User blog:Seieireppa/God Eater ∑::After, chapter 3: Confrontation

It was about three days into Nanako’s trek in the direction of the Glasgow Branch that she finally encountered her first opposition.

As she was resting to eat, a lone bandit leapt at her from behind. It was almost certain that this was an advance scout sent by Croswell in an attempt to stop Nanako from reaching the Branch.

Unfortunately for this poor sap, two things were working against him.

One, Nanako wasn’t heading to the Branch.

And two, he hadn’t counted on Nanako’s monstrous strength.

Without looking, Nanako gripped the hilt of Sigma’s buster blade and raised it up behind her back, blocking the bandit’s strike. She swung the blade outwards as she stood, turning around to face the bandit, who had been flung away by Nanako’s parry.

“Tell me,” she spoke, her voice carrying a sinister tone, “where is Croswell?”

The bandit spat. “I ain’t tellin’ you shit!”

“That so?” Nanako mused. In a single instant, Nanako swung her blade, then chained it into an immediate combo devour, her God Arc’s jaws stopping just short of devouring the bandit whole.

“So? Ready to speak up?”

The bandit, who by this point had wet himself in the presence of imminent death, began to talk.

“H-H-He’s off to the west…! About three hours from here!”

“The west, huh?”  Nanako withdrew her God Arc and turned away from the bandit, walking off towards the right.

However, rather than just let her go, the bandit decided to seize the opportunity. He crept up behind Nanako and went for another strike.

“Your back’s wide open!” he shouted, executing a thrust with his weapon, a machete-like blade with numerous serrated edges. “You’re mine!!”

Nanako, however, did not even turn around. “You think I won’t be able to raise my blade in time? Well, you’re dead wrong!”  Her buster blade still held in her right hand, Nanako swung behind her with her variant scythe, the God Arc’s hooked blade just barely catching the bandit’s throat, a trickle of blood dripping down his neck as he stopped in his tracks.

“I didn’t think so…” Nanako added, withdrawing both of her weapons. “I don’t like killing humans, but try that again and your life is mine.”

Nanako continued walking forward, towards the west and towards the location of Croswell’s hideout. Something, however, had struck her odd about that bandit… but she didn’t feel like finding out. All she could do was march ever onward…

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TO BE CONTINUED