VIII

Song

"We'll split up and search for the enemies separately. We have to take out 3 Zygotes and a Kongou." Sakuya ordered. "If you find a Zygote, take it down. If you find the Kongou, it might be better to try and find someone else to help."

"All right!" Kota said eagerly, his eagerness evident.

"Got that, Song and Soma?" Sakuya asked, turning to us. I nodded while Soma grunted.

"Okay." Sakuya said. "Be careful!"

With that said, we headed into the City of Mercy.

x

It didn't take long before I found an enemy. And, of course, it was the Kongou.

I stared at its monkey face as it leapt from a hole in a building. Before it had made it down the ledges that separated us, I had my God Arc in Gun Form and was firing shots at it.

I was tempted to run, but something stopped me. I knew thanks to my armlet that everyone else was dealing with an enemy, probably the three Zygotes. Surely I could handle a Kongou by myself! Kota and I had taken one down before, so I just needed to be careful and then I could bring the monkey down.

It charged at me, and I quickly switched to Blade Form. I went right at it, striking its face with quick blows that left me ample time to dodge.

It was a battle of speed and will. Could I keep up with it? Could I block its attack in time? Could I shoot it? They were all questions that were answered in the space of seconds. Eventually my brain went numb, my body moving on its own. I did not even realize I had used my shield until I felt the Kongou's rolling body slam into it, stopping me from getting flattened. It was like an intricate dance; one wrong move and your partner crashed into you. Except, in this case, one wrong move on my part ended with a powerful blow from an overgrown monkey.

My body sang as I Unbounded the Kongou's face. That feeling that I couldn't grasp was returning yet again. I wondered if this was the Aragami inside of me. It did crave the violence and pain I was inflicting. My God Arc did not feel like a weapon; it felt like a part of me, an extra, dangerous limb. My movements were coordinated and served a pattern I did not know, as if I were simply a puppet being pulled along by strings. Still, I was enjoying the life of a puppet.

Or, at least I was, until some string snapped. I made a wrong move.

The Kongou took the chance to strike, barrelling towards me in its familiar ball form.

I gritted my teeth as it struck. That had been my mistake. I tried to dodge, but I'd underestimated the range of the Kongou's attack.

The blow sent me flying into the narrow alley-way in front of the starting position. I hit into something that most definitely was not a wall, thank goodness. That would have been much more painful than whatever it was that I slammed into.

The Kongou roared, as if laughing at me. I sat up, rubbing at my dizzy head. I was lucky. In my flight I had managed to avoid the steel posts that jutted from the ground of the alley. Hitting into one of those would have probably killed me, heightened Gods Eater powers or not.

"Song!" I looked up to see Sakuya, her face concerned. "Are you all right? But first, maybe you should—"

"Rookie." A familiar voice growled, though it sounded like it was in pain. "Get off me."

Confused, I glanced down. Instantly my face burned and I jumped to my feet, severely frazzled and dizzy.

I had landed on Soma.

Soma, of all people!

I started gesturing wildly, apologizing over and over again. My face was still burning and my brain was hazy. How embarrassing! Couldn't it have been anyone but Soma? Sakuya would have been perfectly fine! But not Soma! At the moment, hitting a metal post would have been more desirable than this.

I heard Sakuya giggle, probably finding it amusing now that she knew I was okay.

Soma frowned at me, picking up his God Arc that must have been knocked to the ground beside him. "I don't understand what you're saying."

Of course he doesn't! His words put me into an even greater panic. Oh god! How am I supposed to apologize if he can't even understand me?!

Sakuya was too busy laughing to help.

Soma struggled to his feet, snapping me out of my panic. I grabbed his arm and helped pull him up. The moment he was on his feet he snapped his arm out of my grasp, which was beginning to become a familiar gesture. The movement made me sway a little. I was dizzy, not to mention that my head was pounding.

"I see you've found the Kongou, rookie." Soma growled, looking past me.

I jumped, looking behind me. The Kongou was charging straight towards us.

I nearly punched myself in the head. No amount of embarrassment should have made me forget about the Aragami.

"We're going to have trouble fighting it in this small place." Sakuya said, all traces of mirth gone from her voice. "Run!"

Sakuya was running off, along with Soma. I just stood there, dazed. My head hurt from hitting into Soma, despite the soft landing. Plus, I was exhausted from fighting the Kongou on my own.

Suddenly Soma turned around, running towards me and grabbing my arm. He dragged me behind him as he ran from the Kongou. I was having trouble keeping up, let alone stopping myself from stumbling. Soma must have sensed my trouble; he turned around again and wrapped a steadying arm around my waist, though he still kept his running pace.

Soma pulled me until the end of the alley, and we found ourselves in a wide open space. In the middle of it was two platforms, one raised higher than the other. Sakuya was standing there, waiting for us as she poised her gun towards the Kongou.

Sakuya looked at us, bemused. I was still too dazed, so when Soma jerked his arm away I swayed a little. That made Sakuya frown.

"Song, you should probably hang back. I don't know what you did, but obviously you're too exhausted to be of much help. Fire off bullets if you can."

I blinked, nodding. She was right, of course, which wasn't too surprising for a medic.

"It shouldn't take too long to beat it. It already looks like you did a lot of damage to it." Soma said right before he jumped to attack the Kongou.

Was that…a compliment, or as close as you could get with Soma?

But never mind. For the moment, there were more important things to be done.

Soma was right. We easily finished off the Kongou in no time. However, by the time the gorilla finally collapsed, I was panting and needed to sit down to catch my breath, even though I didn't even move much.

"You're obviously in no condition to move." Sakuya murmured. "You probably have a concussion. Soma, you stay here with her while I go find Kota."

"Shouldn't the medic stay with the injured person?" Soma did not sound pleased with her proposition.

"There shouldn't be any danger so long as you don't move her. Plus, if it's taking Kota so long he might need a medic. And"—Sakuya winked—"I'm technically the leader on this mission, so you should listen to me."

"All right." Soma growled.

I barely understood what was going on until Sakuya gently led me to the raised platforms, sitting me down on one.

"I'll be back," she said right before she ran off.

Soma came and sat on the platform beside me, keeping a good distance between us. Even in my foggy state I could sense his anger.

But there was no time to make peace. Even though I was sitting down, I still felt dazed. It felt like the world was tilting. And, I was—

"Tired." I murmured.

Soma shot up like an electric shock went up his body. "Did you—"

The shock was evident in his voice, but there were more pressing issues at hand. My eyelids were dropping, and I was not willing to stop them.

I felt a hand roughly grip my shoulder before I fell unconscious.