It would be a problem if a low-ranking person didn't know their place, like that girl from before. Weaklings should act weak, otherwise they're just an eyesore. Right?
Akutagawa grew angry and realized that he could easily defeat him if he used all his skills — but that wouldn't be enough. He had to defeat him and humiliate him. It was pointless unless he made him realize that he was beneath him.
Kenji chuckled, curious, and asked whether he'd like to challenge him to a fist fight. Let him do it. He could even hit vital points.
Akutagawa shifted sharply and realized he was concentrating even more. He devoured everything in his hand and struck his opponent with incredible force, sending him flying. Kenji asked, "Was that a mosquito bite?" He pounced on Akutagawa again, shouting, "Entwined double-headed godstalker!" When he hit him in the back like that, Akutagawa felt a great deal of pain, coughed up blood, and fell to the ground unconscious.
Kenji said that no matter how much he copies the form, it's just imitation. Only he could handle these skills.
And a moment later he decided to step right on his head, but Akutagawa managed to flip over quickly and get up. Kenji was surprised. Didn't he still understand that he had no chance of winning? He'd even let him hit a vital point.
Akutagawa asked, "About time?"
He was surprised. "What?"
Akutagawa asked again. "It doesn't matter what just happened. That was the entwined double-headed godstalker. Just let me tell you that in addition to naming skills, he also gives them proper names with his technique. That's very shameful. He's a high-school student, but he thinks like a child."
Kenji grew angry, shouting that he was an idiot, and swung at him again. But Akutagawa was already prepared, and, enraged, struck him straight in the side. Wounds appeared on his body, and he fell to the ground and screamed in pain. He wondered why it hadn't worked just now. Why had that happened?
Akutagawa said he was probably wondering why his attack power had increased, right? In fact it was the opposite. His temporarily enhanced defence had weakened. Mistaking it for his own increased resistance, he had exposed his vital point to Kenji.
Kenji asked, "Temporary defence? Is that really true?"
Yes. He had cast defence on him with the first strike. And while he was letting his guard down, he had increased the effectiveness of the steel. He'd called defence a worthless skill, but as a skill that makes him stronger, only capable of that, he says that his own skill is inferior to that skill.
After a while Akutagawa asked him to swear he'd never get involved with them again. Kenji was incredibly angry and skidded back, prompting Akutagawa to say otherwise — but before he could finish, someone yelled at him to stop.
Akutagawa turned around and saw Guda standing behind him, holding Yui close. He was ready to attack, and Yui was tearfully apologizing to him.
This is the student he was worried about, isn't it? Does he know exactly what he's doing?
Akutagawa was dumbfounded and unsure what to do, but Yui told him to leave her alone. Akutagawa raised his hands, and Yui yelled at him not to do it again. But Guda said that abandoning the students had been part of the plan, right?
Kenji stood up and said that he'd done a lot of unnecessary things, but he was doing well. This is a hundred times better than being despised by pathetic students.
Akutagawa raised his hands and thought that he needed to think of a way out of this situation. Something was bound to happen.
And at that moment a masked girl appeared behind him.
He was dumbfounded and surprised that Kenji was destroyed thanks to her powers, as was Guda, who released Yui. The girl told him to relax, because it was a crest strike. In reality swords don't have crests, but she had imbued it with the properties of a strike.
Akutagawa recognized this girl, and, surprised, said that he'd seen her at the C-rank party. She went on to say that B-rank magic is used in combat, and that she'd been right to volunteer to take part in the investigation, just in case.
Yui asked what was going on, and at that moment the girl hugged him and pressed his face to her chest. He was incredibly surprised, as was Yui, and the girl said that it really was him.
He asked, "Is it really Anagawa?" She has the magic sword skill and a B rank.
Akutagawa recalled his childhood, and his friend, who, when she came up to him, asked if this was his house. They had just moved in next door, and now her parents were meeting his, so she offered to be friends. The older girl who lived next door when he was a child.
If she hadn't been so kind, or if she'd been the kind of person who looked down on others, like other high-level skill users, his heart would have been broken by his father's bullying.
At that moment he was surprised and asked, "So she's on an S-rank team now?" Anagawa replied that she'd been living with this ever since she joined the guild, right after graduating from high school. She looked at him again and said he'd grown up so much. Akutagawa asked her to wait, while Yui stood terrified off to one side. He abruptly turned away, cleared his throat, and asked what they should do with these two.
Kenji was tied up with his brother, asking, "Do you think this is the end? Well, you were just lucky this time." He'd be back for revenge soon, and next time he wouldn't be starting any backstabbing drama with the students.
While he screamed and writhed at his disadvantage, Akutagawa turned to Yui and realized that everything was now clear. The fact that he'd somehow defeated them was thanks to Yui's help.
Kenji yelled at him to look over his shoulder when he walked the streets. Did he understand? He'd definitely gather his henchmen to surround him and make a sack of him. He'd destroy not only him, but his girlfriend and his family too.
But at that moment Akutagawa held his ground and struck with incredible force, sending a nearby tree flying. He mentioned that if they combined their skills, it would be easier to bring them down.
And at that moment Anagawa tensed, and Yui wondered whether he'd used his skills. He said he'd limited his skills to show these idiots the difference in rank. If they ever went against him again, he'd kill them without a second thought.
Guda, hearing this, was terrified and didn't know what to say.
Anagawa explained that the law protected high-ranking skill users, but that didn't mean they could disturb public order. If they committed any further acts of violence against other ranks, she would take appropriate action.
Guda turned to his brother and said in a strained voice that he understood everything. They jump ranks to do whatever they want, and those who assign ranks at their own discretion are weaker than those higher in rank. This document shows how people in the organization become crueller as they rise, because he knows it well.
He thought he'd demonstrated the difference in power in his own way — but if there were no ranks, would they have surrendered? It's not easy to upend the foundations of society. And Anagawa is now someone he can't reach. He'll probably never see her again.