Editing Kaze no Stigma:Volume4 Chapter 4 (section)

=== Part 4 ===


"Daaaah!"

Dodging the low blade poke from above, Ayano aimed at Lapis' undefended torso.

But earlier than the blade Lapis' torso already disappeared. Using the crystal long sword as a fulcrum, she pulled herself up in that manner raising her body and evading in the air.

Precisely because the weapon she yielded was by far heavier her body weight that risky undertaking with a touch of acrobatics was possible.

"I'm not letting you escape!"

Ayano threw a fireball at Lapis trying to put distance between them. Just as until now, the crystal blade absorbed the fireball together with its caloric value. The crystal blade was dyed red.

"Once more!"

Not caring about it, Ayano released a second blaze. The crimson crystal colored deeper as it soaked in the blaze and finally changed to a deep crimson as if it was fresh blood.

"This is the last one!"

[[File:Kaze no Stigma vol 04 261.jpg|thumb|]]

Without giving the flame absorbing sword blade the time to release it, for the third time and this time without mistake using all her power, Ayano hit into it golden flames.

The blade already near its flame absorption limit didn't have enough reserve power to receive the third strike.

The moment the golden flame came into contact with the blade, it exploded while preserving almost all caloric value.

Together with the detonation, Lapis was blown off splendidly. 

Her body, apparently slim and elegant, crashed into the wall, smashed the wall and without reducing its momentum, disappeared on the other side of it.

"You won't get away!"

Mercilessly, Ayano fired a plasma sphere in pursuit. Unable to visually confirm the target the blow was hit at random but there's no problem opening a hole in the wall for the sake of the important objective.

Rather than a hole, climbing over the 80% destroyed wall Ayano stepped in the next room chasing Lapis.

Surprisingly Lapis didn't have any visible wounds. Her clothes weren't significantly disordered, and finally scorched by the flames her expression was cool-looking and didn't seemed to appear to have just been blown off more than ten meters.

But -

''"I win!"''

One moment later, just by clashing the blades Ayano was convinced of victory. 

She already couldn't feel that absurd vitality. As expected, she didn't come out unscathed after receiving that blow. Her movement was greatly dulled.

During the explosion the crystal blade recovered its transparency but using Enjutsu is no longer required.

In the state Lapis is right now, she can be defeated only by fencing. Ayano concluded so, calmly.

''"That woman is OK. What's left - "''

Looking to her side, she confirmed three people at the edge of her field of vision. The previous visitors, who were apparently in this room from the beginning.

Two of those faces were familiar.

Kazuma and Ren and a masked man - the one she heard about, Vesalius.

Kazuma rescued Ren and confronted the enemy to kill which was the same as having won already.

Leaving Vesalius to Kazuma, Ayano focused her awareness on Lapis. 

"You're finished"

Although feebly staggering but even so wielding the sword expressionless, Lapis was sent flying by Ayano's one blow.

The damage seemed larger than expected. That physical ability that was overwhelming was utterly spent without trace.

The large sword unable to be supported by those frail arms fell to the floor with a dull, heavy sound.

In order to settle this in one go Ayano ran. She faced the girl standing rock still brandishing Enraiha and then -

" - !?"

Feeling an intense thirst for blood from her flank, Ayano jumped on the spur of the moment. A wind blade ran right before her eyes.

If she wouldn't have recognized and plunge into she was certain it was timed for a fatal would.

"Kazuma!? Where the fuck are you aiming - "

Starting a say an inappropriate complaint, Ayano frowned puzzled.

In daze, simply in a daze Kazuma gazed at Lapis. Ayano's complaint clearly didn't reach his ears. It seems he didn't even noticed he almost killed Ayano by accident.

His trembling lips squeezed out a small, grazed voice.

"Tsoi.....Rin........"

"Eh?"

She remembered hearing that name. Yes, not nearly one hour ago.

''"Tsoi Rin's eyes were green - "''

As if yearning for her,  as if caressing her, Kazuma whispered a woman's name.

But clearly the eyes of the girl calling herself Lapis were lapis lazuli blue. As if trying to confirm it once again, Ayano witnessed another unexpected thing.

Lapis too stared at Kazuma intently. Not a trace of her expressionless doll-like appearance from the middle of the battle. Her wet pupils shook as if she was about to break down crying at any moment.

''"But, she doesn't seem happy to meet him.  Loneliness?  Sadness? It's different, she's more - "''

Experiencing a feeling similar to alienation at the couple staring at each other, Ayano couldn't take her eyes off them.

Fixing each other and each other only with a hot gaze. A universe complete with just the two of them. Impossible for other people to disturb even if they tried, that kind of atmosphere.

" - Lapis, come here"

But that single word, unbearably uncomfortable from an outsider, destroyed the mood.

At the same time Bernhardt's order was handed down, Lapis regained her inhuman expression. 

"Yes, Master"

Lapis replied shortly, turned her back to them without hesitation and started walking but for some reason Ayano didn't chase after her. She had no choice but to watch over that silhouette picking up the large sword fallen down on her way and meeting Bernhardt halfway at her wit's end.

".............................hey"

Several seconds after the girl tempered her master's bad mood sitting behind him - Kazuma finally opened his mouth. His tone seemed to desperately try to crush something to death.

"What?"

In a contrastive light voice Bernhardt asked. It was as if he completely didn't feel the anger dwelling in Kazuma's voice. 

".........There's a lot I want to ask but.....enough, just die"

Literally spitting out that verdict, Kazuma released a wind blade.

But the certain kill blow vanished in front of the crystal blade. Lapis jumped in front of Bernhardt and protected her master using her body.

".........tch"

In front of the girl setting up her sword, Kazuma clearly backed off feeling clearly shaken.

Inside the mask, Bernhardt laughed.

"Have I done something to hurt your feelings?"

Unnaturally  tilting his head to the side, Bernhardt asked. As if making fun of him, as if flipping. 

"I made you reunite with your dead sweetheart. Aren't you supposed to be grateful?"

"Fuck you......!", Kazuma groaned, his voice trembling with fury.

"Did you thing that sham imitating merely for form's sake will become your trump card? Don't fuck with me Bernhardt!"

"Hey, hey"

Shaking his head in lamentation, Bernhardt sighed.

"A sham, you say? A sham! You, the world's greatest Fujutsushi, you, able to understand all creation via wind, are you calling her a sham just because of her outward appearance! ''Look'' better! The girl's true nature - "

"Be silent", Kazuma said dreadfully cold. 

But that tone was clearly different from usual. 

It had no composure.

In front of that implausible reality of Kazuma losing the mental battle, Ayano was frightened from the bottom of her heart.

Although that spectacle was right before her eyes, she still couldn't believe it. 

The man called Kazuma is different from one who is only strong.

Even though he is standing in front of a stronger opponent, Kazuma will never waver. He won't falter. Putting on a fearless smile he will fight and finally snatch away the victory.

The man Ayano wanted for her partner was that man. And yet - 

"It's impossible to revive Tsoi Rin, right......?"

The man she believed solid like a rock, was swaying in insecurity. His voice trembled, his face distorted in sorrow.

"You stole everything......her body, her soul, she was eaten by a devil without leaving anything behind! She's nowhere to be found! It's impossible for her to be born again! No matter what Jutsu you use, she cannot be restored to life!"

"I know"

Bernhard responded dispassionate at that scream full of grief.

"I know that. Because at that time, four years ago, I was also there"

" - What, was it like that", Kazuma murmured, placing an fierce intent to kill in his gaze.

If there was a man who lost all hope, at the time of meeting the person who robbed him of everything maybe he would murmur so,

If there was a man who decided the purpose of his life was to kill people in order to carry out his revenge, he would laugh with this kind of voice.

If there was a man who, despite being alive gave up on being alive and wishing for a future, maybe he would howl with this kind of voice. 

Like the wind blowing through a parched desert, an empty voice.

"I didn't know. Because at that time, I saw no one else but him. If I knew, I would have killed you together with him........"

The finger warped like a hook controlled the wind. 

Bernhardt controlled his strained laugh seeing Kazuma about to release a blow made up of killing intent and madness. 

"Well, hear me out. At that time I was certainly in that place. For this reason, I was able to find something. The last thought left from that girl called Tsoi Rin on the verge of death"

"Wh...at.......?"

"Something like a residual thought, also called a lost emotion. I picked up the thought etched in that space and made Lapis from the core of it. You understand?"

After a short silence, Kazuma spit out with an unpleasant manner of speaking.

"In other words an imitation, right"

"It's not something so deplorable"

As if admonishing a pupil with bad scores, Bernhardt spoke.

"Will you discard the last thought of the girl you once loved as a ''<<sham>>''? Do you have nothing to say to the girl you weren't able to protect because of your powerlessness?"

"........say no more.......", retorted Kazuma with a groan but his tone was terribly frail.

Bernhardt sneered at Kazuma's best effort and tenderly embraced Lapis' shoulders.

"That's fine. I will hear at another time in what way will you fulfill your love for Miss Tsoi Rin. Today it's time to part ways"

"Do you think you can run away?"

Kazuma raised his voice but Bernhardt's composure didn't crumble. Showing Lapis like an artist who displays his best work, he declared proudly.

"I handed out power to the foolish young people of this country. So, what reason would I have not to bestow it on Lapis, my servant?"

" - tch!"

Those words gave a strong shock even to the people left behind to this point.

Especially for Ayano, who realized Lapis' power first hand it was a sentence she didn't want to believe in.

Because the girl she fought so hard against even had a hidden ability.

"Lapis' class is <<The Demon Swordsman>>. Come now, show them your power"

"Yes, Master"

Responding blandly, Lapis put strength into the hand gripping the long sword. The crystal blade released a white light from inside and - 

"Wh- What - !?"

Ayano raised a cry of surprise. Behind Lapis, the illusion of a transparent woman emerged.

Beautiful and solemn, an enormous illusion giving the impression of a goddess. That thing whose head exceeded one meter by itself surrounded Lapis' arms as if embracing her closely and grabbed the crystal long sword the girl was holding.

Using the real sword as a core, an illusionary large sword was molded. The enormous blade suitable for the enormous vision pierced through the hall's wall. It grew interminably.

"Pandemonium lost its purpose. Destroy everything"

"Yes, Master"

According to the master's command, Lapis swung downward the large sword in a straight line. And then, matching the girl's movement the illusion swung the imaginary sword.

" - tch!"

The phantom blade passed through where Kazuma's arm was before he promptly jumped. The large sword who wasn't supposed to exist in reality, tore down the ceiling, blast away the walls, pulverised the floor, turned the blade point right under and became still.  

The fracture line was vertical; the guest room cut half way round. It was the result brought by just one sword swing, that may be interesting to mention but -

"Only this?", coughed Ayano as if she lost interest.

Looking at Lapis, in a posture kneeling down in one knee, her sword piercing the floor, the girl didn't look about to make the next move. Even the background illusion disappeared unnoticed.

While thinking it wasn't a bid deal in proportion to the flashy directing, that moment - 

" - Eh?"

A sinister creak reached her ears.

She didn't know where it came from and what made it but she clearly understood it was lethal, that sound.

Stronger and closer, the creak relentlessly continued. Some kind of serious crushing sound also joined in -

"Kyaaa!?"

Abruptly, a shock bursting out from right under attacked them. The tremor was violent enough to make one believe it was a near-field earthquake. And then, a floating sensation as if gravity disappeared -

"Wh........what is..........eeh?"

Recovering from the unexpected crash, Ayano looked up at Lapis in blank amazement. Before she knew, the space between the floor she stood on and the girl rose nearly two meters in height.

Close to her were Kazuma, Ren and Kirika. On the other side were Bernhardt and Lapis. 

Was this neat separation of friends and enemies an accident or maybe -

''"But, why this way then ?"''

Ayano's gaze wandered about the surroundings. She instantly discovered the reason.

The saloon was vertically slipping off. In accordance with the long sword's cleaving path, the saloon was divided right in half. And then, while the balance crumbled, it produced a longitudinal dislocation. 

The one sliced wasn't just the guest room. That phantom sword probably bisected the entire Pandemonium.

''" - Huh, just wait a second"''

Thinking that far, Ayano realized a frightening truth.

From what it was seem from the outside Pandemonium was a three stores building. If everything was cut from the first floor to the roof, that blade lightly stretched more than ten meters. And then Lapis swung that sword until directly below. Since the point if the sword sunk into the floor. 

''"That blow, just how far did it slice?"''

As if verifying Ayano's uneasiness, the tremor underneath her feet increased violently. What was called ''underfoot'', ''the ground'' that supported Pandemonium's mass, in other words -

The omen of caving in came from above. From lovely fragments of ceiling to stones and lumber weighting a ton, roughly every piece that composed the mansion came down, having lost its support.

But, pretending not to recognize that spectacle of destruction, Bernhardt made a refined bow. 

"Well then, that's all for today. If the destiny will allow, let's meet again"

"Wait......."

"It's pointless"

Restraining the powerless Kazuma, Bernhardt avoided him indifferent.

Not ''impossible'' but ''pointless''

"The way you are right now, you can't do anything against Lapis"

"If you find the answer, come again. You will have a heartfelt reception"

The master of the crumbling Pandemonium exaggeratedly waved his mantle with a thud and wrapped Lapis inside it.

Ant then - he disappeared.

"Aah - "

Even more that the skillfulness of that Jutsu, the timing was exquisite. While receiving the attention of all members, displaying an excellent skill while none hindered, the couple disappeared.

There was no way of searching for their destination. 






Standing stock still in the middle of the crumbling Pandemonium, Kazuma continued glaring at the space Bernhardt disappeared from.

His pupils coated in hatred, hallucinating maybe about the masked man in the downpour of debris, he wasn't aware of the crisis he was presently facing.

" Kazuma !  It's dangerous! If you don't hurry up - "

Without realizing the fact that Ayano was leading him by the hand with a desperate expression, he glared at the empty sky tightly grasping his fists.

"Bernhard - "

Through the gap between his clench teeth, he wrings out the name of that hateful enemy.

Entrusting that overflowing fury to that name, he shouted until his voice became hoarse.

''"Bernhardt!!!!!"'''

The collapse of the bisected Tokyo Metropolitan Tower, unable to bear that weight, happened immediately after.



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