Isekai Mizuki S1 - A World With Demons

Chapter 49 - VS Puppet Yaksha

"We need to break open the puppet..."  Kanae thought, trying to find a way to get in.

Murata drew out his bow and got ready to fire. After Murata gave her the "I'm ready" signal, Kanae immediately charged in, jumping up as soon as she got close. Murata tried to draw the puppet's attention away from Kanae by repeatedly firing waves upon waves of arrows. It worked, as Kanae landed a stabbing strike to its head.

The class's advisor then attempted to carve it open by dragging it downward, but she was interrupted by being picked up, then thrown to the ground. It then pulled Kanae's sword out of its head, then threw it towards her. Murata, luckily, reacted quick enough to shoot it, redirecting it to land next to her.

"This thing's tough...!"  she thought.

The puppet then pulled its katana out of the ground, then infused it with wind energy.

"Wait, they had the Anemo Puppet?!" she questioned as it created sharp, ranged wind slashes that were directed at her. Although she successfully dodged,a sliver of it hit her haori, tearing that piece of it off.

Gyutaro overheard her question, and answered it.

"Damn right! Back then, the Upper Moon Six was the rank to be killed the most. When this puppet was given to us by that man, it killed so many people, even Hashira feared us! But you all seem to be a kind of special breed or somethin'! The other puppets had rotten down to the point where the other Upper Moons couldn't have 'em, but we were somehow able to salvage this one. Either fuckin' way, prepare yourselves!"

"Manta Ray Blaster!" he yelled out as he suspended himself in mid-air, then began firing ground-moving manta rays. The puppet got hit, and flinched a slight bit from the attack. In that opening, Kanae rushed in to attack, but was interrupted by a wind explosion. She was then kicked away.

Kanae groaned, then muttered: "Ugh... This thing's too good at close combat!"

Murata then landed 3 successful Bolt-Piercing Drops, breaking the head and its legs. He cheered on himself a little, as it split itself apart, revealing the wind core.

"Go, Ms. Kocho! I think you need to stab it!" he suggested. His teacher rushed forward and tried to thrust her blade into the core. But, unfortunately, it repaired its own body by using wooden parts from its surroundings. Her stab was blocked by the wooden body, and it knocked her back with a knee kick.

The extreme power caused Kanae to cough up a puddle of blood, but she didn't care. "My priority is the students' safety!"

Murata then tried to provide more ranged support as his advisor attempted to cut down the body, so she could damage the core. "I can't even hit this thing! The body's huge, but it's so damn fast! I need to find a way to create an opening...!"  Murata thought as he tried to find or create an opening.

The three had been fighting for the next hour, with Kanae's stamina nearly running out, the wood on the puppet's body badly damaged, and Murata who had nearly run out of arrows.

The puppet disassembled itself once more, shattered its body into smaller pieces, and sent them flying at the two..

Kanae was slicing them bit by bit, trying to defend herself, while Murata had been dodging the incoming pieces. Eventually, Murata found an opening, and landed a precisely critical Bolt-Piercing Drop. It damaged the core, making it stop throwing its pieces. When Kanae realized what was happening, she ran forward, and tried thrusting her sword into the core.

The core somehow reacted, and as if it was alive, it tried to repel the incoming blade away.

Kanae realized this was happening, and tried harder to put it in. "JUST... LET... ME... PENETRATE... YOU!" she grunted angrily as she tried to thrust the sword further in.

Murata had one arrow left, and his thoughts after the realization were: "Make this count, make this count!"

Murata charged up an attack with extreme power put into it. A water vortex formed from underneath, and thus, the pinnacle of Murata's ultimate skill was reached.

"Water Magic: Archery Style: Ultimate: The Great Blue Whale!" he called out as a water mimic of the world's largest variant of whale was created. It crashed down onto the core, severely weakening its force. Eventually, Kanae pierced through the core, fully destroying the puppet.

The Great Blue Whale (One single arrow is infused with the pinnacle of the Water Magic's energy. And it is released all at once to create a water mimic of the Great Blue Whale. The arrow's weight tremendously increases in the process, greatly decreasing range.)

Kanae gasped for breath, trying to recover her sight. She kept coughing up blood, and eventually fainted.

Murata was taken by surprise, and he became genuinely concerned for this teacher, which made him say: "Woah-oh! Hang in there, Ms. Kocho! Don't die on me!" as he hauled his teacher, trying to take him to the rest of his friends. Right then and there, the ground began to fall.

All of the remaining contenders were taken off the ground, as they were falling, too.

Kanao asked: "What the heck is happening?! Why are we falling?!"

Gyutaro began to chuckle, then he broke out into an evil laugh. "HAHAHAHAHAHA! I forgot to mention, that puppet's core was what was suspending this place's platforms! The wind was carrying most of the ground, allowing for mobility across them. Now that your teacher and your friend shattered the core of the only Yaksha Puppet remaining, this place's fallin' apart like your bodies are about to be!"

Isekai then questioned his new explanation. "And you're telling us this now?!"

To be continued...