Kinzo’s POV

   Kinzo saw his life flashing by right after he read the message. From the day he was first rejected by a girl he liked back in the kindergarten, to being alone his entire grade, middle and high school life, and finally after he got the syringe from that mysterious man. Well, this is not good. While the figurative gears inside Kinzo’s brain are turning a million times an hour, another message was sent by Silver Wolf.

   “P.S.: I’ll at least take care of the Gashadokuros if they start attacking the city. You and Reina just focus on the Ashura.”

   “But, can’t you take care of him as well?” Kinzo writes back.

   A reply came almost immediately.

   “No can do. This is a test for the both of you.”

   “A test? Now, of all times?”

   “What are you talking about? What better tests are there then one based on a real combat situation? Besides, it’s just one opponent, and there are two of you. It should be a breeze.”

   …Easy for him to say.

   “Well? Are you done yet?” the Ashura asks Kinzo impatiently.

   Kinzo sighs. Looks like a fight with this youkai is inevitable.

   “Yes, I am. And if it’s a fight we want, we’ll give it to you.”

   All three faces of the Ashura beam.

   “Excellent! Now that’s what I am talking about! And worry not, my comrades will not interfere.”

   Kinzo couldn’t help but sneak a glance towards the Gashadokuro that got its arm chopped off by Rei-san. Even though the Ashura said that, that giant skeleton has been staring daggers at Kinzo and Rei-san.

   “No need to worry about him. He’s not going to seek revenge for what your comrade did to him until our match is over. You have my word.” the Ashura assures.

   So the skeleton will seek revenge anyway. Well, one thing at a time.

   “I’ll take your word for it, then. Let’s do this, Reina.”

   “Yes, master.”

   Rei-san goes to stand in front of Kinzo and forms a fighting stance with her scimitar Balaraw. The Ashura does the same. Despite the atmosphere, Kinzo decides to open his mouth anyway since there was something that has been bugging him.

   “Please wait a moment.” Kinzo says to the youkai.

   The Ashura rolled his eyes.

   “What is it this time?” he groans loudly.

   “Are you sure that it’s okay for the two of us to come at you?” Kinzo asks the three-faced youkai before they get started.

   “Of course it is. My comrades are giving you psychological pressure by having you surrounded, so it’s only fair. Rather, you could call one more comrade if you wish.”

   Kinzo thinks of Silver Wolf. Definitely a no since he made it clear that he’s not going to help them. Hanya Mask? No, Kinzo is kind of afraid of her. That means he and Rei-san are truly alone now.

   “No, thank you. The two of us will be fighting you.” Kinzo declines politely.

   “Very well. Now, is there any other thing you want to tell or ask me? Do you have a need to use the bathroom?”

   “Um, no no and no.”

   The Ashura looks at Rei-san.

   “And you, lass?” he asks.

   “Answer him, Reina. And answer him politely.” Kinzo whispers to Rei-san.

   “I have nothing as well.” she tells the youkai politely as per requested.

   “Splendid. We could finally get started.”

   Kinzo swore that he didn’t blink. However, the Ashura, who was some distance away from them, was right in front of Rei-san. One of his right arm, which is holding the battle axe, reaches back with an attempt to cleave the maid in half.

   “Block it, Reina!” Kinzo orders.

   Wordlessly, Rei-san raises up her scimitar. She puts her left hand on the opposite end of the hilt and braces for impact.

   The blow, however, did not come. Instead, the Ashura’s own curved sword came in as a thrust, its tip aimed straight for her chest. Without thinking, Kinzo cast, aimed and fired a Fireball at the Ashura. The ball of flame got deflected easily enough, but it made the youkai took one step backwards in alarm.

   “Witchcraft!” he hisses.

   Kinzo shrugged.

   “Brute force is not everyone’s cup of tea. It’s time for us to attack, Reina!”

   “Understood, master!”

   Rei-san charges forward, her speed being increased tremendously by Balaraw.

   “There are two types of magical weapons in Ifezan: natural ones like my Felfarthen and manufactured ones like Balaraw. The main differences are their materials and most importantly, the amount of mana stored inside them. Natural weapons have a lot more mana than manufactured ones.” Silver Wolf has explained to her and Kinzo one training session.

   “Will the magic inside artificial magic weapons deplete one day?” Kinzo has asked.

   “It won’t. Not permanently, anyway. See, the weapons have magic stones inside them which is responsible for storing and recharging mana.”

   “Recharge it how?”

   “Beats me. I’m not someone who cares about the minor, unimportant details like that. Nor do I have the brain to understand the concept. Just get what I’m about to tell you inside those heads of yours: the charging takes quite a while. Once all the mana inside are gone, all magical weapons are just regular ones. And no, you can’t recharge the stone with your own mana. In other words, it’s very important on saving up the mana inside the weapons that you use.”

   He paused.

   “Then again, it rarely happens since people won’t use them all the time.”

   “But it still happened.”

   “Sure did. I heard from an Adventure Guild that an adventurer almost got killed after the one magical weapon he was using ran out of mana while he was inside a dungeon for days.”

   “But it’ll be even more difficult to happen to Balaraw, right? I mean, Rei-san’s combat prowess is quite good, and I’ll be there to support her.”

   “Listen, you need to think of worst case scenarios at all times. They’re prone to happen when you least expect it. If you carry an optimistic attitude with you, you won’t last long out there.”

   “...I suppose you’re right.” Kinzo admitted grudgingly.

   In the case of this fight, Kinzo should expect it to last for quite a while. After all, the Ashura is no pushover. It’s bad enough that he has six arms with six different weapons. His buff muscles allows him to swing them effortlessly, not to mention dealing heavy strikes (at least, they looked heavy since Rei-san was struggling with each and every of her blocks. Kinzo wants to avoid being the receiving end unless it’s absolutely necessary). His field of vision is also much wider as he has three pairs of eyes. As a result, he has no blind spot that the duo can exploit. No attack, no matter how subtle, can sneak past him. Combined with his combat prowess, the youkai proves to be a mighty opponent.

   Despite what Silver Wolf might think, Kinzo did gave Rei-san enough orders for her to move as independently as possible. And he’s kind of glad that he took the time since it definitely helped here. If he was continuously giving her orders right there and then, the Ashura would definitely notice that something is amiss. Kinzo might be targeted as the prime target to be taken out first instead of Rei-san. Kinzo is definitely not fearing for his life. Rather, once he’s out of commission, Rei-san will not be able to move around freely and will be easy picking for the Ashura. That’s one thing that’s definitely not allowed to happen. Not on Keizo’s watch.

   At least, that’s his plan. Truth be told, he’s not confident that he’s strong enough to protect Rei-san. Well, he has to do his best here. He can never apologize enough to her parents if something happened to her, even if the relationship between them is kind of shaky right now.

   Time to heat things up a bit.

   Kinzo takes a deep breath and licks his lips in order to moisten them. He’s planning to cast several high level Spells, so he needs to make some mental preparation. According to Silver Wolf, Kinzo is only eligible to cast Spells up to Level 5, and he was not taught those Spells that are Level 6 and above.

   “Never go overboard when casting Spells. Remember that and make sure that you remember it all the time.” Silver Wolf has warned.

   “What will happen when I cast too much Spells even though I’m running low on mana?”

   “If you’re lucky, you won’t be able to cast it, and that’s the only demerit you’ll suffer.”

   ““If I’m lucky”?”

   “Instead of spending mana, you’ll end up spending your life force instead.”

   “...Pardon me. I’m kind of slow, so I need you to say it out clearly to me.”

   “You’ll die.”

   Kinzo gulped audibly.

   “But, I’m sure I won’t end up spending all my life force in one go! I mean, if you have to spend your life force, it’s like spending mana, right?” he argued.

   “Again, I’m not too sure about the details. What I do know is this: unlike mana, the Spell you use will drain all your life force in one go, no matter how much of them you need to cast the Spell.”

   Kinzo quickly shakes his head a few times to clear his thoughts. It’s scary, but he has to take the chance. Rei-san’s survival, and of course his own, depends on it.

   Instead of casting them right away, Kinzo starts by stomping his feet loudly three times. This is to signal to Rei-san that he’s going to cast some strong Spells, and to warn her to be mindful of her surroundings so that she won’t be caught in them. He’s not going to use some really strong ones right away, but still.

   He starts off with some Level 3 Spells. Cyclone Blades, Frost Storm, and a few other elemental Spells start flying towards the Ashura. Without looking back, Rei-san dodged them all beautifully. Kinzo sighs in relief as those training they did together are paying off.

   Unfortunately, the Ashura are barely fazed by those Spells. He managed to deflect them all with his weapons along with the blows dealt by Rei-san. Kinzo guess that having six arms and six eyes really come in handy in this kind of situation.

   No, it’s more than that. Even Keizo, who’s a complete amateur when it comes to fighting, could tell that the youkai is very experienced in fighting. He has next to no wasted movement, all his blocks and parries are done with minimum effort to conserve strength. Above all, he’s calm, and it’s not because he has his allies the Gashadokuros with him. He’s absolutely confident that he could take down Kinzo and Rei-san all by himself. Kinzo wish that he could be that confident one day-

   “An opening!”

   Kinzo snaps back to reality at once. The Ashura is charging towards him like a truck. Rei-san, on the other hand, is a few feet away from the youkai. Before Kinzo could react, the Ashura is already in front of him, his battle axe high above his head.

   “This is the end of the road for you!” the Ashura shouts.

   Well, this is it. Kinzo is going to die a virgin. He wished that he could have at least mustered up the courage to ask Rei-san out on a date-

   SLASH!

   Blood came out, but they’re not his.

   “REEEEEEEEEEEEINA!!!”

   That’s right. Rei-san, who was supposed to be somewhere behind Keizo and Ashura, has taken the attack meant for Keizo with her own body. To be more precise, she shielded him with her back.

   “Please run away, master…” she croaks as her mouth is flowing out blood.

   No no no no no no NO!

   A million thoughts went in and out of Kinzo’s mind. He quickly got them all out of his head and rushes forward to catch Rei-san before she fell to the ground. Good, she’s still breathing, although the wound on her back is quite severe. She needs to be treated immediately-

   From the corner of his eyes, Kinzo sees the Ashura swinging his scimitar. He casts Barrier faster than he could think, and the attack was neutralized by the invisible wall. The Ashura grunts in surprise, but continues his relentless attack with all six of his weapons. It’ll only be a matter of time before the Barrier crumbles from the youkai’s fierce attack.

   Kinzo assesses his Vault and takes out a plastic bottle. Inside the plastic bottle is some transparent liquid. A makeshift potion, to be exact.

   Silver Wolf has told Kinzo that real potions were made by combining several herbs and brew them for long hours. Unfortunately, they can’t be made in this world since none of the herbs can be found here. This is supposed to be the next best thing: water infused with Heal.

   “Use this only during emergencies. It can never replace the real thing, and it doesn’t have the capability to do so.” Silver Wolf has warned. “Just use it on the worst of your wounds, regroup, then use Heal at a safe space.”

   Kinzo pours the potion on Rei-san’s back, and it has closed up slightly. It’s still there, and she’s still bleeding slightly, but the wound isn’t that life-threatening anymore. His brain cells start to go overtime as he tries to figure out the next move within the span of a few seconds.

   Running away is definitely out of the question. The Gashadokuros that surround them will make sure of that. He doubts that he could lure out Silver Wolf by pretending that he’s about to be killed. He didn’t spend much time with the man in the armor, but he knows him well enough that he meant what he said about not helping. That only leaves one solution to get out of this predicament. He has to fight. He doesn’t fancy the thought of fighting the Ashura head-on, but he has no other choices.

   After putting Rei-san down gently on the ground, Kinzo stands up and face the youkai. The Barrier is still intact, but there are more cracks and holes that Kinzo could count. One look and anyone could tell that it’s just a matter of time before it crumbles like a wet tissue.

   Kinzo pretends that he’s still unsure of what to do, and he made sure to show it on his face. Based on how the Ashura is still pounding away at the Barrier, he’d say that it’s working. In actuality, Kinzo is waiting for the precise moment for the invisible wall to disappear.

   A few seconds later, the Barrier did disappear, and the Ashura roars in triumph.

   “I got you now!” he shouts.

   Silver Wolf might have a witty comeback against that, but Kinzo is too freaked out to think of something to say. So he didn’t. Instead, he points at the youkai with his right index finger and mutters some words under his breath. A few seconds later, lots of wrecked cars, other vehicles and lots of random odds and pieces fly towards the Ashura.

   What Kinzo just cast at the Ashura is a Level 2 Spell called Magnetism. Originally, this Spell was created to mine rare metal from a safe distance (at least, that was the function according to Silver Wolf). However, Silver Wolf has found a better way of utilizing this Spell: by turning the target of the Spell into a giant magnet.

   The nearest wrecked car slams towards the Ashura with the speed and velocity that could have killed a human. However, he’s made of much tougher stuff than that. A little bothered, yes, but he’s unscathed. A bus rams into him next. Then a few tin cans, metallic trash cans and other things that won’t put a dent in anyone. And still the metallic objects keep on piling up on the Ashura. There are so many of them he’s starting to feel the weight of the combined objects and get down on his knees.

   “I will cut you into pieces once I am out of this mess…” he groans.

   That’s it, keep on putting up a front. You won’t be able to do it for long.

   Kinzo shakes his head. He shouldn’t underestimate his enemy, no matter how advantageous his situation is. He thought he could take on the youkai with Rei-san, and look what happened. No more.

   Eventually, the Ashura is being enveloped inside a huge ball made of lots of different types of metallic objects. The scenery suddenly reminds Kinzo of I Love Katamari, that old game where the player goes around and rolling objects in order to turn them into a giant ball.

   He has to give the Ashura some credit. He still vaguely hears his voice coming from the uneven-shaped ball. Well, this is the tough part. Kinzo takes a deep breath and points his right index finger at the ball and mutters some words once more.

   A ray of intensely hot light appears out of his fingertip and pierces the ball. And another. And another. Kinzo only stopped after the fifth shot. And then, he heard a faint whisper coming from within the ball.

   “Well done, warrior.”

   That said, it could just be his imagination. It’s really hard to tell, and there’s no way to verify the truth.