Chapter 33 Railgun of Pure Blue Fury

Inside Shota's barrier, Arata keyed his comms.

 "Akane! Akane, come in! What is your status? Respond!"

The only answer was a crackle of static, accompanied by distant, muffled shouts and a single, cut-off scream from deep within the ruined facility. Then, nothing. 

 The villain hover over the center of the facility. He paused for a moment, then dropped like a stone, punching through the shattered floors. The sound of collapsing concrete and screaming metal echoed down through the ruins as he descended level by level, a drill of pure darkness boring straight down until he reached the vault.

 "Ahhh, there you are, my precious artifact. At last, in my hands. You would have been mine sooner if not for those incompetent Ancient Shadows, but it does not matter now. I have what I came for. Time to leave."

He ascended just as smoothly, floating back out into the open air, the artifact in his hand. He raised his other hand, a vortex of darkness beginning to swirl into existence before him.

It was over. He had won.

"MY FIRE MIGHT NOT WORK WELL ON DAMN LAVA! BUT THIS BASTARD CAN BE BURNED! HEATOOOO BURSTOOOOOOO!"

The pile of rubble shielding Team Bravo exploded outwards.

Enji shot from the wreckage like a blue beam of light.

"BLUE JETOOO BURNER!"

 He streaked across the sky, his body a vortex of blue flame, spinning in a devastating kick aimed directly at the Man's head. The air itself screamed as it was torn apart by the heat.

The Man didn't even flinch. As Enji's attack descended, he simply leaned his head back with bored yawn. The superheated kick passed mere inches from his shadow-obscured face.

"Oh my! What a hot head child."

 He swung a casual, backhanded fist towards Enji's exposed torso. It was a blow meant to kill.

CRACK!

But his fist didn't connect with Enji. It slammed into a solid barrier wall that materialized between them. The barrier fractured instantly, a spiderweb of cracks radiating out from the point of impact, but it held just long enough for Enji to be thrown back by the reverberating force, landing hard but alive.

The Man pulled his hand back, flexing his fingers.

 "Oh? What do we have here? A barrier magic, and so strong. I am pretty sure I swung hard enough to kill flaming boy, but this barrier saved him. Call me impressed. Unfortunately, today I'm not as free to admire the others. I have places to—"

Before he could finish, Arata roared, "You're not going anywhere! Air Pressure Prison!"

 The air around the villain solidified into an invisible, crushing vise.

The Man let out a disappointed sigh, "Oh well. If you wish to die, so be it."

He was there. Then he was gone. Shota's reflexes on high alert, a barrier starting to form in front of his instructor, but he was a fraction of a second too slow.

The Man's open palm gently tapped Arata's chest.

 A concussive wave of force erupted, launching Arata backward like a cannonball. He smashed through the facade of one building, then another, before disappearing into a cloud of dust and collapsing rubble.

"DON'T YOU DARE IGNORE ME! THE GREAT HEATOOOBURSTOOOOO-SAMA! ATOMIC BLUE JETOOOOO HAMMMMMMMMMMMER!"

He became a railgun shot of pure blue fury, his fist aimed at the villain's face. The punch connected with a shockwave that liquefied the concrete at their feet, and a blue supernova engulfed the whole street block.

When the light faded, the Man stood unmoved. Enji's fist was pressed against his palm. A sickening series of crunches echoed as the bones in Enji's arm shattered to dust. Blood erupted from his skin, spraying from countless tears.

The villain didn't even look strained.

 "Hey, kid. Not bad. How about it? I saw you like spin kicks. I'll give you one you won't forget."

In a motion too fast to follow, he spun. Shota threw up a barrier between them, but the kick shattered it like glass, barely slowing before it connected with Enji's torso. The battle armor disintegrated, and Enji was launched across the street, crashing through a wall and landing motionless in a growing pool of his own blood.

Shota, operating on pure instinct and desperation, boxed the man in, snapping multi-layered barrier walls into existence on all sides, a perfect, impenetrable cube.

"Hahah! What's this? A multi-layer barrier? You know, not only can I punch my way out, but also..." 

He snapped his fingers. A void opened behind him. He took a single, casual step backward into it, and the void—and he—reappeared outside Shota's cage, which now held nothing but air.

Suddenly, the ground at his feet erupted. A forest of Mirai's steel drills, spinning so fast they sheathed themselves in white-hot plasma, shot upward, slamming into him from every angle. They shattered on impact, splattering molten metal against an invisible field around him. They did nothing. Not even scorch his raincoat.

He brushed a fleck of metal from his shoulder, his gaze shifting from the crumbling barrier cage to the girl who had launched the attack. His head tilted, a flicker of recognition in the shadows that hid his face.

"Oh? You're Kenji's girl. Mirai Osanai. What a small world. We meet again."

He paused for a moment, then gave a slight, almost gentlemanly bow of his head.

 "Oh, my apologies. Where are my manners? The courtesy of a villain and a Pro Wizard: no real names on the job. So, Miss... what is your Pro Wizard name?"

Mirai stood her ground, she met his gaze without flinching.

"Miss R.R."

 "Miss R.R. I like it. It has a certain... charm to it. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss R.R. It would be rude to leave without properly acknowledging the daughter of the Witch King. Too bad it's a farewell."

Before Mirai could react, he was in front of her. 

Shota’s mind screamed. He was too far away! He threw his hand out. A blue barrier appeared between the man’s fist and Mirai.

There was no wind-up, no tell. His fist, wrapped in a shroud of darkness, drove into her stomach shattering the barrier like cheap glass. The impact drove all the air from her lungs in a silent, agonized gasp. 

Another barrier snapped into existence between them. It shattered into a thousand glittering shards the instant the darkness touched it, doing nothing to slow the attack. She doubled over, her eyes wide, only for his knee to meet her face.

She flew backward, skidding across the rubble-strewn ground.

Mirai pushed herself up, blood streaming from her broken nose, a wild, unhinged grin splitting her lips.

 "Hehe... you're... so strong..."

 She launched a volley of steel drills from the ground around him.

He didn't dodge. They shattered against an invisible field around him.

 "Girl, I have to be strong, after all, I'm the last boss."

He snaped his fingers. A whip of solidified darkness snapped out, wrapping around her ankle. He yanked, lifting her into the air and slamming her back down onto the concrete.

"Ghk!" she choked, the grin never leaving her face.

"Still, I expected more from the Witch King's bloodline."

He released her. She scrambled to her hands and knees, coughing up blood. 

Another barrier. Man laughed, then kicked her in the ribs. Another useless explosion of light. The sound was like a gunshot. Another futile barrier. Another kick, this one to her back, sent her rolling. He raised his foot, darkness forming around it, intending to stomp down and end it.

"STOP! Don't you dare hurt her!" Shota shouted.

The Man turned fully to Shota now.

 "Oh, come on, young man, I already did and your little light shows are doing nothing to help her. They only annoy me." 

He began walking toward Shota.

 "You know what? Before I finish her, I think I have to give you a good beating. A lesson in knowing your place. Oh wait, I said I will kill you. Ah whatever all the same."

Instinct took over. Shota crossed his arms, and his ultimate defense snapped into place—the perfect, unbreakable UR-tier barrier, encasing him in a dome of solid blue light.

The Man simply drew back his fist and punched.

BOOM.

The ground beneath them peeled away, entire carpets of concrete and asphalt ripping free as if the earth itself had been skinned. Shockwaves tore outward in expanding rings, flipping cars, pulverizing streetlights, shredding rubble into clouds of dust.

Buildings surrounding them were caught mid-collapse, walls blown outward, windows vaporized, steel frames screaming as they twisted and snapped. The air itself buckled, thunder exploding in every direction at once.

 The entire dome vibrated, the light within flickering violently. Shota grunted, feeling the impact deep in his soul, his mana gauge dipping.

The Man pulled back and punched again. BOOM!
"Here! Have another!" BOOM!
"Such magnificent magic!" BOOM!
"But wasted!" BOOM!
"On a worthless child!" BOOM!

His mana was draining too fast. It was like a bucket with a huge hole. Each punch was a splash of water leaking out.

Each impact was a world-ending cataclysm contained within a few square feet. Shota cried out, falling to his knees inside his own shield, blood trickling from his nose from the sheer mental strain. The barrier, once flawless, now showed a spiderweb of hairline cracks, spreading with every thunderous blow.

"SHO-KUN!" Mirai screamed from the ground. The sound wasn't one of her manic glee, but of terror. The euphoria of her own pain vanished, replaced by a cold, absolute horror at the sight of his suffering. The man was going to break him. He was going to shatter the only good thing in her world into a million pieces.

The Man raised his fist for the final blow. This one would shatter it. This one would kill Shota.

“A noble effort, kid. But face it, all things break eventually. And you're no different.”

In that moment, something in Mirai broke. Not her spirit, but a limitation. The agony, the humiliation, the sheer, utter inferiority in the face of the man who had hurt her Shota and was now about to kill him... it ignited a furnace within her soul.

Her drills weren't enough. Steel was too soft. She needed something harder. Something that could pierce anything.