What Cannot Be Chosen (2)
It was premature to judge someone just because they had one arm, but Shiina felt it in her chest.
"Kuan?"
The man who had sheathed his sword turned slowly.
Except for his closed right eye, he was exactly as Shiina had imagined.
"Are you all right?"
Shiina ran to him.
She couldn't decide whether she wanted to cling to him or, absurdly, slap him hard across the face.
'You bastard.'
Her cheek stung.
'I won't just take this lying down.'
She put weight into her shoulder and stepped forward, accelerating—then saw Kuan's face.
The scar across his right eye.
That short diagonal wound hadn't merely cut the skin; it had clearly pierced the eye.
'He really is a bastard.'
She swung with everything she had, but before the blow landed her face was already buried in Kuan's chest.
"Why…."
Hot tears soaked Kuan's breastbone.
"Why were you so foolish…."
The strength of the demons she'd faced earlier was on a completely different level from the enemies she'd fought before.
But Kuan's swordsmanship had reached a mastery that far surpassed them.
That was the kind of wound it produced.
Kuan wrapped one arm around her back and forced his voice to be as emotionless as possible.
"I'm fine."
Because of that, hadn't he protected her?
If losing one eye meant he could protect her, the price was cheap… but—
'This isn't enough.'
Knowing how strong their foes were, Kuan had steeled himself to pay an even greater price.
"Let's go. Where are the others?"
Shiina's eyes sharpened and she pushed off his chest.
"That's it? You left without a word, then suddenly come back and say this?"
"That's correct."
He was so calm it felt absurd.
"Then why did you come? Why go all the way down here? You must have plenty of places to fight."
I don't know.
When Shirone told her to follow her heart, the first person who came to mind was Shiina herself.
'What did I expect?'
She still looked human, but how long could that last?
In Kuan's mind he could already see his future—his limbs severed, his body reduced to chunks of meat.
"It's part of a plan. I have nothing left to lose. Shiina, let go of your hopes as well."
"Uh…"
She opened her lips to speak, then closed them and set a cold expression on her face.
At that moment, the operation squad's blast echoed and demons surged forward, blackening the line ahead.
"Kukukuku. What are you?"
They were ghouls—about three meters tall, muscle without skin, dozens of mouths spread across their bodies.
A single talisman split one face down the middle, but the sight still made her nauseous.
Brigade commander Kereer.
One way to rank ghouls was by mouth count, and Kereer had an astonishing 237 mouths.
"Fall back."
Kuan stepped in front of them with a serious look.
'Just one of them.'
A normal ghoul metabolized energy fast enough to consume a loaf of bread in two seconds.
'No wonder they're always hungry…'
But when a ghoul was sated, it was one of the hardest demons to deal with.
Kuan drew his sword.
"I'll lure them as far away as I can. Get to safety."
"No. I'll fight too."
"They're stronger than turtle-beasts. With your current skill you can't handle them."
'That doesn't concern you.'
Her tone still held a cold trace of resentment, and Kuan frowned as he looked back at her.
"I only have one arm."
His grief was plain in that voice.
"I can't hold you and fight." As Shiina's brows formed a mournful line, Kereer burst into laughter.
"Puhehehe!"
Tongues flung from the mouths over its body like a riot of colors; the sight made her want to vomit.
"So that's how it is. Even if you die, you won't let that woman go…? Huh? What to do? I'll eat that woman first. Puhehehe!"
A subordinate scowled.
"Stop laughing. You're making us hungry."
Kereer sobered.
"All right, let's hurry."
As the pack of carnivorous fiends exhaled their aura, Shiina shivered; the primal hunger of demons—the urge to feed that had existed since life began—made her head swim.
'I have to run.'
Just as they were about to teleport away, Kereer barreled in right on top of them.
The demon faces flashed on Shiina's retinas, but the signal hadn't reached her brain yet.
'Huh?'
By the time she cleared her head she was somewhere else entirely, and a flood of moments crashed over her.
'Kuan.'
She felt his only usable arm wrap around her waist.
Shiina bit her lip.
"Because of me…."
"Wake up. This is only the beginning."
At that, Shiina lifted her head and saw demons moving at incredible speed.
'They chased us here?'
A normal ghoul's metabolism was thirty times that of a human; the carnivorous fiends were an astounding 240 times.
"There! There!" The sound seemed to come from far away but, in that strange way, was suddenly right on top of them. Kuan spoke up.
"You may lose consciousness."
"What—"
The moment Shiina opened her mouth—
The clown—Pierrot, the super-glutton.
The landscape tilted more than seventy degrees and the flat ground turned into a cliff as vast as the world.
"Ugh!"
Gravity churned her stomach; acceleration sent blood rushing in the wrong direction.
"Uuuugh!"
The world spun.
In the spinning景 the afterimages of the demons streaked across her retinas at breakneck speed.
'Where is this?'
Disoriented, Shiina was forced to accept the shifting scenery.
Sky and earth aligned vertically and then began to tilt sharply to one side.
'We're falling.'
There was no other conclusion under that gravity.
"Aaah—"
But the view under her feet was a sky white with clouds.
They were falling through the sky.
'And this is…'
The world Kuan lived in.
'So twisted.'
A life where confessing love or walking hand in hand was an impossible dream.
Shiina's eyes burned.
'Still…'
The shared ocean of sky was so beautiful she couldn't give it up.
"Kuan, I…."
Just as she tried to voice her resolve, her stomach convulsed.
"Ugh!"
She wanted to vomit; her cheek ballooned, but she couldn't bring herself to spit it out to Kuan.
"Shiina."
The scenery turned half a circle and the weight of standing on solid ground finally flowed through her body.
They hadn't risen that high, apparently, but endurance had mattered.
"Uhk! Uhk!"
Kuan patted her back.
"If you need to vomit, do it. The gravitational acceleration has been changing—it's only natural."
She held it in and hissed.
"Is that the problem right now?" The demons fell silent in their chatter, then shouts searching for Kuan and Shiina rose from all directions.
"Come out! Where are you!"
"Coward! Get out here! Are you teasing how hungry we are?"
They were amid scattered demons, and none could pinpoint Kuan's position.
'This really is like a circus.'
Kuan said.
"They've burned energy suddenly and can't fight like before. Now we just need to finish them."
Their shouting grew thin, shoulders drooping; even their voices were turning hoarse.
"I'll take care of it."
Kuan, who didn't usually grab the spotlight, frowned deeper with his closed eye.
"You'll have to get used to this."
She smiled, set her eyes, and unleashed ice magic in every direction.
Thick icicles drove into the open mouths of the carnivorous fiends, and screams erupted.
When her vision cleared, Kereer—still looking around—finally saw Kuan.
"How dare you mock me!"
He pushed off the ground to lunge, but he was far slower than before.
"Grrrgh!"
From Kereer's belly came a thunderous rumble.
"Wait! I'll chew you up!"
He grabbed a surviving subordinate and hugged him to his chest; mouths across his body moved as one.
"Kraaa! Kraaa!"
"Hold on. I'll avenge you." Hundreds of mouths sucked at the flesh and Shiina made a face of nausea.
"Now I can live a little."
Kereer tossed the desiccated subordinate aside and glared at Kuan.
"I won't just kill you—"
Kuan vanished.
At the same moment the ground in Kereer's sight tilted and then flipped a full 180 degrees.
"What—?!"
Even as he raised his arms and flailed while falling toward the sky, he didn't understand.
Kuan's blade had sliced his neck; the head detached and rose into the air, his world spinning as nausea hit.
"Waaah!"
The head thudded down and rolled across the ground.
Shiina stared dumbfounded as Kereer's body still staggered with its arms waving.
"Let's go."
Kuan sheathed his sword and returned; Shiina, back in her senses, hurriedly turned her head.
"That's right!"
Sade seemed to have escaped safely, but demons still crowded the central building.
"The headmaster is still inside—he's surrounded by demons, but—" At that moment a blast erupted from the central building.
"My god…."
Where Shiina looked a gigantic mushroom cloud rose into the sky.
"Kukuku. Kukukuku." Alpheas, pinned under the rubble, laughed.
"Alpheas! Are you okay? Hey!"
Olivia crawled over and shook him, forgetting the blood on her head.
"Don't worry. This won't kill you."
Lighting magic revealed the giant pillar had crushed both his knees.
"…Why did you do that?"
When the demons entered the building, Olivia had tried to cast a self-destruct spell.
But Alpheas had been faster.
"A bomb?" Pressing the detonator for explosives stored underground, he used magic to shield Olivia.
"Why? Want to sue me?"
Storing explosives at the school was clearly illegal, but Olivia snorted.
"So this was your trump card? And you're a mage."
"Whether it's magic or a bomb doesn't matter."
"…That's so like you."
Like the young Alpheas who always thought particles or waves were fine so long as they were beautiful.
"Wait. I'll pull your legs free first."
Olivia tried to lift the pillar with magic; Alpheas winced.
"Arthur. I'm probably buried ten meters down. If we mess with this wrong, we'll be crushed."
"Same here. A second collapse will happen soon. Whether it works or not, we have to try."
"Don't say that."
Hearing the unfamiliar tone in Alpheas's voice, Olivia turned to him gently.
"Could you… stay with me a little longer?"
She already knew.
With both of them drained, there was no way out from underground.
"All right."
Olivia slipped through the tight space and lay down beside Alpheas.
Silence.
"What are you thinking? About your wife?"
"I'm not that shameless. I already said my goodbyes. Before the demons came."
"Then?"
"Feels pathetic, I guess."
Alpheas turned his head.
"It wasn't that I didn't mean it. When you confessed, I thought I might be able to start a new life. Sorry. I was cowardly."
Olivia's eyes filled with tears.
"You waited to say that now? You idiot."
"Kuku, at least you heard it while alive, right?" She laughed and nodded, then gently stroked his cheek.
As they put out the light magic and slowly brought their lips together, a stream of light flowed in from outside.
"Huh?"
The next moment the entire pile of rubble began to rise, lifted by some force.
"Headmaster! Are you all right?"
Shirone's face appeared above the pit, and a massive hand of light gripped the debris.