Purple lightning exploded across the field as Mirio stood firm, his chain shield deflecting the strike with a booming crash. Dust scattered and the forest around them was incinerated. Kazuki emerged from the haze with a hardened gaze, eyes sharp and unrelenting.
"Hey, you villians are from the dark sign. Where is Shinki?" Kazuki demanded, voice laced with anger.
Kirihai narrowed her eyes, stepping forward. "You brat... how do you just show up out of nowhere and start throwing lightning bolts at people?"
Kazuki didn't flinch. "If you want to act tough, I'll just beat the answers out of you. Now tell me—where is Shinki?!"
Kirihai gave him a sly smile as her hand drifted toward her sword. "You're a rude one. You should know your place before I deal with you. And… you're that kid I fought back then, aren't you?"
Before she could unsheath her blade, Mirio stepped between them.
"Wait, Kirihai," he said calmly. "You might need to be careful with this guy. Even if you're stronger, he could tear off your arms and legs in a flash."
Kirihai raised a brow. "You're that confident? I mean, back when I fought him three years ago, he seemed to have refined skills for his young age. Im guessing he's improved them."
"He doesn't look like he'll let us walk away," Mirio replied, tightening his chain-wrapped fists. "So I'll fight him."
Kirihai shrugged. "If you're that eager, I'll just watch. Dont get yourself killed now. Okay?"
Kazuki scowled. "I'm not here to fight. I just want to know where—"
Before he could finish, Mirio summoned a chain-formed spear and hurled it forward.
CLANG!
Kazuki swatted it away effortlessly. The spear made of chains flew to another direction and caused a huge explosion of dust and rocks as it was able to tear through the ground beneath it.
"I see… So I'll just beat the answers out of you, then."
Mirio soared into the sky, spinning chains into massive shuriken and launching them like razors. Kazuki dashed forward at high speed, weaving between the flying blades while slashing at them with swift, clean strikes with his sword. Huge slashes were sent flying around as Kazuki was swiftly and skillfully cut through the giant attacks of chains.
Suddenly, Kirihai appeared like a blur, aiming a high-speed kick at Kazuki's head. He blocked it just in time, the force sending him flying backward across the battlefield.
"Kirihai, move!" Mirio shouted.
With a flick of his wrist, a dozen chain daggers manifested around him. They shot forward at insane speeds. Kazuki pulled out a small dagger from his coat and parried each strike with unmatched precision.
Without hesitation, Kazuki ignited his dagger in blazing purple flames and hurled it skyward. The weapon detonated in a searing explosion overhead.
"I'm still holding back," Kazuki said coldly. "All I want is to find Shinki. I have no intentions of fighting people i dont want to fight with."
Behind him, Kirihai reappeared and launched into a vicious flurry of kicks, driving him into the air. She vanished again, reappearing above Kazuki to unleash a powerful wind slash which sent Kazuki crashing into the earth below.
Kirihai hovered above, glancing down. "You okay?"
Mirio wiped dust off his face. "I'm fine… that attack just stung a little."
Kirihai smirked. "Then I say we take this brat back to base and kill him."
Kazuki, unfazed, stood up and stared her down. "If I'm the one you're calling a brat, then you better watch your mouth!"
Kirihai began to clap mockingly as she finally drew her blade. "You seem like the stubborn type who doesn't go down easily. Don't worry, I'll slice your mouth off."
Kazuki's eyes narrowed as a spirit mark—a glowing triangle with three dots—lit up on the back of his wrist. His voice dropped into a dangerous tone.
"I've been nice enough... but it looks like that won't do.". Both Kazuki and Kirihai rushed towards each other. Kazuki moving at lightning speeds, and Kirihai matching his speed as well. They started to clash swords at an insane speed.
The clash resumed—Kazuki and Kirihai darted across the battlefield at lightning speed. Each strike of their swords shook the earth, leveling chunks of the landscape, they were releasing slashes of lightning and energy that was eviscerating the entire place. Kazuki hurled lightning arrows and spiritual explosins at rapid speed, while Kirihai danced between them, slicing through explosions with elegance and precision.
"I'm running low on energy," Kazuki muttered to himself. "No way I can keep a force field up while blasting attacks at the same time. And this Kirihai… she's insane! I fought her during our first mission as kids—she's not someone to mess with."
Kirihai's wicked smile returned as she started to clash swords with Kazuki with insane speeds, elegance and dangerous strikes "What's the matter? Losing your edge already?"
Kazuki's rage flared. "Go to hell!"
He created a purple sword of energy, it was fused with both purple lightning and purple fire. Kazuki kicked Kirihai backwards and conjured a volley of burning purple flaming arrows. Kirihai moved at top speed, weaving through the barrage, the entire place was a battlefield of explosions of purple lightning and flames blasting all over. The fight went on like this until a sudden lightning bolt dropped from the sky, catching Kirihai off-guard.
BOOM!
The explosion the ground. An explosion of purple lightning obliterated the place.
The dust of the explosion cleared off, but before Kazuki could catch his breath, he spotted something massive from above, a giant hammers forged from chains—hurtling toward him. Mirio had rejoined the fight.
Kazuki fired lightning arrows in retaliation at rapid fire "TCH! OUTTA THE WAY DAMN IT!!", Kazuki sneered with annoyance. The air split with each explosion of purple lightning and huge chains.
Mirio formed a dragon head out of chains and launched it forward. "Sorry to break it too you buddy, but you can't win! Get lost!"
Kazuki was annoyed "FUCK!", he fell back, dodging the monstrous chain beast.
"Tch. Now that Kirihai's out of the picture, I can focus on this numbskull," he growled. "He reminds me of Tobi… I'll take out my frustration on him."
Before he could charge, Kirihai reappeared in a blur and punched Kazuki across the field. He flipped through the air and rebounded, and their blades collided again at insane speed.
"She's on the higher ends of C-rank? Nah, i don't believe that" Kazuki thought in shock. "This woman is dangerous… We're on equal ground. For now."
They transitioned into hand-to-hand combat, exchanging rapid punches and parries. The fight went on like this for a couple of minutes. Kirihai and Kazuki seemed to be equally skilled, but Kirihai seemed to be having the upper hand while Kazuki seemed to be struggling to keep up.
"I'm surprised you haven't lost an arm yet," Kirihai taunted.
"I'm not the kind of guy who loses," Kazuki snapped with frustration.
Kirihai leapt into the air and fired beams of light from her blade. Kazuki was visibly stunned, he barely dodged two before one caught him in the chest, sending him crashing through trees. The forest around them was obliterated in a blinding blast.
As the explosion cleared, Kazuki gasped. "Was that… light speed? I can barely react to that! I thought only S-rank or God-rank fighters could do that! Hell, even A-ranks can barely react at such speeds."
Kirihai hovered above him, twirling her sword like a fan.
"Only S-rank and God-rank beings can move at light speeds," she explained. "But that doesn't mean C or B-ranks can't use light-speed attacks or keep up with them. Some have even been recorded to be able to move faster than those speeds."
Kazuki looked up. "What's this… God-rank you're talking about?". He muttered to himself "Diablo said something about that when i was a kid, but I didn't really grab it at all!"
"God-rank," Kirihai replied, "is a level where someone can destroy an entire planet—or worse. I dont know the details of it, but its a rank no human has reached. Talk about a crazy load of power."
She continued, "Only fighters from A, S or God ranks can move at light speeds. A-ranks have it tough moving at such speeds, S-ranks can easily move at said speeds tho."
Kazuki clenched his fists as he stood up with some injuries "I couldn't care less about that. I just want to know where Shinki is, and you're going to tell me!"
Mirio descended gently to the ground, eyes calm.
"Shinki is our ally. You think we'd just hand him over? He left the Dark Sign a long time ago tho, we don't even know where he is."
Kirihai crossed her arms. "Even if you knew where he was, you couldn't reach him. You can't get into the Infinity Castle."
Kazuki's expression changed. "Infinity Castle…?"
Mirio sighed, facepalming. "Kirihai… you just gave away his location."
Kazuki stepped forward, voice firm. "I need to see Shinki. It's important. Out of my way."
Kirihai's eyes hardened. "We both know you just want to kill him or something. So no—we're not telling you anything."
Kazuki looked down, sighing. "Tch… I was expecting that answer."
END OF CHAPTER.