Backward

“Onii-chan?!” A small head tilted; her brow twitched. “Who is—” the small figure in the yard paused, “her?”

“A friend of mine,” Hayate replied without hesitation.

“But we’ve just met,” Kanon said, her brow furrowed at him.

“Hanae, take care of her.” Hayate opened the gate and gently pushed Kanon inside. After Kanon was in the yard, Hayate shut the gate firmly.

“Eh… Onii-chan?!” Hanae called out, her broom motionless in her grip.

“They’re here.” Hayate brows furrowed. He had to go back. The rumors of people being burned alive, the attack this morning… He needed information. He couldn’t let them get away.

He sprinted back along his previous route, lightning already gathering at his heels.

He wasn’t surprised to find the road blocked. Not by the first two, but by a new, well-groomed, middle-aged man in a black tuxedo.

The man’s incantation was quick. Several lances of jagged ice appeared from thin air and shot toward Hayate.

“O maechtiger Blitz, mach mich licht und schnell!” Hayate murmured, he exploded forward, his own magic forming a cloak of lightning. The lances of ice hissed and hissed into steam before they could touch him, melted by the sheer heat of his aura.

They collided. The man, his fists now encased in thick blocks of ice, threw a punch. Hayate blocked it with his sword, a deafening clang echoing through the forest. He held his sword firm, the world seeming to slow as the lightning enhanced his speed.

Another punch came. Hayate disengaged, leaping backward to create distance.

“Hey!” Hayate called out, clicking his tongue. “Can you—not—lower the temperature? It’s cold already!”

“...” The man in the tuxedo didn’t flinch. He adjusted his tilted eyeglasses, his gaze fixed.

“So, you guys decided to move out,” Hayate pressed. “I know you guys from Fabi Hegemony—”

“Oi jaeae, uurra polkusi eteenpaein!”

Jagged ice spikes erupted from the ground, splitting the asphalt directly in Hayate’s path.

“O Blitz, gib mir deine Glut!”

A fresh streak of lightning engulfed Hayate, generating a scorching heatwave that dispersed the ice. Finnish, Hayate noted. He inhaled deeply and sighed. No use talking to this guy. What a pain. He needed information, even one word, but this one wouldn’t cooperate.

“All right, you well-suited, muted guy. Let’s get this over with.”

Hayate cracked his neck, the sound popping sharply in the frozen air. The temperature was still dropping; the man’s magic bled a palpable cold that frosted the edges of the cracked asphalt. Hayate’s own lightning aura fought it back, steam rising in a constant, hissing perimeter around him.

He exhaled, his breath a white plume.

His left foot slid forward, finding a grip on the icy road. His right foot braced behind, angled, sinking his heel down as if driving an anchor into the mountain. He lowered his center of gravity, weight shifting to his rear leg, his whole body coiling like a spring.

His grip tightened on his sword. He let the blade drop low, angling it down by his right hip, the tip tracing a quiet line in the air, nearly kissing the ground. The air around him crackled, tiny blue sparks dancing along his arms and the guard of his sword.

His shoulders squared. His spine went rigid. He was no longer just a man; he was a conduit, a human anchor point waiting to complete a circuit. His gaze locked on the tuxedoed man, who had now encased his hands in thick, serrated gauntlets of ice.

The ice mage began to chant. “Oi jaeae, anna kylmyytesi—”

Hayate’s own incantation was a clipped, sharp whisper, a counter-beat to the Finn’s drawn-out spell. “O Blitz, gib mir all dein Wesen!”

He was faster.

The world exploded in a single, devastating motion.

His sword, brought up from its low guard in a rising arc, carved a path of blinding light. The blade passed through the man’s chest, engulfing him in a blinding flash of white-hot electricity. The man froze, his ice gauntlets shattering before his spell could even form.

Blood spurted from his mouth, the crimson liquid vaporizing with a sickening hiss before it could even hit the asphalt.