7 - Vengeful Interception

“Ready?” Diego asked Ichigo and William. The stage was deliberately set up outside so that they could put on a show for the audience involving fire, light and wind.

“Ready.” Ichigo nodded, and so did William. Finally, they took a few decisive steps forward...

The crowd greeted them with cheers and applause. Of course, some in the audience chose to scream insults at the elementals for the collateral damage they have caused during their battles with the alleged terrorists. But Diego and his allies were mostly well received.

The crowd was supervised by the Heisei after all, and Kaito himself was attending the event. He had no reason to worry about his personal security, as a matter of fact, there was no greater security than his presence itself. Diego walked around the stage for a little bit, greeting the crowd and waiting for them to calm down a little.

“Just the three of us handling this shit...where’s that loser Hwang?”

“Probably out there getting shitfaced or drooling over some older rich lady.”

“Whatever, I can manage...”

He stared at the crowd, imagining a raging wildfire instead. He still couldn’t find his mint bottle, no matter where he looked, and he forgot to ask Ichigo to check his stash and refill.

But he managed to keep himself together.

“Everyone!” Diego exclaimed into the microphone. “I am eager to welcome you to this grandiose event. Tonight, the soulful academy will be officially open for everyone to attend.”

“The soulful academy is a GSC-funded program that helps soulfuls develop and comfortably integrate themselves into the soulful world, as well as receive exclusive opportunities from the GSC.” Diego said. He caught a glimpse of Kaito in the audience, who seemed to be satisfied with the event so far. “We guarantee that with this establishment, the ties between the soulfuls and the non-soulfuls will develop positively.”

“Non-soulfuls, huh? We’re forced to use inclusive language, no matter how stupid the term sounds.”

“Why can’t we just call them as they are? They’re soulless, that’s what they should be called. They shouldn’t be offended by what they are.”

“You can enroll in the academy as soon as the place opens up!” Diego said. “As a matter of fact, the first lecture hosted tomorrow will involve myself and our beloved comrade William, as exclusive guests!”

Kaito listened to the speech with great interest, he was the one who wrote the script and organized everything. But despite the overwhelming amount of security present, he was on high alert.

“I wonder, how will this play along with the gamble I’m planning to take?”

His perception was otherworldly, and that is why he was the only one who could sense a rather weak but sharp soul presence quite a distance away.

“Huh...”

“Looks like things are getting interesting.”

“While they’re busting their ass, I get to bust my liver.” Hwang told himself, walking through the streets. “That influencer girl or whatever the hell she is, man she looked fine...can't wait to show her some real love.”

“This new prosthetic arm is working like a charm too...second one I’ve gotten in a while. I had them do a little tinkering with it as well.”

“Here’s to a night I deserve.” He cheered himself, taking a sip from the can of beer that was already close to being empty.

“Now what?”

“Eh, the girl can wait. I’m always late to hookup dates, gotta let ‘em apply their make-up the second time out of stress.”

He wasn’t wearing his uniform at that time, just a black shirt paired with black pants. It was the casual set of clothes that he wore wherever he sensed worthy of his presence, or in other words, had booze and women.

“I could get another drink...”

“Or I could...argh! So many options, my head hurts from having to choose.”

“Superstar life is excruciatingly hard...”

He wasn’t aware of it yet, but his boredom would come to an abrupt stop. He sensed something creeping up behind him, but paid no attention to it, thinking that he could withstand whatever it was. But as the creeping presence increased more and more, he started to grow more alert.

Eventually, however, he turned around. And he saw a familiar face that filled him both with anger and an odd sensation of tenseness.

“You...?”

Ichika didn’t say a word, she slowly approached the soulful. She looked to be utterly concentrated, but her mindscape was a complete mess. She conjured a pair of ice spears in each of her hands.

“What, here to take revenge for that dog of yours that Diego killed?” Hwang provoked. “Give it up. It’s all your fault anyways, you stubborn piece of trash.”

“It is.” Ichika thought. “And my atonement for those mistakes is to kill you.”

“That’s what he would’ve done for me.”

Ichika chucked one of the spears at Hwang, who blocked it with his arms. They packed more power behind them than he remembered. The second spear was thrown with a different target in mind, it targeted Hwang’s legs, and managed to reach them successfully.

“God damn piece of shit!” Hwang yelled in anger, summoning a cascade of spikes from the ground.

Ichika dashed back, narrowly avoiding the impact. She hurled a cascade of ice projectiles at Hwang, some of them managing to connect and damage the soulful successfully. But before Hwang could let go of his guard and keep his eyes on his target, Ichika was already dangerously close.

“What’s with this speed?!”

Ichika swung her kunai blades at him, using her swift movements to shut down Hwang’s counter-attack opportunities. She landed a flurry of slashing attacks and finished the advance off with a kick, to which Hwang responded by slamming his fist into the ground. The large impact knocked Ichika into the air, and the ground formed a spike which she seemingly couldn’t avoid impaling herself on.

Ichika didn’t lose her composure. She released a pair of slashes from her blades, dismantling the spike and landing down safely. She dodged Hwang’s upcoming attacks with ease, evading both his fists and his ground-based attacks.

“Hayk always told me that I didn’t utilize my power completely.”

“I get it now. This is the true essence of ice manipulation. Using small bursts of ice at my feet to gain additional momentum, overpowering my target with ice projectiles and makeshift weapons, and going in for the kill...”

“If I feel cold, I have the right to make others feel it too, don’t I?”

Ichika rapidly closed the distance, getting close to Hwang and overpowering him in the close quarters fight. She evaded a heavy blow from him, flanked to his side, and finally jumped on his back, setting up a rear naked choke from behind. She wanted to make him suffer.

“You fucking moron!” Hwang yelled, jumping up and trying to slam her into the ground. There was already an arrangement of spikes waiting for her.

But the move was to no avail, as Ichika let go of Hwang and leapt away. When Hwang fell down, Ichika was ready to attack him while he was yet to stand up. And before Hwang could fully guard himself...

“I’ll start off by removing this shitty implant of yours.”

“I’ve trained as hard as I could these past three days, but most importantly, I discovered a neat little trick. One that I saved up just to kill you.”

She touched Hwang’s new prosthetic arm with her palm and held onto it.

“Soul Interpretation.”

“Flash freeze.”

The prosthetic, a few moments later, was completely destroyed.

Hwang launched himself back and opened up the distance. He was once again missing a limb. But in reality, he got extremely lucky. Flash freeze was Ichika’s killing blow that she developed courtesy of her awakening event, it was an attempt to instantly freeze the target, and a lot of times, the expanding gasses and liquids inside would cause the target to be destroyed from the inside.

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“As much as I hate to admit it, if she got my other arm or any other part of my body, I would’ve probably been a goner.”

“This little bitch...always on my damn nerves, from the moment she threw a tantrum after getting an opportunity of a lifetime.”

“I’ll crush her like the bug she is without even breaking a sweat.”

Suddenly, a daunting realization consumed his mind. At the same time, Ichika, with some wounds on her body, stared him down, approaching him as if she was the hunter, and he the prey.

“Nah.” Hwang thought, his presence reaching new heights. “I can’t go out like Luca.”

“I’m a soulful. I use my arsenal to my fullest when I can, and I play dirty when I need to.”

“I’m not scared of you, you damn brat. You’re just as weak as ever. But if you run away...”

A terrifying image of Diego’s flames captured Hwang’s memory.

“I can’t take such risks!”

“ ✦ Divine Acclamation ✦ ”

A small pair of bright brownish rings arose behind his head. A moment or two later, small bits of dust started to fall from nearby lamp posts and street signs. The benches outside trembled a little, desperately holding onto the ground. The tall buildings surrounding the two combatants would soon begin to shake, it seemed as if earth itself had awakened and rejected them. Ichika tried her hardest to keep her balance.

Ichika, slowly maintaining her composure, tried to approach her enemy.

“What is this? An earthquake?!”

“Shit, what do I do against this?”

“Focus, Ichika. Defend your soul against dimming, and focus on a guaranteed kill. Do just like Hayk taught you.”

She chucked an ice dagger at Hwang. A quickly emerging spike from the ground broke it, and gave birth to even more spikes in the area. Ichika quickly dashed back and barely avoided being pierced by one of them.

The rings behind Hwang shone a brighter light, now being decorated with a cross-like pattern. A much more powerful rumbling sound was followed by an enormous pile of sentient stone rising from the ground. Hwang smirked.

“Crumbling Guardian’s Retaliation!”

An immensely large creek escaped the newly formed creature’s makeshift mouth. With its appearance it resembled a mighty golem, it had bright sparkling eyes and four gigantic stone limbs. Hwang climbed on top of it, laughing to his heart’s content.

Ichika rushed back, trying to avoid both the piles of debris flung towards her, and the golem’s crushing blows. Due to the amount of dust and rubble on the ground, it was difficult for her to efficiently skate. Hwang summoned and swung his blade, releasing a fury of flying slashes that struck Ichika.

A pair of wounds emerged on her body. She tried to retaliate with ice projectiles, but failed to do so effectively. She focused her soul prowess, trying to pour it into a more powerful attack, but was knocked away by the golem.

“Good job, Hwang Jr.” Hwang said, patting the golem on its head. “I can’t see her surviving this.”

He had room to believe so. The punch was tested to be devastating enough to pass through buildings as if they weren’t even there. Ichika’s body was flung onto the wall of the building behind her.

“Why...”

She could hear his confident and prideful laugh in the distance. Her focused appearance slowly broke apart.

“Why is it always like this...”

The night was overwhelmingly dark.

“Why is it you that must ruin everything...Ichika?!”

“You’re still alive?” Hwang asked, getting closer, boasting his confidence to a non-existent crowd.

The golem grunted, slowly approaching her.

“Why are you like this, Ichika?!” Ichika yelled, throwing a massive ice spike at it. She took a few steps back, attempting to flee the battle altogether.

Maybe it was a small bump on the ground that stopped that escape. Maybe it was just sheer coincidence. Ichika herself felt that it was something on a much higher plane than those two phenomena. She took a second to think to herself.

“No...”

“He would call this just cowardice.”

Her angered gaze was locked onto the golem’s face. Slowly, she approached the beast.

“If he went up against him with no abilities...who am I to run away?”

“Think, Ichika.”

“What would he do?!”

Ichika suddenly gasped. Quickly, she sprinted towards the monster. Hwang had no reason to fear such an attack, he continued throwing rubble and pieces of concrete at her. Ichika quickly forged a shield made of ice, using it to absorb most of the projectiles, and once it broke apart she started rapidly dodging them. She finally got up close.

All she did was touch the golem with her palm.

The creature’s limb violently exploded into pieces moments later. It lost its balance, almost falling on Ichika and squashing her. She dashed back, and did the same to the golem’s other limb.

“Soul Interpretation.”

“Flash Freeze.”

“The detail that I felt at that moment was what made this idea possible.”

“I didn’t sense too much soul prowess imbued in this golem...it was easy for me to reduce its temperature so much it erupts.”

“Huh? The hell?!” Hwang yelled in confusion as his pet started to quickly fall apart. He wanted to intervene, but he was far too aware of flash freeze...even scared of it. The more Ichika weaved around and made contact with it, the more it broke down, until eventually even the golem’s loud growls were completely silent.

“All that’s left now is to stay true to my promise.” Ichika yelled, rushing towards Hwang. She struck the ground with her kunai and knocked him away with a blast of ice.

Through all of that, however, Hwang ended up bearing a smile. The numbers advantage is amongst the most detrimental factors in combat. That is why, while a single massive golem could easily crumble...

Ichika sharply halted her advance and turned around to the sight of three much smaller golems rushing towards her. She fought them off while struggling to avoid Hwang’s ranged attacks, but soon she found the solution to her predicament.She reached her hand down to the ground. Her soul presence was at an all-time high. In an instant, all the golems, and the entire area that was covered by Hwang’s acclamation was frozen still.

“This should lock the battlefield down. It’s easy for me to freeze and destroy everything because there’s no soul prowess enhancement in these things, not great enough to oppose me at the very least.”

“I’ll have to wait for him to step in.”

Ichika noticed a large spiky flying her way at the very last moment. She barely weaved, even managing to get herself scarred on her cheek. Hwang revealed himself, rushing towards his hunter. Having one arm only bolstered him more.

Ichika was aware that there were going to be more golems spawning, but she was confident that the fight would be over by the time they did. She fought Hwang off with her blades, both sides managed to cut and harm one another.

Ichika threw a leg kick, however, it was meant to be blocked. As Hwang quickly raised his knee, Ichika’s foot quickly caressed the ground, generating an improvised ice blast. It hit Hwang in the legs and the groin. The latter yelled in pain.

“Damn fucking brat!” He tore his lungs apart screaming.

Ichika shoved her Kunai into Hwang’s remaining arm. The muscle soon froze, and with a follow-up punch, while Hwang was reminiscing about his dear testicles being potentially shattered into a million pieces, she removed yet another limb of his.

“Why the hell?!” Hwang exclaimed, hitting the ground with his foot. A small crater was formed, as the shockwave knocked Ichika off balance for a moment. Nevertheless, she retained her footing.

“You’re almost there, Ichika.”

“Now.”

“Who is this stupid girl?”

“Just do as they say, okay?!”

“Ichika, why are you like this?!?!”

“Just focus.”

“Ice Blast!”

A tremendous release of soul prowess shattered the ground, and the large ice formation knocked Hwang up into the sky - breaking several of his ribs in the process.

Hwang’s divine acclamation was still active. His control over the never-ending stream of golems had never been interrupted. Right now, either Hwang would kill Ichika with them, or Ichika would get the kill first. The small golems and spikes pierced Ichika’s feet, pinning her in place. But she ignored the pain. She summoned an ice spear and spun it in her hand, carefully aiming it.

“Not...like this!” Hwang said, slowly entering freefall. A large spike was beginning to form in his hands. At the same time, the golemites were climbing on her back, about to target her vitals. However, neither attack would land.

Ichika threw her spear and cleanly pierced Hwang’s neck. The elemental soulful plummeted onto the ground, bleeding profusely. His soul presence was completely extinguished.

The golems and spikes slowly melted into piles of mud. Ichika stood alone on the battlefield. She started to slowly tear up. The only thing that kept her company was Hwang’s half-frozen corpse.

“You did it, Ichika.”

She glared at it. Slowly coming back to her senses, she left the area.She traversed the streets, making sure that no one was on her tail, decorating the asphalt with a slowly fading trail of teardrops.

“The way I fought...I know he would’ve liked it.

"I know he would've liked it."

...

“You can’t get into contact with her?” Hayk asked Ausra. He gathered everyone in the gym, he needed to know if Ichika was alright and if anyone had stumbled upon her.

“I’m telling you, she just said she went out...” Ausra said. “I couldn’t stop her.”

“And you didn’t guess she was going to do something stupid?!” Hayk asked, much more annoyed. Seeing Rin glare at him, he quickly took a deep breath and lowered his voice. “Try calling her again.”

“She’s still not picking up...damn it!” Ausra exclaimed.

“Then we get a search party going.” Oskar said. “I don’t care about laying low. We’re not taking another casualty.”

“I agree.” Dima said. “Three of them are on stage, that leaves what, just one?”

But before the discussion developed further, someone entered the gym.

“I-Ichika?” Ausra asked. “What happened? Why are you-”

Ichika was covered in blood and various injuries from her fight, her clothes were damaged and her The tears on her sorrowful face had been impeached, a new reign was established by an expression of pure emptiness. She looked like she could use a hug.

“What did you do?” Ausra asked, almost terrified. Others looked at her the same way, they saw an Ichika they hadn’t seen before.

“I killed Hwang.”

She said it in a cold enough voice to freeze the room. No one said anything in response...