Chapter 5: Null

The world around Natsu and Taichi fell silent. The faint glow of mana lingered in the air for just a moment longer before fading completely.

Panting lightly, Taichi clenched his hand around his shinai, his mind racing. He had taken that enormous blast head-on, and yet his skin was unburned. His health bar was unfazed.

He didn’t have time to think.

Natsu burst forward, closing the distance in an instant. Taichi barely managed to raise his shinai in time. The impact rattled his bones, the two wooden blades locking together.

From all around them, golden crackles erupted in the air.

Lines of fiery lightning formed a cage, converging toward Taichi from every direction. With Natsu’s blade pinning his, he couldn’t dodge or deflect. The shock of the mixed-element mana tingled through the air, closing in.

I can’t move.

Taichi braced for impact and pushed back against Natsu’s sword as hard as he could, forcing Natsu’s footing to slip for a fraction of a second as the fiery storm crashed down around him.

Nothing happened.

No pain.

No burns.

No drop on his health bar.

They broke apart and immediately re-engaged. Their shinais clashed in a rapid, relentless rhythm – strike, parry, counter, pivot. Natsu continued weaving traps with his aspect, golden arcs flickering across the field, locking Taichi into positions where he should have been shredded by fire and lightning.

But he wasn’t.

Every time any of his aspect’s attacks made contact with Taichi, the mana just… dissolved against his body.

Slowly, Taichi realized he could stop flinching.

He didn’t have to worry about the magic at all.

He panted heavily, pressing forward against Natsu’s shinai relentlessly. Natsu didn’t give up on using his aspect against him, but that was only to his detriment. Each time he diverted attention to using his aspect was an opportunity for Taichi to get a free hit. And he took each of those openings.

One hit. Then another. And another.

From the stands, Asumi stared at the health bars, her heart pounding in her chest.

“Natsu’s… losing.”

Taichi’s health bar hovered slightly further than Natsu’s, who was sitting at 25%.

Murmurs rippled through the crowd.

And yet, Natsu was smiling.

“I understand your aspect now,” Natsu said confidently, his breathing uneven, but his gaze sharp. “You were a strong opponent.”

He lowered his shinai.

His mana concentration became denser, not only around himself, but across the entire training ground.

Taichi’s eyes narrowed. Why? He knows that I can’t be hurt by this, right?

He surged forward, trying to close the gap before whatever Natsu was preparing could take form. Each step felt heavier than the last – fatigue digging into his legs, lungs burning – but he refused to slow. Lightning struck the ground at his heels, the blasts unbalancing his footing, but the moment they touched him, they fizzled out.

His nullification held.

Across the platform, Natsu trembled as he pulled more and more mana into himself and the sky. Every second Taichi bought, every inch he pushed forward, made the spell harder to control – but Natsu’s eyes only grew more focused.

By the time Taichi reached striking distance, the clouds above had thickened into a churning, black mass.

The first drops of rain began to fall.

Everybody in the crowd could smell it in the air – those clouds weren’t natural. The scent of mana traced every air molecule floating around the field. It was Natsu’s aspect.

“Zeus,” Natsu muttered.

A blinding pillar of lightning crashed down from the clouds and speared directly into Taichi.

For a split second, his entire body blazed with light. Mana flared, rippling around him, nullifying the storm the moment it touched him.

The lightning vanished.

Taichi’s health bar didn’t move.

But his body collapsed.

His muscles spasmed as if the electricity had finally caught up to him. His knees buckled; the shinai slipped from his hand. The world dimmed at the edges of his vision as he hit the ground, struggling to pull in breath.

Why…?

His health bar was still above zero. But his body wouldn’t move.

Taichi dug his fingers into the frost, trying to get up. His arms shook, refusing to obey.

Natsu walked toward him, each step slow and deliberate. He raised his shinai.

The wooden blade came down on Taichi’s vest with a dull crack. His health bar dipped slightly.

“Did you really think…” Natsu asked, voice cold, “That you could beat me?”

Another hit.

“Did you really think that I would let that happen?”

Another hit.

“Did you really think that I wouldn’t figure out your aspect's weakness?”

Each strike shaved off a tiny sliver of Taichi’s health, and Taichi couldn’t even lift his arms to block. Every impact reverberated through his exhausted muscles.

The clouds parted in the sky, and the rain let up.

Natsu raised his free hand. Mana flared to life once more as he conjured a large fireball above his head, its surface crawling with residual sparks.

“You never stood a chance.”

“That’s enough!” a voice boomed out from the side of the arena.

Natsu dissipated his fireball at the sight of Kodaka approaching the grounds, bringing down the arena's walls and stepping toward Taichi.

“Can you stand?” Kodaka asked.

Taichi, still frazzled by the lightning strike, simply shook his head.

Asumi sprinted onto the field the moment the walls fully dropped, dropping to her knees beside Taichi.

“Taichi… you were amazing,” she whispered, slipping an arm under his back. “Kodaka Sensei – does he need a hospital?”

“Well… normally I’d say yes, since he was struck by lightning,” Kodaka admitted, rubbing his chin. Taichi weakly grunted in objection. “But he should recover with proper rest. Sorcerers heal quickly. If he doesn’t want to go, he doesn’t have to.”

Taichi’s expression softened with relief. Asumi smiled.

“I’ll take him back to our room.”

She lifted him carefully, shooting Natsu a glare sharp enough to cut glass as she carried Taichi through the parted crowd. Students erupted into applause – loud, raw, disbelieving. Taichi had done what no one in the world had ever managed.

He pushed Natsu to the brink.

Natsu walked off in the opposite direction, fists clenched.

“Hayato Taichi…” he muttered. “…damn it.”

Taichi quickly passed out while Asumi carried him all the way to the dorm room, which was now rearranged with two halves separated by a retractable curtain. Taichi was placed on the bed, and Asumi pulled up a chair next to him.

Minutes later, Taichi’s eyes fluttered open.

“Asumi?”

“Oh! Taichi! Uh…”

She scrambled to her side of the room and returned with items in her arms. “Here – sports drink. You need electrolytes. And an apple. I can cut it if you want. And… and-”

Her breathing hitched. A few tears slipped free.

“Asumi…” Taichi whispered

“Oh, uh…” she quickly wiped away the tears. “Don’t worry about that, I… I just took some eye drops while you were asleep! Anyway, is there anything else you need?”

“It’s not your fault I lost,” Taichi said weakly. “I’ll be okay. Thank you for the guidance – it wouldn’t have been anywhere near as close without that.”

“I… you were amazing,” Asumi replied. “But… you said you challenged Natsu to a duel because you were curious… that isn’t true, is it?”

“Well… I was curious.”

“But the reason you challenged him was because he was talking down to me,” Asumi muttered. “And I lost my temper. If it weren’t for that, you wouldn’t have gotten into this fight.”

“I can have multiple reasons, can’t I?” Taichi weakly smiled. “I would’ve wanted to fight him eventually anyway.”

Taichi suddenly reached toward his neck and froze.

“Where’s my pendant?” he asked urgently.

“Oh, I think it might’ve fallen during the fight,” Asumi said. “It might still be on the training ground. Do you want me to get it for you?”

“If you could… my dad gave that to me. I was never supposed to take it off.”

“Alright, I’ll be back.”

Asumi left, opened the door, and froze. Natsu stood outside, the arrowhead pendant dangling from his fingers.

“Natsu…” Asumi growled.

He brushed past her without a word, stopping beside Taichi’s bed. He crouched down, voice dropping to a venomous whisper.

“You will never, ever, be able to get this close to winning against me again. You’re pitiful, and so is your ability. Take your stupid pendant back.”

Natsu tossed the arrowhead onto Taichi’s aching body.

“Thank you…” Taichi said quietly.

“We’ll fight again… Taichi. And I’ll win again.”

He left without a word to Asumi, slamming the door behind him.