Editing Kaze no Stigma:Volume1 Chapter3 (section)

=== Part 5 ===

After coaxing the excited Ren to sleep, Kazuma finally laid on his end of the bed. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, but his rest ended in the blink of an eye.

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

Kazuma woke up upon feeling an evil presence and quickly jumped off the bed. As he did so, he sensed some black object passing by slowly beneath his feet.

''(This is......!)''

Kazuma stepped onto the trembling floor and headed to Ren's room.

“Ren! Are you awake!?”

“Yes!”

Ren had woken up long ago and was already wearing his shoes. Despite his young age, he was still a Kannagi practitioner, and it was impossible for him not to notice such a strong, ominous presence of youki<!--妖氣-->.

“What is happening!?”

“Some idiot sliced the whole hotel! We have to escape now!”

Kazuma grabbed Ren without explaining and ran towards the window.

“Wait...... Wait a second, Nii-sama...... Don't tell me...”

Kazuma answered Ren's question with his actions. A gust of wind shattered the glass. Kazuma jumped out of the newly made exit without hesitation.

Needless to say, he was hugging Ren throughout the whole process.

Naturally, there was nothing at the other end of the exit. The light of dawn shone upon Earth’s surface, which seemed hopelessly far away.

The fear inside Ren transformed into sounds from his mouth.

“Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

His cry trailed far behind as the two descended at breakneck speed. Ren shut his eyes tightly.

But they were caught by a gentle wind rather than smashing violently into the ground. Kazuma had skillfully changed his posture, landing his legs perfectly.

“Hey, we reached our destination.”

Kazuma lightly knocked Ren, who was gripping him tightly, and informed him that they had already reached the ground. Ren opened his fearful eyes, and looked at the surroundings.

“Nii...... Nii-sama...... Am I still alive......?”

“The real trouble starts now.”

Ren stood on his own feet, lifting his head to look up. What he saw was unbelievable.

''(The hotel is falling from the sky......?)''

The hotel was cleanly sliced through about one third of its height from the top, and was now sliding down from there. A building that was approximately a hundred meters in height was falling from a height of two hundred meters. This was easily comparable to a giant meteor dropping onto Earth, a catastrophe beyond human comprehension.

''"Some idiot sliced the whole hotel!"''

Kazuma's words just now flitted into Ren’s head.

''(This...... was done by a human......?)''

The unlucky people who were in the path of the cut dropped down one by one like abandoned puppets. The only fortunate thing for them was that they probably had no time to even be afraid when their bodies were sliced. The upper halves of the corpses were left, indicating pieces of flesh that no longer had any life.

“Don't move recklessly.”

In order to defend against the falling building, Kazuma surrounded himself and Ren with a kekkai of wind. Ren instinctively held on tightly to Kazuma's jacket.

The next moment...

Kadoong...... Bam......

The remains of the gigantic building violently crashed onto the ground.

The nightmarishly smooth cutting point brought about a disaster. The upper half of the hotel that smashed into the ground remained in its original upright position. The people who spent their night in that portion of the hotel must have fully enjoyed the ecstasy of a two hundred meter long free-fall. Ren saw countless shadows at the windows, their faces distorted from fear and despair... or was it just his imagination?

“......Argh......”

The hotel that fell at a horrifying speed was totally smashed out of shape. And with that, the kinetic energy obtained during the free-fall was released in all directions.

Countless pieces, most of them ten meters long, flew towards the two, who were standing right in the center of the impact. These pieces had the destructive power of bombs flying at high speed, but were still forcefully blocked by Kazuma’s wind kekkai.

Rather than continuing to stay in their current position, Kazuma used the force of the explosion to fly up into the sky. His spherical kekkai skillfully dissolved the impact, allowing them to float back to a safe distance.

“......Ah......Ah......”

Looking at where the hotel was, Ren moaned.

Dust was everywhere, blocking the actual scene from sight. But...

Those eyes staring upwards displayed great despair. The dust flew no higher than fifty meters, but there was nothing left above that. The lower portion of the hotel, which was supposed to be safe from harm, was no longer there.

The high rise building, famed to be the tallest in Japan... Yokohama's Landmark Tower was completely destroyed.

''(This...... This can't be...... Such a thing......)''

Unable to look at the scene directly, Ren shifted his line of vision and looked down, suddenly noticing the floor around him.

Countless holes scarred the blacktop, probably due to the flying pieces. The number of people lying down in the area was unbelievable.

Even though it was just dawn, it was impossible that no one would be moving about in an area so close to the government organization. Whether they were white collar people who left home early in the morning, teenagers going for their morning jog, newspaper distributors or people with some other purpose to wake up so early... They were all hit directly by concrete pieces, and were now lying motionless on the floor, moaning.

The blood pool that soaked the road continued to spread out further. The scattered bystanders were too weak to escape the jaws of death, yet they were still not dead yet... Or rather, they were unable to die just yet.

Those who had stayed in the hotel might have been more fortunate. After all, at least they could go on without suffering pain.

Ren buried his face into Kazuma’s back and held on tight with his trembling hands. He felt as though all those people who were moaning in pain were looking at him, and even blaming him. He could not bear to watch it any further.

“What a big mess he made.”

After landing on the floor, Kazuma mumbled as though this has nothing to do with him.

“This...... was done by the enemy's Fuujutsu......?”

“Maybe.”

“Can't...... Can't this be stopped? If it was you, Nii-sama......”

“Ah...... Nope, I can't interfere with the wind that guy controls.”

Hearing Kazuma's simple and carefree words, Ren became shocked and doubtful.

“That cannot be...?! Because, Nii-sama, you are......”

“Yeah, that's what I think. There's apparently someone else like me.”

Unable to say anything, Ren's pale expression shivered slightly. There was nothing to be ashamed of. To have to fight against this kind of enemy, even the Kannagi family......

“Don't look so pitiful. Don't worry. Such a person can't exist.”

Ren gave a relieved smile when Kazuma caressed his head, but it changed back into doubt in a moment.

"So then, why is that? You should know already, right?"

“Yeah. After what just happened, I think I am beginning to understand what is going on.”

Kazuma curled his fist tightly and, with great force, threw it at one of the pieces of concrete with steel reinforcing bars stabbed into the floor at the side.

The seemingly durable piece of the building broke into even smaller rubble, together with its steel foundation. The piece of rubble flew out like a bullet, chopping down the only remaining streetlight.

“Damn it, don't screw with me...... I'll let you know that there are some things that I won't stand for......”

Looking at his enraged brother, Ren shivered in fear. He was wholeheartedly glad that Kazuma's fury was not directed at him.

“Hmph...... So he's here? Ren, run from here.”

Sensing the approaching enemy, Kazuma gave his orders to Ren.

“Nii...... Nii-sama......”

“Don't worry. There's only one enemy, and there's no room for you in this battle. Just wait in that corner over there. I'll come for you once this is over.”

“You...... You are sure to win, right? Nii-sama?"

“Leave it to me. Your brother is invincible!”

Without even turning his head, Kazuma gave Ren a thumbs-up as wind surrounded his body and lifted him into the sky. Ren watched the back view of his confident brother with absolute trust.





Seeing the batch of youki surrounding the enemy right before his eyes, Kazuma felt endless fear. A youma<!--妖魔--> of this level should be locked in the deepest depths of Hell. And, even if it wasn't, it should not be released onto the surface.

But Kazuma did not reveal these thoughts. He spoke in a very natural manner.

“Hi, thanks for your kind hospitality a while ago...... I believe this is the first time I've met you in person?”

''That thing'' remained silent. Even if it couldn't talk, its attitude could not be more obvious. Even a novice would recognize the killing intent that it gave off, an aura so cold that it gave the illusion of trapping him in an ice cavern.

''(Strike before it does!!)''

Kazuma fired a gust of powerful wind without warning. He did not go easy on the youma. In fact, he could not go easy on him. With an intent of maintaining his relentless attack until the enemy was destroyed, he continuously released gusts of wind.

The reaction from his opponent instantly changed. An ominous aura made Kazuma immediately shift to the side at top speed. A black wind went through the place where he just was.

Even though he was bounced off by the shockwave, Kazuma knew the true identity of the black wind.

A wind with the strength to push back Kazuma’s wind, and with an aura that spelled certain death... there could be no doubt.

“Such unorthodoxy...”

The enemy was clearly stronger than Kazuma. But even so, Kazuma could not just give in. As a practitioner, there was no room for such unorthodoxy to exist.

''(Should I reveal my true strength...? After all, Ren already knows...)''

The moment he made his decision, Ren's screams reached Kazuma's ears.

"Wahhh! Nii...... Nii-sama! Nii-"

“Ren!? Damn it!”

The cut-off scream disrupted Kazuma's concentration, something that the opponent was quick to take advantage of. A black wind graced past Kazuma’s throat. If he had not noticed it in time, his head would have undoubtedly separated from his body.

Pressing on the wound on his throat, Kazuma was shocked.

''(How can there be a second person here......? This should not be possible- Ah!)''

Kazuma had completely forgotten. The black wind not only does not obey Kazuma’s will, it could even hide others in its presence.

This was a careless mistake that could not be forgiven, as the ambusher was now retreating, taking Ren with him.

But Kazuma could not give chase, because if he did not keep up with the monster in front of him, he was sure to die. Understanding that all the more, Kazuma could not take any action.

“Damn it! Ren, stay alive!”

Kazuma removed Ren from his mind, and concentrated on eliminating the foe before him.

The wind began to shine with an azure glow. The black wind retreated as though it was fearful of that glow.

''(I'm going to kill you!)''

As Kazuma gathered the azure wind into a usable power......

''That thing'' lifted the edges of its lips into a smirk, and then, disappeared right before Kazuma’s stunned eyes.

“......!!”

Kazuma raised his head to look higher into the sky. Even though he knew that the enemy was flying upwards at a high speed, he had no way of catching up. Nor could he use his wind to follow. Ren's presence had completely vanished by now, too.

"I was completely toyed with......"

Kazuma mumbled faintly, and then descended away from the battlefield-like ruins of the hotel.

''(Wait for me, Ren! I will definitely save you!)''

Kazuma put on a completely clueless expression as he walked past the police and fire-fighters who were gathered, mixing himself into the crowds.


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| Forward to [[Kaze_no_Stigma:Volume1_Chapter4|Chapter 4]]
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