SHIN SEKAI: SPARK OF THE NEW WORLD

and then regret it

the nature of Kojiro's ability was was quite simple. he had the ability to create highly impenetrable barriers in front of and around anything, but this great power had a huge flaw that many people knew. the barriers were so powerful that nothing except breathable air could pass through them, not even the transmission waves of magical energy, and it was worked from both inside and outside. so if Kojiro were to cover himself in the barrier, he would gain the ultimate protection but he would be unable to cover others, and if he covered others, he would be unable to cover himself. in this situation he chose the latter and put the safety of the school first. 

  "so you're the barrier expert." Joe said as he walked towards Kojiro who slowly backed away and began to run. Joe was very built and strong with high endurance, but Kojiro was a lot faster with home ground advantage and he was quite dexterous. with just hand-to-hand combat,he was able to knock out a few hunters in the way while running from Joe without slowing down. the chase continued until Kojiro hit a dead end and Joe caught up with him.

  "There's no where to run now, any last words?" Joe said, as he majestically walked towards Kojiro. But Kojiro had no fear or any form of regret showing on his face, instead it was relief and a little noticeable joy. 

  "Look around you, what do you see?" Kojiro asked with a heavy breath, as he stopped panting and raised his head to look at the the embodiment of strength standing in front of him. 

  Joe was confused by the question he had just been asked. he looked around and all he could see was an outdoor basketball court surrounded by a cage which he gave as an answer but was replied with "no, not that, look again". 

   "I ain't got time for this sh*t" Joe said as he charged up a punch and launched it at Kojiro, but to his greatest surprise, his fist was unable to reach Kojiro; instead it was blocked by a small rectangular barrier just before it could hit Kojiro's face.

  "the answer is that if you look around, we are the only ones here and there's no need to hold back." Kojiro said, as he smiled and gave Joe a little touch that sent him flying to one end of the court. now Joe was confused on weather to ask how the barrier works or how he was sent flying.

  However, Mia was still battling hunters in front of the Anderson residence. It was already difficult for her to face off against a single pro, yet she had to deal with fifty of them while keeping Dave away from danger.

  Another issue was the guy know as "double dagger".he was the most capable man among all the hunters that surrounded the Anderson residence. well versed in the art of the sword, he wielded a Daisho which both blades were short; hence his nickname. not only that, he was fast, at least fast enough to get to Mia in her weakened state. 

  If she was at full strength, Mia may have had a chance to get rid of of all the nuisances in front of her, "double dagger" may had been less of a problem, and things would have been settled before Dave even woke up. but that was not the case. she was unable to manifest the amount of swords she needed, her movements were slow even for her, and she felt she was not used to her own body. 

  She had somehow managed to remain in battle with just minor injuries, and defeated half of the crew. If this was a videogame, all she had to do was to keep at it until she finally beat all them. but unfortunately she didn't have that videogame stamina, and there was no way pause either, but the 'esc' option was very available. 

  With little hesitation, Mia darted into the house and ran straight upstairs in Dave's direction. she had the feeling that if she left him alone, the hunters' focus would be redirected to him and he would be easily captured, so she had to take him along with her.  

  But as soon she stepped into Dave's room, there was a sight to behold. He was surrounded by lightning, his eyes were lit up, and his hair could no longer succumb to gravity. To put it simply, he was like an older version of Shiro. 

  while Mia was still dumbfounded by what she saw, the hunters rushed in to attack, but before any of them could get close to Mia, they were all on the floor, passed out and unable to move. even double dagger was among them. 

  Mia was too surprised by what just transpired. "there's no way that was Dave" she muttered to herself. deep down she could not accept her own explanation of what the f*** just happened, so she turned to Dave and asked "who are you?" with a little fear behind her voice. 

  The answer she got made everything clear and she finally understood the situation. all Dave said before walking away was

  "I am the one they're really looking for " 

and she immediately knew that it was Shin that spoke to her. 

  Meanwhile back in the school's basketball court, Kojiro was in a stalemate battle with Joe. It was a repetitive pattern of just blocking and pushing back, and it had been going on since the fight started. Kojiro knew that he couldn't keep the same routine for long, especially with someone like Joe as his opponent. 

  as the battle progressed, Joe was steadily growing in power, and it was becoming harder for Kojiro to push him away. If this continued any further, Kojiro's luck would have ran out.

  Just after the hardest push since the beginning of the battle, Kojiro received a message from the school that he could lower the barriers he had around the students.

  Immediately Kojiro answered "thank you" and turned to continue the fight, no one needed to tell Joe that sh*t just got real. The atmosphere of the court was drastically changed. 

  Joe no longer had time to spare. he knew that if he didn't act fast, he was as good as dead. so with all his might and energy he charged towards his fearsome opponent in an attempt to end it all in one strike.

They say sticks are stronger when bound together, but a bunch of tied sticks would do nothing against a well sharpened blade. This was basically the kind of situation Joe was in. he gathered all of his energy and dashed towards Kojiro, but he was stopped before he could even make it halfway across the court and was met with a barrage of slashes that came from Kojiro's miniature paper like barriers surrounded that him on all sides just before he lost consciousness.