"Gh—!" Nightingale's vision fractured into shards of red and black. His ears rang with the sound of tearing fabric, threatening to split apart. It felt as though someone had reached into his skull and twisted his very nerves, shredding both mind and body from the inside out.
For a fleeting moment, he regretted his reckless act of defiance but the feeling didn't last. Painful as it was, it was still preferable to the grim alternative.
Then again, every action carried a consequence, and this was simply the price he had to pay.
Losing the strength to support his own weight, Nightingale dropped to one knee, gasping for breath. Blood streamed from his nose and eyes, sizzling as it struck the ground. It was obvious that he had suffered tremendous backlash from stopping that demonic strike.
Still, he smiled.
"Hah… I'm still alive…? It actually... worked."
By some divine intervention or perhaps sheer luck, he had narrowly escaped the clutches of certain death.
