Chaper 10

Burst Impact

The thief has not escaped. I can sense her on the street. This was the first time Justice had ever seen his partner this angry. That fire..it was planar fire? And on the street..that's bad. We should retreat now. Gust completely skipped the last question, but then turned towards the young man. Why delay? We can easily catch her, and then track down the sinner. But Justice was not convinced: It's not yet completely dark out there. Our battle would attract onlookers, and pulling innocents into this is something we should avoid. Even if she is willing to risk it.

At the same time, Mei has standing outside the door, catching her breath. Good, Gorou has gotten into cover. I must find some place where we can fight safely. I don't trust that the planar or his host will care about collateral damage. She took a couple more deep breaths, focusing on the heat generated by her hand, pushing it back under the skin. Silver, can you match the planar? The master seems fairly inexperienced.

But there was not time to get an answer, for the door slammed as a sudden gust tore it open. A blur shot towards Mei, and Silver created multiple obstacles between them. The opponent was nimbly avoiding the traps, but the incredible speed dropped enough for the woman to avoid the initial strike. And as Justice landed from the dash, he turned visible again. You trusted that you could kill me in a one swoop? Bad thinking!

As the girl finished her sentence, Justice hopped backwards. The woman had tried to capture his attention by speaking, hoping that the attack that now hit the position he had been would have gone unnoticed. She was underestimating my senses. But she's right, Gust. This was foolish. The planar had ignored his points about retreating and forced the battle to continue out of hatred. He understood hatred very well, but would have expected a celestial to be above it. But now, he again felt the Guardian and the planar clash their might, and the Guardian was driven backwards.

As Silver lost the clash of wills, Mei punched the enemy, who slided to the side effortlessly. Against a thug, he would have appeared to move instantly. But against a Chosen whose body contained residue energy, the move was full of openings. So, she simply kicked the leg he was balancing on, and as he stumbled, she used her other hand to deliver a strong punch into his jaw. The man reeled back, and the planar intervened by creating a wind wall between the two. You okay, Silver? The dragon weakly replied: I can keep do that two or three times. No more.

Justice cleared the cobwebs from his head and let magic flow into his sore jaw as Gust refilled his energy. I see her strategy. The dragon binds Gust, Gust breaks free, but in the meantime she fights me. Her spirit is similar to mine, so she has been augmented the same way as I have been. So, I start going all out, so you focus on smashing the dragon. Two shots of metal neared him, but he twisted his body to avoid one and leaped over the second, using the air around him to turn the jump into a leaping kick at the woman.

Mei easily sidestepped the attack, but that was the entire point of it. She realized too late that even without direct contact, the air pressure of the attack was massive. The pressure was mostly neutralized by a haphazard barrier by Silver, but it was still enough to sweep her of her feet. In this situation, even an inexperienced opponent had the perfect chance to end it. But instead,the opponent instead slowly drove their fist back, and then forwards, throwing a highly telegraphed punch surrounded by spinning air. Now I get it. Mei's realization was accompanied by a small jet of flame from her fingertips, forcing Justice to abandon the attack in order to guard his eyes from the spouts. When he reopened his eyes, Mei was once again standing.

That was a perfect attack. How did she recover that fast? At least this time, Justice had got the hang of blocking the fire. I can't just use force against it, I have to drain the flames. He had missed this opportunity, but based on the feedback from his partner, the Guardian was out of power. After the next clash, Gust could destroy the woman. Good. If this ends fast, we might avoid dragging other people to this.

He approached me in melee, so I thought he specializes in it. But he has no martial training at all! That style he uses is from some movie, and he has convinced himself that it works. And with that much augmentation, a normal person would have no chance. But despite the lack of skill, the power was a problem. Silver couldn't go any more rounds against the planar. She would have one chance. One.

But both fighters were suddenly interrupted by footsteps. Someone emerged from the shadows. Justice kept his eyes on Mei: Please go away, please go away. But as the sound neared once more, the person could be recognized. It was his target, Fukui Gorou. He is carrying something heavy. He thinks I don't notice him. He is trying to..ambush me. To save his partner? But Justice had no time to ponder of the motivations, as something flew towards him. Useless, he shouted as he conjured a vertical blade of wind that slashed the object it two. But the spell did not end there, but instead followed to the source and cut into the target.

But as pieces of the object landed near him, Justice felt something sticky on him. He looked down to see the remains of a gas canister and a puddle of gasoline in which he was standing. He then looked up to see a blast of fire he had no time to intercept. This is going to hurt. Help me, partner!

He barely managed to finish his thought before the flames ignited.

Gorou! The man had had all the opportunities to escape, but instead he came back to help her? As the blade of wind pierced Gorou, Mei realized what his plan had been. I won't let your sacrifice go to waste! She saw the planar of wind leap towards the Master, but it was too late. Her flame had already hit the ground, and the enemy vanished in a fiery explosion. Goodbye. As the flames grew higher, Mei called Silver to her side. Are you okay? The dragon nodded: Time to finish this.

The fiery explosion had almost finished him off, but at the last moment, Justice had applied his lesson of draining the flames. And despite his quick reaction and natural toughness, his body was covered in hot ash and small flames that were slowly being extinguished. He now stood inside a small tornado, which was funneling away the smoke, sucking air from the fires, and at the same time providing him with breathable air. That was close. But I guess that is the last of her. Just at that moment, something disrupted his tornado. The woman stepped through the whirling mass of energy, her hand drawn ready to strike. She ignored the heat, she ignored the wind, she ignored all. In her eyes, there was only intent to end him. Her hand slashed down, glimmering with strange energy, and pierced through the remaining defense.

Mei felt her hand sink into the opponent, ripping a massive would in his stomach. The enemy reeled back, but she followed him, focusing even more energy to her artificial hand, which had taken the form of a jagged blade. And as Justice tried to escape, she simply stepped to the side, and grabbed the man. As the man struggled to get free, his head turned for a moment, and that was all Mei needed. With all power her body could gather, she drove the spike through his temple. A second after the blow, the man collapsed to the ground. But as the man hit the soil, everything was covered in green light. A whirling portal like Mei had seen only days before had formed right beneath the body, and she was too slow to stop the body from being sucked into the portal created by the planar. And right after the Master had passed through, the planar followed, closing the gate behind it.

And that was the last thing Mei saw before her body run out of energy, and she collapsed on the street.

The next day

Kagami stepped into the quiet house, wondering what was going on. She had received a strange message from Mei, containing nothing else but the demand to come immediately. The street had marks of battle and lingering traces of magic, both of them boding ill for the people living..well, at least the sender had to be alive.

As she moved further in, she heard conversation from the room: I thought avoiding the police was hard, but invisible assassins are something else. Should I hire you as a full-time bodyguard now? She stepped inside, and saw a strange man talking to Mei, who was currently lying in bed and tapping on a laptop. Mei was covered in scratch marks, burns and various other wounds to which also damaged-looking Silver was administering cures. And the stranger was also heavily bandaged, mostly in his upper chest. Oh, you came. Name's Fukui Gorou, owner of this residence. And currently involved in something very strange involving blood feuds, invisible assassins and this flame-shooting girl and her pet dragon over here. Who also has explained very little, and that little went mostly over my head.

Kagami did not now how to answer to this rant. You're wounded? What happened here? Mei was the one who answered: It was Gust, the last planar. And his partner, a young man who calls himself Justice and Gust "heavenly being". They came here last night, it ended up in a fight and this guy decided to intervene. Gust decided to pay back, but luckily shot high and only almost cut his arm off. Then, I returned the favor, but they retreated trough the Wall. In the same manner that has been damaging it, so I guess we can rule Despair out of this. And "Justice" was hurt, but nothing that can't be fixed.

Can't be fixed? You impaled his brains! If that is minor damage, I would hate to see what is major b your standards. Kagami ignored the shocked man, turning to Mei. Is that why you came here? You thought that he was in danger? But this time, Gorou spoke: It looks like many people want to get their hands on me. I witnessed a match between the late Hideyori Aki and Reaper who works for "Despair" and now they want me dead. This madman was just a bonus. Mei closed her laptop, nodding to Kagami: I just contacted some people. We will be hearing of Reaper soon, and I needed someone to duel him. The kids might do something stupid if they heard of him, so you are our best choice.

Some people? Do I even want to know? Mei did not question whether Gorou wanted to know, but explained: He has been killing normal people with a supernatural method and gloating about it. There is a certain agency who doesn't like it, so they are going to send him an invitation he can't refuse. Until then, we can focus on installing my duel system.

Spirit world

The world was disturbed. Strange energies warped here and there, distorting the landscape and creating a giant cage of floating debris ripped from the ground. But the one behind this destruction did not pay any attention to the damage it had caused, for it stared at the injured man in the middle of the clear. The Chosen of Hope was cunning and brutal. My master's body is already dead, and his soul is fading away. However, death was not going to stop him from completing his vengeance. Carefully, very carefully, the planar began to insert energy to the soul, feeding it, while at the same time finding the invisible lines that bound body to spirit. Those lines were cut, one by one, and as the last one snapped, the soul was free to be stored. Now, all Gust had to do was rebuild the body.

Now, the body of Justice was wracked by strong winds, entering his body and blowing away dying tissue from the corpse and funneling raw energy where there now were holes. That energy slowly repaired the boy, recreating his body while repairing his chest wounds, sucking out skull fragments from his brain and creating a whole new head shaped just like the original, but now fused together with magic. As the process continued, the storm around them began to pick up, tearing into the land more and more and shattering it to tiny pieces of magic that could be absorbed and used as building blocks.

As the spell finished, Gust reversed the separation he had did earlier, and the spirit returned to the newly constructed body lying in the middle of a new-created wasteland. After some moments of silence, Justice opened his eyes. Where are we, partner? Gust explained the place and the fact that he had healed Justice, but did not tell him the extent of damage he had sustained. I see. But why did we fail to win, Gust?

I know. The man continued: We had lost our guidance. We focused too much on stealth and tried to kill a sinner from silence. We tried to prevent the world from knowing of us. But if our power is a gift, then that gift should be shared. Let all the world see our might and learn to fear our heavenly powers! Justice finished the last sentence with a smile on his face, and immediately began to laugh hysterically, collapsing to his back while doing so. I finally see it! I had my doubts, but no I know for sure that I am following the true way!

Gorou's room

So, how does this work again? Kagami was looking at the screen, which now showed a duel invitation from "Reaper". Special match? She had registered her deck and sideboard, and as she accepted the invitation, the conditions of the duel popped up.

Toxic Magic

Players start with 8000 LP. At the end of each player's turn, both players lose 100 LP for each spell played during that turn.

Should I take some spells out? Or add a couple in? After some thinking, Kagami went with the former, taking some non-vital spells away from her deck. As she readied, the match started with a coin flip, giving the first turn to the opponent. A message appeared in the chat: I have no idea how you found me. But you will be destroyed. A Iron Chain Repairman took the field, followed by a set card. Heaven's Lost Property flashed into existence, followed by a quick-play Serial Spell. Both players draw three, discard two and then do it again?

After both players had fixed their hands, Kagami was holding seven and the Reaper two cards. Then, the Repairman struck the ground with a hammer, breaking the ground and summoning Iron Chain Coil. That's just the thing he pulled out it the last game, so better watch out! As Gorou finished his sentence, the two monsters vanished into the summoning circle, and the opposing Guardian emerged. (2400 ATK) Another card was set on the field, and then Reaper played the last card in his hand: Shallow Grave. Both players set a monster from their graveyard? I'll set my Jinzo, just in case.

Then, the reaper began to gather power by sweeping the scythe around. [R: 8000-900=7100] Three cards popped up on the screen: Magic Cylinder, Copycat and Trick Tuner. As they entered the graveyard, the reversed Jinzo was placed in Kagami's hand. As the turn ended, the field took a greenish hue, damaging both players due to the special rule.

[R: 7100-300=6800 LP] [K: 8000-300=7700 LP] (26 cards in deck)

It was now clear what the opponent was planning. But with the multiple draws, he had given Kagami quite many options to defeat him.

On the next step of the Journey:

Sato-san's cards are reaped away, one by one.

Will our group actually be involved in anything this time?

And what of Gust and Justice?

Chapter 11- Foolish Burial