Chapter 47

“I’ll protect you from that girl…the silver Ghost, Air Arland Noah.” What is she saying…? Rain wasn’t following. They’d spent years together, so he thought he knew his friend, but all of a sudden Athly felt like an inhuman monster who was incapable of speech. “You’re all I have left, Rain,” Athly declared. And as she spoke, she continued riding through the city, reaching top speed within seconds. “My parents are dead…and my hometown is gone, but I can keep fighting as long as you’re by my side. I’ll keep you alive in this world of fire and blood. I won’t let that Ghost do as she pleases.” No…, Rain wanted to say, but that word failed to leave his lips. He wanted to tell her he fought of his own will, but the words caught in his throat. An Exelia suddenly lunged toward the Razor-Edge Model. “Rain!” Air had been right beside them the entire time. And realizing Rain had gotten captured, she’d swerved her unit around to save him. She’d cut ahead of Athly, driving straight at her. It would have been a head-on collision, but at the last moment, she’d forced her Exelia into a jump. “Take my hand!” Air shouted while leaning forward from her seat and reaching her hand out to Rain. She wanted to snatch him away as she jumped over them, but… “I won’t let you!” …Athly blocked Rain’s extended hand. Both their hands cut through empty air, grasping nothing. Air’s unit sailed by, forming a vast gap between the two Exelias. And with that, Rain’s one-in-a-million chance of escaping disappeared. “I’ll see you soon, Ghost Air. You may have gotten away from me this time, but next time we meet…I’ll wipe you out of existence. Count on it.” And the Razor-Edge Model sped away, exiting the battlefield at a speed no M4 could ever match. Despite its missing armor, the giant unit was near unstoppable once it reached maximum velocity. Dammit! Rain’s injuries rendered him immobile, so he remained helpless and still as Athly carried him away. He’d failed in the most spectacular fashion possible. And as his consciousness faded, he felt an emotion swirl in his heart. I… Regret. He regretted that moment of hesitation more than anything else in his life. He’d wavered and shot at her a moment too late, and so he’d lost his only chance to turn the battle around. He’d missed the best opportunity to destroy the Razor-Edge Model, thereby dooming thousands of innocents. He’d utterly failed to kill Athly, failed to bring her to justice for her crimes. He’d been resolved to kill her before. When he’d decided to report her desertion, he’d mentally prepared to shoot her the next time they met, which meant he’d recognized her as an enemy. But had he really understood? The moment he saw her face, Rain’s hand had stopped. That pause didn’t last for even a second, but he’d definitely wavered. Even after witnessing how many lives she’d taken, he’d refused to think of her as the enemy. His heart was weak enough to falter, even if ever so slightly. Why did he decide not to shoot Athly? His fatal error had led to a disastrous, irreparable outcome and a sense of regret that overwhelmed all his other emotions. “Don’t worry, Rain,” Athly said. “…Huh?” “We have the Devil’s Bullet. If we use it to change this world, we can make it so this tragedy never happened. All the people who died here, this whole city, they’ll all be back once we shift the world.” When she said those words, Athly’s eye was completely free of all lies and deceit. She truly believed that she could fix everything. Unfortunately, Rain knew better. The Devil’s Bullet wasn’t all-powerful. If anything, it was a total wild card. And in most cases, it produced completely unpredictable results. Rain didn’t know if someone had told her about the Devil’s Bullet or if she’d just come to that conclusion on her own, but she definitely had the facts all wrong. Athly had destroyed the capital under the impression that everything could be restored, but Rain knew that was impossible. You’re wrong, Athly. You can’t do it. The power contained within those silver bullets was nowhere near that convenient. Rain knew—he could just tell—that this battlefield could never be undone. He had little more than intuition to go on, but having used the Devil’s Bullet as many times as he had, he simply knew. There was no taking back this tragedy. No…perhaps there was one way to change things… I… There was one person he had to shoot, one person whose existence made a difference, the now one-eyed girl embracing him. He had to erase Athly. Can I…do that? No…I have to… His vision blurred, but even so, Rain steeled his resolve. And at the same time, he felt an awful realization dawn upon him. I have to kill Athly… I have to wipe out her existence entirely! As such thoughts ran through his mind, the massive black goliath disappeared from the capital, leaving the crushed, burning remains of its many victims in its wake…