Chapter 43 - Beelzebub, the Unstoppable

Genta had already set her broom afloat when she noticed that her master's broom wasn't anywhere nearby. Then she looked behind her and saw Master Shizu standing right in front of the beast, fearless and determined.

"Master!" Genta called out, "What are you doing?"

Shizu ignored Genta's calling when she noticed Kazuya was also there. Thinking she was the only one left behind, she yelled at him, "What are you doing here, boy?!"

"I need my weapon!" he yelled back.

At about that time, the beast had already unhinged its sword from the ground, ready to attack them again. 

"Forget the weapon; get out of here, now!" she yelled back at him. 

"And leave you here to have all the fun?" "No way!" Kazuya replied sarcastically. 

Shizu could not believe him: "Now isn't the time for dry humor, stupid boy! "Get out of here with the others; I will hold it off!" 

However, Kazuya's attention was taken by the strange posture the giant was taking, with its right foot drawn backwards like a stone on a tense catapult, ready to fire at any moment. Seeing that the beast's drawn foot was aimed primarily at Shizu, to her surprise, he began running towards her and not away from her. 

The beast, seeing the both of them right before it, swung its foot at them. Instinctively, Kazuya jumped towards Shizu, pushing her out of harm's way. The giant's foot swung right behind the both of them, and the breeze that followed the swing of its foot demonstrated to Shizu the kind of threat they were dealing with and that, if not for Kazuya, she would have been torn into pieces by now.

The two of them fell to the ground, breathing heavily. "Is that your idea of 'holding it off'?" You would have been killed in a second! "How would that make any difference?" he yelled at her.

"That was because I was distracted with trying to talk sense to an insufferable moron trying to play the hero!" she yelled back at him, while Orihime and Genta watched in disbelief.

"Will you both cut it out already?!" Genta yelled at them. "We are all going to be dead by the next minute if we fail to get out of here!"

She was surprised that the Master, who was just disappointed by Kazuya's quarrel with Orihime, was now getting into a quarrel with Kazuya without even realizing it. 

The monster raised its club high, ready to crush them with it once it came down. Upon noticing this, Shizu stretched forth her hand, aiming at Kazuya's sword.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I am getting your sword, young man," she replied. "When you get it, go away with them and never look back, you hear me?"

Kazuya kept silent, not willing to argue for now, as all he wanted was to get his weapon back. Until then, all secondary disputes would have to be addressed later.

So Shizu closed her eyes, and like a puppet moved by its strings, the sword levitated above the ground and made its way to Kazuya, who caught it by the handle skillfully.

"Alright child, now that you have your weapon back, get out of here with the others," she said to him, "I'll hold it off!"

But contrary to her instruction, Kazuya lifted her by the shoulder, running to the others while carrying Shizu like a little girl getting kidnapped.

Genta opened her mouth wide when she saw this, as no one had ever shown such nonchalance towards the Master before. 

"What are you doing, you stupid brat!" she cried at him. "Put me down!" "You are going to get us both killed!"

"No offence, old woman, but leaving you behind to hold it off will make no difference," Kazuya replied, "It's not going to work." I'm sorry to say this, but you stink as a hero!

Genta arched a brow as she heard this: "Gee, Kazuya, you didn't have to rub it on her face like that," she said, and Orihime nodded in agreement.

"Well, if that is the truth that would make her live longer, then I'm all for it," Kazuya replied.

"Look out, Kazuya!" Genta replied, as she saw the large club of the giant about to descend on them. 

Orihime's eyes widened in horror as she saw what was about to happen; Kazuya would not be fast enough to avoid the hit, especially while carrying a person on his shoulder. But now, the attention of the other two was focused on the beast, which was about to do something they hoped it wouldn't.

Shizu saw what was about to happen and stretched forth her hands, wanting to magically carve out sections of the cave walls to shade it and slow it down, but realizing she wouldn't have time for it to work.

They were both a few seconds away from getting crushed into pieces by the giant's club. 

It was in the middle of that short period that Gaichu spoke to Kazuya.

"If you want to live, follow my lead," it said to him, and Kazuya concurred, having no choice. 

Under Gaichu's instructions, Kazuya took out his sword, jumped high into the air, and landed right on the surface of the sword.

"FIRE SURFER!" he cried out loud, and like a rocket booster, the sword turned ablaze from the bottom, propelling them instantly out of the giant's range, and the club that was meant to crush them to bits ended up slamming against the hard ground. 

The impact of the collision sent a powerful shock wave across the cave, which knocked Kazuya off balance from the sword and sent him falling to the ground with the old woman about a stone's throw away from the beast. 

Shizu looked back at the giant and took the liberty of doing what she didn't have the time to do before. She stretched out both hands and uttered a spell, which triggered large portions of the walls to be carved out from multiple directions. 

Kazuya and the others watched in awe as they saw the large rocks collide as one against the beast, seemingly crushing it completely under their weight as it fell to the ground, giving a deafening roar in agony. 

After the giant fell to the ground, leaving the remaining rocks to fall right on top of it, Shizu fell to her knees, breathing heavily. The technique had taken a lot of her magical energy, and she needed more time to recover.

"Damn, old woman," Orihime said while helping her up, "you just took down the giant!" 

Genta smiled, feeling proud of her master. "But was that exactly?" she asked. "I don't think I've seen or read about anything like it; I know it's some sort of chimaera, but beyond that, I'm clueless."

"Beelzebub," Kazuya said, remembering what Gaichu had told him. 

Shizu widened her eyes when she heard that word. "What did you say?" she asked Kazuya. 

"Beelzebub," Kazuya said, repeating what Gaichu had told him right before the fight.

"It makes perfect sense!" she said, "How did you know?" Quick! All of you! "We need to get out of here immediately!"

"Yeah, no kidding," Kazuya said as he folded his hands. "You just defeated the monster, didn't you?" So what is it now?

"What I just did would not be enough to stop it! "It will be getting back at us any moment from now!" Shizu replied. "We have to get out of here before that happens." When we get to the other side, I will lock the portal from there, though I doubt it will be able to come out either way. Anyway, let's go!

While she was still speaking, the ground shook, and they watched in horror as the rocks that had buried the giant began to fall off.

"Damn it! "It is getting back up," Shizu said.

"You are a master in portal magic, aren't you?" asked Orihime to Shizu. "Can't you open up a portal or something?"

"That would take a lot more time than we have, my child," she replied. "You all get out of here now."

"So you will hold it off like you failed to do the first time?" asked Kazuya. "No way. "I have an idea, but it requires all of you to be absent for it to work."

"So you want to be the hero, then?" "Tell me, big man—what's the big idea?" asked Orihime, with skepticism written all over her face. 

"I will defeat the giant..." he answered, "and no, it is a bad idea."

"So this is how you intend to throw your life away, huh?" she said to him. 

"Well, you could say that," he replied. 

The beast pushed aside the large rocks that had covered it. It was now injured and weaker than before, with blood oozing out of multiple parts of its body. It was breathing heavily as it looked at them angrily.

Then, it arched its head backward, taking a deep breath as its nostrils glowed up into the same color as its eyeballs. 

"Please don't tell me it's about to do what I think it's about to do," Orihime said in terror. 

"Yes, it is exactly what you are thinking," Shizu said to her. "Run, everyone!"

Then Genta and Orihime got on the witch's broom, while Shizu got on hers. Then the beast opened up its mouth, and with a roar, it let out a large beam of fire from its mouth and shot straight at them, instantly eviscerating all the large rocks in its path as it headed for the intended target—Kazuya and the others. 

They turned to run, but knew it would make no difference, as they could already feel the heat and knew that they were a few seconds from getting completely consumed by the flames.