20 – Sky

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Each magic attribute has its respective colour.

For example, Calcedonia is the most proficient in the high order <Holy> system magic. And when she uses it, a silvery white light radiates.

Other than that, of Calcedonia’s magic, <Flame> is deep crimson, <Sea> is deep blue, <Tree> is light green and <Lightning> is bluish-purple.

And the magic Tatsumi invoked had a golden color.

According to ancient scriptures, only one person in the past could ever use this magic, a legendary magic of the <Sky> system.

A sideways strike from the short spear.

For someone like Tatsumi who didn’t even have any simple martial arts knowledge let alone spear techniques, it was simply a [Baseball Hit].

He simply swung the short spear that he held horizontally. It was an amateurish strike that couldn’t deviate from spear techniques.

But even so, the spear handle was strengthened by mana as it hit Morganeich’s temporal region—or so it seemed.

But just before the handle hit his head, he slipped in his sword between him and the spear.

Maybe it was because his karma which he earned after forging his abilities, or maybe it was because the <Devil> was possessing him, that he was able to do that.

The reason was unclear, but Morganeich was able to somehow block Tatsumi’s all-out attack while breaking his posture.

Furthermore, he skillfully manipulated his sword and succeeded in flinging off Tatsumi’s spear from his arms.

This was evident proof that he wasn’t an amateur like Tatsumi, but a skillful knight. No matter if a <Devil> was possessing him, it wasn’t like he had forgotten all the battle techniques he had trained for years.

But even if he succeeded in defending, as his posture was crumbling he received Tatsumi’s pursuit and thus, the <<Freedom Knight>> stumbled a few steps back.

However, he swiftly fixed his stance and brandished his sword while he was turned around. Even if there was a few steps of distance from him to Tatsumi. If he acted swiftly, then it was enough to seize Tatsumi in the range of his sword.

A sharp sword flash attacked Tatsumi. His sword ate nothing but air, because Tatsumi’s figure vanished once again.

The red glowing eyes of the <<Freedom Knight>> showed a trace of fright. Then behind that knight, Tatsumi appeared once again.

His hands no longer held any weapon. I return, his fist were gripped tightly as the right fist blasted towards Morganeich’s face, clad in a golden light.

Another surprise attack from the rear. Even the <<Freedom Knight>> couldn’t immediately respond to that.

But somehow he tilted his neck and tried to barely withstand it. Above all, Tatsumi didn’t receive any formal boxing training so even if he had mana it shouldn’t muster up much power. So even if it hit his face then the damage he would receive would be minimum.

That was supposed to be the case.

But when his fist hit Morganeich’s face, all the golden mana exploded out with a -baaam!- and even the armor-clad Morganech was easily blasted away.

Even as he was blasted away, he rolled on the ground a few times to shake off the force and tried to fix his stance with a giddy head. Then he looked at his rival, Tatsumi. No, he tried to.

But Tatsumi who was standing there till a few moments ago vanished.

Morganeich was dumbfounded at the sudden disappearing of his enemy. But with his sense as a forged knight, he managed to sense something behind him.

Responding to that, he bent forward. After a quick roll on the ground when he confirmed what was behind him, he saw Tatsumi who was punching thin air.

While flopped onto the ground, Calcedonia was surprised time and time again after witnessing Tatsumi’s figure.

She who was observing the battle as a third person could witness Tatsumi’s bizarre high speed movements even better than Morganeich who was facing him.

Just when she thought Tatsumi disappeared, he suddenly appeared behind Morganeich. In Calcedonia’s eyes, it was a movement far surpassing the simple notion of traveling space with high speed movement.

“….Instant….Transition…?”

A few words subconsciously spilled out of her lips.

It was, without doubt, a magic within the <Sky> magic system.

**

In the past, there was a great mage called Teiyeto Zamui.

He who was even called <<Grand Mage>> was the only recorded person in history who could use <Sky> attributed magic.

<Sky>, a magic only he could use was even above the <Holy> system magic when considering the system tree, and was said to be the highest rank system in the <Light> attribute, as what <Sky> manipulated was Space-Time. In other words, it was said to be a magic invoked when one was passing through space.

Originally, the ritual Calcedonia used to summon Tatsumi was something left behind by Teiyeto, and should not have been possible without someone of the <Sky> attribute.

Even so, Calcedonia was successful while using <Holy> magic which was the closest to <Sky> magic.

Utilizing the huge amount of mana in her body, and the huge amount in the underground holy land, she had somehow managed it.

Of course, her expertise in manipulating magic was also one of the reasons.

And right now.

In front of her eyes, Tatsumi, who was disappearing and appearing again and again, was utilising the signature move of the <Sky> attribute magic, <Instant Transition>. At least, that’s what was being reflected in Calcedonia’s eyes.

Why was Tatsumi, who was said to not even have any mana at all, able to utilize magic? And even the legendary <Sky> magic at that.

Of course Calcedonia didn’t know the answer to that.

Even more so, the blood gushing out of his chest wound had stopped. It seemed like he activated healing magic before she even knew it.

Right now only <Light> and <Water> attribute magic and their respective higher tier magics had healing magics.

<Sky> was a higher tier magic of <Holy> and <Light>. Then, of course <Sky> attribute also had healing magic.

“…M-Master is the second holder of the legendary <Sky> system magic…..?”

Forgetting the current state of affairs, Calcedonia’s cheeks gradually blushed pink as she observed Tatsumi with feverish eyes.

**

Tatsumi ambushed while appearing and disappearing.

But he only utilised it a few times.

Let alone military training, Tatsumi was someone who rarely even got into fist fights.

There were no empty handed palm thrusts, nor any boxing straights. So he couldn’t simply use random punching over and over again against someone who was baptized in real life and death battles.

Right now, Morganeich could safely dodge Tatsumi’s fist even if he appeared behind him suddenly. Because he could predict that Tatsumi would appear in his blind spot after vanishing.

Even if it was in his blind spot, if he knew it was coming from there then it wasn’t hard to dodge. Furthermore, Morganeich had the surplus to even counter attack while dodging Tatsumi.

But then again, Tatsumi was also able to dodge his attacks. Of course, it was by blinking away.

**

No matter how many times he swung his sword, it’s blade could not reach the enemy.

Even if he chopped down. Or if he slashed up. Or if he mowed sideways. Of course, even if he thrust forward.

It was as if he was slashing smoke, no matter how he tried the blade didn’t reach Tatsumi.

Certainly, Tatsumi’s strike was child’s play for Morganeich. Now that the surprise attacks could be predicted, there should be no possibility of him being hit with Tatsumi’s unsophisticated punching.

But, because none of his attacks hit either, it made the dissatisfaction in his heart even more intense.

A mere bug dares! Even though he was only jumping around all over the place!

Morganeich who slashed for the nth time. But of course, Tatsumi dodged it by vanishing again.

Where is he!? Where is he going to appear!?

He tried to sense the surrounding presence. But this time he could not sense Tatsumi’s existence.

—How long are you going to play around? Hurry up and finish that bug off.

Shut up! Even if you don’t tell me I know!

While silently objecting to the voice near his ears, the <<Freedom Knight>> tried to sense Tatsumi’s presence.

The one who was irritated wasn’t just the <<Freedom Knight>>, but also the <Devil> nesting in him.

When the human it was possessing got hit by that golden fist, it felt like it’s whole body was being ripped to shreds.The strike was many times more painful and stronger than the one’s it received from that lady lying down over there.That’s why the <Devil> tried to instigate the human it was possessing to silence that boy as soon as possible.The <Devil>’s irritation and impatience further stimulated the hosts’.The little bit of awareness the <<Freedom Knight>> had was slowly being dyed by the <Devil>’s irritation.“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!”And just when the irritation reached it’s max, Morganeich roard.Facing the sky, just like a beast.But that roar suddenly stopped.Right now, his red eyes were blurred by irritation. But suddenly his eyes went wide open.But his red eyes could still clearly reflect it.From above the Knight’s head, Tatsumi was falling straight at him from the sky.Tatsumi didn’t transfer behind him, but above!Humans, for some reason, usually don’t turn their attention above. It wasn’t a blind spot in their vision, but awareness. For an amateur like Tatsumi, a simple surprise attack wouldn’t do if he wanted his fist to reach someone like the <<Freedom Knight>>.No one knows if Tatsumi actually planned it all out beforehand, but as a result it was a striking success.“Oooooooooooooooo!!!!”This time, Tatsumi yelled out.With the assistance of gravity, Tatsumi went straight at the Knight below him.Morganeich, who finally noticed Tatsumi, hurriedly tried to dodge away from the strike zone. But, he was too late. The distance between them was just too small for him to run.

Just like a preying bird coming down to catch it’s prey, Tatsumi’s golden light clad heel stomped right into the <<Freedom Knight>>’s face hard.

**

There was an explosion of gold.

The golden light that scattered around the courtyard like a storm cloud violently shook the shrubs and trees.But the thing which felt the blast the most were not the trees and shrubs, but the <Devil> nested inside Morganeich.The golden light from Tatsumi’s kick surged into Morganeich like a galloping horse.While erasing the darkness nesting inside of him, the golden light finally attacked the <Devil> in his very depth.The golden lights were like millions of needles, as they assailed the <Devil> which had no physical form.The <Devil> raised a silent roar of anguish.Till now, for many years it had possessed a countless number of beasts and drank on their ugly desires.It pilled up its strength while doing that and finally, it could even possess humans.And after he became able to do that, the <Devil>’s power rose explosively. It even grasped enough power so that it could withstand Calcedonia’s <<Exorcise>> a few times.And that <Devil>,It was trampled down without resistance by the golden light, just like the mist being exterminated by the morning sun.—W-What the hell is it!?? This god forsaken light!! Just what is it! This Mana?!In order to escape from the anguish, the <Devil> decided to throw away the host.But even that decision came in too late. The golden light was already overflowing inside the <<Freedom Knight>> and the devil had no where left to run.

The existence called a <Devil> was slowly chipped away by the torrent of golden light coming in from all directions and finally, it ceased to exist.

**

A rampaging blast of gold. Calcedonia frantically grabbed onto the ground as to not get blown away by the blast.

After the blast finally ended Calcedonia got a hold of herself, as she looked around her surroundings.At the center of the blast, there was a small crater and all the undergrowth had been blown away, and it was the same for almost all the leaves on the trees, as they too were mostly blown off.And then, on Calcedonia’s Ruby red eyes, the figure of Tatsumi lying unconscious in the small crevice was reflected.“Master!?”She frantically stood up and dashed to the most important person in her life.But as she was running, the beautiful milky white huge valleys on her chest kept on bouncing up and down, and she finally noticed her sorry figure.She covered her breasts with her hands, and kneeled down on the ground beside Tatsumi.After that she bent down and confirmed that he was breathing normally.“Please forgive me, Master. I’ll be borrowing this for a while.”While helping Tatsumi sit up, she stripped him of his Priest Uniform and put that on.Though his clothes were dyed with his blood into a red mess, it was of cource, nothing Calcedonia cared about.She felt a tinge of guilt because she was stripping an unconscious boy, but it was also necessary in order to check his wounds.Though there was a large sword slit in his clothes, it somehow managed to cover up her upper half.And then, she once again tried to verify his chest wound. Though the lethal blade wound he received directly acrosshis chest wasn’t completely healed, the bleeding had properly stopped. His heart was also beating normally, though his breathing was a bit rough, it wasn’t shallow.After confirming that his life wasn’t in danger, she started to chant some healing spells.As a silver light gushed forth from her palms, it engulfed the chest wound and the wound began to heal rapidly.She confirmed that the wound had properly closed, and sighed in relief. after that she looked around her once again.Right beside her was Tatsumi, and a bit further away was Morganeich. Including Baldeo, there was a total of three men lying unconscious.After healing Tatsumi properly, she went to check up on Baldeo and Morganeich’s state.Why she checked up on Morganeich last? Well maybe that was because inside her, the evaluation for Morganeich had dropped down quite a few notches.And just to be sure, she restricted Morganeich’s body with <<Botanic Shackles>>.After completing the checkup, she assessed that while they still had some minor injuries, it was nothing life threatening.When someone gets possessed by a <Devil> and become a <Demon>, there are times where they get crippled after a successful exorcism. Because at those times the <Devil> manages to completely take over their minds.Because she didn’t quite have the means to check up on their psych to in this condition, she had to think of a way to get Tatsumi to another place.Because she was just one girl, there was no way she could carry all three of them away. So she had to call for help.“Master. Please wait a bit. I’ll come back shortly after calling for help and properly get you to a place where you can rest. And…”Calcedonia looked around and after confirming no one was there, she once again bent down near Tatsumi, and with her cherry pink wet lips she lightly pecked his cheeks.“…..Thank you….for saving me…It made me really happy.”She quietly whispered that into his hers, as both cheeks blushed pink.And then, in order to call for help and also to report to her Grandfather, Giuseppe, about what occurred here today, she quickly left the garden.

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TL note: Ebisu: Sky can also be translated as Heaven