Once Upon the Battle at Higanbana House

"If you want to act like my grandfather, for once…" I stared at him, body hidden by a wall of frozen beer and water. "I don't think you should be venting by using force."

"You've packed a lot of guts coming to me, Shiro!" Aldebaran prattled, his pole ready to break my ice any minute now. "That, I commend. However, for you to step on my sincerity as your grandfather, it makes my blood boil."

Emotion check, he has always been vexed.

Since the first time I entered, he employed such disdain for my presence.

He felt like the kid in school everyone hates for breathing the same air as them. What Shirayuki Otogibanashi stands for in Nichiyoubi North High School─his blood does course through within. It's always a hassle when someone goes about hiding their emotions.

Spree of my own traits: I hate the way it works.

Nevertheless, for the first time, we were engaged in battle.

If the city bears witness, it would be branded monumental to the point broadcasting arrangements are discussed.

I'm pleased it's only being viewed by agents of the government.

Speaking of which, I don't know if it's legal or not when in house arrest.

My grandfather tends to break all kinds of restrictions so I learned how not to think of them.

Also, I've never seen him fight with his newfound curse active─making it seem like I'm treading an unexplored territory… no, never mind, I initiated the first move.

I leaped to catch him down.

In return, he swiftly leaped sideways so as not to counteract─he swung his pole hard for the wall, and ricocheted back to kick me by the hind.

I couldn't possibly dodge him so I parried with my ankles instead.

From the rotational force brought by such a rapid chain, I was taken back to the ground─three limbs touching it. Meanwhile, he hung onto another wooden beam─his Gokuu pole to fall from his careless grasp.

It's lackadaisical of an experience to be advantageous against my closest enemy.

"Whew, how many battles have you fought for you to be skilled?" He asked, whilst positioning himself for combat. "I've been caught off-guard knowing I'd attack first."

"When did you become a spider?" I asked instead, not answering his question.

He sticks to walls and the ceiling─as if bitten by a radioactive spider. Added to the pole, it doubles for being the Monkey King. All separate traits out from being the second Strongest Mage I know─he has several shticks to utilize, and none of them shows his Sound Magic.

I didn't wait for long: I extended my hands for the frozen wall I left, and crushed it for blunted spears.

Commanded to fly by his direction, one orthodox attack pattern─I almost regret even thinking about it… as such, he dodged it through sheer speed, moving semi-circular towards my position. Raging like a calamitous meteorite he recklessly descended, right hand outstretched upfront for an archaic spell formation.

"Prayers for the Wailing Banshee, ravage onto thy adverse soul your wrath and woes." He began casting his spell in midair─equivocal for such a short distance, he managed to finish and notwithstanding a scuff, "Screaming Scoundrel!"

Sound energy accumulated between us and pushed him back, the magic circle to grow in intimidating size.

"That's one hell of a unique phrase."

Summoning through Sound Magic channels, the grotesque Wailing Banshee shot rampart down.

Personifying a Spirit is never the simplest task, it requires commitment from Mages.

I've seen various before, always with old people tested by time. Strongest I may have been put into the charts, I am limited to few techniques. None the variation, only but outright usage of intuition.

Someday, I'd like to personify Spirits, too.

A humongous spectral creature covered the area in black, and wailed for the eardrums' demise.

I mostly have contingencies ahead so being overwhelmed is not the least bit of my problem. No matter who does something extravagant and unexpected, I can retaliate for fluid counteraction. I dissolved ice into water molecules and stuck them into my ears albeit adventurous. It wasn't enough to cancel the noise out, and I had to be flattened down the floor─but I saved my hearing sense from cracking out.

"I don't need to hear that from someone who doesn't chant for magic at all!" Grandpa triumphantly yelled, readied with another lavish attack.

There's nothing else to think about, it's only getting back up on my toes.

"Thanks, I can only be grateful to the Spirits for their kind consideration."

I could only say… there was nothing to reply with actually, and I'm not in the position to vaunt.

A prerequisite of opening the pandora's box.

I've never wanted to become the Strongest Mage.

It doesn't hold commercial value.

I've never been rewarded once.

The only implication is being borderline psychical. If not for the spell circles─I'd be the same as Nayami Ayanami. Speaking of whom, I almost want to copy her Comet Howitzer for arsenal improvement.

If a spark of inspiration wasn't at all idiomatic and was literal, I'd have been fried.

No matter, I established a connection to the power outlets.

Knowing the right elements to utilize, electromagnetism can freely hover someone in midair.

I don't need to ape aerodynamics when I'm admittedly out of shape.

As long as I'm virtually close, I can mimic her all the while configuring an entirely different fighting style.

Snap seconds of an attempt to kick him into his misery, but I failed yet again when he solidified sound to act as a barrier.

"Then, break!"

He dispersed the soundwaves to grab me in the neck.

Forcible hands of the second Strongest Mage accounting to strangulation, but I happened to have a force field of electricity. Aldebaran realized and pulled his reach and instead, vaulted onto another wooden beam close by. He breathed in and out, sizing his grandson in a serious demeanor─then he let go of his other hand to ultimately dangle like a monkey.

"Prayers for the Wailing Banshee, ravage onto thy adverse soul your wrath and woes once more!"

"You do know that the same move doesn't work twice, right?" I braced myself, fashionably dressed in contained yellowish sparks─and stuck onto the ceiling like a spider.

Although there was no time to dawdle around, almost immediately I jumped down for another impending assault.

Charged fisticuffs from the Higanbana House's electricity.

Wry, as in I can only hope their bills won't skyrocket.

"Oh, my dear grandson, we're not living in a shounen manga!" He shouted, and set his course straight for the punch─and brought out his monster the second time, "Screaming Scoundrel!"

It did its sequence again, the wailing darkness of a grotesque scoundrel returned after only a minute or two.

However, what I didn't anticipate the time around─was its summoning circle pressed against my back.

If only I couldn't feel magic, I would have heard its vengeful song.

Instead of directing the thunder punch for my grandfather's face, I loosened the condensation to cover my body. Like how it went the last time, I couldn't defy the force albeit not losing my ears in the process. I hate supersonic, as much as I hate falling down the floor.

Meanwhile, Motoharu Akahoshi dangled onto one steel beam to another─hand positioned for another Sound spell.

It could also be the same.

I sustained the damage, enabling me to face him right away… or not quite right, I ignored any harmful effect─because if I don't, I'd be ravaged.

Without any warning at all.

It's like I'm not fighting my grandfather: It's a completely different person.

As expected, he launched another Sound spell─and the game of tag commenced.

More or less, sequential evaluation has been completed: it's a battle built with swiftness and so there won't be a rally. It'd always be in stop motion.

One would attack and land their hit cleanly, or be countered. If a punch enters, there's no second hit as the other would have distanced himself… it's not the same, but it's the essence.

Tough nuts to crack, the both of us.

And here we are, unyielding in the face of trouble.

"Adamant all of a sudden, you've never changed," I said, as a commendation of sorts as I grappled his legs. "I know I'm biased to have suspected you, but it's a reasonable judgment."

"You think it's reasonable, Shiro?" He questioned, uncontrolling the force of my pitch.

After a recovery, he vaulted his way for me again─channeling soundwaves into solid as moonwalking footholds.

Swift on his feet as they dissolved one by one, subsequently chanting as he aimed to drop a roundhouse kick.

He's certainly gambling at the point, almost near to touching the floor.

However, he was such an athlete that he managed to blast himself away the moment he missed.

I used the opportunity to catch him. I grabbed his hand this time and unleashed stored electricity to throw him back to square one…

"Yes, like I've already said? I'm certain now though, you're not connected to my problem as much as I do want you to… for the sake of closing doors, don't get me wrong!"

While the trick inflicted considerable harm, he didn't lag one bit and attached his left foot onto a fixture.

Then he immediately dropped down to sit by the stair railings.

"Uh-huh, so you need a break after all."

"Your escapism grows dire and dire everyday, I hate it and I hate that I also love it," he announced, destroying my taunt in fractals─two gargantuan magic circles to emerge beside him. "You are my grandson, after all!"

Hah, what an actor.

He knows chantless magic too, and he'd gloss it for freakish conversation rather than flaunting about it for dominance.

It doesn't enunciate the sideline message that I'm not the only one who mastered my Magecraft.

Making it more terrifying all the same: he had his aces up his sleeves, and was about to level the difference between us.

One can only sneer for the surprise, breaking emotion for a character deprived of the concept.

"Eugh, please don't dote on me. Leave the flaunting for my sisters," I denounced his affection, and ran sideways in search of defense.

Signature slashes of solid sound swiftly emerged from the circles, him in the middle for another hackneyed kick.

He reached me─whence I shielded myself with another force field.

He amplified his magic however, and broke my defense until his fractals of solid sound broke. Side by side, they dispersed to break my momentum─down the floor I fell spreadeagled, eardrums hurting from the burst. Mercilessly, he stepped both his bare feet onto my chest, crouched, and looked me in the eyes.

"Even if I wasn't the one you were looking for, it's still utterly unforgivable that you'd point fingers at a family member."

I discharged electricity to deflect and push him─not warranting another second of air to be deprived for my lungs.

"Then I'll let it be this way for a while."

He jumped and pushed himself to the ceiling with another blast of sound energy directed at me: one I blocked with solidified air.

Quite frankly, an identical frame to his sound solidification.

I scattered it to pieces and drilled them for him to catch.

He deflected them, and tensed for another vapid strike from up to down. He cried, "No, you won't win against me, you stupid little piece of shit!"

"I've been stale for a while now… I know the perfect way to think more effectively is through adrenaline," I said as I took the punch, grabbed for another one of my threadbare motions, "Here goes!"

I spun once, and threw him back to hang by his lovely beams.

"Heh! So you're fighting me to think?" He asked, struck by the realization.

"Yes, exactly!" I replied, not elaborating further.

However, for you, I'd say it's somewhat of a psychological stimulation. Constant movement makes you think more critically than being stationary. If you'd question the decision to fight my grandfather for the sake of it─then I may come with a justification or two, but well, it was my whimsical thought that I can't possibly save myself from your persecution.

"If my violent tendency helps you with something, I might want to amplify it to nurture my grandson's productivity."

Our clash continued, not minding the house's state at all.

For all I know, we've both been careful as not to break valuables when not intended. I've used his water sources, and been constantly using electricity─but there were no broken windows and the chandelier was untouched… I supposed we don't have to talk about it.

Usage of the situation into something fruitful.

Nothing has been coursing right for the last chapters, since Naru decided we launch a counterattack. Kafka had the right thought about our enemy, but I led them into the Higanbana House where there's no answer─only another place to think…In fairness, we came to seek help, but the returner from a different world didn't have anything concrete to offer.

If I squeeze the last of my brain cells, I might miraculously get us across the point of progress─and leave behind the detective visions once and for all.

It doesn't hurt to be wishful.

"It sounds about right for you, Shiro," Aldebaran─my grandfather and the second Strongest Mage─remarked, twisting his lower limbs for raging double kicks. "You're talented at being insightful so you can arrive at the answer you're looking for!"

He landed one, but it ultimately fell into the same sequence.

"Can I just rant with one thing?"

Go on, I signaled─fending off a different summon, now a handful of screaming Spirit Mandrakes.

"Your solutions always have something to do with manipulation."

"Yes, I know," I answered, rather too short when I didn't use my turn right away.

Missing a beat, he dropped down again and tried to hit me in the gut. "I don't understand how you worked it out, but you were getting annoyed by young Kafka and your kindred's twin brother."

"Yup, I got you, gramps, of all people, to make them leave!" I blocked him─and for once, I initiated a Metal spell in an attempt to entrap him.

Bummer: he easily cut through the fourth iron door I dragged from the rooms all around the house.

"For that, I'm furious," he conveyed rather not furiously. He took his Gokuu pole and stretched it towards the ceiling. "I really am, but the adrenaline of fighting the Strongest Mage at last won't let the anger take over!"

He had it retracted and bolted for another attack─this time, to bash the sentient weapon for my skull.

"Yeah, don't get me wrong, I don't have the luxury of clashing heads with you, but I'm also enjoying it!"

I divulged after catching the pole Shirahadori style─both churning eyes were set ablaze, no winner or loser has yet to emerge.