdash;«Penetrator Yoshimasa»!"

"...Hmm!"

Kuroe's bundles of hair extended forward like spears while Konoha sprinted in parallel with a forward-bending posture. Groaning, Fourteen attempted to retreat but Kuroe's hair did not stop extending, continuing to lengthen and hinder the enemy who finally stopped. Kuroe's hair grabbed the wooden blocks summoned with the glowing ghostlights and bounced them away with the tips of her hair. Just as the floor was being destroyed by the fraction of Kuroe's hair that had missed, Konoha had already closed in on the target.

Chopping with her hand and engaging a wooden block, she did not give Fourteen any time to summon a second block. Just as Konoha thought "victory" and extended her sharp blade of a hand, she saw Fourteen reach out to counterattack with a clearly unarmed hand. No&mdash;

Her hand was surrounded by ghostlights.

(!)

Konoha was reminded of the scene when they first spotted Fourteen in the water park. Back then, there was lingering glow on Shiraho's neck for an instant. Hence, Konoha immediately understood it was caused by the ghostlights. Did it produce an effect like a stun gun? As much as Konoha believed she could not be easily incapacitated by such a move, she could not be certain of preventing openings from forming. At such distances, instantaneous openings could be fatal. This was quite a crisis&mdash;

Perhaps Konoha should not have strained herself to jump back. The result was even worse. Due to being by the pool, the floor was wet of course. Thus Konoha slipped. Losing balance, she fell on one knee. Just as she felt a chill down her spine&mdash;

"Mode: «Chaotic Tadamori»!"

Suddenly, Konoha felt a sense of weightlessness. It turned out that Kuroe had wrapped her hair around Konoha and forcibly pulled her away to another part of the pool side. Perhaps intending to regroup, Kuroe moved to the spot furthest from Fourteen&mdash;the other end of the pool, fifty meters away. At such a distance, they could easily dodge even if Fourteen fired projectiles to attack. If Fourteen tried to approach, they could circle around the other side of the pool side.

"Th-Thank you, Kuroe-san...!"

"Not at all, not at all. If you want to thank me, let me continue to savor your body, Kono-san. Wow~~, I really don't know how to describe this amazingly bouncy feeling... So sexy!"

"How could you still have time to joke around!? Put me down right now!"

Despite having pulled Konoha back already, the hair remained wrapped around her body until now. Back on her feet, Konoha stood by the pool side and said:

"Well~ then, although I made a small blunder, what should we do next... Hmm, what?"

"...«Geist»..."

There was a series of powerful splashes. The enemy kept firing metal rods&mdash;laundry poles roughly two meters long&mdash;into the 50m pool before them. The laundry poles were embedded slanted into the bottom of the pool. Using the tips of the laundry poles protruding out of the water as stepping stones, she approached. In a flowing cycle, she kept repeating the motions of jumping, firing and landing.

"This is no good. She'll close in soon if this continues. This spot is also too narrow and not good for dodging. We'd better hurry and move."

"Even if you want us to move..."

The first option was the entrance behind them, leading to the next area. However, the two girls could not retreat so easily since their mission was pinning down the enemy.

"If the adjacent Coast Area has an emergency exit, I'm sure Haru and the others would have escaped already. If it doesn't have one, I'm guessing they should have moved to the next area. Also, I've come up with a plan, so let's try it."

"A plan huh... Understood."

With no time to hesitate, the two girls swiftly opened the glass door behind them and moved over to the next area. Haruaki's group could not be seen there. As Konoha and Kuroe moved over the rustling sand and reached roughly the midpoint of the beach&mdash;

"Okay, let's see how it goes. If it works, perhaps it could cause symptoms such as fainting, sluggishness or blindness. Then you can take the opportunity to finish her off, Kono-san."

Kuroe's hair rustled and moved as she said "this is a new move, I'd better decide on a name..." and prepared for battle. Konoha realized Kuroe's intent from the motion of her hair and silently readied her knife hand in preparation for combat.

Several seconds later&mdash;

"...I wish you wouldn't run away. I already used precious laundry poles already."

Saying that, Fourteen appeared. Just as she walked a few steps and stepped into the beach&mdash;

"Uh... Okay, I've decided! Mode: «Mongolian Death Worm Yoshikado»!"

Lurking in the sand, Kuroe's hair rose up at once. The entangling bundles of hair bulged up as though scooping up the sand, almost like man-eating worms of the desert. Naturally, the sacrifice was the unsuspecting enemy who had stepped into this trap. The hair carried a large amount of sand and dumped it over Fourteen's head all at once. As the cloud of sand swirled around, she was engulfed.

"Gotcha...!"

Konoha rushed over while confirming the situation. In concentrated amounts, a substance like sand would turn out to be unexpectedly heavy. In that case, the enemy should be immobilized.

However&mdash;

As the lingering cloud of sand settled slightly, what entered Konoha's view was&mdash;

"&mdash;Sand? I don't like sand, it's too hard to sweep."

"What...!?"

Unbelievably, Fourteen was currently holding an umbrella over her head casually. Who could have thought she would have prepared even something like that? But rather, speaking of which, a mere umbrella should not be able to block that amount of sand&mdash;

"I think I mentioned before, the objects taken out will increase in sturdiness."

Perhaps noticing the surprise in Konoha and Kuroe's eyes, Fourteen muttered an explanation. Konoha's momentary pause would prove to be a fatal mistake.

"Okay... Mayhem permitted&mdash;«Geist»!"

The ghostlights traced out patterns in midair. Slowly appearing from there was a giant wooden beam like earlier. Naturally, they could not allow themselves to be struck by that kind of thing. Konoha and Kuroe attempted evasive maneuvers, but the wooden beam's target was the same as before.

Aiming slightly upwards, the wooden beam was shot towards a location slightly further behind Konoha and Kuroe&mdash;thereby completely destroying the entrance leading towards the Slides Area. Amidst the rumbling noise, Konoha wondered. Why aim there? Isn't she chasing after Satsuko-san who is escaping behind us...?

But as soon as she saw Fourteen turn around towards the Standard Area, Konoha suddenly realized that things were different from what she imagined. Kuroe also seemed to agree.

"Drats, Kono-san... She wants to circle around the opposite direction!"

This floor of the hotel was divided into five areas arranged in a circle. Naturally, going counterclockwise would eventually reach the location of Haruaki's group&mdash;

"Gah... She can't be allowed to succeed!"

Clenching her fist tight, Konoha pursued Fourteen with Kuroe as fast as they could.