It sounded like it was bouncing a few times, getting dragged, then falling back down again. But at a glance from the window I could tell what it really was…

A package with wires and many parts that explain that the thing…

Is actually a timed bomb…

Reaching for Fanya…

I try not to crush her body when I carry her, throw myself shattering the small box window glass, free fall from a height.

Ignoring the sound of a huge explosion from behind, my priorities haven't changed even now… Nothing but the need to take this girl away from this place…

As I created a black plate from my own magic that served as a foothold every time I jumped here and there, a hail of bullets then charged at me from behind…

I don't know what weapons they used, or maybe it was this bullet that wasn't just an ordinary bullet, but my body was pierced in many parts.

Forcing me to fall down, the panic didn't allow me to protect myself as it landed hard on the ground…

“Fanya?!”

I checked all over her body even though she insisted that she herself was fine.

“What was that?” Fanya turned her head from the side of my neck, she saw something she shouldn't have seen…

The bodies of many people were already scattered in disarray.

The smell of blood permeated her brain, this girl's eyes widened in silence as she gripped my shoulder harder.

I embraced, while forcing those gazes of her to flee from those many deaths…

I need a second to think…

First… The whereabouts of the enemy is unknown to me.

My head turned here and there to understand the situation, then I told Fanya to go running with everyone, get out of this city park area, anywhere but here…

Next… The wound from the gunshot was already starting to close…

I guess there won't be any problems as long as my head doesn't get hit by the mysterious weapon, so I don't have to worry about that thing right now.

But…

If I really have to fight…

It hasn't even been four days since my battle with Albert.

My stage two counter-curse is currently still creeping up my shoulders and back.

Though I know that they are targeting me, I also know that I won't be able to win this one.

I think… Is that all?

~~~~~

Okay, now I've understood the situation very clearly. Apparently letting Fanya go was just one big stupid mistake.

Since I won't be able to fight, I should have protected Fanya while running away with her.

So I decided to run after the girl, just as a hail of bullets came again, rushing in all directions from behind me.

“Oh shit… Fanya!”

Getting hit by a few shots…

I cowardly hid behind one of the many dense trees around this place. I watched as many people running up front fell down one by one, I gritted my teeth while creating a non-elemental wall as a shield for the remaining ones to save themselves…

But the hail of bullets just struck too hard.

Either that's the main reason, or because I don't want to feel much more pain than what I'm currently bearing…

The second stage of the curse moving slowly spread across my skin, a bullet suddenly pierced through the non-elemental wall…

The shot that came from the back of the head, my skull was eroded to the point where I lost consciousness…

~~~~~

Luckily it only happened in a matter of seconds. Just right when many trees around me were uprooted by each one of those deadly bullets.

“Is that an anti-tank rifle?” Just by increasing the speed and strength of the material, there's still no way that the bullet can be strong enough to pierce my body front and back.

I think the bullet is just spinning at a speed beyond reasonable logic. If that's not the case, then the weapon has a psychic effect all around it.

It's such a shame, because physics wasn't the field I chose when I was in high school…

But whatever that is, I know that Edward is the mastermind behind all of it…

He also understands very well that at this point I really can't fight anymore. The problem is, how did he know I was here?

And… “What is the probability that Fanya is still alive outside that part of the trees?”

“Can I imitate Elis' way of recognizing every soul someone else has?” I mean, I can pretty much see the shape of the souls of the people who are still running away up ahead.

but how to know which one belongs to Fanya? Because all physical bodies are being blocked by shady tree trunks and leaves from fallen trees around here.

“Oh? Never mind… That’s her… I don't know how to explain that I knew, but I was sure that that girl who was running away really was Fanya.”

I just had to run as hard as I could to get back to her side…

~~~~~

After some time off from the previous attacks, a third hail of bullets lit up the entire forest again…

Wait…

Why did all those people's attacks have to stop at once and start shooting at the same time each?

Then I just have to wait until this wave is over and the pause for me to escape finally appears, right?

“Aight, here it is!” I've only been running for five seconds, but something in front of me appears to be blocking…

A magical disc, like a wall of water- no… It’s a mirror that vibrates as if a drop of water is in the center of the circle…

Showing this messy face of mine on its surface floating in midair, footsteps popping up from behind it… “A portal?!”

“Why did this girl create the front of her portal door in the opposite direction from our target?! Didn't my voice sound clear before? Oh… Anyway… Is the fire ready?”

I don't recognize this voice at all…

The voice of a grown man walking with many people beside him. Moving in a line right in front of me, covering the slowly fading and disappearing mirror disk behind them.

Dressed the same as the one I wore on the last mission, but this seemed more of a desert culture aura…

By which I mean, some of the parts look different, but it also looks like they've been in use for quite a while to look a little worn.

They are the real nameless terrorist organization…

“Well… Hello… Danil… Danil? Danil, right?”

“Just let me go, and there won't be any trouble between us…”

“What? That sounds stupid… You broke my expectations of you, son.” Unwrapping an energy bar, he chewed slowly while apologizing. “Don’t mind this… After all, I never have time to eat, you know?”

As it's obnoxious…

The one main reason why I hate him already.

Just like all the villains who always look relaxed in the movies, unless for him, it felt like he was just doing it on purpose to look stronger than he really is…

“Though you're just a normal human…”

“Just a normal human? Why are you so sure? I can control a portal, can't you see?”

Yeah, but he has absolutely no control over it.

And he didn't mean to lie.

He said that, while patting the shoulder of a girl in a white dress covered by blood with that hopeless blank stare of hers…

She looked at me.

But I couldn't see if she really was thinking anything about all this or not.

“Now… Back to the line, as you know… We're here just to take that power of yours, son… But I have a hunch to end this as soon as possible, so… Boys! Pills!” The order signaled about nine people around him to swallow some kind of mysterious pill…

A team of troops with a strength of more than two hundred souls per person, while in the distance I suddenly heard the screams of many people, as well as flashlights illuminating this circular forest on each side from a distance.

They seemed to have surrounded the parks and trees in the middle of this city with another army of carriers…

That means… “Fanya?!”

The urge to do something immediately, made me think of nothing but to get out of here as soon as possible. Running while transforming into black smoke, I pierced through the people, following the reflex that jolted me inside.

“Fire!”

A bright red light exploded from behind.

My body suddenly returned to its original form while being dragged quite a distance with many parts of my body getting burned…

“A fucking flame thrower!?”

~~~~~

“Yep, nailed it. Means the saying 'when there's smoke there's fire' doesn't apply to your body, eh?” That sound of his footsteps on the dry leaves sounded just like death for me...

If I die here, will they let Fanya go?

Or…

Or do they also know that the girl is actually suitable to be the vessel of this power?

Also with that guy…

Deo…

“Is my death really not going to mean that much, even to protect them?”

One breath I took, I hit the ground to help me get back on my feet…

Rubbing this cheek roughly, I turned my body to face the man…

“I know what you're after up there, my son… I know everything about you, and whoever is currently holding you back so that you continue to suffer like this…”

Of course he knows…

Now I'm not even surprised by that fact anymore…

So it turned out to be like that, huh?

“All this time… You're the one who's above Edward… Right?”

“I wouldn't say I'm above him. but I think you also understand the meaning of all this…”

“I see…”

Looking at me with a face that pretended to feel sorry…

He shook his head, refusing to be blamed.

As he said, “Let me tell you this so you don't feel too desperate, Danil… A reason why you shouldn't feel sorry for dying because of that power. That from the start, humans like all of us were never destined to have as much authority as you are currently holding, my son. We are just too weak, cruel, and we have feelings. The reason why there will always be evil in every good deed, is because we are willing to lose something for the sake of that feeling. Human decisions are just too dependent on anything that affects their own hearts, don't you think?”

After those long words, he then just felt bored and returned to his own feet to whisper to the girl, the ruler of the dimension…

A portal opened, as he spoke again…

“Meanwhile… The power that you great carriers have… The power to absolutely control each rule that has created this world, as well as the one who will destroy this civilization… Is just unsuitable for such a trait… It should not side with anyone if not for everyone… Just truly not destined to be owned by humans.”

He's just forcing himself to look right, isn't he?

I'm not saying that what he said was wrong, but…

But…

Yeah…

He’s not wrong anyhow…

I can’t even deny…

“That's where my job is… I, the original leader of The Sins Taker, must gather all of those authorities of our own universe from the fragile hands of human beings… Seal it from being touched by anyone, also using it only to fulfill the wishes of all good people who died to make the same thing happen… That is, in order to make our world even better than ever... A world without suffering… War… Crime… A world worthy of every child to grow up in happiness, a world where every one of us dies in peace… While I will still be considered as the demon itself, I will accept all of that hatred just for the sake of saving this world by myself. Isn't that how our god died for us? Crucified while being regarded as a deceiver and agitator? Literally, just-”

“You want to make heaven real…”

“Yes! That’s it!”

“You'd only kill so many people just to create a prison as big as this world yourself… That way, people will live by feeling themselves being nothing but restrained and threatened… Your efforts will only be in vain. Heaven just feels like too much, buddy…”

“Better that way than today's world, for me if I have to be honest here... And you just don't know how much suffering people out there have been through, buddy… By the way, don’t ‘buddy’ me next time, kid… Coupled with you guys who will only destroy the balance of the world with all of those rotten powers that you are always proud of…”

“And you think we all wanted to have this power in the first place? You think we asked for it? You think all of us would be willing to die for something we can't even refuse?!”

“All that power comes right into the hands of all of you great carriers, because you think that by controlling it, you won't suffer anymore… That's how this god's power works, you silly!”

“You don't know anything at all, human…”

“You talk as if you already feel higher than anyone else… And, no… I wish I didn't know anything just for the sake of not feeling responsible to get involved with people like you… Weakling… I'll use the guy for your new vessel instead, and release the girl so you don't feel too guilty in the afterlife.”

He raised his hand right to the side of his head, ordering the nine people to start attacking me as he and the girl with no focus in her own eyes retreated away and disappeared through the portal behind them.

“That’s it… I’m done now…”

~~~~~