Volume 3 - CH 2(3/4)
Of all things, that giant aimed a huge arm at the mountain shack and swung downward. Yes, aiming at the shack where the sick Stella was!
"S-Stellaaaaa!!!"
In an instant, the mountain shack was literally turned to pieces by that unthinkable mass.
"Eek!? W-What!? What in the world is going on!?"
Stella, whom Ikki was cradling, screamed into Ikki's chest.
It was by a hair's breadth. In the instant that the shack was smashed, Ikki invoked Ittou Shura and with his highest speed saved Stella from being crushed.
"Stella, are you alright?"
"Y-Yes. But what in the world..."
"It's exactly what it looks like."
Saying that, Ikki looked toward the rock giant.
"There really was a giant, apparently."
"Wha..."
Stella also turned her gaze that way, and made visual contact with the destructive culprit.
"Somehow, it's not the same as what I was thinking!"
"That's what you care about!?"
But Stella's statement was reasonable. The giant that materialized didn't fit the image of a gigantic human that they had. It was a crude humanoid shape made from many large and small rocks joined together. If one looked at it, one would doubt that it was even a living creature.
However, even if it was probably not a living creature, they understood one thing. This rock giant held hostility and malice toward Ikki and Stella. The truth was, the giant was once again gathering speed to pursue them, aiming and swinging at them with its huge arm. Ikki, carrying Stella, immediately jumped sideways and avoided the blow. The earth at his back was blasted by the unnatural force. Such a hit would blow even a Blazer away without difficulty.
In that case―there was nothing to do except bring it down before it could hit them.
"Stella, you stay here. Try not to let your body get wet, okay?"
Ikki set Stella down, and confronted the rock giant with?Intetsu?in his hands.
"Are you going to fight? Will you be alright? A sword won't be very effective, you know?"
"I'll be fine. I have a technique for dealing with this kind of opponent, more or less."
Saying that, Ikki raised his left hand closer to his blade, and drew the right hand that held?Intetsu?back with all his strength. It was plainly a stance for thrusting.
But the stone giant didn't care―no, as if it didn't have any will of its own, it lunged with its stone fist mechanically. A monotone attack with such sluggishness couldn't possibly get through the Worst One.
Ikki turned toward the rock giant, and with superhuman strength granted by Ittou Shura, he rushed forward as if flying. He just barely crossed right beside the stone fist as it passed.
―With the right hand that he was drawing back with all his strength, he unleashed a forward stab. A flash of steel that broke the sound barrier took flight.
It wasn't an ordinary thrust. Arm strength, leg strength, charging power―more than Ikki's superhuman body mastery, the vector of all of his power was focused on the point of his sword, a technique that forced out his highest offensive ability. This was the secret technique that boasted the strongest offensive ability among the Worst One's seven secret swords.
"The first secret sword―Saigeki!"[4]
Ikki, who charged as if flying, without decelerating, made his body into a bullet and pierced the rock giant's chest. The impact of the penetration struck the giant's body, and from the huge hole bored into its chest, the giant made from joining rocks collapsed while making a clattering noise. The rocks being joined together fell apart, and returned to rubble having lost the humanoid shape.
"Good!"
But the moment Ikki landed with a small expression of relief...
"Eh..!"
Ikki saw something unbelievable. The crumbling stones were joining back together as if by magnets, and piled up together once again. The wreckage of the smashed giant once again repaired its humanoid shape.
And it wasn't the one giant this time. It was dozens of stone dolls, each as tall as Ikki.
And Ikki saw something even more strange in the middle of that scene. While the stones were attaching to other stones as if by magnetism, there was a presence of a thin, string-like magic power.
Right, this was no rock monster. Someone was using strings of magic power to manipulate rocks like puppetry. Namely, this was―
"A Noble Art..! The enemy is a Blazer! Stella, stay alert on the surroundings!"
"Ikki! Behind you!"
Reacting to Stella's shout, Ikki cleaved off the stone hand that was coming at his back to strike him. With a clang, Ikki's arm fell numb from the recoil of hitting his sword against hard rock. A small crack appeared in the stone doll.
Like I thought, if I don't use Saigeki, I can't deal with it..!"
But Saigeki had a lethal flaw. It was a charge technique, so it required him to set up an opportunity. As one would expect, in fighting dozens of stone dolls at the same time, there was no leisure time to set up such an opportunity.
"Gah!"
"Ikki!"
He couldn't protect himself, and blood sprayed from Ikki's brow after he took a stone hand to his head. He had warded off the stone hand with Ten'i Muhou, but there were too many enemies, unfortunately. An attack he couldn't parry and cut through had come.
This is bad...
Even though he needed to press on, the end of the time he could use Ittou Shura was coming too quickly. The remaining time was less than thirty seconds. At this rate, he wouldn't be able to win.
What should I..!
But the enemies weren't stopping to let Ikki think. While some surrounded Ikki, five of the rock dolls aimed approached Stella whose body was wrapped in a blanket.
"Stella!"
Ikki yelled out at seeing the scene. But he couldn't do anything other than cry out. He couldn't break out of the enclosure immediately. Stella was still weak. It was too dangerous for her to be attacked by the enemy right now―
"Take this!"
But as Ikki was thinking this, he saw Stella leaping forward and pulverizing the five stone dolls entirely into smithereens using a single strike from?L?vateinn.
Moreover, not just the danger coming for her personally, she blew away the stone dolls surrounding Ikki with her strong sword, pulverizing them, and hastened toward where Ikki stood after easily defeating them.
"..Uh, somehow this is different from what I think of as a sick person."
"Yeah. I'm also quite surprised. I guess I'm unreasonably powerful, huh?"
Ikki wondered if she should say so about herself, but as expected he couldn't do anything but nod in surprise.
"I was able to move my body thanks greatly to taking a small rest. I'll also fight with you together. For this kind of opponent, my affinity is good."
Certainly so. With Stella's superhuman physical strength, she could cut them, and with only that power she could pulverize the stone dolls. Frankly, Ikki didn't want a sick person to fight no matter how strong she was, but as it was, Ikki's limits in fighting by himself left no room for argument. Having assistance here―at the moment he thought so...
"No no. A sick person shouldn't be doing unreasonable things. Stella-chan~?"
Suddenly, a frivolous voice that was out of place on a battlefield rang out.
The owner of that voice appeared before Ikki and Stella equally as suddenly, without any warning.
"Vice President Misogi..!"
"Hey there, you two. I came to save you, Kouhai-kun."
"That was really fast. I heard we had to wait another half an hour."
"Ahaha~☆ Well, I'm a guy who does the impossible. If you can believe that~?"
Utakata said so while posing.
Behind Utakata―
*ROAR!*
Were they targeting everyone that moved?
Together with the bellows of the stone dolls, many stone fists swung down on Utakata's back, aiming at the top of his head. They were hard fists that could even hit Ikki who was clad in Ten'i Muhou. If they hit a human's soft skull directly, they would surely pulverize it in one hit.
"Misogi-san, behind you!"
Ikki cried out at that impending danger.
But Utakata pasted a smile on his face, and didn't move his body one bit at what was happening behind him.
―The stone fists, they blasted away everything above Utakata's neck.
"Wh..!"
"Eek..!"
At that sight, Ikki and Stella widened their eyes and became speechless. With the strength of the stone fists, Utakata's skull had been smashed like a tomato. His small headless body fell into the storm-dampened mud, without moving a twitch. That was the decisive ending that anyone could see.
"Too bad, but that was a trick, you know?"
The next instant, Utakata who should be dead was sitting on the shoulder of the stone doll that had killed him.
"Aha~☆ I tried to tell you about this, didn't I?"
"..Huh? E-Ehhh!?"
Utakata smiled giddily as if nothing had happened. At that sight, Stella raised her voice in confusion. And while Ikki didn't raise his voice as well, he was equally confused. Certainly, he saw Utakata's skull being crushed with his own eyes. The pink brain matter had been scattered, slightly mixed with white bone tissue. The grotesque image was still etched onto the back of his eyelids. It was an unmistakable reality.
It had to be, but then it disappeared. Cause and effect had been wound back. ..There was only one power that could induce this kind of unrealistic phenomena.
"A Noble Art―is this an ability from the causation manipulation system?"
"Correct."
Utakata nodded to confirm Ikki's words.
The abilities of Blazers existed along several systems. Ikki's Ittou Shura was an ability of the body enhancement system. Stella's Dragon's Breath was an ability of the elemental manipulation system. And Ayase Ayatsuji's ability to open wounds was an ability from the conceptual manipulation system. Among those various Blazer superpowers, the system that was the rarest and said to be the strongest was causation manipulation.
"My Noble Art,?Black Box[5], is an ability that manipulates the outcome of events. Attacking me is always a mistake. That's how it is."
At those words, Ikki thought back to the scene. The first time they met 'Fifty/Fifty' face to face, at that restaurant. At that time, he got rid of Ikki's wound with just a touch. Back then, Ikki wasn't able to comprehend what kind of skill and power he had.
I wasn't injured. He rewrote causation like that?
Understanding that, Ikki shuddered. Ikki had seen many kinds of superpowers, but he didn't remember ever seeing anything like the superpower that Fifty/Fifty held.
This is the superpower that's called the strongest among many Noble Arts?
He couldn't imagine how he would stand against it.
However, at this moment, he was grateful for that extraordinary power. If it was a power this irrational, it would surely make escaping this predicament easy. Ikki and Stella both thought this, but―
Stella spoke.
"With that kind of power it's an easy victory, right? Please lend a hand, Senpai. We'll put an end to this monster right away!"
"Ah, that's impossible."
Utakata flatly rejected Stella's suggestion.
"Eh? W-Why!?"
"The thing is, my Black Box is an ability whose nature is entirely to manipulate outcomes. In other words it's a superpower that makes even a one percent possibility into certainty. But conversely, it doesn't bring anything into existence. With my strength as an individual person, there's no way it can do anything useful. I can turn a one percent probability into a one hundred percent, but I can't turn a zero percent into a one percent. In other words, you two were breaking these rocks with your swords a moment ago, but there's probably no way I'm the unreasonable type of person who can join in on such a battle. Especially a boy who looks as cute and weak as me? No way, no way."
"So you have that kind of weakness, uh?"
"Yep. If I could manipulate everything and everything, I'd be in the representative battles, you know. But the outcomes that Black Box can manipulate, in the end it's limited to things that are possible. If we get right to the core of it, it's an ability that won't ever let me beat an opponent I can't beat without it."
And Utakata's body was powerless against other people, so the range of that impossibility was particularly wide. Being aware of that, Utakata didn't enter the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival selection battles.
But if that was how it was ...
"Then what did you come here to do!?"
A reasonable question was asked. It would be troubling if people without battle strength increased. Answering Stella's justifiable question, Utakata gave a smile with hidden meaning.
"I came to save you, of course. But just like I said, fighting isn't my domain. My duty is entirely to serve as that girl's navigation."
Saying so, Utakata leaped off from the stone doll with a?*boing*.
"―So there it is. I'll leave the rest to you, Touka."
He looked up at the mountain slope.
Before his gaze, on that gentle slope, at the boundary of the mountain forest and the small clearing where the mountain shack had been built―
"Okay. Thanks for guiding me, Uta-kun."
The girl with glasses and chestnut-colored hair brandished her sword sparkling with golden electricity.
"Toudou-san..."
"It has to be by a hair's breadth, but it's good that you two are safe."
Touka looked at Ikki and Stella's figures, and while her eyes were slightly damp, she showed some relief. And then she tightened her face again.
"Please have a rest, the two of you. I'll handle everything here."
Lowering her body, she prepared to attack the stone dolls that surrounded Ikki and the others.
But Stella turned to Touka and raised her voice to stop Touka.
"Wait, Touka-san! Swords don't work on these things! It's ridiculous to fight these incomprehensible opponents by yourself! I'll also―"
―fight. Stella was going to say this.
"It's fine. I know their weakness."
"Eh..!"
Touka said so.
"It's inorganic matter being manipulated by threads of magic power, instigated by an enemy. This, out of the many types of Device, is a battle technique used by those who favor?Steel Wire Usage. And for this battle technique, there is an inviolable rule. When operating multiple dolls simultaneously, one doesn't operate everything directly, but uses some dolls to operate others. In other words, one creates linchpins, and uses them for management. The biggest merit of this battle technique is that while the user conceals himself, he'll attack one-sidedly without risking injury, which makes finding the enemy the number one countermeasure. In that case, the threads that link to him should be made exceedingly subtle. But.. if we say it in reverse, as long as we break the hub of those strings,?Steel Wire Usage?won't be able to operate its dolls."
It was a tactic that couldn't be used standing in an arena without places to hide. In other words, it was a way of fighting that student knights weren't accustomed to. However, while Touka was a student knight, she had gone to the scene of crimes many times as a member of the special convention along with Toutokubara, and currently had experience confronting terrorists. Consequently, she had a thorough knowledge of styles that Ikki and Stella were unfamiliar with.
With that knowledge, her eyes―
"Found it."
Among the dozens of crawling stone dolls, she exposed the one body operating all of the dolls in an instant. And in that instant, Touka's body disappeared.
No, not disappeared. Before anyone could see it, she pierced the enemy line―she plunged toward the hub that she had discovered.
Shippu Jinrai.[6]
Stimulating her muscles with the power of lightning, it was Touka's Noble art that increased her performance to its limit. That speed, it was undoubtedly like lightning. The stone dolls couldn't react to the abrupt change in situation at all. Simply put, wooden puppets certainly could only be caught flat-footed―
"―Raikiri!"
Within that instant, everything was decided.
With the speed of a flash, a blade of plasma was unsheathed, and the hub was bisected with a single stroke.
Then came a blast of air, and all the stone dolls on the field were demolished. After a blast that appeared to send everything flying ended, there was not a single enemy remaining.
There was no sign that the dolls were being recreated again. The enemy who hadn't been found yet seemed to have withdrawn after the hub was destroyed.
"Amazing..."
Standing alone, Stella voiced her astonishment at Touka's performance.
"It's amazing that she recognized the enemy's weak point immediately, but more than that, Touka-san's balance of superpower and sword technique is very good."
"That's true."
Ikki had the same opinion.
And also, that the strength of Raikiri, Touka Toudou, was probably based on her conviction. The breadth of Touka's practical ability was vast. Given lightning's high offensive power, it wasn't only used for normal attacks. From strengthening physical ability with lightning to observing the psychology of others to manage them, her swordsmanship was born from that. Whether it was superpower or swordsmanship, she displayed them at an extremely high dimension of skill, and brought them together at an equally high dimension.
As for how good that balance was, Ikki who was extremely specialized in swordsmanship of course, in his eyes, believed that Touka was higher ranked than Stella. Stella herself probably perceived Touka's strength which she didn't match.
"Honestly, I've been considerably enlightened."
It was unusual for her, to cough out such a laudable statement. But her expression was slightly stiff. To Ikki, the reason was understandable. She had realized it. At the present time, the Crimson Princess didn't reach Raikiri's level.
A-rank and B-rank. According to that rating, Stella's potential was definitely higher. In another year, Stella should certainly surpass Rakiri. But at least right now, if the two of them fought.. eight or nine times out of ten, Touka would win. Stella herself was aware of that, and probably for that reason, her face was stiff.
And to Stella...
"Stella-san."
Touka, who had finished up the dolls, ran up to her.
"I-I heard that you collapsed. Are you okay!?"
With Touka's entirely flared-up expression, she looked like a completely different person from the dignified one who beat the dolls so easily just a while ago. Becoming more pale than Stella who was sick, she was acutely worried about how badly Stella had collapsed.
"Eh, ah, yes. I'm much better after resting a little."
Therefore Stella also laughed and answered Touka to set her at ease, but―Touka pressed her own forehead against Stella's, and immediately saw through that lie.
"Aren't you extremely feverish!? You're not alright at all! And despite that, your body is this wet.. what will you do if your cold gets worse?"
"It can't be helped. The mountain shack was attacked and destroyed."
In answer, Stella pointed out the wreckage of the crushed mountain shack. Touka's face, when she saw that, clouded over in worry.
"Uta-kun. Is there another emergency shelter anywhere nearby?"
"Nope. But there's supposed to be a cavern a little bit north from here."
"In that case, let's take refuge there for now. We can't let a sick person be exposed to the rain. And if we don't give Kurogane-kun treatment too..."
With those words, Touka picked up Stella's body suddenly.
"Now, let's be off, Stella-san."
"Wha-wha! Wait, carry, don't carry me! It's embarrassing!"
"That's no good. A sick person should be obedient."
With the gentleness of a mother admonishing her child, but using words that exerted a forceful pressure, she silenced Stella, and Touka proceeded to carry Stella away.
Seeing that back, Utakata who was standing alone murmured something that only Ikki could hear.
"Both of Touka's parents died from illness, you know. That's why she's been unusually persistent about managing people's physical condition since the old days. It's better not to go against Touka when she's like that. Because if you quibble and throw a tantrum, you'll get a spanking."
"Has Vice President Misogi also gotten one?"
"Her slaps on the wrist are amazing. She's a prodigy for that kind of thing."
It seemed to be the case. Having experienced the argument at the student council room, it seemed to Ikki that the relationships between mother and troublesome children hadn't changed from the old days.
"Now then, Kouhai-kun, can you walk by yourself? If it's impossible, I'll lend you my shoulder?"
Utakata made the suggestion from worry about the extreme fatigue Ikki got after using Ittou Shura. But Ikki calmly shook his head.
"No, I'm fine. If it's just walking."
"In that case, splendid. Hurry and follow me."
The party coming together this way, they presently escaped to the cavern in order to fend off the rain.
※ ※ ※
"Ha ha ha. I only intended to meddle with the trial run for the new hub a little, but what an outrageous retaliation I got bit by. Sheesh."
In a certain place in Japan. Even though it was still noon, inside a dark room that was like a shady hangout for drifters. There, a tall man, while sinking his waist deeply into a couch, let out a sigh and gave a faint smile.
"Dear me, as expected of the famous Raikiri. Wooden puppets weren't even worth mentioning, I guess."
"Such a harsh smell. Was your arm burnt?"
Standing behind the tall man, a shadow asked him while looking down at him as if in scorn.
"It's already well-done."
The tall man, to the question, showed his left arm. The left arm of the man who was controlling the stone dolls had been burnt by Raikiri's high-voltage current that had flowed through the threads, and flesh had been scorched off. The degree of that damage was fierce, such that even recovery in a capsule would probably not restore it perfectly.
Despite that, where were the tall man's cries of pain? He was happily singing Touka's praises.
"Thanks to that, my left hand has become useless, hasn't it?"
"It's because you did a useless thing right before festival eve, you fool."
"I can't say anything in response, I guess. Ha ha ha."
"I'm an ordinary student, so I don't know the organization's plans, but you're someone right beside the organization, aren't you? With strategy in front of you, shouldn't you hold back on doing careless things?"
"Well, that's true, but I can't help it if waiting around isn't fun, you know. It's not enjoyable. That's not a good thing. I hate things that aren't fun. It's because I'm a Pierrot[7]. I always have to be laughing. Whether virtuous or corrupt, a Pierrot's style is to be fun, wouldn't you say?"
"You words are as difficult to understand as ever."
"Ha ha ha. Thank you for saying so. Being a wet blanket is also a strong point of a Pierrot who reads the heart of others."
Answering with a voice that didn't hide its frivolity, the tall man moved his the fingers of his right hand nimbly with a swish. As he did so, the scorched left arm fell off beautifully at the shoulder as if being cut by sharp cutlery. Because the area at the shoulder had been cauterized, there was no bleeding.
"Ah, do you want some? It's well-done, but..."
"I don't need it. You might as well feed it to that cat."
"Ha ha ha. She'll cry again if you don't call her a sphinx properly."
"Even if you attach wings with glue, a cat is a cat."
At the curt reply from the shadows behind him, the tall man sighed and spoke his innermost thoughts. Sheesh, that one didn't have youthful dreams, huh?
"Oh, by the way, the Crimson Princess you're infatuated with was also at the scene. Her facial color wasn't good at all, so I wonder if she had a cold?"
"I wouldn't know about such things."
"Oh? You're not concerned? I heard that you came here to meet her."
"True. That's the reason I'm accompanying you bastards on your blood sports. But if her physical condition is damaged to the point that she can't be in the tournament, then I say the Crimson Princess is only a girl of that level."
With a voice that traveled clearly in the dark, the words of the man answering contained no lie. Sensing that, the tall man clearly felt that the compatibility with the shadow that was scorning him was bad. Sheesh, this man was terrible at banter.
"Well well, you're quite cold, aren't you? Nowadays, women won't spare a glance for men who don't make small talk, you know?"
"Tell your nonsense to a mirror, clown."
Perhaps the man in the shadows also felt that their compatibility was bad. He spoke as if spitting out the words, and left the place.
Staring at the back that was melted into the darkness, the tall man again let out a sigh ―and said...
"Really, not cute at all. I'd prefer he share his younger brother's simplicity."
After that, the rain continued to fall for an unexpectedly long time. It was around three hours. With that impact, in the end the sun had started to set by the time Ikki and the others could come down from the mountain. At some point, the clouds what were sending furious rain disappeared before anyone noticed, and the sky became perfectly clear of clouds, and the scene fell under a beautiful red hue.
Honestly, there was really something wrong with Japan's weather recently. As all of them thought that, they headed back to the training lodge. Along the trail, Stella who Ikki was carrying once again asked something of Touka.
"Hey, Touka-san. The one who manipulated the rock dolls from before, is it okay to let him get away?"
In the end, after fleeing the rain, they were confined to the entrance of the cavern the entire time, so they couldn't find the true identity of the enemy who manipulated the rock dolls and attacked Ikki and the others. Stella seemed displeased about that. Well, that feeling was something everyone in the situation shared. Since they were going back and leaving the fundamental question about the giant behind, they couldn't erase the feeling of leaving things undone. However―
"..Well, if we were able to catch that person, we would've wanted to do so, but it seems that's a bit impossible."
"Why?"
"When I demolished the hub, I measured the distance to the practitioner using Raikiri's lightning attack on the threads, but it would be too far to go and catch that person."
"How far away would that be?"
"At an estimate, it would be about a hundred kilometers."
"Bu,?*cough cough*!"
At the dubious distance, even if the location of the training camp was within the Tokyo metropolis area, Stella choked over her surprise. Certainly, they couldn't go that far to make an arrest.
"Haa. I was shocked by that. Can a steel wire user manipulate dolls from that far away?"
"No. Ordinarily, it would be impossible. There was a B-rank steel wire user in the special assembly of Blazers I was on the same team with, but the distance that person could freely manipulate dolls was around five hundred meters."
She pointed out that fact. In other words, at that time, it was an abnormal thing directing those threads. Referring to that, Touka's expression stiffened slightly.
"Therefore.. it may be me who'd have to be rescued before getting to confront him."
"If that's the case, it would be wise not to chase too far."
It was too dangerous to charge in without a plan against that kind of unknown opponent. Hearing Touka's words, Ikki understood her judgment. Nonetheless, Stella seemed to have a personality that was dissatisfied over leaving an enemy alone, and cleared her throat.
"But quitting without knowing anything, it's somehow unsatisfying."
"Since we relayed the information to the chairman through Toutokubara-san, if a decision is needed, I think the chairman will take measures. Moreover, since that person suffered wounds, he probably won't come here again."
You said something amazing without hesitation just now, Toudou-san.
It was amazing for a steel wire user to manipulate dolls form a hundred kilometer away, but for Touka to cast a lightning strike against an enemy over a hundred kilometers away was also extraordinary, after all.
After that, while they spent the walk exchanging a childish conversation, they continued back through the evening. The way was muddy from rain, but they were Hagun's distinguished student-->>