Chapter 145: ***********************
Kurt prepared to activate his [SHADOW TRAVEL], and felt shadows envelop his body.
When he realized that the skill had worked as he had calculated, however, what usually seemed to take less than a second seemed to take longer.
Kurt felt his body enveloped by shadows, and perceived his surroundings with a precision that hadn’t been there before.
There was an entire world around him, made up of pure and simple darkness.
’This must be where my abilities come from...’ Kurt thought.
But in the next moment, he bitterly regretted having even thought.
An overwhelming presence was present, oppressing Kurt as if it were a hydraulic vise pressing on a small piece of plastic.
Kurt felt difficulty breathing, but he opened his eyes, little by little, in the hope of being able to see, somewhere, what was emanating that chilling energy.
Kurt turned this way and that, and once again, he regretted trying.
A humanoid shape, with four arms, darker than darkness itself, seemed to stand before Kurt.
His milky eyes, open, and emanating a white glow, stared directly at Kurt.
"You finally realized... But it won’t last long..."
Kurt closed his eyes again, praying that the ability would end, and he would open his eyes to his world again.
He felt a hand coming towards him, but before he could reach it, Kurt felt the fresh, pure air hitting his face.
"I guess that means the irregulars are now mine to do as I please with them..." Kurt heard Yamamoto’s voice say before opening his eyes.
He was in Shibuya again.
Kurt knew he had things to deal with, both with Yamamoto and his friends.
But the way Yamamoto’s voice sounded in his ears made Kurt’s blood boil.
"What are my friends yours for?"
Yamamoto froze immediately, seeing Kurt’s form being revealed through the shroud of shadows.
His lips trembled, moving up and down, as if the guild master didn’t know what to say.
Kurt took a few more steps towards the guild master.
"I asked you a question, Yamamoto-san... You said something about my friends being yours to do with as you please, is that right?"
Kurt emanated a murderous aura that made even Rodrick tremble in fear.
’What, after all, is this boy?’ Rodrick asked himself, not realizing the size of the smile that spread across his lips.
Kurt got so close to Yamamoto that the guild master was almost able to smell his breath.
"Answer... I asked a question..."
Yamamoto seemed to have lost his tongue, until Tousen gave a single signal to his leader, and the guild master shouted.
"NOW!"
Kurt looked around, taking in everything that was happening as quickly as he could.
Tousen had captured Evellyn, in a headlock that seemed to almost suffocate the girl.
The other guild members surrounded Nikolai, with swords, wands, and hands pointed at him.
Robby, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky.
Yamamoto disappeared from Kurt’s field of vision for less than an instant, reappearing exactly where the child was, and holding him by the hair.
Evellyn didn’t seem worried, but NIkolai was furious, and Robby seemed to be in a lot of pain.
But Kurt just let it all happen.
He already knew not to trust Yamamoto, but from that to what was happening...
It was too much...
"I hope you guys really know what you’re doing." Kurt announced, loudly, for everyone to hear. "I will not take responsibility for the deaths of members of a national guild, like you..."
Yamamoto let out a delightful laugh.
"You, not taking responsibility for our deaths? How dare you?" He inhaled, and continued speaking. "You’re just a... Irregular. You don’t even have the ability to help defend your country, and you’re talking about killing us?"
Kurt hadn’t noticed, but there were some reporters there, as well as some passersby who had realized that it was now safe to walk around the city center again, and had the video recorders of their holowatches pointed directly at them.
Rodrick then made his move.
"Kurt, kid, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Take your friends, and at least let Karasu no Uta make it out alive this time." He said. "Let them live to die another day."
Kurt pondered the situation deeply.
He was more than recovered.
It was more than capable of taking those guys’ lives in the blink of an eye.
But he looked around, realizing what Rodrick had just said.
"Are you with any guilds, professor?" He asked.
"Yes." Rodrick replied. "I’m with Hana at Nagame."
"Are they trustworthy?"
"I would put my life on the line to help Toshinori-kun, the guild master."
[THE SKILL TARGET IS TELLING THE TRUTH]
Kurt nodded yes.
"Right."
And then, he looked at Yamamoto and his lackeys.
Kurt’s eyes flashed a black glow for the briefest of moments, and then neither Yamamoto nor his companions were able to move.
Kurt took his friends out of the hands of that guild one by one, and, when it was his turn to free Nikolai, he saw that he was already leaving the circle of wielders that had formed around him.
"I can’t believe I trusted you... I need to cross this guild off my father’s list..." He laughed.
All the members of Karasu no Uta could only watch Kurt and his friends, with fear in their eyes.
Even Toshinori, along with the members of his guild, seemed wary of that boy.
"Toshinori-san?" Kurt called, turning to Rodrick and the members of the other guild.
"Yes, boy?" Hana no Nagame’s master responded, taking a step forward.
"May I humbly ask for your hospitality?"
Toshinori looked at Kurt carefully, observing every detail of the young man.
There was not a feature on his face that, in the eyes of the guild master, did not inspire confidence.
The young man before him seemed to carry years of experience in his eyes, even though he looked like he had barely turned eighteen.
The way Kurt carried his own body, erect, with measured steps, and the sparkle in his eyes, supernaturally green and emanating that energy that only an extremely powerful wielder could have, made Toshinori burst into genuine, heartfelt laughter.
"I don’t know what’s funnier here, Rodori-chan. Whether a teenager basically turning a guild’s advance strike team into mere statues, or the fact that this same teenager, is bowing down to me, asking for hospitality. .. It was because of him that you almost got into a fight with Yamamoto, wasn’t it?"
Rodrick nodded.
"Then you can rest easy, boy." Toshinori said. "Both you, your friends here, and those who must still be in the Karasu no Uta guild, according to Rodrick told me, will be in perfect safety under the bosom of Hana no Nagame. You can rest assured."
Kurt nodded, relieved.
And then, he breathed in deeply, stood up, and asked the question that had been burning in his mind.
"Toshinori-san, how close are you to the Japanese Wielders Association?"
