A Mystical Adventure Where A Ghost Follows Me Everywhere!

4. Mystics.

Shuuta felt an electrifying wind being filtered into him, completely losing sense of his body and mind; Hanako was beyond shocked; her quivering hands couldn't stretch to help out the red-haired boy. "T-they already found him...? How can that be?"

"Shuuta!" Her acute voice snapped the boy back into his sense; he gripped the man's wrist and somehow managed to do the same to him.

The stranger felt his whole arm screaming with ardor, dandling his wrist away from Shuuta's grip; the man then retreated and huffed, shaking his hand.

"D-Devour? Interesting magic, I thought you were at least a human, kid. Nonetheless, I shall slay you for that is my lord's will."

"W-what the hell are you talking about? Magic? Are you delusional?" Shuuta perked up his eyes, weakened yet revolted with anger.

The man suddenly laughed maniacally. "An ignorant fool with powerful Magic!" He grips his face and peeks through his fingers.

It was visible to the stranger man, a raging ocean of dark fiery flames, immense pressure, and the dire sharp emotional trauma called Death.

Peeking far into Shuuta's soul, he found a medieval castle, washed with ashes, amber, and sulfur. It was Hell itself, or at least it reminisced to such. Inside there he saw it, he whose name was cursed, he whose name was banned, he whose name was resented, suffering, death, and massacre. It all coiled into a storm of negative emotions.

Abbadon. Whose name screams blood.

The stranger felt daggers piercing his right eye, as he laid vision upon the entity, his heart almost popped; he was definitely noticed by the demon lord.

"Y-You damn heretic! You must be vanquished from this world!"

If Shuuta could see the stranger's expression, it would be showing disgust and concern.

The man wore a cloak over his head, hiding his identity; dark leather boots were the only noticeable thing about him.

Still, he had dark pants and a utility belt coiled on his waist.

From one of the bags on his utility belt, he pulled out a runic dagger with hieroglyphics carved around it. It was made of silver and shone with the lamp post.

"Shuuta stand up! He's a dangerous guy!" Hanako drifted towards him and helped him up.

"He's using Magic, Binding Magic, a dark type. Only a light user or physical attacks can fend off against him."

"M-Magic? For real?"

"Stop talking! We need to leave!"

Hanako grabbed Shuuta's firm hand and pulled him through the street.

Late night, no one to bother, alone in the avenue; perfect to cause havoc, releasing a full killing intent; the man started making hand gestures spreading out his arms.

["Binding Magic: Soul connection!"]

A small beam of darkness connected his dagger to his hand.

"Perish!" The silver dagger suddenly sprung at a high velocity towards the lad, it was noticed by Hanako and with god's luck she was able to pull Shuuta away from the dagger, but…

"Hanako!" Shuuta could only scream; as the dagger went through Hanako, she turned to Shuuta and gave him thumbs up with a dashing smile.

Shuuta's heart almost popped like an inflated balloon. "Really…" He almost threw up as well.

Don't scare me like that!

A sudden 180 was spun by the dagger, accelerating on his way to pierce the boy.

"Follow me, Hanako!"

And just like that, the ghost drifted along with Shuuta.

There was a faint smile on the hooded man; he then disappeared like a camera flash.

His body appeared right in front of Shuuta, blocking his path. He signaled the dagger, and it turned faster; the man then rushed at Shuuta.

"S-shit!" He felt the dagger pass by with force as he side-stepped, the stranger then swung another dagger to his throat, but Hanako pulled Shuuta away from harm.

"Tch. Something is definitely moving him." He noticed something strange, though he still couldn't do something about it.

Shuuta felt his legs heavy, his guts started clenching and his heartbeat rapidly increased making him feel like he was drowning. Was he truly fighting for his life? Was he going to die?

His anxiety rose with each question that came to his mind.

Yet somehow, he was able to relax his heart as he took deep breaths, has he encountered life or death situations before? Was he a complete moron? Or was he overconfident?

The answer is…he loves meditating. He knows how and when to calm his mind and body.

He took a slow deep breath with his eyes closed.

"I will beat your scrawny ass!" As he yelled, Shuuta swung his fists wantonly, reaching for the man's weak spots.

"Buah hahahaha! Let's see you try demon!"

Shuuta sent a devastating strike to the cloaked man, only to be countered with an advanced technique.

"Amateur!" A shadow punched Shuuta in the chin, disorienting him, another shadow slugged his guts losing oxygen.

"HAAAAH!" Shuuta pushed hard and connected a hook on the man's cheek.

"Uuoh!"

The man spun back and threw a dagger toward the stupefied lad who just crossed his arms to protect his vital points.

"What?!"

The dagger suddenly stopped before it touched Shuuta's skin.

'How did he do that? I don't sense mana from him.'

Hanako caught the dagger with a grin, then she gladly returned the dagger.

Clang*

Metal clattered, sparkles protruded from daggers colliding, a fist then closed in on the stranger's face.

Pam!*

Various hits and kicks left the man angry! He yelled: "Enough!" As the man released his mana, Shuuta was slapped in the face with mana, it felt like an invisible force, mighty but calm.

'H-huh? What's this feeling in my belly? It's pleasant...like energy is bubbling up inside me, is this my mana? Can I use it somehow? Maybe if I just...'

Mana collided with his body, he could make out its presence within himself, did the stranger's mana activate his?

Shuuta took another slow deep breath, and his pressure changed; his face became serious and ominous.

"S-Shuuta?" Her skin tingled, the air suddenly coiled the red-haired lad, shaking cars and benches around him, even dust covering the area. Hanako was left dumbfounded with her mouth agape.

"Physical attacks work on him, right?"

Hanako timidly nodded.

Boom*

Somehow Shuuta reached the man with a leap in an instant; Hanako couldn't follow his movement.

"Did he just…?" Hanako was stunned beyond her understanding.

"Ghht! What?!" The hooded man wasn't able to perceive any movement coming from the brat! How'd he do that?! All he saw was a blur rapidly coming his way.

Shuuta didn't stop there, he grasped the man's shirt from behind, and valley dropped him to the ground making a loud thud.

He couldn't react again, yet his intuition told his guts to dodge.

Boom!*

Shuuta almost bashed the man's head with his foot, a small crater appeared on Shuuta's feet.

The man backflipped away and stood his ground; he then rushed Shuuta with a mighty swing of the dagger, infused with his magic.

"Die pest!." The man jeered.

Binding magic can render any opponent unmovable with a single attack, making it perfect for close combat.

And the man knew how powerful he was and what his limits were…still, how is he not able to react just now?!

A blur struck his nose at an incredible speed!

'That brat just called me delusional not too long ago! Did I convince myself that he couldn't use magic?' With the grit of his teeth, the man clenched his dagger and sliced harder with even more sharped movements.

Shuuta could sense the mana coiling the dagger, he noticed how significant it was being cut.

Death.

The man was right up on Shuuta's face, slicing and dicing. Shuuta was avoiding the dagger masterfully, almost like a graceful dance. Shuuta just slightly tilted his body every time he was about to get cut.

"How is Shuuta able to fight like that? Did he unlock his powers already? No, it can't be…he's probably using mana to enhance his body and senses." Hanako gazed at the boy's spectacle.

She could see a faint aura of mana surrounding Shuuta. "Yup! He's using his mana, not magic."

Hanako suddenly saw a blur, both disappearing from her vision.

Boom!*

Shuuta popped further behind, slugging the man, disappearing again almost instantly.

"W-what?!" Hanako seemed lost, her eyes rounded up comically.

Boom!*

Shuuta crashed into a car and sat there groaning in pain.

Suddenly a dagger darted to his face, but Shuuta tilted his head and avoided the sharp metal by mere centimeters.

"Damn you…" Shuuta peeked at the dagger,  gripping it, he rushed at the man.

The hooded man grinned devilishly at Shuuta, who was inches away from being stabbed.

"Neru!" The man did a sign with a single hand.

"What?!" Shuuta's movement halted unexpectedly; he was bound by the man's magic.

'He was waiting for me to use the dagger...he knew that attacking him without a weapon was stupid, so he threw the weapon at me….bastard.'

"Shuuta!!" Hanako saw the dagger reaching Shuuta's neck.

Peng!*

Hanako gasped for air. Shuuta was in awe; the man glared, pissed off.

A young lad suddenly stopped the hooded man with a light blade; its color resembled his hair, azure eyes pierced right through the hooded man.

The blonde lad then pushed away from the man with force, creating space.

"Tch. Do you dare intervene in god's wrath? You shall perish with him!"

The lad remained quiet; although he seemed calm on the surface, he grinned as if he was the winner from the start.

["Light Magic: Furea!"]

A bright orb of light appeared on his index finger and blinded the man with a stinging vision of whiteness.

"My eyes! My fucking eyes!" The man clutched his face, rubbing his eye sockets.

["Light Magic: Karui Hebi!"]

A snake of light emerged from an orb that floated close to the lad.

The snake zoomed towards the hooded man, biting through his clothes; the lad grabbed the whip-like snake and lifted the man above his head, slamming him hard onto the ground, creating a spiderweb-like carving on the floor.

That man spat and gasped for air, without a break, he found himself in the air once more.

"Not so fast!" The man then threw his dagger at a lamp post and coiled it with his mana chains; pulling hard, he released himself and landed on top of the pole.

"Is he a ninja?!" Shuuta had berated eyes. He stood up, admiring the combat that he was witnessing.

"A Mystic?" Hanako murmured in awe, taking Shuuta's attention.

Did she just say Mystic? That sounds cool! Is that like an acronym for Magical people?

"A Mystic..." Shuuta repeated Hanako, just the word itself was very prominent, it made Shuuta excited.

Fiush!*

The blonde lad unexpectedly popped next to the man, kicking him down on the ground.

Crash*

A dust screen blocked everyone's view, Shuuta coughed from all the dust around him.

Peng*

Clang*

Thud*

Shuuta flicked his eyes searching for the noises, left, right, left, then up, it was everywhere! Shuuta couldn't follow where the fight was.

Boom!*

Suddenly the dust dispersed, shocking Hanako and throwing off Shuuta, it was like a show about hot-blooded fights, an anime!

"That blonde guy...who is he? Is he trying to kill me too?" Shuuta wanted to get away but suddenly; the man landed next to Shuuta dusting him and scaring both of them.

Shuuta just jumped away, getting in their way might be a bad idea...

"You!" The blonde guy yelled; taking Shuuta's attention.

"M-me?"

"Yes! Help me out!"

Or not, Shuuta will get in their way!

Shuuta ran towards the fight and assisted the stranger lad.

Boom*

Shuuta struck the man's side.

Pow*

Blondie jabbed the man's jaw.

Kapow*

Both darted their balled fist at his gut, making him spit.

It was one-sided now, The cloaked man was at wit's end, taking more blows would cost him his objective.

All figures vanished as they continuously attacked and cast magic against each other, at first glance, Hanako thought it was an elaborate performance.

Unexpectedly, the dark man pulled out chains from his robes and started swinging them like an expert at using num-chucks.

Both aided each other, pulling themselves from harm, Shuuta connected a right round kick to the face, and Blondie struck the gut.

"Pull back, let me finish him." The blonde guy then placed his hands together, releasing a vast amount of mana. "Buy me some seconds! I'm ending this meaningless fight!"

Shuuta just followed orders, he stood in front and glared at the man.

"That's a huge amount of mana...I guess this is it. I'M ALSO ENDING IT!" The hooded man then started an incantation and made a loud boom. Suddenly many daggers floated behind him like an aura, it was a total of six daggers.

"Die!" The man rushed with all his might, sending all the daggers towards the lads.

Shuuta's body suddenly trembled, his danger alarm was sounding off everywhere!

The blonde lad slapped his chest with both hands and created a loud bass-like sound, stinging everyone's ears.

["Light spear!"]

A bright light suddenly turned into a straight line that passed through the hooded man, the ground shook, the sun itself presented his eye-stinging brightness…no, it was brighter than the sun!

Shuuta was sent some yards away by an eminent force, he fell into his ass, completely shook and baffled.

Hanako pressed her skirt down from all the air. "Kyaaaa!"

The street split in half! It looked like a smelted sword that came out of the fire.

Thud*

The hooded man dropped to the ground choking and groaning, he looked like overcooked grilled cheese.

It was over, Shuuta was mesmerized, he witnessed some kind of ultimate move, he jibed that the blonde guy was very cool at the end.

"Are you okay? That man…how did you cross him?" Blondie asked without hesitation.

Shuuta blinked fast as he regained his senses. "Oh, uh…he just suddenly attacked me...It was random."

"Also, I heard you mention the word 'Mystic', so you know about us? Or are you one?" The blonde guy squinted his eyes at Shuuta who broke a sweat.

"I…uhhh made some deep research, I'm made a forum post about supernatural occurrences, and about superhumans hiding among us!" Shuuta almost stuttered as he jabbered.

"..."

"You were able to trace us? Interesting, that means I'll have to kill you."

"…!" Shuuta flinched, taking over with a nervous laugh.

"D-don't worry, nobody believes me anyways…they're just theories."

He took a long second and went with it. "Huh, go figure. So nobody believes you. Leave it at that."

'Thank god, he bought it. I don't even know what a theory is…'

"Anyways, I'm Okawa Hikaru, nice to meet you."

"Oh, Uhh...Nice to meet you too, I'm Katashi Shuuta."

They were about to strike up a conversation but then!

"Watch out! I sense an evil entity around you!" Hikaru pulled the dumbfounded lad away from an entity.

Shuuta balked, he was talking about Hanako! He then got in front of Hikaru and explained that he was with "it" and that she was harmless...harmless enough.

"Wait, so you're a necromancer? You know how to control the dead and ghosts?"

"Wait what? No, I just-"

"I see, You were a Mystic all along. There aren't that many Mystics around this district, and that makes us rivals!"

"Hold on!"

"Great! See you around Shuuta! It's getting late."

"Wait!" Shuuta sullenly glared as the blonde boy left him with the body of the cultist stranger.

'What a stubborn fella!'

Hanako smiled wryly, she agreed with Shuuta, he was eccentric that's for sure. Now that the battle concluded, they both walked back taking their time. Shuuta was about to ask many questions.