Chapter 148

An emotion she couldn’t name was broiling in her chest. She tried to string a sentence together, to voice even one ten-thousandth of her feelings in that moment. “Why…did you have to go so far to do it all on your own, darling?” “I don’t have anything else left.” Menou had lost her memories, lost all her options, until all she had left to expend was her own self. “So I have no choice but to fight. That’s all.” Menou’s words weren’t nearly enough to satisfy Momo’s need for answers. “I can’t forgive you for that.” “Well, I don’t want to be forgiven.” She had committed so many sins. She had killed people. Surely, she was bound for hell. She didn’t want to be punished and forgiven. She kept moving forward so she wouldn’t be forgiven. All she was doing now was adding the crime of trampling this girl’s emotions to the list of her countless wrongdoings. Momo could tell exactly what Menou was thinking. Why didn’t Menou ever try to share those feelings with Momo? It was so frustrating, so upsetting, so infuriating that Momo could hardly stand it. Guiding Force: Connect—Dagger Gun, Crest—Invoke [Guiding Branch] Branches grew out of the gun and wrapped around Menou’s arm. Fusing with her flesh, the Guiding Force branches thrashed as if to unleash Menou’s suppressed feelings. They twined all around Momo, trapping her in one spot. Then Menou aimed a finger gun at Momo. “But still…thank you, Momo.” Certain of her victory, Menou smiled and spoke the girl’s name. Guiding Force: Connect—Improper Attachment, Pure Concept [Time]— Momo couldn’t dodge it. The Guiding Force branches had closed any space where she would have moved to avoid it. Exasperation arose in Momo’s chest. If she was hit with a Pure Concept conjuring now, she wouldn’t be able to defend herself. “Thank you for fighting so hard for my sake.” It was only because the battle was about to end that Menou spoke her heartfelt thanks to Momo. Invoke [Suspension] What erupted out of the gun was more power than any human born in this world would ever be able to maintain. Time stopped. The world fell still wherever Menou’s Guiding Light touched, freezing over more coldly than ice. Right before the Suspension hit her, Momo’s last nerve gave way with an audible snap. “Screw…thaaaat!” She lost her temper completely. Guiding Force gushed out of her with abandon. She was even angrier than when she went on a rampage in Grisarika. “Listen to me…!” The power welling out of Momo gathered around her fist. With a flash of Guiding Light, her punch collided with Menou’s Suspension. “I didn’t fight this hard just to get a lousy ‘thank you,’ you knooow!” The Pure Concept conjuring broke against Momo’s fist. Menou stared in amazement. It was the same phenomenon as when Michele had neutralized Weathering. Momo expanded her presence in the world through sheer Guiding Force output. Her burning gaze locked onto Menou, meeting her eyes. “Darling. I’ll be the one to forgive you for everything.” Momo swept her hand with all her strength. Even though they were far enough apart, Menou was sent flying. She rolled into a landing and stood up, looking at Momo with surprise. It wasn’t the same level as Michele, of course, but no normal person could come this close to Michele’s power with sheer natural strength. Momo had become a small Dragon herself as she pulled out her coping saw, attached it to the suitcase, and swung the hammer down. There was a resounding boom as the ground cracked and caved in. Unable to judge the range of Momo’s expanded attack, Menou got caught up in the shockwave. “Do you think that sacrificing yourself will absolve you? If you save one person, will that make up for all your sins? Did you decide you’d be satisfied with your life as long as you can rescue Akari? …Please don’t say such idiotic nonsense ever again.” As Menou bounced off the ground and into the air, Momo grabbed her by the collar. “You’re scared, I know.” Momo spoke to Menou about her feelings. “You’re anxious because you can’t tell what’s next, sad because you’re all alone, and on the verge of despair because you don’t know what to do anymore. At times like that…you can just rely on me, darling.” Momo’s power kept swelling. Meanwhile, Menou’s strength was waning. She tried to pin her opponent’s arm, but her right hand only succeeded in ripping off Momo’s armband before her wrist was captured instead. “When you’re lost or struggling or suffering, when you feel like everything is hopeless…I’m the one who will always be there for you.” Momo’s grip tightened, thwarting Menou’s resistance. She took the coping saw off her suitcase and bound it around Menou’s arms. “And to prove that I can forgive you…first, I’m going to win!” In Momo’s blind spot, Menou tossed her dagger with a slight flick of the wrist. Momo saw through this easily, activating Anchor in her coping saw to deflect Menou’s dagger. “Even if you give up on living, darling…” Momo’s voice rose. She screamed, to get closer to victory, to show her determination. “…I refuse to give up on you!!!” It was the last move. Even while bound by the coping saw, Menou used Guiding Branches around her still-free fingertips to form a gun and fire an accelerated bullet. Imbued with the speed of a Pure Concept, the bullet broke through the side of the white case that Momo was swinging down towards Menou. No matter what was inside, the bullet should have been able to pierce it. Unless the contents were under the effects of Suspension. “Bweh?” Akari was inside Momo’s suitcase. Menou made a strange sound out of apparent shock. So she still remembered Akari, even though she’d forgotten Momo. This extra fuel on the fire of Momo’s rage was added to the force with which she swung the Akari Hammer down on her darling. “Wait—” Faced with the outrageous strategy of using the Suspended Akari as a weapon, Menou froze up. While it looked ridiculous, it was surprisingly effective. After all, anything under the Suspension conjuring rejected all physical phenomena. In other words, it was extremely solid. Still frozen in a crouch, Akari was swung down headfirst toward Menou. The tops of their heads collided with incredible force.