Ajax opens his eyes. Brightness. Light flows upon him from a window to his left. Someone is looking at him.

A woman who smiles brightly. Tears are flowing from her face. Tears of jubilation.

“...Shaula?”

“Ajax... Ajax... I’m so glad you’re awake! I missed you...”

The woman, named Shaula, hugs him. He feels... salvation at her grasp. He places his hands around her. He had seen... she was... she was dead...

But no... how could she ever die? She can never die.

He will never let her die. He will never leave her alone in this place of perdition. He will never let her abandon him in this inferno.

The air in the room becomes colder.

Ajax feels happy waking up to Shaula, and now his happiness multiplies as an influx of strength and vitality circulates his body.

Ajax is getting more and more accustomed to this state of vivacity he finds himself in when he absorbs the heat of his surroundings.

“You’re alive... Shaula... you’re alive...”

“I’m alive... of course I’m alive! I would never... never leave you...”

Tears continue to flow. Ajax absorbs even more of the room’s warmth at her words of love.

Both of them are sitting on her bed, which is covered in a still moist pool of her spilled blood.

Ajax is sitting on the right side of the bed closer to the headboard and Shaula is sitting on the left side closer to the footboard.

She is wearing her chosen blue dress and Ajax is wearing his amateur toga (not that he can really notice what he’s wearing in this moment).

The temperature in the room, which was as warm as a summer afternoon following Shaula’s released flames, now reaches a little below freezing point.

Water vapour within the room starts condensing on surfaces including the bed, Ajax and Shaula’s clothes, the glass window, Andal’s corpse and Ajax’s skin. Also her skin...

Shaula doesn’t feel the drop in temperature or the frost on her skin. But as she’s embracing Ajax in her potentially suffocating grip, she notices something.

Her breath is visible to her.

“Ajax? Is it... is it suddenly colder here?”

“Huh?”

Ajax lets go of Shaula and looks at her face. This is when he notices her respiration and his own, visible to him.

He also notices her cheeks. What was just flowing from her teary eyes has frozen.

“Oh my god!”

Ajax moves back on the bed towards the wall away from Shaula, in fear for her safety.

“W-What’s wrong?”

“Shaula... your tears are frozen!”

Ajax had just been holding Shaula while he absorbed the heat in this room.

When Archbishop Andal had pinned him down and touched his body, Ajax had frozen his arms off. Has he been giving Shaula frostbite or slowly freezing her in the same manner?

“Huh? Oh... oh yeah...”

Shaula touches her face in some surprise. She doesn’t seem to be able to tell her body has gotten colder. As she touches a frozen teardrop, it falls to the ground.

“You... you can’t feel it?”

“No, I can’t. Yeah, I haven’t been able to feel heat or cold since coming here... my body was even on fire and I wasn’t hurt at all...”

“Really? Wow, same... I’m just glad I didn’t freeze your arms off.”

She must not be able to feel hot or cold anymore, just like me... so... we were both given that power... but she wasn’t given my healing factor then? No... she’s alright now, her wound is closed, she’s really alive... so she can’t heal by absorbing energy from her surroundings, maybe? Then how did she...

Ajax moves back towards Shaula, his fear of hurting her now gone.

“Wh-When you were holding me... did I feel cold?”

“Cold? No...”

Shaula takes hold of Ajax’s left palm with both hands. A small amount of frost has collected on it.

“Actually, only you feel warm... were you doing something to make it so cold?”

Ajax, himself also feeling the warmth of her hands, looks towards her face. Even with frozen tears, so long as there’s no dripping blood...

“Apparently I can absorb the heat in the air... wait, wait!! Where are those two guys? The two I was fighting!! They were about to... they killed you, Shaula, where are--”

“Calm down, Ajax! Calm the fuck down!”

Ajax is getting agitated remembering them. The men, the scum he could have put down, but didn’t...

Shaula’s face turns slightly hesitant.

“Where are they?”

“Th-They’re... they’re gone... that shithead called Andal is...”

Shaula lets go of Ajax’s left hand and slowly raises her right hand to point towards the door. The door which Andal leans against, dead.

“Wh...what? Did you...”

“Yes, Ajax... I killed him...”

Shaula speaks in shame at the fact that Ajax is made to bear witness to the consequences of her bloodlust. This side is one that he was never meant to see... one she would never have revealed to him in their home world.

But, now...

“I’m sorry, Shaula... I’m so sorry... I-I was... I was hesitating to stop them... they had killed you... they had humiliated you but still I couldn’t... and you had to clean up my indecis--”

“Shut the fuck up. Shut the fuck up right now. Normal people... don’t just take life without hesitation. And I know you’re a good person. Someone who doesn’t like violence and death. Someone who makes life better for those around you. I’m not as sinless as you are... and I’m not going to try to be. But, so long as I’m here, you won’t have to--”

“No! No... I’m not going to leave things to you... I’m never going to do that again... I fucking fell asleep, Shaula! I don’t know how you defeated them but you could have died!! I could have died and left you here... I’m not sinless... I was never sinless...”

“Ajax...”

Ajax bows his head in apology to her. She looks away in sadness. She looks back at the door. In Ajax’s wallowing thoughts, he realizes...

“Wait... Shaula... where’s the other one? Where’s Gratia?”

“Oh... him... h-he’s actually--”

CRASH.

The wooden door smash open. The wood of the door splinters and turns into shrapnel as the door disintegrates from the strike of an outside force.

“Shaula!!”

Ajax is currently in a state of vigour, his reflexes greatly enhanced from absorbing the heat in their room.

He stands up quickly in response to the noise, trying his best to block Shaula’s body, still sitting on the bed, from the splinters of the destroyed door and those on the other side of it.

No one enters the room, however.

An object is thrown into the centre of the room. Ajax doesn’t recognize it exactly but it looks very similar to...

That’s a grenade!

Ajax runs towards it, in an effort to jump on top of it, to protect Shaula.

Although this might seem like a purely virtuous, selfless action (which it basically is), Ajax has the understanding that his increased healing factor will protect him from the consequences of any destructive force.

He won’t die from even a grenade, he knows this. He’ll just face the pain.

But it still remains to be seen if Shaula has a healing factor as good as the one he has. Ajax knows she’s healed but he doesn’t know how. Until he can figure that out, he has to protect her.

BANG!

The bomb explodes before Ajax can jump on it but it doesn’t send shrapnel to Ajax’s body. Ajax doesn’t really even feel an explosive force.

However, there is a bright light and a loud noise. A bomb like this is meant to disorient the enemy, temporarily impairing vision and hearing.

A... a flash bomb!?

The light, which is quite intense... doesn’t affect Ajax at all. It just looks like a really bright light. It is definitely brighter than any he’s ever seen before but... not blinding...

The noise also feels less than effective against him. He doesn’t even hear the ringing of tinnitus.

He can hear footsteps.

“Ajax!! Are you ok!?”

“Shaula! Stay behind me! I’ll be fine but right now, stay behind me!”

Five men, covered in heavy armour, start entering the open door.

Armour like Creta and Kinser were wearing...

Two of them are holding large, circular shields. Their size reminds Ajax of Spartan shields. Shields to protect them from every danger.

The other three men are holding... already loaded crossbows...

The movement of these men appears slower to Ajax because of his currently enhanced reflexes. These men must be here... in response to Andal and Gratia’s demise?

The men don’t speak as they rush in, shield bearers first. Ajax heads back to where Shaula is. She is now standing but Ajax prevents her from moving in front of him.

“Ajax, what are--”

“Shaula, I love you. Right now, I need you to be quiet behind me... don’t make any movements, just stay behind me! Please trust me!!”

Ajax has been asleep while Shaula was using her powers. He is not aware of her strength. So long as he believes she doesn’t have the power to protect herself, all he can do is try to protect her.

The men with large circular shields step over the corpse of Andal, which is currently even more destroyed after the door was broken through.

They know. They know that he is already dead. That Cardinal Gratia is also already dead. They’ve learned of this even before entering the room.

These men are prepared to die here and they’re prepared to kill here. No talk. No mercy. Right now, the hammer of God will fall upon their enemies. Or at the very least, time will be bought for evacuating the heroes.

Shaula stands behind Ajax, allowing him to shield her.

She does trust him after all. His confidence. Normally, he would be scared at a time like this but it seems... he’s dealt with something already.

But Shaula doesn’t know about Ajax’s healing power. She has the fear that Ajax is just going to sacrifice himself so she can live.

But he has a plan. He has to have one. He would... Ajax would never be so despicable as to sacrifice himself to leave her alone here.

The three men not holding shields aim their crossbows at their enemies, not a word spoken.

Ajax cannot see their eyes. They’re wearing the same vertical slit helmets that Creta and Kinser were wearing. The men he had killed--

No. Focus on this now. Shaula is alive and she will remain alive.

Ajax is prepared to take the hits with the knowledge that he can heal from them. But he prepares himself for the excruciating pain.

He calms himself. He acknowledges his power. He acts with full knowledge that Shaula won’t be hurt by the cold.

Feel the energy. Can you feel it? Feel it coursing through your veins!

Ajax consciously absorbs heat, an act that has either been all or little. When he consumed all heat, he froze people like statues. When he consumed a little, he didn’t receive enough energy, enough vitality, enough strength.

The temperature in the room falls drastically. An environment where men walking through it would develop frostbite in minutes.

The men in their armour start to feel the sudden cold. Their armour is quite thick but it isn’t arctic proof.

The three men holding crossbows fire, keeping themselves protected behind the shield bearers.

I can do this. I can do this. I can--

One of the arrows fires towards his forehead. Ajax attempts to deflect this arrow with his left hand, making use of his even more enhanced agility and reaction speed. This is the important one.

Yes!!

He swats it away towards--

BOOM!

As he deflects away the arrow, it explodes in fire and extreme pressure. His left forearm flies away, disconnected at his elbow. Copious amounts of blood flow out from exposed veins and arteries, his biceps and humerus exposed to the air.

The explosive force doesn’t burn away his face because of his protection against heat but the pressure of the blast knocks his head slightly back.

Explosive arrows... magic? Why--

Ajax feels the other two arrows. One of them strikes his sternum.

BOOM!

His ribcage breaks apart, exposing his heart and lungs. Bits of shredded pectoral muscle scatter in front of him along with the ribs on his chest.

The third arrow strikes his now exposed descending aorta. Ajax’s beating heart is torn apart, dismantled by sheer force from this third explosion. His spine is also broken but a hole doesn’t appear in his upper back.

His diaphragm, stomach, liver and kidneys are unhurt by the heat of the explosion, but wrecked by the force of the blast and arrowhead shrapnel.

Ajax’s lungs are macerated, the air in his chest escaping in new openings made by the explosion rather than through his windpipe.

Right now, he cannot even scream because there is no air in his lungs. He makes a gurgling sound, a sound that makes Shaula behind him scream in terror.

“Ajax!!!! YOU BASTARD... YOU PIECE OF FUCKING SHIT!! WHY DID YOU DO THAT!?”

Ajax falls backwards into her arms, his body already in the process of healing itself.

His lungs has already regenerated as she catches him. He can breath again. He inhales and...

“I can... I can heal... myself... See?”

She sees him regenerate. His heart returns to normal function. His rib cage closes. The pure fear leaves her face replaced by a new, deep sadness.

The men who fired at him see his power as well. Although their helmets prevent their enemies from seeing their expressions, they feel dread.

The fact that Ajax is using what appears to be healing magic of the heart reconstruction tier at the very least. Without using any movements of his body or speaking any incantations.

“Reload!! Aim for the girl this time while he’s healing!!”

A pure rage animates Shaula’s face.

She has new prey.