*

Chris. Hey, Chris.
What's the matter, it's getting noisy.

　When Christine opened her eyes, she saw Ernest peering at her.
　Jumbo and Slim are in the immediate vicinity.
　What's the surveillance doing, you ask yourself, and then you raise your body.
　The bald-headed man was swaying back and forth, perhaps asleep.

'I'm escaping, so help me out.
Yes, that's a very tempting line. But I decline.

　Jumbo snorted, as if he hadn't expected to be refused.

'What?'
I don't expect you to get away with some crude idea that a kid can come up with.
'I have spirit magic. With this power, not even adults can touch it.

　Jumbo's hands are on fire.

"I'm sorry, but I don't trust you people.
Tsk, you're dead.

　Jumbo said as he spat.
　I guess I'll have to rethink the school system, Christine let out a small sigh.
　It's a problem to be a slacker like Ernest, but it's also a problem to be belligerent like Jumbo.
　It's already no good where you think you can fight adults just to be able to use spirit magic.

''........It wasn't a school for letting a crazy person hold a blade, though.

　Fortunately, Christine's words were ignored.

'Fatty, what about you?'
I ...

　Ernest glances at me.
　'I'd say you should at least decide for yourself whether to run or not.

'I'll stay. I can't leave Christine alone, and I can't leave her alone.
"-Oh!

　Jumbo punched Ernest in the face.
　It looked like he hit him pretty hard, but Ernest gritted his teeth and held on.
　If you thought he was a slacker, he was quite gutsy.
　Christine's opinion of Ernest went up a bit in Christine's mind.

'Tch, you're going to die too.'

　Jumbo spat and headed down to the other children.
　Slim followed suit.
　It's a splendid swing of the hips.

'Ernest, are you okay?'
Do I look okay?

　Ernest wiped his blood-soaked mouth roughly with the sleeve of his clothes.

'You could have run away, you know.
You can't leave Chris alone. I'm still a man and...

　'Besides,' continued Ernest.

'Like Chris says, I can't go on a mission with someone I don't trust. You never know when you're going to be cut off.

　'So you're saying that distrust of Jumbo has won out.

'Mmmm, good call. You may call him your knight.
It would be my pleasure.

　Just as Ernest said in an embarrassed tone, the warehouse turned red.
　Jumbo had used his spirit magic.

''Hee, heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!''

　A bald-headed man screamed as he was engulfed in flames.

'Now!　Break down the door!
Spirit!

　Jumbo shouts, and Slim unleashes an earth spirit technique - a chunk of rock - at the door.
　Gun!　And then the door slams shut with a crash.

"Take another shot!
Spirit!

　It releases a chunk of rock again.
　The door pops outward.
　A blast of cold air blows in and the children run outside.

'Let's get out!　But not you guys!

　Jumbo ran out and released the flames as he turned around.
　A wall of flames rises as if to tell him not to proceed further.

''Barker!　You're going to die!
You're going to die.

　Christine spat at Jumbo's back.
　Well, by that time she had run outside.

'What do we do?!'
...you are...

　Christine let out a sigh as Ernest clung to her arm.

'....Spirit.

　Christine waved her arm lightly.
　With that, the flames froze and shattered.

'Chris, let's get out of here!
You can't.

　Christine waved her arms and extinguished the flames that had enveloped the bald-headed man.
　Failure to do so would result in frozen meat, but this time it worked.

''Well with that much power, you're at least a bandit.
I'm not much of a necromancer, you know.

　If you're familiar with the spirit arts or have experience in anti-magic warfare, you'll be easily dealt with.
　It's like a bee's stinger.
　Christine knelt down and clicked her tongue with a tic-tac-toe.
　Then a rat crawled out of the corner of the warehouse.
　To be honest, she didn't want to touch it, but she pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket and tied it to the rat.
　When I let go of my hand, the rat dived down the drain, chirping.

'What was that?'
My skill ... is animal talk.
You called for help, didn't you?
What do you think?

　Christine tilted her head.
　Animal Talk is a rare skill that allows you to talk to animals--''

'They're rats, to be frank.
You could have gotten a few rats to help with the guards, couldn't you?
If we don't get as many as we need, we're gonna run scared.
Don't you know how to order animals around?
I'm just asking.

　They won't listen to orders that put their lives in danger, and only rats, dogs, cats, and birds will listen to you honestly.
　When it comes to large predators, they won't even listen to you.
　Instead, there is a section of them that thinks Christine is food.

'Uh-huh.'

　The bald-headed man moaned and sat up with a bang.

'Where are the kids?!'
He's gone.
Shit, my brother's gonna kill me.
I don't think so.

　He ordered the children who could use the Spiritual Arts to be on guard.
　He could at least understand that he couldn't subdue it with a single club.

''Don't you guys run away!
Mm, we'll stay put.

　As Christine sat there, the bald-headed man headed out with a club - still, he turned around to see if he was curious.

'When I said don't run away, that doesn't mean you can't run away. Don't get me wrong.
Mm, don't run.
Because that's what it means, isn't it?　Don't ever get me wrong, okay?　Don't think there's definitely an underlying meaning!
You needn't have been so careful.
My brother!
You don't have to yell at me to be heard.

　A bald-headed man yells out, and a man in black comes into the warehouse carrying a jumbo.
　He throws the jumbo down carelessly.

'You bastard!'
It's not going to work.

　Jumbo immediately stands up and shoots flames at the man in black.
　But the flames disappeared without even touching the man in black.
　If you look at it, a black light surrounded the black-clad man.
　The same power as Makoto - the power of the seven evils, Christine narrowed her eyes.
　The same spirit art would be able to counteract it.

''Boss. We've got them all.''

　The men, who appeared to be my men, threw the children away as soon as they entered the warehouse.
　Some of the children have swollen cheeks, as if they had been hit.

'....Hey...'

　With that, the man in black threw a knife at Christine's feet.

'Take that knife and stab that guy.

　The man in black shuffled his chin and pointed to the jumbo.
　I see, Christine nodded.
　Apparently, he was trying to instill distrust in the children by making them stab the jumbo.

'No!'
What did you say?

　The man in black stared at her with a demonic look, but Christine suppressed her fear and heaved her chest.

I know exactly what you're thinking. Mostly, you're trying to make me distrust you by having me stab him.

　His eyes widen with a quack.

"I'm not friends with him!　Peel it, cut it up, or do whatever you want!
He's a great kid.
I'm not a kid. You're not a kid, Chris.
Yeah. I'm the king.

　The man in black - the King - pushed Slim away.

'You stab him. If you can't stab me, you'll stab me.

　Slim picks up the knife.
　His eyes are busy moving.
　He's lost while holding the knife in his hand.

'Are you going to do it?'
'No, I didn't mean...'

　Jumbo smiled ferociously, and Slim was instantly frightened.

'Yeah, you can't stab me as it is, can you? "Don't move."

　The next second King commanded, Christine's body couldn't move.
　Ernest and the other children would be the same.

'The power of the seven evils?'
'You know what I can do?　That's right!

　Jet-black flames erupted from King's body.

''I am a user of greed!
Hmm, is that how you got us?
'Yes, and I'll sniff out what I want!　That's my skill!　A greedy sense of smell (Sense of Hedgehog)!

　The jet-black flames swelled up and were extinguished in an instant.

'And don't expect any more help, man. I'm not going to be able to find you here with my skills.
How can I disable it?
I'm not going to be able to get it right. Whenever someone mentions your skills, you can't help but blabber on about it.
You're a show-off, aren't you?
I'll take that as a compliment.

　King looked at Jumbo and Slim.

"Yeah, 'Kid with a knife can move,'

　Slim let out a puff of air and held his knife at the ready.

'Oh, hey, don't do that. We're friends, aren't we?
'Uh-oh!

　Slim lunged at the jumbo, shouting loudly.

'Gaaaaaah!

　Jumbo screamed as the knife plunged deep into his side.
　He pushed Slim away as if the spell had been broken.
　Slim fell on his ass, as if he hadn't expected to be hit back.

'Bad, bad, bad, I forgot to tell you that pain and shock can make you move, man.

　King said with a guffawing laugh.

'Yo, yo, how dare you!
I was ordered to do it. I had to do it.

　Jumbo pulled out a knife stuck in his side.
'I'm going to kill you,'
Hold on.

　Slim stepped back on his ass.
　But Christine was aware of the yellow light drifting in and out of the air.

'Die!'
You're gonna die!

　A stone spear jumps out of the ground.
　It was Slim's Spiritual Technique.
　But the stone spear pierced the void.
　It was due to the pain that slowed Jumbo's steps.

''You, you bastard!

　Jumbo thrust the knife at Slim as he fell down.
　Slim managed to push the knife back, but the force was overwhelmingly insufficient.

'Gah!'

　Jumbo screams.
　Slim jabbed his thumb into his eye socket.

'How dare you, how dare you, my eyes!

　Jumbo pulled out his knife and swung it down as hard as he could.
　Again and again.
　Slim's screams wooded the warehouse.

'Die, die, die, die, die!

　Jumbo exclaimed, thrusting the knife slimly into the air.
　No, can I say that I thrust it in the air?
　The knife had been snapped from its base.
　Silence descended, but it was broken by a grunt.

''It ... hurts.''

　It was Slim's voice.
　Slim lived with a hole in his chest.

'Heeeeeeeeeets!'

　Jumbo threw down the handle of his knife and jumped away from Slim.
　'Ouch, ouch,' said Slim, his body shaking.

'....Mommy, Mommy, help me.

　People don't die easily, Christine thought to herself.