Editing City Series:Volume4b Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 5===

'''7:11 PM

A single movement acted as a starting point for all the motion to follow.

But it did not come from either of them.

It came from the crater to their side. Down in that burning abyss, Ixolde took an important action.

It created a giant explosion.

“…!”

Scorching sounds rang long and heavy with the force of a surging waterfall.

A red flare surrounding a yellow core rose from the crater and toward the night sky.

A rumbling much like a tremor or shockwave ran through the earth and air.

It sounded like cracks were running through space itself.

But that was not all.

Actual cracks were running through the earth.

The double helix Babel Gun rooted three hundred meters belowground was attempting to die. And everyone moving above it was caught in the middle.

The earth roared once more. The end of a machine that had taken a decade to build was signaled by a great shockwave and rumbling.

The schoolyard instantly collapsed.

The ground became a giant rock jigsaw puzzle as it sank down into the subterranean flames to join Ixolde.

The screams of those in the schoolyard joined the tones of destruction.

Voices, destruction, and heat.

Those three sounds complexly intertwined as two boys moved.

The first to move was Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide.

He ran smoothly forward in his red mountain hoodie.

He charged toward his opponent on the tilting and crumbling ground.

Meanwhile, Osaka Chancellor Nanba Souichirou lightly swung his sword.

–''Souichirou – Kusanagi/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Impact Sword – Hit!

His sword had been made into a divine item and it easily amplified the Kusanagi Rhythm he used.

“Ah.”

That monotone Live became a blade and raced through the air.

Hisahide was a mere three meters away as he charged forward.

Dodging the slicing shockwave would be impossible at that range.

But Hisahide did not even try to dodge.

[[Image:City_v04b_053.jpg|thumb]]

He made a kick.

He turned his back a little for a high-speed roundhouse kick that launched fire.

The flames raced through the sky along the path of his toes and collided with Kusanagi’s shockwave.

After a beat, a large flower of flame blossomed in the air.

Kusanagi’s shockwave was burning.

The monotone “ah” had lost to the Flame High’s high-speed Tempo and ignited.

The shockwave that had split sound and crushed an ogre became a flower in the dark night.

“Now it’s my turn to attack.”

With those words, Hisahide took the initiative. 

He was less than three meters away now.

At that distance, a Critical Forcer could arrive in range just by shifting their center of gravity.

Hisahide first stuck his left leg forward and turned it into a rightward kick with a snap of his knee.

Souichirou was right-handed, so a kick from his left side was hard to avoid.

The kick was surrounded by flames that would burn through anything.

But Souichirou did not dodge his enemy’s attack.

–''Souichirou – Sword/Box Tech – Multi-Take – Switch to Left Hand – Hit!

:–''Souichirou – Kusanagi/Sword/Dodge Tech – Multi-Take – Kusanagi Interception – Hit!

Without taking a step back, Souichirou held the sword in his left hand rather than both hands.

He did not hesitate to swing it to the left and send a shockwave toward the Flame High’s kick.

“Ahhhhhh!”

The sword wind released with his voice collided with the Flame High and instantly burned.

The slicing wind was eliminated.

And similarly, the flames guided by Hisahide’s kick were canceled out and vanished.

The Flame High’s fire was gone.

That created a brief opening.

“!”

Hisahide quickly tried to pull back his raised leg.

But Souichirou did not overlook this opportunity.

–''Souichirou – Sword/Box Tech – Multi-Take – Switch to Both Hands – Hit!

:–''Souichirou – Kusanagi/Sword/Savate/Dodge Tech – Multi-Take – Kusanagi Diagonal Slash – Hit!

He took a deep step forward and swung a powerful blow from the hip.

The silver arc became a slicing wave.

Hisahide was surrounded by a shimmering as if from heat.

The air immediately exploded along the path of that shimmering.

Solid sounds overlapped, but this did not end it.

Hisahide stood outside the path of slicing air.

This was the power of a Harmonist.

He could place himself outside of the flow of Lives created by Rhythms or Techs.

“Damn! That was a…”

He never managed to say “close one”.

Souichirou was already taking his next action.

“Another one!?”

After swinging his sword diagonally upwards, Souichirou stood tall.

And he took another step forward.

–''Souichirou – Kusanagi/Sword/Gym/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Thrust – Hit!

The Kusanagi-wielding Strike Forcer used every Tech available to him to make a high speed thrust.

The sword became a silver line wrapped in shimmering.

Its target was Hisahide’s throat.

That was where one uttered their Words.

Or that should have been the target.

Suddenly, a great tremor ran through the ground.

“!”

The earth shook.

The section of ground Hisahide and Souichirou stood on tilted to the right thanks to the underground explosion.

The speed of the thrust was somewhat dulled.

But the attack did not stop.

Everything apart in surprise and the thrust veered off course.

The sword reached Hisahide’s right hand.

It easily pierced straight through that right palm which was wrapped in some flames.

The Flame High in Hisahide’s hand and the Kusanagi in Souichirou’s sword fully counteracted each other.

The flames seemed to envelope the blade before bursting and vanishing.

Kusanagi’s power was annihilated.

Momentum simply carried the blade through Hisahide’s hand and shallowly into his right chest.

But that was all.

Souichirou’s attack was over.

The two exchanged a glance while connected by three points: the swords, the palm, and the chest.

Flames burned around them on the tilting ground and the crumbling earth provided background noise as Hisahide spoke.

“It’s too bad. If that had been a slash, you would’ve sliced me in two. I didn’t expect you to go for thrusts and attacks from below. You were just unlucky there.”

With that said, the Flame High boy clenched his pierced right hand to grab the blade.

“Burn.”

As soon as he spoke that one word, flames burst from Hisahide’s hand.

The sword piercing his hand instantly set on fire and exploded.

The Lives creating the sword had lost to the Flame High’s Lives.

The Tempo of the flames burned through all other Lives.

That intense burning attack was not satisfied with just the metal of the sword.

–''Souichirou – Mind/Dodge Tech – Multi-Auto-Take – Emergency Dodge – Miss!

Souichirou removed both hands from the burning sword’s hilt.

But he was too slow.

The flames had already reached his right arm.

“…!”

Souichirou’s right false arm immediately burst into flames like it was kindling straw.

–''Souichirou – Savate/Steel Tech – Multi-Take – Cut Away – Hit!

The electronic word circuits reacted faster than his reflexes and released the right arm at the shoulder.

After the bolt locks were blown away and the arm came free, it turned to a blowing flame and Ashed before it reached the ground.

As soon as the right arm burned away, the ground they stood on sunk down.

As it did, flames burst from the cracks in the ground as scarlet jets of gas.

The secondary destruction had begun belowground.

“The center of Osaka is going to collapse from the backdraft,” said Hisahide as he licked up the blood coming from his right palm. “Let’s settle this before the Flame High ends.”

Souichirou had lost his right arm and his sword had been burned, so he had no more weapons.

Meanwhile, Hisahide walked forward.

He walked toward Souichirou.

“Aren’t you going to run away?”

“Attack is the only word in the Modified Purple Electricity Style’s vocabulary.”

“That’s the opposite of Aoi’s Shinkage Style.”

Hisahide lightly swung his hand as he spoke.

Flames trailed behind his hand.

And then…

–''Souichirou – Sight Tech – Take – Spot – Hit!

“Tokyo Chancellor, this battle will be a long one.”

When he heard Souichirou’s voice, Hisahide stopped moving.

The one-eyed warrior who had lost his right arm continued to speak.

“Now that the Flame High has awoken, both the resentful voices of those devoured by the ogre two years ago and a great power are at work to keep this battle from ending too easily.”

“…What are you talking about?”

“I am not the only one that protests Osaka!”

With those words, Souichirou jumped.

–''Souichirou – Gym/Savate Tech – Multi-Take – Great Leap – Hit.

He used the power of his false legs to jump too high for Hisahide to reach.

When he looked down, he saw the crumbling schoolyard of Prefectural #2 and a sea of flames.

None of his fellow students were there any longer.

Saki had likely ordered them to evacuate.

Only three people remained at the scene of destruction: Tokyo Chancellor Nakamura Hisahide, Nagoya Chancellor Yamashita Taeko, and…

“Killing Holder!”

As soon as Souichirou shouted that Urban Name, Koto Chancellor Yuuki Yuuki looked up into the night sky from one end of the schoolyard.