"M-Mister?"
Tomi's voice caused Kinyuki to readjust himself while performing the 'level up ritual' and exhaled slowly. He couldn't find the bookkeeper, and after somehow gaining the 'full enmity' of the fanboys for not being in love with the white-haired De Lune, he began to 'help' them by smacking the monkeys off of their faces as hard as he could. Tomi had appeared to stop him when he thought Kinyuki was beginning to confuse monkeys for humans, and the De Lune sisters were not there to stop him from hurting the fanboys, deciding to go look for the bookkeeper.
Usually, he'd be reluctant to smack someone who might have been a teenager, but they had also been attacking both him and Toni, and his usual reaction is to hit back. After they had been chased off, with the monkeys following close behind, Tomi had begun to try and calm him down, confusing Kinyuki. He wasn't in any need to be calmed down, but to prove it he had asked if he could do his meditation, just so Tomi doesn't go into another blast fit. Tomi immediately asked if he needed any herbs and, right before Kinyuki's eyes, he had materialized a box with neatly organized herbs from his pocket. Kinyuki thought back to that moment, as he wondered what else Tomi had besides a pocket dimension magic and abnormally strong magic power.
'I don't know if he's got some sort of dissociative identity when stressed or if he just managed to get the mother load of power sets and can't use it properly.' Kinyuki pondered, concerned that he might have to fight a uncontrollably harem protagonist. It probably wouldn't come to it, as Kinyuki surmised that Tomi would most likely be picked up by some magic school before anything would go down, whether he wanted to go or not.
"Yes Tomi?" Kinyuki asked, opening one eye, "Something troubling you?"
Tomi waved his hands frantically in panicked embarrassment. "J-Just making sure you were still calm!"
Kinyuki pursed his lips, trying to smile, while still concentrating on the meditation. He wasn't trying to get angry at him, but he really wanted to focus on the task at hand. What made it even worse was that something was buzzing at him, and he didn't know what. It felt like something was trying to touch him, to encase him in one of those force field bubbles. He then realized what the feeling was, it was the same feeling he got from being near the blast that Tomi made.
He opened his eyes fully, getting a good look at Tomi, but not seeing any force field or magic anywhere. The feeling persisted, the dark blue aura on his skin quivering like jelly being poked at. Thinking that Tomi may be trying to probe his energy, he had decided to try to extend his. The green dots had stopped traveling over his body, dissipating instantly into the aura, and the aura began to grow in size. Like an arm being extended, Kinyuki's aura had pushed its was outward to Tomi who was a few feet away, which revealed that the aura could reveal energy being poured out of Tomi in a rippling fashion.
Tomi was in awe, seeing his own energy pulsating around in front of him, while Kinyuki's technique had provided the visuals in a mesmerizing cascade. However, when turning to Kinyuki furrowed brows, his expression changed to worry, but before either could say anything, a low, growling voice had spoken up.
"I wasn't expecting you to be capable of magic."
Out came a Knight, clad in all black armor, a two handed war axe held in one hand as the other was clenched at his sides. Behind him was what looked like a generic looking cute witch, with short pink hair, pointy black hat and all, hiding behind the knight. Panic had suddenly rushed through Kinyuki, but another idea had hit him. Still in the circle, Kinyuki focused on the aura that was still around him and then pushed it outward in one long shot. The surprised knight had held up his axe in defense, but the attack had done no damage, being more like a gust of wind to the stalwart axe wielder.
"You're both with the bookkeeper, huh?" Kinyuki asked, hoping that the attack would at least get the knight to focus on him.
The knight said nothing, his shock wearing off, and his axe began to glow. Tomi hid behind Kinyuki as he drew his pipe from his backpack. With one slash, the yellow energy from the blade shot outwards, and though Kinyuki was able to block it, the pipe was sliced in half. Seeing that the makeshift weapon was destroyed, the knight moved in close to Kinyuki and grabbed his arm, earning him a punch to the face as a reward.
"Whoa, it felt like I was punching hard sand.' Kinyuki thought, as he then looked to see knight's mask had dissolving away where his punch landed. Before the knight could raise his axe, Tomi had dropped the contents of the spices onto the knight's eyes, causing him to release him. Using this opportunity, Kinyuki gave the knight a few more pot shots before grabbing the knight's mask, puncturing his eyes in with his thumbs.
"Tomi, get the axe!" Kinyuki shouted, but as Tomi went for it he fumbled, causing it to be fall in between the three of them.
Then knight forced Tomi off, leaving the three back where they started, all ready to rush for the axe. Whether he had gotten stronger or not, Kinyuki believed could keep this fight to his advantage if he was careful enough. He only hoped his friend was done with his session, as together they could handle this sand knight.
:::
The grinning Figaro stepped out of the hidden grotto standing tall like he owned the place, with two left boots as shirt that was too big, and pants he had to use a tendril to tie around his "waist" like a belt. If someone had been watching, like a tanuki beastman salesman hiding in the brush had been, they would have guess that the tryst amidst the trees had gone spectacularly well, especially after the deergirl had poked her head from the opening of the grove to give Figaro the kiss of a lifetime.
The moment was short lived, as the deergirl's ears perked up, and soon even Figaro could hear the sound of grunts and pleads had come from a little far off. Kinyuki had to be in trouble, and he had to act fast. Giving the deergirl another kiss, he awkwardly stumbled into action, making a bee line for the noise. Seeing that there was an actual knight trying to kill his friend was terrifying enough, but there was some witch girl that had to be the knight's prisoner was even worse.
As Kinyuki and the knight held the axe between each other and Tomi latched onto the knight's back, Figaro abandoned his clothes, latching onto the knight's back as well. Reaching one of his tendrils around, Figaro handed Kinyuki a knife, which he used to stab the knight repeatedly. The knight had apparently had enough, and sent whatever power he had into the axe outward.
Again and again the knight had let out a pulsation of energy that made all three of his opponents start to lose their grip, and with each pulse, the knight uttered the same words.
"You want to let, go. You WANT to let go. You WANT-"
Kinyuki couldn't take much more of this magic-using sand knight and his bookkeeper secretary. He had to be able to do something, but how can he without magic? The system had to have a reason to work this way, the axe had to be a focus, and if that was the case, all he could do is go for what knew before his allies were in trouble. He tried his best to capture the feeling again, of his aura reacting to Tomi's probing, his training, and with one phrase, he hoped that something would come of it.
"-An end to this fight!"
Somehow, his aura had returned, and the dark blue glow had begun to overcome the sickly yellow that emanated from the sand knight. With one glowing punch, Kinyuki slammed his fist into the knight's face sending him backwards, but still upright with his aura diminished. The knight had turned back to the witch, yelling at her to run away from them. Tomi tried to tell the knight that they weren't the bad guys, which wasn't helping and only made Kinyuki angrier at the entire situation in general.
What none of them expected was for the slime girl to start smiling, her face becoming more and more pink as the smile had reached past where her ears should be. Tomi had initially wondered if the glow from the axe had any control over other less intelligent things, and the sight of the witch girl becoming more plump and translucent, until she had become a giant pink oval, had confirmed it.
"Mister, the axe's spell must have broken on the slime queen!" Tomi exclaimed.
"Okay, didn't see that coming." said Figaro.