Chaos Mate ~Revenge In This Chaotic Academy~ - Chapter 47: Ice Katana, 'Byakka’

Chapter 47: Ice Katana, ‘Byakka’

The first time I took a life with my own hands, I was in a frenzy, my mind not functioning properly, feeling like I’d become something other than myself.

Afterward, I couldn’t think, consumed by guilt.

If I hadn’t been with the Tsubaki family, I probably never would’ve tamed that sense of sin.

What about Utsumi Kagetora?

How did he face the sin within him?

Looking at Utsumi, radiating murderous intent and madness toward me, I can’t help but cast a gaze filled with unconscious sorrow.

“Your target’s me, huh…”

“Yeah, that’s right. You’re the prey. I’m the type to eat my favorite stuff first, and after I kill you, I’ll go for the girl Reine wants dead.”

“That’s not happening, so don’t think about what’s next. I’m stopping you right here.”

“Talking big with no weapon!? I’ll slice you into thirds, Tsubaki!!”

Brandishing his sword in a figure-eight pattern, Utsumi charges at me.

Fighting someone with a sword is about distance, but it’s also crucial to read their footwork, arm, and hand movements to predict attacks.

The chemistry prep room is 50 meters away.

Tackle him? No, I’d get skewered.

Run when he swings? Impossible, turning my back would get me slashed.

This straight hallway gives Utsumi the advantage.

Go back to the first floor? But if someone’s down there, I’d be trapped.

No time— I can’t waste the opening Mogami gave me.

While thinking, he closes the distance, swinging his sword down from above.

“Take this!!”

“!!”

I step left, spinning to get behind him, but his roundhouse kick comes faster.

I cross my arms to block, but the blow’s heavier than expected.

“Think I’ll let you escape? Prey gets cornered to the brink by the predator, devoured in despair.”

“Too big a prey might turn the tables.”

“Shut up!!”

Utsumi swings wildly, his moves unpredictable.

Without a set style, I can’t read his next move.

My left cheek gets cut, my Y-shirt’s slashed, a gash opens on my right arm, blood flows.

Backed against the wall, his blade’s tip is thrust before my eyes.

“Weak. You weren’t this pathetic before. What’s wrong? You were stronger than me… You rushing something? Your moves lack finesse.”

Sighing deeply, Utsumi shifts to a mid-stance, swinging his sword wide.

“Bored now, die!!”

I cross my arms in front, pressing against his wrists to stop the blade.

Pain shoots through my right arm, and I’m pushed back.

“Tsubaki Madoka… you’re like me, right?”

“…What’re you talking about?”

I glare sharply, and he returns a crazed look.

“I heard you’ve killed too. How was it? Felt great, didn’t it!? Those losers screaming, ‘Don’t kill me!’ ‘Help me!’ suddenly go silent!! Like a puppet’s strings cut, they stop moving!! The moment I saw that, I knew—I’m a guy who gets off on breaking trash puppets!!”

Ugh… he’s started a self-obsessed rant.

I’m too stunned to speak, but he doesn’t notice.

“That refreshing feeling when their expression snaps!! Once you taste it, you wanna cut more life strings!! Can’t stop, won’t stop!! You’re the same, right!?”

His words, fueled by emotional frenzy, pierce my heart.

I relax my strength, sacrificing my right arm to stop the blade.

The sword digs into my flesh, blood gushing, but I glare at Utsumi without screaming.

“Don’t… lump me with you!!”

By then, my left eye’s pupil had turned deep crimson.

I recall Nee-san’s smiling face, her navy-blue hair.

I didn’t fight for that!!

“I’m not… like you, killing for pleasure!!”

A chilling frost emanates from the wound.

I feel no pain.

Lowering my right arm’s temperature, I numb the nerves, killing the pain.

With a roundhouse kick from my left leg, I knock him down the stairs and sprint to the chemistry prep room.

Only my left arm works—please, let it be a one-handed weapon…!!

Entering the prep room, I lock the door, barricade it with a cabinet, and search for the weapon.

Wait, I didn’t ask what kind it was.

She said it’s just for me…

Scanning the room, I hear the door being pounded.

“Tsubakiii!! Come out!! Fight me!!”

The barricade won’t hold long.

Seriously, is today all about being rushed? Screw this.

Looking for anything weapon-like, I feel something off about a human model in front of me.

Its stomach area has a slot, like the one on Mogami’s railgun, sized for a smartphone.

“Could this be…?”

With a bad feeling, I slot my black smartphone into it and push.

The model trembles, splitting vertically—skin-covered male on one side, muscle-only on the other.

Seeing what’s inside, my eyes widen.

“This… a sword?”

A white Japanese sword.

The black smartphone is embedded in the sheath, which feels cold in my left hand.

I grip the handle to draw it, but the blade won’t budge.

“What the hell… defective!?”

I try pulling with my right hand, but it still won’t move.

As I struggle, something falls with a crash. Turning, I see Utsumi breaking through the barricade, giving me a creepy grin.

“No escape now… Checkmate, Tsubaki!!”

Resolving to fight with the sheathed sword, my black smartphone beeps.

“App download complete. Ice Blade Byakka has become Mogami Kouta-sama’s weapon. Blade generation complete. Drawing possible.”

Did I hear that wrong? An impossible name just came from the phone.

“Huh… Ice Blade… Byakka? More importantly, Mogami Kouta—”

“Don’t get distracted in a fight!!”

Utsumi yells, leaping with a gravity-fueled downward swing. I block with the sheath.

With only my left hand, I can’t hold it, so I angle it to deflect, spin, and gain distance.

“This smartphone was your dad’s, huh… More mysteries, and now I really can’t die here.”

Gripping the sheath with my left hand and the handle with my right, I draw Byakka.

Cold air radiates from the sword, its blade gleaming white in the moonlight.

The blade isn’t iron but transparent ice, and I can’t help but stare.

“An ice sword… huh.”

Holding the sword in my left hand, my left eye crimson, I’m back in my prime.

Not at my peak, but maybe 70%?

Utsumi glares up at me like a wary beast, and I let out a sigh.

“Get lost. You can’t kill me. Waste of time.”

“Feeling cocky? Let’s do this, Tsubaki!!!”

Charging like a wild boar, swinging his sword chaotically, I calmly discard the sheath and grip Byakka with both hands.

“I’ll cut you to pieces, Tsubaki Madoka!!”

“Tsubaki-Style Swordsmanship…”

Dodging his leftward swing with a leap, I spin horizontally in midair, swinging Byakka toward the back of his neck.

“Revolving Heaven!!”

The heavy blow to Utsumi’s neck makes him cry out, “Guhfeaa!!” and collapse, unconscious.

I look between the bruise on his neck and Byakka’s blade.

“This sword… the edge is rounded, it can’t cut. Could it be… no way.”

Laughing at the absurd thought, I sheathe Byakka and look down at Utsumi.

“I’m not like you. I can’t kill anymore… Not in a world without Nee-san.”

I put a black eyepatch over my right eye from my pocket and look in a mirror in the room.

“Still, looks like I have to go back… Worst-case scenario.”

I cut my hair short and dyed it black, but my face hasn’t changed.

With a sad smile in the mirror, I mutter naturally.

“It’s been a while, Red Snow Princess, Ice Queen.”

The name of the assassin feared by countless people, once called the strongest.