"Well said. Only after defeating me will you have the leeway to think about anything else."
Unfastening the cuffs of her sleeves, then undoing two buttons on her shirt, Kurono already held a pair of pistols in her hands—one black, one white.
"Come. Summon your Device."
"Honestly, Director Shinguuji, your temper is a little too hasty."
Harumura Makoto slowly raised his left hand, naturally leveling it with his chest.
"Distort everything—Kūretsu(Void Rend)!"
A pistol manifested, its main body jet-black, accented by crimson highlights that emphasized its streamlined form. Its size was nearly twice that of a standard issue sidearm.
"Oh my, oh my… now this is quite the interesting sight—"
Just as the air thickened with tension, the clash about to erupt at any moment, a voice laced with mirth rang out across the empty spectator stands.
The source was a petite, doll-like girl. Yet despite her childlike stature, her appearance gave off an aura of maturity.
She had long, flowing black hair reaching her waist, and she wore a traditional kimono adorned with sakura patterns, layered with a vivid crimson haori draped over her shoulders.
"You're like a shark—you can always sniff out the scent of blood, Nene Saikyo."
Clearly, Kurono knew this intruding girl well, for she showed no hostility toward her.
And the instant Kurono spoke the name, Harumura Makoto too understood who this girl was.
"So it's Yaksha Princess. To think Hagun Academy even has someone like her hidden away."
—Nene Saikyo!
Codename: Yaksha Princess.
Blazer Rank: A.
Ability: Natural Interference, Gravity Manipulation.
A current active KOK league fighter, ranked third in the world.
A very dangerous individual indeed.
"Oh my, oh my~!"
"And what's this, Kuu-chan? Who's this handsome young man? That face is delightful, and that body looks just as fine."
Makoto shuddered.
Yes—just like being targeted by some hungry delinquent woman. Her gaze prickled against his skin, leaving behind a crawling sensation of dread.
That hungry, burning look in her eyes felt as though she wanted to devour him whole.
"We're about to duel. I need to test his potential. Whatever thoughts you have, save them for later."
"Hoo-hoo~"
Nene's eyes curved, sweeping over Makoto even more brazenly. Her expression turned increasingly amused.
"I see, so it's another situation like Kurogane-kun, is it? In that case, I suppose I'll wait for now."
With that, the kimono-clad girl gracefully seated herself on the stands.
At some point, a folding iron fan had appeared in her hand, which she raised to her lips, masking a smile of unclear intent.
"Now then. Annoying as she is, she won't interfere with our fight. So? Do you want me to throw her out?"
Makoto leveled the black pistol at Kurono, his finger resting lightly on the trigger.
"No need. If Yaksha Princess has such interest, she may watch. Let's begin."
The enemy before him suddenly vanished.
An ominous chill surged up Makoto's spine. Instinctively, he whipped his arm behind him, barely a fraction of a second—
Bang bang bang—!
Bang bang bang—!
Gunfire rang out from two different locations.
Like fireworks, three bursts of blazing sparks blossomed in the air.
"As expected. Something that simple was never going to work."
The voice of Shinguuji Kurono sounded now from directly behind him.
"Director Shinguuji, no matter what, our powers are essentially of the same type. At this level, I can still sense you with ease."
Makoto spun around, pulling the trigger. Several black bullets of compressed mana burst from his barrel.
These were bullets born of magical energy, infused with his very origin—each one bending space as they flew.
In mere instants, they streaked toward Kurono.
And more than that, their trajectory sealed off every possible avenue of escape.
Each shot—whether aimed to kill or fired to encircle—was inescapable.
"—Time Freeze."
Makoto's body locked up, his trigger finger halted mid-squeeze.
Not just him.
Even the bullets that had drawn so close to Kurono froze in midair, suspended in space.
Normally, his bullets warped the fabric of space itself.
Just as Kurono's had twisted reality earlier, Makoto's shots carried spatial interference of their own.
Blanketing the battlefield in a barrage, collapsing all space ahead into distortion.
But here—time itself had stopped.
Yes. Shinguuji Kurono did not only manipulate her own flow of time.
This time, she had frozen his time, along with the flow of the space around him.
She advanced carefully, threading herself through the frozen storm of bullets as though walking a tightrope, until she stood about ten meters from Makoto.
Raising her twin pistols, she unleashed a barrage.
Ten shots from the black gun, ten from the white—twenty bullets in total, lodged in midair at the boundary between frozen and normal space.
"Clock Draw."
"In truth, there is a difference between us. You possess only spatial interference. But you have no power over time itself."
Her black pistol—Propator—fired the eleventh shot.
With a sound like shattering glass, frozen time began to flow again.
"The interference of time itself, eh?"
A familiar voice echoed suddenly from her flank. Years of battlefield instinct made Kurono react instantly with the best possible move.
"Who says I lack it, Director Shinguuji? Scatter and bloom—Ametsuki(Rain Moon)!"