Kaze no Stigma

Playing with Kokusen with one hand, Kazuma observed the boy struggling under his foot.

It looked pretty painful. The entire body weight of a grown man concentrated in one point on that delicate body - what"s more, the boy was trampled straight above the heart so that was expected.

He already couldn"t resist in a meaningful way.

The movement of his limbs, rather than those for escape, were closer to death agony convulsions.

But even so, the boy didn"t gave up yet. Seizing with his hand the foot trampling him, he was almost powerless but he still had light in his eyes, looking up at Kazuma.

"------How energetic," thought Kazuma indifferently.

He did not hate kids with vitality. As long as they"re not annoying him, that is.

Adding one thing to another, he believed in being impartial towards all his enemies.

That is, annihilating men and women of all ages if they oppose him.

Therefore, he had no reason to let this boy live.

It would be better to make him spit out why he was aiming at Ayano but that"s not something he should pay attention to.

It happened at the time he was putting strength in his leg to quickly kill him.

Some ill-breading intruders disturbed Kazuma"s purpose.

"Ayano!"

"-----Eeh?"

Around Ayano"s surroundings, blinking at the sudden call, a wind barrier was wrapped up.

Immediately something flying at a high speed was repelled and smashed against the wind barrier.

A small sheet of spray glistened in the sunlight.

"------Water?"

"You two right there, do you have business here?"

Not minding Ayano"s confusion, Kazuma asked in a freezing voice.

A replying voice promptly returned.

"Did you notice? Besides, I wasn"t particularly hiding my Kehai, you know."

A clear, beautiful voice resounded on the desolate construction site.

Ayano looked around searching for the owner of the voice. As for Kazuma, he didn"t even show he was searching and while stepping and jumping on the boy, lazily he puffed his cigarette.

"I asked about your business."

"How impolite."

A voice containing a smile replied. Together with it, two figures appeared on top of a slightly elevated heap of mud.

Appropriate for the owner of the beautiful voice, one of them was an extremely beautiful young man. His silver hair was glittering in the sun like a waterfall, flowing straight down his back. His eyes were amber colored.

He had flawless white skin and thin, fine shaped red lips that were vibrantly contrasting.

He was naturally perfect.

No matter how much one looked at him, not a flaw could be found.

That face was so beautiful it made one believe it must be without a doubt the a human face organized after a single rule - Golden Rule.

But after only glancing at it, Kazuma gazed steadily at the man standing next to him.

He was very short. He had below a hundred and fifty centimeters at most.

But anyone would hesitate calling that man a small built. Surely his stature was low. But even if he was low the volume of muscle that body was clad in, wasn"t common.

When describing a muscular giant it"s said "That upper arm is thicker than a woman"s a.s.s" or "Those tights are like a woman"s waist".

If the man were above two meters it will be finished one would call him burly - but if he"s below a hundred and fifty centimeters -

You can only call it birth defect. Even a.s.suming he dedicated all his life to weight training, it doesn"t seem likely the human body can become like this.

It could be evaluated to a human"s parody or rather a distorted figure (prettiness nonexistent).

The balance of length and width, was perfectly deviating from the contour of the human body. Even the skeleton was wrong.

It could be understood if it were a different species from man.

After staring at that atypical appearance very long, Kazuma coughed once.

"So it"s true there are Dwarfs, huh?"

"Wait a second, youngster," the man retorted to Kazuma almost reluctantly.

His voice was a deep baritone, which seemed only appropriate.

"Who is a dwarf, huh?"

"It"s obviously you, no? Beside that const.i.tution, you"re also carrying an axe."

That"s right, the man was shouldering a gigantic battle-axe.

Just like in a certain world famous fantasy movie, his physique seemed very similar to that race.

Besides he was also growing a beard.

"If you want to be consistent to that extent, you should wear a helmet with two horns. Can you split into seven and dance around snow white?"

"Wha.....You b.a.s.t.a.r.d...."

At Kazuma"s abuse, bringing even fairy tales into this, the man glared at him furiously.

But, his mouth didn"t seem very proficient so no comebacks emerged.

"Y-you youngster....."

Understanding he couldn"t match him verbally, the man grasped with both his hands the battle ax and stepped forward with short steps.

But, his beautiful neighbor restrained him.

"Well, calm down, *imli."

"Who the heck is G*mli?"

Not minding the short one angry and barring his teeth, the beautiful man turned his gaze to Kazuma - no, to the boy trampled on at his feet.

"----This is a somewhat unexpected development, huh?"

Curbing his lips upward, the man addressed the boy. Those red lips were etched with scorn towards a weak person.

But, even that was beautiful. As a G.o.d boasting about the superiority of his existence, ridiculing a fallen angel.

"It"s not the time to split among friends, right, young prince of the Fuan family - was it? Or rather, you thought that by presenting us with Enraiha, we"ll overlook you?"

"Rd....tard......"

With that energy stored somewhere, the boy once again began to act violently underneath Kazuma"s foot.

Literally crushing that resistance under his foot, Kazuma looked up at the youth.

"Who are you?"

The young man bowed elegantly and then declared.

"I was slow in saying. I am Christian Roengram - your enemy."

Receiving the young man"s - Christian"s words, Kazuma"s words was etched in a belligerent smile.

"Good vibes, easy to understand. I like that."

"I feel grateful. But - "

Cristian finished his sentence there and looked away. Nearby Kazuma. And then, to where Ayano was standing, in a slightly separated place.

"If you obediently hand over your sacred treasure, I promise not to harm you."

"- So he said. What will you do? "

"That"s rejected!" replied Ayano without hesitating for a second.

"Besides I don"t like your I"ll overlook you att.i.tude! I promise not to harm you? Do you think you can win against us?"

"Of course."

Chris held out his right hand. On the pointed upwards palm as if trying to receive something, a short pole, thirty centimeters long appeared without notice.

"Why that is, it"s because I"m the owner of the Water"s sacred treasure, >."

The pole he clasped in his right hand shook. The large amount of water spirits entering through there changed to a whip crossing over ten meters.

"I"ll teach you the discrepancy in our status. --- Aah, Gaia, I"m plenty by myself. Don"t interfere."

"......Humph, very well. A powerless Fujutsushi and an Enjutsushi who can"t even win against that, there"s no worth dealing with them."

The short man - Gaia, instantly made a dissatisfied face but immediately agreed and jerked his chin as if saying Go already!.

Chris bowed to Gaia with a smiling face, and approached Ayano with an air of composure.

"...................."

"...................."

Kazuma and Ayano, none even throwing a sidelong glance to the approaching Chris, looked at each other.

Ayano asked frankly.

"Is is real?"

"Who knows. It"s the first time I heard of a Water sacred treasure."

While answering, Kazuma incorrigibly gridded down the boy acting violently.

"You"re persistent. ------Ayano, I leave that weird one to you."

"Okay."

Kazuma"s gaze, looking at Ayano lightly running, suddenly turned down.

The boy under his foot, was pulling the cuff of his trousers.

Feeling that was an action meant to attract attention not to escape the trampling, Kazuma loosened the force just a little.

"What?"

"...St..op....her....."

While bearing the pain of having his chest crushed, the boy boy spoke disconnectedly.

"That woman.......can"t.....match him.........She"ll be....killed......."

"That so? "

Kazuma was thoroughly calm. The gaze with which he looked at those two, about to start fighting, didn"t had a fragment of nervousness.

"Well, shut up and look. What you wanted to see, from here on you"ll be able to see freely."

Kazuma smiled lightly at the boy who didn"t seem to understand.

"The serious Kannagi Ayano."

Intended to be composed, Chris didn"t start but waited for Ayano slashing attack.

Matching the moment Ayano raised Enraiha overhead, at that moment he lightly twisted his wrist.

The flame sword swung downward from above her head was ambushed from underneath by the water whip.

The sound of water soaking a heated frying pan reached their ears. Simultaneously, both were covered by white water vapor.

But, the atmosphere turned clear in a moment. Mizuchi absorbed the surplus water in the atmosphere.

The water whip completely stopped the flame blade. Only the surface that touched continued to evaporate. That was almost nothing compared to the entire water volume.

But, successively compensating that loss from the surroundings, the whip couldn"t be severed.

Cool-looking while the burning blade was before his eyes, Chris laughed.

"An Enjutsushi tackling a Suijutsushi. Water trumps Fire - do you not know the rivalry between the five elements?"

"Ara, I know it. Wasn"t it all about the amount of material resources?"

There was no appearance of impatience in Ayano"s eyes. Including even more power in the blade, she made the golden flame erupt.

"Kuh!"

Chris" voice was confused for the first time. The whip was bisected close to the root, and Mizuchi leaped in his hand, nothing more but a stick.

"So- something like this.........."

From those red lips that looked a little pale, a murmur of astonishment leaked out.

It was the ideology of the cosmic dual forces - Ying and Yang and the five elements.

The elements the world was composed of - Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, all phenomena became by the interference of those elements, that"s what it meant.

There are two types of interference, one that takes advantage of one other and they can work together and the other, where there is a killing rivalry between them.

For example, the Earth is raising Wood (vegetation). Therefore the Earth makes Wood alive. On the contrary, Metal (the metal blade) cuts down Tree. Therefore, Metal trumps Tree.

And then, Water trumps Fire. That is the law derived from Chinese cosmology.

But think about it. Certainly Water makes Fire disappear. In that case, did the brilliant, primitive fire disappear with just a cup of water?

Water is also stronger than Fire. But that is not something absolute. It was just something relatively favorable.

In the first place, the basic concept of Spirit Jutsushi is the theory of the four elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Wind.

"Haaaah!"

While it may be true that Ayano"s enemy was a Suijutsushi, she is swinging Enraiha without hesitation.

Ayano"s way of thinking is always simple. And so, it suited her and made her stronger.

Today is a good example of it.

Water trumps Fire? What about it?

Regarding the energy it"s able to release, there"s nothing that equals >. No matter how much predominance > has -

"How can I lose? To the likes of you!"

"Meeh, kuuh!"

Chris drew to himself the water that was cut off trying to reconstruct the whip once more but that spanned a few seconds.

In front of Enraiha at full power, Mizuchi was literally doing nothing more but pouring water on hot stone.

Torn piece by piece, Mizuchi wasn"t even allowed to keep the whip shape.

Overhead Chris, all his power stolen, the blade clad in flame was approaching.

"I got you!"

But, together with a hard sound, the certain kill blow was obstructed.

Mizuchi lost the water whip. Pushing out that handle, Chris intercepted he blow.

As expected of a sacred treasure, even by using the red-hot blade, she couldn"t smash that handle. But -

"Kuu....uu....."

Even if he stopped the blow of the blade itself, he couldn"t protect himself against that calorific value.

The golden flame was scorching and both of Chris" hands gripping the handle at both ends gave off a burned smell.

His flushed face was strained by anguish and closely packed sweat drops were coming loose.

"Me....Ooohh!"

While stopping Enraiha"s blow, Chris fired a kick in desperation. Without going to far, Ayano evaded the kick taking her distance.

"Wh.....what"s going on?"

Underneath Kazuma"s foot, the boy opened his eyes wide in shock.

"Isn"t she like a different person from when I faced her?"

"Huh? Yeah."

Kazuma nodded to the boy"s shout like it was only natural.

"Because she"s not the kind of person to get serious if the opponent has no thirst for blood."

"Did she realize!?"

"........Hey"

Kazuma overlooked the boy that was plainly amazed.

"Didn"t you say it yourself: Show me your power?"

Which means the boy"s purpose wasn"t to kill Ayano but to grasp her ability - meaning, trying her ability.

"Well, that Ojou-san may have forgotten about it."

"------?"

"Didn"t she notice it with her wildlife sixth sense? Because she"s a living thing that moves only on instinct."

The moment he said that, red hot plasma crashed into the wind barrier. Of course, Ayano fired one of Enraiha"s blows without even turning around.

"-------Wah?"

Dumbfounded the boy looked at Kazuma, who shrugged his shoulders like nothing happened.

"Right now.....that was the real deal."

"Hmm, how to say this, she kind of misunderstands it for tsukomi. I"m kind of worried if she"ll kill someone before long."

"You there! Don"t say whatever you want!"

This time she made a verbal tsukomi.

Maybe because she was composed enough, while overlooking Chris reconstructing his water whip without interfering, Ayano glared at Kazuma with an angry look.

"There"s no need to worry, except you I wouldn"t do this to anyone!"

"And I"m Ok? If you hit me I will die, you know?"

"You"ll die? I won"t stop you."

At Kazuma"s unnaturally miserable manner of speaking, Ayano replied eternally indifferent.

Ant then, she looked at Chris as if remembering him and smiled with composure.

"You seem to be in a sort of pinch so is it all right not to beg your fellow"s help? Your dramatic pose when you appeared and your words were all detestable but I understand - isn"t it important to understand one"s place?"

"........Tch!"

Those words loaded even with pity, magnificently irritated Chris" pride the wrong way.

The hand grasping Mizuchi trembled and the water whip undulated in a big way.

"Girl.......!"

Flinging off his graceful smile and pointlessly polite words, Chris glared at Ayano with the look of a demon.

"You damaged the sacred treasure because I was going easy on you so don"t get carried away!"

"I think excuses are unsightly, I really do."

"Shut up!"

Together with that angry roar, Chris held Mizuchi over his head. The water whip stretched upright, its volume swelling.

That was like a water chain iron ball. The endless materialization of water spirits, swelled the apex of the whip to a lump of water ball.

It"s diameter was a little more than ten meters - forming the huge water ball reaching a volume of a few hundred tones, Chris shouted.

"I"ll smash you! There won"t remain a trace of you!"

"With only that?"

Without minding that overwhelming ma.s.s swung downward at her Ayano resolutely stepped into his territory.

The several hundreds tons water ball approaching from overhead.

What met it was only a swung brilliant red blade.

That was without a doubt a real spectacle of a courageous but doomed resistance. A different scale from loss or defeat.

"Stop-----!"

Including the expectation for the result of the crash, the boy screamed from the bottom of his lungs.

But Ayano, without hesitation, raised the sword overhead with all her power.

Kazuma too, didn"t seem like he was going to stop her, and was just looking at her.

The water ball dropped at high speed. Including its ma.s.s to the fall velocity, there wasn"t any living thing that could bear that kinetic energy of the crash.

Whether it was an African elephant or a grisly bear, they would be squashed in an instant unable to withstand the pressure, unable even to preserve their original form.

But, the sword facing it was called Enraiha.

That ma.s.s was equivalent with trash, the quant.i.ty of heat it possessed was not something to be outdone by that.

"Yooooooooou! Flyyyyyyyy!"

Together with an outcry not very, or rather excessively - unladylike, as if challenging it, Ayano sliced the sky.

Th golden flame clad on the blade, fiercely sparkled so beautiful striking their eyes.

The gushing out white hot plasma. Similar to a small sun, that hit the huge water ma.s.s, pierced it and made all that ma.s.s evaporate.

But even so Chris didn"t seem disturbed. Rather, he was staring at Ayano holding Enraiha smiling quite s.a.d.i.s.tically as if he did what he wanted to.

Also, underneath Kazuma"s foot, the boy was biting his lips with a regretful expression.

One instant after - a terrific detonation sound roared.

Let"s look over the basic science at this point.

When you apply heat to water it undergoes the process of vaporization and becomes steam.

That volume ratio is 1: 1700 ----the instant it vaporized the volume expanded a thousand and seven hundred times.

It this was a small quant.i.ty, or rather vaporized gradually, it doesn"t matter that the thousand fold becomes twice ten thousand.

But, if a huge volume of water is super heated, it will vaporize in an instant.

The volcanic eruption is similar to this. The underground water is vaporized by burning magma, it expands, and with that pressure it blows off the rocks on the surface.

It"s a phenomenon called water vapor explosion.

Yes, an explosion.

The evaporation of water, only that phenomenon can create so much destructive energy to physically alter the topography.

Right now, what happened in front of their eyes was exactly that.

"......Ridiculous.....to go this far........."

Looking at the mist enshrouding the center of explosion, the boy"s face was distorted by despair.

With that kind of explosion, there was no way for the humans inside to survive. To say nothing of the fact that this was a water vapour explosion.

A Suijutsushi can can control the water vapor but an Enjutsushi has no way of interfering with an fire-less explosion.

Which means, she lost.

The greatest war potential that could fulfill his dearest wish will turn to nothing and achieve nothing.

The boy turned that unbearable anger against an opponent within reach. Looking up at the man who was yet still trampling him, he shouted full of emotion.

"Why? Why didn"t you stop her? You knew something like this would happen!"

"-------Well, this is the reasonable outcome."

While smoking his cigar so carefree so late in the game, Kazuma replied in a voice without energy.

Faced with that indifference of not even raising an eyebrow at the death of his friend, the boy glared at him.

"Bas- b.a.s.t.a.r.d......b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"

"By the way ----- I have a feeling I wanted at least one explanation beforehand, Ojou-san."

"I believe in you, partner♥!"

At that dispirited murmur that didn"t seem to appreciate the situation, a bright lively voice replied.

"-----Eeh?"

With a look of shock the boy stared inside the mist. Inside his blurry field of vision, two shadows were floating.

Christian Roengram holding Mizuchi who once again became just a handle and a girl setting up a brilliant red blade clad in golden flame.

It was obvious who that was.

It wasn"t clear how but Ayano came out of the desperate predicament without even a wound and was appearing calm.

"Wh- why....." murmured the boy dumbfounded.

For Chris too, that seemed unexpected and stared at the girl"s silhouette as if doubting his eyes.

"Absurd.......why, are you alive.......?"

Ayano showed a fearless smile to Chris who murmured so, his certain victory undermined.

At that time, the boy noticed.

That without the enshrouding mist flowing, without the atmosphere moving, the clothes and hair of the girl standing rock still were gently fluttering.

As it was to be expected, in an instant the boy saw through its meaning - and who was behind it.

One moment later, Chris reached the same answer.

The gazes of the two, dyed in shock and shudders turned to Kazuma"s disinterested face.

"You son of a b.i.t.c.h.......a wind barrier, in that moment you........" squeezed Chris with eyes covered in hatred.

The Enjutsushi Ayano had no way of escaping from that explosion. Then, there is only one answer.

"You have no time to look away, lady-killer."

"-------Tch!"

Calming down with Kazuma"s words, Chris turned to the front.

Making Enraiha shine brilliantly, Ayano was drawing near in front of him.

At once ordering the water spirits, Chris reconstructed Mizuchi"s water whip. Luckily, there was a vast amount of water drifting in the atmosphere in the form of water vapors and he could summon them - he was supposed to.

"Wha------?"

The drifting about mist, for some reason didn"t listed to Chris"s command.

The water whip didn"t materialize at all but, Enraiha was already swung downward. He had no Jutsu to escape from that blow.

"Kuu....uuu....!"

With Mizuchi"s handle, Chris stopped Enraiha once more.

While moaning with the agony of having his fingers burned, he forced it back with all his strength, and took his distance tumbling in a big way.

While his shoulders trembled with intense pain and his breathing was heavy, Chris glared at Kazuma with a b.l.o.o.d.y mouth.

He did not know what he did. He didn"t know it but he instinctively knew. That what hindered his ability was nothing else but that man"s action.

Replying with sneer at the gaze full of hatred, Kazuma declared carelessly.

"Since it"s different from the water itself, water vapor is within a Fujutsushi"s range. That"s because it"s vapor. You"d better not think you can manipulate it that easily."

"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d......."

"That"s why I told you you have no time to look away."

Although Chris was exasperated by Kazuma"s boasting composed facial expression, it certainly wasn"t the time to do that.

Using that chance that opened for a moment, Ayano drew near once more.

Enraiha was held aloft. The blade wearing the golden flame increased its brilliance much more, shedding so much light it couldn"t be looked at directly.

If he were to block it the same way, even though Mizuchi would be safe, his fingers would probability evaporate.

However, he had no time to summon more water spirits and he already lost the chance to evade.

"Hii......."

Chris" refined good looks became stiff with fear.

He couldn"t run, an absolute death was drawing near, and then -

"Fall back!"

"-------Tch!"

Reflexively responding to Kazuma"s voice, Ayano leapt in a big way. Immediately following, before Chris" eyes, the ground raised and an earth fang with a sharp tip slanted forward - if Ayano were to go right ahead, it was pushed out in a direction she would have intersected.

"Kuh!"

"Gaia!?"

"----------"

Everyone"s gaze headed for the man - Gaia, who was supposed to have sightseeing the fight from a separate place.

While striking his shoulder with the axe as if taking its rhythm, Gaia"s lips warped and he showed a bitter smile.

"It"s very boorish interfering in a honor duel but I cannot abandon my colleague. Don"t think bad of me."

"It"s obvious I"ll think bad of you, idiot. You said you won"t interfere. If you"re a warrior even as a joke don"t behave so disgraceful as to violate your oath before the fight!"

The moment he understood that his opponent valued things like honor or pride, something that had no importance to Kazuma, he took advantage of that.

"You came out when that man was about to die. So, as a penalty for violating your oath, at least cut one of your arms!"

"..........Don"t get excited, youngster," replied Gaia in a crushed to death voice.

"Besides, you were to one to excessively meddle in those two"s fight."

"What the f.u.c.k are you saying? That man of gentle manners and delicate features, didn"t he said he"ll take all of us by himself? I partic.i.p.ated in the battle since the beginning. Don"t put me together with your underhanded, cowardly sneak attack!"

"Guu.....meee....."

As expected, if they quarreled, it was Kazuma"s complete victory.

Sealing more of the enemy"s interfering shielding himself behind the pride of a warrior together with justifying himself and the negation of the opponent"s modus operandi, that cajolery could be called brilliant.

""Since it"s like that, ignore us and let us continue."

"I won"t!"

In accordance with Kazuma"s words, the moment Ayano tried to start moving, Gaia swung his battle axe a second time.

That blow literally tore the earth and the pebbles raised from that high speed blow obstructed her path, changing into a wall.

"This time, you"ll play with me, Miss."

Receiving that gaze full of hostility pointed towards him rather comfortably, Gaia announced magnificently.

"As far as it goes, let me name myself. I am Gaia. I have no family name. And then -"

Gaia pushed out the axe he was holding. What was dwelling in the blade with a dull shine was the power of the earth, strong enough to make one shiver.

From the development until now it was easy to guess its true colors.

"This is the sacred treasure of the earth - it"s name is Nozuchi. Recognize it."

And then, as expected Gaia said those words.

"Geez........what"s up with this, one after another..." murmured Ayano as if mourning.

That reaction was only justified. If Gaia"s words were true, the sacred treasures of four elements gathered.

It must have been the first time since the dawn of history.

But clearly, Gaia wasn"t affected by that deep emotion. The bright smile plastered to that boorish face was the sigh of great joy when meeting a formidable enemy - belonging to a race of people who found in fighting their reason for existence, without controlling that smile, the man took one step forward.

"Being able to overwhelm Chris in a woman"s body - it seems we underestimated you. It was more pleasant that I thought."

And then, while coughing really happy he looked down at the boy held down under Kazuma"s foot, turning a clear scorn towards him.

"At the very least, much more so that a certain ostentatious Fujutsushi family."

"-------!!"

The moment he heard those words, the boy squeezed an unbelievable amount of power from that weakened body and escaped Kazuma"s restriction.

"Ups."

His balance destroyed, Kazuma staggered. It may perhaps be believable that he made such an unusual error but since even Kokusen was taken from him, that was clearly his intention.

With the regained wind"s secret treasure in his hand, the boy turned bloodshot eyes full of hatred to Gaia.

"Otou-sama"s enemy!"

"------Humph."

With the expression of not being interested, Gaia snorted and expected the boy"s rush.

"Aaaaaaaah!!"

The jet black spear flashed. The point of the blade that seemed split by the excessive speed was carrying an overflowing killing intent was aiming at its bitter enemy.

"Huh, it"s fast."

Maneuvering Nozuchi, Gaia continued handling those high speed thrusts. But, by nature, an axe is not a weapon aimed at defending.

Although avoiding those aiming for his vitals, the attacks he couldn"t handle gave his body countless wounds.

"Ooooooooooo!"

The boy continued attacking incessantly without a break.

Accelerating the speed"s rotation even more, finally even the afterimage disappeared. But as if disregarding that attack, Gaia raised Nozuchi across his head on a grand scale.

Without minding the spurts of blood that covered all his body, his recognition and muscles expanded.

"Huaa!"

With just one blow, he knocked down the countless thrusts, and even blew away the boy"s body.

"Guh......hah........"

"How worthless."

Staring at the moaning boy knocked to the ground with coldness, Gaia spat out.

"The attacks of you Fujutsushi are certainly fast. But it"s only that. Something like an attack without weight it"s only a diversion and not the finishing blow. That"s the limit of Fujutsushi -- after all they"re not a cla.s.s made for battle."

".............."

At the Chijutsushi"s reckless words, Ayano instinctively stole a glance at Kazuma"s face.

There was nothing particularly strange about that countenance. But -

"........Kazuma?"

With the same aimless manner as always, Kazuma picked up Kokusen, separated from the boy"s hand and directly confronted Gaia separated by a few meters.

"Hoo ---- are you motivated, Fujutsushi?"

"Ayano."

Entirely ignoring the mocking tone, Kazuma turned his face only to Ayano.

"You don"t have to worry about this. You should finish the small fry on the other side. "

"Ah, yeah----"

"Wa- wait....."

At the time she reflexively nodded, a moan hoa.r.s.e with agony called Kazuma to a halt.

Turning there, the boy unable to get up yet after being blown off, stretched his hand with a desperate expression.

From his mouth fresh blood was falling out of, a slender voice was released.

"That"s.....not something.....you can handle......"

"By the way, that"s true," nodded Ayano agreeing.

"Can you use a spear?"

"No, I never touched one."

Kazuma readily replied.

"But-----"

Compared to that he quickly turned around the spear in his hand holding it between his arm and armpit with the same expression full of confidence and composure like always.

The way he handled the spear, without hesitation and openly fluid, was absolutely not amateur-like.

"I used a cane though. If I put that to practical use, well, I should manage somehow."

"------I see. Well then, do your best."

Ayano sent Kazuma out with a tone that was visibly casual. She wasn"t particularly shocked.

More that the fact that this man said he should manage somehow, she understood from the experiences until now that whatever the progress may be he will, one way or another come on top.

"Wa- wait........"

The boy who was the original possessor of the spear, seemed to have a different opinion yet.

He tried to stop him a second time but Kazuma already didn"t look back.

As a subst.i.tute Ayano looked over the boy and asked.

"Is there something else?"

"Of......of course there is! My family came to inherit Kokusen a long time ago, it can"t be suddenly used by an outsider who is just a little bit talented!"

"Ah, I see."

Now that you mention it, it was a justified fear - if you apply common sense to your thinking.

But.

Ayano deliberately spoke, not of the same opinion.

"Well, isn"t it fine either way?"

"Of course not!"

The boy who as a matter of course couldn"t consent, objected to this.

At the same time, Kazuma carelessly pushed out the spear.

Just by looking it was an unenthusiastic throw. But the wind blade that gushed out from that spearhead, clashed into Nozuchi lightly crossing the speed of sound.

"Meee......."

Having that heavy unendurable power pushed into him, Gaia"s upper body was bent backwards. While he immediately planted his feet on the ground he was unable to stop the blow and backed off while staggering.

"--------Eeh?"

"Wow---"

"I see. This ---- is very convenient."

While stared at by the boy who murmured like a mentally slow, Kazuma let out a voice of admiration without accent.

"Wha-----"

"Well, one would normally be surprised," thought Ayano, aiming a look of sympathy at the astonished boy.

That"s right, if you think about this normally, it was something impossible.

The famous Fuan Family famous as the highest Fujutsushi continued inheriting for a long time the Wind sacred treasure, Kokusen.

An outsider who only managed to get his hands on it couldn"t handle it right away.

But, lucky or unlucky, in this time there was a being who was laughing scornfully at that kind of common sense.

The "Contractor" - the one who contracted with the Spirit Lord of the Wind, the monster who although was was called the weakest, a Fujutsushi, was more than a match for the Enjutsushi from the Kannagi Clan.

"Well then, let"s continue, shall we?"

With an outward appearance that didn"t look like it in the slightest, that legend came alive, together with that effortless p.r.o.nouncement, unleashed the spear one after another. While Gaia barely received with Nozuchi, he continued to back off pressed down by that power blow after blow.

"Guu.....meeeh........"

Kazuma"s attack was so swift it didn"t seem to be the same kind like the boy"s and it was heavy.

Although he didn"t had a large build, his center of gravity was low and he was very muscular, Gaia stepped firmly into the ground like any Chijutsushi would, but even so it was very unusual he couldn"t hold out against him.

"Meeeeaaah........"

Gaia was driven into a one sided defence. He couldn"t even grasp a clue on how to attack.

If he were to give up on his defence and brandish his axe, in that moment the wind blades would make a great number of holes in his body.

No - even now, he couldn"t defend against his wind blades. The fact that Kazuma"s attack was. .h.i.tting Nozuchi and didn"t struck Gaia was because Kazuma was naturally aiming at the axe.

He was being played with - although he understood that, Gaia couldn"t do anything.

Those serial attacks he couldn"t confirm by sight didn"t become abate but on the contrary, raised their frequency even more.

"Kuuh.....wa, so fast."

"No, is that all they"re worth?"

Using Gaia"s previous words against him, Kazuma cheerfully bragged.

"You......youngster.......!"

At the disgrace of being looked down upon by the likes of a Fujutsushi, Gaia grounded his teeth. And finally made his decision.

Believing in his own tenaciousness more than in the fact that he was pressed down until now, he cast away his defence and brandished Nozuchi.

He was slightly slow. Or else, together with Gaia"s resolution and good fortune, Kazuma stopped the monotonous attack and took another approach.

The aim were Gaia"s legs.

Throwing away the daring sharpness, the wind attack pierced the earth like a blunt weapon. That shock similar to an explosion blew up a large quant.i.ty of dust.

"Kuuh - Don"t underestimate me!"

But, the opponent was a Chijutsushi. A curtain of earth and sand was nothing more but a smoke screen.

Recovering from that moment of surprise, Gaia got rid of all the dust swinging one arm.

"Whaa--"

The moment his field of vision cleared up, Gaia screamed in shock once again. Suddenly in front of his eyes, he recognized the figure of his opponent separated only by a few centimeters but that was only to be expected.

Gaia understood completely the sneer rising to Kazuma"s mouth.

This man, without missing that s.p.a.ce of one moment necessary to remove the smoke screen, avoided being sensed by a Chijutsushi by jumping without running on the land and moved closer to him in an instant.

He certainly understood. But, only understanding it is useless - even so, he couldn"t react.

"Kuuuuhh!"

"Slow."

Shortly informing Gaia, who was trying to prepare his axe in confusion, Kazuma suddenly rotated the spear.

The end of the black handle - the sharp part, knocked the short man off his feet.

"Meeeh!?"

His feet tripped up in such a skillful manner, Gaia splendidly danced in the air.

The feeling of his body floating horizontally in the sky. But, that feeling that aroused some kind of pleasantness instantly turned to shivers when he recognized Kazuma"s silhouette hanging over him from above.

"I managed somehow with a such a weightless attack, huh?"

What dwelt in his voice and att.i.tude was plain mockery. The naked blade glistening in his hand, was already sharply sung down aiming at the nape of his neck.

Rather than capitalizing on its length the true worth of that long-handled spear was the phantasmagoria consecutive attack resembling a circular motion.

To use both ends of the handle to attack it wasn"t necessary to slash back like with a sword but to repeat the strike over and over as long as the momentum of the same vector could be maintain.

That speed was obviously more that twice as faster that a sword. At the same time one end of the handle tripped and sprung him up, the blade at the reverse side was swung downwards.

"What kind!"

But, at that moment, Gaia extended his short arm with all his might and seized the ground. Responding to the silent command, the ground transformed to a firm shield and protected him and then, changing to a sharp lance, it attacked Kazuma.

"-------Ha."

Laughing at the futile resistance, in one single blow Kazuma pulverized both shield and spear.

Successively turning around Kokusen as if drawing the letter S, he blew off Gaia with the dull point.

"Gaahaah!"

Gaia rolled like a kicked ball and rushed into the building"s wall.

And then, at the same time -

"Guubuh!"

As if it was covered by the sound of the crash, from the upper air a dull, heavy moan resounded.

Looking up to search for that voice, in the center of Gaia"s field of vision, he recognized the figure of his companion magnificently dancing in midair.

But, judging from that posture with limbs danging loosely and his pushed up chin, it was clear he didn"t jump by his own volition.

After the long, long flight pa.s.sed, Chris landed on his back.

A moment after he made a small bounce. he twitched and stopped moving. As it seemed like he could barely breath, it was impossible for him to continue the battle.

"................"

Slowly, as if looking at something he didn"t want to, Gaia turned his eyes in the direction Chris came flying from.

Just like he imagined, carrying Enraiha on her shoulder, her other hand on her hip Ayano was looking down this way.

"................."

Even slower, he turned his head around ninety degrees.

The man who blew him away so far, likewise, was holding Kokusen in one hand.

"Well then."

Noticing that gaze, Kazuma showed a fearless smile.

"This is checkmate," he mercilessly p.r.o.nounced.

Looking at Gaia who paled at the desperate crisis, Kazuma thought how to deal with them.

Without letting even several seconds pa.s.s, the answer came out.

It was "They"re bothersome so I"ll kill them."

What was their relationship with the boy, why did they wanted to steal Enraiha, it would be a lie to say he really didn"t care.

But, in the end, that was someone else"s problem.

The boy, the Kannagi, they should all deal with their respective duty so Kazuma set up Kokusen to finish both of them off.

".......Do you think you won with this?"

"That so? I think that depends upon you. If you still want to persist, I"ll deal with you a little longer."

Declaring the unexpressed 

"Don"t get c.o.c.ky, youngster!"

Together with the angry roar, Gaia knocked his fist into the ground. Immediately following, from that origin cracks ran on the ground freely.

Although they weren"t big enough that people would fall into them, naturally the ground was violently shaking.

Unwillingly, Kazuma interrupted his attack.

"Well, as expected you"re going to struggle, huh---- "

But even so, he didn"t lost his composure and a.s.sumed an attack stance a second time while laughing sarcastically but, when he shifted his attention to the ominous sounds coming from overhead - he instantly stopped his movement.

"Tch."

On the outer wall of the building in the middle of construction, several cracks clearly impossible to repair started running.

The outer wall that was originally organized in a straight line was insecurely undulating which was a clear omen of collapse even to inexpert eyes.

"Don"t be so rash, you guys-----hey?"

When accidentally looking back, Gaia and Chris were gone. He only heard the voice appearing out of nowhere.

"This was a draw! Next time we won"t go easy on you so prepare yourself!"

".......Don"t exit with such witty words, Ossan."

At that parting threat fully loaded with the taste of the loser so much it was stereotypical, Kazuma let out a cough of admiration.

But, this was not the place to calm down. The destruction of the building was drawing near before his very eyes.

Looking up, the concrete already started peeling off. At this rate, it will hold on only a few seconds more.

Moreover, based on dangerous slanting it won"t be smashed right below but blown out - moreover, it"s facing this way - it will certainly collapse.

"-------Hmmm."

Understanding that much, Kazuma turned around and started running without looking right nor left.

Helping his partner, defend against a secondary calamity, clearly not thinking about any of that, he escaped so fast he deserves admiration.

"Hey, Kazuma!? Wait a minute!"

On the other side, Ayano doesn"t have the merit (in a bad way ) of abandonment like Kazuma.

While turning a gaze full of resentment to the partner who doesn"t show any sigh of slowing down when calling him, even so she couldn"t overlook this calamity.

"Geez..."

It was lucky - it can be said so, that she learned how to practically deal with this kind of situation.

It"s already too late to stop the destruction. But, if that huge ma.s.s were to crash into the earth, the damage on the surrounding will be significant. Then ----

"I"ll burn everything to nothing ----"

Ayano raised Enraiha overhead with all her power. The golden flame that gushed out of the crimson blade spread around the collapsing building as if wrapping it up and made that entire ma.s.s evaporate.

A few seconds after, at the time the fire disappeared, the building in bare concrete completely vanished leaving only the foundation.

In other words, the results of a few months of construction work came to nothing.

"Aah---- but, because of that Chijutsushi"s last attack they should have started from soil preparation all over again......it can"t be helped."

And so, when she tried to justify herself from the back the sound of apathetic applause could be heard.

Ayano looked over her shoulder with a dangerous face.

She understood without having to look but as expected, Kazuma was standing there with a frivolous, slack smile.

"Ya, good job."

"-----Didn"t you ran away?"

"I ran away because it was dangerous. Since it"s not dangerous anymore there"s no need to run. It"s a matter of course," replied Kazuma nonchalantly.

Having a thorough knowledge of how meaningless it was to search about something sincere in this man, Ayano changed the conversation without deeply questioning him.

"Those two?"

"They ran away."

"Didn"t you let them ran away?"

As expected she investigated this.

The interval he took his eyes off them, preoccupied with the building"s destruction, he let them ran away --- it doesn"t seem strange but Kazuma is a Fujutsushi.

There wasn"t any particular need to specially turn towards the collapsing building but even a.s.suming so for the sake of the argument, he shouldn"t have taken his eyes off those two.

For Kazuma, tuning his senses to wind spirits, looking at two places at the same time was mundane, something he didn"t even had to concentrate about.

But, Kazuma persistently played dumb.

"Not really, I didn"t let them go. I just didn"t felt like pro-actively catching them."

"Why....?"

"Because it"s someone else"s problem."

Those words that for Ayano seemed unbelievable, didn"t even had a tiny amount of guilty conscience.

"They"re aiming at you and that brat, not me. There"s no need to unjustifiably bring them down."

"You......."

Although Ayano couldn"t agree to Kazuma"s matter-of-course declaration, she couldn"t verbally abuse him -

"Well, leaving that aside, we should leave this place already. It will become noisy."

- Because she was forced into silence by Kazuma"s next words.

"........Yeah."

Reluctantly Ayano agreed.

The Police and Fire Department will arrive any minute. She could silence them by using the Kannagi name but it is better to have few of that troublesome attention.

"First of all, let"s change the location."

Saying so, Ayano and Kazuma left that place behind.

Narrowly hiding themselves from the Police, Fire Department and the large number of people that gathered there, those two took a short rest in a small park.

Ayano grumbled, glaring.

"Geez, why do I have to sneak out like some kind of culprit? But since I became familiar to you I kind of got used to it."

"Hey, wait a minute! You"re the main cause of the uproar this time. I was just dragged into it."

"I"m also a victim! To make matter worse, since you let the enemy escape, I don"t know anything about their reason."

"Now that you mention it, that"s right. What are they trying to do, picking a fight with the Kannagi with that level of power -"

While speaking, Kazuma suddenly moved his line of sight. At the same time, he took a small step back.

In front of his eyes, a small figure pa.s.sed through at a fair amount of speed.

Ayano was faintly surprised and Kazuma, thoroughly indifferent, let the shadow - the retreating figure of the Fujutsushi boy pa.s.s.

"Kuuh."

The boy charging in with the intention of a surprise attack nimbly turned around and faced Kazuma.

This time he put himself of guard, his back dropping, as if carefully searching for an opportunity.

"The brat from earlier, huh --- Did you follow us? What a persistent jerk."

The boy shouted at Kazuma who spoke so like he was disgusted.

"Give it back!"

"------Aah?"

"Give it back! Kokusen is mine!"

That"s when he noticed. The boy"s gaze wasn"t turned towards Kazuma but towards what Kazuma was holding in his hand.

The object that became so familiar to him he actually forgot he was holding it in his hand was, in the end, a borrowed thing.

It was only natural for the boy to chase after it since it was taken away.

"Then say so from the beginning."

While Kazuma spoke even more astounded, he held out Kokusen"s handle in front of him. As if leaping, the boy tore it off.

"Your manners are pretty bad - ", grumbled Kazuma blind at his own shortcomings with a backward glance at the boy who hugged Kokusen closely with an expression of relief.

But not later than that, that face had a cramp.

"Eeh......wah......"

Letting out a confused voice, the boy patted the spear all over with both his hands.

Next he pushed it to the sky as if including feeling into it and pressed the handle against his forehead.

In the end he started swinging it as making a pattern.

"What is he doing?"

"Who knows. The dance of victory handed down in the family?"

"......They"re not some kind of aboriginals, right?"

To make matters worse, that didn"t have the flow that could give the impression of a dance, its integrity.

Judging from the way it was nonsensically yielded, it looked like simple confusion.

After a short while, trepidly watching over it, the boy suddenly stopped his (looks like ) dance. And then, he stood rock still in blank amazement.

That sad sight, was like the portrait of despair came alive.

If a human with an honest heart were to be there, it was impossible not to feel pity.

".........Did something happen?" asked Ayano worried, as expected.

With a dumbfounded expression, perhaps not even understanding who was asking, the boy answered in a small voice.

"Kokusen......is not answering......."

"------Eh?"

Ayano was befuddled, not comprehending what the boy was saying. But, the next moment, understanding the reason of it, she nodded deeply.

"Aah, I see."

In a way, it was to be expected.

Kokusen crossed over to the present day"s - no, if it"s unlucky possibly the all-time-highest Fujutsushi, the > who contracted the Spirit Lord of the Wind.

The secret treasure obtained by its highest master -there is plenty of possibility it would refuse to be used by everyone else beside him.

Even in Ayano"s case, if Juugo or Genma were to use Enraiha, there is a high possibility it would turn like that.

If something like that were to occur, she should go through a tedious ceremony identical with the inheritance one.

"So, what will you do?"

With a sidelong glance at the boy suffering a heartache, Ayano asked Kazuma.

"Will you take this opportunity to make the sacred treasure of the Wind yours?"

"-----!!"

At those words that seemed to instigate robbery, the boy caught his breath sharply.

He set up Kokusen with open vigilance but the sacred treasure that turned into nothing more but a spear, has no power to drive Kazuma away.

".......You."

Ayano smiled with the feeling of a performer at Kazuma who grumbled at her reproachfully.

She was quite enjoyed.

With one lazy sigh, Kazuma stepped up to the boy. And then, he casually seized Kokusen.

"Le - let go!"

The boy pulled the spear towards himself with a desperate look. It seems that in the middle of the agitation, he even forgot to use Fujutsu.

Understandably, when it comes to physical strength - Kazuma was overwhelmingly superior.

The boy dropped his back and tried to cling to it rather than pull the spear but even so Kazuma"s posture wasn"t destroyed.

"No, no way.....this is.....only this......tch-"

"You"re noisy. Just grasp it tightly then."

"----Eeh?"

The boy reflexively looked up at Kazuma. But, without paying attention to him, he gently closed his eyes.

And then -

"Wow........"

At the fantastic scene materializing right in front of her, Ayano let out a voice of wonder that couldn"t be expressed into words.

The blue, sparkling wind coiled in a whirlpool before her eyes.

At times strong, at times tender, it was blowing through playfully as if dancing.

Fro somewhere, a transparent, refreshing sound could be heard.

Like a song, like a prayer, an exquisite echo permeated her ears.

"Are the Wind Spirits singing? No, it"s not only that--- "

One more > responding to the wind"s song rose from the jet black spear held by both Kazuma ans the boy.

It was a strong multi-layered low tone. That sound, contrastive with the light and clear wind song melted into it wonderfully without feeling out of place.

Without one side pressing the other, a symbiotic relation matching each other mutually.

The tune spun as a result was the building up of a miraculous chord that could never be reproduced by musical instruments from the human world.

"He is....resonating with, Kokusen......"

Ayano involuntarily stared at Kazuma. It was clear that this miraculous scene was something done by the means of his power.

Probably right now, inside those closed eyelids, those pupils are shedding a blue light.

"Aah-----"

While gazing at it intoxicated, suddenly the blue wind disappeared without any trailing note. At the same time Kazuma opened his eyes.

Those pupils already returned to usual color but even so, she thought she saw a bottomless brilliance dwelling into them - either way, it must have been her imagination.

On the other side, the boy was looking around the surroundings with an irrelevant face.

The contest of he spirits and the spear didn"t seemed to bring any change to the surface but that was only reasonable.

But after a few seconds, opening his eyes wide, he looked at Kokusen.

"........Eeh? Aah......!"

On the surface nothing changed. But the people found there clearly grasped the change.

The spear that until now was nothing but a lump of metal recovered its overwhelming power.

That power of the spear itself wrapped the boy clasping it and formed one field.

Once more, the sacred treasure recognized the boy as it"s master.

The boy, instantly expressing delight on his face, immediately glared at Kazuma stiffening.

"You.....what did you do?"

As for Kazuma, he looked down at him with the smile of a mischievous boy.

"It"s a secret."

"You!"

"What! If you"re dissatisfied I can easily return it to the previous condition."

"------!!"

Panicking the boy hid Kokusen to his back. Of course, it wasn"t something he could hide with his small build.

Ignoring the boy"s reaction Kazuma said.

"For the time being, I"ll invite you to Kannagi-san"s house. There"s a lot I want to ask of you --- you also had business with her right?"

"---------------------------------------Aah"

After a short silence, carrying a strong will in his pupil, the boy nodded.