Kaori and the others were transported to their destination through a portal which was opened by Kazuma.
At first, they thought that they were in the middle of nowhere but soon they were able to grasp the sorroundings which was closer to a elementary school campus. However, they were transported into a forest.
Just as most of the schools of Japan had forests linked to their school, this one was no different.
None could think that there was something wrong here until the moment everything starts to go wrong.
And this time, the thing that went wrong, was the sudden attack of corrupted spirits when they neared towards the school building, out of the forest.
And like a saying goes - Misfortune never comes alone - they were continuously greeted by bad luck from then on.
**********************************************
"Ugh," Kaori whined, climbing up the path, "Why do I have to go through this? What did I ever do wrong?"
Haru scoffed, "You were the one who forced sensei to let you come."
"I learned my lesson," Kaori huffed, "Always obey the elders."
After walking further forwards, most of the group's members became tired. The ways in the forest was too steep to walk. Saki almost tripped twice but Yamaken was quick enough to catch her both of the times.
Kaori glanced at all the members before her eyes landed on two people - Xeno and Zenna. Everyone else didn't seem to be in the mood to talk but Kaori wanted to chat so bad because it was too silent.
She didn't know Zenna yet so she could just stir up a conversation with her to get to know the girl better. Still, choosing Xeno would be a better option because he was an easy person to talk with. But Kaori chose Zenna nevertheless.
"Hey," Kaori tapped Zenna's shoulder, "Zenna Hayako, right?"
The girl nodded with a smile, "Hello."
𝘖𝘩! 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘰𝘰!
Kaori introduced herself politely, "I'm Kaori."
"I know," Zenna lightly laughed, "The headmaster told me about you being his disciple. It's a pleasure to meet you, Kaori."
"You, too!" Kaori said pleasantly. "What should I call you?"
Zenna said thoughtfully, "I prefer people calling me 'Zenna', because 'Hayako' is a long name. But it's your wish."
"Okay, Zenna!" Kaori said enthusiastically, "Let's be good friends, yeah?"
Zenna nodded happily, "Sure!"
Kaori, Zenna and Saki - who joined them soon - chattered all the way until they reached an exit to the forest, which lead to the school's backyard.
As soon as they neared the place, all of them could feel the darkness from the corrupted spirits that had been hovering over the school.
The team charged forwards without any plans and unknowingly, triggered the spirits to their max.
**********************************************
The spirits sorrounding the building changed their behaviour as soon as the fighters took out their weapons, ready to fight.
Tons of spirits sorrounded them in the blink of an eye.
"Uh-oh," Was all that escaped Kaori's mouth before the spirits tried to zoom on their prays.
Kaori had a trauma about these things doing something like this. Because the first time she had seen a corrupted spirit, she had experienced the same thing. So when she shut her eyes off tightly, it was something that had been done instinctively.
!FWIP!
!RUMBLE!
Noises entered her ears while her eyes remained closed.
The time she opened her eyes again, her vision was blurry and white. After it cleared slowly, she saw Xeno and Zenna standing before everyone else as if they were the guardian angels sent from heaven to protect over their teammates.
The spirits at the front were either slashed into pieces by the wind or bashed into nothing by the earth. The rest of the spirits backed away after seeing the power illuminating from the two.
"Xeno! Zenna!" Kaori exclaimed in worry.
"We're fine," Xeno assured her with a smile on behalf of the both, "As long as the wind is around Xeno, nothing can harm him."
"Same goes to me with the earth," Zenna added, "So let us protect you while you guys fight."
"Xeno can fight, too. He'll fight and protect you at the same time," He claimed with a proud smile.
"Oh yeah?" Maki took out his spear, "I'd like to see the wind boy in action, honestly."
Gin called Aoi in as katana blades while Yamaken called Saki in as dual daggers.
The corrupted spirits seemed to have had found some prey finally as they had started growing in numbers.
Xeno suddenly spreaded his arms in the air, "𝘼𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙙, 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙙𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙗𝙤𝙬."
A beautiful, large, feathery bow appeared in his hands which he clasped tightly and a big quiver full of arrows was now visible, tied to his back.
"I'll be at the back," Xeno winked and jumped away.
"Is he escaping?" Zenna asked in confusion.
Maki shrugged, "We'll see."
Kaori looked at Haru, "What do we do now? They know our presence."
"Finish them off," Haru said simply, "Then let's rescue everyone in need."
"Ok!"
"Come," Kaori called Haru, "Raiki." And a cuffed, long, sharp sword flew into her hand.
**********************************************
"Gin, watch out!" Kaori jabbed a corrupted spirit with her sword and pulled it out, turning the spirit into ashes.
She collided her back to Gin's and stuck close, holding her sword tighter and focusing ahead for the incoming enemies.
"You should watch your back," Kaori commented.
Gin smiled as he glanced at her from the corner of his eyes, "I'll let you watch it for me. Won't you?"
Kaori posed firmly on the ground, "Gladly!" She jumped lightly in the air, forwarding towards the enemies and then she twirled before slashing the spirits into ashes.
On the other hand, Gin took another one down.
"They don't seem to-" Yamaken gnashed his teeth, "-Stop coming!" He aimed knives at his targets which hit the spirits on their fatal spot.
"Zenna looks like she's having fun, though," Maki pointed at the girl who was just raising her hands, making blocks of earth rise and slammed the spirits dead.
"We have to get inside the building!" Kaori yelled, "As far as we can see, this will take days if we want to finish off all the spirits. They don't even look like they have an end!" She stabbed another spirit as she finished.
"Wait.. Kaori!"
That was when she noticed that a hoard of spirits was engulfing her. She gripped her sword tight again, eyes beginning to turn fierce.
"Bear with me, Haru," She murmured to the sword.
"𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮," Haru said to her in mind.
But none of it was needed. A sudden shower of knives rained on the enemies and all was turned into ashes.
When the smoke died down, Kaori saw Yamaken landing back on the ground.
"Whoa, nice throw!" Kaori praised in awe.
"Huh," Was all Yamaken said.
But Kaori's eyes widened when she saw something. She moved faster than ever and stabbed the spirit that was looming on Yamaken from the back.
She pulled out her sword fiercely, her eyes glowing with murderous intent.
"Ah..." Yamaken was surprised by her sudden action, but he was also grateful for it, "Thanks.." He said awkwardly.
"Gosh," Kaori huffed, "We don't talk much usually, do we? This feels so awkward."
"You two," As Kaori and Yamaken heard Xeno's voice in their heads, they snapped their head in search of where it was coming from.
"You're in a battlefield, no time to be so chatty," Xeno waved his hand from the rooftop of the building in order to give away his location to the ones who were searching for him.
Kaori was the one to catch him first and she was surprised to see him where he was, "Xeno! What are you doing there? How did you get there? How are we hearing you so clearly even though you're so far away?"
Xeno's cheerful laugh could be heard, too, "One question at a time, Kaori. Xeno thought this would be a perfect spot for a view all over the school ground. So he reached his destination with the help of the wind. And you're also hearing Xeno clearly because of the wind. Xeno made a connection with all of you through the wind."
"What were you saying about being chatty in the battlefield?" Yamaken asked sharply as he twirled his shinki knives in his hands, "I could tell you the same right now. Stop talking and get to work!" Jumping in the air, he twisted his body around and stabbed a spirit in its supposed to be neck and made it turn into ashes.
He then turned to face the next one but an arrow pierced through its head and it turned into ashes.
"Huh," Yamaken remarked in surprise.
Xeno's voice sounded strong, "I told you, I'll protect everyone. From this place, everything is in my view and I can end anything that tries to harm any of you. Also, you have my protection barrier of wind around you."
Kaori smiled to herself as she watched the silent fight between Yamaken and Xeno.
She was standing in the middle of the field right now. Everyone else was fighting against the enemies encircling her. Using abilities or shinki, everyone was giving it their best to end all of the spirits that resided in this campus. But as Yamaken and Kaori had said before, this cycle of spirits doesn't seem to have an end.
"𝘐𝘧 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘰𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦," Kaori thought.
"Revert, Haru," Said Kaori.
Haru was back in his human form.
And he demanded at once, "Why did you let me go?"
Kaori looked at him with determination, "If we have you like this, our manpower will increase. This swarm doesn't look like it'll end soon. We need another person who can use abilities."
A spirit must've crawled behind Kaori that Haru moved his fingers in a flash and Kaori felt ashes in the air behind her.
Haru's eyes hadn't moved from Kaori's. "Fine," He said half-heatedly.
"Xeno," He called, looking over at the rooftop of the school building afar where a tiny silhouette of Xeno could be seen, "I'm counting on you to protect her."
"Will do, sir," Xeno's playful but assuring reply was carried through the wind to Haru's ears.
The next second, sounds of water tanks bursting followed the zap of Haru's fingers. Soon, waters from all directions of the place flowed through the air to Haru. With his hands raised half in the air, a huge tide of water formed behind him.
"𝘉𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯," Kaori's eyes brightened with a smile.
"Everyone move out of the way!" Hearing Kaori's yell, Yamaken, Gin snap and jump away from the way of Xeno - who had landed on the ground beside Haru. The bow and quiver was gone now but only his presence was enough to make everyone else feel the pressure of wind around him - Haru, Zenna and Maki - the two who joined them midway.
Although Maki was yet to be able to use his powers fully but he was also one of the people of the group who used his powers often.
The four reached a safe distance from the spirits and the others of the groups, in the middle of the two sides. And then...
!BZZT!
!PHAT!
!WHOOSH!
!RUMBLE!
!KABOOM!
Altogether, the four had ignited their powers and blasted the whole place with full force.
**********************************************
Kaori opened her eyes to see that she was lying on the ground.
She stirred slowly at first but then she stood up quickly.
"Whoa, such power," She mumbled, still dazed by the explosion, "I shouldn't have let Haru loose. He's unbelievable! But Xeno, Zenna and Maki are all the same! Those four should never be allowed to work together again."
She talked to herself in a daze before finally looking around to check the state of her companions.
But... They were never there.
**********************************************
"Ugh," Maki shook to clear his head out of the haziness.
"My back hurts," He pulled himself up from the ground and patted the dirts off his clothes.
He saw his spear lying on the ground and picked it up. Upon standing up properly, he saw Xeno, who was looking straight upward.
That was when Maki realized that they weren't where they were supposed to be.
"Wait," A hoarse voice came out from Maki, "Where are we? This isn't the school. Why are we in this gigantic forest? Xeno?"
Xeno let out a deep sigh, "Seems like we were sent back to square one. We are in the forest at the back of the school."
"What?"
"It looks like something went wrong," Xeno explained, meeting Maki's eyes, "Maybe it's the spirits themselves.. Oh look, we have another companion with us." He pointed at a body that was lying on a pile of fallen dead tree leaves.
It was Yamaken. Maki ran to check if he was alive.
Feeling his pulse still beating regularly, Maki let out a sigh of relief and put his attention back to Xeno who had also caught ahold of Yamaken's positive situation.
"What were you saying?" Maki tried to continue the subject because he wanted to know if his guesses were correct.
And Xeno ended it with the answer Maki was expecting to hear, "The spirits were trying to find the right chance to seperate us. They knew that they couldn't take us down if we were together."
"Right now, if Xeno is correct, everyone has already been seperated from each other."
**********************************************
By the time Yamaken had woken up, Xeno found a way to connect every teammates through the wind, although it wasn't much stable anymore since they must've been very far from each other.
He connected everyone he could but he couldn't get ahold of Kaori in any means. He couldn't even find her signal.
𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘥?
Within this small time of unstable connection, the group exchanged their locations and who they were with.
Xeno assembled the informations learned from the members, "Xeno, Maki and Yamaken along with Saki are here. Haru is with Zenna. Gin and Aoi are together. That leaves Kaori."
When Xeno was casually saying who were with whom, nobody noticed it. But when he mentioned Kaori seperately, it didn't go unnoticed by anyone.
"Kaori..." They all said in unison, worry laced to their tones, "Is the only one who's all alone right now."
And that was the beginning of the situations turning grave.
**********************************************
!ROAR!
!THUD!
!THUD!
!THUD!
As thunderous, heavy footsteps rumbled the earth and neared Kaori's senses on its every step, Kaori realized the position she was in.
Without any shinki nor any abilities, she was as good as dead if she faces a corrupted spirit.
Even if she was most probably nearing death right now, all she could worry about was her friends from the team.
!THUD!
𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺?
!THUD!
𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦?
!THUD!
𝘞𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮?
!THUD!
𝘚𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘪... 𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘸? 𝘞𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥? 𝘞𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘳?
!THUD!
𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤? 𝘐'𝘮 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘐? 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘵𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦. 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨.
!THUD!
𝘈𝘮 𝘐 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘦? 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸.. 𝘋𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘶𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯? 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸... 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘴. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘶𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧.
!THUD!
Kaori slowly turned around to look over her shoulder and then she faced the gigantic monstrous spirit that let out heavy, stinky hot breath that slapped Kaori on the face.
She sighed and looked all the way up at it, standing face to face.
Kaori could feel the tension that rose in the spirit the moment she looked at its one big, round, moving eye.
"Pow-er," It said before looking up at the sky.
!ROAR!
𝘗𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳? 𝘈𝘩, 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘰𝘸. 𝘊𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘶𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘺 𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘨𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘶𝘱 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳... 𝘗𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳.
Compared to the large, shapeless spirit before her, Kaori felt herself very tiny.
𝘗𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳.. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴.. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺?
She clenched her hands into fists.
𝘕𝘰, 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵. 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘶 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘢𝘸𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘦𝘵.
𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘥𝘰 𝘐? 𝘈𝘴 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴.
However, if the others of the team could see Kaori right now, they wouldn't think of her as someone helpless or useless at all.
Because the aura of power that Kazuma had felt on Kaori before had flamed up even more. And her eyes were flaring with burning sensation.
Was this the Kaori they knew? - could be what they would think.
But that didn't change what was going to happen next.
"POW-ER!"
Instinctively, Kaori's hands moved up in lighting speed to protect herself from any critical hits.
⭐❤❤⭐🌟❤🌟⭐❤❤⭐🌟❤🌟⭐❤❤⭐