Kazu was aware of the poison that Sol had put on his fist. He knew that Jose was involved, but not even in his wildest thoughts did he expect Jose to attack him blatantly in front of so many people.
CRACK
The barrier broke like glass as the beam closed up on Kazu.
Half of his torso was already in the ground, rendering the sunken part unable to utilise Ethernano.
"Ridiculous." A large amount of Cyan-coloured Ethernano covered his fist as he punched at the beam.
'Two Hit KO x Constructive Interference Max'
A fist clashed with the purple beam.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
The result was catastrophic.
The air violently trembled, moving away at super-sonic speeds, causing many of the people to instinctively cover their ears with Ethernano.
Sol was thrown dozens of meters apart from his position.
"What is the meaning of this?" The speaker's voice resounded throughout the clearing as he blew away all the dust that rose, clearing everyone's view.
A lone silhouette came in view—Kazu stood on a floating barrier with a frown on his face.
His hair was dishevelled and several parts of his clothes were damaged. Several cuts and bruises appeared on his legs, red blood flowing down.
'Due to the shockwave, Sol's sealing magic broke away. But due to how quickly it got removed, I didn't get enough time to instantly put a barrier on my lower body, resulting in this.'
The inability to use Ethernano from the part in the ground was dangerous. If Sol used it right, he could have attacked Kazu's legs from the bottom, which were defenceless. Kazu had prepared countermeasures for this, but due to Jose's sneak attack, he wasn't able to prevent damage.
"This is ridiculous. To think that one of the Saints dares to sneak attack a child." He muttered, but everyone in the clearing heard it.
'Luckily, I had mastered using Two Hit KO at maximum power instantly. Otherwise, I might have suffered major injuries.'
Two-hit KO uses half of his Ethernano in his body, unlike One-hit KO, which uses almost all. Similarly, Four-hit KO uses 25 per cent of his entire body.
Kazu could control the exact percentage of Ethernano he wants to infuse in his attack. However, initially, Cana had named the three versions like this, and Kazu likes to use the name to remind himself that she was the creator.
"I was just testing you," Jose replied with a smirk. His expression told as if he did nothing wrong.
"Testing me?" A baffled look appeared on Kazu's face. 'What type of excuse is that? Even Natsu could come up with a better one.' Similar expressions appeared on everyone's face.
"Indeed. I wanted to verify if the Council's judgment is right. I, Jose Porla, hereby declare that you indeed are qualified for their ranking."
The shock due to the ridiculousness started fading away, as anger slowly started seeping in.
'In both my lives, I haven't been provoked in such a smart way. Not only is he stronger than me by a considerable margin, but due to his position in the world, if I do something stupid, it would affect the entire guild.'
Despite how much Kazu likes to diss on the Council, he didn't have a sure-fire way to prevent the guild from getting affected. 'Calm down. Master just yesterday told me that I shouldn't lose control of my emotions and make enemies left and right. In the future, there will be many opportunities to deal with this guy.'
Kazu pushed down the anger. His facial expression hadn't changed slightly since the beginning.
"Is that so? Should I feel honoured?" His voice was neutral, as if he weren't the person who had almost been killed, but rather a spectator.
"Haha. Indeed. It seems you really—" Jose didn't get the chance to complete his statement as s fist landed on his jaw, sending him flying.
It was none other than Makarov. He stood with a cold expression. Veins popped on his fists and forehead.
"Master?" Kazu looked at him in surprise. 'He is angry.' In all the years he had been in the guild, he had seen Makarov angry on multiple occasions, especially when he saw a brawl happening in the guild or some missions resulting in property damage.
However, all of those instances were Makarov showing his anger outwardly. Now, Makarov wasn't showing it outwardly, which only made it even terrifying to Kazu.
'Right. How can I forget? The master is decades old. He must know how to control his emotions.' Makarov's childish antics often overshadow the fact that he is already above 80.
"You!" Jose stabilised his footing as he held his jaw, which was aching. If Makarov had used more Ethernano, Jose would have been alerted in advance and would have been able to react. If he had used less, then it wouldn't have hurt Jose this much.
It was a perfect sneak attack.
"I am just testing you—the guild master of the second-strongest guild in Fiore." Makarov replied with a smirk, stressing on 'second'.
'Whoa. Master taking revenge for me? But, I wanted to do it.' Kazu clicked his tongue, but didn't say it outwardly. He was curious how strong two of the wizard saints were.
'Moreover, let's analyse some spells.' A grin crept up Kazu's face. He wasn't going to miss such an opportunity. There was a considerable portion of Darkness magic in Jose's last spell, which would definitely be useful in helping Mira in the future.
Jose's face was coloured red. "Is that so? Then, let me show you my prowess." A black-coloured portal appeared behind him, from which multiple dark, cloaked figures came out, rushing at Makarov.
"You two must not!" The speaker shouted, but his words fell on deaf ears. Neither of the two was going to back down now. The others have already started retreating.
"I will contain the aftereffects of their battle," Jura spoke with a serious expression. A clash of S-ranks could easily raze a city to the ground with just aftereffects. The two in front of him weren't ordinary random S-ranks, but Wizard Saints.
"Then I would be leaving this to you." The speaker quickly said to Jura, before he too retreated.
"Are you fine?" Kazu turned to his right and found Jenny standing there with an armour covering her body.
"Yeah. I only got minor injuries." 'I almost forgot about her. Where's Sol?' He looked around, but didn't find Sol.
'Must have escaped.' "Aren't you feeling too hot in that armour?" Kazu turned to Jenny, who had a red blush on her face.
"It's alright. In fact, I should be the one asking this. Aren't you feeling too cold in that outfit?" She pointed downwards while looking away.
Kazu looked down. He blinked. "Fuck."
He quickly put on an opaque barrier on his bottom.
"You didn't see anything, right?" 'Luckily, my underwear is still fine. Otherwise, it would have been worse than Gray.' Kazu maintained a neutral expression.
"N—nothing." Jenny turned to him and muttered 'neat' when looking at the barrier.
Kazu didn't say anything for a few seconds. "Do you have something to wear. I will feel more secure with something to wear in case I run out of Ethernano."
"You don't have a storage artefact with you?" She raised a brow.
"It's with the master." Kazu pointed at Makarov, who was raining multiple spears made of light on the ghost-like creatures.
Jenny nodded. She brought out a storage artefact and poured her ethernano in it to look for something.
"Please not something like a frock or girly. Something like tracks would be much better." Kazu quickly said when he looked at Jenny's expression, which had changed.
"Tch. You are no fun. Here." She took out a black tracksuit, which Kazu quickly took and put on.
"Much better. Thank you." He turned to the battle. A barrier erupted in front of him, shielding them from the shockwaves of the attacks.
The next second, Jura appeared in front of them. "Are you two not retreating?"
Kazu shook his head. He turned to Jenny. "What about you?"
"Will I be fine if I watch?" She looked at Kazu for confirmation.
Kazu pursed his lips. "Hmm, it should be fine. Last time, it was a sneak attack, that's why I was slow to react. I can defend or dodge with you in tow."
"Very well. Then I will work on containing this battle." Jura quickly left.
'That's pretty good manipulation for a large amount of Ethernano. Fitting to be Wizard Saint.' Kazu glanced at the large rock wall, which was continuously rising a mile away. It had surrounded them in an oval shape.
He then turned back to the grand battle in front of him.
"Are you not angry?" Jenny suddenly asked, making Kazu stiffen.
A smile crept up his face.
"I let Sol continue his spell. I am angry at my complacency.
I wasted a large portion of my Ethernano to stop Jose's attack. I am angry at the helplessness of the situation created by my previous decision.
I couldn't do anything at the clever provoke Jose used. I am angry that I couldn't react to him personally.
I couldn't take revenge personally, letting Master do it. I am angry at my powerlessness."
With the same smile, he turned to Jenny.
"So, yes. I am angry."
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Thank you to Jake Mullins for joining my Patreon.
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Guys, 40 Powerstones is the goal for double release this week.
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