“GRAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!”
Dodging divine weapons by a hair’s breadth, one after another, I kept charging straight toward the saint. I was converting aether into mana to strengthen my body. Stacked on top of this state—demonification was all I could think of to call it—the combined effect was unbelievable. My movements were faster and my senses were sharper as I reacted to my enemy’s strikes. My body moved without even thinking. Even the magic I cast using my bible was more powerful than normal, enough to cancel out the saint’s orisons as I carved a path through to her.
“Why—? Why?!” the saint screamed at me, tears streaming down her face. “Why won’t you understand?!”
“Ngh—!”
I can reach her.
I stepped in, slashing up with my sharpened knife to just barely graze the saint’s chest. But I immediately had to twist around to kick away an axe coming down on me from behind.
“Dammit—!!!”
I just couldn’t manage to close the distance, to take that one final step. I couldn’t reach in to grab her by the collar...
“You’re only going to destroy yourself!” she shouted. “So please—!”
She ducked, dodged, and sidestepped my attacks as she tried to push me away with a barrage of blows.
“I just—!” she started. “I only want—”
“You can’t save us!”
A weak attack came at me, just barely avoiding anything vital; I caught it on my left shoulder instead of dodging. With that, I forced my way in—one last step closer.
“You think you can save people?!” I shouted. “Who the hell do you think you are?!”
I grabbed her by the hair and slammed my head right into her forehead. A glare filled my vision.
“Ugggghhhh...”
This stuff wasn’t my style. That was what I got for stepping outside my comfort zone.
The gash on my forehead had almost closed back up, but blood came running out again. I had no strength left in my grip, and the recoil sent my body stumbling away from the saint. Gritting my teeth, I created a chain to tie our wrists together. I pulled hard on it, but with blood dripping into one eye, I couldn’t judge the distance right—
“You aren’t special!!!”
—and I slammed right into her as she came toward me. Not a grapple, not a strike—I just collided with her at full force, and the two of us went tumbling over the altar.
My entire body hurt. I could feel tears welling up. But I couldn’t fall just yet. Panting and heaving, I righted myself with my hands on my knees and glared down at the saint. She falteringly stood up as well and stared back at me.
“You’re like a wild animal...”
“I’ve got the ears and tail, don’t I?!”
Dragging the heavy chain along with me, I stepped closer to the saint.
“The words of the weak hold no meaning in this world,” she said.
Still not enough, huh? Guess I’ll just keep hitting her until she gets it...
As I pondered, I suddenly saw a large tear roll down the saint’s cheek.
“I... I’ve never needed anyone to understand me...” Her voice was strained and her cheeks were damp as she gazed at me.
“You liar.”
I grinned at her, and with a pained chuckle, she smiled back at me. It was a warm, soft smile, like sunlight on a gentle spring day.
“I wish we could have understood one another.”
My body froze, as though pinned in place in the air.
“Ah—”
I felt the shock spread through me from the inside. I could tell without even looking that it was a lethal wound. There, on the edge of my vision... Cion’s blade was stuck into my right side, piercing cleanly through my body to emerge from the other side of my torso.
“I imagine we would have been the best of friends...”
The ringing in my ears, the ringing of the bells, Cion’s emotionless eyes...
“It truly is a shame.”
The blade sliced through my body, and the world tipped over.
An d I f el l a p a r . .