Volume 4 Chapter 16, Part 2 Demon World Outer Realm： Mount Ontake Annihilation VII： Barrier Manifestation ‘Azure Sky Thunderclap’
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”Huh!?”
However, that deadly right fist was caught by a white hand just before Yuzura’s face.
The strongest fist in Kansai shattered with a sound like a crunch.
”~~~~~!!”
With bubbling sweat all over and ignoring the pain, Naoshi shouted.
”Hurry, as the law commands, release the restriction for 120 seconds──Kurikoma! Put your life on the line and lend a hand!”
”Leave it to me!”
The small, copper-colored body that had been waiting for an opening suddenly swelled.
Limbs stretched out, chest and rear threatening to rip the clothes from within.
With youkai energy comparable to when they appeared last autumn, no, more than that, the one-horned oni roared.
The speed was beyond anything so far.
”Oh, oh, oh────!”
”Well, that’s heartwarming.”
Letting go of Naoshi, the Tsukumogami caught the oni’s hands that were widening to crush.
Two Great Youkai grappled.
Kurikoma roared while bumping heads.
”You’ve made me suffer shame before omae-sama time and again!”
Tsuine quietly laughed, brushing off that fierce spirit as if it was nothing.
”But you little one, who hasn’t even lived for 5 hundred years, stands before a Great Youkai that has lived over a thousand.”
”Gah, ahhh──!?”
In many cases, the power of ayakashi is determined by the years accumulated.
Furthermore, this was within the Tsukumogami’s barrier, which cannot be overturned by mere spirit.
”I’m leaving now.”
”Ah, ah, ahhh…!”
Known for their strength among ayakashi, Tsuine broke the fighting spirit of the oni and jumped down from the massive rock.
”No, no, I’m still here, right?”
Clenching the shattered fist, Naoshi stood in the way.
To protect Yuzura, yet it was his duty to break the barrier; he couldn’t afford to throw himself away.
Time was running out; if he could hold on for a few more seconds──
He locked eyes with the inorganic-looking crimson gem; this was favorable.
With unprecedented focus, Naoshi aimed to catch even the slightest movement.
──He had seen it.
”I’m sorry, Naoshi, I want to keep staring at you forever, but──I’ll see you later.”
As she said this, Tsuine waved her right hand at the charred wood, the white thread extending from her sailor uniform’s sleeve entangling it.
She casually pulled one towards her like a spear, raising it high.
Naoshi could only watch.
His body trembled slightly, yet he remained still, unable to move.
(This guy is using techniques I can’t counter──!)
The paralysis is a power akin to charm, a force of the evil eye.
Many ayakashi possess this power, regardless of East or West──people die while entranced.
”Gaaah──!”
”Huh!?”
However, at the moment of the throw, Kurikoma, who seemed already broken in spirit, bit into the spider’s shin.
”Get lost.”
”Gyaah!”
Kicking the oni away, Tsuine hurled the large tree like a spear.
”──Shah!”
Finally shaking off the evil eye, Naoshi reached out with his left hand to strike down.
”Guh──!”
Bending 2 fingers, charged with maximum spirit energy, the spear flew in an impossible direction.
Yet in the end, the accumulation of their resistance, a slight delay, decided the outcome.
”Ruuuuuaaaahhh──!”
A massive spear flew towards Kanbe Yuzura, and a wolf that had raced through the skies bit down.
Mibu Itsuki’s 2 fangs, large and small, bent before the difference in mass and momentum, the supporting wrist and arm shared the same fate.
”Kuh…!”
Still, she succeeded in diverting the aim.
The spear landed just a meter beside Yuzura, scattering some of the shikigami that had been protecting him.
Rolling on the ground and gazing up at the sky, Itsuki exhaled words with her breath.
”I wonder if my timing is good or bad… well, it’s fine either way.”
”──I humbly offer my service!”
Thus, the ritual was completed.
The wind blew, and the shikigami dolls that had been swirling to protect Yuzura spread out.
A pure wind swept through Mitake, which had been tainted by the demon energy of the spider.
”Thank you, Itsuki. Next time, you can do whatever you want with Naoshi for a day.”
”Yay, it was worth breaking my bones!”
Having confirmed that they fulfilled their role, the young men and women exchanged light banter──
”Break it──!”
Now, Naoshi saw lightning descending from the ground to the heavens along with a friend’s shout.
The sound of countless shards of glass shattering filled the air, and the Tsukumogami’s barrier cracked.
* * *
”Naoshi, you…”
Naoshi laughed, relieved at Tsuine’s human-like astonishment.
”──Well, I’ve truly realized I can’t do much on my own.”
He had nearly committed a fatal blunder.
Grateful that he could recover from it, he turned to his final task.
”So, I guess I’ll just have to do what I can.”
The spirit energy that struck the Tsukumogami’s barrier swelled.
The fragment he had touched in Shizugatake was now a conviction.
He spoke the final key.
”──Oh realm, bind.”
──Barrier Manifestation “Azure Sky, Thunderbolt from the Blue (Hekireki, Souten ni Tobu)”──
Thus, the two realms intertwined, and everything began to be rewritten.
The azure sky, emerging from the world of Kazuramichi Naoshi, spread over the summit of Mt. Ontake.
All gazed upward, unable to suppress their awe at the beautiful blue sky.
──As a boy, he often looked up at the sky in the garden of his mansion.
On spring days, summer days, autumn days, winter days, and again on spring days.
Defeated by his master, his great-uncle, or too weary to stand.
The sky he looked up at while lying down was a symbol of his own helplessness.
Blue was the color of an unattainable dream.
To the endlessly high sky, to the distance to my goal, sorrow, anger, and all emotions melted into it.
But──now is different.
”I feel pretty good.”
Naoshi clenched his fists as he looked up at the sky, and thunder struck from the azure heavens.
It pierced towards Tsuine, who was looking up at the sky.
”──────!!”
The thunderous roar drowned out screams and everything else.
The youth who had once been a boy laughed, no longer seeing it as a trivial matter.
At the edge of the azure sky, the distant canopy.
He felt once again the response to nearing it, yet knew that its height was still far away.
Knowing that, he felt he could still grow stronger, in contrast to his former self.
As long as he believes there are no limits to the height of this sky (his own strength)──
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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