BOOM–!
The ground exploded. Turning into lava with hot fiery flames spewing out.
"Eeep! Hot! Hot! Hot!"
"Turning ground into lava in an instant…"
Ayame muttered, hovering mid-air. Thankfully, both of them had deployed their reiryōkuken just in time. A second slower, and they'd have been ash.
Currently, the ground was too dangerous, and Ayame had lost her advantage. They were open to attacks now, and perhaps that was what Ikari aimed for.
Still,
"It's not over yet!" Isami shouted. "
Mid-air, Isami launched through the air, charging straight at Ikari, buying her partner the precious seconds she needed to reposition.
Both met with a clash, and sparks flew around the air. Blade met flames. And despite how exceedingly heavy the air was being near him, Isami pushed forward.
"HA!"
With a loud scream of vigour, she slammed her katana against his barrier.
Her powers, after all, were designed to break boundaries. Which yes, included a Quasi-Spirit's boundary of omnipotence—reiryōkuken.
'Oh? 'She's actually pushing me back?'
Looking below, he realised that Isami had begun pushing him downwards towards the sea of lava he'd constructed below.
And it was at that moment.
"Ayame! Shoot! Shooooot!"
Ikari blinked; his eyes darted around before he then noticed a golden light flared from the third floor.
Ayame stood there, face drenched in sweat, hands trembling. She poured every ounce of focus—of will—into that one, final attack.
"
A golden light shot out. Approaching both Isami and Ikari at high speeds.
The world seemed to slow down as Ikari muttered out something; however, he was cut off before he complete it.
Something unexpected that even he didn't see coming happened.
The ground shook, and Empty screamed; although this was the case every time, Isami's and Ikari's faces both changed complexion.
"Neighbouring world composition (Compiler)...at such a time!"
In the neighbouring world, spirits have already disappeared. However, even so, the Spirit's majesty was still unceasingly spread here.
Occasionally, even when in a distant world, they continue to have a great influence over the neighbouring world.
It is unclear when and how this effect will occur. The scale that would change is also unpredictable.
…According to one theory, the effect would occur when a spirit's mood is greatly shaken, but that was not certain.
The earth was torn apart.
Black pillars soared up, ravaging this world. From those pillars, countless needle-like thorns began to grow.
Apparently, this current transformation seemed to have been brought on by a mood turning sour.
"Ah!? No, wait…"
The floor that was about to collapse was now tilted obliquely as Empty was sliding down without any leverage.
The destination, which used to be a staircase, was now nothing else than a black pillar protruding outward.
Below, the lava floor collapsed as well, splintering apart, pouring into a bottomless abyss. The molten flood vanished, sucked downward into darkness.
Empty screamed.
Mid-fall, her eyes locked with Ikari's. And in that suspended instant, she reached toward him, almost out of desperation.
Ayame was relatively safe; however, she was under the assault of those black needles from said pillars, and Empty seemed to have it worse as she was falling below.
Ikari understood that Empty would not die from a fall from that height.
At best there will be a little pain or shock. However, those thorns were quite bad.
Those thorns are said to be the heart of a spirit itself. There were a lot of quasi-spirits that were swallowed and never returned.
It was the same regardless of whether formed from positive or negative emotions. He could not allow that to happen.
For some reason, he felt he could not. Hence,
"
Saying that, behind him, two great objects appeared, both being halves of a celestial clock.
One golden, shaped like the right arc of a timepiece.
The other, white, forming the left. Between them hovered a smaller disc, etched with constellations that spiraled inwards like a collapsing galaxy.
Additionally, in the middle was a smaller circle with several constellations wrapped around it.
"Hn! That is—!"
"An angel!?"
The powers of Zafkiel and Lucifugus, respectively, are to manipulate time and space.
However, that alone wouldn't warrant the stoppage of time universally.
No, it wasn't the stoppage of time.
But rather, the acceleration of oneself to the point whereby the world appears to have stopped.
Moving seconds, minutes, hours ahead by cutting himself off from the world.
That way, he could stop time.
Naturally, it also wouldn't be possible without
Stretching his hand outward, he grabbed Isami with his left.
Without slowing, he blitzed up toward the third floor where Ayame was, surrounded by thorns, barely shielding herself. He seized her with his right.
Lastly, Empty was falling—
He quickly swooped down, wrapping her by wrapping flames around her.
Then, in one go. He flew out of the shopping mall's roof, which melted as he flew out.
Exiting it, time suddenly began to flow normally, and from there.
It hit–!
"—Kuh!"
The sound hit like a detonation. Pressure reasserted itself, and the world caught up with up with Ikari once more.
On the other hand, Empty, Ayame and Isami, who suddenly saw that their surroundings had changed, immediately understood.
'He used it–the power of time.'
Even if he was fast to the point that their eyes couldn't follow, they would have felt a breach in their border of omnipotence; however, when time is stopped, then their conditional omnipotence becomes disabled.
In that frozen state, they were susceptible to attacks.
Hence, if it were pure speed, Ikari would have felt some resistance. But the fact that they hadn't even felt anything in the first place meant their border was breached.
"Hahahaha…" Isami exhaled, blinking at the ruined cityscape below. "How many times have I escaped death now?"
Her tone was light, borderline cheerful.. But as soon as she said that.
"Oh?"
"Iyahh!!"
They suddenly fell from the height they were suspended at. It was Ikari who had gotten hit by the backlash.
Luckily for him, it was still relatively in its early stages. If it had been in its middle or later stages, then it would be worse.
In fact, this was the first time he was using a move like this.
Cut yourself from time and space, then use flames to accelerate movement. It worked, but at what cost?
'Haah… sh*t.'
"Isami!"
"Leave it to me!"
Mid-air, Ayame had called for Isami, and with a nod, both of them came to an agreement.
Ayame spun, flying toward Empty who flailed mid-air like a startled bird while Isami towards Ikari.
They caught their targets mid-fall and moments later, they landed atop a nearby high-rise. The rooftop trembled under the impact as their boots hit concrete.
Silence. The city stretched around them, scarred, smoking, half-consumed by rising black pillars and destroyed architecture.
"Now, I get the meaning of what "she" was trying to say."
Having said that, Ayame with zero grace, dumped Empty onto the rooftop.
"GYAH—!" Empty yelped, hitting the ground hard and clutching her bruised rear. "Ow ow ow—rude!!"
She scrambled up and ran straight toward Ikari, who was gently placed down by Isami, conscious but seemed to be in pain.
"To cut off the Spirit's influence and stop the neighbouring world from collapsing… Huh?"
Looking at this scenery, she finally understood. However, things were far from over.
"Ayame! Watch out!"
As though to add to the list of misfortunes they'd experienced, blazing flames rained down from the sky as an extra souvenir.
"...As expected, the timing is too bad."
Saying that, Ayame didn't even flinch. She didn't need to.
Isami was already there, in front of Ayame, her blade sweeping upward. With a single arc, the flames split and vanished .
After that, Ayame's gaze slowly rose.
"What is the meaning of this…?"
Looking at the two who hovered above, Sheri Musika, along with Tonami Furue, Ayame asked such a question.
However,
"I'll return that question back at you. What are you both doing?"
To that, neither Ayame nor Isami answered. Neither side was surprised, as they more or less expected this outcome.
At the same time, they could more or less guess why they were also here. Now the strongest of them seems to be suffering a drawback of his own powers.
There is no saying when he'd bounce back, so this was the perfect time to strike.
Ayame and Isami also realised this. However, this time, their line of thoughts wasn't intersecting with the other side.
For their own reasons.
"Heh."
Isami chuckled, brushing her thumb across the flat of her blade.
"Wouldn't have blamed him if he let us die back there. But I owe him now. And debts... aren't something I ignore."
"Quite so. Additionally, I have something to ask of him, so I also can't let anything happen to him, now, can I?"
Saying that, both brandished their weapons towards the other pair who had teamed up. Slowly but surely, this war was coming to a close, but nothing is determined yet.
"I-Ikari-san!"
Empty's voice suddenly rang out as they all turned to the two behind. There, they saw him, standing up, stretching out his right hand.
"Descend.
A pillar of flames rose to the sky. A pillar of flames far exceeding the output any Flame Quasi-Spirit can put out.
"Are you serious?"
It was Sheri who said that, now rethinking her decision.
The sheer pressure forced Ayame and Isami to leap back, dragging Empty with them to escape the area.
"...Wasn't he weakened?"
Furue said that with a sigh.
With such a vigour in front of them…. Escape was very well futile.
However, they were already fighting to the death in the first place, so they might as well see it through.
Suddenly, the pillar of dark flames disappeared, along with the searing temperature, as though it never existed.
All that was left was a sword there, which very much resembled a certain sword that destroys reason but with dark flames dancing around it.
"Both of you better dodge. Otherwise. You'll die."
Ikari suddenly said that before swinging his sword. As the sword came in contact with the ground of the roof he stayed on, other than a spark, nothing seemed to happen.
Then—
KRRRRRRAAAAGHHHHMMMM—!!!
An ear-splitting sound tore through the air as a colossal gorge cleaved open from half the ruined city of Malkuth.
The line of destruction extended straight, all the way to the city's far edge, where it dropped off into the abyss beyond the city.
BOOM–!
P.S: [Zanka-no-tachi] style.