"K-Ka... Eh... De..." Shizumi lay sprawled in the mud and undergrowth.
The bone of her shoulder had torn through her skin. Her right arm was broken. She had splinters of wood embedded in her body, and one was even piercing slightly through the left side of her abdomen.
'I-I have to go...'
'I have to...'
"T-to... Help..."
'My consciousness... I feel it fading... I'm so sleepy.'
Her eyes threatened to close.
'But I can't abandon her... She needs my help...'
As best she could, she resisted the sleep, and with the one hand she had left free, she began to drag herself slowly through the mud.
She could feel the touch of insects crawling on her, but none of that mattered.
'I have to...'
"Go to her."
SLASH!
The Muramasa sword was planted in the ground beside her.
In pain, she turned her head slightly.
"K-Kusaka...san?"
"D-Don't move. I'll try to heal you." She heard the boy's voice, slightly broken, as if he were about to cry.
"No... G-Go help Kaede... She needs you."
With the little she could turn her head, she could only see half of Shinka's face.
Wrapped in a series of healing magic circles, he didn't seem to be too injured.
His uniform seemed slightly intact, but from the part of his face she could least distinguish, she could see blood slowly flowing.
"Y-You need my help too, Shizumi." With a calculated movement, he slowly pulled the splinter from his companion's body.
"AAHG!—" Her cry of pain was muffled by Shinka's hand; she could only bite it to endure.
The boy clenched his jaw to bear it too.
"It's out... It's okay." Several blue circles appeared on her body, beginning to heal her wounds.
"Now we have to fix that." He pointed to the bone protruding from Shizumi. "It will hurt, a lot. It also won't be instant, but to start your healing, we have to do it."
"W-Wait!"
"If I don't do it now, Kaede will be alone longer!" After saying those words, he used all his strength.
CRACK!
Before the girl could scream, he covered her mouth again.
"I need you to calm down. I overloaded Muramasa with half of my Mana. You must land a direct hit, or the demon will regenerate with the forest."
"Y-You, how do you know that? Were you watching us?"
"Yes. I'm sorry I didn't act sooner. My offensive abilities work better against human-sized enemies, not against 5-meter beasts. I don't have large-scale attacks, so I had to think of a solution before attacking. That thing is stronger than me, even with magic reinforcement."
"Alright... I believe you."
Coff!
She coughed a little, and a thread of blood ran down the corner of her mouth.
"I'll find a way to stop it and you must cut its head clean off."
"Okay..."
"Then I'm going. Reunite with Kaede. I'll look for the opportune moment to make my move." The boy's body disappeared in a blur of speed.
Shizumi felt the wind from his speed rustle the leaves of the forest.
She looked at her own hand and made a fist to test her strength.
'His recovery magic is too fast...'
With some pain, she finally managed to stand up slowly, using the sword at her side as a crutch.
. . .
Plaff!
'No! It's not the time to show fear, Kaede!'
The girl slapped her own face to recover from the shock.
She needed to be fast. She needed to hurry to help her sister who had just been kicked by the devil.
'Something's weird, though. It has the terrain advantage, but even though it has wings, it doesn't use them to avoid us cutting its legs.'
She sharpened her gaze.
'I think it needs to be in contact with the ground to raise its power level... It has a symbiotic relationship with the forest. Flying doesn't suit it under these circumstances.'
For a second, she glanced at her own holy sword.
'If I had affinity with my holy sword, maybe I could kill it little by little... But under these circumstances, I need to kill it in a short battle.'
She took a breath before starting a risky maneuver.
Woosh!
Her body began to accelerate through the trees, circling the creature.
'Maximize speed to confuse the enemy by encircling them, land quick strikes, and hide again. This technique only works in dark places.' She recalled her father's words.
The Boa technique, coiling around your enemy's flank little by little.
Though it was also known as...
'The Night Stalker technique.'
Woosh!
After a full circle, the stray devil seemed to follow the plain and simple sound of leaves moving around it.
It prepared its body and claws for whatever was coming.
And, for an instant, everything fell silent.
"..."
Not even the sound of crickets could drown out the deafening silence that formed in the swamp.
The monster felt alert throughout its body in an instant.
SLASH!
WOOOSH!
The wind stirred violently.
Kaede shot from one end to the other, and from the inertia of her speed, hid again in the forest.
The devil only felt a warm liquid running down its exposed torso.
A wound had opened in its neck, causing it to lose blood at an alarming rate.
Immediately it covered it with its hand, but the fury in its eyes was impossible to cover.
"ROOOOOAAAAAAAAARGGG!"
The forest trembled at its roar.
Kaede could only keep circling.
'I failed... But I was close to landing a fatal blow. A few more tries and it will be...!'
Before she could even finish the mental sentence, she felt her body not moving.
Looking down, she was horrified.
Bunches of heavy, rough tree roots were binding her feet and threatening to climb up her legs.
The earth trembled, and so did she when she saw how the trees that covered her from view moved, only to leave her exposed to the eyes of the beast that looked at her with murderous intent.
Immediately she began to cut the roots holding her.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
'Damn it, they regenerate faster than I can cut.'
The ground rumbled as the monster advanced.
'Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!'
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
"Back! Stay back! Don't come near me!"
Kaede's mind began to work rapidly.
'I can't die like this!'
She remembered how Shinka had been sent flying.
'It's impossible that Kusaka died! Why isn't he here with me?'
"SHIZUMI! KUSAKA! WHERE ARE YOU?!" As if only with her rage and fear she could cut, she began to swing her sword at the monster, even though it was several meters away.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
"PLEASE, DON'T LEAVE ME!" In that moment, Kaede saw something.
Something beyond her.
Something beyond the creature in front of her.
In the depths.
Deep in the forest, a figure was moving.
She could barely make out a pair of blue eyes watching the monster as if it were prey.
'Ku-Kusaka...'
"Kukukuku..." The devil, oblivious to all this, licked its lips with pleasure.
But, a grating sound put it on alert.
Schhhhhh...
The sound of something being dragged slowly over rocks and soil affected them both.
The clumsy footsteps of an injured person resonated with it.
Little by little, the figure of a girl dragging a great sword made an impression on the devil.
"Don't you dare touch her." Shizumi, covered in wounds, and with her uniform worn, had a gaze of pure hatred.
Someone so gentle shouldn't be able to have that kind of look.
The kind of look that kills just by seeing.
The devil watched her with defiance.
'What could someone as injured as her do?'
It smiled evilly.
But it wasn't just the devil who laughed to itself.
'That's what you're thinking, isn't it?'
Someone who had even more rage than Shizumi.
[Status.]
[Name: Shinka Kusaka.]
[Race: Human.]
[Titles: None.]
[Health: 50/50]
[Mana: 173,173/356,312]
[Magic Power: Medium. (Supernatural)]
[Attack: Low. (Supernatural)]
[Defense: Low. (Supernatural)]
[Speed: Low. (Supernatural)]
---
[Status.]
[Name: Azoth Zolos.]
[Race: Stray Devil (Former Evil Piece).]
[Titles: None.]
[Health: 50/50]
[Mana: 539,800/540,666]
[Magic Power: High. (Supernatural)] > [Low. (Supernatural Medium)]
[Attack: Medium. (Supernatural)] > [High. (Supernatural)]
[Defense: Medium. (Supernatural)] > [High. (Supernatural)]
[Speed: Medium. (Supernatural)] > [High. (Supernatural)]
A halo of fluorescent blue light traveled from the treetop to the body of the devil.
[Grasping Magic.]
WOOOOSH!
"—?!" The monster didn't know how to react to being forcefully lifted from the ground by a mysterious force.
The magic illuminated the face of Shinka, who was hiding among the trees.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!" Shinka shouted.
Shizumi's eye sharpened.
On the hilt of Muramasa, a new magic circle formed.
"I'LL KILL YOUUUUUUUU!"
[Magic Reinforcement Lv.20]
Her body glowed blue.
[Attack: Low. (Supernatural)] > [Medium. (Supernatural)]
The Muramasa sword also glowed, wanting to release all the accumulated energy it had.
[Due to the user's affinity with Muramasa, the first attack rank increases.]
> [High. (Supernatural)]
With a quick hand movement, she traced a perfect arc.
Like lightning, over 170 thousand points of mana shot out!
The entire forest lit up in a luminous glow.
As if the sun had come out and turned into a blue dwarf.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!
Like a titan devouring the sky, the energy completely pierced the neck of the immobilized devil and traveled beyond, splitting the sky in two.
While the energy wave continued traveling, the light in the environment gradually diminished, leaving only the echo of what was once a battle to the death.
Vapor began to condense from the heat energy released by the explosion.
"Hahhh..." With a sigh of exhaustion, Shizumi's body fell to the ground, completely spent.
But for Kaede, the situation was still critical.
The roots, in revenge for killing the devil, began to bind her faster, and not only that.
Shizumi was also being swallowed!
Appearing out of nowhere, Shinka quickly took Muramasa and plunged it into the ground near the girls.
Energy of a green color began to be seen translucent, through the nature enveloping the area.
The boy could see the sword's durability dropping the more mana it absorbed from the forest.
"Kusaka, you...!"
"The forest has mana flowing in every speck of dirt and every leaf of a tree." An expression of pain ran through his entire body.
The sword would break just from absorbing huge amounts of energy too quickly, so Shinka had to absorb some of the energy too.
'Th-This hurts!'
The roots enveloping Kaede dried up, and with a movement of her leg, she easily broke them.
She ran to help Shinka bear the load and also grabbed the hilt.
Even Shizumi, who could barely control her body, lightly touched the blade of the half-buried sword.
"AHHHHHHH!" The trio's scream was heard.
[Name: Shinka Kusaka.]
[Mana: 630,900/356,312]
[Name: Kaede Namikawa.]
[Mana: 12,520/700]
[Name: Shizumi Namikawa.]
[Mana: 30,040/1,200]
[Item: Replica: Holy Sword Muramasa.]
[Mana: 780,678]
'RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHG!'
Even the sword screamed within the minds of the three kids.
'R-Really, will I die here?!'
Shinka couldn't help but think as he saw how he was exceeding his limit and they hadn't even taken half the forest's energy.
'If it's this way... I guess, perhaps I could accept it.' After all, dying in a grand way was the dream of someone ignored.
He slightly relaxed his grip on the sword.
But.
Thump!
Another hand touched the hilt.
[Name: Raymond Namikawa.]
"Don't give up, kid, you still have a lot to do in this world!"
The absorption rate became ten times faster.
The ground began to shake violently.
As if the forest screamed for its impending death.
For the theft of all its mana.
[Mana: 39,000,000/38,080,000]
And as if the world had been cleansed of all evil, sin, and impurity, the ground that was once moldy and foul-smelling began to lose its color.
The bodies of the three teenagers stopped receiving mana from the subsoil.
But even so, the absorption speed didn't decrease, it only increased!
And the reason.
Was because...
Raymond was stupidly strong!
And after a few minutes of intensity, the Muramasa sword finally felt it could sleep.
"Hah... Hah... Hah..." Shinka breathed heavily, lying on the dead forest floor.
Kaede and Shizumi were sleeping peacefully.
"That was very dangerous... I never noticed a Kodama resided here." He said as an introspective whisper.
"B-But, Kodama aren't small beings..." The boy couldn't help but ask, as he got to his feet with difficulty.
"Well, that's in mythology and tales. In real life, they're entire living forests that feed on the life energy of the beings residing in them. But it's the first time I've seen one that's aggressive and drains all life."
After saying those words, he picked up the sword and took his two daughters on his shoulders.
"The Stray Devil I fought was literally to the south. On the outskirts. What do you think about that, Shinka?"
He didn't need even a second to think of his answer.
"That it was premeditated..."
"Yes. There's someone targeting us... Anyway. Are you coming to the church, or do you have things to do at home?"
Like the gaze of a cat coming into contact with catnip, Shinka remembered something important.
"I must go. I have a family commitment."
"Then go."
Shinka bowed respectfully to his teacher and ran off in a blur of speed.
A discreet smile formed on Raymond's expression.
'He hasn't realized he has a mana overdose... Well, I hope he doesn't get the idea to use magic.'
He began to walk towards the church.
"Maybe I should have thanked him... Oh well, another day!"
. . .
Kusaka finally arrived at his house.
He searched his pockets for the keys.
'Ah, damn it, my backpack is at school!'
Anyway...
Srchhh!
The front door resonated slightly.
"Shinka?" His uncle froze seeing him there, with a worried face.
"Sanjuro!"
"You're on time, I'm taking out the trash. Your aunt has almost finished dinner for the movie."
The boy's eyes lit up and he quickly entered.
Crossing the threshold of the door, he felt that all the negative memories, his near-death experience, and the struggle he had to save his life and that of his colleagues had been worth it.
Everything faded away once he was home.
"I'm here!" He said with contained emotion.
His aunt came out of the kitchen, wearing an apron and two oven mitts on her hands, but she froze when she saw him.
"Sweetie, why do you smell like mold? And why don't you have your backpack?" she asked, truly confused, about to take off an oven mitt to smack him on the head for acting foolish.
'¡¿Huh?!'
"I-It's just, I went to the Namikawa family's house and I forgot it... Hehehe."
"You've been spending a lot of time with those girls... You're not trying to hit on both of them, are you?" Fury ignited inside the woman.
Her dear nephew, hitting on a pair of sisters? Was there no decency left in this world?!
"O-Of course not! Who could stand those two chatterboxes?"
His aunt looked at him for a few more moments, and finally her expression relaxed.
"Alright, I believe you! Go wash your face and hands. I'm almost done." She said with a smile.
The boy blinked a couple of times but nodded.
When he saw his aunt, the smiles of everyone he held dear passed through his mind.
After such an intense day and so close to death, that was undoubtedly what he wanted to treasure most.