Editing Apocalypse Witch:Volume4 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 6===

Utagai Karuta was faced with something that defied all common sense.

(This thing is made of special alloy and plastic.)

The shotgun’s broken pieces and ammo spilled out and fell to the floor. The unsteady mercenary kicked the shells to the side, triggering them along with the detonating cord rope. He used brute force to destroy the absolute protection Utagai Karuta had gained from the system that prevented him from killing the totem animal from which he drew his power.

(He bit through that with human teeth to break free of the totem pole? He’s not even using some native tobacco or herbs. This is pure willpower and strength. Has he entered the zone, letting him ignore his sense of pain!?)

Karuta was unaware that there were exceptions where a totem animal could be killed during special festivals and rituals.

Karuta had been taught to always have two methods of attack at any given time to ensure that he always had a valid option. But what if that wasn’t enough to stop his opponent? Athabaskan did not live in the world of street fights; he was a professional mercenary.

Letnahe had told him he would immediately be put on the defensive in a situation like this.

“Gahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!”

“Gahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!”

Karuta wondered if Athabaskan was using the power of the eagle, the wolf, the crocodile, or the serpent in that moment, but none of those was right.

This was the power of the human.

The mercenary’s eyes carried the glint of rational thought.

Karuta had no idea what even happened. He tried to send his own fist out while the large man’s fist flew toward him, but the next thing he knew, he was spinning around and his right arm was behind his back in a joint lock. A bent knee pressed against the center of his back. If the man put his full weight there, Karuta would be smashed face-first into the hard floor. His thin barrier would do nothing to protect him. With both their body weights behind it, he wouldn’t just be knocked out – his skull would split open and he would die.

This was what happened when a high schooler tried to take on a professional mercenary.

There was an insurmountable wall between them.

A professional attack filled the target with the fear of knowing there was no escape.

But Utagai Karuta did have one trick up his sleeve: crystal magic.

(I can heal any nonlethal wound in 30 seconds!!)

He actually twisted his body to apply even more pressure to the joints, destroying his right shoulder and elbow simultaneously. The pain was 100 times worse than having his back teeth grinded down with a metal file, but he could move again.

“!!!???”

He turned around with his joints bending wrong and found Athabaskan’s defenseless face in front of him.

And his jaw.

Karuta gathered the rest of his strength and swung his left fist into it.

“I…”

But the Native American mercenary was not shaken.

He remained on his feet and spoke clearly.

“I only wanted magic…that could do things crystal magic couldn’t do…that no one else could do…”

The boy sensed that the man had refused to lose until he got that message across to someone.

“Yeah.”

Utagai Karuta wanted to prevent chaos from spreading across the globe.

But that did not mean he was allowed to trample someone’s heart.

“I assure you as the world’s strongest that you accomplished something I can’t do.”

And like a thread had snapped, Athabaskan Rio Grande slowly collapsed backwards.