Susanne could hardly believe that Nyx had actually shot Mercy. And... Celly and Nyx said it was FUN? How dare they!

So it would be a team thing, would it? Susanne and Mercy against Nyx and Celly. Nyx had a gun, and Mercy was wounded. And Susanne didn't feel so great, either. Her cut was bleeding, and her side was definitely bruised.

Celly raised her sword again to Susanne, obviously content to leave Mercy to Nyx. And since Celly was in between her and Mercy, there was little Susanne could do about it at the moment.

Susanne swung the Glaive around, thinking that maybe she could at least try to circle around Celly.

'Trying to get to Tasuki no Otaku', Celly thought with disgust. "You can't help her, Hotohori no Otaku!"

There had to be something... Celly was swinging her sword, Susanne was swinging her Glaive, and neither of them was really making any headway. Susanne started to try other things. A well-timed attack caught Celly with a glancing blow on her arm, but it only served to make Celly more mad. Susanne kept losing ground. And blood. Various cuts and gashed told of a dozen close calls with Celly's sword. She had no idea how Mercy was doing, but she assumed that since Nyx was not at Celly's side, fighting against Susanne, Mercy must still at least be alive.

The order of the next few events were jumbled in Susanne's mind. She wasn't sure what happened first. Probably, the first thing that happened was that they all felt the presence of another Otaku. That was the only thing that could have distracted Celly enough for Susanne's Glaive to actually take the sword right out of her hands. It flew off to the side of the alley and lodged itself in the ground.

Not that it made much of a difference, now. Celly took a sidestep, and Susanne saw Mercy lying on the ground. 'Not dead,' she thought. 'She's unconscious.' She wasn't sure how she knew this, but she was absolutely sure of it. Nyx now stood beside Celly, her gun now pointed directly at Susanne.

TBC...