CH 66

“It will be bad if this goes on like this… Saiga, I’m going to use that.”

“You… But doesn’t that use up almost all of the magic power you have? Not to mention it takes time until you can cast it…”

“You are here for that reason. Guard me until I cast it, I ask of you. At the very least… I will kill one person.”

“Tch… I get it alright!?”

Saiga leapt before Kuroinu.

Kuroinu quietly put her hands together and closed her eyes.

(As long as this spell of Kuroinu settles it, victory will be close… Problem is whether I can suppress those two or not though… Well, not much to do other than make it work out I guess.)

He swung his spear once and resolved himself.

Unlike his lackadaisical thinking, that conduct of his was brimming with fighting spirit.

“――――――――Here we go desu.”

Shironeko and Mineko jumped out.

Shironeko’s nail approached Saiga who readied his spear in front of him.

“Take this!”

Having caught those nails, he released a thrust like that towards Mineko who tried to slip through from the sides.

Being interrupted suddenly, Mineko did avoid the trouble, but she lost momentum and so she took distance once.

Shironeko whose nails were defended, pulled back her hand and unleashed her nails once again.

“Heh… my eyes have gotten used to it now!”

“Is… that… so desu!?”

The nails and spear collided, raising high-pitched sound.

While Saiga was bluffing, he took a glimpse towards his back.

There was Kuroinu, still showing no signs of moving.

“Still not done, Kuroinu…!?)

A boisterous dance of surging waves of nails. Already had it become difficult to defend against uninjured and so several cuts were put on him.

Even so, he could not take distance.

It is because he could not bear it if his defenceless ally were to be robbed of her life in that opening.

However, that had no relation from the cat sisters’ perspective.

“<Heavy Leg>!” (TL I really need a better name for this.)

“Damn… it!”

He caught the dropkick of Mineko who had slipped through the nails and had jumped for a surprise attack.

Unable to break off that impact, he was blown away several meters.

“Ow, that… hurts…”

Saiga stood up while wobbling and once again readied his spear.

There was still some distance to Kuroinu, I should be able to endure if it’s for a little longer.

A scene that was seemingly laughing towards the current him, spread before his eyes.

“Hah… You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

There was something flying about at high speed before his eyes.

Because the sound of kicking the ground resounded all over the place, he did not know their locations accurately.

Saiga at least knew Shironeko and Mineko was flying about because those sounds simultaneously resounded at two places, but to his regrets he could not grasp their figures. And then――――――――

“Gah!”

A body blow from one of them grazed his body.

With just that, Saiga was taken aback and stumbled a step or two.

“What is this strength…”

“<Cat Hopper>, don’t think it can be repelled desu!”

Applying <Partial Animalisation> to their legs, kicking the air with outstanding leg strength and jumping about like a superball was the true identity of this technique.

The flying about in the first place would have instantly blown ordinary men into smithereens if they were to think about coming in contact with their body.

Saiga who endured one attack could say as expected, but…

“Ugh!”

Surging waves of body blows assailed Saiga.  Human masses hit his shoulder, feet and stomach at great speed.

He already dropped his spear and could do nothing but protect his head with his arms.

However, Saiga endured and continued to endure it.

“gh! Saiga! I’m doing it! Please pull back!”

“Hah… Finally… Huh. ”

The good news came in.

Saiga reflexively showed a relieved expression.

He mustered the last of his strength and leaped towards Kuroinu.

“Ah!”

Mineko who stopped her bounces leaked out her voice for letting him escape.

One of <Cat Hopper>’s weak points was that it would backfire when it could not do a targeted attack.

This technique, while excelling in power, range and ability to restrict, was difficult to aim due to high speed movement.

Constantly knowing only roughly each other’s location, Shironeko and Mineko could not stop running into each other at the time they devised this technique for the first time.

Becoming in sync, it finally took a complete shape, but its weakness was too much to erase as expected.

However, they had overlooked something

“I’m counting on ya… hit ‘em hard!”

“Even if you don’t tell me…!”

Kuroinu stuck out her hands in front of her.

Mineko felt a premonition that was unpleasant enough to make her hair stand on end.

However she wasn’t at a distance where she could put a stop to it anymore.

(We won I guess…)

Even while gasping, Saiga was convinced of their victory.

And after he let go of his strength like that, he noticed.

(Huh…now that I think about it…where did that Shironeko girl go off to?)

“It is the end, <Time Magi――――――――――――――”

It is the end for you――――――――desu.

The voice came from behind Kuroinu.

It was too late when they noticed.

The sharp nail bore the neck of the girl who tried to recite her spell, and red splashed about.

Neither Saiga nor Kuroinu couldn’t respond to it at all.

“Nyan nyan hide and seek, was a great success desu.”

Shironeko, who slipped out of <Cat Hopper> in between and hid behind Kuroinu without being noticed by anybody, looked down on the collapsed girl with a self-satisfied look.

Saiga who was absorbed in guarding didn’t notice the fact the two sounds turned into one.

Kuroinu who was refining magic that needed large amount of magic power, could not possibly suspect her who erased her presence.

Above all, the fact that Mineko constantly moved and talked and that Shironeko’s presence perfectly vanished was the number one deciding factor.

“Hey… Kuroinu…”

Saiga held up the fallen Kuroinu in his arms.

She already stopped breathing.

All she was doing was spitting out pools of remaining blood in her body.

He was too dumbfounded.

No, it was that sort of hit.

Shironeko’s hit carried the resolution to settle it with this and was able to become deadly.

On the battlefield, the one who has decided on that wins and the one who could not prevent that loses.

Kuroinu had lost.

“You are next desu. If you surrender quietly, then I will at least give you a painless death desu.”

The nail that drove Kuroinu to her death was placed on the base of Saiga’s throat.

“Damn it… what happened with our plans to go out eating…”

Saiga was shedding tears.

He mourned for the death of the one he loved.

“I’m gonna kill… you all”

And then he was filled with anger.

“I’ll kill you by ripping out your intestines, I’ll kill you by opening holes in your body, I’ll kill you by gouging out your eyes! I’ll never forgive you!”

“! I feel the same… desu!”

Her nail moved.

“ <ST magic>… Needle!”

“H-!”

Shironeko reflexively pulled back her nails and leapt back.

Countless needles that appeared breaking through the clothes of Saiga’s back, pierced the place she was in a moment before.

Those needles extended and chased after Shironeko who should have escaped to the back.

“What… is …-h!?

Shironeko continued to leap towards the back.

The needles did not continue to stretch ahead.

Even if she tried to dodge to the sides, it changed its path and chased after her while bending repeatedly.

“Big sis!”

“You go die too!”

Saiga’s arms literally extended towards Mineko who tried to stop him.

Mineko who was struck suddenly bend backwards, but her throat was caught as is.

“Gah… this is… unique magic…?

“Drop dead… you damn cat!”

“Guh…”

The strength of the arms clutching her throat strengthened.

During her suffering, Mineko felt her own thoughts fading.

Kuroinu and Saiga had been associated the longest among the black robes.

They who were also victims of the “Human weapon” manufacturing scheme of the humans had been acquaintances from the time of that research.

They mutually encouraged each other and sometimes had squabbles as well.

Since that time Saiga had an unrequited love for her, but there were no signs his feelings were transmitted.

Him going along with Touma was also because Kuroinu said she was going to follow him.

There was no point in any of it if she wasn’t there.

He would not have any reasons to fight if she wasn’t here.

Even so, at the very least he won’t be able to settle down if he didn’t kill these two who killed her.

“Let go of Mineko desu!”

While being chased by the needles (They were already tentacles instead), Shironeko headed towards Saiga.

The needles’ chasing speed could not catch up to her.

“Shut up and die!”

Together with rough words that no longer had any sophistication, needles once again flew from his back.

“My <ST magic> lets me stretch and contract anything as I like! You ain’t got no place to escape!”

(Kuh… this is bad… desu.)

Shironeko pondered while she somehow continued to ward off the assailing needles.

“This is bad” was not towards the fact these needles were excessively hard and could not be severed by her nails.

(Mineko losing her consciousness like this is bad desu…!)

“Die! Die already!”

“ … Ugh.”

She was losing her consciousness.

Perhaps her neck would break at this rate, so she would avoid suffocation.

However, what Shironeko was worried about was not that either.

“Saiga! Stop desu! If Mineko loses her consciousness like that…!”

“Aah!? Shut up!”

Even more strength filled his arms.

Staying conscious was the only thing Mineko could no longer do.

Though that is the case――――――――

“Like this! Die! Die――――――――――――”

“ …… Grrrr…”

“Die! Die! Di… e… wait what?”

Saiga’s stretched arms, disappeared.

Holding those arms in the mouth was a large cat.

The cat who seemed to be able to trample him under its feet like that, spat out on the ground like it was garbage.

“Grrrr… “

“――――――――Even though Mineko’s great at partial animalisation, she is bad at animalisation desu. That is why if she end up fainting during a fight, she becomes an uncontrollable beast and rampage… desu.”

“Shaa~h!”

“Oh he already can’t… hear it anymore… desu.”

There was the figure of Saiga who was instantly pummeled to death.

His face had already been crushed and although at first abuse was mixed in, now nothing else besides sounds of hitting could be heard.

“Mineko is five times as strong when she becomes like this desu… my condolences desu

The cat who had his blood dripping off her black fur, roared towards the rainy sky.

Another battle had concluded on another battlefield.