kscans

Chapter 742 - Layering the Heat

"—You really are... something else, aren't you...?!"

The virtual sweat that scattered with my words evaporated in the heat I myself emitted.

They had played an incredible trump card, and even while maintaining the barrage of bullets chasing Haru as he challenged it, they were still able to turn their magical brilliance on me without leaving themselves open.

Sometimes, it was an explosion of flames, just like my own. Sometimes, a storm of water that was no less powerful than their own. Sometimes wind, sometimes rock, sometimes lightning, sometimes ice... Against all this, Hinayo held only one thing: 'heat'.

With her firepower raised to the third stage, she was finally able to achieve a stalemate. A stalemate, even while the 'Eastern Wings' were dedicating enormous resources to other tasks.

I shouldn't think of this as two against one.

They are truly two as one, merely displaying their talents correctly. Therefore, this is undoubtedly the correct form of a power struggle against those mages.

So, I have no complaints about that.

My complaint is a single one, directed at multiple people, not just them.

Everyone, one after another, is so happily showing off their 'new moves.'

Then again, all I hold is 'heat.' From the day I dove into this virtual world, through countless unspeakable struggles, and finally obtained the other half of my soul.

The 'power' Hinayo has been able to pursue is simply to raise that temperature.

No matter how I devise its form, no matter how much clever trickery I employ, in the end, all I can do is burn everything to ash with heat.

I have envied those with a variety of skills more than once or twice.

I have admired those who create beauty with their skillful maneuvers more than ten or twenty times.

I have felt distant from those who discover a new version of themselves more than a hundred or two hundred times.

...And yet,

"I'm counting on you for the rest, you know... honestly."

At the end of swallowing all that envy with none other than 'heat'—

"...When a cute junior asks for a favor, I have no choice but to do my best to answer, do I?"

This is how the current [Heat Gaze] is, with no hesitation in the gun she raises.

"Fourth Bullet, Four-Winged Flame that Swallows Brilliance."

The trigger I pull is squeezed along with the pride I have built up.

This is the current maximum firepower that Hinayo's Anima, [Nova Rescellerate, Mirror Illuminating Six Stars], can normally unleash. It is no longer just 'flame,' but a manifestation of 'light,' a fourth shot that roars forth, incinerating the ever-approaching, multi-colored barrage of bullets along with the very air it travels through. Its destination is—

"—Heeeyah?!"

—the one playing with the 'shadow' as cherry blossoms scatter, my annoyingly adorable partner and junior.

As my ears caught his cry of surprise, my final support was carried out without a hitch. Just as I expected, he smartly received the heat ray with his 'Sakura.' After confirming with a sideways glance that the recreation of the Black Stain (Rep-La Nobody) had been sent flying by the aftershock... I turned to face the stage that had been entrusted to me.

With just over a minute left in the match, it's about time to begin the finale.

"[Eyes of Catastrophe, These Eyes Desire Ashes]."

I set my crown ablaze and, in place of my twin guns, lit a 'flame' on the tip of my left finger.

My target is my cute junior and my revered senior. And so, what I unleash is,

"I wonder how long it's been—Of course, you'll accept my challenge, won't you?"

...first, words, preceding the cannon.
The eyes that caught them were two pairs of four, crimson and aquamarine, and they blinked... one pair grinned, and the other, for a change, smiled faintly.

"—[Mi-Helnaria, Brush of Manifestation]."

"—[Ri-Zelnataku, Brush of Dream-Drawing]."

The champions of the East need no further prompting.

"'Spin and spin, color and spin.'"

"'Turn and turn, calamity and turn.'"

A great crown, one for two, manifests. A duet of different words, same sound, is woven.

""'It is on the earth, a formless tyrant that scours the land.'""

""'It is in the sky, a lawless ruler that rends the heavens.'""
A storm of mana rages, taking shape with each passing moment. Hinayo watches it as if observing—her finger, shaped like a gun, remains pointed and still.

"'Fear not, what is shown here is a faceless mercy.'"

"'Waver not, what is held there is a guide to return to.'"

She is not allowing it. She is not asking for it. She is not acting.

At this moment, what the eyes of the lady who harbors more 'heat' than anyone else see is,

""'O omnipresent true name, roar thus—to a beyond that no one can know.'""

...really, how long has it been?

"Alright! Here we go, Hina-chan, are you ready?!"

"No holding back... ngh!"

"Just what I wanted!"

It is nothing more than what lies at the end of a serious battle.

""[Fatal Zephyr Emerald Line]!"

A dazzling 'victory,' and nothing more.

"[Ars Nova, Gaze of the Brilliant Queen]."

And so, the bullet is fired—and 'wind' and 'heat' manifest on the stage.

There is nothing complicated about it, a clash of pure, unadulterated power.

A giant spear woven from countless threads of wind, compressed to the point of being visible by a truly supernatural power. And a giant flash of extraordinary heat, truly like the sun itself.

Powers of a scale that should not be permitted to an individual, a clash synonymous with natural disasters colliding. All that the onlookers could observe was the violence of light and sound.

In other words... very few would have been able to judge that they were not evenly matched.

"Tch...—still, not enough, huh...?!"

Feeling an irresistible pressure from her fingertip, it was [Heat Gaze] who let out a cry of frustration.

This was the maximum firepower she could currently unleash, having surpassed the ordinary with the power of her crown. More accurately, the maximum firepower that the current Hinayo could draw out from the other half of her soul (Anima).

She could sink her fangs in, but that was all.

The 'heat' that the current Hinayo held was still just slightly not enough.

◇◆◇◆◇

"—What the hell is this...?!"

Honestly, I'm in a situation where I'm amazed I'm still alive, even with complete immunity to one of the attacks.

The clash of insane firepower and absurd firepower unceremoniously ended my one-on-one with the 'shadow.' I was sent flying by an impact that I could only laugh at, thinking it must have been some kind of grand magic itself. It was a miracle of the highest order that I managed to calmly use [Flash Traveler] to kill my inertia and break my fall.

On top of that, I was lucky enough to be blown towards Hinayo-san's side, which saved me from having my already red health bar chipped away by the aftershock of the 'wind'... but still.

My thought that being blown this way spoke volumes about the difference in their powers was, as it turned out, neither a trick of the imagination nor a mistake.

She's being pushed back, for sure.

I can see the 'heat' being scattered, little by little, by the incomprehensible, unbelievable tyranny of the 'wind' that is visible despite not having any color.

Conclusion: they're both monsters.

When you get to this dimension, the difference in power is probably a trivial matter. All that should be directed at them is awe and praise. Honestly, whether they win or lose, I can't help but applaud.

...But still, just before the sun appeared on the stage.

I saw the will to 'win' in my older sister's eyes, so I can't just stand by and watch her lose. I turn the same eyes as my partner to the 'enemy.'

I turn, and say one word.

"Phantom Cherry Blossom Fragment."

And then, a single thrust with my left.

The movement of killing intent was as perfectly predicted as I could have hoped for. Swept up in the aftershock of the clash between two techniques so grand they could barely be called techniques, I was helplessly pinned against the wall, and it came straight for me.

Its focus has been the same for the past minute or so. It has paid no attention to anything else, coming only for my life with its own claws. To this 'shadow,' I plunged the Sakura Memento, which had become a greatsword easily surpassing the height of my transformed body after receiving fuel from my partner time and time again.

The countless magic circles that instantly surrounded me upon its arrival, I'll just leave to my ever-reliable red star sword (Stella) and ignore completely.

Anyway, I know, you know? That if you're in a position to receive it, you'll almost certainly try to catch it with your precious 'claws' with a faceless, smug look. That's your attack pattern.

And I've figured it out since the time I fought you with Asche. The limit to the number of attacks or impacts those 'claws' can nullify at once is, with both hands combined, two, isn't it?!

"[Cherry Blossom Sword Storm]."

Go ahead and try to stop this. The final sword unleashed by the Sakura Memento in its over-excited state is a super-instantaneous, continuous attack corresponding to the number of petal blades it has absorbed.

"—, —"

The petals are released, a storm of cherry blossoms scatters wildly.

Just as I planned, the 'claws' that blocked the 'sword' were ground down and blown away, both arms and all. The blade of the sacred sakura that reached its body pierced the chest of the shadow creature.

As always, there is no 'sound.' If so, then it must just be that kind of magic. At this point, it doesn't matter if I can't do anything about this thing.

What I need to decide is where to fire.

I only have a moment's grace.

The moment before the recreation of the 'shadow,' which is probably not an existence that can be defeated in the first place, shrugs off the hundreds of attack judgments buried in its chest and takes my head off.

The moment before the Sakura Sword, its duty fulfilled, scatters, and I am inevitably reduced to a useless Lv. 1, though it will be reset after the match.

There's no time to move my hands, no time to move my legs. If so, all I can rely on is my 'eyes'.

With the power of the [Hellgread Ignis]—the brilliant stone that burns, copying the nature of the magic it touches—what will I see with the 'eyes' of the [Heat Gaze] that I have taken into this body?

In that instant, a small 'heat' burst forth.

It was a flame far too small compared to the sun-like light that resisted the absolute 'wind.' But compared to an ordinary fire, it was an incredibly large, brilliant explosion.

Its birthplace was within the spear formed by the raging 'wind.'

In the midst of the power brought into the world by the mages, the born 'heat' called to 'heat.'

And so, they mixed, and a single flash swelled, even if only slightly.

In response, the faceless storm, its belly torn open, its tyranny disrupted, even if only slightly... But its course was altered, and the heat of the eyes that was just slightly not enough was helped, and—

...it burst forth, burning brightly, and incinerated everything.

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Wait for the explanation, because everyone except one person is going "huh?". Also, the choice of where to shoot was 100% a gut feeling.