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Seeing where the wind was blowing, the old shopkeeper quietly made his way to the back of the shop not wanting to get in the way of a huntsman fight.
Noticing the movement behind him Roman started to turn around, his cane rising to aim at the hostage to gain an advantage.
He shouldn't have done that.
The moment his eyes shifted to the side I spun around and delivered a spinning kick in front of me realising a Kiai at the group.
The invincible shockwave of ki slammed against all 6 of my enemies sending them crashing back.
The 3 to the left slammed against the reinforced tubes of now-empty dust containment units that decorated the wall while the other 2 henchmen crashed into the multiple shelves on the right, ending up buried under them.
To my surprise the multiple sounds of glass breaking and the flashing of five different colours around me let me know that just one hit had been enough to break their auras. Talk about cheap minions.
Roman on the other hand had slammed into the countertop that previously separated him from the shopkeeper, the air having been knocked out of his lungs even if his aura had softened the blow.
Disregarding the others I shot forward Roman slumped form in a second.
Catching his retaliatory swipe with my right forearm, the strong strike from his weapon not enough to stop me I simply held his head with my left hand in a claw grip and threw him outside through the window. the last thing I needed was for him to shoot some of the dust inside the store and blow up the building into the next kingdom.
As I stepped outside the store through the broken window I could see the gentleman thief rising to his feet a couple of meters into the street outside.
"Handy little trick you got there, Kid." he angrily shouted across the street. his eyes narrowed in anger, his feet shifted as he moved into a defensive stance his weapon, Melodic Cudgel taking the place of a rapier in the fairly common fencing stance.
"The offer to stand down and let me arrest you is still on the table old man" I replied obnoxiously knowing the proud man wouldn't let himself be caught without a fight.
"Old?! I will have you know I'm barely in my thirties Brat.'' He shouted back.
Before I could reply, the tip of his cane was pointed at me and I could see it pop open to reveal the gun barrel hidden inside.
With a press of the trigger, a bright red flare was shot at me.
Dashing forward I shot a ki blast from my left hand onto the oncoming projectile the crash of the two detonating them loudly.
Using the cover of the explosion I shortened the distance between us and reached the other man quickly his surprised expression only lasting a moment before he was forced to defend against my fist.
He used his strength to force me back slightly and allowed himself the space to redirect my following the right hook aimed at his face.
Credit where credit was due Roman was a good fighter. each one of my follow-up strikes was masterfully blocked and redirected by the hat-wearing criminal.
My right kick was forced to the side and the next frontal kick from my left leg he was able to full-on block.
Using his block as leverage I jumped backwards to reposition myself.
It was obvious just by that short exchange to me that the man may not be better than me physically but he was more experienced in close-quarters combat.
Considering that before the substitution I was mainly a mage it wasn't much of a compliment.
Attempting to gain the initiative this time Roman was the one that attacked first.
Wielding Melodic Cudgel like a short sword more than a cane he moved up to me and delivered a flurry of strikes.
The same tactic I practised back home of empowering my arms with ki reduced the strength of the already weak strikes even further letting me defend myself safely from his assault.
The first strike bounced off my risen right forearm and the follow-up was easily redirected downwards with my left hand.
His next move, an upward cut aimed at my chin, I backstepped slightly and my counterattack of a gut punch forced the thief off me.
He barely managed to block the strike with his cane but the force of the hit pushed him backwards, sliding on his feet about a meter away from me.
For all his experience we both know that I was the stronger fighter and it would only take a couple of hits for me to knock him out of the fight.
The small imprint my fist left on his weapon further proved the notion.
''I couldn't interest you into giving you a couple of lien and you looking the other way could you?
I know you freelancers don't make as much as regular huntsmen.'' He said grinning confidently, most likely buying for time than actually making an offer.
''Sorry old man but I'm not doing this for the money,'' I replied, focusing my senses on the surrounding area.
''well that's too bad kid we will have to do this the hard way.'' he swiftly pointed his cane downward aiming the hidden barrel at the street between us.
With a pull of his trigger, the space in front of him exploded in a flash of red and a cloud of smoke and debris.
Having expected his eventual retreat thanks to the canonical timeline of the show my supernatural senses easily follow him as he runs for the fire escape ladder connected to a building to our right.
Waiting for a couple of seconds as the cloud dissipated, I gave Roman time to reach the top of the building before flaring my ki and flying after him.
By the time I made it to the rooftop, he had already reached the other side.
As I touched down and started running lightly after him the sound of rushing wind reached my ears.
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