He never got to see it.
All of a sudden, Kaname’s mind went completely blank.
✦ ✦ ✦
His body felt heavy. Obviously, Kaname hadn’t just stood there and helplessly let himself be hit. He was alive, so he must have at least fired a few silent .45-caliber bullets in the direction of his mysterious assailant.
Or at least, Kaname assumed he had. He found he could not remember. What had just happened? Was it so fast he hadn’t been able to perceive it, or had he simply suppressed the memory out of fear?
Even the Lion’s Nose couldn’t keep up.
Tselika…where are you?
He grunted and reached a hand out into the void, at which point he finally realized where he was. He was sitting with his back to a concrete wall. Was it impressive, at least, to still be sitting upright and not sprawled out on the floor?
Where’s Ayame? Lily-Kiska? Cindy? Celsa? Where is everyone???
Suddenly, he heard something slice through the air, and only then did he realize what kind of weapon his opponent was using.
A blade. Specifically, a bayonet, but so unwieldly and long as to take up most of the weapon’s shape. As a result, it was difficult to tell whether it was supposed to be a gun with a knife attached or the other way around.
He could also hear the quiet sound of moving parts.
A .45-caliber…short-range sniper rifle?
It was the same as Kaname’s favorite gun, the one he had brought out of attachment, even though it wasn’t necessarily the best tool for the job. In truth, it was a contradictory weapon, one that tried to be a jack-of-all-trades and ended up a master of none. It wasn’t something most people would be comfortable entrusting their lives to at a time like this.
That meant his opponent was not like most people. But who was it?
“Oh.”
Kaname slowly lifted his head, and when he saw who was standing there, this battle-hardened Dealer had only two words to say:
“Oh no.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Before him was an angel.
A paranormal being—white wings, a body wrapped in loose, flowing robes, and an unearthly ring of light floating above his head.
✦ ✦ ✦
It didn’t look anything like her. Was this really the same being that had possessed Midori’s body in order to enter the game? Then why did he look completely different? He wasn’t even the same gender.
“Where’s Midori?”
Kaname’s fingers trembled. His whole body was racked with fear, though his mind could not remember why.
And yet he had to ask.
“What have you done with Midori?!”
“If by that you mean her empty shell, she is over there.”
For some reason, Kaname felt his fear drain away.
Helping people…was not about bragging rights. You just had to shut your mouth and do it.
“Like a true angel, at times I whispered into Midori’s ear, while at others I took control of her body. However, at this time, it is more efficient for me to act alone. My form is constructed of ectoplasm, a fluid generated by the human body that ignores the law of conservation of mass. As I have no further need of the girl, I have cast her fragile body aside.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Empty shell.” “Cast aside.” Of course, Midori’s body was lying on a bed in the real world, untouched. What the angel was referring to was no more than a digital model, yet his words still stung.
“Her mind has become distorted. I presume this has affected her body in the real world as well?”
The archangel Uriel turned his weapon over in his hands, examining it, before continuing.
“Never before have I handled one of the Legacies, but I see now. I see why these weapons are such a threat to our kind. This blade, #distortion .err, is no mere act of trickery. It causes us to malfunction on a far more fundamental level.”
Somehow, Kaname knew. Though he had never seen it before, he knew the bayonet was one of the Legacies the AI had been keeping here. But why was it attached to a .45-caliber short-range sniper rifle? Where had he even gotten that from?
It must have been the girl herself who obtained it, trying to imitate someone she admired. And perhaps this fact would have remained her secret forever, had the angel not so tactlessly divulged it.
“…Why?”
“You would question an angel’s motives?” the angel asked in turn. But he had fundamentally misunderstood Kaname’s question.
“Why Midori?” Kaname specified.
Kaname had no need to interrogate a divine being about his way of thinking. Angels were just like this, and he had no choice to but accept it. Good was right, and evil was wrong and must be slain. Demons, witches, heretics, everything that fell outside his faith. It was not about utility or rationality. The angel was a being of religious and divine myth. He had principles and beliefs. To modern humans, who lived in a world of gray, the angel was a force that did more harm than good, like the insecticides and antibiotics that were slowly destroying the planet.
And so Kaname did not question any of that. His was a different question.
“In truth, she harbored no particular quality useful to me. I could have used anybody.”
Kaname felt his bones creak. He almost wished he hadn’t asked.
“I needed someone fresh, untainted by the registration process of Money (Game) Master. Such people are surprisingly hard to find. From young to old, all humans long to be rich. All people dream of it, regardless of whether they invest or not. Despairingly few remain who possess the qualities that money cannot buy. I never imagined that mankind would become so weak to their own desires.”
“That’s it…?”
That was not what Kaname had wanted to hear. The angel was effectively saying he didn’t care about Midori. That what had happened to her was nothing more than an accident.
And if Uriel didn’t care about Midori, then Kaname no longer cared about him. If only the angel had shown even the slightest bit of remorse or worry over what he had done, perhaps Kaname’s reaction would have been different.
“I have to be honest.”
“What is it?”
“I’m disappointed.”
Their weapons flew up in unison.