III

I was back in the helicopter that was in the Tranquil Temples.

Everything sounded so noisy and messed up. I heard the roars of Aragami and people shouting in the front. I couldn't know what was going on.

But for some reason, I didn't see my teammate, Reina Yukimura. Instead, I saw myself unconscious with a forehead wound, lying by the cold steel wall of the helicopter.

And for some other reason, I was holding my own hand.

I wanted to shout out Reina's name and look for her, but I couldn't seem to move. As if this body had a mind of it's own.

Then I realized it… I was Reina.

Why would I be Reina, you ask? I have no idea and I just somehow knew it.

And to prove it, she spoke.

"Shun…I…I want you…to live on your own life…you don't have to waste your freedom for someone like me… I may not be even much of a worth to you…"

I felt a tear go across my cheek. Was Reina… crying? And is this dream real? Because if it wasn't, then I want to wake up now.

Unfortunately, I'm not one of those people who can wake up whenever they want to.

I felt so confused. It was so cold that it made my head feel hazy. On second thought, everything seems so hazy that my mind feels so messed up.

Suddenly, the roars of Aragami echoed throughout the area. It sounded like a species of Vajra, but I'm not sure which since all the species of Vajra have already appeared at the Tranquil Temples. But I hope it was something easy, though.

Reina stood up. "Looks like it's time for me to go now." She wiped a tear off her cheek and picked up her god arc from the wall. It felt weird to pick someone else's god arc since Licca told us how our bodies would reject a foreign god arc and we would be devoured by it's Oracle Cells and all. But nothing happened. As if it were my own god arc. I guess I was really in Reina's point of view.

She approached the ledge and looked down bellow us. I saw countless Prithvi Matas roaring in rage. They were shooting aimlessly ice pillars at us. Usually I would be the kind to say that this was an easy thing, but this many? That was already danger zone.

Wait, was Reina planning on fighting them all? Alone? That's just suicide! I screamed and screamed, but she didn't hear me as if I was on a different dimension.

Reina turned back to me and smiled.

"Honestly, you're a really awesome guy." She giggled.

Then, she leaped onto the battlefield. When she landed, the helicopter darted out of the scenery. A Prithvi Mata was about to shoot another ice pillar but fireballs shot it at the torso causing it to break. All the pairs of golden murderous eyes lay down upon her. Fear shook all over her body. Her heart was pounding fast. She clenched her chest and whispered quietly.

"I can do this… I'm going to come home safely!"

All the Prithvi Matas roared as she charged into the battlefield. She switched back into blade form and started with the one she shot. Critical sparks come flying out of the torso as it crumbled away bit by bit. As soon as she notices another Prithvi Mata that is going to attack her she rolls backward, switching into gun form and shoots some more fireballs, causing the Prithvi Mata to fall back.

The Prithvi Matas may be ganging up on her with numerous freeze attacks but it's like she was on fire. She was doing everything so smoothly until-

"Gaaaah!" She screams. A Prithvi Mata managed to catch her off guard and it clawed Reina upwards, causing her to land back at the ledge.

She stood up carefully and stumbled back down. A few pebbles went down the mountain and made echoing sounds from down bellow. She looked down with her Ruby Eyes filled with determination. She paused for a few moments, gathering enough strength and jumped back onto stable land.

She jumped and charged into them in devouring mode. "I'm going home alive and that's final!" She screams with anger. When the black maw manages to devour three Prithvi Matas that grouped up together, blood spurts out of the bodies. Reina was glowing, indicating that she was in burst, but she was also covered in blood. She had just killed three Prithvi Matas at once. Her god arc slowly devoured the remains of the Prithvi Matas.

She slowly turned towards the two remaining Prithvi Mata behind. With murderous eyes she faced them and pointed her blade between them.

"Who's next?" She asked as the blood of the Prithvi Matas drip down her blade and her face. I felt already scared, but the Prithvi Matas showed no fear. The both charged toward the bloodstained girl and attacked.

With full speed she dashed past them and slashed their legs and torsos. She broke their front legs and they fell down. She kneeled down and set her god arc back into devouring mode. As soon as the black maw takes a bite of the Aragami her burst mode extends. The two Prithvi Matas stood up and they quickly split up. One headed below the bridge and the other headed up the stairs to go into the main temple.

"Come back here and fight like a man!" She shouted as she switched into gun form and shot the Prithvi Mata headed towards under the bridge. The echoing sounds of the bullet slowly faded away into silence. She calmed down a bit and tried to steady her breathing. It wasn't even able to get halfway there and it already died on the pile of dead Prithvi Matas Reina made. Blood stained the snow giving it a light pink color. Reina had wounds all over and she was still covered in blood. Her bun became untied making her hair have a ponytail.

Heavy panting made her heart pound like crazy. She limped towards her new kill dragging along her god arc. Making a bloody path on the snow. She devours the Prithvi Matas and looks through the materials she received. She faced the beautiful full moon as she makes small clouds out of her breath.

"I…I made it…" She says with hope in her eyes. "I… killed them…"

She looks down and checks her connections with the den.

"Damn… no signal. What do I do now?" She faces back to the moon. "Shio?"

I still have the shaky feeling because of the battle. The way she fought them all made me speechless. She looked so murderous with intent to kill that it scared me.

The way she looked at the moon and saying that name… I had never met this Shio but according to the terminal she was the Aragami that stopped the Devouring Apocalypse. According to Reina Shio was very important to the 1st Unit. I guess this proves that, then.

Just when I thought when things finally settle down, she suddenly started shaking and giggling and her eyes went wide, filled with intent to kill. Once again, fear shook my body. What was happening?

"Hehehe… I know, I could start devouring, right Shio?"

The thought made me afraid. I didn't notice that the battle took so long. Probably three hours. That means…!

She held her god arc up high and laughed. She was starting to go nuts, no doubt it. I was filled with thoughts of devouring, making me feel dizzy…and hungry.

The black maw emerged out of her god arc. It was facing me. It was going to eat me. I was going to be eaten. Reina just continued laughing as the black maw opens wide.

Come on! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! I cried desperately. Nothing was working. Is Reina going to die? Am I going to die?

Reina was laughing out words like "eat" and "devour." What was going on? Is this a nightmare? I was trembling with fear. Someone let me out! Someone please let me out!

Gods please let me out of here!

Hey guys, Artificial Writer here.

First of all, I would like to thank you readers (you guys rock :3) for supporting this starter author's story. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter even though some parts may be confusing like the end part. Don't worry, though. The next chapter may explain some parts which will come around... let's see... five months? Just kidding! Well some parts here I got from the terminal so if you wanna understand some parts, go check it out. But I promise, though, that I would use any free time I have for this thing so... please review so I may be motivated and I could improve! ;D