Ouma Kurogane

"In other words, what you've all thought were us were in fact wooden dolls animated by my Black Widow[9], with appearances given by her own Noble Art. And the real us were hiding over here with Ouma-kun's wind bending the light around us, waiting for all of you to finish spinning your wheels."

====================== Creates a tornado

"―Hmph."

At Stella's spirit which was churning up the surrounding atmospheric temperature―

"Is such a trivial thing the best you can do?"

Giving a savage smile that showed a peek of his fangs―he replied with his own strongest Noble Art.

Strangely, he took the same stance as Stella. Taking his huge sword with both hands, he raised the blade, and poured all his magic into that Device. The ability of Ouma Kurogane, the Sword Emperor of Wind, was of the elemental-influence system―the power to manipulate wind.

The windstorm born of that power was turned into a cyclone within Ryuuzume, and devoured the surrounding atmosphere. The atmosphere, the debris, the flame―anything and everything in the surroundings. Before long, what he had made was a sword of raging storm-winds, layers and layers of mass stacked together―


"Kusanagi." [11]

===================== Extends his blade to 50 meters
A sword of light and heat against a sword of storm-winds. Both blades were more than fifty meters long, each an attack beyond the norm. With only thirty meters between the users, their reach was surely more than enough. If they both swung down on their opponent at the same time like this, they would clash.

=========================== The shockwaves from Stella and Ouma clashing blades were causing impacts "as if they had falled off a skyscraper"
At the white-hot tempest that was blowing and burning away everything, the Hagure sisters screamed. No, everyone else in that place including them protected themselves with magic, curled up their bodies, and just narrowly managed to stand firm. If they lost focus even a little, their bodies would've been blown far away, and probably would've taken an impact as if they had fallen off a skyscraper. That was why everyone protected themselves desperately. It was a battle beyond what ordinary knights could bear to watch.

========================================= Overpowered Stella (10+ tonner) with his blade
Before long, the clash between the sword of fire and the sword of wind began to break down. The one beginning to crumble was―the Crimson Princess.

N-No way!

With creaking sounds, Stella's two hands with which she boasted of physical strength beyond the norm and begun to feel a pressure she had never felt before. Her heels were slowly sinking into the ground, and the asphalt under them were cracking to pieces. At being shown this reality, Stella was astonished.

I'm losing in strength? Me…?

================== Destructive Capability

The moment that Kusanagi struck the ground, the blade of storm-wind cut and blew away everything there. While hugging Touka tightly, Stella beheld the destruction with her own eyes. The track that Kusanagi had carved in the ground, nothing remained there. The school buildings, the practice arenas, even the asphalt paving the roads… all had become rubble. Everything had been ripped apart, leaving only a concave track in the brown earth. That was surely like an enormous dragon had gouged the land. If a human had taken it directly, he would probably be leaving no trace.

==================== Stella couldn't dodge his blade

Stella, in the instant just before the pressure fell on her from above, could not move to avoid it. And at the same level where the two collided, the others were protecting their bodies with all their strength, and couldn't rush in to help. Stella couldn't avoid this strike. Her defeat was certain.


―If not for the only one would could do anything at that moment, Raikiri Touka Toudou.


"Stella-san!"

At the instant Kusanagi was to bisect Stella's body, Touka quickly used Shippu Jinrai to speed up. Sliding to Stella's side, she pulled Stella away from the descending blade just in the nick of time.

================================== Makes his skin as hard as a mountain
Unlike the others, Touka's body had not suffered a single wound. However, she was no match for Ouma.

After Stella and the others escaped, Touka considered the power of the remaining members, and challenged him knowing that she was the only one who could serve as his opponent, but to her surprise Ouma had put away his Device Ryuuzume and stood there defenselessly. And more than that—

"I have no interest in turning my blade against a girl weaker than myself. If you wish to fight no matter what—one stroke is enough. Try to make a mark on my body. If you can do so, I'll be your opponent."

And he folded his arms, closed his eyes, and stood upright―with no concern for the kind of knight he was facing.

To say that she felt no ire from such conduct would be a lie. But on the other hand, such arrogance and carelessness was a rare opportunity for Touka.

Ouma, who had done away with Stella easily. His strength was real. And here he was in front of her drawn sword, completely defenseless.

She had no intent of letting this opportunity pass from under her nose. Ouma was insulting his enemy with abundant negligence. Without hesitation, Touka slashed at the defenseless Ouma using Raikiri and all her might. Drawing out her strength, leaving nothing out. Angle. Speed. It was a perfect strike.

Supposing it was a miscalculation, Ouma's arrogance was born of self-confidence and the difference between their power.

Her direct hits with Raikiri had not been able to leave a wound on Ouma's body.

In ten minutes. No matter how many times, the result was the same. She had cut through his clothes a little, but not through the thinnest bit of his skin.

What she felt with her hands every time she slashed was… a mountain. As if she was striking at an enormous mountain with a sword, a response that was too solid.

What is this abnormal defensive power…!?

As far as Blazer fights go, there were phenomena like this. There were cases where the difference in magic capacity was this absolute. Right, like the first match between Ikki and Stella.

But there can't be such a huge difference between Ouma-san's magic capacity and mine…!

==============================
Every one of Akatsuki's members was assaulted by weight. No, not just Akatsuki. With Saikyou at the center, everything within twenty meters was being crushed into the ground by an invisible force. It was Saikyou's Noble Art that used gravity, Jibakujin[9]. Akatsuki, who had suddenly been struck by gravity making them ten times as heavy as normal, all collapsed onto the ground as if they were sinking into it.

Except for only one person, Ouma Kurogane, who stood upright and faced Saikyou without moving even an eyebrow

=========================
It was Ouma who made the first move. He lifted his hand, Ryuuzume glowing with pale, baleful fire in the darkness—
"Ha!"
—and swept horizontally at a rapidly closing Ikki. Ten meters separated the two. It was a distance no blade's reach could cross, or would cross. And yet—
"Tch!"
Ikki's body, already held close to the ground in his charge, now went lower still as he dived flush to the ground in a panic. Not a moment too soon—a frigid gale passed over him, scything through the rows of trees behind him in its wake.
A blade of steel might not cross that distance. But a blade of wind was a different matter. This was the Noble Art Shinkuuha[15], a popular offensive technique among wind users that tore through air, creating a small corridor of vacuum. Naturally, Ouma was capable of using it.
=================
Ouma struck out with Ryuuzume once again, sending another blade of vacuum hurtling toward Ikki. A slash capable of cutting through air. While it lacked the sheer offensive strength of a fire-user's ranged abilities like Stella Vermillion's own long-range technique Dragon Fang, its supersonic speeds and the difficulty of dodging an invisible strike made it a deadly ability in its own right.

===============================

Weaving past the corridor of vacuum slashes, Ikki was closing in. As though judging that bringing Ikki down was beyond mere Shinkuuha, Ouma too charged and swung at Ikki's neck—not with a sword of wind this time, but with a sword of steel.
"Kaaaa!!"
"Tch…!"
He's fast!
Despite wielding a bladed weapon whose weight equaled that of a spear, the sharpness and speed of Ouma's slash with his nodachi by far surpassed Ikki's.
This was not a difference in skill—indeed, both sides were about equal in that regard. The difference lay in Ouma's ability. Manipulating the wind, he had rendered air resistance null and void, giving his white blade the advantage in speed over Ikki's black one. Without Ittou Shura, there was no counter to such speed. Having judged in that moment, Ikki took up a defensive stance—
*Swish*
—and then he felt a chill freeze the blood in his veins as that sound reached his ears.
"Ooooooh!"
Forsaking defense, he threw himself backward to avoid Ouma's strike. The blade struck the sandy soil of the park—and did not stop there, carving a seemingly bottomless chasm in the earth below, etching that fissure-like wound deeply into the ochre-colored ground. Ikki broke into a cold sweat at the sight. Stella too could shake the ground with her strikes, but Ouma's were a cut above her's. After all, shaking was a phenomenon caused by the dispersion of energy—a sign of excessive waste and imperfection in the user's magic control. A true strike of concentrated energy created no such perturbations. Where it went, it silently yet thoroughly blew everything away. That was Ouma's strike, which had cut through the earth like a knife through hot butter.
How much energy would have had he gathered, how much force and mass simulated in order to do something like that? How many hundreds of kilograms? How many thousands? He did not know, but one thing he did. His brother's strike, much like Stella's, was a brutal blow. And not one he could take head-on.
But—
This extraordinary offensive strength, it can only be created by that body.

================
Then, Ouma made his move. Was it Shinkuuha once again? No. He did not make to slash, but instead raised his blade on high, as though meaning to pierce the moon.
"Also, I don't intend to waste much time on someone of your level. Let's just put a time limit on this—all this scurrying about is depressing."
He then began his incantation.
"Bind and shut—Mukou Kekkai[16]."
The pale emerald fire shrouding Ryuuzume burst forth in vibrant flame, and in an instant a savage gale swept across the battlefield. The sands rose and churned, blinding the eyes as the howling winds drew them into its twisting updraft. Ikki clawed at the ground with both hands, barely managing to keep himself from being thrown up into the air as well.
Kuh! He's obstructing my vision…!
The sandstorm and the twister as one had stripped him of both sight and mobility. He could not but acknowledge that this move was effective, but he quickly realized painfully that even that line of thinking was naive. A man who pursued strength as purely as Ouma did would never use a technique that was simply meant to reduce his opponent's fighting capability.
Mukou Kekkai had a more terrifying, more direct ability, and that was—
"This…!"
I can't… breathe!
—the forced removal of oxygen. The updraft Ouma had created was robbing the battlefield of it, drawing it up high into the sky, denying Ikki the luxury of time.