Chapter - 15

Black smoke rose from Hagun Academy. Inside those grounds, a fight between the Hagun Academy student council and Akatsuki Academy was unfolding.

The inferiority of the Hagun Academy student council was becoming obvious. Among Akatsuki's students, except for the Sword Emperor of Wind Ouma Kurogane who was a guest, all of them were influential people in the underside of society. They were children who had survived carnage beyond the imagination of those who lived in normal society, and furthermore they were the elite. As individuals, their strength was exceedingly high, and all of them were aces of their schools. At worst, they had the power of the top eight across the entire country. With that absolute difference in strength, they cornered Touka and the others.

"Kuh!"

One of the Hagun Academy student council officers, 'Runner's High' Renren Tomaru, let out a cry of pain amidst her high speed.

Her Noble Art, Mach Grid, was an ability to accelerate endlessly. No matter how often she had been beaten in combat, this acceleration had always been able to leave everyone in the dust. Without a single exception. Despite that, the enemy she was facing now—

"It's useless, you fragile human!"

Was hot on her heels. On the fastest speed of Mach Grid. How was that possible?

It was because her enemy wasn't human. It was a gigantic black lion. And not just an ordinary lion. That beast, in addition to physical power that exceeded a human's even under normal circumstances, was able to keep up with Renren's speed due to propulsion by magic emission.

"My servant, the magic beast Sphinx, is no ordinary magic beast. The stigmata that comes from a technique mixing the spirit of an evil curse with my own blood infuses the utmost power of darkness into a magic beast. There's no human body that can compete with it!"

"My lady says, 'Putting my collar of subordination on a creature can make it into my Device. Since a lion's body is always stronger than a human's, if magic is also used, it would become absurdly strong!'"

The girl wearing a dress and eye-patch and riding on the back of the black lion, Rinna Kazamatsuri was raising an unusually histrionic voice, and moreover the maid riding behind Rinna, Charlotte, was translating her meaning with dramatic words.

"Now, accept your ruin obediently, frail human!"

"My lady says, 'Moving around makes me hurt, so I don't want you to move!'"

"What a bunch of jokesters, huh!?"

Renren cursed at Charlotte's interpretations that robbed the air of tension. There was no way she was going to stop moving just because they told her to do so. Against that black lion whose body was like a small truck, standing still would lead only to defeat. However, with this rivalry in speed, she couldn't do things like hit and run.

In that case—

There!

Renren zeroed in on the pillar of a streetlight in front of her. Her enemy was chasing her back at the same speed. Since that was true—

If it's too fast coming this way, I'll use that speed—and make my counter!

Exactly like how Ikki had used her own speed to beat her before. She'd use her enemy's speed to strike it. Deciding this, Renren raced past the pole, grabbed it with her left hand, and made a sharp turn. Bending the vector of her velocity, against the black lion that was chasing her, she made an assault from the front, aiming at its open forehead.

It was a counter from an abrupt turn. There would be no opportunity to evade. Moreover, the animal, unlike a human, had no posture for defense.

This strike will decide it!

"Black Bird!"

It was a punch with the desire for a one-shot kill loaded in it.

However—to that attack with all of her weight—

"Fwahahaha! This fool has never seen the truth of the world!"

The Beast Tamer straddling the black lion returned a loud laugh.

"Have you not heard my majestic voice!? The curse technique binds no ordinary magic beast to me! I'll show you the power of utter darkness imbued in the soul of my magic beast Sphinx!"

In that moment, the eyes of the black lion shined red.

"Bow down! King's Pressure—!"

The lion roared. It was a sound that could be heard from a kilometer away, and it struck Renren's entire body. As soon as it did, Renren's body suffered an abnormal phenomenon.

"Wh—a—!?"

My body… can't move…!?

Of all things, Renren's body, with one fist stretched forward, had become completely hardened.

How? –She had no time to ponder it.

"Guh!"

The bulk that was like a small truck hit Renren's body at full speed and sent her flying.

Renren, whose body was already rather light-weight, became like a rubber ball and flew some tens of meters before crashing. By the time she struck the ground, she had already lost consciousness.

"I told you already. My curse technique draws out the power of darkness! And it isn't that of Fenrir, but that of Sphinx—King's Pressure! The power of the king of beasts to send any enemy within its sight trembling in fear!"

"My lady says, 'As my Device, it's only natural that it can use not only magic, but Noble Arts as well. Isn't it cool!' with a self-satisfied look."

"Tomaru-san!"

Confirming that Renren had fallen in the distance from the corner of her eye, Touka chewed her lip. However, Renren wasn't the only one who had lost.

"Saijou-kun. Uta-kun. Even Kanata-chan…!"

It had only been ten minutes since the start of the battle. Touka was already the only one left standing on the field among the Hagun Academy student council officers.

"How about giving up already?"

At the voice of Ouma whose words dripped with disdain, bitterness spread over Touka's face.

Unlike the others, Touka's body had not suffered a single wound. However, she was no match for Ouma.

After Stella and the others escaped, Touka considered the power of the remaining members, and challenged him knowing that she was the only one who could serve as his opponent, but to her surprise Ouma had put away his Device Ryuuzume and stood there defenselessly. And more than that—

"I have no interest in turning my blade against a girl weaker than myself. If you wish to fight no matter what—one stroke is enough. Try to make a mark on my body. If you can do so, I'll be your opponent."

And he folded his arms, closed his eyes, and stood upright―with no concern for the kind of knight he was facing.

To say that she felt no ire from such conduct would be a lie. But on the other hand, such arrogance and carelessness was a rare opportunity for Touka.

Ouma, who had done away with Stella easily. His strength was real. And here he was in front of her drawn sword, completely defenseless.

She had no intent of letting this opportunity pass from under her nose. Ouma was insulting his enemy with abundant negligence. Without hesitation, Touka slashed at the defenseless Ouma using Raikiri and all her might. Drawing out her strength, leaving nothing out. Angle. Speed. It was a perfect strike.

Supposing it was a miscalculation, Ouma's arrogance was born of self-confidence and the difference between their power.

Her direct hits with Raikiri had not been able to leave a wound on Ouma's body.

In ten minutes. No matter how many times, the result was the same. She had cut through his clothes a little, but not through the thinnest bit of his skin.

What she felt with her hands every time she slashed was… a mountain. As if she was striking at an enormous mountain with a sword, a response that was too solid.

What is this abnormal defensive power…!?

As far as Blazer fights go, there were phenomena like this. There were cases where the difference in magic capacity was this absolute. Right, like the first match between Ikki and Stella.

But there can't be such a huge difference between Ouma-san's magic capacity and mine…!

Despite that, why—

Thereupon, as if seeing through the discord in her heart, Ouma opened his mouth to speak.

"It is because of the difference in our training. From the start, there was no fight between us. Realize this properly."

"Tch! Not yet!"

Touka was risking it all here. The rest of her allies had all fallen, and perhaps her enemies would gang up on her together. In that case, she was also in danger.

Then, at least one hit.

Before I abandon my attack on Ouma-san, I have to get a hit!

Touka took a step back and got some distance from Ouma, and leveling the point of Narukami at him, she held her sword horizontally.

And with her ability, she formed a magnetic field in the air before her. Cladding her flesh with the energy of Shippu Jinrai—

"Takemikazuchi—!"

Plunging into a tunnel of electromagnetic force. In that instant. Touka's flesh that had entered the tunnel of lightning accelerated to a devastating speed. Namely, this was a railgun that turned her body into a bullet.

It was an excessively incompletely, excessively defenseless, excessively hazardous technique. A special move without much practical use. However, Raikiri had no power that could match the penetrating force of that accelerated thrust.

Carrying that offensive power, Touka made her last attack—and clashed.

Blood gushed out.

However, the blood flying through the air was not from Ouma. The blood was coming from Touka's right shoulder, from where she had stabbed forward.

Her blade had pierced Ouma, and where Ouma's body had been hit by Takemikazuchi, a small drop of blood escaped the just barely torn skin. He was unmistakably standing there motionlessly, like a mountain.

"…What are… you…."

Due to Takemikazuchi's backlash, her broken right shoulder was hanging uselessly, and Touka asked with a tremoring voice. Her eyes widened in shock. However, even with all of her strength, her body could not make the slightest movement.

Ouma's naked chest that had been struck by Takemikazuchi. She could see that it had been crisscrossed with countless scars.

Cuts, lacerations, punctures, bullet holes, crushing wounds—on Ouma's body had been etched by every possible kind of injury, one on top of the next without the chance to heal.

These days, iPS capsule technology had been developed to the point that almost no scars from wounds remained. Having scars to this degree was extremely odd in this day and age. Realizing this, Touka felt dread toward Ouma from her innermost depths.

"You… what have you been doing after you disappeared when you were little…?"

For five years he had disappeared from the public stage. Just how many scenes of carnage he had surmounted? Ouma, having been asked this, said—

"I have no interest in talking about myself."

Shaking his head, he refused to speak about the empty space of those five years—

"No, I have never been the type to do things like talk. My parents, brother, sister, fame—I've discarded all of them. All I have is this sword, and the oaths I make to it."

In his hand, Ryuuzume manifested.

"Even if it's only this much, a wound is a wound. As promised, I will be your opponent."

In an instant, from within the core of Ryuuzume, a windstorm that devoured everything began to blow. Just like the time that it had clashed with Stella's Katharterio Salamandra—

"Kusanagi."

The sword descended like a tornado. The excess current from the backlash of Takemikazuchi covered her entire body. Touka couldn't move a single muscle due to the spasms from that overload, so it was only a matter of course that she didn't dodge—

I'm sorry… everyone….

The wind-clad dragon's claw ripped through Touka's consciousness ruthlessly.