74: Battle (3)

"It's a pity..." - Cecilia said as she let out a sigh.

"What are you talking about?" - Ichika asked with a frown.

"No, it's nothing" - Cecilia replied as she shook her head as she thought about how this guy was interesting, too bad Cloud was even more so from her point of view.

Ichika was silent for a few seconds as he felt how something seemed to be calling him.

'Say my name...'

"I didn't imagine it?" - Ichika muttered as he felt everything move in slow motion.

'Call my name...'

Ichika felt strange memories appear in his mind, ending in what appeared to be white armor with a long katana - "[Yukihira]!"

At the mere mention of that name, Ichika's body began to glow, creating a strange barrier around his body that blocked the bullets heading in his direction.

"Impossible" - muttered Cecilia as she felt her breathing stop.

* * * * *

"[Second shift]" - Tatenashi said as his smile grew considerably - "I told you that things would get interesting..."

"This is too much of a coincidence" - said the vice president with a frown - "The only boy who can pilot an [IS], not only did he get a customized [IS], but he also has a similar ability to his older sister, and to wrap it up, he managed to overcome a barrier that not many [IS] could overcome..."

"If this was a story like the ones our secretaries read, I wouldn't be surprised if Ichika Orimura was the protagonist" - said Tatenashi while ignoring her subordinates' cries.

{[Yukihira MK 2]!}

The girls of the student council could observe how the battle took a drastic turn with only a few seconds, especially since the speed of the black-haired young man was much faster.

{[Blue Blaster]!}

"I want to get a report and a scan of that [IS]" - Tatenashi said with a frown as she watched the white [IS] seem to be leaving a residual image as it advanced against her opponent, dodging the bullets that seemed to be raining in his direction.

"The energy level is off the scale, President Tatenashi" - said the vice president as she looked at the screen in surprise - "His shield is back to 100%, though it is reducing drastically with each passing second."

"Well, that's natural" - replied Tatenashi, though her expression again changed because she could notice a strange glow on Cecilia's sniper rifle - "Oh, this is getting better... Cecilia Alcott is about to create her own unique ability"

The girls again were surprised at this news, after all, this battle was more erratic than they had first thought.

* * * * *

"Report" - Chifuyu said as she watched the battle again take a small turn in favor of the blonde-haired girl, who had created a strange dome about 50 meters around her.

"The energy levels of the two [IS] are reaching critical levels, especially your younger brother, Orimura sensei" - Maya replied with concern - "If they keep this up, it's possible that their safety protocols will be deactivated."

"Keep up the battle, this is important to them" - ordered Chifuyu as she narrowed her eyes - "The two of them have reached their critical point, now all that's left is to wait"

Maya nodded weakly, after all, she wasn't too happy with the idea of her students being harmed by this meaningless battle.

* * * * *

"This feeling..." - Cecilia muttered as she watched the strange dome around her with a strange feeling of release.

[Activating command [Bullet Hell Ricochet]...]

"[Bullet Hell Ricochet]..." - Cecilia muttered as she felt a flow of information enter her brain, which made her understand what was happening - "This is my unique ability?"

[Affirmative]

A huge smile appeared on Cecilia's face as her hands trembled with excitement - "At last... With this I'm getting closer to my goal![Bullet Hell Ricochet]!"

Ichika quickly dodged Cecilia's shots while frowning slightly because he felt that the girl from England was starting to shoot without caring about where the bullet was going - "Did she give up?

The black-haired young man was confused, though he quickly understood why, because when he heard the sound of something impacting against a strange surface, a bullet had flashed up from behind him.

"What was that!" - Ichika exclaimed in a cold sweat as he saw how hundreds of bullets were coming from multiple directions - "Oh no!"

Bang!

* * * * *

"Orimura sensei... Orimura-kun's shield has suffered serious damage" - said Maya in surprise as she saw the young man take a step forward after being shot in the back - "According to the report, we could see that the bullet doubled its offensive power after bouncing against the dome wall..."

"It's just as I thought" - said Chifuyu while narrowing her eyes - "Although that would explain the name of Alcott's new ability, it basically creates an energy dome that absorbs and doubles the kinetic energy of Alcott's bullets, then continuously bounces around, I guess bullet rain ricochet doesn't sound like a bad name for that kind of power."

"I have new information, Orimura sensei" - Maya said as she continued reading the reports - "After doubling the power by getting the first ricochet, the bullet damage increases by 10% with each additional ricochet, with a maximum of 100% extra damage."

"In other words, Alcott's bullets can triple their base damage" - Chifuyu said while narrowing her eyes - "Interesting..."

* * * * *

"Oh, this is bad for Ichika Orimura-kun" - said Tatenashi with a slightly cheerful tone.

"Your attitude doesn't seem to reflect your concern, Tatenashi-sama" - said the vice president as she felt a bead of sweat run down her cheek.

"Oh, that's because I'm not really worried about him, I just want to keep seeing how far he can go now that Cecilia Alcott is pushing him" - Tatenashi replied as she narrowed her eyes.

* * * * *

"I see, that's an interesting ability..." - Cloud muttered with a sharp look - "This is like giving wings to a tiger..."

"What do you mean?" - Houki asked in surprise.

"It's simple, the dome surrounding Cecilia-san is both an offensive and defensive ability" - Cloud answered while analyzing the fight, especially how Ichika was fighting - "Think about it, making your opponent dodge all the time, makes his openings to attack smaller, which translates to less damage received by Cecilia-san, on the other hand, no matter how long Ichika dodges Cecilia-san's bullets, sooner or later one of these will hit him..."

Houki was silent, after all, Cloud's words made sense.

* * * * *

"Ugh!" - Ichika let out a groan of pain as he felt another bullet impacting his back.

If situation was not good, in fact, it was far from good, not only because he was only dodging, but also using [Yukihira Mk-2] was making his fragile shield increasingly weaker.

[Current shield status: 30%]

"This is literally bullet hell..." - Ichika muttered while breathing heavily.

"I have to thank you, Ichika-san" - said Cecilia with a small smile on her delicate lips - "If it wasn't for all the pressure you put me through, I wouldn't have managed to deepen my connection with [Blue Tears], and I would never have managed to activate my [unique ability], that's why I'm going to end this battle now."

"Are you sure it doesn't have to do with the shield consumption of your [Unique Ability] being higher than you thought" - Ichika replied after noticing how the barrier covering Cecilia, seemed to be flickering.

Cecilia didn't respond, though her change of expression was more than enough proof for the black-haired young man.

"I guess it's all or nothing" - Ichika muttered while taking a long breath - "If dodging doesn't work... Then I just have to keep moving forward and not worrying about what's going on around me! Come on, [Byakushiki], let's show these people what we're capable of!"

Cecilia's expression changed drastically when she saw how Ichika had not only increased his speed, but seemed to have gone crazy - "I'm not letting you get close, [Bullet Hell: Rondo]!"

Ichika watched in surprise as the dome began to shrink as the bullets began to start gravitating and firing around randomly, causing him to take a lot more shots in the process.

[Shield: 10%... 9%...]

Ichika gritted his teeth as he ignored the warning signs - "Come on, YUKIHIHIRAAAAAAAAA!"

[Shield: 5%... 4%... 4%... 3%....]

Cecilia's pupils constricted as she felt everything around her freeze.

[Shield in critical status, ending [Bullet Hell]...]

"No!" - Cecilia exclaimed with her eyes wide as saucers, though her expression changed when she noticed how Ichika appeared in front of her with his sword glowing - "Wait, my shield is at critical levels!"

Ichika didn't seem to register the girl's words, who watched in despair as her rival's sword came within inches of her chest, waiting for the massive damage, though after a few seconds, she noticed how nothing seemed to have changed - "Huh?"

"Seriously... getting carried away in battle and almost ending up with a death..." - Cloud said as he stopped Ichika's sword with ease - "Don't you think so too, Chifuyu-san?"

"Thank you for intervening, Strife" - replied Chifuyu as he looked at his younger brother with a frown - "We'll talk about this later..."