Heavy breath escaped Rin's mouth, struggling to even stand. Her hands not only trembled but cracked from her previous punch. She couldn't bother looking at where the monster was blown away since her gaze was forcefully bent to the ground.

*Pant*

Her vision was blurry and her mind was clouded, unable to think of anything. Pain occupied most of her focus, yet she felt numb to any external injuries. From her perspective, everything apart from herself appeared so far away, like they were on a completely different plane.

[Damn it!!] Tenma's shout thankfully managed to maintain her on the ground. [You damn fodders!! Make yourself useful!!]

Nevertheless, the word she heard couldn't be processed by her brain and sounded like a foreign language. From the corner of her eyes, which lost their former radiance, she caught several movements and presence approaching her.

Monster.

Although she couldn't quite grasp their appearances, their killing intent was all too clear to mistake them as allies. Numerous grotesque hands extended and tried to rip Rin aparts. Cries and inhuman screams resounded, reminiscing of a horror movie.

The black-haired girl moved, using the last bit of her intelligence to fight back. Mostly, however, it was her reflex that made her move and counterattack. Right now, her sole objective was to kill Tenma.

With no sword and weapon, she could only fight barehanded against the likes of goblins, imps, golem, and other abominations. She stood her ground though. She was gaining ground.

In one moment, she crushed the head of a monster, in others the sheer force of her punch made deadly hole in the body of her opponents. Most attacks breezed through her and even without a sword, her hands alone were sharper.

Blood colored her body, sometimes red, sometimes green, or even blue. Corpse amassed around her vicinities letting out a foul stench that would make one vomit. The monster's scream slowly shifted to an agonizing one.

Yet, Rin felt none of it.

Judging she took too much time on the fodders, she looked for her target who was trying to recover in mid-air. Transferring her strengths on her feet, she launched her tattered self toward Tenma.

[Hii—!] The dragon shrieked despite himself.

However, fortunately for him, Rin's ascension was cut short. Soon after she leaped off the ground, a warm unpleasant feeling covered her left leg, akin to that of someone grabbing her.

Without being able to react, the girl was forcefully returned and savagely thrown on a nearby wall by a stone hand. By this point, though, any additional pain wasn't much of a problem since her state was at the worst it could get. The small amount of blood coughed out of her mouth was nothing.

Unable to recover on time, the swarm of monsters immediately assaulted her. Here again, it eerily resembled horror movies(especially the one where there are zombies). With the mass of aberration slamming on her, her sight and movement were rendered useless.

She could feel claws piercing through her body, fang biting her skin, hands crushing her bones and amongst all that, the crack of her limit break continued to spread, claiming her life.

And yet, her heart continued to beat.

She clenched her hands, raised them, and slammed them on the ground. Tremor ensued, shockwave blew the weakest monster and the destruction of the soil parted the stronger one.

A gap appeared and once again, the black-haired girl flew high into the air, breaking through the pile of monsters. Her blood fluttered in the wind, along with her hair, before drying up like a stain on her feminine frame. At this point, Rin's former beauty was overshadowed by the filth stacking up on her.

One could wonder if she didn't become a monster herself.

Even now, as she approached the dragon with clear killing intent, the slight fear in Tenma's eyes couldn't be concealed anymore.

With her hands still clenched, Rin struck, once again with her full power, the humanoid monster's abdomen. The girl didn't feel anything but her opponent certainly did. With a loud crashing sound, Tenma slammed directly from mid-air to the ground.

Rin followed suit, albeit at a slower speed, and reached the land with a not-so-loud crashing sound. As soon as her feet got a stable standing, she rushed to the overpowered lizard to finish her job.

What painfully greeted her was a blinding column of light heading toward her. Unable to defend, the girl was engulfed by a lesser version of Tenma's 'Dragon breath' with no less destructive power.

Nevertheless, Rin didn't stop moving.

With her two fragile-looking hands placed in front of her as a sort of shield, she continued to advance, practically digging her feet on the ground with each step to not be pushed back.

The skin of her forearm began to peel off, which looked terribly painful, all the while the crack intensified. Nonetheless, she didn't stop.

Tenma's pale face entered her sight after what seemed to be a long march and the pillar of light finally ceased to assault her. With heavy breath, unsteady steps, unfocused eyes, and wonky equilibrium, she attacked the dragon.

To no surprise, although it held quite the power, it was unable to blow Tenma away. Compared to her previous one, it was certainly weak. The dragon noticed this, of course, and decided to counterattack.

Without her cognitive power, Rin couldn't predict the attack and therefore couldn't dodge it. A seething pain was generated on her left cheek and her whole vision was shaken. Acknowledging that she had been punched, the girl relied on her reflex to avoid any of the oncoming attacks.

Reflex, who, of course, wasn't that reliable. Her consciousness as well as her subconsciousness were all in bad shape.

[H-haha,] Tenma spoke, the semblance of a smile returning to his face. [T-that's right, you human should be like this!]

At the humanoid monster's mercy, several points of Rin's body felt more pain. Her vision turned and returned up and down, she felt more and more on the point of literally breaking.

She tried to budge and counterattack, of course, but as more time and damage accumulated, she found it difficult to move. It was as though she was thrown deep into the water with a shackle on her feet. The more profound she goes, the more pressure she experienced and the more difficult it was to breathe, to see, to feel—to do anything.

[That's right!] Tenma continued, recovering his former pride. [Just stop moving already, And realize that you have already lost!!]

The point of impact was her stomach, making her stumble a few feet backward. The dragon's voice did enter her ears but she couldn't comprehend any of their meaning. Nevertheless, the monster's gesture did tip her to look around herself.

[Look carefully!] Halting his attack temporarily, Tenma spread his wings and hands. [Every single one of your friends and allies has already died! Only my minions remain!]

Rin's eyes surveyed her surroundings and, indeed, though blurry, she didn't catch any human form in her vision. She couldn't see her sister, Winter, or anyone else. It appeared like she was the only one left.

‘...’

Rin straightened her back and let her hands fall on her side limply. All she could hear was her own hastened breathing as her sight slowly turned black despite her eyes being open.

“...I......see.” She pronounced with an awful voice, drained of all power.

[It's your turn now!] Tenma resumed, using his scaly hand to blow the girl away with all his strength.

Helpless, Rin's back smashed on a wall, deactivating her nano mask automatically. Sense of pain already left her but she still coughed blood out nonetheless. Stuck in her position, as though she was sitting on a pile of rock, all control was robbed of her. She couldn't move anymore.

Her heart slowly but surely began to slow down.

‘I...failed.....didn't I...?’ Struggling to think, the girl wasn't even allowed to lift her head to look at her surroundings one last time.

Her breathing grew faint.

The putrid smell that constantly roamed the city was numbed by her unfunctional nose.

Her vision had completely blackened and lost all of its radiance.

Despite being surrounded by rubbles, she couldn't feel any of them through her touch, and neither could she feel pain.

Every noise that had previously entered her ears was all completely shut down to welcome silence.

What was left was the ever-expanding crack on her body and the feeling of her left arm slowly disintegrating to dust.

‘...Is this .... Death?’

...

... ...

... ... ...

“Stand up!” A young girl shouted but of course, it didn't reach Rin.

Yet, a strange greenish-blue Aura manifested itself around the black-haired girl as though to wake her up. Completely outside of her control, her eyes were forcefully opened, blind as they were.

The strange Aura continued and gathered around Rin's iris like a sentient lifeform before lifting her head toward a certain direction in the same forceful manner. A faint figure finally managed to enter the dying girl's sight.

A figure she knew all too well, floating in mid-air with a bloodied body.

Rin's body twitched inadvertently.

“You can do it, right?” Rena asked from far away. “Sis.”

A small cold feeling caressed Rin's cheek and she realized she was crying. Her sight, nose, touch, and earing returned in an instant like a miracle and before she even realized it, her lips warmly moved upward.

With a still-beating heart, Rin was smiling

“...Yeah.” Albeit weakly, the girl answered with the last bit of her will.

Between sisters, no more words were necessary.

One last time, Rin clenched her already broken hand and gathered the enormous strength she currently possessed. Placing her feet firmly on the ground, she looked ahead toward her target.

For just one single, brief instant, Tenma's body was paralyzed by psychokinesis.

Rin kicked the ground, shattering one of her feet to dust, and leaped ahead with her entire speed. The wind caressed her face, carrying away her tears and every single one of her worries.

As though in slow motion, she arrived in front of Tenma and didn't even hesitate before piercing his body.

[—!]

Now inside her small hands resided a tiny stone-colored in red, the Dragon's Core.

[You—gh!] Unable to talk, the monster coughed out blood

With the last bit of control she had, Rin exerted her strength and destroyed the core, marking her victory.

Only, soon after, her hands, too, cracked and shattered to dust.

With no support, Rin slowly fell to the ground.

Her nose dysfunctioned.

Her touch became numb.

Her hearing left out all sounds.

Her eyes closed.

And, lastly—

“Bye...bye...” She conveyed with a non-existent voice to her distant sister.

—Her heart stopped beating.