Noint flapped her silver wings. It was not to gain altitude, but to shoot a torrent of magically-enhanced feathers at her enemy.
They cut through the air as they sped toward Hajime, who was floating eight thousand meters up in the air.
He raised his revolver, the legendary artifact he'd created that had ended the lives of countless powerful foes, and fired. Schlag let out a roar, and Hajime's bullet powered through Noint's feathers, shredding them. He had angled his single shot to cut through a swathe of the angel's projectiles. Then, he stepped into the hole he'd created, letting the rest of Noint's wall of feathers pass him by.
In order to truly avoid your opponent's attacks, you needed the courage to step forward.
"Hyaaah!" A cute voice interrupted Hajime and Noint's deathmatch. It seemed starkly out of place on this battlefield, where two powerful enemies were putting their lives on the line.
The one who'd screamed so unceremoniously was, of course, Aiko.
For the first time in her life, she was experiencing a mid-air dogfight. Though Noint fired feathers at the same rate Hajime's Metzelei spat out bullets, he continued dodging each deluge by a hair's breadth.
"Sensei! Stop screaming! You'll just bite your tongue!"
"I can't just stop screaming on— Ah!? I-I bit my tongue..." Aiko ignored Hajime's warning and instantly found herself regretting it. Tears sprang to her eyes, and not just because she'd bitten her tongue.
Hajime knew Aiko, who wasn't particularly strong physically, wouldn't be able to handle movements that were too sudden, which was why he'd continued using Riftwalk and tried to dodge with as little movement as possible. Unfortunately, even that required moving faster than a rollercoaster, and Aiko was already dizzy.
That being said, there weren't any alternatives. He could hardly just dump her somewhere.
He couldn't ignore Noint's attacks for even a second, and even if he could have she'd have just targeted Aiko if he left her. As inconvenient as it was, fighting while holding Aiko was the only way to keep her safe.
Fortunately, he wouldn't have to keep this up for too much longer. A trustworthy ally was on her way.
Hajime shot down another wave of feathers with Schlag, then turned to Aiko. She was clinging to him for dear life, and had her eyes shut tight.
"Sensei, just hang on for a little longer. One of my comrades is coming here. She'll take you down to safety."
"O-Okay! B-But what about you, Nagumo-kun!?"
"I still need to kill this emotionless puppet!"
"Aww, I'm sorry I'm just a burden..." It frustrated Aiko that she was just dragging her student down. Hajime didn't have time to reply. Instead, he hugged Aiko tight and did a backflip in mid-air.
He watched as a blast of silver light passed just over him. It was the same mysterious skill that had disintegrated the tower Aiko had been confined to.
Aiko did her best not to scream as she was swung about wildly. As she was pressed up against Hajime's chest, she noticed just how steady his heartbeat was. The fact that he was calm even in this situation helped ease her worries a little too.
This isn't the time to be thinking about that! Aiko mentally berated herself and clung tighter to Hajime.
"Don't worry about it. I expected to run into trouble when I came here."
"Y-You didn't... have to go so far for me..."
Of course, Hajime had known he would need to fight the Holy Church eventually if he wanted to obtain all of the ancient magic, so it wasn't entirely for Aiko's sake. However, it seemed Aiko had misunderstood Hajime's intentions.
It probably didn't help that Hajime was practically hugging her as he fought. I'm probably gonna have to resolve this misunderstanding soon.
"I see you still aren't taking me seriously."
"Whoa!?" Hajime was startled to hear Noint's mechanical voice right next to him.
He instantly lifted his prosthetic arm and fired a shotgun blast out of his elbow. Using the recoil, he gained himself some distance as well. Noint raised one of her swords to block while she swept the other in a wide arc.
Her glimmering silver swords were two meters long and thirty centimeters wide. Not only did they look intimidating, they had a very sinister ability as well. Anything wrapped in Noint's mana was granted the effects of her special magic, Disintegrate. A single touch by them would inflict a fatal wound.
However, Hajime couldn't move too fast or he'd injure Aiko, so he was forced to use Schlag to redirect the blade while he fell backward.
Noint's sword passed inches above Hajime's face, cutting off the tips of his bangs.
The only reason Schlag wasn't disintegrated was because Hajime had hardened the azantium coating with Steel Skin. Even that wasn't enough to let his weapons or artificial arm stay in contact with Noint's swords for more than a few seconds, though.
As it was, blocking the blow had shaved a few centimeters off Schlag's coating. If he kept it up, his weapons would be destroyed before long.
Noint let the force of her slash swing her around, her glimmering silver hair fanning out around her like a halo. As she completed her turn, she swung down with her second sword, the one she had used to block earlier.
The speed of her second swing was so fast that Aiko couldn't even follow it with her eyes. She just saw a silver flash.
Hajime dodged to the side, using the recoil from a second shotgun blast. Once he was clear, he took aim with Schlag and fired three times.
Three streaks of red light headed straight for her. One went for her head, another her heart, and the last her stomach. However, Noint's reaction time was inhuman.
The moment Hajime fired, she held her sword up vertically, blocking all three bullets.
Hajime pulled back even further and sent out his Cross Bits for a follow-up attack. They fired powerful explosive slugs that created huge red shockwaves on detonation.
Noint dissipated the shockwaves with a beat of her wings, but that gave Hajime more time to flee.
"Awawawawa. I can't even tell what's..."
"Sensei, could you stop making those cute noises in the middle of a duel? It's kinda killing the mood."
"C-Cute!? Nagumo-kun, that's not something you can say to your teach—"
It was more serious than Hajime made it seem. Aiko's oddly cute screams were sapping his concentration. In a fight between two people of their caliber, even a millisecond's distraction could get you killed. Noint had been right when she'd said Hajime wasn't taking this seriously. Of course, Hajime wasn't at all flustered by having a cute woman such as Aiko hanging around his neck, but the noises were still distracting.
"To think you could defend so well against my attacks while guarding that dead weight... You are far too strong. Strong people such as you are unfit to be my lord's pawns."
"Thanks for the praise. Can't say I'd want to be the pawn of some shitty NEET who throws a tantrum every time things don't go his way, so I'm happy to hear I'm not wanted."
"There is no use in trying to taunt me. For I have no emotions."
"Hm? I'm not trying to taunt you, that's just what I really think."
"..." Noint silently spread her wings and crossed her swords in front of her.
Does she really not have any emotions? Looks like she's trying to shake off her anger and prove it's not bothering her to me... Hajime quickly discarded the thought. There was no point in worrying about it.
After all, he'd be killing her either way. Regardless of what she was thinking, regardless of what she felt, she would die by his hands.
Noint flapped her wings again and unleashed another barrage of feathers. This time though, they weren't aimed at Hajime. Instead, they gathered in front of Noint and arrayed themselves into an odd formation. As they overlapped over one another, Hajime realized she was making a magic circle out of the feathers. Noint glared coldly at Hajime through the shining silver magic circle. Once it was complete, she cast her spell.
"Hellfire Tsunami." Noint summoned a burning tsunami that scorched the very atmosphere.
So she can use elemental magic too. She simply hadn't cast her elemental spells before because she'd believed her feathers would be enough.
In other words, she hadn't been fighting seriously either.
Crimson hellfire bore down on them, and all Aiko could see was red. The tsunami was large enough to blot out the horizon.
Aiko looked up at Hajime, expecting him to have a solution. Sweat rolled down his cheek as he desperately looked around the tsunami, searching for the spell's core. So long as he could find it and shoot it, the flames would disperse.
Of course, that required an ungodly amount of precision, but Hajime was more than up to the task. He had trained his sharpshooting skills extensively.
However, Noint's spell was on a far larger scale than anything Hajime had faced before. Anyone on the Divine Mountain would have thought noon had come, since that was how bright and all-encompassing the flames were. It was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Time ran out before Hajime could find it.
The massive tsunami swallowed Hajime and Aiko up. Anyone watching would have been convinced they had died.
The tsunami that spanned a couple hundred meters should have left not even their ashes behind, but Noint continued staring at the center of the tsunami.
"So you can withstand even this..." As she muttered that, the spell ended and the flames dispersed. At the center of the spell stood Hajime and Aiko, surrounded by four of his Cross Bits. They were both unharmed.
The Cross Bits formed a pyramid around Hajime, their ends connected to each other by wires. Screens of crimson light filled the space between the wires.
"This is still a prototype, so I was a little worried... Thank god it worked."
"Y-You..."
Hajime sighed in relief.
This was the latest of his weapon enhancements. He had used creation magic to enchant wires with spatial magic, then equipped his Cross Bits with said wires. He'd also covered the surface of his Cross Bits with spatial magic-enchanted ore. Unlike physical shields, barriers made by partitioning space were theoretically unbreakable.
However, these were still in the experimental phase. Until now, Hajime hadn't tested them against a proper attack, so he'd had no idea how much they would be able to take.
Aiko looked blankly from the barrier that had saved her life to Noint. The apostle was already preparing her next attack.
This time she sent a few feathers at Hajime while she crafted over a hundred magic circles at once.
She was determined to bury him in an avalanche of magic.
Hajime guessed that his new barriers might be able to take it, but staying on the defensive would put him at a disadvantage. Especially because he wasn't certain if they could survive Noint's disintegrating light, should she choose to fire it.
Furthermore, his barrier's greatest strength was also its biggest weakness. Since it partitioned space, Hajime couldn't attack through it. And so, Hajime dismissed his barrier and prepared to flee. He needed to keep his distance and continue dodging until Tio arrived.
Just as he was about to leap back, he heard singing rise up from the Divine Mountain.
Hajime avoided Noint's barrage of feathers and looked down. Ishtar was standing on the mountain, surrounded by an army of bishops and templar knights. The bishops were holding hands in a big circle and singing prayers.
Seeing the hundred-odd bishops chanting solemnly like that, Hajime was reminded of the time he'd heard a choir singing hymns back on earth.
But what on earth is the point of all that singing?
"Ah!? What the? My body's—"
"Nagumo-kun!? Ah, wh-what is this..."
Hajime and Aiko felt something strange happen to their bodies. Their strength left them, and their mana began to disperse. It was as if their energy was being drained away. Moreover, motes of light started sticking to them, making it hard to move.
"Ngh, this must be some kind of debuff magic. So this is the strength of the Holy Church's best. Looks like they've got their defensive countermeasures all set up." Hajime's guess was spot-on.
When Ishtar had realized one of God's Apostle's was fighting, he'd gathered all of his followers. In order to support Noint's battle, Ishtar had made them all sing the Hymn of Ruin.
The Hymn of Ruin was a powerful spell that dulled a target's movements and sapped their strength. Unlike most spells which required a magic circle, this could only be activated by multiple bishops singing in tandem. It was the Holy Church's trump card.
"Ishtar? He is someone who fully understands his role, unlike you. A good pawn." Ishtar was gazing up at Noint with an expression full of rapture, and she reciprocated with her cold, unfeeling eyes.
He seemed ecstatic simply knowing he was helping Noint in her fight, as if there were no greater pleasure in life than serving her. Indeed, he was a convenient pawn who did as his masters bid.
Pawns or not, those guys just made this fight that much harder. This is going to be a huge pain.
Hajime bolstered his flagging strength with his vast reserves of mana and continued dodging Noint's attacks. However, his movements weren't nearly as sharp as before. Plus, Noint's attacks were too strong for him to fend off forever in his weakened state.
A flood of lightning bolts shot out of Noint's magic circles, each one tracing an erratic path toward Hajime.
Hajime shot down a number of them with Schlag, but he wasn't able to dodge them all, and one bolt grazed him. It wasn't terribly powerful, and the shock only made him stiffen for a moment.
However, that moment was all Noint needed.
"Wh—!?"
She closed in on Hajime instantly and swung her swords in a cross-shaped formation at him. With his reaction delayed, Hajime was only able to block the downward swing with Schlag. The sideways one grazed past his neck, drawing blood.
"Gaaah!" If the cut had been a few millimeters deeper, it would have severed his carotid artery. Cold sweat poured down his back.
Still, he knew he couldn't let the fear get to him. Even as he screamed in pain, Hajime shot his elbow shotgun and used Aerodynamic to try and get out of Noint's range.
Noint followed after him, of course, so he fired his Cross Bits wildly in her direction, keeping her on the defensive long enough to put some space between them.
"Nagumo-kun!?"
"I'm fine, just shut up!" Blood dripped from Hajime's neck and onto Aiko's cheek. He'd been protecting her from his Cross Bit's shockwaves with Diamond Skin, but she'd still taken quite a beating. She was barely conscious, yet she was more worried for her student than for herself.
However, Hajime had no time to reassure her. Even as he gave her his curt reply, Noint fired off another barrage of feathers at him.
Hajime shot some down with Schlag and shredded others with his Gale Claw. The few that got past he endured with Diamond Skin. The motes of light, coupled with his exhaustion, meant he couldn't dodge them all anymore.
Noint rushed forward, then pulled up just in front of Hajime. She spread her wings, which emitted a dazzling light. For a second, Hajime was blinded.
However, his perception skills were top-notch, even without his sight. He could tell Noint had circled behind him, so he turned around and fired a barrage of bullets into her.
His bullets shot right through... and destroyed the clone Noint had made out of feathers.
She had made a fake version of herself as bait.
"Ah!?" Hajime shivered. His instincts screamed at him to run. But he wouldn't make it in time. There wasn't even time to curse.
He snapped his arm back and pulled the trigger. Luckily, he'd aimed straight for her head. Unluckily, all Noint had to do was tilt it to the side to dodge.
She then raised one of her swords and cut diagonally downward into Hajime's back.
Hajime used Diamond Skin's derivative skill, Focused Strengthening, to guard his back. He still steeled himself to take a decent amount of damage.
For a short moment, his Diamond Skin held, but then the disintegration magic lining her sword destroyed his barrier and the tip of her blade dug into Hajime's flesh.
"Gaaah!"
"Nagumo-kun!"
It felt as though his back was burning. Worried, Aiko opened her eyes and looked up at her pupil.
Even as he was cut through, Hajime planned for the next move. He used the force of Noint's blow to somersault himself forward.
Then, he turned around to see Noint closing in for a follow-up attack. He knew his weakened body wouldn't be able to move in time, so he covered one of his Cross Bits in Diamond Skin and had it act as his shield. The others he had flank Noint and attack her from both sides.
Noint twirled around without dropping speed, knocking down the explosive slugs with her wings. She then slammed her first sword into the Cross Bit Hajime was using as a shield. It stuck fast in the metal, so she slammed her second sword down on top of it, splitting it in half.
Hajime's eyes went wide with surprise. Noint looked coldly at him. Her chilling gaze made it clear that this would be the end.
But Hajime hadn't given up yet. He knew he'd have to make some sacrifices if he wanted to keep Aiko alive as well, so he was prepared to get hurt.
If I'd known she was this tough, I would have used Limit Break earlier. I thought I could save it until Tio got here... Hajime raised his prosthetic arm, planning on sacrificing it to survive another attack.
As Noint raised her swords above her, a thunderous roar split the air.
"Graaaaaaaaah!" A second later, a beam of black light closed in on Noint.
It was Tio's dragon breath, the all-encompassing black light which could burn through anything. Noint had no time to dodge. And so, she cut short her attack and wrapped her wings around herself.
As Tio's breath hit Noint's wings, it began to disintegrate. Despite that, it still continued pushing her back. Black and silver mana warred against each other as Tio's breath pushed Noint all the way back into the cathedral tower. The force of the impact shattered the rest of the tower. Chunks of broken masonry fell to the ground.
Ishtar's bishops and templar knights cried out in despair. Seeing their beloved apostle get sent flying must have shaken their confidence.
Hajime instantly pulled Orkan out of his Treasure Trove and mercilessly fired all twelve rockets at Ishtar and his men.
This time they screamed for a different reason. Finally, Hajime heard the voice of someone he was actually eager to see.
"Master! Are you alright?" He didn't let his guard down, but Hajime smiled in relief.
At long last, Tio had arrived.
"Thanks, Tio. You saved my hide back there. Things got pretty dicey at the end." Tio smiled briefly, but then her expression grew grim again. If Hajime was hard-pressed, then this was an enemy that required her full attention. She flew up to where he was standing and stared at the tower along with Hajime.
"It is heartening to know I made it on time. As a reward, may I ask for a thorough spanking?"
"If you can get Sensei to safety, I'll think about it."
"Truly!? I will hold you to that, Master! Come, Sensei-dono. Climb onto my back."
Even now she puts her desires first, huh? Well, I guess Yue, Shea, and Kaori are like that too. Hajime sighed and put Aiko onto Tio's back.
Aiko was pretty sure she heard some rather immoral things during that conversation, but she obediently let Hajime deposit her on Tio's back. She didn't want to be a burden any longer.
"Umm, Tio-san? I'm in your hands."
"Indeed. Fear not. You are someone important to my master. I shall not let any harm come to you."
Naturally, Tio meant that she was a teacher Hajime respected a great deal, but Aiko misinterpreted those words, thinking Hajime had a romantic interest in her.
Aiko looked worriedly over at Hajime. At this point anyone could tell those weren't the eyes of a teacher worried about her student, but the eyes of a girl worried about the boy she loved.
Just then, the collapsed tower burst apart. Noint emerged from the rubble, completely unharmed. She flapped her silver wings, soaring once more into the sky. It appeared even Tio's breath was incapable of piercing Noint's defenses.
"Go, Tio."
"As you wish. But allow me to assist you once I've delivered Sensei-dono to safety. Even if I can't hurt her, I can definitely do something about those meddlesome priests." Tio had already guessed that it was they who had weakened Hajime. She glared angrily at the surviving clergy while Hajime stared down Noint. The murderous glint in his eyes was back. Tio wanted to make sure he could focus on his fight without interruption.
Hajime grinned and nodded to Tio, glad to have such a reliable comrade. This time, he took the fight to Noint.
"Be careful, Nagumo-kun! I don't want you to get hurt anymore!"
"Hm? Ah, I see now. How fascinating..."
Tio watched as Aiko clasped her hands together and prayed for Hajime's safety. She could easily tell the teacher was in love with her student. In an amused voice, Tio spoke to her.
"Sensei-dono, I understand your concern, but we must hurry. Once I have delivered you to the palace, I need to eliminate those pests for Master. I cannot allow them to interfere with his duel." Tio turned to the ground, but Aiko stopped her. She looked over her shoulder to see Aiko looking resolutely down at her.
"Tio-san. Won't it take too long to take me down and then come back? We're eight thousand meters up. A full trip would waste too much time..."
"Hm? You do have a point, but... Wait, you couldn't possibly mean to—"
"That's right. If you're going to help Nagumo-kun fight, then let me fight with you. We have to do something about Ishtar-san quickly, or Nagumo-kun won't be able to win. You can't afford to waste time taking me all the way down." Aiko had a point, but it still didn't sit well with Tio.
Hajime's missiles had injured a good number of the bishops, but they'd already begun to regroup. They'd worked together to erect a barrier and were preparing to resume their hymn. Tio, too, wanted to stop them before they had a chance to start up again. But if she let harm come to Aiko, she would have broken her promise to Hajime.
"I don't mean to be rude, but what exactly can you do, Sensei-dono? You have no battle experience, correct? Nor do you have any magic circles on you. How do you propose to fight against those bishops and knights?" Aiko grit her teeth. Tio was right. But then an idea suddenly dawned on her. She closed her eyes, put her finger in her mouth, and bit down hard. She dripped some blood on the back of her other hand and quickly sketched a magic circle.
"Despite how I look, my magic is as strong as Amanogawa-kun's. I may not have any combat experience, but... I can at least support you! Honestly... I'm terrified of fighting fellow humans. Still, at this point, there's no other choice. I understand now that empty idealism will get me nowhere! If I want to get my students safely back to Japan, then I can't run away. I have to stand before my students and fight for them!" The kingdom had been invaded, and the bishops had all turned into religious fanatics. At this point, relying on Ishtar's god to get back home was clearly pointless. Aiko and the other students would have to carve their own path in this world.
In which case, she would no longer hesitate. If there was dirty work that needed to be done, she would do it. She resolved to never again let someone else pull the trigger for her.
Tio hesitated when she saw the determination in Aiko's eyes. Eventually, however, she gave in and let Aiko have her way.
"If you've committed to this path, then I suppose I have no choice. I'm sure Master won't mind if this is truly what you want. Very well. Let us slaughter those fools together!"
"Thank you!" Aiko was nervous, but her newfound resolve weighed much more heavily. Together with Tio, she headed for the Holy Church's great cathedral.
They were up against hundreds of knights and bishops, but that didn't seem to frighten them in the least. Their odd tag-team combo was about to take on the strongest religious group in the world.
The first thing Hajime did once his hands were free was pull out Schlagen and let loose on Noint.
Sparks ran down the barrel's length as Hajime accelerated the bullet within. It shot out faster than the eye could follow, leaving a red streak in its wake.
Schlagen possessed enough firepower to pierce through even Tio's breath. Noint's wings wouldn't be able to disintegrate its bullets easily. She seemed to have noticed that as well, and chose to dodge rather than block.
Flying underneath the bullet, Noint charged toward Hajime. However, Hajime was ready for her. His Cross Bits intercepted her and fired explosive slugs at near point-blank range.
"Ah!?" Noint realized she wouldn't be able to cocoon herself in her wings in time, so she slashed at the bullets with her sword.
It cut through the slugs like a knife through hot butter, bisecting Hajime's bullets.
Though Noint's sword dissolved some of the mana stored inside Hajime's bullets, it wasn't able to negate the shockwaves completely.
Pulses of mana assailed Noint from all sides, slowing her movements for a split second.
Hajime took advantage of that opening and rushed in. He leaped off his mid-air platform and transferred all of his momentum into his left arm. At the same time, he activated Steel Arms, along with the oscillating vibrator in his prosthetic limb. He also fired another shotgun blast from his elbow to further accelerate his punch.
"Haaah!"
"Ah!?" Noint hurriedly raised her second sword in front of her to block. She barely got it up in time. Hajime's fist crashed into it a second later.
There was the deafening clash of metal against metal. Though she blocked the blow itself, the force of Hajime's punch sent Noint flying.
Hajime knew he couldn't give her time to rest. And so, he unholstered Donner and Schlag and fired a follow-up barrage at her.
There were two loud explosions as two streaks of red shot toward Noint.
Though Noint saw only two streaks, twelve bullets slammed into the swords she'd held up to guard her vitals.
"Gaaah!" Hajime had fired so fast and so accurately that each bullet had followed the exact same path at almost the same time, which was why it had appeared at first to only be two shots.
For the first time, the supposedly invincible angel's beautiful face twisted in pain. Her twin swords cracked as they took the brunt of the bullets.
Hajime was amazed they didn't shatter. Not many things could take a fully-powered punch along with a railgun barrage without shattering.
Noint sailed through the air and crashed into another one of the Holy Church's buildings, pulverizing it.
Refusing to let up, Hajime pulled Orkan out of his Treasure Trove and fired a barrage of missiles at her as well. They trailed a cloud of sparks as they flew through the building, decimating what little remained of its walls.
The rockets exploded, unleashing their payload of superheated tar. The tar ignited instantly, coating the building in sticky, three-thousand degree flames.
Hajime watched the flames dye the sky red as he prepared his next attack. He reloaded Orkan with missiles from his Treasure Trove and took aim at the burning rubble of what had once been a church.
Just before he fired, however, he noticed his quarry was no longer there.
"Tch, below, huh?" Hajime looked down in time to see the ground below him erupt. Noint appeared from within, flapping her wings to close in on Hajime.
It appeared she'd escaped his rockets by tunneling into the mountainside. Then, she swept her wings and fired another barrage of silver feathers at Hajime.
He swayed from side to side, like a leaf blown in the wind, weaving between the storm of feathers. As Noint passed by, she swung down with her twin greatswords. Hajime somersaulted in midair, dodging out of the way. At the same time, he fired Orkan's missiles at her.
Noint had tasted their power once already, so she wasn't very eager to do so again. She flattened her wings and sped forward like a silver meteor, outpacing the missiles chasing after her. Noint continued firing feathers behind her as she retreated, while also bombarding him with magic from the hundreds of magic circles she'd created.
Magic and missiles clashed, annihilating each other in a magnificent explosion. Hajime dropped Orkan back into his Treasure Trove and drew his twin revolvers. He shot down the remaining spells coming for him, blowing apart the core of each spell.
For a few seconds, there was silence as Hajime and Noint stared each other down.
"Hey, you sure you should be wasting your time with me?"
"What do you mean?"
There's no way someone from the Holy Church doesn't know about the invasion happening in the capital. Until now they'd been fighting nonstop, so Hajime hadn't had a chance to talk. But since there was finally a pause in the hostilities, he figured he should ask.
"I'm talking about what's happening below. If things keep going like this, the kingdom's gonna fall. And once that happens, you know the Divine Mountain's going to be next. Shouldn't you be stopping the demons taking over your city instead of fighting up here?" Hajime had thought it a perfectly logical question, but Noint looked at him as if he'd said something ridiculous.
"If that does happen, it simply means that is how this age is fated to end."
"That's it, huh? So in the end, Ehit doesn't see people as anything more than playthings. He just took their side this time, but in the next era maybe he'll side with someone else? So is the god the demons worship one of Ehit's lackeys or something too? Or is it just the guy himself in disguise?"
"And if he is?"
"I was just wondering whether or not the Liberators had been telling the truth. If you ask me, you're both shady as hell."
Noint's eyebrows twitched. It seemed being called shady didn't sit well with her. Still, despite her obvious displeasure, Hajime simply grinned at her and continued.
"Hey, if you really think I'm a nuisance, just send me back to my own world. If the kingdom falls, the rest of the heroes will just have proven they weren't very useful pawns, so you may as well send them back too."
"I refuse, Irregular."
"Mind telling me why?"
"Because my master wishes for your deaths. Yours especially. You survived hardships that would have broken normal people, obtained unimaginable power, and found trustworthy comrades to aid you in your journey... Now, all that's left is for you to fall before achieving your goal. For that is the kind of fate my master wishes upon you. So I kindly request that you die in a blaze of agony, suffering, and despair. After all, that is what shall please my master the most. The hero and his friends, on the other hand... appear to be up to something my master finds interesting, so he is content to leave them alone. As long as they continue entertaining him, he shall not remove them from the game board."
Hajime had expected that answer, so he wasn't terribly surprised. He shrugged his shoulders and thought back to what Miledi Reisen had said.
You're right, the gods really are conniving little bastards.
There was one thing that Noint said that stuck out in Hajime's mind, though.
"You said the others are up to something?"
"As you are about to die, there is no need for you to know." At that, Noint unleashed another barrage of feathers and magic, putting an end to their conversation. Her assault was far more ferocious than before. Her feathers were as fast as Hajime's bullets, and the spells she was casting were all high-level. A silver aura coated Noint's body, and she seemed to grow in size. She looked just like Hajime or Kouki when they were using Limit Break.
"Ah!" Hajime faced down the torrent of magic and feathers, Metzelei in his right hand and Schlagen in his left. He mowed down Noint's attacks with Metzelei, the machine gun that fired twelve thousand bullets a minute. At the same time, he sniped at Noint with Schlagen.
She reacted much faster than before, though.
The instant before Hajime's bullet hit her, her figure blurred. She vanished, and reappeared a few meters away.
She then charged at Hajime, right through the hail of bullets. Honestly, she moved so fast that she left afterimages in her wake.
Hajime tracked her movements with Foresight and tried to intercept her with his Cross Bits. However, his explosive slugs hit only air as they passed through her afterimages.
A second later, Noint appeared behind him, still trailing afterimages in her wake. Then, she spun like a top, swinging her twin blades at Hajime.
"Tch!" Noint had moved so fast that not even Rift Walk had allowed Hajime to keep up with her movements.
Hajime managed to duck out of the way in time, but her swords passed through Schlagen, cutting it cleanly in half. That made the energy from his Lightning Field discharge, and a huge explosion blossomed between the two of them.
The explosion made Noint hesitate for a second, allowing Hajime to mount a counterattack.
Crimson streaks of mana wrapped themselves around his body. He'd activated Limit Break. Then, he rushed forward at the same time Noint did. He was no longer holding Metzelei, but had instead drawn Donner and Schlag.
The two of them began trading blows at point-blank range.
"Taaaaaah!"
"Haaaaaah!"
Hajime twisted to the side to avoid Noint's downward swing. Before the first sword had even passed by, her second blade came in from the side. Still, he managed to get Schlag underneath it and fired upward, pushing her sword out of the way. At the same time, he fired Donner directly at her heart.
Noint circled out of the way, and Hajime's bullet passed harmlessly through an afterimage. She cut diagonally upward with her first blade as she did so.
Hajime enhanced Schlag with Diamond Skin and Focused Strengthening. He hardened only the part of the barrel that he used to block Noint's sword, allowing him to multiply the skill's effects. Due to that, Noint's sword knocked Schlag out of the way, but didn't break it.
He blocked Noint's second sword with Donner's muzzle, and fired just as the sword made contact. The bullet knocked the blade out of the way.
Hajime and Noint continued dancing around each other, dodging and trading blows. They fought to the utmost limits of their abilities, each trying to land a decisive blow. Their concentration was so absolute that they both forgot to breathe, to blink.
"Uwooooooooooooh!"
"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
The two screamed at each other as they charged again.
A single mistake, a single lapse in concentration meant instant death.
They were moving so fast that there was no time to even think. They simply moved on instinct, trusting in their abilities, experience, and reflexes to carry them through.
Streaks of silver and crimson light dotted the sky as Noint's swords and Hajime's guns clashed over and over.
The storm of blows unleashed pulses of energy like a solar flare. The two continued speeding up, each trying to gain an edge over the other.
Before long, they were both drenched in blood, covered in a dozen small wounds. Hajime had shallow cuts all over his body, while Noint had bullet holes everywhere.
The two of them were evenly matched. Well, at that very moment, anyway. Hajime knew that the longer this continued, the harder it would get for him.
He'd realized that since the start of the fight, Noint's mana reserves hadn't gone down at all.
Hajime's Limit Break, on the other hand, had a time limit. Once he hit it, the spell would be forcibly canceled, and he'd be left in a weakened state. Though Hajime's own mana reserves were vast, they weren't infinite.
Noint, however, seemed to be receiving unlimited mana from some unknown source. She would be able to maintain this state indefinitely.
Hajime examined her with his Demon Eye, trying to find what was supplying her with so much mana. He noticed a brilliantly glowing mana crystal was where her heart should have been.
He knew a protracted fight would be the end for him, so he bet everything on an all or nothing attack.
"Take this!" Hajime brought forth all of his Cross Bits, and fired a full-powered barrage of explosive slugs. He knew at this range the shockwaves would hit him too, but he was prepared for that.
"Have you lost your mind?" Surprise colored Noint's normally emotionless eyes. Hajime's actions seemed suicidal to her.
Dozens of explosive slugs shot out of Hajime's six Cross Bits, enveloping the both of them in a whirlwind of shockwaves.
Noint wrapped her wings around herself, while Hajime activated Diamond Skin.
A massive crimson flower blossomed in the sky.
Dozens of shockwaves mercilessly pummeled Hajime and Noint's bodies. They punched through Hajime's Diamond Skin, severely damaging his internal organs. He gasped in pain and coughed up blood. The attack had left him devastated.
Noint, too, had suffered greatly. Her wings hadn't been able to protect her completely, so she coughed up blood, her bullet wounds bleeding more than before. Her innards had been hit just as hard.
"Were you planning on dying together with me?"
"Haaah... Haaah... Give me a break. Who'd want to do a double suicide with you? Try saying that again when you're at least half the woman my girlfriend is." Hajime was panting with exhaustion, but his tone was light, as if he wasn't worried at all. He scoffed at Noint. Who the hell would waste their life trying to kill you?
He pulled another weapon out of his Treasure Trove. It was small enough to fit between his fingers, and he flung it at Noint as if he were throwing a playing card.
The object made no sound as it traveled through the air, and was barely visible in the night sky, yet Noint casually batted it aside with her sword.
The fifteen-centimeter wide donut-shaped object spun away into the darkness. It resembled the chakrams Hajime had seen back on earth.
"Did you honestly believe something like this would work? Have you finally run out of idea— Ah!?" Noint had thought this was simply the final, futile struggle of one who'd already lost, but then Hajime pulled out his revolvers and started firing them to his sides.
Though Noint was directly in front of him, the bullets he fired suddenly appeared to her left and right, with all of them aiming for her head.
She instantly raised her swords to either side, using them as shields. Twelve bullets slammed into Noint's swords in a burst of sparks. Like before, they all slammed into the same point.
Somehow, Hajime's bullets had gone right for Noint despite the fact that he'd fired them in a completely different direction.
The secret to their sudden change in direction was in the chakrams he had thrown earlier. They had been enchanted with Hide Presence and Gale Claw, making them very useful assassination tools, but that wasn't all they were capable of. He'd also enchanted them with spatial magic. They functioned as the same kind of warp gate that he'd made to kill the sea angel in the Sunken Ruins of Melusine.
If he shot something through one of his chakrams, it would appear out of the one paired with it. Furthermore, he'd made his chakrams of spirit stone, so he could control them freely like his Cross Bits.
Hajime had calculated everything, from Noint's reaction time, to her position, to the approximate direction she'd knock his chakrams away to. And now, his barrage of bullets hit her swords exactly where he'd expected them to. Crack! Crack! Both of Noint's swords snapped in half.
"Wha!? How... It shouldn't have been that powerful..." She sure gets surprised a lot for someone who said they don't have emotions.
Noint hadn't noticed, but Hajime had been focusing his attacks on a certain point of her swords. During their entire close-combat fight, he'd made sure to aim his attacks at her swords.
It was precisely because he'd known their abilities were around equal that he'd tried to tip the scales by going for her weapons.
Hajime took advantage of the opening he'd created and pulled more artifacts out of his Treasure Trove, all of which he sent hurtling toward Noint.
Noint wasn't able to dodge the ten or so objects he'd thrown at her, so she tried to knock them down with her shattered blades.
However, that was the worst possible move she could have made. What Hajime had thrown at her were wire bolas that were weighed down by ore on each side.
Normally you had to wind them up a little before throwing them, but as these were made of spirit stone, Hajime could control their flight directly without needing the extra centrifugal force. And naturally, they weren't any ordinary bolas.
"Ah! I can't move!?" The bolas wrapped around Noint's swords, her arms, and her legs, then stopped in place. The spheres attached to the ends of the wires began pulsing with energy. Like everything else, they'd been enhanced with creation magic. He'd enchanted them with spatial magic so that they would be fixed in place, which in turn meant anything they captured would be trapped as well.
Of course, since Noint could disintegrate objects, even something as overpowered as that wouldn't be enough to hold her for long. Moreover, it was impossible to seal her wings. Even if Hajime had trapped them with his bolas, Noint could make them vanish and reappear at will. With her skills, she could buy enough time to do that as well.
Still, all Hajime needed was to hold her in place for a few seconds. That was enough time to hit her with his finishing move.
He wasn't going to let this fight go on any longer. Hajime pulled a massive, two-meter long cannon out of his Treasure Trove.
It was his railgun-enhanced pile bunker. Sparks ran down the cannon's length as it began charging. A high-pitched mechanical whirr prickled Hajime's ears. He dashed forward, cannon in hand.
"Ngh..." Noint wrapped her wings around herself like a cocoon. The light emanating from them intensified, and she glowed like a second moon.
Hajime rammed his pile bunker into her beautiful barrier. The four arms attached themselves to her wings, fixing the cannon in place. They'd been enchanted with spatial magic, so Noint wouldn't be able to dissolve them easily. The cannon's length was coated in red sparks. It seemed the bunker was nearly charged.
"Let's see you block this one." Hajime's lips twisted up into a feral grin, murder in his eyes.
He was wreathed in a blinding crimson aura, the light of his Limit Break eclipsing Noint's silver glow.
A tiny, invisible shockwave ran across the muzzle's length as the pile bunker shot forward.
Hajime had added even more features to his ultimate weapon. He'd enchanted the stake with a compacted version of Void Fissure. The vibrations from the spell decimated the defenses of anything the stake touched.
On top of that, gravity magic increased the weight of the stake to over twenty tons as it shot out. There was a thunderous bang as the charged energy drove the stake down.
The atmosphere trembled as it slammed into Noint's wings.
Powered by blastrock, Hajime's Lightning Field, and the force of his mana, the spinning Azantium stake bore through her defenses.
It shredded her wings easily, and punched straight through her heart. The tip of the stake passed through her back where her wings sprouted, and kept going.
It flew off into the horizon like a meteorite, trailing red sparks behind it.
"Ah—"
"..."
There was a gaping hole where her crystal heart, the source of her mana, had been. As Hajime's Lightning Field had surrounded the stake, it had cauterized the wound, so no blood dripped from the hole. The last remnants of Noint's wings dissipated, leaving her looking smaller than before. Even now, there wasn't a trace of human emotion in her eyes.
Though Hajime couldn't help but feel that there was a hint of reproach in her expression. The light slowly left her pupils, and she fell lifelessly to the mountainside below.
Her glowing silver figure was easy to spot on the dark ground underneath.
Hajime slowly lowered himself to where she had landed, and pointed Donner at her head. His Demon Eye and his Sense Presence skill both told him she was well and truly dead, but he wouldn't rest easily until he'd blown her head off. It had become somewhat of a bad habit of his.
"Looks like this 'Irregular' was more than you could handle." He wrapped his finger around the trigger. However, before he could pull it, he was interrupted...
Boooooooooooooooooom! By an explosion so powerful it shook the entire mountain.
Hajime turned around to see a giant mushroom cloud rising above where the Holy Church's main cathedral had been.
"No way." Hajime's muttered words melted away into the night.
He stared, slack-jawed, as the Holy Church crumbled to nothing. He'd only ever seen something like this in old war documentaries back on earth. Just then, he received a telepathic message.
"M-Master...Are you alright?"
"Huh? Oh, Tio. Yeah, I managed to finish off my opponent..."
"I see. Wonderful. I expected no less from you. We've finished up here as well, can you meet up with us?"
"I don't mind but uhh, I think I just witnessed something amazing..."
"We can explain that. Or rather, we were the cause of it..."
"What?"
"For now, let's rendezvous."
"Gotcha, works for me."
Hajime hurried over to where Tio said she was. Apparently, she knew what had utterly obliterated the Holy Church's main temple and its core followers.
As he flew into the air, he spotted Tio in her dragon form flying a short distance away from the mushroom cloud.
Riding on her back was Aiko, who seemed to be panicking over something. What's Sensei doing here? Actually, knowing her I think I can guess. She must have asked Tio to let her help. She'd never run while others are fighting, after all.
What interested Hajime more was why Aiko was acting like she'd just done something she wasn't supposed to.
"Sensei, Tio. Looks like you're both alright."
"Th-Thank goodness you're alright, Nagumo-kun! I was really worried."
"Master. For a moment back there I thought we might be done for, but we somehow made it out alive. I suppose I should have known your teacher would be just as dangerous as you. I did not expect my breath to become so powerful with her help. I must say, I'm impressed."
Hajime blinked in confusion. Then, with an incredulous look, he turned to Aiko.
"Sensei, what on earth did you do?"
"Awawawawa! I-It's not what you think! I didn't mean for it to end up like this. It's just, the pope's barrier was really strong so... I thought maybe if I amplified the strength of Tio-san's breath, she'd be able to break through it..."
Aiko began panicking once again, her relief from seeing Hajime safe forgotten. Though her explanation was a little haphazard, Hajime more or less got the gist of what had happened.
Aiko had decided to help Tio fight Ishtar and the other bishops in order to prevent them from weakening Hajime.
However, she'd had no magic circles handy. So even though she was an outstanding magician, she hadn't been able to offer any offensive support. Moreover, the main cathedral had apparently been an artifact that deployed a barrier around itself. The barrier was quite powerful, and not even Tio's breath could breach it.
Unless Aiko did something, Ishtar and the others would be able to cast their spell without interruption. While Tio had been dodging attacks from the Templar Knights, Aiko wracked her brains over how best to neutralize the barrier. Eventually, she realized that her job had just the skill for this situation.
These were her current stats at the time:
Aiko Hatayama Age: 25 Female Level: 56
Job: Farmer
Strength: 190
Vitality: 380
Defense: 190
Agility: 310
NPNI Magic: 820
Magic Defense: 280
Skills: Soil Management — Soil Restoration [+Automatic Restoration] — Large-scale Cultivation [+Improved Scale] [+Contamination Conversion] — Enhanced Fertilization — Selective Breeding — Plant Appraisal — Fertilizer Production — Mixed Breeding — Auto Harvesting — Fermentation Proficiency [+Fermentation Acceleration] [+Large-scale Fermentation] — Wide-area Temperature Control [+Temperature Optimization] [+Weather Barrier]— Farming Barrier — Fertile Rain — Language Comprehension.
The skill Aiko had used had been Fermentation.
Though the mountain itself was made of rock, it was inhabited by people. That meant there were plenty of things lying around for Aiko to ferment. Though this was Tortus and not earth, most organic materials still emitted a gas similar to methane when they fermented.
So she'd fermented everything she could reach, filling the church with a flammable gas. Since Fermentation wasn't an offensive spell, the cathedral's barrier hadn't blocked it. It had to let things like gas and air through, or the people inside wouldn't be able to survive after all. Tio had used wind magic to control the atmosphere around it too, making sure the gas didn't disperse.
Once Aiko had created enough flammable gas, Tio had fired her breath at it, hoping the combination would be enough to destroy the church's barrier. Except it had done a lot more than just destroy the barrier.
"So that's what happened."
"Indeed. We were blown away by the explosion as well. I truly thought I was about to die. Not only did it destroy the barrier, but it took the entirety of the church along with it... I have never seen such a strange way to fight in my life. Your mentor is someone to be feared, Master. I am in awe of her abilities."
"It's not like that! I didn't think the explosion would really be that big! I just wanted to make sure there'd be enough to destroy the barrier! Really! Wait! What happened to all the bishops and knights!?"
Aiko turned her gaze back to the church in a panic, as if she'd only just remembered them. Hajime and Tio followed her gaze, examining the rubble of the cathedral.
"Well, they were probably blown away too." The cathedral had been so utterly demolished no one could recognize what it had been originally. There's no way any of them survived that.
"They put too much faith in their barrier. I am certain they had no contingency measures in place in case it was ever destroyed. And I suspect they could not have survived an explosion like that head-on."
"B-But then... I mean, I was prepared to fight, but..."
Aiko paled as she realized she was responsible for the death of the Holy Church's leadership. She'd been prepared to fight, and perhaps even to kill, but not like this.
She doubled over and vomited. Hajime scratched his head, at a loss for what to say. He drew close and grabbed Aiko's vomit-stained hands. If nothing else, maybe some human warmth would do her good.
The warmth of his hands was the only thing that kept her from sinking into the depths of despair. Completely forgetting that they were still student and teacher, Aiko flung herself into Hajime's arms and started bawling her eyes out.
"My poor back... Well, I suppose it's not such a big deal." Tio grumbled about the vomit on her back as she started casting restoration magic.
Ideally, Tio would have liked to let Aiko stand back up on her own. Tio was the one who'd actually shot the breath, so there was no need for Aiko to blame herself. But they didn't have time for a long discussion about this, so Tio settled for using restoration magic to stabilize Aiko's sanity.
Her spirits somewhat restored, Aiko looked up at Hajime. Though her face was covered in tears and snot and vomit, Hajime didn't seem to mind too much. He casually pulled a towel out of his Treasure Trove and wiped her face down. Embarrassed, Aiko meekly let him clean her up.
"Have you finally calmed down, Sensei?"
"Y-Yes. I-I'm fine now. Nagumo-kun..." Aiko flushed red. A slight hint of longing entered her voice when she said Hajime's name. It was clear from the way she was looking at him that it wasn't just embarrassment that had caused her to blush.
Until now, Hajime had only seen Aiko as his teacher and nothing more. But now that she was looking at him like that, he was forced to consider that she might be in love with him. You're kidding, right? This isn't really happening, is it? Hajime thought with a stiff expression.
Hajime quickly averted his gaze, just as Tio called out a warning.
"Master. There's someone here. They don't appear normal..."
"What?"
Did someone actually manage to survive that explosion? Hajime followed Tio's gaze, incredulous. Standing in the ruins of the church was a bald, white-robed man. He was staring directly at Hajime. Like Tio had said, there was something off about the man. "For one thing, he was translucent. For another, he was swaying back and forth like a stalk in the breeze."
The moment he felt Hajime's gaze on him, the man silently turned around and floated across the mountain of rubble. He didn't seem to be walking, nor did he seem affected by gravity.
Just before he vanished out of sight, he turned around and looked at Hajime once more.
"Does he want us to follow him or something?"
"So it seems. What should we do, Master?"
"Hmm. Honestly, I want to meet back up with Yue and Shea, but... supposedly one of the ancient magics is located here. It's possible this ghost dude has something to do with that. Better not to let any leads slip past us."
"Hrm. Very well, let us follow him then."
Tio flew up to the top of the pile of rubble, let Hajime and Aiko down, and transformed back into her human form. She frowned as she noticed the stain on her back, and pulled out a replacement set of clothes from her own Treasure Trove. Hajime, too, changed out of his bloodied, vomit-stained clothes into something clean.
"Ugh, I'm sorry... I got your clothes dirty..." Aiko seemed to shrink into herself as she apologized. Vomiting all over someone was one of the most embarrassing things there was.
Though neither Hajime nor Tio seemed that bothered by it, Aiko still couldn't get over her feelings of shame. Especially because she was coming to terms with the fact that she might be in love with Hajime. Vomiting on someone was bad enough without it being the guy you have a crush on.
Hajime didn't have time to wait for her to get over it, so he decided to change the topic.
"Sorry, Sensei, but you're gonna have to come with us. There's no telling what might happen up ahead, but we can't let this chance go. I wanna find out what that bald guy is."
"O-Okay. I understand, I'll come with you."
She put an awful lot emphasis onto that last sentence. Hajime pretended he hadn't noticed, and continued following after the strange bald man.
The translucent man stayed ahead of them, guiding Hajime and the others through the maze of rubble. After about five minutes of walking, they arrived at their destination. The man silently turned back to Hajime and stood in place.
"What exactly are you? And what do you want with us?"
"..."
The bald man didn't reply. Instead, he lifted a finger and pointed deeper into the rubble. Hajime couldn't see anything special there, but it was clear that was where the man wanted him to go.
Realizing he wouldn't get anywhere questioning the man, Hajime nodded to Tio and started walking. As he arrived at the indicated location, the rubble around him began to float. The ground underneath started glowing. He looked down to see one of the labyrinth's crests carved into the ground.
"Are you one of the Liberators?" Just as he finished his question, the light from the ground enveloped him.
A second later, they were standing in an unfamiliar room. It wasn't very big. The walls were painted black, and there was a magic circle in the center. Next to the circle was an old pedestal, and atop that pedestal was a book. It seemed they'd been teleported straight to the end of the labyrinth.
The three of them walked up to the magic circle. Aiko looked around, obviously confused by what was going on. Hajime took her hand and looked over at Tio. The two of them nodded to each other and stepped into the magic circle, Aiko following behind.
Hajime braced for the usual memory-reading that happened when he stepped into one of these. However, this time, it was different. It felt like the memory probe was reaching far deeper into his brain, and he groaned in pain. He worried he might have walked into a trap, but that worry vanished a second later. He was verified as someone who had conquered this labyrinth, and the ancient magic of this labyrinth's Liberator was imprinted into his mind.
"Spirit magic?"
"Hrm. It seems this magic lets you interfere directly with others' souls."
"I get it now. So this is how Miledi was able to transfer her soul into that golem..."
Aiko crouched down and cradled her head. It was her first time receiving ancient magic, and the experience of something engraving itself directly into her memories was disconcerting. Hajime watched her for a few seconds out of the corner of his eye, before walking over to the nearby pedestal and picking up the book on top of it.
He flipped through the pages. It appeared to be a memorandum left behind by Laus Barn, the creator of this labyrinth. It was written similarly to Oscar Orcus' journal. The memorandum detailed Laus' life with the Liberators, and what he did with his life.
As Hajime had little interest in the Liberators' lives, he skimmed over it. Laus Barn's legacy didn't interest him in the least. The memorandum mentioned why he hadn't left his soul behind in this world like Miledi had, and what he'd had to repent for, but Hajime skipped through those sections.
At the very end, it explained the conditions needed to clear his labyrinth. First, you had to have cleared at least two labyrinths. Second, you needed to have disavowed the gods of this world.
Third, you needed to have defeated someone under god's direct influence. Only then would Laus' ghost apparition appear and guide challengers to this room. In other words, the theme of this labyrinth was to test challengers' resolve. They needed to prove their desire to overthrow the gods was unshakable.
Hajime guessed that if they had taken the normal route through the mountain, they would have faced a number of trials that tested their determination. Though Aiko hadn't officially disavowed this world's gods, she had always prioritized her students over everyone else. On top of that, she'd contributed to the destruction of the main cathedral. That had been good enough for Laus to consider her an official conqueror of this labyrinth too.
Most native residents of this world would be hard-pressed to fulfill Laus' conditions, but for Hajime and the others, it was easy to denounce the gods.
Hajime took Laus' ring and his book. Aiko had recovered from the shock of having her mind probed, and business here was concluded, so the three of them walked back to the magic circle that had brought them here. Laus Barn's crest glowed, and they returned to the mountain.
"You alright, Sensei?"
"Ugh, yes. I think I can manage... I'm amazed that such magic exists though. If there's something like this out there, then maybe magic that can take us back to Japan really exists too."
Aiko rubbed her temples and nodded to herself.
The events of the past few days had taken their toll on her, but she was excited about the prospect of finding an alternative way home.
"Alright, we know where the labyrinth is now. Let's go meet up with Yue and Shea and bring them back here."
"I almost forgot! The capital is under attack right now, isn't it? I hope everyone's alright..." At Hajime's prompting, the three of them began descending the mountain. Time was short, so they jumped off the cliffside where the lift usually was. That section had been carved smooth, so there was no worry of hitting jutting rocks.
Aiko screamed the whole way down, but both Hajime and Tio ignored her.
They landed safely, though Hajime had to support Aiko as her legs had given out. The capital was awash in flames, but Hajime's first priority was getting Aiko to safety. So he ignored the screams coming from the streets and headed to the palace, planning to meet up with Kaori and Liliana.
When he arrived at the meeting point... he found Kaori lying dead on the ground, a sword sticking out of her chest.