The moment she saw what was happening, Athena instinctively rushed forward, expanding her psychic barrier as she threw herself in front of the shrine maiden and the children.
The next moment, countless bullets came flying toward the children and the shrine maiden. The shrine maiden swung the longsword in her hands repeatedly, trying to deflect the incoming shots, but her sword cut through empty air. Every single bullet had been completely stopped by a pale violet barrier, hanging motionless in front of them.
However, Athena Asamiya, the one who had done all this, suddenly widened her eyes.
When she had acted, she hadn't thought about whether it would bring trouble, nor did she regret stepping in now. But the moment she recognized those unusual bullets, she realized she had stumbled into something far more serious than she had expected.
"These aren't bullets... they're tranquilizer darts!"
She recognized these specially made rounds immediately.
Still, her sense of justice left no room for hesitation as she launched her next attack.
"There's no need to play fair with people like you!"
Looking at the mercenaries who had opened fire on a group of children, the violet aura around Athena flared violently.
A terrifying invisible force erupted outward, instantly hurling the mercenaries into the air before slamming them hard against nearby walls.
This was an ability Athena rarely used.
Most martial artists could change direction in midair to some extent, but manipulating objects through telekinesis was something entirely different.
If Athena truly fought seriously, lifting half a city block into the air wouldn't even be particularly difficult for her.
However, because it wasn't a true martial arts skill, she normally refrained from using it. It offered no benefit to her own training.
But against scum like these...
The prodigy whose psychic talent was so overwhelming that Chin Gentsai himself had personally taken responsibility for keeping it under control was simply beyond what ordinary people could ever hope to resist.
Under Athena's psychic control, these mercenaries were completely powerless. Without the slightest chance to fight back, every last one of them was knocked unconscious.
After hesitating for a moment, Athena reached out and placed a hand on the man who appeared to be their leader, activating another of her psychic abilities.
In an instant, countless memories flooded into her mind. Normally, this gentle, innocent, and well-behaved girl would never do such a thing.
She was someone who respected the law and possessed an exceptionally strong moral compass.
But at that moment, her instincts told her this situation was different. If she didn't act now, they might not even discover who these children's enemies were.
Within only a brief moment, Athena, whose psychic powers had inexplicably grown much stronger, finished reading every memory the mercenary captain possessed.
His memories were filled with nothing but crimes and atrocities.
When she finally withdrew her hand, the expression on her face had become grim.
Unfortunately, the captain himself didn't know very much. All he knew was that someone had offered an enormous bounty on the black market for this mission. The payment was exceptionally generous.
There had only been one requirement:
They had to capture every one of these people before they reached the Shiranui Dojo.
As for why...
He had no idea.
He only knew that every single one of them had to be taken alive.
At that moment, the shrine maiden approached them. The voluptuous shrine maiden immediately bowed deeply toward Athena and spoke with heartfelt gratitude.
"Thank you so much! If the two of you hadn't come to help us, we would have been captured!"
As the shrine maiden bent over in her deep bow, the impressive curves beneath her robes naturally drew both Bulma's and Athena's eyes for a brief moment.
Bulma could only smile helplessly at the sight.
Athena, however, wasn't in the mood to think about such things and immediately asked,
"It's nothing. Helping those in need is only natural. But what exactly happened? Why were these people trying to capture you?"
Athena hadn't seen any evidence in the mercenary captain's memories suggesting that the shrine maiden or the children had committed any crimes, so her concern was genuine.
The shrine maiden hesitated for a moment. After sensing the exhaustion weighing down her own body, she finally spoke.
"They... wanted to capture us for human experimentation."
After saying that, the shrine maiden bowed again and thanked Athena.
"My name is Momiji. Thank you both for your help."
Momiji was truly exhausted. Under normal circumstances, people like these would never have been a match for her.
But she had only just arrived at the Mugen Tenshin Village and finished persuading the others to evacuate when they were suddenly attacked.
The others immediately scattered in different directions to lure away the enemy, while she led the children out through an underground tunnel, heading toward the Shiranui dojo to seek refuge.
What she had never expected was that their enemies possessed influence on such a massive scale. The moment they entered in the city, they were attacked by these mercenaries.
Along the way, she had done everything she could to protect the children, but there was only so much she could do.
There were just too many enemies.
She had fought as hard as she could, but they continued to launch wave after wave of attacks.
In just three hours, she had already repelled nearly twelve separate attacks.
She was completely spent. If Athena hadn't appeared just now, she and the children truly would have been captured.
Strictly speaking, according to both logic and the rules she had lived by, she should have abandoned the children and escaped on her own.
The secrets she carried absolutely could not be discovered.
Countless seals containing powerful demons were recorded within her memory.
If these people were to obtain those memories, the consequences would become unimaginably troublesome...
Troublesome enough that even Ryu Hayabusa would find the situation difficult to deal with.
"Miss Momiji, do you have somewhere safe to go? If you do, we can escort you there."
Athena asked urgently. If possible, she wanted to contact her master.
This matter had already gone far beyond something a rookie like herself could handle.
"I... think so."
Momiji answered with some hesitation.
There were simply too many attackers this time.
Moreover, they had been attacked continuously since entering the city, yet not a single police officer had shown up. That made it obvious enough that someone within the authorities was involved.
If that was the case...
Can the Shiranui-ryu truly be trusted?
~~~~~~~~~~
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