Chapter 6: Cardinal Acceleration
Soon after everyone left the class, Ikari slowly stepped out with Empty clinging to his back.
"What is it? Scared?"
"Uhm…"
Why won't she? Suddenly, everyone is proclaiming something about killing themselves.
It was odd, no matter how much one sugarcoated it.
"Aren't you worried about being ambushed?"
"It won't work on me. Even that ninja girl… she could give it her best shot, but it still wouldn't work."
Empty kept her silence.
Truly, the only one capable of sneaking up on Ikari would undoubtedly be her, Sagakure Yui.
However, hearing the "nah, I'd win" proclamation now kept her on edge. She felt nothing good came of that proclamation.
But just as Empty thought that, Ikari motioned his hand toward her. As he did, smoke erupted from the melted corridor with furious momentum.
Empty, who closed her eyes, felt her body embraced by the sensation of floating.
It appeared she had been caught and lifted with a single hand.
To be honest, due to the intense vertigo from flying and the gravitational pull, she was about to roughly do an act unbecoming of a girl.
"I-I feel sick...DEATH."
"If you throw up now, I'm going toss you aside."
"Ugh–!"
Empty, of course. After saying that, she was met with a harsh remark from Ikari, and she couldn't help but hold her mouth shut.
However, all of a sudden, the floating sensation disappeared.
Fearfully, she opened her eyes.
Trails of flames were left in the air, oddly consuming the smoke. Yet, despite those flames, she felt no heat from them.
But her focus was fixed on the girl in front of her.
"Aiai-san…..?"
"Like I said, call me Nogi!"
Aiai Nogi, however, gripped a long spear dripping with purple liquid.
Ikari, seeing her combat ready, made a "ha" sigh. And when he looked around, everyone was surely watching this battle.
The other eight have chosen to observe instead. Well, not that it changes anything.
"So, how do we do this?"
Ikari asked; however, before his words reached her, a glimmering reiryoku softly overlaid Nogi's uniform, forming an astral dress.
"So you have chosen force, huh?"
Empty, on the other hand,
"P-please wait a moment. Do you feel like fighting on the roof of a small tower like this? At least do it in a safer place!"
"Grate──
But before Empty could finish her words, accompanied by a low growl, the tip of her spear was thrust toward Ikari.
—Nogi Aiai was born to parents who gave her a comical name jestfully.
To a degree, it could be called surviving; her childhood itself could be described as a thing of misery.
But after becoming a high school student, she directed all her strength to reversing her fate.
She thought she should live alone. She prayed sincerely for a place with no connection to love or friendship.
Sometimes this decision occasionally made her feel lonely, but in many cases it brought a calm sense of serenity, even if it meant being pointed at by others and called a wicked girl.
That was the life she had chosen; therefore, she did not care.
The only feelings of disgust were toward her own name.
Besides, it was not because it was a cute name that did not fit her image.
If it carried both her parents' hopes and her own, if that name meant entrusting her with something, then the name itself would not matter.
Anything would be okay.
Her mother once said, while drunk, "I don't remember how I gave you your name."
She was probably laughing uncontrollably, humming a song with "Aiai" in it.
On that day, she decided to leave home without hesitation.
From there, she was invited to the neighboring world when she thought about using the money she had earned from the sale of the brand-name bag that her mother cherished.
It was here when the reaction came.
Falling into this neighboring world, it felt as sweet as sugary confectionery and as poisonous as nicotine.
Having said that, in Nogi Aiai's mind, the memory just described does not exist. She just remembered her name.
The weapon called the Unsigned Angel in her hands and the Astral Dress that served as armor.
Compared to reality, this place was paradise.
You could get food through fighting. Victory meant survival. In the opposite world, no matter how much you fought, you couldn't get food.
Even if you won, nothing was gained.
What had been forgotten in the past, she did not intend to recall it again.
...Only this name could not be discarded. It wasn't out of love for her parents. It was because this name was the only peerless proof of her identity.
Other than that, there was nothing left anymore.
She had forgotten the faces of her family and any cherished memories with them.
She regarded no one as necessary, nor was she necessary to anyone else.
Therefore, even if she was laughed at several times, she did not intend to change her name.
She had only one decision. To surely kill anyone who laughed at her name.
Nogi Aiai had decided so.
At the moment that girl attacked with the spear she was holding, Empty finally understood that this attack was the beginning of… "killing each other".
The Quasi-Spirits that had left earlier had all stopped, watching from the sidelines.
However, she had faith in Ikari. Because despite this, he seemed to have no intent of killing them.
Ikari wanted to save each and every one of them equally.
To a person who had once dreaded the possibility of losing the two most important women in his life, he knew how great a sense of loss was.
It would leave a bad taste in his mouth.
"How impatient."
"I wanted to wait for another 50 years!"
Ikari trivially avoided the released poison. If touched, it would surely fester. If it reached the eyes, it would cause blindness.
But even if the poison could kill a person within 5 minutes, it was meaningless if avoided.
More than just being avoided, the poison was consumed by flames even if it reached him.
"Don't underestimate me!"
Nogi Aiai shouted that, swinging her Unsigned Angel again.
The liquid, which should have already fallen, twisted and turned to attack Ikari again. However,
"Nice attempt."
Suddenly, Ikari disappeared and reappeared behind her in the cramped corridor.
"You seem to have forgotten I also control space and time."
Even though it was only half the power of two Demon Kings and an Angel, he still possessed it.
However, he was still fundamentally no different from a human.
A pure human soul could not hold such great power. Perhaps, if he were a magus, it would be possible.
But he was not.
With his abilities came an immense drawback. No, to call it a drawback was an understatement.
If one were to put it into words, then it would be: the more he uses his power, the more his soul shatters.
Pain, pain, pain.
Even standing behind Aiai, he still felt the pain. However, it was nothing compared to the pain he would feel if he lost them.
"What—!"
"Burst."
Ikari made a finger-gun motion, pointing it at Aiai.
BOOM-!
Flames converged behind Aiai, swirling into a small ball before erupting in an explosion that pushed her toward Empty.
"Gah!"
"Haah… Give it up. You can't defeat me."
Despite being shackled by annihilation, Ikari was still strong. He had discerned Aiai's special characteristics at a glance.
It wasn't the Unsigned Angel conducting the pursuit, but rather Nogi's own power.
If it were tracking at the speed of human thought, it would be absolutely impossible to deal with Ikari's speed.
"Since I possess three attributes, I have the leisure of developing surefire means of winning, even at the cost of my life."
"One of them is named thus: Cardinal Acceleration."
Unlike its counterpart
However, in compensation, it boasts more destructive attributes.
Now, said destructive attribute, accelerated by
One would get destructive, high-speed flames a thousand times more dangerous than high-speed jet thrusters.
"Against such a technique, do you believe you can survive?"
Acceleration faster than the human eye can perceive. Even a Quasi-Spirit wouldn't register the attack before impact.
In the first place Quasi-Spirits are in every way inferior to Spirit.
Then, to Demon Kings, which could be argued to be a superior version.
It would only make sense that not even the strongest in the Tenth Region would dream of kissing their boots.
"Kuh–! Stay away!"
Realizing the futility of it all, Aiai extended her
"E-Eh!?!? I-Ikari-san! Hiiiii!"
Once more, Ikari and eight others put their hands over their heads, letting out a "ha" sigh.
"Well, you're doing your job as emergency bait well, so I have no complaints."
Even in such a situation, Ikari still had time to joke. However, this is about her life, you know?
But again, in the next moment, he completely changed. It was the momentum she felt against his fight with Inui-san.
That domineering aura.
"Nogi Aiai. I'll say this once. You may resent yourself, your name, and everyone who makes fun of your name. However, what does it matter?!"
"WHAT WOULD SOMEBODY LIKE YOU KNOW!"
Both of them screamed, and BOOM—!
Flames erupted, covering Ikari's body. It was unbearable. It was hot. The entire temperature seemed to have gone past boiling point, that is 100 degrees Celsius.
Yet, Ikari still pressed on.
"Shit! That fool!"
Feeling a sense of dread, Aiai ignored Empty and attempted to run as her skin began to sizzle. Empty felt it too, but she didn't move.
She bore the heat for him. It must have been more painful for him, she thought.
"Both of you are crazy!"
Aiai looked back as she was close to jumping out the corridor windows to the plain below.
However, she was too late; she would never have made it to safety.
"[CARDINAL ACCELERATION]"
Rrrrrrrrr—
BOOOOM───MMMM!
A loud, earsplitting sound erupted. The school building, if it could be called that, its main building was completely burnt down by that strike.
It may have seemed like an excessive attack. However, with this attack, he had shown the other participants how dangerous it was to fight him.
War?
Stupid. Foolish.
If nobody would do things his way, he would ignore the rules and go to whoever was on top. That was the fastest way.
"Haah… haah…. I really went… overboard with that one….."
Huffing in short breaths, Ikari levitated above the crater of the main building's remains. In his right arm he held Empty, and in his left, miraculously, Aiai.
"H-how…"
Aiai muttered, clutching her head.
She saw it, didn't she? Herself being consumed by those destructive flames. Heck, it wasn't being consumed; it felt like she was being erased.
From her legs to her head, even now she could feel the scorching heat on her body.
However, her body suddenly reverted to its state before the erasure, as soon as the explosion hit.
'H-he…! Don't tell me—! He rewound t-t-time—!?'
As Nogi Aiai thought, Empty also looked over the visibly struggling Ikari, trying to catch his breath.
While she wasn't entirely aware of his situation, a single thought crossed her mind:
'Truly, Ikari-san is invincible. It's his win.'
Empty thought.