chapter4 · 066-ep66

Episode 66: VS Kujō

Saeki-san stepped away from the center, and Kujō-san walked up to take his place in front of me.

This was the man who'd pinned Kanzaki down without letting him do much of anything.

Considering even Saeki-san was Level 33, it wouldn't surprise me if Kujō-san were over forty.

...Let's stop thinking about that.

Putting a number on it made me want to attack him even less.

"I know I was a little harsh just now, especially when I'm the one asking for your help."

Kujō-san stopped in front of me.

"But I think highly of you, Himuro. I'm genuinely interested, as a person, in seeing what you're capable of. So please, come at me without holding anything back."

Kujō-san thought highly of me...?

I was about to dismiss that as ridiculous when I remembered the incident the other day.

Oh, right. As far as he knew, I'd taken Kanzaki down by myself.

And when a top-level Awakener said that made him interested in me, well, I was honestly happy to hear it.

"Understood."

So that was my answer.

Though now that I'd said it, I still hadn't decided for myself just how much to show.

I'd leave the Observer stuff aside for now. Battle Armor Form and the rest, though, I'd probably end up using.

I mean, I hadn't been holding back in the first place.

I just hadn't known when to use battle armor.

"Ready?"

Right. Time to stop making excuses in my head.

"Yes."

Kujō-san didn't take a stance. He simply stood with both arms resting naturally at his sides.

Saeki-san had been similar, but this time I had even less idea what was coming.

"Begin!"

Agility enchant first.

I kicked off the floor and closed in on Kujō-san from the front.

Even when I approached, he didn't take a single step. He just watched me.

In that case.

I sent my right fist toward his chest.

Just before it reached him, Kujō-san's right hand moved slightly.

"...!?"

He barely tapped me near the wrist, but my fist veered sideways.

The next instant, his other fist was in my stomach.

"Guh...!"

I hurriedly retreated.

Fast.

Actually, had he even moved much just now?

I'd closed in, thrown a punch, gotten it lightly knocked aside with one hand, and taken a counterattack on top of that.

Kujō-san was still in the same spot.

He hadn't taken a step yet.

"Come at me again."

"Yes."

If the front didn't work, I'd try the side.

Keeping my Agility enchant active, I circled to his right and closed in at once.

Kujō-san's eyes followed me.

Then farther around.

I circled until I was out of his sight.

He shouldn't be able to see me now.

I reached toward his shoulder from behind.

Kujō-san didn't turn around.

And yet, just before my hand reached him, only his left arm moved backward and tapped my wrist.

"Huh?"

It wasn't even a punch.

He'd just brushed my hand away.

That alone knocked it completely off course, and an elbow came flying at my stomach right after.

"Urgh!"

I backed off again.

No, come on.

This was absurd.

"You definitely weren't looking this way just now, were you?"

I'd attacked from behind, and he'd blocked and countered me without even turning around.

And he still hadn't taken a single step from where he'd first stood.

What was this?

I was starting to get a little annoyed.

Of course, Kujō-san wasn't doing anything wrong.

He was just sparring with me for the test. I couldn't complain about a strong person being strong.

But when I couldn't so much as touch him no matter what I tried, I stopped caring about the aptitude test. I wanted to land at least one hit.

This time I approached from the left and stopped just before throwing a punch.

Kujō-san's arm twitched.

I darted right from there and aimed for his side, but his hand still got there in time.

He lightly touched my fist, guided it outward, and sent his other fist toward my shoulder.

This time I saw it coming and pulled back, but I couldn't dodge it completely.

"Ow..."

"You're getting pretty worked up."

"I am not."

"It's all over your face."

Seriously?

Well, could you blame me?

No matter how many times I attacked, I never reached Kujō-san. I was the only one getting hit.

"It's called Auto-Counter."

"Huh?"

Kujō-san said it out of nowhere.

"A passive Skill I got as an Achievement reward. When someone attacks me, my body moves on its own to defend and counterattack."

So that was how he'd blocked me earlier when I came around behind him, even though he hadn't been looking.

"Even if you can't see the attack?"

"Yeah. Of course, it won't make my body do anything it's physically incapable of. But the Skill handles the reaction itself."

No, that was still plenty ridiculous.

Kujō-san himself was already fast, and now his body apparently reacted to attacks automatically.

Of course it didn't matter if I came at him from behind or the side.

"Since we're here, I'd like to see how you get past it, Himuro."

"...That's a pretty tall order, isn't it?"

"Is it?"

"I haven't landed a single hit yet."

"That's why I want to see it."

He didn't sound like he was taunting me. He seemed genuinely excited.

Hearing that only made me want to land a hit more.

I reapplied my Agility enchant and came at him from the front this time.

I pulled my fist back midway and switched to a kick, but Kujō-san's leg moved first and stopped it.

I tried switching to Strength to see if I could force my way through. No luck there either.

Instead of taking my fist head-on, he turned it aside and sent a counter right back along with my own momentum.

Then I'd go faster.

I stacked Agility enchants.

A second one after the first.

While the earlier enchant still lingered as an echo, I used a third, and my body suddenly felt much lighter.

This time I rushed in from the right, dodged the first hand that came at me, and took another step forward.

For the first time, I'd gotten that far.

I could do this.

And just as I thought that, a leg came up from below.

"Guh...!"

It hit me in the stomach and drove me back again.

Even this much speed wasn't enough?

I kept trying, changing angles and reapplying Strength and Agility, but nothing reached him.

And enchants didn't last forever.

Even if I stacked them, each one faded when its time ran out. Reapplying them cost MP too.

I was the only one racing around the room and eating counterattack after counterattack.

Meanwhile, Kujō-san had barely moved from the same spot.

"Still want to go?"

"I do."

I didn't want it to end with me accomplishing nothing.

Of course, this was an aptitude test.

I wanted the national certification, the five hundred thousand yen a month, and the right to enter Gates.

But right now, more than any of that, I wanted to make this man take even one step.

I put some distance between us and checked my remaining MP.

It'd dropped quite a bit.

If I kept fighting while reapplying enchants like this, I'd eventually be unable to do anything at all.

Then maybe it was time to use it.

Battle Armor Form.

I'd already decided on my buffs.

Against Kujō-san, what I needed first wasn't Strength or Endurance. It was speed.

I wanted to be fast enough to get past Auto-Counter even when it activated.

I cast Agility enchant three times in a row.

The first and second lingered as echoes, so right now I had three Agility enchants stacked on my body.

I opened the display.

【Enter Battle Armor Form?】

【Ability Grants to be fixed】

【Agility enchant】

【Agility enchant: Enchant Echo】

【Agility enchant: Enchant Echo】

There were definitely three.

I selected 【Execute】.

【Battle Armor Form entered】

The three Agility enchants were fixed in place.

This was just about as fast as I could make myself right now.

And I wouldn't lose MP maintaining it.

Man, this really was handy.

After fighting while worrying about the time limit, I appreciated it on a whole different level.

Damn it, I really should've used this from the start.

I kicked off the floor and rushed straight at Kujō-san with triple-stacked Agility fixed in place.

I extended my right fist, but Kujō-san's hand slipped between us again.

He knocked my fist outward, and a counterattack followed.

"...!"

I pulled back and barely dodged, then came at him from the other side.

No luck there either.

Whether I attacked from the side or circled behind him, the result was the same.

I was clearly faster now.

Even so, whenever I attacked, Kujō-san's body responded on its own.

I'd thought using battle armor might let me brute-force my way through with speed.

Guess it wasn't that simple.

After he stopped yet another attack, I backed off.

All right.

Then what?

If battle armor couldn't get me past him with speed, there was no point repeating the same thing.

I looked at Kujō-san.

Despite all my attacks, he'd still barely moved from where he first stood.

Whether he brushed my attacks aside with his arms or countered with a kick, he dealt with me on the spot.

Auto-Counter moved his body by itself.

But it couldn't make his body do something it wasn't capable of.

Kujō-san had said so himself.

Then—

I looked at his feet.

What would happen if I threw off his footing?

I had just the thing to try.

I checked my remaining MP.

I still had enough.

That said, I doubted Kujō-san would let me try the same trick more than once.

Ideally, this would do it.

"Here I come."

"Yeah."

I ran straight at him again.

Just like before.

I closed in with the speed of triple-stacked Agility and drew back my right fist.

Kujō-san reacted to my attack.

One more step.

And as I stepped in, I applied Shock Grant to my right foot.

Incidentally, I couldn't fix Shock Grant in Battle Armor Form when I tested it yesterday, either.

Apparently it was treated differently from lasting enchants like Strength and Agility. It didn't even show up on the list of grants I could fix.

So I still had to use it at the moment I needed it, just like before.

I stamped my Shock Grant-imbued right foot into the floor.

A loud crack rang out.

Fractures raced outward from under my foot, and the floor itself shook violently.

"...!?"

Kujō-san's eyes widened for the first time.

The cracks ran all the way under his feet, and his braced body tilted slightly.

A counterattack came anyway.

But it was different this time.

The fist he threw from that off-balance stance passed beside my face.

I hadn't dodged it so much as gotten past Auto-Counter itself for the first time.

I could do this.

I moved inside his reach and extended my right fist.

Kujō-san's stomach was right there.

This time it would reach—

"...!"

My fist met something hard.

But it wasn't Kujō-san.

It had stopped just before reaching his stomach.

"...Huh?"

Why?

For a second I thought Kujō-san had stopped it with his hand.

No.

His hand wasn't touching my fist.

And yet, even when I pushed forward, my fist wouldn't move.

Something was there.

Something between me and Kujō-san that absolutely hadn't been there a moment ago.

"What is this...?"

When I looked closely, I finally saw it.

Something thin and circular hovered in front of my fist.

It was so translucent I could see Kujō-san perfectly well on the other side.

A wall?

No, when did he put that up?

I'd even thrown him off balance and thought I'd finally landed a hit, only for some wall I'd never seen before to stop me at the last second.

"Ghh...!"

I tried forcing my fist through, but the circular wall didn't budge.

Kujō-san took one step back.

The wall vanished along with that movement.

...So close.

I was so damn close.

Just a few centimeters.

I really think that was all it was.

Rather than look at me, Kujō-san glanced down at his feet.

Cracks stretched from where I'd stomped, splitting a wide section of floor around it.

"What broke the floor just now... was that Shock Grant, by any chance?"

"Huh?"

How did he even know its name?

I didn't think I'd told anyone.

Kujō-san stared at the broken floor for a while, then nodded as if he'd figured something out on his own.

"I see. That could've broken Kanzaki's arm."

Then he raised his head.

He looked a little different from before.

If I had to put it into words, he looked like he was having fun.

"Then how will you fight this?"

Fight what?

Before I could ask, Magic began gathering behind Kujō-san.

It grew and took the shape of a human arm.

Stretching out from behind his right side was an enormous, pale-blue arm that dwarfed mine.

And it didn't stop there.

Magic gathered on the opposite side too, forming another one.

It looked like Kujō-san had grown two arms out of his back?