Editing Kaze no Stigma:Volume3 Chapter 6 (section)

===Part 3===

"Haaa!"

With Enraiha, Ayano split apart the gravitational field drawing near her. And simultaneously she ''burned'' the stretched out distorted space that was enveloping her.

"Good grief.", Kureha murmured as if amazed.

"To burn a gravitational field, no, the space itself, what a lack of common sense!"

"I don't want to hear that from a Chijutsushi that can manipulate gravitation.", Ayano retorted in a cool manner.

"I won't let you go further!"

Their standpoints became their exact opposite. To protect the cave's entrance, the place where Ren and the annoying Kazuma sneaked in, was now Ayano's duty.

Kureha's five companions, the Chijutsushi went after them but Ayano was not really concerned about that. Rather she thought it was better if she can only concentrate on Kureha.

Thanks to that she was now becoming fairly accustomed to burning space.

Without being able to use her vision she used her sensitivity to grasp the signs around her and to hold out until those two came back.

"Just come back already stupid!"

While boos replaced her fighting spirit, Ayano released fireballs. In order to match that Kureha shot gravitational fields.

That was the exact moment Kazuma came back. 

Both the gravitation field able to compress a human to the size of a fist and the red-hot blaze that burns humans to nothingness turned into a fatal blow, attacking Kazuma from the front and back.

"Yo- you idiot!", screamed Ayano.

But in front of her- 

A wind blade cut down both attacks in one go.

"Yo. Did you wait?", asked Kazuma as if nothing happened. 

While holding with both hands Ren and Ayumi.

''.....you monster.'',Ayano said voicelessly.

Even though it was for an instant, feeling worried for him seemed foolish.

"First of all, why don't you let those kids down?"

"Hmm? Ah, that's right."

Kazuma bent over a little and dropped down those two he was holding under his arms. 

That small moment his glance strayed, Ayano quickly filled the space between.

"N-- Nii-sama!"

"...Oh?"

Receiving Ren's warning he raised his face. Right before his eyes Ayano was holding Enraiha aloft.

Kazuma moved his body to the left evading the attack and grasped Ayano's wrist, trying to swing downward. 

Catching Ayano's gaze, burning in anger from the front, he said.

"That's a pretty dangerous welcome. Instead of saying <<Welcome back!>> is Kannagi-san's home proper etiquette to hit someone in the head?"

"You're always always always always- "

Without responding to Kazuma's persiflage, Ayano squeezed out words from the gap between her teeth.

"You're always pushing out the troublesome stuff to me! Just die already!"

Her jumping right foot described a sharp arc. Kazuma lightly bent backwards and dodged the rotating kick that was about to hit his jaw. 

"You should stop doing high kicks in a skirt. You're a woman from the biological point of view, right?"

"How fussy! Just let me hit you once!"

"Even though ''you'' tried to hit me!"

"Ahem- o(-"-;)"

Unnaturally someone cleared his throat restraining these two were caught up in their usual mood. That was Ren.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your enjoyment but please leave it at that for today. You're frightening Ayumi-chan and above all, this is not over!"

At once they turned to the same spot together. To where Tsuwabuki Kureha was starring back with a stunned expression.

"You're lacking too much tension. Do you still believe you can win?"

"Something like that.", Kazuma replied matter of course.

"I released both would-be sacrifices. If you're goal was to execute the ceremony, that already became impossible."

"Is that so? It they were snatched away all I have to do is take them back. That's all."

"Do you plan on defeating all three of us? I think that in this country the only ''human'' capable is someone of Kannagi Juugo's level."

At Kazuma's weird speaking style, Ayano asked from the back.

"Hey, you found something out while pursuing Ren, right? If you did, just say it already!"

"Oh, is that true?"

Ren thought he didn't simply come just to spy on him. Kureha too waited with great interest for Kazuma's reply.

"There's nothing to be found out."

Acting all important, Kazuma folded his arms.

"About Kureha's aim, I don't know it even now. But I know what is the source of supply for her power."

"Source of supply?"

"That's right. From where did she get her hands on it, how did she hand it out to Yuuji. The existence that is the origin of the unusual talent improper for a Chijutsushi- "

At those last words Kureha visibly frowned.

"I believe I told I had this power since I had been born."

"Since you were born?"

At Kureha's words, Kazuma laughed scornfully. 

"And you didn't try to explain it? What can alter a Chijutsushi so that she is able to control gravity? You're not a Chijutsushi. On the contrary, I think you're not human!"

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

Kureha glared at Kazuma with a grim face. Even an outsider could see she's disturbed. All the composure she's shown so far seemed to have disappeared somewhere.

Even so, when she showed a forced smile she urged Kazuma to keep on going.

"Isn't that interesting? Then by all means tell me what you think. My own secret I don't even know." 

"That is- "

At the time when everyone was getting ready to hear Kazuma's words-

Countless stone spears raised from the ground. They interrupted Kazuma's speech but didn't reach them. Their aim was only one and that was Kureha.

"....!!"

Nimbly chasing Kureha who escaped into the air, while writhing like snakes the stone spears reached for the sky. But, the attack that let the chance of certain-kill escape didn't have power to destroy Kureha. The gravity's hand caught the spears and crushed them all at once.

"What are you trying to do?"

Lightly dancing in space, Kureha asked quietly. There's no disturbance about her. Without even asking, she understands everything - that's the kind of face she's making.

"Aren't you attacking the wrong side Mayumi?"

While talking as if gossiping, Kureha smashed one of the closer trees. 

From the shade of the ruined trees caught up in the attack, a single girl appeared.

If one were to remove the age difference, its facial features were identical to Ayumi. But that pupil burned with the fire of hatred, something Ayumi is not capable of.

It was the eldest child of the Tsuwabuki family, Ayumi's blueprint, Tsuwabuki Mayumi.

"Ma- Mayumi-sama....?", Ayumi murmured in a daze, without understanding the situation.

Did she just become their ally?

"Look, Ayumi is right there. Catch her quickly and resume the ceremony."

"Shut up, you betrayer!"

As if instigated by her sister's words, Mayumi interrupted her with a refusal. Her eyes beyond anger she said in a crushed to death tone.

"Father is dead."

"Really?"

Silent for just one moment, Kureha bowed her hand dully.

"''Really?'' Is that all? Is that all you have to say for the father you raised your hand against?"

"He challenged me so I defeated him. That's all there is to it.", said Kureha over her shoulder, thoroughly indifferent.

"You're only blaming me but you don't think anything about the father trying to kill his daughter?"

"What shameless things are you saying? If I consider all your schemes, I won't complain about killing you a hundred times over!"

"Is that so? If you were the one scheming, do you think Father would have killed you?"

".....what are you trying to say?"

"Nothing much. It's just tedious talk. It doesn't mean anything. -So, what will you do?", Kureha inquired as if asking what does her sister want for lunch.

Excessively serene, so unconcerned she didn't seem to ask about a life or death choice.

"What, you ask."

"Dying meaninglessly if you attack me or accomplish the family's duty with me, I'm asking you to choose one."

"Wha- "

For a moment Mayumi was at a loss of words but she became so angry her body trembled.

"The family's duty? Are you, are ''you'' really saying those words?"

"I'm not asking for your opinion. I'm asking for your answer. Hurry up and choose."

"Don't........joke with me!"

Together with an angry roar, the stone spears from underground are stretching and attacking Kureha. Without even looking, Kureha crushed them but Mayumi couldn't understand the simple-mindedness of her attack.

"For the honor of the Tsuwabuki family! Kureha! I'm bringing judgement upon you! Prepare yourself!"

"....what an idiotic child."

Letting out a dry murmur, Kureha locked her sister in a gravity barrier. 

Although worried about the aftermath, the spherical barrier with a two meter diameter was contracted one centimeter. There's no way to escape.

But just before that, a wind gale destroyed the gravity barrier and blew up the insides.

"Kyaaa!?"

Mayumi mercilessly got blown by the wind and landed face first on the ground.

"Wh- what....?"

Stepping up in front of the surprised Mayumi, he looked down on her as if he was coercing her.

"You can kill yourself if you want to, but before that I need some answers. What is Kureha's purpose?"

"Why would I tell- "

Kazuma stepped on the ground with all his strength right next to Mayumi's head. His shoe sole pulverized the hard rock-bed, his shoe print engraved one centimeter deep.

He said unconcerned to Mayumi's stiff face.

"Is protecting that information valuable enough for me to step on your head and break your skull?"

Now that he said it, there was no merit to hold on the information. Her rejection was nothing more but her disposition.

"Kureha's purpose is- ", she said in a sulky tone, already without calling her sister.

"To make all of the Demon Beast's power her own."

" -!!"

Ayano, Ren, Ayumi all opened their eyes in shock. But Kazuma, at least on the surface, didn't show a particle of disturbance.

"......the two-layer seal, the power divided three-way - I see, so that's how it is?"

He murmured something, nodded his head in understanding but Mayumi, the one who told him, was the one looking up at Kazuma astonished.

"Did- did you figured it out just by hearing that?"

"Not really, I don't think I understood everything. I have no interest in something like the circumstance of your family. But I understood pretty much all I wanted to."

"I don't understand.", Ayano interrupted the conversation drawing close to Kazuma.

"What is it? Explain yourself."

"Just this and that- "

Shrugging his shoulders Kazuma started a broad explanation. 

"Kureha's aim is to obtain the huge power of the Demon Beast sealed by the Tsuwabuki Family. What's the problem?"

"That's not something possible to achieve, right?", Ayano said frankly.

"The Demon Beast is the embodying of Mt. Fuji's life energy right? That's not something compatible with a human container. Instead of taking the power isn't it true that the power would take her?"

"Well, while I certainly do believe that it's reckless, it's not something really unusual, right? People that tried to get their hands on godly powers, demon beasts et cetera you can find a dime at a dozen."

Even if it seems Ayano doesn't understand, Kazuma continues only in his mind. Just like Kureha said, for a magician it was only natural to wish for an even bigger power. The only ones who didn't think like that were those like the Kannagis and that was because they were already possessing a mighty power.

The quest for an even greater power. For a deeper knowledge. That desire has no bounds, it doesn't need reason or purpose. 

To completely fall to the desire to enhance oneself, that is the honest disposition of a magician. 

"But, how will she accomplish that?"

"What will you do if you know?", Kazuma repelled Ayano's question point-blank.

"Even without knowing the theory behind it, if we finish off this woman so does the story, right?"

"While that may be true..."

"I too want to know.", interposed Kureha as is backing up the hesitating Ayano.

"How much do you understand, I'm really interested in that. Besides, I've yet to listen to my secret." 

".....Well, that's fine."

Finally, Kazuma agreed. Except for time buying there's no other loss.

"I think you noticed already but the power Kureha and Yuuji obtained belongs to the sealed Monster Beast."

"Yes."

Ayano nodded. As one would expect, her senses aren't so dull no to notice such a thing.

"What I mean, at this point the Demon Beasts power is already divided into three parts. The Demon Beast's <<Ki>> itself was absorbed so that means the demon's himself was divided into three parts. And then, when that is integrated again, the biggest part will take the initiative."

"But, if it's like that....", Ayano said in a doubtful voice.

She understood the theory but even so it's impossible for Kureha to win.

"Of course, at the present time its real form it's extremely big. Even Kureha and Yuuji put together probably doesn't even reach 1% of the main body. But that's where the sealing ceremony comes in."

All present turned their eyes on Ayumi. And then, on Mayumi.

"You see, the seal basically holds down and compresses not only Mt. Fuji just before the explosion but also the life force of the Demon Beast. Doubling such a powerful seal that can go on for thirty years, Kureha's power will exceed the beast's I think. So, was I right?"

"Well done!"

Kureha responded to the half-hearted question with an apathetic applause.

"You receive an A+. Gee, even though this was a plan cautiously advancing for the last five years, I wonder why there's nothing but unexpected intrusions just before it's completed?"

"Because it's only human.", said Kazuma chilly over his shoulder.

From the start, he was the kind of man that without a few exceptions is heartless towards all humanity.

He didn't happen to have any kindness for his enemy.

"Well..."

Sorting out the newly received information, Ayano looks at Ayumi and Mayumi. It seems none want to cooperate with Kureha.

"In short, that woman's plan failed right? At this point she doesn't have the power to defeat all three of us."

"Yes."

"I wonder about that."

At the same time, Kazuma and Kureha said the exact opposite words. All looks converged on the Kureha that even now still didn't lose her composure.

"Surely I don't have enough confidence to defeat all three of you and to take back the sacrifices. But, I'm pretty confident I can escape."

"What will running achieve?"

"I'll prepare a new sacrifice", Kureha declared naturally.

"You half asleep? Where will you find such a- "

Pausing his words in the middle, Kazuma turned a severe look to Mayumi.

"Oi, girl."

"Wh- what...?"

Mayumi tried to make herself as small as possible as if she lost in the mental battle.

"What happened to the institute that made your clone?"

"....I don't know. Perhaps, Father was controlling- "

Understanding its significance, Mayumi opened her eyes wide in terror and looked up at Kureha high in the sky.

Kureha's lips lifted.

"I'm the one managing it now. Of course, I also store your cells."

"Yoooooooouuuuuuuuuuu!!!", Mayumi screamed in fury. 

She couldn't allow it. For the sake of despicable lust for Kureha to play with her cells and mass-produce imitations that looked exactly like her - the disgrace of having her very existence insulted burned through her consciousness.

"I won't allow it! I won't allow it! I won't allow it! Even if it's only you I will- "

Really angry, Mayumi released her power. From the underground stone spears grew and the blowing up pebbles coiled incessantly raining stones from the heaven.

But-

"It's useless. "

Even straining all her power, she couldn't even scratch Kureha. 

Grinding her teeth in pain, Mayumi looked up at Kureha and from her eyes burning with hatred, tears fell down.

"I'll kill you...I'll definitely kill you..."

"No. You'll die here."

For the sister caught in a violent emotion, with no sign of being moved Kureha declared so, coldly.

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

Kazuma viewed the extreme quarrel between sisters unfolding in front of him with sober eyes. As if remembering, he searched his pocket and took out tobacco.

"Hmm?"

His lighter doesn't work. Throwing away the 100 yen lighter out of gas, he said to Ren.

"Fire."

"Ye- yes!"

Ren looked at the cigarette's pointed end. Without really doing anything, just by that the cigarette tip was ignited. Kazuma inhaled the fumes silently.

"Why are you acting like you have all the time in the world, you!?" 

There, Ayano swung downward Enraiha. Easily evading it, Kazuma laughed with a carefree face.

"Calm down."

"Calm down!?", Ayano replied instantly.

"We need to hurry! To be in a rush - no matter how you look at it, that woman is already broken! If we don't deal with it now- "

"Hmm- but..."

With an attitude that had no vitality, Kazuma observed Kureha.

"To make a clone takes time right? Won't the seal get torn in the meantime?"

"That's fine.", Kureha guaranteed it.

"If I disperse mine and Yuuji's power, the mountain's <<Ki>> will stabilize. If I were to do that, even without the ceremony the current seal will last for at least ten years."

"......Ah, is that so?"

Observing Kazuma's appearance opening his eyes wide seeming really surprised, Ayano felt a great sense of foreboding. This is not just an off prediction.

Something else, a much more absurd situation is happening.

"Kazuma....you, what did you do?"

"........"

Ayano drew near and even including an intent to kill she gripped Kazuma's collar, trying to look away.

"Don't try to deceive me with that distant expression! Spill it out! What did you do?"

"Well....it was troublesome when we were trying to get out from the underground so I just blew up the ceiling."

"Ah, something like that happened. For an instant I thought that Mt. Fuji erupted. And then?"

"Then this worlds law of action and reaction happened. When I turned my power upwards, the same amount of power was turned downwards."

"...!"

At those words Ayumi, Mayumi and Kureha held their breath. They stared at Kazuma in a pale, ashen face.

"What happened?", Ren asked Ayumi.

But instead of Ayumi that lost her voice due to terror, Mayumi answered in a cracked voice.

"....That ceremonial place is located on top of the dragon pulse emitted from Mt. Fuji. That's why we held the ceremony there, because from there we can directly reach Mt. Fuji's power."

"Wh-what! That is..."

Anticipating the conclusion, Ren changed his expression. Without concerning herself with him, Mayumi continued - as he expected.

"Just try to hit that hundred meter bedrock found there with your indecent power! The weakened seal will flip open and the demon beast will jump to his feet you know! Like, right now!"

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

All the people present, except for Kureha looked at Kazuma with the same intent. But, Kazuma shrugged his shoulders as if he didn't feel all the pressure gathered around him and showed a somewhat bitter smile.

"No, if you were to stop the ceremony I think the seal would be broken immediately. That's why I have a better timing. Kureha, you're the one to blame. You should have said such a thing sooner!"

All of a sudden his tone became overly familiar. But of course, just by that it's impossible to deceive them.

"You idio- "

''"What have you done!?"''

With enough volume to completely overtake Ayano's insult, Kureha screamed. She had the expression of an ogre. 

Although her features were voluptuous, her face with eyes that became bloodshot and teeth bared became considerably frightening.

"Isn't she kind of angry?"

"......isn't it obvious?"

Intimidated by the intensity of Kureha's anger, Ayano replied in a frail manner. She felt something similar to pity for Kureha, whose ambition was thwarted by this kind of man.

"But still, her ''real desire'' will come true so I think she could be happy."

"Eh?", asked Ayano in return unintentionally. 

High in the sky, crushing her anger, Kureha looked down on Kazuma really pissed.

"You only talk in such a round-about way - If you have something to say, say it clearly!"

"That's right! That's right!", interrupted Ayano.

Glaring at Ayano with a look of light reprimand, Kazuma continued the conversation annoyed.

"First, you said you invested five years in this plan but that's a mistake."

"What- "

"Hear me out first. For a human being the Demon Beast's power is a foreign substance. If you were to take in something like that, a sense of discomfort will appear. Actually Yuuji couldn't manifest the power he received but like an appendix in an irregular form. But you have no sense of discomfort. You are perfectly integrated."

No matter how much you investigate it, the result is the same. For a human being to grow accustomed to a demon beast's <<ki>> - no, at that time only the beast's <<ki>> can be felt.

"Just by five years - no, what's important here is the period of twenty something years you lived as a human. A human's way of being established in all those years and months can't all disappear in just five years."

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

Kureha said nothing. No, maybe she could't. That face, biting on her lips, looked as if she felt resentment towards her own self that couldn't object.

"Thinking about it there's just one answer. From the time you were born but not later than two or three years old you carried the demon beast's power in your body. Maybe you only looked at the Demon Beast for the last five years but long before that, for the sake of escaping the seal the beast had you under his control."

"Ho- how stupid! That's wrong! I- "

"I have even more proof."

Kazuma callously pressed even more the confused Kureha.

"Your power. If you lack the divine protection of the Spirits, what kind of power are you borrowing? Isn't it natural not to hear the Spirit's voices? Instead of senseless spirits an existence with a far stronger will and power, endlessly shouting inside your head ''Release me!'' ?"

"Wro- Wrong!", Kureha raised scream full of bitterness and covered her ears.

"I decided on it by my own will! I'm not being manipulated! That's impossible!"

"If that's the case I can check right?"

Informed by Kazuma's cold words, Kureha opened her eyes wide.

"....what did you say?"

"Let's make sure. Let's ask the demon itself. All it's clear except this. Don't be reserved, I'll take care of it myself - so you can die relived!"

A wind blade vertically bisected Kureha's body, standing there in a daze. 

Unable to defend, unable to resist, Kureha could't do anything. No, without even trying, she just ''looked''.

A blade that invited death. The body to be killed. And - the killed body.

"..........Ah?"

Split in two, Kureha was still alive. Or at the very least, she didn't die.

The body cleaved in two equal parts, with a gap of a few centimeters in between, that for some reason didn't fall but kept its balance and stood erect. Not even a drop of blood was flowing.

"Ah......aha........ahahahahahaha....."

Looking with her right eye at the left half of the body, with her left eye at the right half of the body Kureha revealed an empty laughter. There was no place for objection. Right now - no, from some long gone day she stopped being human.

Intending to manipulate everything, she was always manipulated. Only having the illusion of free will, everything stood on top of the demon beast's palm.

"This is...is this the punishment for killing Father.......? Are you saying this is the appropriate punishment for my sin?", Kureha murmured smiling in a broken way.

"But there was no helping it, was there. My Father didn't love me, you know? He didn't even scold me. At that time, my father was laughing. Without even listening to the reason why I broke the taboo, he was so happy he had the reason to get rid of the burden I was for him ''he was laughing''!!"

"Onee-sama...."

"Aren't you fine? Loved by all, protected by all. Then, if no one loved me, if no one protected me, I had no choice but to become stronger. To become stronger than anyone else! Is that what you call a sin? Are you, the one that stole ''everything'' from me trying to blame me!?"

Kureha screaming in bitterness - without being able to look at her, Mayumi cast her eyes down.

That Kureha was Father's enemy doesn't change. But, after knowing everything Mayumi was not heartless enough to blame her. 

On the other hand, when listening to Kureha violent confession, Ayano felt a different unpleasantness from Mayumi's.

''This feels like a familiar story....''

She stealthy peeked at Kazuma's appearance. Hiding his face, Kazuma smoked in silence. Perceiving irritation from that silhouette seemed like some sort of optical illusion.

Suddenly, Kazuma threw away his tobacco. And then.

"Shut the fuck up. Just fucking die already!"

Together with merciless words, he hit her with wind blades. This time, from her back, he cut her up horizontally.

"Wh- wait- "

Ignoring the others wincing at his excessive cruelty, he grinds the fallen tobacco.

"Nobody loved you, huh? Isn't that natural? Did you think wishes come true just by waiting for them to!? If you have something you want then work for it!"

High in the sky, there was Kureha's body divided cross-wise. As expected, holding herself together was difficult - she was shaking unsteady.

"Don't make it someone else's fault. It was all your decision. Closing yourself in because you were too afraid to deal with other people, choosing isolation once and again, wasn't it all your choice?", Kazuma shouted unable to control his words.

Does he himself realize? That Kureha is nothing else but his own twisted mirror?

Ignored by Genma, shunned by all his clan - Kannagi Kazuma and Kureha, they are terribly alike.

If he didn't became disinherited by Genma, maybe he wouldn't have found the determination to leave the home. And then - maybe he would have become something like this. 

Because he could clearly imagine himself that way he felt discomfort when looking at this woman. He felt bitterness. He couldn't put up with it. He could't stand up hearing such pitiable complaints.

"If you decided to live by yourself then quietly die by yourself! After all this time don't start whining like a spoiled child!"

Countless wind blades chopped Kureha's body to shreds. As expected, unable to maintain a human shape, Tsuwabuki Kureha died.

For Kureha, annihilated without any closing words, Kazuma saw her off without offering tribute for the departed. But immediately following that, he faintly frowned.

"Shit - did it escape?"

Ayano opened her eyes wide.

"Eh? Is that thing still alive?"

"No, as expected Kureha died but I didn't get rid of that Demon Beast's <<Ki>> inside her. I wanted to decrease it even by a few percents! Well it can't be helped - "

Feeling the same thing as the Demon Beast's <<Ki>> passing through the dragon pulse and returning to Mt. Fuji - it was seized by Kazuma's sharp perception.

That doesn't only means the enemy became stronger. Although small, the <<Ki>> activated - without mistake, that was the stimulation that became the last push that made the Demon Beast open his eyes.

The time for the decisive battle was drawing closer.

"But thinking on it, she was a really pitiable person. Without being loved by anyone and trying to become stronger for this reason, just to be manipulated.", Ren murmured earnestly. 

Maybe because he already saved Ayumi he now had the composure to commiserate his enemy. 

Looking at that Ren with an expressionless gaze, Kazuma said.

"You, did you believe that nonsense story?"

".................................yes?"

"Can I take that as an affirmation?"

After an even longer,heavier silence Ren asked blankly.

"J- just wait a second! No way, was it all just random bullshit!?"

"No, that wasn't random bullshit but I have no proof. Just pilling up one hypothesis after another, a reasoning that can't be verified by proof is the same as trash. If you gulp it down so easily you'll be seen as an idiot."

"Then, why did you say all those things?"

To Ren's timid questioning Kazuma answered exasperated holding his head.

"That woman was strong enough for it to become a hard fight if I were to fight her directly. Not to become tired before the main performance, I tried my best to bluff but I didn't believe it would be that effective. Your Onii-chan was so surprised!"

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

He brought the conversation to a finish very sweetly but that didn't soften the shock even a little bit. 

Not a cruel voice can be heard. Even Mayumi who hated Kureha the most couldn't suppress her pity.

"......how cowardly.....", murmured Ayano.

They were just two words but others that would express Kazuma's behavior more accurately don't exist in this world.

All the party, except Kazuma, nodded showing their deep agreement.

"''All for the winner'' - isn't that a fine expression?"

Of course, Kazuma didn't pay attention to their reaction.