There was something wrong with me.
I could easily tell this, with how my thoughts fully focused on just the man down my iron sights.
But how did I come from an intelligence that gave me a much greater ability to process everything than an average human could ask for to someone incapable of turning his eyes away from his next kill?
Was it the influence of my evolved bond with Fay? The negative effect of killing too much without balancing up the scales of my intimacy with her? Was I now going into a bloody frenzy?
***-Ning-***
Or maybe a near-death experience, a first real one where I could feel the cold touch of the scythe-bearer on my shoulder was behind this strange change to my psyche?
Whatever it was, it wasn't a reason for me to keep this man suffering.
In the strangest of ways, even though he nearly killed me, I actually had mad respect for him. Not because he nearly bested me. Without my weapons, I was just slightly stronger than an average human, not an opponent that someone on this man's level would ever bother with.
I respected the man because, in the strangest of ways, he became a teacher for me. An important teacher who forced me to understand the weight of death, something I served with extreme ease thus far.
The fragility of my life.
The weight of losing it is expressed in sadness and tears on Fay's face.
The end of all my plans, hopes, wishes, dreams, desires, regrets...
This man taught me all of this, with a simple and nearly successful strike. And now, standing above his powerless body, with my shottie ready to discharge and fry the man's flesh into the soft earth below...
I actually struggled to pull the trigger.
'A man who taught me the weight of death, brought to its doors by yours truly,' I thought, heaving a sigh as I reaffirmed the strength in my arm and chased away all the doubts.
Now that I've learned death, I've come to respect the danger that surrounded me. And letting this man stay alive any further would be akin to asking him to pull out a new trick out of his ass.
***-War-***
"It's a shame," I sighed as I made sure my muzzle pointed straight at the man's head.
No matter how strong he was, pushing a thick slug through his brain would do the job.
"It really is," I added, looking down at the man with proper sympathy.
The ringing in my head continued to grow louder and louder as if an annoying neighbour was determined to keep knocking on my doors to make me turn the music down. An annoying noise I couldn't get rid of, no matter what.
"It's a shame, but such is a soldier's fate," I spoke after taking a breath and raising the gun just a little bit higher to compensate for its mass weighing me down.
'Such is a soldier's fate.'
Those words now sounded... comforting.
And now that I understood their meaning, I was all giddy to do this last and greatest favor to my dearest friend and teacher, sending him off like the warrior he was!
'Right, I should pull the trigger to shoot,' my memories were strangely hazy, slow to respond. Just figuring out what a gun was to begin with took me a moment.
[Hijack procedure blocked]
[Seed awakening: 97...]
BOOM!
Like a snapping balloon, a flash streaked across the dome of darkness I was in, only for the entire thing to collapse in a single instant. And the moment it did, I saw a bright flash falling down from the sky, striking all the way into the ground a mere meter ahead.
[CRITICAL WARNING!]
A huge text flashed before my eyes in red, refusing to go away no matter how hard I tried to chase away or ignore it.
Because right behind it, just fifty meters away, a rushing mass of fresh cavalry was charging right to where I stood.
But by now, I wasn't alone. And I could tell even without looking around.
To my side, Fay lowered herself down to absorb the shock of her landing. Yet, the very moment her feet touched the ground... the time appeared to come to a complete halt...
No, not a complete stop. It continued to move... just at a pace that made it no different from stopping it completely.
Thanks to this strange stop of time, I could see a shockwave rise in a circle and move away from Fay's landing point, bulging the earth as it traveled through it... Only to suddenly snap back and collapse right back at the girl's spot, only for Fay to raise herself up, her hair dancing in the air as if gravity suddenly stopped working on it.
Fay leaned forward, her mouth opening up, her hair turning into a white storm behind her...
"..."
Fay's lips produced no voice.
Instead, all the aura suffusing the air suddenly ceased... only to follow the order of Fay's soundless voice, stirring up all over the place.
Sparks exploded all over the girl's white figure as she leaned further and further up, her hair seemingly elongating and morphing all over the girl, creating a new, fluid, fox-like shape above her.
And as the sparks of Fay's aura scattered around. The tranquil status quo broke. All the mana in the air fell in line with the chaotic authority hidden within Fay's sparks. Then, two sparks of lighting flashed across Fay's face, giving rise to an electric storm that instantly covered a massive sphere with the girl at its center.
**End of the prologue**