( Ena's POV )
The Ogre Territory Leader turned serious, and I knew things weren't going to be as simple as just waiting for my unique skill to give me the advantage, I needed to corner him.
With the reinforcement in my legs, I jumped to head level and delivered a powerful kick, Ogre blocked the attack, and I pointed my hand at him to use magic, but Ogre let out a shuddering roar that paralyzed me for an instant, Ogre swung his large butcher knife and went for my head.
I put my arm out to block the attack, which was going to be painful, but when the knife made contact with my skin, it broke.
I achieved full body reinforcement.
I was distracted for a moment by that, and Ogre threw a powerful headbutt, I threw my head back, but I barely felt anything, I laughed a little and returned the headbutt, and he was pushed back, I immediately followed that attack with a punch, but that was a feint.
When Ogre threw a fist to meet mine, I jumped onto his arm and kicked him straight to his head, he was thrown into the lobby of the building, and I kicked my unique skill into high gear for my next attack.
My arm was covered with blue marks, and I could feel an overflow of energy, when I hit Ogre, a shockwave was produced, and Ogre flew towards the core of his base, breaking it on impact.
My ability deactivated, and I fell to the lobby floor, unable to move, I stayed like that for about a minute, and I received a message on my phone, I couldn't check what it said, but I trusted Ryuji, I knew we had won.
Moments later the three groups that participated in the territory battle appeared in the lobby.
Io: Ena!
When Io saw me on the ground, she ran to help me with her healing magic, Ogre also reacted when he saw me like that and he approached me, Io got on top of me and looked angrily at the demon telling him to go away but I knew he wasn't going to do anything bad.
Ena: it's okay, he's on our side.
When Io stepped aside, Ogre carried me to a nearby couch to be more comfortable, and while I continued to recover, we started the contracts so that the demons would officially be our allies.
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When I recovered, we started exploring the apartment building, but the place was a bit weird, all the apartments except the penthouse were completely empty, and some of the floors were just a huge empty room.
I asked Ogre if he knew anything about the strange layout of the place but he said that his group only lived in the lobby and the first floor, that was intriguing but it's not like we would need the whole building, the penthouse was very luxurious and very well equipped, with a full refrigerator, many changes of clothes, water and electricity, although we didn't know where all of that was coming from.
The first thing the girls did was take a bath, the sounds that started coming out of that place were somewhat stimulating for Ryuji and me, so we went out to the balcony of the apartment, there was a telescope, and I used it to check our route.
Passing through this area of apartments, there was another desert area, and on the horizon, you could see a circle of huge hollow rocks that looked like natural buildings, that was surrounding an oasis that was our destination.
I had to seek out wisdom from Pixie who was stored on my phone.
Ena: What is that Pixie? It looks to me like someone is going to ambush us there.
Pixie: [ There's nothing to worry about, sometimes those caves fill up with demons seeking refuge, but they won't attack us. ]
Ena: Let's hope not.
After we freshened up and filled our stomachs, we went to sleep, there was a room for the girls and one for Ryuji and me, as we walked in there we looked at the only bed in the room, we threw a quick game of rock paper scissors which I lost, the couch in the room was luxurious so that wasn't a problem but there was a problem with me, I was too anxious to sleep, with nothing better to do I returned to the balcony, the sky had darkened a little but it still didn't feel like night, I asked Pixie about that and she told me that in this world they had two days of darkness then three days of light, although that could vary in specific areas.
Ann: can't sleep?
As I was taking in the view, Ann appeared behind me, she had her hair down and was wearing a robe.
Ena: someone has to be awake I guess.
Ann: Listen, about what happened earlier, I'm sorry for getting a little emotional but I meant everything I said about not leaving me... I mean us behind.
Yuuki: I don't want to push you back, for a long time, I only had Ryuji to watch my back, so I'm just getting used to the new situation.
Ann walked over to where I was and put her hands on the railing, admiring the same view as me, with her so close, her fresh scent reached my nose, and it was almost bewitching.
Ena: But it's not like I don't trust you, if I didn't, I wouldn't have let you accompany us no matter how much you asked, It's just that I don't want you to get hurt either.
Ann: I told you before that I can take care of myself.
Yuuki: I know, I don't know anyone more stubborn than you.
Ann: Hey.
Yuuki: I don't mean it as a bad thing, the truth is that it's one of the things I like about you.
At that moment, Ann turned to look at me, her face slightly flushed, I liked confident Ann, but embarrassed Ann was cute too.
Ann: Do you like me?
*BANG*
I didn't expect that question, but I had no doubt about answering, but before the words left my mouth, we heard a loud sound inside the apartment, and we ran to investigate it.