The next day.
Kai and Tasha were prepared to infiltrate the Katsuragi Family. Kai had found a suspicious basement with quite a number of people inside.
They didn't know if that basement was a storage basement or something else. But considering the image of the Katsuragi family in their heads as well as the number of people Kai somehow heard, the basement might be that 'something else'.
So, they decided to infiltrate the basement by relying on Tasha's space magic, while Kai would be the one to show her the way.
They tried to get close to that big mansion. Kai used his ears to their maximum, trying to get past any surveillance. Even though they were wearing large sunglasses and others, those weren't enough to disguise them.
Kai wanted to confirm the basement matter once again before infiltrating it at night.
However, when they walked toward the Katsuragi family's mansion, they met a certain old man. The old man had black hair with a portion of white on it. There was a sword mark stretching from just under the right eye toward the right side of his lips and ending just above his chin.
Even though his white suit and warm expression made him appear like just a genial old man, they could feel the aura of a fighter inside him.
Kai and Tasha knew who he was. His name was famous, and his achievements had reverberated throughout the entire United Asia. He was one of the S-rank magicians in United Asia, the lightspeed Ikeda Kenzo.
They didn't expect to meet him in this place because his Ikeda family wasn't from Hokkaido. Ikeda's family was in Akita. To think such a person came all the way to this place and walked around the Katsuragi family's mansion.
This Katsuragi family was truly suspicious.
"Oya, I never thought I'd meet the famous Tasha Carter," The old man immediately saw through their disguise. Well, they didn't really put on an actual disguise since they were only pretending to be a couple that was going around the area.
The old man then turned his head to Kai, "I see, you must be Kai Carter."
But when they realized he knew Kai, they were alarmed. Kai wasn't that famous since he was overshadowed by Tasha Carter. A few possibilities came to their minds.
First, because he was the head of the Ikeda family, he had investigated the other two S-rank magicians other than him and eventually found Kai's existence. The second was the Katsuragi family.
"I never thought that I would meet Ikeda's family head in this place. It's my pleasure to meet you," Tasha greeted.
"Hoho, just call me Old Kenzo. I'm just an ordinary old man passing by. Well, I was wondering what you two might want from this area. If I'm not mistaken, you two should be in school right now."
"Fufu, you must know that my brother will be going to the outside world this week. So I'm planning to buy some medicines from the Katsuragi family. I can't be free of worry if he isn't prepared enough," Tasha explained with a perfect excuse.
"But there should also be some good medicines in Tokyo. There is no need for you two to buy it from this place."
"Haha… it's true that there are also some good medicines in Tokyo, but the medicines from the Katsuragi family are the best, especially if they're prescribed according to my brother's body. That's why I'm even bringing him to this place."
"Oh, if that's the case, you two shouldn't have needed to loiter around this place yesterday, right?" He asked while narrowing his eyes.
"!!!" Tasha and Kai caught off-guard. They had been found out.
But when they realized that, the old man already disappeared. Kai was the fastest to react. He immediately pushed Tasha away and made his improved shield.
"Oscillation Shield."
The moment he raised his shield, Ikeda Kenzo suddenly appeared in front of him while trying to kick him. His foot was already glowing with yellow light.
"Kh!" But because of the momentum, Kai could barely block his attack. Although there was no damage to him, the force of this attack alone managed to blow him away.
"Oh, what a talented young man. He could react to my attack even though that was his first time seeing it."
"How dare you!" Tasha immediately charged at him. Her fist was covered with lightning as she threw her fist toward his face.
A yellow magic circle appeared in front of Ikeda Kenzo's hand as he moved his hand, trying to block Tasha's fist. It was a magic shield.
The lightning was rampaging the magic circle, but there were no signs of the magic shield even cracking.
"Hoho, such power. If I were a tad late in putting up my magic shield, I wouldn't have been able to escape unscathed from that fist."
Tasha grinned as a magic circle appeared beneath Kenzo's feet. It was a purple magic circle that clearly came from Tasha.
"!!!" Kenzo immediately realized what was going on.
"Lightning, Charge!"
"Kah!" Lightning charged from Tasha's magic circle, trying to electrocute Kenzo.
"Boom!" Kenzo could still move and destroyed the magic circle with his foot. But the explosion immediately alarmed the nearby people. Luckily, they weren't in an urban area, as they couldn't see any houses around the street.
When the smoke rose, Kai immediately regrouped with Tasha. He was in front while Tasha took out her bow.
Kai suddenly turned his head as he heard a movement. It wasn't from the people around, but it was from Kenzo. Kenzo appeared at the spot that Kai turned to look at. He appeared unscathed from all of their attacks.
They knew that Ikeda Kenzo's element was light. There was a rumor that he was very fast during the day, but he was weak at night. Although it was only a rumor, Kai and Tasha knew that they didn't have any chance to defeat Kenzo other than believing the rumor.
However, there was something wrong. They didn't know why Ikeda Kenzo suddenly attacked them. After all, he shouldn't have a reason to do something like that since his Ikeda family didn't have any relation with the Katsuragi family.
"I don't think your Ikeda family has anything to do with our Katsuragi family… do we?" Kai asked while taking out his swords.
"This old man is already too old but has yet to find a worthy successor for my family. So this old man has no choice other than prolonging this old life until my successor arrives. After all, I cannot just let all of my achievements that made my family rise go to waste just like that.
"The current successor is good, but nonetheless, the Ikeda family will decline in his hands. So I have no choice other than this. This old man apologizes, but if you two would be so kind as to go back to Tokyo nicely, this old man will be thankful," He said.
"Heh. So you're colluding with the Katsuragi family," Tasha snorted.
"Colluding… well, it's not colluding. This is only a partnership between this old man and the Katsuragi family."
"Why are you so honest all of a sudden?" Kai frowned. He tried to check whether he was lying or not through the sound of his heartbeat, and it seemed that he was not lying.
"It's a pity. Our world is already overturned by magical beasts, and you two are part of the younger generation with limitless potential, so I cannot bring myself to hurt you. So if you would be so kind, please leave Hokkaido and go back to Tokyo immediately."
"Do you really think that we'll just say yes and go back just like that? They dare to target my brother, I can't let this family go!" Tasha said coldly.
"Oya… was there such a case? I didn't know about that. Still, this old man needs to force you to go back. And with our limited time thanks to that explosion, I can only end this fight early," he said.
Ikeda Kenzo didn't care about the Katsuragi family. Instead, he loved the younger generation of this country. After all, they were the next generation that would lead the country in the future.
However, because of his health condition, he could only follow their orders for his family. He also didn't want them to get caught in this place, and he didn't want to imagine what kind of thing those people would do to them if they were caught.
So, he planned to end this fight as soon as possible and send them back to Tokyo. However, he also knew that Kai and Tasha had their own reasons for doing this. They could only fight earnestly for this.
He pointed his finger toward them, and a magic circle appeared. The magic circle shot out a light beam toward Kai and Tasha.
"Light Magic, Shoot."
Kai immediately raised his hand and made a magic shield.
"Oscillation Shield."
The beam tried to pierce his shield, but Kai suddenly deflected it to the sky. At the same time, Tasha had already pulled her bow. She made an arrow with her lightning magic and shot it toward Kenzo.
"Lightning Piercer."
The arrow flew at lightning speed. However, it seemed that the old man intended to destroy Tasha's attack. He pointed his finger and shot another beam toward Tasha's arrow. "Light Magic, Shoot."
"Boom!" Both attacks immediately exploded when they collided.
Kai immediately charged toward him with his swords. He swung his sword toward the old man, but the old man suddenly disappeared.
"!!!" Kai immediately swung his other sword toward his back. The old man finally appeared behind him.
Because of his light element, Ikeda Kenzo could move as fast as light. Of course, his body couldn't withstand the actual speed of light. If he could, he would be the strongest person in the world.
Even Kai could still pick up his movement with his extraordinary hearing and react to it.
However, when Kenzo saw this attack, he twisted his body a little and grabbed Kai's wrist as he threw a fist toward Kai.
"Oscillation Shield."
"Boom" The fist pinned Kai's shield down. Even though Kenzo was already old, his fist was still packed with so much power. Even Kai's Oscillation Shield suddenly cracked.
"Seriously."
"Boy, I need you two to go back now!"
"I'm sorry, but we can't. And I've completed my objective," Kai smiled. He shouted, "Big Sister!"
"I know," she clapped her hands as a large pink magic circle appeared on the ground. The magic circle covered all of them. "Here we go!"
"!!!" Kenzo was surprised as he couldn't avoid this one.
"Teleportation!" The moment she activated it, they suddenly disappeared. Some people came to this place to check the explosion after. Unfortunately, they didn't find anything.