"Eh...?"
Before Angelica realised what happened, she was looking up at the sky. For whatever reason, she had collapsed onto the ground.
... What's going on?
Thinking so without knowing the truth, Angelica tried to get up. But she couldn't. It was then that she finally noticed.
"...?"
Something was pressing onto her body. To be specific, someone's weight was pressing down on her.
She glanced up, only to see someone wearing a black suit resembling a reinforced motorcycle riding suit on top of her. However, most of its components were severely damaged and the visor of the full-face helmet was scattered. Clearly, It was obvious that the suit has already lost all functionality, but that was not the important part.
Through the broken screen of the helmet, she saw a familiar face.
"... Jakga?"
Kim Jakga didn't respond to Angelica's dumbfounded mumbling. He didn't move. Looking closer, It seemed like he had lost unconsious.
As Angelica tried calling him out, her hand touched his shoulder. At the same time, she immediately noticed something was wrong with his body.
... Why did he feel so light?
Surely, he couldn't be lighter than her. But without knowing any better, she wouldn't have guessed it was the weight of a human pressing down on her.
Abruptly, her gaze dropped downward, and the reason for his lightness became clear. His entire lower half was missing, yet oddly, there was no blood. It was as if that part of his body had been obliterated, erased from existence along with the rest of him.
She was only holding what remained of his body. Thinking about it, wasn't his body unusually cold?
She was truly speechless. It was a sight that was too unreal to be considered reality so she could only stared at his upper half dumbfoundedly. It almost felt like something out from a dream.
"-------!?"
Angelica's consciousness awakened right there and then, and she remembered the moment like a flashback.
The enemy had appeared infront of her and Kim Jakga had protected her from the weapon of death by using his own body. By doing so, he ended up being sliced apart like a Christmas tuckey.
"...Ah."
The scene felt utterly unreal to Angelica. No, she desperately wanted to reject the cruel reality before her, very much so and wished to dismiss it as nothing more than a nightmare.
But It was the undeniable truth that the person known has Kim Jakga had sacrificed his life to save her own.
That truth ignited a change within the depths of Angelica's mind.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
She raised an aggrieved scream. It was a scream that emerged from someone that had experienced the cruelty of the story for the first time.
However, she was not only one that was shocked.
Keikoku Amane, who had retracted his black wings, looked at the scene with astonishment. He was shocked by a certain someone's actions. Namely, the actions of Kim Jakga who had been divided to two.
"What the hell?"
Though he was the one who delivered the fatal blow that sent Kim Jakga to hell, even he couldn't help but feel a sense of disbelief.
What happened was rather simple.
The moment before he swung his wing at the target, that person suddenly emerged, pushed the girl out of the way, and took the full force of the attack instead.
It was simply enough. But Keikoku Amane's mind still couldn't understand it.
The fact that he managed to reach him in time to save, meant he was fast enough to rival the speed of his antimatter explosion which was impossible. If that was the case, then he wouldn't have lost so one-sidedly before the woman arrived.
There was also another question that continued to nag his chest.
... Wait, If he could match my speed, why didn't he just carry that woman and evaded the attack entirely? Surely, if he used that kind of power, he would have put up a better fight. More importantly, why would he choose to sacrifice himself? Is there something I'm missing here?
Keikoku Amane was unaware that Kim Jakga had defied the rules of the Story and willingly faced the consequences.
The distance between them was ten metres but Angelica closed that distance with a single step.
Angelica swung the Nameless sword and Keikoku Amane calmly countered using his right hand.
Boom! A loud explosion rang out and the earth trembled as if there was an earthquake. The force was the result of a violent collision between attacker and defender.
However, the winner of this clash was already decided.
"What the hell was that?"
Extremely agitated, Keikoku Amane immediately retracted backwards. The bones in his right arm was dislocated. It was not completely crushed, but the arm was no longer usable.
A strange phenomenon occurred the moment his hand made contact with the Nameless Sword.
His hand was forcefully dragged into the sword.
No.
The word 'dragged' was somewhat lacking. The space around his arm was forcefully distorted with the intention of crushing his arm.
The force he felt was as if his hand were being pulled into a black hole. The sheer magnitude of the propulsion was overwhelming. Had he stayed in that spot, his entire arm, from shoulder to fingertip, would have surely been crushed.
"Tch. This is just bullshit! How am I supposed to fight with one harm?"
Keikoku Amane cursed at his current predicament, but his immediately shifted elsewhere. It was because Angelica appeared behind him while emitting a fierce killing intent.
He clenched his jaw and narrowly evaded the Nameless sword aimed for his back. It did not have a sharp edge, but Keikoku Amane dodged that sword with all his might as if it was the plague.
"You won't even give me a second to breathe."
[Antimatter cannon Lv. 10 has activated.]
Without hesitation, he unleashed the Breath of World Destruction to disintegrate Angelica in an instant. Even so...
"?!"
Angelica sliced through the black beam with the Nameless sword and continued her tremendous assault.
How? What the hell is that sword?!!
Keikoku Amane wanted to scream those words out but he was busy dodging Angelica's ruthless attacks. At this rate, wouldn't he truly be defeated?
Keikoku leaped into the air to create distance from Angelica who was swinging her sword like a madwoman. But he soon realised his mistake.
Boom!
The nameless sword was swung and a hurricane with wind speeds of a 120 meters per second blasted towards him like a cannon shot.
It was a sword that defied the principles of the world.
Fighting against a conceptual weapon was the same as bringing a knife to a gun fight. In principle, It was almost impossible to win.
At this rate, he would be the one laying six feet under.
Upon that realisation, something snapped inside Keikoku's head.
"Fuck this!"
[Antimatter Lv. 10 has activated.]
With a 'click' sound, all mental restraints were unlocked at once and Keikoku fell into madness.
So what if it was a conceptual weapon? That weapon will be shattered by the ability to manipulate antimatter just like the rest.
If he couldn't do so, he would simply crush the wielder instead.
Boom! Accompanying gale winds, the six Antimatter wings behind Keikoku instantly regained their forms.
Wings made up of antiparticles that would destory regular matter upon contact.
Those very wings of destruction tore apart the hurricane with an 'explosion' and flew towards Angelica's body like the jaws of a beast.