Watching the military saber about to come down on her head, on the brink of death, Jane Doe felt as though every motion of the soldier before her eyes had slowed dramatically — she could even faintly make out the face of an Ethereal reflected on that steel blade.
Wait. An Ethereal's face??
"Taste my Irish Big Foot! Rua!!!"
An enormous, oversized foot suddenly appeared smack on the rebel's face, kicking him flying clean out of there.
Next, she saw Geno — who by all rights ought to have been off fighting the automated mechs — standing right there before her, fresh as a daisy.
Looking at Geno, still maintaining his Dead-End Butcher form, Jane Doe's body went limp in an instant.
"Are you all right?"
"I'm fine. Not dying yet, at least."
Held in Geno's arms, Jane Doe had never imagined that an Ethereal's icy body could one day feel so warm.
"That's a serious wound! We need to get you treated as fast as possible."
One of Jane Doe's arms had been sliced open by the blade, leaving a long gash. Her smooth skin was awash in scarlet, with bits of flesh peeled back — the wound was utterly horrifying to behold.
"It's fine. I got a life back out of this — can't really say I came out behind."
Once she had been rescued by Geno, the explosive burst of strength in Jane Doe's body completely dissipated.
And once the effects of the adrenaline wore off, the searing, stinging pain throbbing from her wound brought bean-sized beads of sweat out on Jane Doe's forehead.
"I'll get you out of here right now."
Geno then reverted to his human form, scooped Jane Doe up into his arms, and made to carry her off.
But before he could even make his move, that streak of cold steel reappeared in both their fields of vision.
"May the Progenitor forge me!!!"
That soldier had taken a full hit from Geno in his Dead-End Butcher form and somehow not died!
With both of Geno's arms full, he was for the moment in no position to fight back, and could only dodge.
"Tch! What a stubborn, won't-stay-dead bastard!"
He had thought that one strike would be enough to finish his opponent off — but instead, it had now become the biggest setup for a comeback.
"Forging!!!"
The Beast Demon soldier's attacks grew more and more ferocious; meanwhile, his mouth kept muttering things like 'Forging' and 'Loyalty' on endless repeat — it was as though his intelligence had been impaired.
Carrying Jane Doe, Geno's movement was hampered — whether trying to flee or to strike back, both proved decidedly difficult.
"Damn it! This thing's life force is way too tenacious!"
No matter how many times he'd tangled with Beast Demons, Geno still found these things utterly repulsive.
The staying power of a cockroach! You couldn't beat them dead, and you couldn't drag them down either.
Barely any time had passed, and yet the damage Geno had inflicted was already showing signs of healing up.
"Put me down!"
Jane Doe spoke weakly from within Geno's arms.
All he had to do was put her down, and Geno would be free to counter-attack.
"Are you taking me for an idiot?! This guy's obviously gunning straight for you!"
Jane Doe was telling Geno to set her down, but Geno wasn't dumb either — every single one of his opponent's strikes was coming straight at the Jane Doe in his arms.
If Geno set her down, the Beast Demon soldier would, in that very first instant, hack Jane Doe to pieces.
"Have you lost your mind?! If we keep going like this, we're both going to die!"
Jane Doe was about ready to laugh from sheer exasperation — how could this guy be so pigheaded?
Her rescue comms had been cut off by the enemy; no one was coming to save them.
As long as Geno kept lugging her along, sooner or later this monster was going to grind him down to death.
"First, I'm not an idiot. Second, what makes you so sure neither of us is going to make it out alive?"
Geno once again dodged the Beast Demon soldier's strike, his eyes shining and his tone resolute. That air of unshakable conviction even left Jane Doe wondering whether there wasn't some factor she had failed to take into account.
But before she could puzzle out anything definite, the Beast Demon soldier's onslaught was once again upon the two of them.
The Beast Demon soldier pressed his attack; Geno fell back, again and again.
And after Geno had dodged his opponent's strike one more time, he was about to retreat once more — only to slam into the wall behind him. There was nowhere left to fall back to.
Seeing this, Jane Doe was burning with anxiety. If they didn't move now, the Beast Demon soldier's strike was about to come down.
"Let me go — quick!"
"I'm not letting go!"
Geno bellowed a single roar, deliberately spinning around and exposing his back to his attacker, taking the full, solid weight of that blade square-on.
Cradled in his arms, Jane Doe was struck dumb. Could there really, in this world, be someone so stupid as to do something like that just to protect one other person?
For a moment her mind was in utter chaos, unable to tell which of the two of them was actually the idiot — herself, or Geno.
Soon enough, however, she was yanked back to reality.
After all, reality wasn't turn-based — never had it been an orderly back-and-forth exchange of attacks.
The Beast Demon soldier's assault was nowhere near finished; having seen blood after slashing Geno's back once, he only grew more frenzied.
The military saber in his hand whipped through the air like a gale, hacking madly at Geno's back.
Jane Doe took it all in — each spray of crimson that flew up made her feel as though her very eyes were splitting open.
"Put me... down."
Jane Doe put the suggestion forward once again. By this point she was already extremely weak from the blood loss; the face that had always been pale to begin with was now as white as paper.
"I told you — I'm not abandoning you. And besides, the two of us are going to be saved any moment now."
To Jane Doe, what Geno was saying just sounded like the consoling rambling of someone who'd been hacked silly by the Beast Demon soldier. She tried with everything she had to push out of Geno's embrace — but no matter how she strained, she couldn't muster any strength at all.
On the other side, the Beast Demon soldier — who had been swinging his blade nonstop — was beginning to notice something off: this kid in front of him hadn't put up any resistance at all, and he himself had landed a fair number of slashes, with plenty of blood spilled.
So why was the guy still completely fine?!
Even just counting the blood loss, by now he ought to have been able to fill two large mineral-water bottles with it.
How could Geno still be acting like nothing at all was wrong?
Any ordinary person would long since have picked up on something being off about Geno — but having undergone Half-Beast-Demonification, his IQ had dropped a fair bit, and he was no longer capable of seriously thinking the matter through.
All he wanted right now was to hack his target to death with everything he had.
If the back wasn't enough to kill the guy, then he'd just have to switch to a different spot.
And so they saw the Beast Demon soldier raise his military saber high overhead, taking aim straight for Geno's neck and bringing it swinging down.
Seeing the scene unfold, Jane Doe's pupils contracted sharply.
It was as though she had already pictured the image of Geno's head tumbling to the ground.
But before the gruesome scene she'd imagined could come to pass, a sharp whistling crack of air being split open reached her ears.
And then they saw a column of blood, mixed with murky white matter, erupt out of the Beast Demon soldier's head, splattering both of them from head to toe.
Geno hastily spun around, watching the Beast Demon soldier with his entire being on alert, terrified the man would pull another corpse-rises-again routine.
And the Jane Doe cradled in his arms was the same — she didn't dare so much as let out a deep breath.
Only once the Beast Demon soldier had collapsed for good and stayed down did the two of them realize they really were safe at last.
"Whew... what — what just happened?"
"Reinforcements. My reinforcements."
As Geno spoke, he held a thumbs-up out toward an abandoned high-rise far in the distance.
And up on the rooftop of that building, far removed from the battlefield, Trigger silently lowered the sniper rifle in his hands, and lifted his own thumb up in just the same gesture in reply.
Back when he'd taken a shot at Geno way back when, he'd already known this old kid's eyesight was unbelievably sharp.
____
👻🔥Seek: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: COTE: Counterattack System
Let's hit these goals:
🎯 100 Powerstones = 1 extra chapter for the public!