Chapter 18: Hanging by a Thread
The situation was becoming extremely tense. Kiryuu charged forward, heading straight for Kazuka. Sensing something wrong, Haruki dashed after him to help Kazuka but was cut off by Itsuki.
"Where do you think you're going? I guess that brat is your relative, isn't he? You two should stay here and hear the bad news."
Kiryuu swung a slash toward Kazuka; the boy only managed to raise his sword to block. He swung his arm, and Kazuka was sent flying straight into the forest.
Haruki watched in panic. Seeing Haruki's guard down, Itsuki lunged at him, but Morita intercepted him. The slash was so powerful that Morita had to struggle with all his might to fight back.
"Ha... Haruki, don't let your guard down!"
Seeing Morita about to collapse, Haruki regained his senses. He rushed in to attack, but Itsuki stepped back and evaded the sword strike.
— I must try to finish this quickly and run to support Kazuka. I hope the boy knows how to run and doesn't face that guy head-on.
Itsuki had a smug smile on his lips.
"I know, fighting a Vice-Captain is quite difficult when they're close to death. But it seems you're quite weak among the Vice-Captains, aren't you?"
Haruki gritted his teeth, looking at Itsuki with skeptical eyes.
"How do you know I am a Vice-Captain?"
"By gathering information, of course."
— It's true, I am the weakest among the Vice-Captains.
"So what did you come here for?"
"I can't tell you that. Besides, you're going to die anyway, so what's the point in knowing?"
Itsuki's body was being enveloped by a massive source of energy. Haruki and Morita could sense what he was doing.
— Does he want to go all out? His energy source is too vast. It's more than double mine. What I need to know now is whether his energy gate is large or not.
Haruki and Morita used energy to shroud their bodies, just like Itsuki. The tension was palpable; the wind rose like a gale, and the grass and trees leaned to one side due to the force. Hair fluttered wildly in the wind.
Morita released an energy source like a spear to restart the battle. The spear radiated lightning, spinning continuously as it flew.
"Thunder Spear Strike!!!"
Itsuki unleashed a slash aimed straight at the spear. It exploded instantly as the two attacks collided. Morita gritted his teeth in frustration.
— Damn it, he used his energy to detonate the moment the attacks touched instead of facing it directly. He is too careful.
Itsuki rushed at extreme speed toward Morita, but Haruki was not far behind. He followed Itsuki closely and kicked him away.
Haruki exhaled, gripping his sword tightly. Two vertical slashes were unleashed toward Itsuki. Seeing these were vertical slashes, Itsuki sensed a potential trap and unleashed a horizontal slash to block both of Haruki's strikes. But just as Itsuki's strike was about to collide with Haruki's…
Haruki's two slashes immediately vanished from sight. Suddenly, those slashes reappeared from two different directions, already too close to Itsuki.
"Spatial Slash!!!"
He was hit in total surprise. The two slashes struck both sides as if to split his body apart. However, with his dense energy source, the two slashes were weakened as they hit him. But that attack power was enough to leave him heavily wounded.
The two vertical slashes split both of his shoulders. Red blood flowed incessantly onto the ground. Itsuki gritted his teeth, wanting to retreat. But everyone knew that was the opportunity to kill him.
Scene Change.
Kazuka was running and dodging the spheres that Kiryuu was firing right behind him. Taking advantage of his smaller frame, he hid behind trees and bushes to limit the continuous attacks.
— What is this? He has so much energy. He's been firing at me for a while and still isn't tired?
Kiryuu laughed loudly like a madman.
"Die, brat... Die... Die... I'll let you die here and merge with nature!"
Kazuka was carrying his sword while running, but he shouted back.
"Not a chance I'll die, you psycho!"
While running at full speed, he saw a tree ahead with a small trunk but very large foliage. A plan immediately formed in Kazuka's mind.
He ran past the tree and used his sword to chop it down, completely blocking Kiryuu's vision. Kazuka stood behind the fallen tree and gathered energy. Kiryuu just unleashed an attack that blew up the tree blocking his view. But as the explosion happened, six consecutive slashes pierced through the smoke and dust toward Kiryuu. Because the smoke obscured his vision, the six slashes arrived very close.
Drawing his sword, he gritted his teeth to block all six strikes. Not letting him regain his focus, Kazuka's scabbard flew straight at his face. He tilted his head and dodged to one side. Seizing the opportunity, Kazuka jumped up, intending to take his head.
But a smile appeared as if he had known everything beforehand. He swung his leg in a scorpion shape and kicked Kazuka far away. After rolling several times on the ground, Kazuka quickly stood up and regained his balance. He held his stomach while running around Kiryuu to find an opportunity and ensure the enemy stayed in his sight.
"Why does it hurt so much? I already focused my energy to the front."
Contrary to Kazuka's painful face, he still wore a contemptuous smile, his eyes darting around to observe.
"Brat, you have quite a few tricks."
Kazuka ran quickly through the trees, using them as small walls to block his view every time he passed one. While running at high speed, Kazuka reached a large tree and suddenly disappeared. Kiryuu, losing sight of Kazuka, immediately entered a state of high alert. He took a combat stance, his body emitting a large energy source for protection.
Sensing energy coming from a tree, he turned and stared at it.
Behind the tree trunk, Kazuka was continuously concentrating energy into his sword.
— I hope he notices me. I need him to focus his energy to the front and lure him even closer to the tree on his right.
Kazuka stepped out with his sword carrying a massive amount of energy. His face showed determination in his eyes. Getting into position and gritting his teeth, he unleashed a horizontal slash with great energy. The trees at both ends of the slash were cut through as it headed straight for Kiryuu.
Kazuka dashed off and circled to Kiryuu's left. Kiryuu clearly felt this was a pincer maneuver that Kazuka was trying to set up.
— Damn you, brat, are you trying to trap me? If I jump to dodge, he'll catch me in mid-air. But crouching makes it very hard to observe him. If I block or detonate it, I'll be hit while struggling with the force.
Kiryuu threw his sword toward the charging Kazuka. He put his right hand forward and gripped his right wrist with his left hand. He exerted all his strength with a scowling face, energy erupting from his right hand. The two attacks collided; smoke and dust blew everywhere.
He gritted his teeth, veins popping in his eyes, as he held steady the energy pillar he had released. However, the instantaneous energy Kazuka released could not compare to the sustained energy Kiryuu unleashed. Very quickly, Kazuka's slash was neutralized.
Kazuka was rushing forward, but he didn't expect the enemy to throw his sword at him. He slashed it aside and continued his charge, but Kiryuu had already finished dealing with his slash and turned around. He smiled smugly again.
"Brat, it seems I was careless to let you strike first."
Kazuka gritted his teeth in tense thought.
— This is not good. I'll have to fight head-on. But how can I win in a direct confrontation?
— I need to attack first so he doesn't move too far from my trap.
Kazuka reinforced more energy into his legs. But Kiryuu didn't want him to strike first; he lunged forward and grabbed the sword stuck in the ground. Kazuka also rushed in for a head-on confrontation.
They swung their swords at the same time, but Kazuka was still too weak. He was knocked back immediately. Retreating, Kazuka kicked a stone on the ground toward Kiryuu. He stepped aside, stomped hard, and channeled energy into the ground. A crack ran straight toward Kazuka.
He jumped up and landed on a tree branch, but a large rock from the crack flew toward him. The large rock obscured Kazuka's vision. Kiryuu appeared behind Kazuka's back. He laughed triumphantly.
"Let me return this pincer move to you!"
The boy knew he had fallen into a dangerous situation where it was hard to resist. Trying to salvage the situation, Kazuka wrapped energy around his body for self-protection.
"You think your meager energy can block this?"
A powerful slash struck his back; fresh blood sprayed from his mouth. He tried to endure the pain that made him almost lose consciousness. His body flew toward the incoming rock; he was struck by the rock as if he had no strength left and was sent flying. Hit by two consecutive blows, Kazuka could only lie on the ground, exhaling weak breaths.
He stepped forward, the corners of his mouth curling up. He raised the sword in his hand, preparing to finish him off.
"You brat..."
Right then, in Kiryuu's head, he received a signal from Itsuki.
"Help me..."
Scene Change.
As Morita rushed in to finish Itsuki, Itsuki flashed a smile. Sensing something wrong, Morita stepped back, but it was too late.
Itsuki released an enormous amount of energy outward. A small explosion sent Morita flying out of the smoke cloud. His body was charred black. Haruki stood frozen, unable to do anything as he watched Morita take the full damage of the explosion.
Itsuki, as a dark figure, lunged out from the thick smoke. Appearing before Haruki, he forced Haruki to raise his sword in surprise to block. The blade aiming for Haruki's head was stopped. The two jumped back to observe, then clashed again. A series of lethal strikes were unleashed but blocked by both sides.
Haruki's Spatial Slashes were constantly making things difficult for Itsuki. With the rain of slashes Haruki was unleashing continuously, he was becoming exhausted.
— Damn it, the battle is balanced right now because I'm constantly using Spatial Slashes, but using so much energy in a short time is draining me. If I stop using them, I can't maintain this stalemate.