The gang leader started the fight by running toward them, but something was wrong.
The way he was running… it was ordinary. Ren and Kai knew enough about martial arts, even though they are still low levelled they understood the difference between running normally and running toward an opponent you're about to hit.
But eventually, the leader got close to Ren and threw a wide haymaker.
It was extremely sloppy.
Ren easily dodged it, and because the leader's punch didn't hit anything, he almost tripped forward.
Ren was confused by the mess that was the leader's attack. It actually made his eye twitch a little.
So Ren just punched him.
But before his fist could make contact, he felt it hit something—and a noise came from the exact spot his fist stopped.
The leader immediately counterattacked, punching Ren.
It wasn't that powerful, so Ren just took a couple of steps back.
So this is it.
His power is a sound barrier.
And the reason he's so sloppy at fighting is because he can throw whatever punches he wants at his opponent while they can't punch him back. He's someone who relies entirely on his ability to fight and nothing else.
This might actually be good for them… at least if they can break through that barrier.
So he let Kai try.
Kai sprinted toward the leader, building momentum, and the moment he reached him, he manifested his fire sword and went for a thrust—using his speed and weight behind it to stab straight at the leader's chest.
The leader didn't even bother trying to dodge, block, or do anything.
He just prepared another sloppy punch.
The tip of the sword hit the sound barrier—and the barrier blocked it.
But this time, the sound it produced was louder than before.
That was intriguing, but Kai didn't think about it for long. He casually carried through the leader's punch, and his hand didn't get hurt from the fire or the edge of the blade—the barrier protected him.
Kai tried to slash him in the face.
Again—the barrier protected him.
It didn't seem like Kai's attacks did anything to the barrier. At least, nothing seemed different than before.
And the worst part?
It didn't seem like the attacks were even affecting him. Like literally—there was no effect on him. The force of the attack didn't push him back even a little.
So kai decided to retreat a little.
And the leader tried to follow him, but Ren didn't let that happen.
Ren manifested two shades and attacked him with a whip strike—using full force, and controlling the shades to enhance the attack power like he did before.
But again, it hit the sound barrier.
Only this time, it produced a much louder sound than before.
It had no effect… but it seemed like the barrier produced more sound depending on the power of the attack. Or maybe it uses more sound to defend against more powerful attacks.
Either way… it probably meant they hadn't seen the limits of the sound barrier yet.
Then he launched shade jabs quickly.
They landed—but again, they just struck the barrier, and the leader kept running toward them unharmed.
He got in range of Ren and started throwing a couple of punches.
Ren dodged and blocking the leader's attacks pretty easily—but when it came time for Ren to throw attacks back at him, nothing worked.
And the worst part… because the sound barrier was protecting the leader, he managed to throw a couple of attacks that actually landed on Ren.
That made Ren angry.
Not because he got hit… but because he got hit by something so sloppy.
He was angry that this guy—who obviously didn't even know how to fight—was currently winning.
It's strange. Until now, Ren only used martial arts as something to defend himself… but maybe he has pride in it, since he feels this way when someone like this guy is able to hit him.
Anyways… this isn't the time to ponder on these feelings.
He was in the middle of a fight.
Kai tried to sneak attack the leader, but it didn't work so well. The barrier just reacted as normal.
The leader tried to backhand Kai, but Kai easily dodged it.
From an observer's point of view, Ren and Kai might seem like the ones in advantage currently—because they're easily dodging his attacks while barely even getting hit. And even though they can't harm him, it looks like they're still in control.
But that isn't the case.
Ren and Kai are starting to get exhausted, because they're throwing attacks with their full strength behind them over and over again, and they can't pierce through the sound barrier.
At this point… they need to get serious, or else they will both collapse from exhaustion if they continue fighting like this.
Kai quickly unsummoned his fire sword.
Ren glanced at him and mattered. Are you sure?
Kai noticed and nodded his head.
And then he quickly threw multiple Arrows directly at the leader.
Up until now, Kai never threw a single Arrow directly at someone. Because none of the people they fought before were durable enough to take his Arrows, so this was the first time he would use it like this.
And there was still some doubt in him, because he wasn't sure how powerful the leader's barrier was. So he didn't know if it could handle an Arrow or not.
But the problem is… they weren't sure if this whole time the leader was showing his true power or not.
So he couldn't test the waters.
He had to go all out from the start.
So he unleashed five Arrows with their power and speed pushed to the limit.
The leader widened his eyes.
BOOM—OOOOOOOO!
The sound of the air was exploding, and the sound of the barrier was so loud everyone covered their ears.
But a few seconds later, the smoke started to dissipate, and Kai extinguished the fire before it could spread.
And what they saw…
It was the leader, perfectly fine.
Ren and Kai would have grimaced—if they didn't see the leader's horrified face.
"That… that was way too loud," the leader said.
Ren was confused why was he acting like that? He's unharmed and what does he mean by loud.
And Then he looked at the three guarding the doors, and they were equally horrified.
Wait did he keep his sound powers low on purpose so no one could here where they are right now.
If that's the case… why didn't he just finish the fight immediately?
And his answer arrived pretty much immediately.
BOOM.
Something came crashing through the tunnel ceiling.
When everyone looked at whatever crashed through… it was someone crouching.
And they immediately got up.
It was a quite tall girl with black hair, with yellow strands, and yellow eyes. She was extremely beautiful.
She was wearing a black bodysuit with some White strings on it, with her shoulders exposed while still wearing long gloves covering beyond her elbows.
Her costume was simple and yet beautiful and emphasised her body that was much more developed than someone around her age and she only appears to be a year older than ren.
She looked at them and winced.
"Wait… there was a tunnel entrance."
Her words startled them a little, but she was more worried about the fact that she caused unnecessary damage.
But she quickly focused back on what was happening.
She floated a little and commanded, "You must be the leader of Gunshot. I suggest you—"
But she got interrupted when the leader blasted her with a sound wave powerful enough to crush the ground around her.
But she was unharmed.
It seemed like her and the area behind her didn't get touched.
"Well… that was unnecessary."
The leader, seeing that his actions are futile, immediately changed targets and pointed his hand at Ren and Kai—who could no way dodge or survive his next attack.
"If you don't let me go right now, I will kill these two."
The girl just stayed silent.
And out of nowhere, she disappeared.
It startled everyone.
But then she appeared a second later, hitting him on the back and knocking him out.
She glanced at the three who were guarding the entrance, and they immediately gave up without a problem.
Then she looked at Ren and Kai.
"Well… I hope you don't mind, but could the two of you go visit the police station with me?"
Kai just sighed in relief that someone came to rescue them, and tried to speak to the girl, but ren that was standing on the side.
He just looked at the girl.
His face turned completely red.
And he spoke before Kai could.
"S-su-sure… we can."