II

Our target was a Prithvi Mata.

It's like a snow tiger, except even more deadly. With a face of a cruel goddess, it could summon Ice Pillars. And with its size, it can crush every bone in your body.

Good thing there are us Gods Eaters.

Our duty is protect humankind from the vicious Aragami. And that's what we are doing right now.

When I say "we", I mean by me and Shun Ogawa.

We are currently at the Tranquil Temples walking around searching for the Freeze Queen. It's incredibly dark and snowy but good thing my Serpent Dagger is there for the glow. Plus, it emits heat, too.

Behind me, Shun seems to be in a good mood. He insisted that I would be the one to lead during the mission. "Come on! I want to see why you're so worthy to be a 1st Unit Leader!" he says. But that's okay with me since I lead all my missions. Well, not exactly all but most of them.

We walked up the stairs to the right. There.The Prithvi Mata was devouring an Ogretail by the frozen pond and the view showing the moon and Aegis. That could've been beautiful without all that devouring.

Sometimes I wonder if Aragami ever get worried about their weight or something. Because if they did, then I hope our target is on diet from Gods Eaters.

We crept behind the target and I gave Shun the signal. We readied our god arcs into devouring mode. I giggled.

"What's so funny?" Shun asked in a soft voice.

"It's just so weird. I mean, devouring an Aragami that's devouring another Aragami which must've devoured a different Aragami before being devoured?"

"Wow. That can be a new tongue twister when we get back to the Den."

"Well…yeah." I still couldn't remove the thought from my mind. Then I gave Shun a proper signal.

As soon as we go into burst, the Freeze Queen turns into action. She (It or whatever) pounced backwards to have some space before attacking. I, on the other hand, charged anyway.

A spark indicating that it is a critical hit comes out of the torso of the beast. It is obvious that it is weak to my blaze short blade.

I kept attacking until it seemed that it was going to counter. Knowing that it will attack me with it's claw, I rolled back switching into gun form. Then, I shot some FireBall 2 bullets, which I copied off from my friend earlier (so sorry to whoever made those bullets, but thanks a million because I find them extremely awesome).

After running out of Bullets, I charged forward switching back to my blade. I slashed out some more until the beast stumbled backward. Its torso had just been destroyed. After it regained its composure, it roared in rage. Then, it ran to the area under the bridge (I can sense it since I'm an Observer).

"Haha, I guess it just can't stand us, huh?" Shun said in his usual playful tone, which I found a bit cute.

I silently acknowledged that statement. We are that strong anyway… Wait, it just hit me-

"Shun!" I called as I switched into gun form. "Stay still for a sec!"

"Wuh?" He questions as he faces my direction.

Bam! A green laser comes out of my gun. "Firing a recovery bullet!"

He smiles as he approaches me. "Oh. I thought the enemy was behind me or something, but thanks!"

"Um…no prob!" I said with a little blush.

"But I'm not even that beaten up, so why?"

"Um…" I tried to sound stronger. "If we're a strong team, we should still be careful so we can survive for the final blow, right?"

"Oh, yeah you're right. That means I gotta smash it's head, huh?" he makes a heroic pose facing where the Prithvi Mata ran off to.

"Yeah…Now let's go!"

Shun nods in agreement. We walked to where the monster was and crept behind it. Again, I gave Shun the signal (and this time I didn't think about the devouring thing) and we readied our arcs.

Glad to see you again. I thought as the Prithvi Mata roared. The battle continued until it reached back to where we found the creature.

"You do the honors." Shun told me as he stares into the moonlight.

I nodded in agreement and readied my arc. A black maw emerges out from my blade and starts devouring the dead Prithvi Mata. When it returns, all the materials I got were things I didn't need.

"You could keep those." Shun said. "Anyway, let's rest while waiting for reinforcements to come bringing us back to the Den. They should be here in a few minutes or something, so lets rest up."

Before I could reply, he sits down right beside the lifeless Aragami and leans on it.

"Come on, it won't bite anymore, would it? Plus it's kinda soft and warm here." Shun gives out a smile of warmth.

I nodded and plopped myself right beside him. He was right about it being soft and warm.

"Man, I'm beat!" Shun does a comfy position and looks up into the sky.

"Wait, hold it." I unzipped my green bag and pulled out a can of First Love Juice. "Here, have one."

"Uh… No thanks. But since you went on the trouble to get this stuff…" With a sickened face, he took the can, opened it and raised it up to the air. "Well… Cheers to the Rookie!"

"Y-yeah…" I opened my drink and raised it, too.

We both gulped down the drink. The taste was somewhat unexplainable. But it was also unique in a way that I liked it.

I turned to Shun to find his face…um… also unexplainably hilarious. I couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"H-hey! You gotta admit that it tastes weird! How about you!? Where's your reaction!?" His face was bright red.

"Really? It tastes pretty good." I took another sip of my juice.

"Dammit! The only reason I drank it is so that I could see your reaction but… you liked the juice! How could you possibly like the juice?!"

We both laughed out loud. His sense of humor was cute. I wonder if I could have the courage to say it? A part of me wanted to try, the other thought it was stupid.

I took a glance at Shun who was staring at the moon, blushing. He must be thinking how awful the juice was for him. It was a beautiful full moon. It made his hair and eyes shine.

I heard a thumping sound from somewhere, but I ignored it since it must be my heart or something.

I thought for a while, and then decided.

I'm still going for it anyway.

"Hey Shun," he looks at me. "There's something I've always wanted to tell you…" I looked down for a moment.

Suddenly his eyes went wide.

"Reina! Look out!" He grabs his god arc from the snow beside him and leaps past me.

Clang! Before I could turn around to see clearly, Shun has been pushed back really hard by something and has landed right beside me.

"Shun!" I cried as I grabbed my god arc and rushed to his side. His forehead was bleeding, and he was somewhat unconscious. I guess whatever he was trying to block failed because his god arc was making weird sounds and liquid was slowly pouring out of the core.

I faced the direction he came from, and there it was, or they.

A pack of Prithvi Mata, about three to five of them, was surrounding us. It seems like the Prithvi Mata we killed was their leader or something.

Damn it where is the helicopter?! They're taking too long!

I drew my blade and prepared to battle. I've managed to do a few slashes on two of them, but one attacked me with an ice pillar and that sent me flying backward right beside Shun.

I stood up preparing for a bigger fight, but then suddenly there were really loud sounds coming from the cliff. A small blizzard comes making my eyesight a bit hazy.

After rubbing snow out of my field of vision, I found the reinforcements waving their hands at us to get our attention. Even though we already have a helicopter and a couple of soldiers, I feel that it wasn't enough for this many Aragami all at once.

I got a stun grenade and used it on the Aragami. It could make them unable to move for a short period of time, so I had to work fast. I lifted Shun and made him lean on my shoulder, and I even managed to carry his god arc.

He was exceptionally heavy since his god arc was there, too. But I managed to move quickly to the helicopter.

"Take him back to the Den." I said as I laid Shun on the arms of the soldier. "Just wait a moment, I need to go back and get my god arc."

The soldier simply nodded and I ran to my Serpent Dagger and picked it up. I ran back towards the helicopter but then-

Thwack! An ice pillar just hit the helicopter and the machine made odd sounds. The Prithvi Matas have already recovered, and seem really mad.

I ran towards the helicopter and jumped inside. The helicopter was about to fly away but another ice pillar came by and damaged the helicopter more.

Aw great. If this keeps up then we will also lose the ride home. Unless…

"Go ahead to the Den without me, I'll hold them off."

"B-but ma'am," The soldier reluctantly said. "If you do then-"

"Don't worry, I won't die. Why do you think they made me Leader? Plus if I do die, well, it's better than all of you guys dead."

"…Okay. I'll go inform the one handling the helicopter about your plan."

Then the soldier carefully got his way to the front.

I was about to jump off the helicopter until something came in my mind.

Shun.

I smiled, leaned near him, and I grasped his hand. After all that slashing, I almost forgot about him. He still seemed pretty unconscious, but still…

"Shun… I want you to live on your own life. You don't have to worry about me, since I might not be even that much of a worth to you…"

I heard the roars of the Aragami. I had to fight.

"Well…" I picked up my sword and went near the ledge of the helicopter. "It's time for me to go now…"

I had one last glance at Shun's face and smiled at it.

"Honestly, you're an awesome guy."

With that, I leapt out of the helicopter and the ride flew away. I prepared my sword for a gruesome battle.

It's killing time.