Taimanin: The Weakest's Resolve

Five Days Break - 11

Running towards the end of a tree limb, Kotaro jumped off and spun around in midair. His hands slapped together in a quick succession of movements.

Serpent. Ram. Monkey. Boar. Horse. Tiger.

[Fire Art: Great Fireball]

The right eye without a name subtly lit up. Yet, to Kuchiki, nothing about that mysterious visual display had been changed. Small streams of Taima particles circled Kotaro's body as he took a deep breath in midair and blew the concentrated energy out of the mouth. Through the loosely gripping fist put in front of his face, the large orb made of flame launched at the chasing horde. The great fireball burned and melted all that humanoid figures standing in its way. Kuchiki, who was moving behind the group, dodged the blazing ball by jumping to another tree limb. His jaw tensed up, teeth grinded in boiling anger as the flame vaporized one of the many limbs of the Great Ashen Tree.

"Stop that! Stop hurting my Great Tree!"

Kotaro won't stop. All trace of mercy to Kuchiki and his so-called deity was long gone the moment Kotaro acknowledged the danger he could bring to the world.

Using Wind Art, Kotaro rushed through the falling charred corpses of the wood creatures. One-handed seal pointed at Kuchiki, he spew another flaming orb. The ashen monster was a short distance away from the enlarging ball of fire. Kuchiki couldn't dodge, however, he wouldn't be able to get out of its striking range in time. Just like the previous attack, the fireball exploded, leaving giant crater on the tunnel wall and burned away another tree limb.

"I SAID STOP!"

Kuchiki burst out from the lower level of the tree roots. At his top speed, the enraged mad man dashed to where Kotaro was about to land. As if knowing the exact location beforehand, that right eye glared straight at Kuchiki's face. It managed to follow him at the kind of speed normal eyesights couldn't keep track. Kuchiki threw a straight punch, no pulling back and fully intended to kill. Kotaro was still in the air, his feet was only an arm reach away from the surface. Kuchiki made sure the instant-kill attack would connect before his shoes even touches the ground. Kotaro didn't have enough force to twist his body and absorb the punch, it was almost impossible to dodge his head out of the way of that coming fist.

However, the Inu hand sign was already done. A gust of wind gathered inside his palm. Kotaro struck the empty air at the side and rolled his torso over Kuchiki's extending arm with the handmade momentum. As the instant-kill punch grazed over his hair by a margin, Kotaro brought down a leg, the back of his feet bashed in the top of Kuchiki's hardened head. The ashen monster fell with a dent in its skull.

Then, Kotaro quickly turned to a new direction, right eye tracked down an invisible existence not yet defined by the norm. Heels spun on the spot, Kotaro chased after it. Right there! The thing he saw just stopped in that exact location! He made his way past a couple wood creatures rising from within the root and aimed for a single spot within the view.

One arm cocked back, fist formed, speed didn't slow down. Kotaro cared none about the recoil that was about to hit his body. He got the right technique in mind to deal with that toughed layer of the root.

[Shinohara Mari's Style: Hardened Fist]

Elbow straightened. Tightly gripped fist thrust forward, Kotaro smashed through the solid. He used just enough strength to make a small hole and pulled out Kuchiki, who blossomed from another vessel buried inside the root. With his neck being clutched by an inhumane strength, the ashen monster had no way to break out.

"W-What sort of power is this!? Impossible! You never possessed this kind of strength before!"

He never was. The amount of surreal pressure wrapping around Kuchiki's neck wasn't Fuuma Kotaro's actual strength. It belonged to someone who was half-human.