The Hunt For The Ice Queen, Part 2

  The instant after, Yuugen disappeared. No trace, no sound, nothing. Before Yachi could react, he was already in front of her. He pounded his fist into her abdomen, tearing straight through the air. Yachi flew back, snapping straight through a tree.

  Masahiro ran up to him in an attempt to stop his fury, but she was quickly tossed to the ground with a swift blow from Yuugen. "Is this all you have to offer?" He said sluggishly.

  Yachi stood back up and rushed at Yuugen, cutting through the air. He easily dodged her blow and attempted to strike her, but Yachi reached her arm out, parrying the strike.

  At the same time, Masahiro ran up and struck Yuugen from behind, causing him to fly forward. Yachi quickly hooked him across his face, but attempting to block the blow left Yuugen wide open. Yachi then struck him in the stomach, while Masahiro thrusted backward, lifting her heel to send a devastating back kick into Yuugen's ribs.

  Yuugen, jolted back, as Masahiro attempted to intercept him with a rapid jab. As he evaded the blow, Yachi followed up the momentum and elbowed Yuugen right in his side. Yuugen crashed from the sudden force, which allowed Masahiro to send a thunderous low kick into his side.

  "If we lose our momentum, the advantage will turn against us," Yachi briefly thought.

  Yachi rushes another blow, but Yuugen manages to block her attempt. At the same time, Masahiro went in for a strike, but Yuugen aptly kicked her square in the stomach. The impact spread across her body, causing her to slide back through the dirt.

  But because Yuugen shifted his attention, Yachi was able to cleanly line up a strike, square in his back. The strike was so powerful that Yuugen felt his organs shift as the impact distributed across his body. Yuugen finally spat up some blood, and Masahiro followed up, hammering Yuugen in his chest, leaving him breathless.

  He flew backwards, skidding across the mud and dirt from the sheer force of Masahiro's blow.

  "It seems that I've underestimated you, Masahiro," He said, gasping for his breath. "Katashi told me to look out for Yachi, but I don't think he expected this."

  "Is the minute over?" Yachi said.

  "Yes, you two did well."

  "For some reason, I feel like you weren't fully trying. Like, you were obviously trying, just not to your fullest power."

  "Who really knows?" Yuugen said with a calm chuckle under his lips.

  "Now that I think about it, why does Katashi even want you to fight Zenatori?"

  "I honestly always wondered that myself," Yuugen said, picking up a torn log, placing it in front of a large rock, then sitting on it. "I'm not sure what he sees in that random transfer student, but it keeps insisting that he's 'special.'"

  Yachi placed her hand on her chin for a moment, "What do you think, Masahiro?"

  "I've never thought too much about Zenatori. So I don't have much to say," She said. "But he does seem very mysterious. Maybe that's the reason he's so quiet."

  "I mean, who's to say?" Yuugen interjected.

  "So," Yachi said. "How exactly are we going to beat Suda Katashi?"

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "I suppose we would need a plan. I was hoping you two would figure that out."

  "What?!" Masahiro loudly exclaimed. "We don't even know anything about Katashi!"

  "The horror," He mumbled. "I don't know much either, except he's very strong."

  "Oh, really?" Yachi said.

  "In fact, he might be on par with Akari. And as far as I know, he doesn't have any inheritance, no bloodline, it's just his own ability."

  "If he's on par with Akari, how are only the three of us supposed to defeat him?"

  "I don't know," Yuugen said lazily, leaning back against the rock. "But everyone has a weakness."

  "You're seriously no help," Yachi said, agitated.

  "Maybe his weakness has something to do with the Zenatori kid," Yuugen responded.

  "That could be possible, but Zenatori arrived only a week ago."

  "So you just know everything about this kid, huh? I've been wondering for a while; what exactly is your relationship with him?"

  "Please stop," Yachi said with a deathly stare.

  "Okay, okay," Yuugen said with a chuckle.

  "Maybe we get Akari to fight him," Masahiro said.

  The two suddenly went silent, briefly thinking about the scenario.

  "But the thing is," Yuugen said. "Akari would likely be exhausted by the time she would get to Katashi. He's probably gonna hide in the background before and be at full strength to fight her."

  "Is Katashi that much of a coward?" Yachi said.

  "From when I worked with him, it's just playing smart in his eyes. But he'd never wuss out of any situation. He's attracted to strong opponents, but he doesn't like fighting opponents stronger than himself."

  "Then we bring the lion out of his den."

  "What?" Yuugen said, leaning upwards as if his interest piqued.

  "I have a plan."

  While those three schemed, Zenatori had to embark on an adventure of his own. On the completely otherside of the forest, Zenatori quietly recovered from his earlier fight with Iguchi Sadoko.

  "It still stings a bit," He thought, rubbing a wound he inflicted from the fight earlier. "But I'm roughly at full strength again."

  He continued vaguely walking through the forest, with no real goal in mind. He knew the grand objective was to collect automorphs, but not what to do for that to happen. As he neared a creek, he spotted it. The automorph named phantom.

  "Wait, how do I even exorcise automorphs?" He thought. "I never thought about it until now, so I never bothered to ask anyone. I'm not even sure I could figure it out, solely due to the lack of information. Yachi did it, but I don't know how."

  He slowly crept near the creek and rested.

  "If it sees me, it'll start doing the illusion thing, so it's best I stay back. But what do I even do?"

  Suddenly, Zenatori heard footsteps and quickly exited deeper into the creek. Suddenly, two students emerged from the forest and continued their chat with each other.

  "Yo, where is this Zenatori kiddd!" One of them said, in a male-sounding voice.

  "I don't think he's over here," A more feminine-sounding one said.

  "Well, let's just get this automorph, at the very least," the male said,

  Shortly after, their footsteps trailed off as they left the scene.

  "Degan? Is that the incantation to exorcise one?" Zenatori thought.