chapter3 · 052-ep52

Episode 52: The Power of Interference

What I saw down the passage was Kanzaki in the instant before he swung his fist at Segawa.

Segawa stood in front of him, and Aizawa-san was behind Segawa, frozen in place and trembling.

Men in work clothes stood between Kanzaki's group and me.

Several of them blocked the narrow passage. Beyond them stood Kanzaki, Segawa, and Aizawa-san.

It wasn't a distance I could run through and cut in.

If I forced my way in, I'd hit the men in work clothes first—or rather, they might restrain me.

Even if I took them down and moved ahead, Kanzaki's fist would reach Segawa in the meantime.

Then I had no choice but to do what I could from this position.

That was an Endurance enchant.

I didn't have time to think.

Why was Segawa standing in front of Aizawa-san?

What was Kanzaki about to do?

I could tell just by looking.

I piled Endurance enchants onto Segawa as though hammering them into him.

Then, in the next instant, Kanzaki's fist landed on Segawa.

Segawa's body was blown away.

He slammed into the floor, and I heard a sound like the air being forced from his lungs.

Aizawa-san screamed.

My heart jumped too.

But Segawa was alive.

That much I could tell through the enchant.

But another participant lying on the floor wasn't moving.

His arm bent in an impossible direction, and his shoulder was shaped in a way I couldn't even tell myself was still a human body.

I made it in time for Segawa, but realizing there was someone I hadn't made it in time for hurt my chest.

"Hah, been waiting for you, Enchanter."

Kanzaki laughed.

This guy was truly enjoying this situation from the bottom of his heart.

Segawa was down, and Aizawa-san couldn't move from beside him as she called his name.

The participants were pressed into the edge of the passage, their escape routes blocked by the men in work clothes.

And there was already someone on the floor who would never move again.

Even so, Kanzaki was looking at me and smiling happily.

"...What the hell is wrong with you?"

I couldn't immediately tell whether it was anger or panic.

All I knew was that a hot, black feeling was welling up inside me.

"What is with you? Ain't you happy too?"

"Huh? Happy about what?"

"This reunion. Last time ended halfway through, didn't it?"

Kanzaki twisted his mouth and cracked his neck.

"I'm asking if you ain't happy we get to pick up where we left off."

What the hell was this guy even saying?

No normal person would see a situation like this and think that.

"...I'm not happy."

When I said that briefly, Kanzaki opened his mouth in the same unchanged tone.

"C'mon, don't be so cold. You got any idea how long I've been waiting for this day?"

His voice sounded delighted.

"I knew you were at the materials yard. You were hiding around and watching us, right?"

So he had noticed after all.

Well, once we'd made eye contact outside, I'd figured that was probably it.

But Kanzaki hadn't told Takatsuki that again.

"Figured you'd come in if it was you. Don't know if it's to protect your buddies or whatever, but then I get to fight you, right? So I left you alone on purpose."

Kanzaki twisted his mouth.

It was the same as in Meeting Room Seven.

Last time it was for his own credit, and this time he got to fight someone he wanted to fight.

What all this told me was just how selfish and self-centered this man Kanzaki was.

"So move aside, you guys."

Kanzaki said it to the men in work clothes.

For an instant, they looked at one another.

"Kanzaki-san?"

"Didn't you hear me? I said move."

Kanzaki's voice lowered.

The men in work clothes hurriedly moved to either side of the passage.

It wasn't completely wide.

But there was enough of a gap for one person to pass through.

Beyond that gap, Kanzaki was looking at me.

"That guy's my prey. Keep the other Awakeners pinned down properly."

Kanzaki indicated the participants with only his head.

"Don't let anyone stick their nose into my fight with this guy."

The men in work clothes turned back toward the participants.

They grabbed the shoulders of those trying to run and pressed them against the walls.

Kanzaki's attention was no longer on Segawa or Aizawa-san.

That wasn't reassuring, but at least he didn't seem about to lay a hand on them right this second.

Without taking my eyes off Kanzaki, I called to Segawa on the floor.

"Aizawa-san, check how Segawa's doing."

"...O-okay."

Aizawa-san knelt down and reached a trembling hand toward Segawa's face.

"Segawa-kun, Segawa-kun...!"

"I-I'm... okay..."

Segawa somehow opened his eyes and answered Aizawa-san.

Thank goodness.

At least he seemed okay enough to open his mouth.

Though whether that could be called safe was another question.

"...Himuro."

Then Segawa's gaze turned to me.

"Sorry. And thanks."

I didn't know what the sorry was for or what the thanks was for, but I was the only one who could accept those words now.

"You got it."

That much, I knew for sure.

"All right, all right."

Watching me, Kanzaki slowly rolled his shoulders.

In that instant, Interference Eye showed me the flow coursing through Kanzaki's body.

It was different from the giant lizard's fire.

It wasn't something released outward like flames.

Thick currents of force ran violently through Kanzaki's insides.

Before he even threw a punch, I could see where his strength was headed.

So this was the flow of force that Interference Eye could see.

"Let's continue where we left off, Enchanterrr!"

Kanzaki said that and stepped in.

The floor dipped slightly.

Fast.

Even knowing he was coming at me, my body was an instant late.

I could escape sideways.

But I couldn't beat this guy just by running away.

I'd already learned that in our fight last time.

Then would I take him head-on?

Kanzaki's fist rushed in.

Interference Eye showed the current of force from Kanzaki's shoulder into his arm.

I put an Endurance enchant on myself and decided to receive it head-on.

Rather than evade, I would deliberately take the punch.

If I couldn't fully dodge it, I had to touch him.

I couldn't use that power without touching him.

I caught Kanzaki's fist in my palm.

"Guh...!"

An impact ran through me like it had rattled my bones.

I thought my arm had broken.

It was that heavy.

Even with an Endurance enchant, this wasn't the kind of power I should take head-on.

But I touched him.

Gritting my back teeth, I caught my awareness on the flow running through that fist.

Stop.

No, it didn't have to stop.

——Stagnate.

In the next instant, the force traveling from Kanzaki's fist snagged midway.

The impact that should have crushed me suddenly weakened against the surface of my arm.

It didn't vanish completely.

The weight of his fist remained.

My arm went numb to the core, and the soles of my feet slid slightly backward across the stone floor.

Even so, as though only the final push had fallen away, his fist lost its momentum.

I hadn't been blown away, and I hadn't been crushed.

Kanzaki's fist was simply stopped in my palm.

"...Huh?"

Kanzaki narrowed his eyes.

A little of the ease vanished from his smiling mouth.

I had no room to breathe out either.

My heart was pounding and my chest hurt too.

But it worked.

I hadn't stopped it completely.

Even if I stagnated the flow of force that made him a Fighter, the base power was so high it still hurt normally.

My arm was numb too.

I wasn't even sure I could stop it the same way every time.

Still, I had stopped Kanzaki's strike right there.

At least, it had to have looked that way to Kanzaki.

"Endurance? Or did you enchant yourself with Strength too?"

Kanzaki looked between his own fist and my face.

His eyes gradually narrowed.

"No. That's not it."

Kanzaki's voice lowered.

"What the hell did you do?"