He wasn't able to dodge. The hit carved through his abdomen, hot blood spilling across the dirt.
His breath left in a sharp grunt.
He fell to one knee, vision shaking. The world folded in on itself—pain too sharp, too real.
Every pulse of his heartbeat felt like glass scraping bone. His fingers dug into the ground, steadying himself, but his arms trembled uncontrollably.
He'd taken hits before. None of them compared.
This pain was something else—raw, animal, endless. For a split second, his brain screamed that this was it—that his body couldn't hold together.
Then the thought twisted.
No, he'd felt worse. Not on the skin—but deeper. The kind of ache that stayed for years. Losing his parents. Losing Yui. The slow, constant weight he still carried even now.
That pain hadn't stopped. It had simply gone quiet.
Compared to that, this was… noise.
He forced his head up, eyes narrowing.
"Pain, huh…" he whispered, blood dripping down his chin. "This is nothing compared to what I have felt before"
Something in his Ethernano shifted.
A pulse of crimson erupted from his body, burning through the air like fire meeting oil. His blue Ethernano turned red—pure, violent emotion. The ground cracked under his feet as he moved.
Halphas barely reacted before his fist slammed into her gut, sending her skidding backwards. Another blow followed, then another—each one wrapped in red light, each hit heavier than the last.
She roared, trying to counter, but he didn't let up. His movements were sharper now—instinct and anger fused into rhythm.
Cana could only stare as he pummeled the demon back, each strike echoing like thunderclaps. "Uh, I'm… pretty sure that's Mira's body you're punching—"
Kazu stopped mid-swing. His fist hovered inches from her face.
Mira's eyes flickered beneath the black sclera—just for a moment.
The red aura around him faltered.
He saw it then—the tremor in her expression, the faint, human struggle buried inside the monster.
And suddenly it wasn't Halphas he saw. It was Mira—his friend.
His arm dropped.
He stumbled back a step, breathing hard, eyes widening in realisation. "Damn it…"
The last time he'd lost control, he'd almost killed Cana. The flash of that day—her terrified face—stabbed through his chest harder than the wound.
He clenched his jaw.
Anger, guilt, fear—they all pressed at once, crushing him from inside.
And then, with deliberate effort, he exhaled.
"Enough."
His voice dropped, calm and steady.
'I need to get rid of the emotions. Get rid of the emotions and the pain.'
The red light dimmed. His breathing evened out. Slowly, all colour drained from his Ethernano, leaving only the familiar blue.
A barrier appeared on his abdomen, preventing blood loss and the chance of infection.
The noise in his head faded. The pain dulled—not gone, just irrelevant.
He felt his pulse slow. Each heartbeat stretched out until time itself seemed to flatten.
The world bled to black and white.
No rage. No grief. No fear. Just motion, shape, and logic.
Kazu felt deja vu. This wasn't the first time he had gone in this state. He had once before gone in the same state in Makarov's office.
Mira—Halphas—lunged again, screaming.
Kazu raised his hand. One gesture.
A barrier formed midair, invisible until the moment of contact. The impact stopped her dead, force dispersing in a silent ripple.
Her body froze in place, caught like a painting mid-strike.
Cana blinked. "What the hell…"
She could feel it—something wrong, or maybe right, radiating from him. His presence was different. Hollow, but immense.
He turned his head slightly, eyes now colourless, tone flat. "Don't move."
Cana didn't argue.
The clearing went silent except for the faint hiss of his leaking white Ethernano.
Above them, the light dimmed, clouds closing over the sky. For a moment, it felt like even the wind was holding its breath.
Mira's claws trembled against the invisible wall, unable to move forward—or back.
Kazu watched her without expression. His mind no longer registered pain or emotion. Only facts. Force. Equilibrium.
He touched Mira's shoulder, sending his Ethernano into her body to analyse what was happening.
And analyse he did.
Kazu spoke once, voice barely audible.
"Calm down… Mira."
And then, finally, the struggle inside her aura started to slow, until it stilled.
Halphas was finally contained.
---
The forest smelled of ozone and burnt dirt. The wind had gone still—too quiet for comfort.
Kazu crouched near the crater's edge, his abdomen still wrapped in dried blood. Mira and Cana stood a few meters away, both staring at him.
Kazu reached into his coat and pulled out a dull-looking cube. The artefact hummed faintly, its surface covered in tiny runes.
"Guess I'll patch us up before someone bleeds out," he muttered.
He pressed the cube against his side. It glowed white, humming louder. The light spread across his torso, and slowly—like film played in reverse—the torn flesh began to knit together.
Cana blinked. "...That's new."
He didn't answer, just watched his abdomen seal shut, leaving faint scars that faded seconds later.
When the light dimmed, he stood up straight. "All right. Who's next?"
Cana lifted her hand like a lazy student. "Small burn."
Mira rubbed her arm, eyes down. "Just scratches. I'm fine."
Kazu sighed and pulled another cube out. "You're both bad liars."
He tossed it to Cana first. The moment it touched her palm, the glow crawled up her arm, mending the bruises and cuts she'd earned earlier. She whistled low. "I want one of these for my next mission."
"Sure," Kazu said. "Right after you sell your soul to the treasury."
He used another on Mira. Her skin healed in seconds, the demonic marks receding completely. The cube flickered once before cracking in half, its energy spent.
Mira looked up, curious. "How much do those cost?"
There was a beat of silence.
Kazu pocketed the remaining shards, eyes on the distance. "That's a secret. Follow my example when you're regularly taking S-rank missions, and you'll find out."
Cana groaned. "Oh, of course. The humble brag."
He ignored her, dusting off his sleeve. "Anyway, healing's done. Let's talk about what just happened before I forget."
Cana pointed towards Mira, "Yeah, that. How did your barrier even hold her? Didn't she reach her peak, becoming uncontainable beyond your limits?"
Kazu glanced at Mira, who also looked at him in intrigue.
"Because," he said, almost casually, "I finally finished learning Three Pillar Gods."
Both Cana and Mira froze.
Cana blinked twice. "You what now?"
He dusted his shoulder. "Three Pillar Gods. The strongest defensive formation that Master uses. Though I can't replicate his effectiveness due to my Ethernano limits, I have learned it, marking being master level in my Barrier magic."
'First Ethernano manipulation and now Barrier magic. I still have a long way to go before I reach mastery with Instinct magic. It's just too hard to upgrade.'
Kazu hummed. He didn't dislike it being difficult. He liked overcoming challenges, especially the ones that are worth it. Instinct magic was worth that effort.
Mira tilted her head, confused. "So… what does that mean exactly?"
"To put it simply," he said, gesturing toward the barrier, "this one won't break unless someone who is S-rank decides to help from the other side. And even then, it'll complain first."
Cana frowned. "That sounds expensive."
"It was," he said dryly. "In mana, time, and stress."
She crossed her arms. "Okay, but be honest—how strong does that make you now?"
He paused, considering. "Strong enough to go head-to-head with Laxus from last year's exam."
That got her.
Cana's eyes went wide. "Wait—you mean you're S-rank now?"
He raised a brow. "That's what you took from that sentence?"
"I—what else am I supposed to take from it?"
Mira looked between them, still processing. "So you can really fight Laxus evenly?"
Kazu nodded. "Roughly. If he sneezes first, I might even win. Well, considering that he hasn't improved significantly since the exams. Though knowing him, I might get surprised."
Cana groaned again. "Unbelievable. You're infuriatingly calm about everything."
"Practice," he said. "Comes with consistency."
'Well, it's a side effect of that state. I should be normally pretty happy right now, but that black and white world state completely detaches me from everything. Thanks to that, I was somehow understand the final piece for Three Pillar Gods.'
Kazu remembered that the last time he had felt this was in Makarov's office, where he had accidentally entered this state.
"You good?" Kazu turned to Mira.
The latter nodded. "Thanks to you, I was able to subdue her. How did you do it?"
***
Join my Patreon to support me.
You can even find 20 advanced chapters there:
- DESIRE96
(search it up)
Check out my other works.