After verifying the telesma’s dispersion, Acqua’s hand slowly released his giant sword.
The hand was covered in blood. No—his hand was not the only thing stained red.
He could feel his power draining.
Leaving his sword, stuck halfway into the ground, Acqua collapsed onto the snow, his face not changing very much. His mouth alone, however, had just slightly slackened.
This was enough.
If they could just eliminate the archangel Gabriel, the war’s balance would shift greatly. Fiamma possessed a great strength, but he was too confident in it. That was why he’d forgotten people could challenge strong enemies by banding together. He could no longer see the option of entrusting the war to another with the same goals. Indeed—just like Acqua himself was, once upon a time.
His nerves and blood vessels had been torn asunder, and he had lost his foundation for controlling magic.
His life wouldn’t last much longer, either.
He would die, taking the archangel with him.
This was enough.
It wasn’t his goal to see this through to the end. He had prepared one necessary foundation for that purpose. With this, everyone had taken another step closer to Fiamma high in the sky. So it didn’t matter. As long as everyone was smiling in the distant future, it was a grand enough victory for a mercenary like himself. Whether he was part of that future wasn’t the problem.
Then it happened.
“Damn it…!!”
He heard a voice. He saw someone running through the snow to him. A young man. Asian. If he recalled correctly—one of the people using that Russian anti-air gun in an attempt to defend that settlement from the foreign mercenary unit.
“What happened? Those aren’t just any gunshot wounds. What happened, damn it?! We’re already busy with the Steam Dispenser stuff!! Hey, Takitsubo, I don’t know much about first aid. Can you do something?!”
The pair squatted down next to Acqua and took out what appeared to be bandages. However, Acqua’s expression never changed. He knew his own body.
“Don’t…bother,” he said, working his mouth that was filled with the taste of blood. “In any case, I will not last long. This is a battlefield. There will be no lack of need for medical supplies. Find someone else or consider the future and set it aside for that. Either way, there is no reason to waste it now.”
“Shut up.”
“I cannot reveal the details, but I just picked a fight with the man behind this entire war. I succeeded in frustrating his plans for now, but I cannot deny the possibility of a follow-up attack. It’s dangerous to be here. Leave me and go.”
“Didn’t you hear what I just fucking said?! If that’s the case, I definitely can’t leave you!! I’m so sick of this already!! I’m not gonna watch anyone else die in front of me!!”
“I’ve fulfilled my objective. I am nothing but a hindrance now.”
“Then…what about the people waiting for you?” squeezed out Hamazura.
Acqua’s motions paused for a moment.
Hamazura continued, “That’s how you’ve lived your life until now, right? When you helped Digurv and me and the others, it wasn’t because we were special to you. That’s just how you’ve lived up till now!! Someone like that could never be alone. Even if you don’t think about it, you have a lot of people behind you. What about all those people, huh?!”
It was a strength that didn’t exist in Acqua.
Because of that, he looked steadily at this man named Shiage Hamazura.
Each one of his words was like a wedge.
A wedge to stop his body as it continued to slide down the road to death.
Hamazura’s words were certainly not simple salvation.
In fact, the force with which he drove them in actually gave him pain.
However.
Those words just barely held Acqua together.
“You died protecting the world. You fell defending others. Do you think they’ll be happy with any of that stuff?! Of course not!! Was your whole reason for fighting to watch those waiting for you cry while you put smiles on other people’s faces?! I don’t think so!!”
What came to his mind then, with all the blood lost and his consciousness hazy, was that self-satisfied Knight Leader, the old man from the Astrologers’ Brigade, and the couple threatened by the Knights of Orleans.
And.
The third princess of Britain.
“…Stand up, hero.”
Not even caring anymore that he was wounded to the verge of death, Hamazura grabbed Acqua by the collar.
He grabbed him and said this:
✦ ✦ ✦
“Staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup!!!!!!”
✦ ✦ ✦
There was a whmmp.
It was the sound of Acqua, who had fallen faceup, grabbing onto the snowy land with his hand.
He could hear a pulse.
He was still alive.
This wasn’t the end.
If he could still move…
“Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!!”
Even as his body audibly creaked and cracked, even as still more fresh red blood spurted from him, Acqua of the Back stood up once again.
His power as a saint had been lost.
✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦
Nor could he use his power as one of God’s Right Seat.
His body had been torn apart and reduced to that of any other normal person, Acqua nevertheless gritted his teeth and began to temper mana inside him again. He allocated that power only to controlling his physical body, trying to keep any more blood from seeping out of his wounds.
He barely had any strength left.
He probably couldn’t even heft that sword, taller than he was, that he’d brought with him as his weapon all this time.
But.
So what?
✦ ✦ ✦
The title of true hero wasn’t for people who gave up after falling down one time.
It was for those who got back up, again and again, in response to the people’s cries.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I see.”
Fiamma of the Right picked up his staff.
The staff with the Index-remote-controlling Soul Arm affixed to the top, which he used to control the archangel.
Gabriel had apparently headed for the surface in pursuit of the parchment, but she had failed to retrieve it. That parchment had all the necessary information for Project Bethlehem.
But it wasn’t an issue.
Fiamma’s and Gabriel’s senses were linked. And Gabriel’s perception capabilities were far greater than that of humans. Even if the parchment was tucked away in the target’s pocket, he could obtain the magical info written on it.
He’d already gotten the knowledge he needed.
Fiamma had extremely deep knowledge regarding Michael. And after gleaning the necessary knowledge from the 103,000 grimoires, he could clear away the rest of the obstacles in his way, too.
But there was one thing that even he didn’t have.
The other archangels aside from Michael—in other words, the symbols of the other members of God’s Right Seat.
The most secret of secrets in the Russian Church, that has reorganized unconfirmed information collected from all over Russia and inferred spells for each angel. If I can obtain that, I will have no problems left.
He didn’t need this staff anymore.
He removed the Soul Arm for controlling Index attached to the top.
“I see, I see, I see.”
He twirled the staff around.
Then smiled pleasantly and said:
✦ ✦ ✦
“Damn you, you filthy piece of shit.”