Heat blistered and cracked at the walls. It hadn’t quite started to cause the wood to spontaneously bust, but it glowed red. The school seemed more likely to be engulfed in fmes before it went up from the proximity with the way it grew out through the hallway.

  Fumiko watched with a thick smirk across her fabsp; Even disappoi did give her something to do for a few brief moments of time. She just expected more out of the boy. Yet it seemed that she was going to have to look for a more worthy target.

  “That should be more than enough to leave him nothing more than a bck char.” The fmes quickly cut out. Only tiny sparks remained blown around by the wind allowed to spin through the school.

  “I overestimated your fire,” replied Haruo’s voice through the smoke.

  She stepped back as surprise took her. “What?!” Through the clearing smoke and raining sparks rose Haruo. Steam rose off his upper body from where the fmes licked his skin. His shirt pletely burned away along with parts of his pants. Sweat covered his skin putting a soft glow around his sharply formed muscles.

  Fmes immediately leapt up into the air summoned by the tap of Fumiko’s staff to the floor. “I didn’t think you had it in you to moeone, Mr. Stoibsp; Her fire reached out to grab a hold of Haruo once more, throwing him within the pool of fmes.

  “I’m not mog you,” he answered, as he walked out of the inferno with little effort. Some of the fmes still trailed off him, but they rgely couldn’t keep him down. “I’m merely stating a fact.”

  “Bastard…” Fumiko bit her lip a little in annoyance as her expression quickly ged. He roving to give her what she actually wanted. It was a surprise even though she asked for it.

  A couple of his wolves appeared by his side rger than their normal selves, even for Haruo’s use. “I’ll have to thank you for reminding me of an important fact.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “Our physical bodies no longer have the same limitations. It’s hard to ge the thoughts of how something will affect us.” It wasn’t something he fot, but never fully appreciated. ‘I’m used to my body being tough from Katsu’s group. But it’s easy tet this has given us signifitly greater resistao the elements. Fumiko’s fire only felt like a very hot summer day. I have to stop using my old expectations to evaluate the effects of powers on me. The only problem is that I don’t have a power scale to know the strength or how much of something I take. This is a new learning experience…’

  “So you’re tough.” posure started to return to Fumiko. She knew well enough that it wasn’t going to end. There was still plenty left in her. “But don’t get cocky. I was just warming up. You haven’t seen me when I’m serious.” The fmes around Fumiko suddenly turned blue.

  Chapter 323 – Misjudged Ability

  ‘So this is the blue fme I’ve heard about in passing.’ Like with all things about Fumiko, he only had fragments of information on her powers. Seeing them in a gave him a lot better sehan any sort of talk or rumor could. ‘I recall one of the Titaioning it in passing, the little girl. Given how she talks about not being serious, I’m going to assume her blue fme is more powerful thaandard red fme. Stifically it does make sehough it surprises me that magic would follow any sort of logic or rules of sbsp; The real question is how much more powerful is this blue fme?’ It wasn’t really something he wao test personally, but given their fight he kually he would learn the hard way.

  “Getting nervous already? I haven’t even attacked you yet,” she taunted. Fumiko could tell that she knocked some of the wind out of his sail. While Haruo didn’t really dispy fidence an his face, there were slight hints that he had some assured position. It was hard to describe in no other way than it was a feeling that Fumiko had. Calling such a gut feeling came off as almost stupid if not ironic for Haruo cked any signs of emotions.

  Several magic circles grew out in the air while others popped up along the scarred surfaces of the walls. It was quickly atempt to surround and kill Haruo. However, he had seen it already before from the first attempt she made on him. ‘Repeating herself is a weakness…she swings between straightforward and stealthy attacks…’ Sending his rge wolves, nearly the height of him, they broke down the walls that eled her magic.

  Smashed to pieces, she had less points of attad the reduced cast points left her overall attack with enough holes that he escaped. He did get a good look at her fmes though. Unlike before, which just heated up the air a bit and scorched the walls, entire ses of the smediately melted or just burst into fmes from mere proximity.

  He didn’t to touch him to know the differenbsp; The moisture on his skin from sweating had been sucked away nearly instantly by the intense heat. ‘These blue fmes are definitely on a pletely different level of power than her red fmes. This position is only further disadvantageous for me.’

  Giving the signal, a rabbit jumped out of the ceiling falling down on Fumiko’s head. It scratched around on her fad distracted her, not able to notice the wolf smashing through from the adjat . Just as she crushed the spirit animal with her fme the wolf rammed into her side. “Damn you!” she yelled as she disappeared into a with the sound of things breaking.

  Haruo approached the new hole his animal made, seeing Fumiko outside on her babsp; Her fmes were already on the move to deal with the wolf, but he ordered it babsp; ‘I know what my limits are thanks to my fight with the Atitan…I o be careful on my usage against her. She easily burn through all of my animals and leave me exhausted.’

  Shutting out his sight on the , he kept his attention focused on Fumiko as he walked out of the school. The torn up grounds of their school were far worse than he expected, but they served his needs. It was rgely a ft area with only a few obstacles around. ‘She’ll have trouble with her tricks out here and I won’t be so easily surrounded or funneled where she wants. And ideally, we won’t damage the such more fighting outside.’

  Fumiko had already recovered from the rough assault and unched her blue fmes back at Haruo as he came out of the hole in the wall of the school. He had to jump quickly out of the way just to clear the attabsp; Unfortunately, the was less than lucky. It immediately exploded in blue light and smoke threw shards of debris in all dires.

  He slowly came to his feet as debris bounced off him. ‘Guess the ideal is ruined now…’ Though worse was the fact that several of his animals were caught up i. His mind started running through checks ohing he could still see through their eyes. ‘She do that iionally to take some of my eyes away from me or that just aional respoo my st move?’

  “You really think that’s going to be enough?” mocked Fumiko. Tappiaff against the earth, a strange ringing to out from the headpiebsp; The sound echoed and reverberated against itself without any surfaces to bounce off.

  ‘That staff…she’s been tapping it around frequently during the fight…why?’

  Magic circles materialized in the air nearby Haruo. Things hadn’t ged, she just stopped being stealthy about her attacks. Haruo dove down to avoid the ones aimed at his head, while he had his animals dismahe ones he ground. ‘Would appear she no longer cares about hidiricks…’

  “What, you thought gettiside would put things in your favor? I’m just as mobile out here.”

  ‘Would seem she’s correct about that…’ Haruo returo his feet to start moving again. Even while she talked, she didn’t stop putting up her attabsp; There was little safety for Haruo. Though the open space gave him signifitly more room for evading her.

  He kept ahead of most of her attacks, though she tio cut him off or anticipate his movements. It forced him to keep using his animals to destroy what magic circles he could to give him an opening. ‘The iy of her attacks seems to have increased…was going outside the right move?’ Haruo didn’t really expect to be doubting his decision, not that it could be ged at the moment.

  During his dodging and evading, he did everything he could to keep analyzing Fumiko’s attacks. As his wolf sshed through a circle, he noticed a fihread of blue blowing through the air. It hadn’t been the first time he noticed it before. They had been hard to see, but he picked up ohroughout the area. ‘Are these ected? I don’t know how much magic follows logic with it being a fial strubsp; So I’ve been trying to avoid assumptions, but it may actually be that simple. Trying won’t lose anything and it’ll help to give another answer.’

  Haruo felt that a lot of the things that they did defied expnation. It seemed almost a waste of time to try to uand why or how they worked, especially sine existed purely because it was stated to be real. For his rational mind, it made it very difficult to reason with, but if he could apply logic to things then he could ma.

  Now that he looked for them, he could see the threads better. It almost seemed impossible now for him not to see them. They were everywhere. He knew what he was searg for. ‘There’s more than I realized. But I think this is the real path. Everywhere I look they are ected to the circles. Is this the way she trols and feeds them power?’ He felt his pn starting to have some footing.

  His animals made their move cutting at the magic threads. Each of the circles cut shattered into particles nearly instantly. It gave him all the proof that he needed. ‘So she’s creatiely pced circles by extending out her power through the threads of magibsp; He sort of ighe rest about what the threads were or how they existed, si was just facts that he had to accept.

  “Getting a little smart for yourself, Haruo.”

  ‘She doesn’t seem bothered by the fact that I’ve hobbled part of her attacks. What is she pnning now?’

  “You’re tinuing to uimate what I do.” hreads started to spread out from her shoulder on the side of her missing arm. They quickly began to gather and form multiple inid circles.

  The new aade Haruo hesitate. He didn;t know what Fumiko nning and thought attag would be too risky. It was a plete unknown to him. ‘Is she trying to make an arm out of magibsp; Is that possible?’

  “Allow me to start correg that fatal thinking of yours, Haruo. Fire is not the only magic I have at my disposal!”

  ‘A new element? When did she get one?’

  “I’ve been rgely just toying with you, w if you actually have something to challenge me. After you survived, I thought you might have something. But that’s clearly been proving wrong. You’re just a oe fighter. You won’t survive in this new world for long without evolving!”

  The magiished ing together solidifying into a hard metal surfabsp; It shone brightly a soft shade of blue from her fme. Refles of blue danced around her new metal arm. “If my fmes won’t burn you, the’s see how resistant you are to metal.”

  “Metal isn’t sidered a magical element within fantasy literature.”

  “I don’t make the rules, take it up with Yuki if you have a problem with the logibsp; Fumiko smmed her metal hand down against the earth. It sank into the earth submerging partially. “You’re not going to want to be w about logic right now!”

  Haruo felt a strange sensation under his feet. He didn’t know what to make from it. It felt like it was vibrating, like a quake, but it was too weak. When he looked over at the grinning Fumiko, he knew she made her attabsp; But he couldn’t see it. ‘Her hand…underground…’ He put it together a little too te.

  Metal rods jumped out of the earth around him. He had already started to move, so they missed their initial targets on him. But they were armed with sharp points that pierced his skin. They only grazed his arm, but he felt the warmth of blood flowing down his left arm. ‘It’s fast and malleable…I’m going to have to be even more aware of her attacks if I expect to keep ahead.’

  “Seems you ’t t.”

  Her warning didn’t give him enough time to eveion what she was talking about. The st metal rod jumped out of the earth, being the fifth one. It quickly pierced him through the chest with enough force t him back a little as blood sprayed through the air. The other metal rods jumped bato a to pierce a stunned Haruo.

  “The only uhing about you, your defense, is broken. This is it for you, Haruo.”