Editing City Series:Volume4b Chapter 10 (section)

===Part 1===

'''7:07 PM

Taeko faced a boy below the cherry trees alongside the inner moat.

He wore a three-piece suit with a white scarf dangling from his shoulders.

He was Ikemaru Takahiro.

He removed the black gloves on his hands.

“I saw a strange advertisement and came to take a peek at a Chancellor’s Officers party, but this commotion is what I find?”

“Yeah… Apparently, the superiority of the east and west is on the line.”

“I am not interested.” He threw the gloves away. “There are a few things I would like to discuss with Aoi-san, so could you let me through?”

“That ain’t happenin’. She’s fightin’ right now.”

Taeko smiled a little.

Takahiro did not bat an eye.

“I am not interested in a fight.”

“But if ya go over there, you’ll help that girl out, won’t ya?”

“Of course. That is my duty.”

“Then it’s my duty to stop ya here.”

“Even when we have nothing against each other?”

“Do ya need somethin’ against someone to fight them? I don’t.” She laughed quietly. “There are those I’ve gotta save, though. There’s a lotta those around me.”

With that, she lightly swung the Dragon Emperor’s fist.

“6th Activation.”

The Dragon Emperor roared.

With that bestial cry, the shoulder armor panels opened to release steam.

And lightning surrounded the metal fist.

A deep thrum reverberated pleasantly across the wide space lined with cherry trees.

“You must have nerves of steel,” responded Takahiro.

“What makes ya say that?”

“That you actually want to fight me.” He lightly brushed up his hair. “My ''kotodama'' is most effective against objects without a will of their own. I am the greatest enemy of anyone with prosthetics.”

“And that’s why I can’t afford to run away.”

“This isn’t your usual method. Don’t you tend to join the stronger side?”

Taeko raised her fist and smiled a little before answering.

“I feel like doin’ some volunteer work.”

With that, she moved.

“!”

Taeko won the initiative.

She race toward Takahiro who seemed to simply stand there.

–''Taeko – Savate Tech – Take – Sprint – Hit.

Her long-legged stride kicked up the dirt as she filled the gap between them in only a few steps.

She approached the enemy.

Takahiro’s hand moved just before she arrived.

His white left hand reached out and touched one of the cherry trees.

“Fly.”

That one word surpassed all logic.

The tree flew.

This was nothing as simple as being knocked from the ground.

The thick tree with no leaves or flowers flew, roots and all.

The dirt was audibly torn up and the tree whistled through the wind.

It flew horizontally in from the right with even more force than gravitational acceleration.

It did not tilt at all and flew almost comically straight.

She could not avoid it.

Taeko’s Dragon Emperor was attached to her left shoulder, so it could not block an attack from the right.

She made a split second decision.

“Daaahhhh!”

–''Taeko – Boxing/Dodge Tech – Counter-Multi-Take – Intercept – Hit.

She slammed her right fist into the flying tree near the roots.

A dull sound mixed with the sound of breaking bone.

Her fist was smashed in a single blow.

Of course it was. The difference in mass was overwhelming.

But the impact ran through the tree.

And the hit near the roots caused it to rotate in midair as if pitching forward.

Taeko did not overlook that movement.

She briefly glanced at the tree falling toward her head.

–''Taeko – Steel/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Grab – Hit.

:–''Taeko – Steel/Spear Tech – Multi-Take – Swing – Hit!

She held the Dragon Emperor’s palm overhead, grabbed the tree trunk, and then swung it like a club.

She easily swung the 7 meter cherry tree like it was a bat.

But Takahiro had already jumped backwards.

Taeko let go of the swinging tree.

The centrifugal force sent it flying into the inner moat.

The sound of splashing water rang coldly through the winter air.

She began running again.

She ran so fast her footsteps seemed to follow after her.

Her white breaths were scattered by her speed and they vanished into the reddish-brown light of the streetlights.

She ran below the cherry trees which had no leaves or flowers.

Meanwhile, Ikemaru kept his distance from her while pulling a few 10 yen coins from his suit pocket.

He lightly threw them.

“Byakko.”

They instantly transformed.

The white light of the coins’ paths flew toward Taeko in several curves.

They were targeting a point on the back of her neck.

It was the same motion as a beast rushing in to bite her.

She responded by thrusting the Dragon Emperor forward.

[[Image:City_v04b_361.jpg|thumb]]

“Dragon Emperor!”

–''Taeko – Shot Tech – Take – Prepare Sniping – Hit!

:–''Taeko – Steel/Shot/Lightning High Tech – Multi-Take – Snipe – Hit!

The light produced an explosive roar.

The sound produced glowing flares.

The tiger’s white lines struck the dragon’s bluish-white beams.

The explosion formed a wall between Taeko and Takahiro and below the trees.

–''Taeko – Sight Tech – Take – Locate Enemy – Hit!

In the span of time known as an instant, Takahiro stepped back slightly.

Taeko did not overlook it.

But the explosion was in the way.

So…

“I won’t die!!”

She chose to charge right through it.

The explosion had yet to fully expand, but she charged into the bright light.

And she sang.

''Nobody takes the middle road

''Nothing lives or dies

''It all either falls into ruin or survives

''Everyone, everyone, everyone

The azure light surrounding her body was the same as the Dragon Emperor’s Lightning High light.

It could cancel out the explosion.

So she did not hesitate to run through the clash between dragon and tiger.

Light.

Noise.

Heat.

They all burst out and something shot through her right leg.

–''Taeko – Mind Tech – Take – Ignore Pain – Hit!

Pain could be ignored, so she ran forward.

As her ponytail danced behind her, the end was scorched by the heat.

She rushed.

A mere 3 steps seemed to last forever.

But she immediately broke out the other side.

“!”

She suddenly left the pure white space and found a more colorful scene.

She saw the cherry trees.

And she saw her enemy.

Ikemaru Takahiro stood before her while preparing to take a step back.

“!?”

She did not let him escape.

What she did was simple.

–''Taeko – Steel/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Dragon Emperor Strike – Hit!

Takahiro could not use Techs or a special Dance Combat style, so he had no way of avoiding it.

The metal fist flew in an overhand swing and its entire mass slammed into Takahiro’s chest.

It was a solid hit.

She heard the pleasant sounds of impact and breaking bones.

She fully extended the Dragon Emperor arm to push out with the maximum mass.

She heard even more breaking bones in Takahiro’s chest.

“Gh…”

The sound escaping his mouth might have been an inhalation or an exhalation.

His glasses fell from his face.

The black-framed glasses audibly bounced off of the Dragon Emperor fist’s armor panel.

And just as they fell to the ground, his head hung down.

Taeko took a breath with the Dragon Emperor fist still extended.

As the white breath left her, all strength left Takahiro’s body.

“…”

The tall boy in a suit silently fell to his knees and collapsed forward.

Except his hand was extended as if to embrace the Dragon Emperor.

“Go mad.”

His words rang quietly.