Consciousness plummeted bit by bit toward the Abyss, until at last, all that remained before his eyes was a string of red characters.
——"Life signs weak, arcanum functions low, condition match: criterion C6, deletion program commences in 10 seconds," 9, 8, 7...
The numbers dwindled, and in the end, everything would return to zero, everything would vanish without a trace.
(That alone, I absolutely cannot allow...!!!)
Was it resentment that propelled him, or his final ounce of willpower, or some other reason? The man, whose body and soul were no longer human, mustered his last bit of strength to raise his claw and plunged it fiercely into his skull. He felt no pain as the claw pierced his brain, nor could he sense his fingers stirring through the brain matter, he just blindly groped and swirled until, with only 1 second left on the countdown, he managed to claw out a hard object from his head.
(This is it... Finally...)
