Part 4
---Top of the Great Tree, [Underwood].
Kuro Usagi had positioned herself on the dense growth of Water Tree leaves.
From that vantage point, she could oversee the whole battlefield and at the same time, that position offered her a kind of protection as enemies who might notice her would have a hard time climbing up to where she was.
Watching the black whirlwinds that was Percher, Asuka and Deen’s brave standoff with the enemies, Kuro Usagi’s eyes were filled with worry.
“……Asuka-san and Yō-san aren’t weak. Logically speaking, the talents that are germinating in their bodies should be much stronger than Kuro Usagi’s. Just that when placed beside Izayoi-san, they seem to be cherry blossoms that are late to bloom…… given ten years, they would surely grow to become a one of the handful that are counted as a strong force to be reckoned with.”
But in human terms, especially for those teenage girls, ten years would be too long. Izayoi was a little more mature in that sense but if it were to be any normal teenage girl or boy to set a goal to be achieved by the end of ten years, that would surely be quite a painful drudgery for them.
And even as she thought of that, Kuro Usagi was also at a lost as to the method to guide them along in their development.
Yō’s Gift could not be activated by those that weren’t encompassed in her Phylogenetic tree. Hence even if she were to get close to Kuro Usagi who belonged to the Moon faeries, there would be nothing to be gained from the friendship.
On the other hand, Asuka’s Gift seems to have a glimmer of hope but it was still in the guessing stage and couldn’t be confirmed as of yet. No, to be exact, even if the guess was right, that Gift would most probably be something that Kuro Usagi has no way to help with either.
“Now all we can do is only to wait for them to blossom faster……Kuro Usagi must also put in her utmost effort to complete her mission……”
“Yahoo~~~!”
---*Bam!* At that moment, Kuro Usagi heard a childish voice and what seemed to be a head of a small child slamming into her from behind.
And following that, they fell.
“……Eh? EYa… ahhhh!”
“Waaaaahhhhhhhhh! ♪”
The leaves and branches rustled and snapped as the two of them tumbled down. Fortunately for those obstacles, they had only fallen a few ways down before coming to a stop. But the current moment did not allow room for such nonsense and moreover, there could only be one Baka who would do such a stupid thing at this time. Kuro Usagi was so angry that her rabbit ears couldn’t stop quivering as she spun around to shout at the person behind her:
“SHI…SHIROYASHA-SAMA! Since you’ve already arrived, you should have immediately gone to clean up all those unruly criminals---”
“Wow~! Wow~! Wow~! It’s…It’s a real moon rabbit desu! And those are rabbit ears too! A petite appearance, innocent, tough and unyielding character and also the symbol of selflessness in their dedicated tasks! It’s my first time seeing one!♪”
“---…Eh….”
……who is she? Kuro Usagi thought silently to herself.
A black-haired teenage girl whom she haden’t seen before had just attacked her. Kuro Usagi had originally been stunned motionless at the same spot due to this unexpected turn of events but her rabbit ears soon turned red as she felt a pair of small hands rubbing at her breasts and she quickly tossed the girl in panic.
“Hm….Swish!~”
“Aya~!”
The mysterious girl was tossed spinning into the crown of the Great Tree.
Pulling out her [Vajra Replica], Kuro Usagi accosted the girl:
“You… Who are you?! For you to be able to get that close to Kuro Usagi’s back…… what kind of trick did you use?”
“Even if you put it that way, I do not know how to answer that for I had just simply leaned closer to you.”
The black-haired girl had tilted her head in a cutesy manner and didn’t seem to be lying about it.
And that only made Kuro Usagi heighten her vigilance against the girl.
“……Are you our enemy?”
“Nn, that’s right.” The black-haired girl replied with a radiant smile.
In a flash, lightning surrounded the crown of the tree.
The [Vajra Replica] was crackling intensely as Kuro Usagi took hold of the spear shaped out of the holy lightning to make a direct shot at the girl. The waves of heat and sparks that swirled around the lightning spear had also set the water tree leaves that held large amounts of water aflame and the surroundings had changed into a sea of flames in an instant.
That was a strike that didn’t leave any doubts about the result.
Though it wasn’t in her nature to act first without further talk, but Kuro Usagi felt that it wasn’t the time to fret about this sort of minor details. For that girl to appear before her at this sort of time, she wouldn’t be someone that could be counted as a small fry.
While adjusting the intensity of the lightning to prevent the fire from spreading further to the other tree leaves, Kuro Usagi seemed rather worn out as she turned away with a sigh:
“……Even though it’s not the time to play with little kids, I’ve still held back……”
“---Is that so? Well then, I will play my cards seriously from now too.”
Kuro Usagi had only managed to turn her head slightly when she caught sight of the eight daggers that were rapidly approaching her after being thrown.
You must be lying right?
It was already impossible to dodge them all and Kuro Usagi had to release some holy lightning from her [Vajra Replica] to deflect the daggers.
Even then, it wasn’t enough with just that for two daggers that seemed to hunger for a layer of her chest and her belly respectively had to be dodged by her by spinning to the side. And despite dodging them all, the speed of the daggers was still pretty impressive.
Not only being successful in sneaking up from behind and withstanding the lightning attack from [Vajra Replica]……and to follow up with an attack on Kuro Usagi……!
Facing this enemy whose powers were unknown even if one were to judge by her appearance, Kuro Usagi couldn’t help but feel the trickle of cold sweat on her back.
On the contrary, the girl---Rin’s eyes were sparkling as she appraised Kuro Usagi with a look of admiration.
Impressive! I didn’t expect her to dodge that with that kind of reflex and in that sort of timing!
The daggers had been thrown by her with the certainty that they would hit their target who wouldn’t be able to dodge in time, but Kuro Usagi had surpassed her expectations by escaping without a single scrape.
Rin had actually thought that Kuro Usagi wasn’t much of an opponent for she made such a rudimentary mistake of facing ones back to an opponent, but in that next moment, her belittlement had changed to envy.
“As expected of a [Highborn of Little Garden]. That was quite admirable.”
“……you took the words out of Kuro Usagi’s mouth. What kind of trick did you use just now?”
“Secret♪. But since Usagi-san is so kawaii, I will be willing to tell you the answer if you guess close enough!”
Rin raised her right hand to swear by it.
Was that a show of confidence? Or was that just a playful action meant to provoke?
Kuro Usagi judged the distance between them seriously but Rin just smiled wryly as she said:
“Just saying in advance, my mission is just to stop Usagi-san”
“……?”
“Because… isn’t it Usagi-san’s mission to shoot down [The Death Eye of Balor]? If you were to succeed, it would really be quite troublesome for us. So, I’ve come to stop you.” As Rin honestly made her intent clear, a low rolling rumble came from the ground in the South-eastern plains that didn’t seem to be from the army of Titans nor was it the roar of Deen as it displayed its overwhelming might.
But it was one that was much heavier and lower in intonation. Seeming like the sound of a huge sized earthworm squirming around in the ground. “This kind of feeling…..Could …Could that be Demon Lord Balor?”
“Mhm. You’ve guessed it right. I actually thought that we would only use the Demonic Eye…… but I didn’t expect to find such a use to the [Book of Invasions] as well.”
Kuro Usagi’s face turned pale instantly.
[The Book of Invasions] was one of the [Authority of Host Master]s that the Titan tribes had fought over, ten years prior and now it’s said to be in the hands of the enemy. Kuro Usagi immediately perked up her rabbit ears to listen and scout out the situation on the ground.
There should be someone near [Underwood] that is holding this summoning ritual!
As she collected the information with her ears, Kuro Usagi’s worst fears were confirmed.
At the South-eastern plains where the [Draco Greif] Alliance and the Titan tribes were locked in a fierce fight---a woman in long robes was starting up the summoning ritual before an open grimoire at a position behind the armies.
Without a doubt, that would be the same witch[40] who had kidnapped Leticia.
“---Uu…… Kuro Usagi won’t let you succeed in that……!”
If Demon Lord Balor were to be summoned in addition to the huge dragon that was already in the skies, it would definitely spell the end of the Participants. Hence, Kuro Usagi started to dash forward in a hurry with the agility and speed like that of an escaping rabbit.
However, she soon drew a sharp intake of breath as she noticed a shadow of a person keeping up with her pace, running shoulder to shoulder with her.
“Usagi-san, I won’t let you get there you know?”
Rin drew a dagger from its leather sheath to throw it at Kuro Usagi. Kuro Usagi who had rapidly descended in her leap managed to retain her balance as she made a side-leap to avoid the attack of the dagger.
Following that, she gave a harder kick to leap up with all her might.
Even so, Rin was still able to block her path by appearing before Kuro Usagi.
No way…This must be a lie right?!
Kuro Usagi leapt once more to the side to try circle around the obstacle that was Rin. But Rin continued to shadow her moves completely and while maintaining a distance that couldn’t be called too far nor could it be called too near as she threw her daggers for the third time.
The daggers that came from the front this time round were also successfully dodged by Kuro Usagi once more. Although the daggers might be travelling at a fast speed, it still didn’t reach the extent of being too fast to be dodged. The dagger narrowly passed Kuro Usagi’s body and clattered to the ground behind her.
Kuro Usagi had also released some lightning from her [Vajra Replica] to return fire at her opponent but with a wave of Rin’s arm, the lightning had disappeared before reaching their target. So Kuro Usagi decided to make a call not to get close to her enemy and conclude it to be a dangerous zone as she fired her lightning attacks from a distance, despite knowing nothing of the other’s Gift.
This sort of attack and defending battle continued for five more times and Kuro Usagi was still unable to figure out anything on Rin’s Gift.
---But, things aren’t going to go well if this is to drag on any longer.
Kuro Usagi stopped her running and seeming to pray silently, she steeled her determination---and raised her [Vajra Replica]
“Though it’s a pity to destroy such a great talent such as you……but please meet your end here!”
Kuro Usagi’s hair seemed to be ablaze as it went through a dramatic change while she lifted the [Vajra Replica] high above her head.
---The legacy of the [Moon Rabbit] that jumped into the fire in self-sacrifice. Due to the divine power given to the descendants for their merit being released, Kuro Usagi’s black hair started to take on a lotus red glow that seemed to give it the illusion of being ablaze.
The blue lightning that buzzed around the weapon gradually changed to become a reddish lightning wreathed in flames.
The [Vajra Replica] was now charged with a power that could devastate the entire plains and Kuro Usagi raised it in an underhand grip---
“Release of Mock Divinity……Pierce it! [Vajra Replica]---!”
And the holy lightning wreathed in lotus red flames shot out towards Rin.
The tip of the red lightning had condensed to become a sharp tip, causing the entire Vajra to become that of a flaming red spear.
This was a Divine Gift that could only be used once with the price of burning up its entire existence. And that was the true power hidden behind the third Gift that had been given to Kuro Usagi---[Vajra Replica].
Clouds of dust had been whipped up in huge waves that drove in waves along the ground as the condensed energies of the [Vajra Replica] was released upon impact.
---With that, Kuro Usagi was very confident that it would surely finish off the opponent.
Although she did not understand what Gift that black-haired girl might have used to get rid of the lightning earlier, but with this kind of attack, she shouldn’t be able to make it disappear.
Relaxing her shoulders, Kuro Usagi tried to catch her breath but soon got it under control as she looked at the cloud of dust with a contorted expression.
“---To actually try demolishing the entire plain with that kind of explosion? Usagi-san sure does things the dramatic and overwhelming way huh?”
“……”
This was the worst case scenario as a girl’s silhouette could be seen faintly in the cloud of dust and smoke.
“And to make sure that I won’t dodge the attack, you actually chose to attack while lining me in the middle between the ritual and yourself……Hm. That’s quite a cool and collected thinking. Seems to me that Usagi-san is much better than the rumors.”
As the dust and smoke resided, Kuro Usagi was surprised once more.
For Rin was standing nonchalantly at her original spot without a slightest scratch on her body.
On the other hand, the spot that the impact was supposed to detonate at was only able to cause an effect of just dust and smoke clouds.
This….This isn’t a barrier, nor is it a power to dissipate energy……
The heat and energy released just now wasn’t something that could be ignored. If it were the dissipation of energy, it shouldn’t be only at the extent of causing clouds of dust and smoke to swirl.
If it weren’t using a similar amount of energy to counter it or a rapid construction of a huge wall to block it, it shouldn’t be the current situation that she saw before her.
“Oh well, let’s continue. I’m also quite fired up now. If you don’t hurry, the ritual will be completed too you know?”
“…Uu…”
The girl smiled happily.
And it was then that Kuro Usagi noticed the flaw in her thoughts---
This girl’s a strong opponent. If she couldn’t find a way to overcome her, there would be no stopping the ritual that was in progress.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login