Chapter 37: Yuigahama Yui
However, things didn't develop the way Kazama had anticipated.
The continuous frustration of striking nothing but air caused the Kaguya-enhanced thunder beast to completely lose its patience.
It stopped chasing those phantom shadows. Instead, it stood in the center of the plaza and roared toward the sky.
"CRACKLE CRACKLE CRACKLE—!!!"
Terrifying electrical currents gathered madly across its blue fur. The surrounding air was instantly ionized, emitting teeth-grinding explosive sounds.
Kazama's expression changed.
"Shit! It's charging an AOE!"
The next moment, countless thick bolts of lightning erupted from the thunder beast as the epicenter, exploding outward in a radial pattern.
This was an indiscriminate lightning storm.
The Illusion and Mirror cards that had just been luring the monster were instantly dispelled the moment they contacted the electrical current, floating down to the ground in their card forms.
But the overflow of electrical arcs didn't stop there. They danced like crazed silver serpents, licking at everything in the vicinity without restraint.
But that wasn't the worst part.
At the edge of Kazama's vision, he spotted that dog-walking girl he'd seen on the path earlier. Somehow, she'd actually followed them here.
At this moment, Yuigahama Yui was hugging her dog and peeking out from behind some bushes, staring in this direction like an idiot.
Curiosity killed the cat, and it nearly killed this dumpling too.
A lightning bolt as thick as a barrel veered off course and struck directly toward Yuigahama Yui's position.
Kazama Chiba clicked his tongue.
Then he kicked off hard. His entire body launched like a black hawk diving from the treetop.
The Windy card generated air currents beneath his feet, providing instant acceleration.
In the nick of time, reflected in Yui's horrified, dilating pupils, Kazama appeared before her in an instant.
Without wasting words, one arm wrapped around her waist, the other scooped under her legs. In a perfect princess carry, he used the wind's propulsion to leap violently to the side.
"BOOM!!!"
The lightning struck viciously where she'd just been standing. Dirt exploded upward, leaving the ground charred black.
"You okay?"
Kazama looked down at the girl who'd buried her face in his chest, too terrified to look up. His tone was cold as ice.
Still in shock, Yuigahama Yui stared blankly at the face so close to her own.
Her face flushed red as a ripe apple, tears still glistening in her eyes.
In that instant, she'd genuinely thought she was going to die.
"I... I'm still alive?"
"If you don't let go soon, you might get strangled to death instead."
Kazama set her down on the ground.
Yui's legs went weak and she nearly collapsed. Kazama sighed and helped her lean against a large tree.
"Stay here and don't move. Unless you want to get roasted."
With that, he turned and charged back into the battlefield.
At that moment, inside the Aston Martin stopped in the middle of the plaza, there was finally movement.
Hiratsuka Shizuka, who'd been unconscious this whole time, was jolted awake by the deafening thunder.
"Ugh... my head hurts..."
She groggily rubbed her temples and sat up from the passenger seat, mumbling incoherent sleep talk.
"Mmm... where the hell am I... so loud... can't a person get some sleep..."
She instinctively raised her head and looked through the windshield.
Then her drunkenness evaporated instantly.
Less than ten meters from the front of the car, a massive beast wreathed in blue lightning—its face twisted and grotesque like something crawled from hell itself—was staring directly at her.
"Huh?"
Hiratsuka Shizuka blinked.
"Is... is this some theme park's animatronic? The craftsmanship is pretty realistic..."
Before she could finish speaking, the thunder beast clearly noticed there was still a living person inside this metal can.
A cruel gleam flashed through its bloodshot eyes. It opened its gaping maw, and a blinding sphere of lightning rapidly condensed deep in its throat.
It was going to blast this car and the person inside into slag!
The blue light gathering in its throat was so bright it was impossible to look at directly. Definitely not something any animatronic could produce.
In that instant, all the alcohol evaporated from Hiratsuka Shizuka's pores as cold sweat.
"Am I still dreaming? Right? This has to be a dream!"
She wanted to scream, but her throat felt strangled—no sound would come out.
"Damn it!"
Kazama Chiba, racing back, cursed internally.
He'd been so focused on setting the trap earlier that he'd forgotten to get Hiratsuka Shizuka out of the car.
And because he'd left the optimal control position to save Yui, there was no time to reset the formation now.
If Hiratsuka Shizuka died here, even if it was an accident, the subsequent complications would give him endless headaches.
No choice.
In the second before the thunder beast released its lightning breath, Kazama flashed into position in front of the car.
"Kazama...?"
Inside the car, Hiratsuka Shizuka's eyes widened in shock at the thin silhouette blocking her path, her mind going blank.
That was her student?
What was he doing? Committing suicide?!
Facing the destructive lightning roaring toward him, Kazama Chiba chose not to take it head-on. Instead, his right hand slammed violently against the ground.
"Shadow! Devour it!"
With his low shout, the black shadows that had merely been spread across the ground suddenly surged upward like living things.
They were no longer flat shadows, but transformed into a tide of pitch blackness—like a massive predatory net that instantly blocked the lightning's path.
The expected explosion didn't occur.
It was like a water droplet falling into the ocean.
The violent lightning that could melt steel, upon contact with the shadows, vanished without a trace like a clay ox entering the sea.
This wasn't a blind attempt.
Just as established in the original series, shadows are formless and all-encompassing.
Pure energy attacks hold no meaning against shadowless entities—instead, they're assimilated and absorbed.
"ROAR?!"
The thunder beast released an incredulous howl.
It couldn't comprehend why its full-power attack had been neutralized like a fart in the wind.
But Kazama wouldn't give it time to think.
"Got you."
His five fingers clenched violently, forming a grasping gesture.
The shadows that had devoured the lightning instantly boiled. They transformed into countless black tentacles, madly climbing up the thunder beast's limbs, binding its body tightly and sealing its mouth shut.
No matter how the thunder beast struggled, those shadows clung like a bone maggot, growing tighter and tighter.
Seeing the timing was right, Kazama Chiba pulled out the red-and-black painted Sealing Staff from his jacket.
Under Hiratsuka Shizuka's dazed stare, he swung the magic wand and touched its tip to the bound thunder beast's forehead.
"Return to your original form! Clow Card!"
A brilliant flash of light erupted.
The massive thunder beast disappeared. In its place, a card fluttered lightly to the ground.
Kazama bent down and picked up the card. Without even glancing at it, he casually stuffed it into his pocket.
With the thunder beast sealed, everything returned to calm.
Kazama Chiba glanced at Hiratsuka Shizuka inside the Aston Martin and discovered that the teacher had pathetically fainted from fright.
So he decisively chose to ignore the useless adult.
He turned and walked straight toward Yuigahama Yui to confirm her condition.
Yuigahama Yui still maintained that duck-sitting posture, hands clutched to her chest, her entire body frozen like someone had hit pause.
Those bright, shining eyes stared fixedly at Kazama. In her pupils, it seemed like two flames were burning—the light of worship.
From her perspective, what had just happened was more thrilling than any Hollywood blockbuster.
That boy who always kept to himself at school, who seemed a bit gloomy—in a desperate situation, he'd stepped forward, wielding darkness to block lightning. That kind of contrast created an impact powerful enough to pierce through any adolescent girl's defenses.