"Say~ How about we have a little chat? Itsuka Shido."
Pressing the blade of her sword against the neck of the little girl nad Aoi, Ai Mulian spoke in a friendly tone, as if chatting with an old pal.
However, hearing his na called, Shido didn't dare to relax in the slightest. On the contrary, his tension peaked. His heart pounded at an unimaginable rate, and his clothes were drenched in cold sweat.
"Yutsuki..."
Shido whispered at a volu only he could hear.
[Shido, find a way to stall for ti. I'll handle it.]
Yutsuki's reliable and calm response ca through the earpiece. But even in her composed voice, Shido could detect a faint trace of simring rage.
Thanks to Yutsuki's reply, Shido managed to calm down sowhat. He took a deep breath and answered, feigning composure.
"If you want to chat, could you let Aoi go first?"
"Oh? I see, so this little girl's na is Aoi."
Hearing Shido's words, Ai Mulian looked at the unconscious little girl in her hand, a look of realization dawning on her face. Then, she nodded readily.
"Sure thing. But, if you want to let her go, you have to agree to one condition of mine, Itsuka Shido."
Faced with Ai Mulian's unusually accommodating attitude, Shido frowned uneasily.
"What condition?"
"Don't worry, I won't ask for sothing ridiculous like you committing suicide. It's sothing you can do very easily, Shido-kun."
Ai Mulian smiled slightly and continued,
"I just want you to drop your Spirit power barrier, and put away Ratziel... along with any other Angels you've summoned. How about it?"
Hearing Ai Mulian's demand, Shido couldn't help but observe his surroundings out of the corner of his eye. Hundreds of Nibelcole had already gathered, sealing off the area like a birdcage. Their murderous glares stared at Shido without any disguise, looking as if they wanted to skewer him alive.
Shido had no doubt that the instant he dropped his Spirit barrier and unsummoned his Angels, losing his ability to resist, they would rcilessly chop him into pieces.
"...Can you guarantee that if I agree to your condition, neither you nor they will attack ?"
"No. In fact, the mont you drop the barrier, Nibelcole-san and the others will definitely kill you."
Ai Mulian answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Hearing this, the corner of Shido's mouth twitched.
"Just to confirm, you did say you wanted to chat with , right?"
"Yup. Aren't we chatting right now? Besides, I don't mind chatting with dead people. I've done it plenty of tis before."
"Wow..." Shido couldn't help but shudder, forcing a dry laugh as he replied, "Honestly, I thought you'd at least try to lie and trick . Do you really think I'd agree to that?"
"Oh? So you don't care whether this child lives or dies?"
Saying that, Ai Mulian looked down, slowly applying pressure to Aoi's tender white neck. A drop of crimson blood trickled down the blade.
"Wait!"
Seeing Ai Mulian actually drawing blood, Shido hastily yelled for her to stop.
"Oh, did you agree?"
Stopping her blade, Ai Mulian asked curiously.
"...Before that, can I ask you a question?"
Slowly exhaling, Shido slowed his words and asked.
"Sure, ask away."
"Why take such a young child as a hostage? She has absolutely nothing to do with . She's just an ordinary civilian."
"Pfft— That is a really stupid question, Itsuka Shido."
Ai Mulian burst into laughter, seemingly finding Shido's question hilarious.
"It is precisely because she's a child, and an unrelated, ordinary civilian—that makes her the perfect hostage to use against people like you."
"...How despicable."
Shido couldn't hold back the words from slipping out of his mouth.
"Well, I'm not going to deny it" Mulian shrugged, acting helpless. "Besides, if possible, the Boss and I don't want to do sothing so morally bankrupt either. We wanted to kill you as inconspicuously as possible. But there's no helping it. You're much more resilient than expected, Shido-kun. You've dodged our assassinations so many tis, so we had no choice but to do this."
"What is that supposed to an? Are you trying to say this is all my fault?"
"Isn't it?"
"Ugh—"
Being hit with such an unapologetic counter-question, Shido was so furious he couldn't speak. His body trembled with rage.
Seeing Shido so enraged, Mulian let out a satisfied laugh.
"Well, it's true, the desire to live is human instinct, and not wanting to be killed is perfectly normal. You didn't do anything wrong, you're absolutely correct. So, please rest assured, Itsuka Shido."
"Rest assured?"
Unable to follow Mulian's twisted logic, confusion surfaced in Shido's eyes.
"Mhm, I can promise you, only one of you will die today—either you, or this little girl. And no matter who dies, I will take responsibility. I won't put up any resistance, and I'll let Ryougi Yutsuki, or your family, kill ."
"What... are you talking about?"
Hearing Ai Mulian's words, Shido widened his eyes in sheer disbelief.
Honestly, he couldn't comprehend, nor did he want to comprehend, the aning behind Mulian's words. It was like encountering an unknown lifeform that completely contradicted all common sense he had built up until now; his brain instinctively rejected the information.
However, looking into the woman's eyes, devoid of any hesitation or deceit, Shido's logic told him she wasn't lying. If either he or the hostage died, she would unhesitatingly embrace her own death in return.
"Why... would you go to such lengths..."
"Well...Boss has his own goals. But as for , I'm doing this simply because I love Yutsuki-san. It's just that, because I love her so much, I want to know everything about her. Not just her happiness and joyful smiles, but her sorrow, pain, anger, despair... all her emotions, everything about her. But, if you want to gain sothing, you have to pay the price. To , a al eaten for free without paying just doesn't taste as good."
Ai Mulian explained with a smile.
"That's..."
"Well, I'm just a pervert. You don't have to force yourself to understand my feelings. It'd be a waste of effort anyway."
Seeing Shido's sickly pale face, Mulian kindly offered a word of comfort before continuing.
"Alright, that's enough chit-chat. Sacrifice yourself? Or abandon this child? Tell your choice, Itsuka Shido."
"...Phew, I understand."
Slowly exhaling, Shido looked at Mulian and spoke deliberately.
"I choose—neither!"
[—Haniel.]
"What's this?"
Mulian looked down in surprise, realizing that the blade in her hand had, at so unknown point, turned into a plastic toy knife.
(Now! Yutsuki!)
Shido yelled in his heart.
At that exact mont, a bullet sliced through the air above Shido with a piercing shriek.
—CLANG!
With a crisp tallic sound, the bullet flawlessly struck Ai Mulian's head. Seemingly affected by the sheer kinetic force of the impact, Mulian's body jerked backward in a highly exaggerated motion.
"Yutsuki?!"
A look of shock crossed Shido's face. After all, during their mock rescue drills in the virtual world, Yutsuki usually aid for the enemy's thighs or shoulders to incapacitate them.
[—Michael.]
However, the current situation didn't leave Shido ti to dwell on it. Seeing Mulian release her grip on Aoi, he hastily opened the door, intending to teleport the girl to his side.
But Aoi's body didn't fall into the door as Shido had envisioned. A green Territory flared around her limbs, pinning her body in mid-air.
Then, with a flash of a blade, the little girl's right leg was severed from her body, falling through the door and into Shido's hands.
"Ah... th-this is..."
Looking at the bloody severed limb in his hands, Shido's face instantly turned ashen.
"Ah... ouch, ouch, ouch... That was dangerous, I almost lost consciousness."
Slowly standing up from the ground, Ai Mulian shook her head, sighing with lingering dread.
"Even though I focused all my Territory's defenses on my head... this power... a CCC? To be able to wield such a dangerous sniper rifle so flawlessly, as expected of Yutsuki-san."
Licking a drop of blood trickling from the wound on her forehead, Mulian sighed in genuine admiration.
"You... you bastard... why..."
"Why am I still alive, you an? When dealing with a dangerous individual holding a hostage at knifepoint, a sniper is usually deployed to take them out from a distance. But aiming for the shoulder isn't guaranteed to kill, and an enraged criminal risks further harming the hostage. So, they must aim for the head for an instant kill. I've executed similar missions with my comrades before, so I know exactly how this scenario plays out. Well, I say that, but if Miss Yutsuki hadn't chosen a kinetic weapon and instead fired her Railgun directly at , I would have definitely died. Though, of course, this little girl nad Aoi would have been caught in the blast as well."
Mulian answered with a beaming smile.
"You're too naive, Shido-kun. I'm equipped with a CR-Unit. Obviously, I have more than one weapon on . Yet you focused all your attention on the knife at the child's neck. Still, for an amateur to pull off that trick, it's quite impressive."
"You bastard!"
Shido gritted his teeth furiously.
"Of course, even if you successfully rescued this child, it wouldn't an anything. After all, there are still bombs planted in the remaining shelters. If the Boss wants to, he can hold all the citizens in the city hostage at any mont."
"...What... did you say?"
Presented with this bombshell of catastrophic news, Shido's mind went completely blank.
[It's fine, Shido!]
Just then, Yutsuki's voice rang out through the earpiece.
[Kotori has already disard the bombs. The shelters are safe!]
"Eh? The bombs were disard?"
At the sa ti, Mulian seed to receive communication from Westcott as well, a trace of surprise flashing across her face.
"What a sha... Things didn't go as you planned."
Confirming that the news was true, Shido's expression relaxed slightly, and he mocked Mulian.
"Ahahahahahahahaha—!"
However, to Shido's bewildernt, upon hearing this news, Mulian started laughing with imnse joy.
"What's so funny?"
"Ah! That is wonderful news! Honestly, even though Boss is responsible for the citizens in the shelters, I still felt quite guilty about the prospect of so many people dying. After all, even if I died, I couldn't possibly atone for the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. As expected of Yutsuki-san! To see right through Boss's sche, she really did a massive favor!"
You can't communicate with her. Shido felt a bone-deep chill from the bottom of his heart.
Even though they were both human, this woman's sense of good and evil, her fundantal values, were inherently different from Shido's. Therefore, no matter what Shido said, Ai Mulian's reactions completely defied his expectations.
"Well then, chat ti is over. Let's get down to business."
Walking to the little girl's side, Mulian snapped her fingers. The hypnotic suggestion was lifted, and Aoi woke up from her slumber.
"Ugh... Where am I? Mary... Papa... Who are you, big sister...?"
Rubbing her sleepy eyes, Aoi looked at Mulian and asked groggily.
"Good morning, Aoi-chan," Mulian answered gently. "I'm sorry, but I cut off your right leg." (TL:this bitch)
"...Eh?"
Hearing Mulian's words, Aoi looked blank. She looked down and saw the stump at the base of her thigh. Blood was slowly floating like bubbles within the confined Territory.
"Strange... My right leg... Ah... What's happening... It hurts... It hurts... It hurts... Ah... Ah... Aaaaghhh..."
As her brain fully woke up from the hypnosis, the bone-deep agony, accompanied by sheer terror, instantly shattered Aoi's fragile, childlike mind. Large tears continuously fell from her big, expressive eyes as she opened her mouth and let out a heart-wrenching wail.
"It hurts— Stop— It hurts— Uwaaaaaaaaaah— Mary— Papa——————————"
"Mhm, perfect. Cry even harder just like that, otherwise it won't be effective."
Seeing the little girl's reaction, Mulian nodded in satisfaction.
"Stop it! Let her go right now!"
Shido roared in fury.
"Oh, are you sure about that, Itsuka Shido?"
Ai Mulian flashed a aningful smile.
"Right now, I'm using my Territory to stop her from bleeding out and to prevent infection. If I let her go, this child will bleed to death in less than a minute. Unless, of course, soone can reattach her leg."
"...You piece of trash."
[Shido! Don't do anything rash! I'm on my way—?!]
[Found her! Ryougi Yutsuki!]
[Hey! Are you the original? Are you our original prototype?!]
[Hehe, let's play!]
At that mont, Yutsuki's transmission was abruptly cut off. In the earpiece, Shido could only hear the giggling voices of the Nibelcole.
"Hey, Yutsuki? What happened, Yutsuki?!"
Shido asked frantically.
"Ah, you really were secretly talking to Yutsuki-san. I'm so jealous. But unfortunately, that sniper shot just now exposed Miss Yutsuki's position. Nibelcole-san and the others should have found her by now. She won't be able to help you for a while."
Seeing Shido's reaction, Ai Mulian spoke as if everything was going exactly according to plan.
"Is this what you were aiming for from the very beginning?"
"Of course. Why else would I have played along with your stalling tactics?"
Saying that, Ai Mulian drew her main weapon, Clarent. The blade, glowing with mana, was once again pressed against Aoi's neck.
"I will only wait ten seconds. Drop your Spirit barrier and unsummon your Angels. Protect yourself, or save soone else? Child who hasn't grown up yet, think very carefully. Ten, nine..."
"Ai Mulian..."
Spitting out her na with venom, for the first ti in his life, Shido felt the emotion known as pure, unadulterated hatred toward another human being.
"Six, five..."
Unfazed by Shido's murderous glare, Ai Mulian continued her countdown.
(What do I do? What should I do?)
Shido's mind raced frantically. However, between the rapidly ticking ti limit and Aoi's agonizing wails piercing his heart, the overwhelming anxiety and guilt robbed him of his ability to think rationally.
"Three, two..."
"Enough!"
At the very last second, Shido yelled, cutting off Ai Mulian's countdown. The Spirit barrier and his Angels vanished into particles of light at the exact sa ti.
"This is what you wanted, right?! Give her to !"
Hearing Shido's answer, Ai Mulian smiled with imnse satisfaction.
"Catch!"
Seeing Aoi tossed in his direction, Shido's pupils contracted. He lunged forward and caught her.
"—Camael!"
With Shido's roar, the Healing Flas ignited from his hands.
(Calm down! Calm down! Focus, you can do this—Itsuka Shido.)
Without Ratziel's regulation, Shido felt the Healing Flas acting as unruly as a wild tiger. The slightest mistake wouldn't just fail to reattach the limb; the flas would burn Aoi to ashes instead.
Therefore, Itsuka Shido shut out all external stimuli, focusing one hundred percent of his attention entirely on the wound.
The pure white flas crawled over the wound on Aoi's severed stump, acting like adhesive. They reconstructed the little girl's skin and muscles, and reconnected the blood vessels and bones of her leg.
Finally, the wound was fully healed. Unable to endure the tornt of the pain any longer, Aoi lost consciousness.
(Thank goodness...)
Seeing the girl safe and sound, the heavy weight in Shido's heart finally lifted.
And then——
"To choose to save soone else even at the very end... Truly a saint. Out of respect, I will honor our agreent."
That voice whispered directly into his ear.
"Die, Itsuka Shido."
...
(Strange? Why am I looking at the moon?)
Staring at the blurry crescent moon in the night sky, Itsuka Shido thought in confusion.
Puzzled, Itsuka Shido tried to sit up and check his surroundings. However, for so reason, his feet, calves, thighs, waist, chest, shoulders, arms—every single muscle in his body—refused to respond to his will, no matter how hard he tried, as if he were a paraplegic with a severed spinal cord.
He couldn't breathe, as if his lungs didn't exist.
He couldn't swallow, as if his esophagus had been severed.
His vision was blurring, gradually swallowed by nothingness.
And then, Shido finally realized... that he was already dead.
(So hot— So cold—)
It felt as if a scorching fla was burning at his neck, using searing agony to prevent his consciousness from sinking completely into the icy darkness.
(It hurts so much. Just... let die...)
Even though he clearly couldn't live anymore, Shido still hadn't completely died. The flas seed to stretch the instant of his death out infinitely, endlessly torturing his soul.
—You're finally here. I've been waiting a long ti for you,Yutsuki-san.
—Ah~ What a spectacular look of fury! An expression I'd absolutely never get to see in everyday life! This is incredible! I can't get enough of this!
—But, why?
—Why... haven't... you fallen into despair...
A strange voice seed to echo in his ear, but before Shido could comprehend its aning, the owner of the voice seed to depart this world a step ahead of him.
Then, for so unknown reason, Shido suddenly found that the hell of alternating extre cold and scorching heat had vanished. In its place was an incredibly gentle, yet profoundly sorrowful world.
"—! —!! —————————?!"
A blurry silhouette appeared in his dimming vision, and a wet sensation touched his cheek.
"...Yu... tsuki..."
Driven almost entirely by unconscious instinct, in the split second before plunging into the absolute void, Shido called out that na.
Everyone... I leave them... to you....
TL:This is the branching point to the PEAK volu of this fanfic.
TL2:Also you can read that special volu right after this chapter and continue the main story later, but it's an optional choice.(Which will be posted later)
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