Editing Apocalypse Witch:Volume4 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 4===

He waited.

He waited and eventually gulped.

But the person unable to bear the silence and stillness ''was not'' Utagai Karuta.

“Wh-what’s happening here?” Cinderella Queen sounded rattled in her crane-supported gondola. She kept looking back and forth between the ring and the sky overhead. “Wasn’t he bombing Utagai into tiny little pieces? Is he having technical difficulties?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

Athabaskan Rio Grande clenched his teeth.

He could supposedly obliterate Karuta with a tap of his finger, but he did not do so.

No, ''he couldn’t do so.

“Damn you.”

“You use totemism.” Utagai Karuta spoke clearly without letting go of the outdated shotgun. Of course, all of this information came from Aine’s flashing light, not anything he had investigated himself. “That magic uses your clan’s ancestors or guardian spirit, but the effect is influenced by the animal, plant, natural phenomenon, or situation you depict. Simply put, worship a crocodile and you get a crocodile’s power. In that sense, you’re a really powerful magician if you can freely rearrange your totem on the fly. But,” whispered Karuta, to overturn all of that. “That is why your magic has so many restrictions. You’re required to treat your totem with care. For example, ''if a tribe adopts the crocodile as their totem animal, then they aren’t allowed to kill crocodiles''.”

That was the basic rule and true essence of totemism. Basically, it was a magical barter system where they placed restrictions on themselves in exchange for great power. Thus, changing your totem mid-battle also let you swap out your weakness.

“You use the plants and animals carved into the shotgun shells to activate your magic. And you can even use natural phenomena and situations like a tornado or volcanic eruption. By storing those shells in the shotgun, they become your totem pole.”

That gave Karuta an opening.

He was a hair’s breadth away from death, but he had the shotgun, the still usable shells were scattered around as traps, and the crystal shards from his own healed injuries were enough to carve something into their metal surface.

“It didn’t have to be an artistic masterpiece. I only had to overwrite the original symbol with a quick stick figure.”

Because…

“''Humans are an animal too.'' That shell now bears a symbol representing Utagai Karuta and you can’t harm your own totem. No matter what.”

A high-pitched cracking indicated enough time had passed for Karuta’s right side and leg to be fully healed.

That meant Athabaskan Rio Grande had failed to do anything during that time. He had to have a vast repertoire of methods that could kill an amateur high schooler, but all he could do was wait.

Utagai Karuta raised his voice with the shotgun in hand.

“Delane.”

“Um, yes!? What do you need, Karuta?”

“I have a rules question. Can contestants forfeit their match?”

“Nope. The match continues until one or the other loses consciousness.”

“You heard the little lady.”

Karuta smiled dryly.

And he slowly approached Athabaskan.

The mercenary was helpless. He could not do anything that would kill his totem animal. So from this point on, it was a one-sided game for Utagai Karuta.

The world’s strongest held the pump-action shotgun – a blunt weapon heavier than the average shovel – and raised it in both hands while focusing on the solid stock.

“Sorry, but you did try to blow me away in a drone strike.”

He swung the shotgun down with all his might.

Right into the man’s nose.