Ha man. Been applying to jobs here and there and still no luck getting one. Could never understand why they ask for experience when it's quite clear someone NEEDS a job first to GET experience. Granted, they look for if you've been an intern or what not, but still, yeesh.

My complaining aside, this actually took me a bit longer than usual to get the chapter. I apologize for that. Just been looking for a job and enjoying my break so far. That and working on my PS-P took a little longer than I had originally anticipated this time around. That being said, the end to this fic is quickly approaching. While it is still a ways away from actually being posted, there are only a few more battles left until we hit the final battle and the epilogue. Man, it's been a real ride with this fic! Makes me want to do an actual Fortissimo fic sometime in the future… Maybe another crossover, but with actual Fortissimo characters? The possibilities are seemingly endless!

Well, that said, here's the new chapter guys!

Chapter 24

"Oh my," Masami commented, rather surprised. Her carriage had just stopped briefly at a nearby town and it looks like it had done so in the nick of time; she certainly hadn't expected Ai Space to show up so suddenly. But thinking on it, she highly doubted there would ever come a time when one could actually predict when it would appear.

Sitting down on a nearby chair, Masami looked out through her window, unfazed by Ai Space. "Well now…" she began to speak aloud to herself. "I wonder just I should do now."

Should she immediately go after Ryuichi like she had decided just earlier? Or should she wait and see what happens? After all, Ai Space does have a 13 hour time limit before it consumes the real world. And that is plenty of time to act.

"Hmm." Masami lightly brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face. She smiled lightly. "Well, I suppose waiting an hour or two won't be a bad thing to do…"

The beautiful magus allowed herself a chuckle. Yes, waiting around a bit wouldn't be so bad a thing. What was the rush, after all? She had plenty of time to see what would happen first.

Elsewhere, team magi and Katsumi could only stare numbly up at the sky. "Damn it, not again…" Naruto muttered in frustration. Having been enraptured by what Katsumi had just told him and his friends and by the slight progress they had just been making on figuring out some of Odin's capabilities, Ai Space suddenly appearing was definitely not something they had needed.

"…What should we do?" Miki asked everyone else. Taking into consideration just how many participants remained, the only one left aside from Odin who didn't have some kind of personal connection to them was the person that had fought Yuko. And he could be anywhere.

"For now, we should probably stay put," Ryuichi spoke up. "I… don't exactly feel like we should be going out and trying to find someone to fight." His face scrunched up in distate.

"Yeah…" Miki agreed, frowning. She could understand what he was getting at. Thinking back on it, everyone they've fought so far had pretty much sought them out or had simply been in the area and took the initiative. They had simply been fighting back was all. But actively going out into the Ai Space covered world to look for someone to fight and therefore kill left a very bad taste in her mouth. And she was sure this was the same for Ryuichi and Naruto.

"But damn," Naruto spoke up, running a hand through his hair. "Why now? I know there is no such a thing as 'good timing' for this, but, seriously, why now?" he said aloud.

"Master," Hanako spoke up, calmly placing a hand on his shoulder. "Please just take it easy. Just because we got interrupted doesn't mean we have to slightly start panicking."

Naruto grumbled a bit, but nodded. "Yeah, good point." He tried to smile.

Katsumi chuckled, getting all of their attention. "Your magical weapon makes a good point. Nothing good comes out of being frustrated like that. Especially not in our situation," she said calmly. She looked all around her, observing Ai Space. "Huh."

"What is it?" Miki asked.

"Nothing," Katsumi answered, dismissing Miki's question with a wave of the hand. "Just me looking Ai Space over again." A sigh escaped her lips. "Even with all my experience, I still can't figure out just how exactly he made it. Or what he's doing to hide his presence so well…"

"We're sure you'll figure it out someday," Ryuichi now said, trying to cheer her up.

The older magus snickered at Ryuichi's words, but nodded gratefully nonetheless. "Yeah." She turned to leave. "Well, it's about time I head back for now."

"Eh? But what about Ai Space?" Miki asked. To her sides, her friends nodded in agreement.

"I have a feeling a fight is already going to take place, assuming it hasn't already started," Katsumi answered, her expression devoid of emotion. "Give it about a half hour or so. I'm sure it'll end by then." She started to walk away, back towards the village where her house was.

She did pause mid-step as she recalled something. "Oh yeah. Nearly forgot," she spoke up, making team magi perk up. "Watch out for that girl, Masami. She may look harmless, but something feels really off about her. So watch your backs."

"E-Eh?!" Naruto stuttered. He looked to Ryuichi and Miki, the two of them looking as shocked as he felt by Katsumi's sudden words. Even Hanako, usually a bundle of naivety and carefreeness outside of battle-related things looked taken aback. "Hey wait, why do you-?"

Katsumi didn't deem it fit to even turn around to answer, let alone answer his question at all. She just gave him a two fingered salute without looking back or slowing her pace. "I know it's a shocker… but trust me. That girl is trouble."

And with that, she walked away, leaving team magi to stand there in a stupor over what they had just been told.

With Yuko, the red eyed girl groaned tiredly as she ran circles around Katsu, trying to stay out of reach while looking for an opening. But so far, she was having no luck. "Damn it!" she yelled, feeling frustrated.

The two of them have been fighting it out for just a moment or two now and already Yuko was beginning to feel the pressure. Having used up some of her mana already from her training in Enhalt, she didn't dare to use her energy blasts or Enhalt itself too often, lest she just wear herself out faster. But Katsu had kept on the attack the entire time, forcing her back.

What's more, because of their last confrontation, she was already down one blade so she only had three left. She had carefully commanded them to attack his legs, hoping to slow him, but Katsu was deceptively fast for his size and had dodged her earlier attacks with practiced ease.

"You're really beginning to annoy me," Katsu said, sounding as annoyed as he said. He was getting very upset at his complete lack of ranged attacks. What's more, his magical weapon's ability to instantly destroy whatever it hits was its only real ability due to its sole focus on complete destruction. He was beginning to regret that. As it was right now, it was a stalemate, with him being unable to land a hit on Yuko while Yuko's blades were also unable to cut him.

"Right back at you," Yuko retorted.

She stopped running and jumped back as far as she could just as Katsu leapt forward with his magical weapon raised high. Only narrowly avoiding the blow, Yuko unconsciously gulped. That had been a close call. Still, she didn't let the pressure fully get to her and she commanded one of her blades to shoot past Katsu and aimed for the back of his leg, hoping to sever a tendon.

Katsu simply raised his leg high enough to avoid it and then slammed it down on the blade. The blade was promptly crushed into the ground hard enough to leave a crater and kick up dust. As the attack didn't come from a magical weapon, her blade was fine, but now it was pinned under Katsu's foot.

"There we go," Katsu thought happily as he got ready to slam his magical weapon on the blade and annihilate it.

"No!" Yuko yelled in horror. Immediately concentrating as much mana as possible into the pinned blade, said blade promptly fired a powerful blast of mana. It was so sudden and so powerful that it sent the understandably shocked Katsu high into the sky.

Gasping tiredly now – her mana reserves took a bit of a dip from her blast just now – Yuko saw an opportunity. While not without its risks, she felt it was now or never.

She had her remaining two blades rush after the airborne Katsu, intent on slicing him a bit before he could regain his senses. As the blades launched themselves at breakneck speed, Yuko silently recalled the previously pinned blade to her side and waited.

One blade went for Katsu's face. The man, in spite of his current position, managed to twist his head to the right, narrowly avoiding it. The next blade went for his back, but Katsu spun as he now fell, the tips of the blade just barely grazing him. Even then, all it hit was his jounin flak jacket, so no damage was done and in turn, the man was spared from the blade's unique properties.

The two blades immediately made for a follow up, but Yuko commanded them to back off upon seeing Katsu raised his right arm menacingly, his magical weapon shining ominously.

Katsu continued to fall, the man readying himself for landing. He also raised his right fist too, his gauntlet at the ready. He couldn't help but grin now as an idea came to mind. It could backfire on him, but it would at least ensure Yuko would stop being on the defensive so much.

"What is he…?" Yuko thought, confounded as her blades returned to her sides.

"Ha!" Katsu then yelled as he landed while also slamming his magical weapon into the ground.

Yuko's eyes widened as she was immediately forced to jump back a few times. The ground was beginning to disappear.

Having immediately jumped the instant his fist met the ground, Katsu now stood just several meters away from Yuko. Behind him a considerable distance, the ground continued to fade away from existence.

"If you don't wish to possibly fall forever," Katsu began. "I suggest you stop dancing around and truly fight me." He took three steps towards the red eye girl, a small but feral grin on his face. He could practically taste victory already.

Yuko gulped, this time consciously. Looks like the stakes just got raised.

"Hmmm…" pondered a man aloud, watching the battle from afar. "I see."

He stood atop mountain far off into the distance. In spite of said distance, he was still capable of discerning what was going on from his current location. Such was the sharpness of his eyesight. "Using concept magic, he destroys the 'ground' of Ai Space. By focusing more mana into his magical weapon than what it usually requires, he made the 'effect' continuous so that the ground continues to disappear. Innovative enough."

The man calmly gazed as the battle carried, watching in mild interest as Yuko tried to split her attention between Katsu and the ground.

"A magical weapon originally split between four different aspects," he surmised by just looking at Yuko's blades in action, the three circling Katsu sporadically. Every time it looked like Katsu would hit it with his own magical weapon, the blade retreated. "She's already lost one from her last battle with him. And now her feeble attacks now are nothing more than a ploy."

Yes, with his many years of experience, he was able to effortlessly figure out by observation alone what Yuko's magical weapon, Overload, was capable of. Each blade affected a different sense; one affected a person's sense of pain, another affect one's sense of proprioception, a third affected sight and the last blade affected hearing. The one that affected proprioception had been destroyed by Katsu during the last battle and now Yuko was down to the blades that affected pain, sight, and hearing.

However, these effects could only be brought about by the blades themselves making contact with the target. The effects wouldn't be passed onto the target if struck with a magical blast, which the blades have shown themselves on numerous occasions to be capable of. But the man could also tell that there was one more thing to Yuko's magical weapon, something she had yet to actually demonstrate.

"I wonder if she will be able to do so in this battle," he thought aloud. Not that it really mattered to him if Yuko was able to use her trump card. As it was, this battle pretty much signaled the halfway point of Ragnarok. Only a few more battles remained until Ragnarok came to an end. And that would be when he final obtains the 'ultimate magic.'

The man continued to watch as the battle played out. He supposed he could stick around for a minute or two longer.

Elsewhere, in Konoha, to be more specific, Katsumi had been in the midst of walking back to her house. However, that had particular 'goal' had changed.

"This sensation…!" she thought. She couldn't quite recognize it and she also highly doubted that team magi or anyone else could feel it, but she's always been particularly attuned to sensing others' presence. And this one was one that she hadn't felt in a very, very long time. "Tatsuya… is that you?"

Taking half a minute to get a feel for where it was located, Katsumi quickly turned around and made a run for it. If this presence truly belonged to who she thought it did, then this could very well be her one and only chance to end Ragnarok before it can continue.

She just hoped she could make it there in time.

Back with Yuko and Katsu, the two rushed across the ground, doing their best to stay away from the fading areas of it. All the while, the two of them did battle, but like before it was a stalemate.

They have taken their fight to the forest and it was here that Yuko found herself having a bit of an easier time fighting Katsu. Using her blades, she sliced down trees and had them falling down all over the place, obstructing Katsu's paths and some even almost crushing him. She also scattered her blades throughout the forest, with one taking pot shots at the man with very weak magical blasts

But she was only having marginally better luck fighting Katsu than out in the open field. Katsu ducked and leapt over the falling trees with surprising grace and the few times it looked like a tree would hit him, he would just punch it either with his left fist, shattering the tree like nothing, or with his right fist which actually would cause the tree to fade away into nothingness.

"This is getting way too out of hand!" Yuko thought in worry as she hid behind one tree while she silently commanded one blade to sail just a few inches above the ground, hidden by the grass and trees. It flew in Katsu's direction, hoping to cut him across his foot. Since this blade affected his hearing and would cause the sense to increase in potency, Yuko hoped that the sensory overload would throw the man off edge.

But Katsu's eyes were sharp and he had years of training and experience under his belt and so didn't fall for the attempt. As the blade was too low for him to immediately hit with his own magical weapon, he had to make do with kicking the very tip of the blade with the sole of his sandal, avoiding taking damage and sending the blade flying back.

"Damn it," Yuko muttered through gritted teeth.

Katsu allowed himself a moment to look smug. "You're not bad for someone so untrained in combat, but I can tell you're already reaching the end of your rope," he said, just loud enough for Yuko to hear. He knew that she couldn't be hiding too far away; she had to be close enough in order to know where he is and to also mentally control her blade without losing track of it too. "Your mana reserves are pitifully low by magi standards and that's why you haven't been using those little magical blasts of your so often now. Just controlling your blades while fighting is draining enough as it is."

He slowly started to move forward. Seeing as fighting as if waging war wasn't getting him anywhere, perhaps going for a more stealthy approach would be the key to victory. Silently and slowly, he moved towards the nearest tree, walking directly up it by using mana as a replacement for chakra to perform his treewalking.

"And that Enhalt technique of yours… I've noticed you've yet to use it," he continued, throwing his voice around so that she wouldn't be able to immediately figure out where he was. "I bet it is because using it would drain more of your mana faster than your magical blasts."

Yuko's right eyebrow twitched in both frustration and growing nervousness. She had lost track of him right after her sneak attack failed. Recalling her blades to her side, she crouched and began to slowly make her way around the area. "Where did he go?" she thought, looking around almost erratically. Up, down, left, right…. She couldn't spot him.

Stepping on a twig, she nearly bolted up in shock, but she kept her cool and slowly removed her foot from it. The snapping of the twig had been very soft, so soft that not even Katsu should have heard it, even with his heightened hearing as a magus. Still, preferring to play it safe, Yuko picked up the twig and threw hard into the distance, with the hopes that it'll hit something and make a loud enough sound to distract Katsu.

Sure enough, the twig landed and broke apart. And while not exactly loud, it was enough for Katsu to hear.

The older of the two battling magi looked in its direction from his current spot on a tree branch. "A distraction," he thought, immediately seeing through the trickery. "How amateurish."

"I know that you threw that twig, girl," he spoke, letting his annoyance show through. Normally, he would keep silent and just go about finding the girl, but even for someone as quick to anger as him, he knew when psychological tactics like speaking from an unknown place could come quite in handy. "And while not a bad attempt, it will take more than that to throw me off."

Despite his bravado, Katsu couldn't quite help but feel annoyed with the current situation now already. The grass in the forest was considerably long, enough for someone as petite as Yuko to hide amongst it by crouching. Even with his heightened eyesight, spotting her amongst the grass would be rather difficult, especially if she kept still and was a good distance away from him. Not only that, but since Ai Space didn't exactly have a sun or any other form of light, Yuko had the added benefit of considerable darkness. He could return to the ground, but then that would simply leave him open to Yuko's blades from all kinds of angles. At least by sticking to the tree tops he had bit more room to maneuver.

"Why can't this guy just shut up?" Yuko thought as she slowly crouch-walked through the grass. She had meant to think that in an annoyed mental tone of voice, but instead the thought had been somewhat laced with fear. If one was capable of knowing her thoughts, one couldn't blame her for thinking so. After all, Katsu held an overwhelming advantage over her. Strength, speed, stamina, skill, experience, he had it all. What's more, while he lacked ranged attacks, his magical weapon, World Ender, made him unbelievably dangerous to not just her, but everyone else as well.

And now Katsu was putting all those years of shinobi training and experience to use and it was unnerving the hell out of her.

"Now what do I do?" Yuko thought as she kept on the move. Her options were incredibly limited. As their battle so far has been nothing more than one big stalemate, attacking now would only reignite said stalemate. What's more, as she had no idea where he currently was, launching a sudden attack would just give away her location and let him get the drop on her. Using Enhalt or her magical blasts would just up mana and that was something that had to be avoided at all costs. She could use her ultimate attack, but that would use up all of her mana for sure and it took a bit of time to charge. If she wanted to use it, she'd have to keep him preoccupied. And what's more, the ground was still disappearing from Katsu's earlier strike.

"Just what had he been thinking?!" Yuko thought again, shaking her head in disbelief. She wasn't sure if his attack would destroy all of Ai Space or not, but she knew for certain that the ground would continue to disappear unless one of them died and Ai Space deactivated. And while the forest they were currently in was more than several kilometers away from their previous battleground, it would only be a matter of time before the ground here began to fade away. The clock was ticking and ticking fast. And nothing else was on her side right now. All that was left was this sick game of hide and seek.

"I'm growing tired of this, girl!" Katsu yelled out now, startling Yuko, but otherwise she remained still.

As for Katsu himself, he wasn't sure what to make of this either. Like Yuko, his options were drastically limited. His magical weapon was only meant for close range use and he had no way of ending the stalemate between the two of them if they were to fight like before again; Yuko's control over her blades' movements was nothing short of impressive. What's more, his mana reserves, much larger than average for a magus, were draining fast as his magical weapon, being a conceptual one, was very taxing. And his attack from earlier, making the ground fade away, could just as easily come and bite him in the ass.

Lightly leaping from one tree to another a dozen meters away, Katsu took a second to survey the ground below, looking for Yuko, but no luck. He had to hold back the 'tsk' that threatened to escape his lips. Looks like his original plan of attack now was working against. Him and Yuko were yet again in another stalemate, but of a different kind than before.

Then his eyes narrowed as something came to mind. "Not unless I turn her distraction attempt against her…" he thought, his growing annoyance now ebbing away a bit. He forgot that while he was a trained shinobi, Yuko was still more or less a civilian, albeit an empowered civilian. Since she lacked the training and instincts of shinobi such as himself, she would at least prove to be more suspect to falling for meager tricks than he would.

Reaching down towards his shuriken holster and pulling one out, Katsu flung it at a tree more than twenty meters away.

The shuriken, one of the few he had left, hit its mark with a dull yet surprisingly loud 'thock.'

Nearby, Yuko saw the shuriken hit the tree and lightly jumped from shock and mild fright. But she managed to keep herself from flat out panicking and stayed low.

"That kunai… the tree it just hit is barely more than ten yards away…" she thought, anxiety slowly getting to her. And judging by the angle of the shuriken, it looked to her as if it had been thrown from a downwards angel. Meaning either Katsu jumped and threw the shuriken… or he was in the trees.

"Oh man…" the red eyed magus thought in worry. While she could now tell just which direction Katsu lied in, there was no guarantee that he was still in that same general spot. What's more, if he really was up in the tree tops, he could just swoop in on her at the drop of a hat, especially since from up there, there would be nothing to try and obstruct him with, nothing to impede his progress unlike down on the ground where the thick tree trunks and roots and long grass would've at least given him slight pause on how to step.

Commanding her blades to stay still, she grabbed hold of them and tied them with a string to her side for now. If she had to attack, then a simple thought would be all it takes to free them and launch them into action.

Silently judging the distance between her current spot and where Katsu could be, Yuko opted to circle around, moving away from where the shuriken-impaled tree and then moving towards the direction it had come, making sure to keep a distance of at least twenty yards away from the tree in question.

As for Katsu, the man now slowly made his way to the right, moving from one branch to the branch on the other side of the tree. He had to go about this particular action slowly for if his magical weapon so much as grazed any part of the tree, the entire thing would simply vanish and that would immediately give away his position. He did entertain the notion of dismissing his magical weapon for now, both to conserve mana and to make some of his movements easier to do, but decided not to; he'd need it in order to combat Yuko's blades, which moved at speeds comparable to his own. Summoning his magical weapon, while fast, was not instantaneous and that could cost him in battle.

"Just a bit longer," Katsu mentally reasoned with himself. He sure that if he kept this up for just a little longer, Yuko would undoubtedly show herself. She was just a 'civilian,' untrained in the ways of shinobi and therefore would undoubtedly be feeling far more pressure in this situation than he would. She'd crack under the psychological damage and reveal herself soon enough, he reasoned. He was certain he could afford to wait until then.

From afar, the man continued to watch this play out, his arms folded across his chest. He had to say that this was proving to be rather intriguing; it had been a very long time since he's ever seen a battle between magi play out in such a manner. While not exactly rare, it was still uncommon enough to have a certain sense of novelty about it.

However, as interesting as he found the current battle, he still had his senses sharp enough to pick up anything else that might be of interest.

Looking off farther than the forest, the man quirked an eyebrow. Although the distance was too much for even him to fully see anything, he could still feel a presence approaching him quickly. "Katsumi…"

The woman in question was still quickly approaching. But the distance between Konoha and the spot she was heading for was considerable. She could easily cover that distance in an instant, but doing so would undoubtedly alert her 'target' and make him scamper off before she could do anything. If she was to finally see him after all this time, then she'd have to move slowly.

"Come on, come on," she muttered to herself, her expression serious and grim. "Let me make it there… before he vanishes on me again!"

Back to the man, he frowned. He recalled how sharp her senses were, but still to see her in action again like that left him just a tad bit disgruntled. Sparing a glance back to the forest, he could see that the ground was continuing to vanish and now that vanishing ground was reaching the forest.

Nodding to himself, he determined that within the next few minutes the battle would come to an end, be it with one of the magi slaying the other or with both of them dying due to the ground giving way. But regardless, it mattered little to him. He had seen what he needed to see and that was that. It was time for him to leave again. He'll simply return when the time to truly reveal himself was more appropriate.

Turning around, the man took exactly three steps before simply vanishing.

"No!" Katsumi cried out, skidding to a stop. The presence she had sensed just vanished. "Damn it! I could've had him right there!" she yelled, for the first time in a very long time, feeling angry.

But more than that, she felt confused, lost. Just how had Tatsuya done that? One second, she could sense him clearly, but the next she couldn't. He had literally just vanished into thin air without a trace. She wasn't sure if perhaps he had somehow exited Ai Space or if there was some other trick to it, but it didn't matter anymore. She had lost track of him.

"Damn it!" she yelled. Taking a moment to regain her composure, she simply huffed. "Alright then. I'll get you next time, Tatsuya. I swear it." With that now in mind, she turned around left. Time to go cool her head for good now.

Back with Yuko and Katsu, the two continued their 'game' of hide and seek. Yuko continued to keep low and move towards the direction that the shuriken had come from.

As for Katsu, the man decided just to stay where he was until he finally spotted Yuko. He was certain that the girl would come to him soon enough.

He didn't quite know just how right he was; the vanishing ground was finally beginning to reach the forest. He and Yuko knew this because when the ground vanished, the now vanished area became pure whiteness, pure nothingness. And this same 'whiteness' also inadvertently served as a light source.

Blinding white light poured from the nothingness that once was something and it illuminated the forest.

And Yuko had the misfortune of facing the direction it came from. "Gah!" she grunted lowly from surprise as the light blinded her. She raised her arm to try and cover her eyes a bit while also diverting her eyes to the side.

However, by doing this, she also stopped moving about.

And unfortunately, Katsu, thanks to the newfound light, was able to spot Yuko. And the poor girl had the misfortune of being only several feet away from the tree Katsu currently was in.

"Finally!" he thought in triumph. The light of the emptiness that once was ground reflect off of his magical weapon ominously as he readied for an attack. Without a single sound, he leapt down from the tree with his right fist raised high. He will strike Yuko herself with his magical weapon and put an end to her and to this battle. "My son, this is yet another step forward," he thought as he dropped down. "I swear, I'll win this entire damned ritual and bring you back!"

However, while being spotted was very unfortunate for the red eyed girl, she did have the luck of haphazardly looking up and spotting Katsu just in time.

"Shit!" She thought. He was only a few feet above, easily enough for him to just strike her now. She couldn't have that happen. "Enhalt!" she cried out and the technique in question activated. With mana pumping and releasing itself from her feet, she was instantly moved back several yards.

"Damn it all!" Katsu roared, his one opportunity having been wasted now.

"Guh." Yuko wasn't sure if she should feel glad that he was now out in the open or scared that the stalemate would continue until the ground beneath them vanished. But either way, she was starting to really run low on mana as Enhalt just now had used up quite a bit. She could probably only afford to use it maybe once more. "But where to?!" The ground vanishing now was slowly reaching the forest. It'd only be a minute or so more before it reached them and running out of the forest out into open field didn't sound particularly advantageous to her.

"Just die already, girl!" Katsu yelled. Now his temper had finally reached its breaking point. All that time waiting had gone to waste!

Yuko started backpedaling, willing her blades to free themselves and start and launching themselves at Katsu, who now charged at her at full speed. But her blades were just as fast and they reached Katsu in an instant.

But the man was as agile as he was strong and leapt over one blade aimed at his leg while simultaneously tilting his head to dodge the second. The third blade went for his left arm, but by twisting his body in midair, he dodged it perfectly. But Yuko wasn't done yet, commanding the blades to immediately circle around and attack him again. All blades went for his left side, wanting to stay clear of his magical weapon.

Like before, Katsu was quick on his feet and dodged. He'd have lashed with his magical weapon, but the blades were aiming at him from an awkward angle and so he couldn't do anything.

Yuko kept on backpedaling, but she wasn't doing so fast enough. Her speed simply couldn't compare to Katsu's and running backwards simply wasn't as fast as running forward or to the side. As much as she wanted to not do so, she had to had use Enhalt again.

"Enhalt!" she cried out, using the technique to backpedal at a much faster pace. Recalling her blades in the process, she kept her eyes on Katsu who still kept on approaching.

She was so focused on him that she nearly ended up backing up into a tree. "Gah!" Having used Enhalt, she nearly crashed into the tree with enough force to nearly break it in half. Didn't help that she nearly felt something stab her in the back.

Sparing a glance, she saw that she had nearly backed onto the shuriken Katsu had tossed earlier. Her mind locked onto it and suddenly said mind started to work rapidly, plans trying to come to mind.

"This is the end, you little bitch!" Katsu cried out as he kept on charging. Yuko looked up just in time to see Katsu show up right in front of her face. He tackled her hard and she slammed into the tree, just to the left of the shuriken and nearly breaking it in two this time.

Katsu reared back his fist, intent on striking Yuko dead with his magical weapon. "Only one of us will live to see the end of this ritual. Only one of us will get to see our family again," he growled in a low voice.

"Gah!" Yuko could feel the fingers of his left hand tighten around her neck, but still she struggled. At her command, her blades flung themselves at Katsu's now exposed left arm. This caused the man to move off of Yuko lest he be hit by them. This gave Yuko the opening she needed to backpedal again just as Katsu lunged forward with a punch.

His magical weapon struck the tree and it vanished in an instant, the shuriken embedded in it falling to the ground.

Looking at it, Yuko suddenly came up with an idea. It was risky to an almost fatal degree, but she had no other ideas coming to mind. With that in her head, she used Enhalt, but in reverse, using the mana built up in her legs to spring forward instead of backwards.

This took Katsu by surprise, but he welcomed it nonetheless. Shifting into position, he lashed out with a vicious and well-aimed jab at Yuko, but the girl ducked and rolled under him, grabbing the shuriken off the ground in the process.

"What?!" Katsu growled to himself as he then saw her blades sail over his head and back to her. Feeling his mana reserves now beginning to reach empty, he simply turned around and gave chase.

Yuko lifted her left hand and harmlessly caught her three blades and she turned and made a run for it now that Katsu was after her. "Let this work, let this work…." she thought over and over again.

As Katsu was much faster than her, she didn't make it very far before he was about to fully close in on her. "I have to do this now!" she thought. "For my sisters!"

She suddenly skidded to a stop and turned around suddenly, she flung three objects from her hands.

Katsu's eyes widened at her sudden actions, but was hardly truly fazed by it; he ducked under the three blades heading for him with ease. "She threw her own blades?" he thought in confusion. Well, he wasn't going to dwell on it too much. As it was, he was already upon her and her blades, fast as they are, wouldn't make it back in time. He even heard one of them make a 'thock' sound as it struck a nearby tree.

Now only a few feet away from Yuko, Katsu performed a leg sweep, knocking the red eyed girl off her feet and onto the ground, getting a pained cry out of her.

And as the girl looked up, she saw Katsu literally standing over her, raising his fist. "Goodbye, girl," he said in a low voice, the man practically tasting victory now. "Your death will bring me yet another step closer to seeing my son again."

But before he could bring his fist/magical weapon down on her and kill her for good, something completely unexpected happened. He gasped lightly in pain as he felt something stab him in his leg. Looking down, his eyes widened to an almost comical degree as he saw Yuko's raised right arm move away from his left leg. And in her right hand, she held one of her blades.

"W-What?" he gasped out. But he was unable to continue speaking right after that as suddenly, he felt the pain in his leg intensify before the pain began to spread to the rest of his body. He collapsed to his knees just as Yuko crawled out from under him.

"Guh…" Yuko groaned tiredly as she stood. After all that, she had finally managed to get him. She hadn't expected her idea to actually work. After she had grabbed the shuriken just a moment ago, she had tossed it along with two of her blades at Katsu. Since the shuriken was larger than average, almost the same size as one of her blades, she had hoped that Katsu wouldn't notice it in the toss-up. It would've been so easy for him to have easily noticed that one of the three objects tossed at him just now was his shuriken, especially since it ended up hitting a tree again, but it was only thanks to luck that he had been too focused on killing her to see that.

"Could've so easily gone wrong," she muttered to herself, backing away from Katsu. Letting the blade in her hand float out of it and above her right shoulder, she recalled the other two blades that had been floating aimlessly to her side. "Good thing I managed to stick him with the Pain Overload blade…" she thought.

Indeed, Katsu's sense of pain, as a result of having been stabbed by this particular blade, was continually increasing. As it now was, the man was in so much pain, he literally was unable to move. He couldn't even lift his head or flap his tongue or even move his eyes without ever increasing pain striking his nerves.

He was however able to make some noise. "D-Dammmmnnnnn….it…." he managed to drawl out.

Yuko's eyes drooped. Just looking at him was painful to look at. She knew what her blades were capable from the very beginning, but to still see it in action was something. However, she was snapped out of her funk upon looking and seeing a bright light beginning to feel the forest. The ground was continuing to vanish and it'd only be a minute longer or so before it reached their current spot.

Her blades lined up side by side above her as she backed away from Katsu by a dozen meters, Yuko looked at the man sadly, but with determination burning in her eyes. "I'm sorry…" she whispered. "But I can't afford to lose here. I have to get my family back."

As she concentrated the rest of her mana into her blades, the blades in question glowed brightly in unison and in different bright colors.

And then nearly a minute and a half later, the blades reached full power and Yuko closed and opened her eyes as she called out the name of her ultimate attack.

"Overblast!"

And that's that for this chapter. As you can see, this chapter was focused almost entirely on Yuko and Katsu. They've had their time in the limelight and you can expect them to have a good portion of the next chapter with all eyes on them too as I reveal the aftermath of Yuko's attack along with what it does.

Up next is some more plot development and then I'll already start building up to the next magi battle. Get ready everyone, this is going get serious real soon.

Hope you liked the chapter! Until next time!