Chapter 41 – Her Last Wish

The sound of explosion roared, and then an ominous sword of light ripped through the air horizontally. Two Meltdowner beams were fired in quick succession, but the incredibly mobile target just twisted her body and gave a small roll, escaping with ease.

The intense battle between the two girls had reached a state of perfect equilibrium, a precarious stalemate. Meltdowner's beams of light were hurled almost intermittently, but several of them could not be aimed well since April countered with her sonic blasts, which required Shizuri to swing her sword in the right direction before being hit.

After another piercing slash that rent the very air, Shizuri found herself needing a moment to catch her breath. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead as she slowly advanced towards her opponent. Perhaps, if she closed the distance between them, April might hesitate before obliterating her, fearful of becoming collateral damage in the process.

"Like I'm going to let you," April said, predicting Level 5's intent and running around as she dodged the beams fired by Shizuri almost as if she were dancing. "Behind you."

This was not one of those attempts to fool the opponent, a loud explosion came right behind Shizuri, which forced her to stop moving and awkwardly swing her sword, managing to parry the attack at the last possible instant.

As soon as the attack was dissipated, a sharp pain came through the side. The pink-haired girl had landed a punch to Shizuri's ribs, taking advantage of the distraction caused.

"Behind you," April repeated, delivering another blow.

"I get it."

April's head was nearly ripped off by Shizuri's sword that plunged toward her. Strands of pink hair were charred in an instant, causing the masked girl to startle and roll backwards, getting as far away as possible.

Shizuri pursued April, launching a flurry of sword strikes against her. Instead of gracefully evading the attacks by sidestepping, April hastily retreated, causing the blade to narrowly miss her by mere millimeters time and time again.

Desperate, the girl called another blast, forcing Shizuri to give her space.

The fight had restarted, beginning to stall. While April kept her distance, Shizuri couldn't hit her with her beams, the girl was ridiculously agile to let herself be hit, but getting close was also dangerous, as the girl's blows hurt thanks to the bruises Shizuri had accumulated. And if she made a single mistake, another blast of sound would crush her already worn body.

"You're getting tired, I can see it," April teased, taking advantage of the fact that Shizuri stopped shooting. "My sound blasts did quite a bit of damage, and now you're pushing your ability to the limit."

That was true, and hearing it out loud made Shizuri click her tongue. The reason the other girl could dodge her beams so easily was that she couldn't produce many at once, at least not right now. The otherworldly Shizuri was much stronger than she was, being able to fire more than 20 beams in quick succession, and her combat experience was also superior. Since she had gone to the other world and back, the change in her personal reality had become permanent, meaning that she was almost as strong as her other version now. But there was one problem, and it was right there in her hand.

The sword that Shizuri was swinging used her ability at full power intermittently, thus making it produce that deafening noise and making it easier for her to defend herself. If she were to momentarily deactivate the sword, even for a mere second, she would undoubtedly be struck once more. The delicate balance between wielding the blade and shoot at the same time put a huge burden on her calculations. If she forced herself to shoot more than 3 or 4 beams at the same time while wielding the sword, there was a chance that she would injure herself with her own skill. This restriction made it seem that she was at a great disadvantage there, however, there was something she realized.

"You talk too much," Shizuri said, shooting back at full power. "Strange, you're trying to find loopholes to hit me with melee blows. If I had to guess, I'd say you're running out of gas too."

It was pointless trying to hit her, the girl barely seemed to make any effort to dodge those attacks. It appeared as if she possessed prior knowledge of the trajectory of each attack even before Shizuri initiated them, but the level 5 kept firing anyway.

"I think I would need my entire offensive force if I want to hit you," Meltdowner continued, firing as she walked toward the girl. "I just need you to keep attacking me until you run out of 'avatars' to use, then I'll have a chance to hit you with everything."

"So you figured it out, huh?" The girl smiled, or at least her mask indicated that. "The problem is that still -"

"Keep dancing," interrupted Shizuri, almost hitting the girl with her skill. "I don't know exactly how it works, but you must be on edge. My body may be tired, but I can shoot until the end of the night without a problem, can you say the same for your explosions?"

To stop Shizuri's offensive a little, the girl 'whistled' once more. There was only a short time for her to swing the sword in the right direction, so she always stopped and concentrated, which made April move away from her, or attack if she was close. She had to admit, the girl was a combat genius. But Shizuri's skill had the advantage, the only advantage she had, and she would use it.

"The frequency has decreased." The level 5 gave a muffled chuckle, trying to hide her breathless tone. "This fight will be over soon."

"You're putting too much faith in that, don't you think?" Her gaze drifted to the destroyed window. "Even if you defeat me here, I doubt your friends down there will be able to defeat my knight. He will destroy everything in his path, pave the way to the new world... and the next... and the next..."

"And when does this madness end? You said yourself that you don't know the definition of this 'perfect world'. How will you know when you get it? How do you know if this world is not already perfect?"

"Because I am still here," her voice turned monotone, devoid of emotion. "I was born with a purpose to fulfill. If I continue to exist, it must mean that my purpose has not yet been fulfilled, don't you think?"

"You mean when it's all over you'll just... disappear? Doesn't that worry you? It's your life we're talking about here."

April responded initially with a feeble laugh, followed by a slow, dismissive shake of her head.

"Life?" The girl's nearly nonexistent voice faltered. "Do I even possess a life? Do you believe I am like you, a being with choices and desires, ambitions, flaws, paths to pursue? I have none of those things. NOTHING!"

Even screaming, she could barely put emotion into that voice. It was almost as if she was physically incapable of doing it.

"That is the only choice I have... my only salvation." April's fists clenched with utmost intensity. "I must continue to forge ahead, fulfill my duty, annihilate this world, every single person within it, proceed to the next and repeat, repeat, repeat... and then, at last... I will be able to smile genuinely. Even if it's in my final moments, I will be wearing a smile. Isn't that the essence of true happiness? Isn't that all that truly matters? Everyone smiling in the end?"

"And what is the price of this 'happiness'? Do you think that making a perfect world with perfect smiles will make up for all those you have destroyed?"

"Don't talk to me like I'm the villain. I'm not capable of choosing a path like you, I'm just a robot that can only follow one function, so don't start judging me like you can. At least I don't really have a choice, but what about you? How many lives have you destroyed, how many smiles have you erased in your selfish pursuit of an empty desire?"

"More than I would be able to remember."

Shizuri almost lost control of her ability in that instant. The girl was right, she couldn't judge anyone, ever. Even now she hardly knew if she was fighting because it was the right thing to do, or to satisfy her selfish quest that wouldn't stop. Raising her head at that moment, puffing out her chest and saying pretty words would have no effect. Unfortunately, she was not that kind of hero. But she had her own methods of working things out, and she was willing to bet that these methods were also capable of protecting someone.

"If all you wish is to simply disappear, then just be quiet and make my job easier." Shizuri's harsh tone made it clear that she was not concerned with unnecessary arguments. She would do what was necessary, that was her way of doing things. "I will protect this world, for my own selfish reasons and desires. It's not much different from what he would do, so I have nothing to be ashamed of. We want the same thing, his happiness, but your methods are too extreme even for me, April, so I'm sorry, but I have to put an end to this delusion of yours."

Shizuri didn't wait for a response. She put aside her electron spheres and set off at full speed towards April with sword in hand. The fight had to end now, her opponent shouldn't have much firepower left, so all she had to do was force her to use it all, focus on defense and then cut her to pieces.

That characteristic whistling sound was heard, causing Shizuri's body to stiffen and her hand to swing in the direction of where the explosion would come from.

Only that was a problem there.

"Predictable," April said, opening her arms as if accepting something.

The explosion happened, but this time Shizuri was slow to block it. The reason for this is that the direction was different from all the others, which made her brain hesitate for a brief moment.

Coming straight from above, like a concentrated punch of air, the deafening sound hit both girls. Yes, April would not hesitate to use her own powers on herself if it took her opponent along.

Shizuri's vision blurred, her ears tingling from the impact, the sharp pain piercing through her body, at least keeping her alert. With great effort, she pushed herself back up, the metallic taste of blood lingering in her mouth. That explosion lacked the same force as the previous ones, but Shizuri soon realized the reason as she attempted to survey her surroundings, or rather, struggled to do so.

"She... blew out the ceiling too?" Shizuri tried to use her sword to clear the large mass of dust and debris making a fog in front of her. "Shit... where is she?"

"Right here."

More pain coursed through Shizuri's body. Was that a punch? She could barely define what hit her anymore, her nerves simply registering the excruciating sensation emanating from her bruised flesh and transmitting it directly to her bewildered mind.

Her reflexes were also slow, which made the counter attack difficult, coming in the form of a sword swing, which only hit the dust around her. She had to get out of that cloud, but even walking was difficult. It took all the girl's willpower to take a step forward, but after the first one the task became easy.

There was one more problem, that cloud of dust seemed to have spread all over the room. If Shizuri kept moving like this, she might run into a wall or pillar, or even falling through an open hole in an outer wall created by her own ability.

"I have to dispel this," she muttered to herself, activating her ability. She fired a few times, while swinging her sword for good measure. But the cloud would not dissipate. "What the fuck is that? Is she using her powers to move all this dust?"

"How loud you are."

She didn't react in time either. Now Shizuri was sure it was a kick, right in her back. The girl almost cut her own arm as she tried to move her sword to protect herself, which sent a shiver down her spine.

Pushing that feeling away, she wondered how the girl was locating her. Probably by sound, so she stood still and "sheathed" her sword for the first time in that fight. That would leave her unprotected in case the girl used another blast, and maybe that was what she wanted, but Shizuri's frightened mind didn't want to continue with that sword in her hand, not after that bad memory suddenly gave a little flash.

"Trying to make your location more difficult?" April's voice sounded very close, which almost made Shizuri fire a Meltdowner in her direction, but she didn't want to reveal her position just yet. "You shouldn't stay in the dark, bad girl."

More sudden pain, a punch to the stomach if she was correct. It seemed it was Shizuri's turn to force what she had eaten back. She couldn't even throw her Meltdowner in time before another attack from the girl hit her in the back. Shizuri staggered, tripped over some debris, and used her hands to keep from falling all the way to the ground.

'How did she find me so easy?' This time she preferred to just think. 'Is her hearing that good or is it her power?'

The answer she got was a kick right in the temple, causing her to fall backwards onto the ground in all the dirt.

"I bet you're wondering how I can find you," scoffed April, a Meltdowner beam flying toward her, but it was hard to aim using only the direction of the voice. "I have superhuman senses? Am I following your breathing? Or am I just using my powers in some creative way?"

What was the answer? She had to think fast. This was clearly a trump card, but April didn't use it until she reached the limit. Hitting them both at the same time didn't seem necessary, perhaps it was more of a desperate reaction.

'She can't be using her powers to track me down. If she could do something like that, she would have already blown the ceiling to get an advantage but she didn't. It must be something more vague.'

A long shot, a risky bet. Both for Shizuri and April.

'Was she locating me faster when I was making more noise? No. So… Yeah… Maybe she's just playing with me now, but I have to take a chance that the answer is this.'

"You are following me by smell," Shizuri stated, putting all her strength into her trembling legs.

"Impressive," April exclaimed, her hands meeting with a resounding clap. "By the way, a lovely fragrance you have there. A very distinct scent of Jasmine and something else...roses perhaps? If you hadn't been wearing so much perfume, it would be practically impossible to follow you in this artificial darkness, don't you think?"

Shizuri's offensive came full force, now free from the restraints of before. There were more than twenty simultaneous attacks all aimed in the girl's general direction. Any normal person would be dead by now. But she was not hit. Knowing her trick didn't give her an instant advantage, but it was a hope. That fight would be over soon, regardless of the two girls' moves, so Shizuri had to make her best move and get out of that darkness.

x-x

April walked quietly through the gray cloud like the ashes of a cigarette. The advantage was all hers now, she didn't need to rush. Following the tracks of her opponent was not so simple, even if her senses were a little better than a normal human due to her nature, the trail of perfume in the air was but a subtle essence, permeating the entire room.

Concentrating, she tried to find the source of that sweet smell, the point at which it was strongest. Before following her instincts, the girl reached down, grabbing a piece of thick metal pipe from the debris that fell from the ceiling. A good blow from that to someone's head was enough to kill them in an instant, or at least knock them unconscious with a severe concussion if she was dealing with a natural monster.

That girl, Mugino Shizuri, she really was tough. If April wanted to end it in the next blow, she had to hit her in the head as hard as she could, at the risk of killing her. It would be a shame, but her time was on the limit. Her connection with Aihana Etsu was so weak that she couldn't even feel her avatars, she couldn't use her powers to stop the cloud from dissipating, so it had to be now.

Jasmine and roses. This was the scent that symbolized her victory. An unmistakable fragrance, to which she found the source in an instant. The scent seemed even stronger than before, perhaps because her senses had become accustomed to seeking it, using it as the only point of reference amidst the dense fog of dirt.

April wasted no time. She rushed forward toward that smell and swung her metal pipe with both hands like a baseball bat. There was no holding back, and the resounding metallic impact left no doubt that she had hit something with every ounce of strength, which made her arms hurt from the force used.

Something had been broken on impact, the fight was over.

"Checkmate," A female voice rang out in response to the impact. "April."

A bright light shone through the mist, and a sound like high-voltage electricity broke the terrifying silence. April tasted her own blood rising up her throat, and looking down, a sword of electrons pierced her chest mercilessly.

With a thudding sound, April's body collapsed to the ground. Her remaining strength was gone, and that devastating attack had torn her body apart. She pathetically put her hand to her chest, finding a charred hole where Shizuri's sword had struck her. At that moment, she forced herself to calculate something, anything, any avatar. She needed to heal that wound.

"I'll take that." Her opponent rudely ripped the mask off her face. "And I suggest you stay put, this fight is over for you."

The fog was no longer so thick, allowing April to witness Meltdowner's erratic sword movements as she swatted away the lingering debris. A shit-eating grin was stamped in her face.

"You're tough girl, I'll give you that," Shizuri said, melting the mask in her hand in an instant until only orange remnants were left that dissipated like smoke. "Ending a fight like that always makes me somewhat excited. I guess my passion for battles is something I'll never be able to leave behind, don't you think?"

"How?" asked April, trying to ignore the winning girl who was mocking her speech pattern. "I understand that I hit a pillar at the last moment, but it was you who should have been there then -"

"See for yourself." Shizuri pointed with the sword still in hand toward something on the ground.

The girl's gaze wandered with haste in the direction indicated. There, right next to a pillar, was a beautiful, expensive-looking small glass bottle. Liquid was escaping from it, an unmistakable fragrance hovering nearby.

"Of course." April smiled weakly. "I should imagine that someone vain like you would walk around with an extra bottle of perfume. To lose to such a simple trick..." She began to cough, almost choking on her own blood.

"You know what's weird? I actually didn't used to carry around a bottle of perfume like that...at least not before I met Touma."

"Hmm... so this victory has some of his essence here, huh?"

"Yeah, maybe just a little. Now be quiet and stand very still, time for a good punishment."

The sword in Shizuri's hands came down towards the poor wounded girl on the ground, mercilessly burning the flesh of her leg, who gritted her teeth and held on to the level 5's surprise. The smell of burning flesh now leaked even stronger from the girl's body, who just stared at Shizuri with a look of disappointment.

"Just to be sure," Shizuri said, undoing the sword again. "You shouldn't be able to walk like that."

"You sadist." April sounded monotone, more tired than angry.

"Do you want me to burn the other one too?"

"I can't believe you were the chosen one," April continued, straining to look her tormentor in the eye. "If you worked together with me, we could have built -"

"Enough," Shizuri interjected, her voice tinged with weariness. "Granted, your proposal was excellent, and only an idiot would turn it down, but I'd rather be that kind of idiot...and that's certainly something I didn't expect to say one day."

"I would give you the perfection you wanted so badly. I still can, in fact. My existence is not something that can just be erased that easily, so don't think it's over. My first knight is still out there, and he won't stop. It is not too late to accept my proposal. I have no resentment towards you, so I am willing to negotiate. You can tell me what kind of life you think would please both of you the most, and I'll give it to you."

"The answer is still no." Shizuri's tone was stern, unyielding. "I could make an exception, but what you asked me at the beginning worried me. A world that everyone is happy except one person is not a perfect world, and eliminating that person would perhaps make that world perfect. That absurd logic, if you tailor it to what you think perfection is, in this case, putting his happiness first, what will become of other people?"

Shizuri's thoughtful face brightened when a bead of sweat slid down, which she wiped away, causing her hand to come back red from the blood mixed there. April watched her, taking a deep breath, keeping herself standing due to her own willpower focused on protecting this imperfect world.

"The 'world' is a big place," Shizuri continued, looking at that bloody hand. "But a person's 'world' is a much smaller place. To sacrifice one world to make another happy, that is what you wish, and that I cannot accept. If you used your powers, finished your task, I would have a perfect life beside him, but what about the others?"

"Others? All others?"

"All the other people in 'my world'." Shizuri slammed her bloody fist into the left side of her chest. "Takitsubo, Kinuhata... and Frenda. In the future I'm sure I'll add more people, but for now, what does the happiness of 'my world' mean to you? I saw a world where I myself was responsible for hurting those people who are part of my world. I destroyed their lives, part of their world, because of my stupid and selfish obsession. But not here... that will not happen. I will protect their world too, this world. I won't just give up on them and embrace a happiness alone, if I think only of myself again, I would be no different than the monster I became before. So no, there is nothing you have that can convince me, not while you are excluding people like this as if they were just another number. Or can you guarantee that in the next world, 'my world' won't be sacrificed?"

"I can't," she answered sincerely, without hesitation. However, a smile formed on her face, now no longer hidden by her mask. "Maybe if your ideal world and his represented the same thing...but there are no guarantees."

"Then you have my answer." She turned away, as if about to leave, but she soon turned in April's direction once more. "One last question. This world we are in, what made it different?"

"What do you mean?"

"It is in some ways quite similar to what I saw. Othinus explained to me that the way she creates phases allows her to add 'viewpoints', little changes that make people's feelings change. Me and him... we're not even friends in the other world so... I can't stop thinking there's something here, some 'tendency' or 'point of view', call it what you will."

"I know what you mean." April attempted to shrug, her movements strained as she shifted on the grimy floor. "I'm not responsible for any of this. I don't think there's any tendency of this world that made you interested in him, it was all just him...no, it was all just you. Your feelings are genuine, there's no doubt about that."

A radiant, impulsive smile illuminated Shizuri's face, unlike any expression April had witnessed thus far. She observed as Shizuri gently rubbed her eyes, as though she were making a concerted effort to contain something within.

Unable to resist, a smile also tugged at the corners of April's lips, subtle, yet undeniably present.

"You have a beautiful smile," April said, shifting her gaze to the destroyed ceiling, looking at those stars lighting up that darkness around her. "Yes... I think I understand now..."

Her eyes closed, her consciousness fading. The two fights between the two girls seeking perfection of their own form, had finally come to an end.

x-x

The battle against the otherworldly creature had now begun in earnest. Kakine unfurled his wings, splitting them into a multitude of stakes, and unleashed a barrage of projectiles towards the creature, while Mikoto fired several consecutive railguns, working in tandem with Kuroko, who teleported pieces of metal, which were also used by Kinuhata.

The monster barely seemed to care about the flurry of attacks, its indifference was even greater than before, which worried everyone there to no end.

"Do you intend to do something, Kamijou?" asked Kakine, yielding the attack. "Don't tell me you gave up because the thing didn't fall in one hit."

"He's not moving," Touma said simply. A bad feeling slid down his spine. "It's as if he's waiting for some command."

"Does it matter?" shouted Mikoto, preparing to accelerate a piece of car toward the creature."That old hag is up there fighting someone named April, and it doesn't seem like a good idea to interfere. If this thing is following her commands, we need to put an end to it right here, right now."

"Misaka-san, I would appreciate it if you would not refer to my girlfriend by that nickname."

The serious tone Touma used suddenly made the girl swallow dryly and look away, which was exactly his intention. But he had to give the girl credit for confirming that Shizuri was fighting with April right now, something that worried him. That girl was powerful, there was no telling how well his girlfriend would fare against her.

The dilemma swirling in his mind was killing him. If he left here and ran towards the building, that enemy would attack him, which would probably not be effective, but there was a chance that he was taking another fight to the battlefield inside that building. At best, he would abandon everyone here to their fate. Kakine was an abnormal monster, and he knew very well the damage Mikoto was capable of inflicting, so at that moment a strong urge to leave that battlefield and run to Shizuri's aid coursed through his body like electricity.

"Look out!" shouted Frenda, noticing that Touma was distracted.

The creature moved that sword so fast that Touma twisted his face into a grimace, it was almost as if his thoughts had been read. With his right hand raised, the spiky-haired boy grabbed the sword that seemed to teleport so fast, firmly gripping it between his thumb and index finger. With a clawing motion, he dug his nails into the sword, causing it to shatter from tip to hilt like fragile crystal.

Yet, something felt amiss.

"It's stronger," Touma announced, feeling his shoulder hurt slightly. "I don't know if it's the regeneration or something else, but the blow was different from last time."

And for the first time, the creature appeared to move under its own volition, taking a decisive step towards them. Something had truly changed, if the sudden aggressiveness and change in behavior was not enough of an indication, that look toward the top of the building and the golden glow of the blade in its hand served as definitive proof.

"Great, like that thing isn't strong enough." Mikoto signaled for Kuroko to hand her more ammunition, but before she could get ready she was interrupted by a right hand. "What?"

"Attacking him directly is a waste of time," said Touma, "Shirai-san, can you teleport all these fallen people away from here?"

"Yes, but that would take too long."

"Kinuhata, Frenda, help her. We need those people as far away from here as possible."

"Do you really think this is the time to worry about them?" complained Kakine. "We have this fake angel to take down here, don't change your focus."

"Let's split the teams for now. This thing... it's getting ready to take this seriously. You and I will get the angel's attention, everyone else focus on evacuating the people here. When you're done, don't come back. It's safer to stay away."

"Wait, I didn't agree to that." Mikoto still seemed determined to fight.

"You will be of great help with your mobility, let Kakine and I take care of that thing."

"I'm not just going to be in crowd control when -"

"Onee-san he's right."

"Kuroko, why are you on his side?"

"I'm from Judgment, so it's my duty to make sure all these students are okay. Kamijou-san is right here," repeated Shirai Kuroko.

With an angry snort, Mikoto cast one last glance in the direction of the two boys preparing to move towards the creature, her eyes gave away that she still wanted to say something, but she joined the others in silence.

Touma and Kakine moved in sync, one of them shot low flying with his wings, while the other used one of the lampposts as a way to gain momentum. The creature looked unfocused as always, which changed slightly when one of the gray wings coming out of #2's back hit it. The monster had a deep wound on its glowing body, but not even a second passed and it was gone.

The counterattack was coming. It was Touma's turn to do his job, so still propelling himself forward, he aimed his L.I.B at one of the tall concrete walls to move toward the blade that extended this time like the claws of a beast. Fist clenched, he swung his arm in an arc, parrying the blade, which instead of being completely destroyed, was deflected to the side, knocking the monster off balance.

"Kakine, this is your chance!" shouted Touma hurriedly.

"Leave it to me."

Before the 'angel' could return to full function, Kakine's wings extended toward the arm that held the blade, pinning it to the ground like a stapler, ensnaring it with that white substance that did not exist in this world.

"Give me another boost," Touma exclaimed, and without hesitation, he propelled himself into the air once more.

With a flap of wings, the level 5 manipulated a powerful gust of air that surged towards the spiky-haired boy, striking him from below. This was the very technique that had enabled him to arrive in time and shatter the blade before it could harm Mikoto. Now, like a missile, he hurtled towards the otherworldly creature's face.

The sound of breaking glass echoed as Kamijou Touma's right fist crashed into what would have been the cheek of the creature, which fell backwards from the impact of the blow. The boy's shoulder was almost dislocated after being thrown that way and punching the monster on the spur of the moment, but seeing the monster crumble once more put a smile on his face, making him ignore the pain completely.

The mass of dry earth and concrete formed another shower of debris, but not a single person was hit by it, thanks to the efforts of Touma and Kakine drawing attention to it and luring it away from the group of unconscious espers being evacuated.

"And here he comes again," Kakine warned, spreading his wings until they were more than 5 meters long.

"How the hell do we beat that?" asked Touma, his tone exuding concern.

"This is no time for dumb questions!"

The next attack came like a thunder, almost bursting the boy's eardrums. The creature had smashed the ground around him with one punch, causing a great deal of rubble and rusted metal to be hurled in the direction of the two boys.

Steadying both feet on the ground, Touma stared at the wave of mixed colors flying towards him. A piece of a car came within millimeters of his head as he ducked at the last moment, he was almost crushed by a shower of concrete, but he took a slight step to the side and then rolled several meters, where lampposts stuck in the earth like spears one after the other, but the boy seemed to know exactly where each one would fall without even needing to confirm it with his eyes. He dodged that wave of dirt without even using his L.I.B and came out completely unscathed.

Just as the attack seemed to be over, Touma raised his head and saw the giant golden blade move once again, however, he was not the target. His vision blurred once more, trying to follow the movement of the blade that ran towards Kakine. He watched as the blond boy spread his wings in front of his body, which were folded like a rubber band, absorbing the impact.

But it was not enough.

"Kakine!" Touma shouted, activating his grapple hook and catapulting himself toward the boy.

The impact had been so great that #2 flew for dozens of meters, going through the makeshift barriers and the concrete wall, landing on the cold ground on the other side of the yard, surrounded by scrap iron.

"Hey, Kakine." Touma landed near the still awake boy and offered a hand. "Are you okay?"

"What do you think?" he asked angrily, getting up using his wings as support. A trickle of blood dripped from his mouth, causing him to cough while he rubbed his abdominal area. "That thing, what is it made of anyway? It appears to be an AIM structure, but there's something there that I can't understand."

"I think I know what you mean."

"Huh? Can you analyze it using your powers too?"

"Not really." Touma looked in the direction of the enemy, walking toward them in slow steps. "What I do know is that this thing must have some kind of 'core' in some part of its body. Destroying it is the only way we can defeat it."

"I don't know how you figured that out, but I think I can make a great guess here." Kakine pointed with a wing in the direction of the monster. "It's in the chest. I felt the energy flow leaving from there when I spread my dark matter. But it seems that the regeneration rate is much higher there than in the extremities of the body. I think we're going to need more firepower."

"Firepower you said?"

That shouted voice sounded from the direction of the abandoned building as if waiting for a cue. That was all it took for Touma to automatically put a smile on his face, his heart racing in his chest and his breathing becoming irregular.

It was her, the person he longed to see. She was there, safe and sound.

"I think I have some here with me."

The smile on her face calmed him, so much so that he even ignored the state she was in.

"Shizuri!" He shot toward her, as if forgetting the world around, he wanted to hug her, but he stopped awkwardly and took a step back. "I mean... you look fine, Mugino."

"Huh?" The way she tilted her head was rather cute. "Why did you call me that?"

"Eh?" Really, he thought that would be appropriate, but why? "Well... it's just that... you know, in the other world you..."

"Can you two leave the awkward conversation for later?" Kakine pointed in the other direction with his head. "That thing is coming toward us."

With a sleek toss of her hair, Mugino Shizuri activated her ability, causing more than 20 electron spheres in an ambiguous state to hover around her.

"We'll talk later," she said. "What's the situation here? Where should I aim?"

"The creature regenerates," Kakine replied, pointing to the angel's chest. "It has a core right there." A feather detached itself from Kakine's wings and flew with precision to the indicated spot. It wasn't an actual attack, so the creature barely reacted. "We have to focus our attacks if we want to do a fair bit of damage."

"I think I have a plan," Touma said, opening and closing that right hand. "Kakine, can you pin that thing down like before? Focus on the left side, I need it to stay as still as possible."

"I'll try."

With a powerful flap of his wings, the blond boy surged forward once again towards the angel, which was slowly advancing, its wings outstretched like tentacles.

"We have to support him." Touma looked in Shizuri's direction. "Stay close to me and focus on shooting it in the chest, do as much damage as you can."

"It sounds simple enough, but is there more to it than that?"

A smile was his only response and then a determined look towards the creature, attacking Kakine with everything.

Shizuri returned Touma's smile and nodded, conveying her silent message that she had complete confidence in him. That abandoned courtyard was now being illuminated by the consecutive bursts of Meltdowner's beams, all hitting the creature's chest with precision.

The indiscriminate attack caught the otherworldly angel's attention, which made him give up on hitting Kakine, who was dodging attacks now instead of trying to block. His sword made an arc motion above his head, a motion Touma hadn't seen yet. The sky lit up, a golden cloak descending over the courtyard as lights rained down toward Mugino Shizuri.

"I'll take care of it," Touma warned, placing a hand on Shizuri's shoulder.

The girl didn't even bother to give a confirmation, she just kept attacking without fear of drawing attention, and without worrying about those arrows of light flying menacingly towards her.

Taking care not to get into Shizuri's line of fire and with precise timing, he abruptly splayed his hand open, fingers spread wide apart.

Kamijou had no intention of completely negating that attack, instead, he allowed a portion of it to permeate through his open fingers. The reason for this? Water would flow down a hill. Heat flows from the point of highest temperature to the point of lowest temperature, following the path of least thermal resistance. This was no different. Utilizing his understanding of the fundamental principle that power naturally seeks the path of least resistance, the boy deftly manipulated the light as if his fingers were guiding rails. He redirected it, causing it to collide with another arrow of light resulting in a chaotic explosion, creating a safe area where he and Shizuri were unharmed after that shower of attacks.

"That looks bad," Shizuri said, looking at a golden light in front of them.

She barely finished speaking and a blinding explosion came from that light, decimating everything in its path toward them.

"Behind me!" shouted Touma.

The hand extended in front of him served as an impassable barrier, although he was feeling the attack bend his fingers.

"There's more?!" Shizuri momentarily lost her composure.

As Touma glanced around, he noticed numerous golden lights hovering in an area around them. They were surrounded now. Several explosions, identical to each other, were howling in their direction.

Touma had no time to waste. As soon as he completely negated the last attack, he made one more clawing motion with his right hand, shoving that flesh-and-blood hand into one of the explosions. With one vigorous motion, the boy grabbed that blast and threw it at another approaching blast, which canceled them both out. With a step forward, he entered into that temporary safe zone along with Shizuri, and then did the same with another blast, a move so fluid and casual that it barely seemed like they were in danger.

"Impressive," Shizuri praised, returning to attacking the creature. The damage she had done had almost completely regenerated by now. "Is that a new trick of your other self?"

"Will you guys stop chatting there?" shouted Kakine, his wings wrapped like ropes around the creature's left arm. "I'm going to pin his feet down now too, whatever you have in mind do it fast, I won't last long."

"Roger that." Touma took a step toward Shizuri, a little hesitantly. "I'm going to need to hold you now, okay?"

"OK." The girl took the initiative, slipping her left arm across his shoulder. "I'm ready when you are."

The boy's hesitant way of acting seemed to bother Shizuri, considering that she sighed only to herself when he asked that question. But this was no time for him to try to guess how she was feeling.

With a hand motion, the L.I.B was activated and the grappling hook nailed a nearby pole with a satisfying metallic sound. Touma was gripping the girl's waist firmly with his right hand, which hindered the girl's calculations, so it was all up to him for now.

The creature with its feet and trapped left hand was struggling vigorously, which made Kakine put everything into keeping it in place. This was not enough to stop him from wielding the sword in his right hand, which was thrust in the direction of the two in the sky after being propelled. But that was exactly what Touma expected the thing to do.

"Hold tight!" shouted Touma, feeling Shizuri's grip as she clung to him with both arms around his neck.

With a precise punch, the sword's blade was deflected once again, and just as before, it dug into the ground below after a reverberating impact.

"Kakine, I need support!"

"Give me a break!" complained the blond, using his dark matter to pin the creature's sword to the ground. "Go!"

Touma landed on the blunt part of the giant blade with both feet, and holding Shizuri in his arms, he swiftly initiated a full-speed sprint. Simultaneously, he activated his grappling hook once again, aiming it towards the chest area, where he intended to deliver the final blow.

As soon as they reached their destination, the creature struggled even harder, Kakine would not hold it for long. Shizuri held Touma tightly, using her legs to steady herself and letting him move his right hand.

"Right here," Touma said punching the creature's chest as hard as he could, making room for his right hand to make a large hole, the rapid regeneration making his fingers tremble. Finally, he succeeded in exposing the monster's core through that opening, but it was now beyond his reach. "Time for that firepower you promised."

"Leave it to me, I have the proper tool for this task."

From Shizuri's right hand, an electron blade appeared, with a blinding glow and a high voltage noise. She wasted no time, piercing that creature's chest, but regeneration was still getting in the way. With determination etched on her face and gritted teeth, she took a deep breath. Her sword grew to tens of meters in length, leaving a noise of smoke and melting on the way straight to that core, which was torn in two, destroyed by that blade that used the full potential of that level 5.

The creature for the first time grunted, as if in pain, and its sturdy body collapsed on its two legs. Kakine seemed to understand that the plan had been a success, retracting his wings and releasing the creature, causing it to crash into the ground below and once again creating an impenetrable cloud of dust.

"Let's not make the same mistake here," said Kakine, as soon as he saw Touma land near him.

With a flutter of wings, a gale was created, blowing away all the accumulated dust, so those standing there could get a good look at the dying creature. They watched it vanish, its sword cracking like fragile glass.

"It's over," Touma said, looking down at his sore right hand. "He's not going to regenerate from that."

"Yeah... I get it." Kakine shrugged, somewhat breathless after so much effort. "By the way, you owe me 10000 yen."

"Really, Kakine? At least give me some time to enjoy this victory."

"When did you two become best friends?" asked Shizuri, still with an arm around Touma's shoulder, "Just to be clear, I still hate you #2, nothing is going to change that." She turned away from the boy to cross her arms and lift her chin in an arrogant pose.

"That hurt," scoffed Kakine, placing his hand on his chest as a joke. "You are an expert at breaking hearts."

"Was that supposed to be an attempt at humor? Even Touma can do better than that."

Things seemed to be getting back to normal, which made Touma feel a relief in his chest.

But unfortunately, that feeling didn't last long.

An eerie shiver made him turn to another corner of that landscape that barely resembled a courtyard anymore, more specifically, to a growing, faintly glimmering light.

"Something's wrong," Touma said, alerting the other two.

That ominous light began to take shape, growing, expanding. Kakine activated his ability once more, with every intention of simply attacking what was forming, but he gave up as soon as he noticed something.

There were two more lights there, totaling 3 different colored shapes. They also began to expand, taking the form of creatures as grotesque as the one they had just defeated.

One of the creatures possessed a reptilian head, its scales resembling the vibrant blue of the sky. The second entity displayed a striking feathered armor, a gleaming combination of green and silver. As for the third figure, it took on a more feminine form, adorned in what appeared to be a purple dress embellished with a crescent moon symbol.

"More of that thing?" Kakine clicked his tongue. "How many of them are coming?"

"Only those," Shizuri stated. She had a hand on her chin and a faraway look on her face. "She had said my first knight. Four focus points, just like the cardinal directions… or something like that."

"Great, so we have to deal with these three?" Touma didn't sound very excited. "Will the same trick work with more than one?"

"Holding one was tricky enough," Kakine revealed, crushing the group's hopes. "You better have a trick up your sleeve, hero." He paused heavily, looking at the three creatures that began to move nonchalantly toward them. "If not those things will destroy everything here."

Preparing for combat, Kakine walked towards the three creatures, making it clear that he had no fear, even in the face of such brutal odds against him. But his overconfidence didn't help matters in the face of the scene that followed.

A deafening crash like thunder struck the courtyard, the wind began to move quickly, the air becoming denser. The three creatures raised their weapons at the same time, illuminating the room with beams of light that resembled large needles sewing the night sky.

"Not good!" Kakine shouted the obvious, spreading his wings in a net shape around him. "If it's as strong as that attack..."

He didn't have to finish, Touma knew what was coming. He had a limit to how much his Imagine Breaker could do, so he had to trust that Kakine would be able to protect himself at least enough so that he wouldn't die. His priority was someone else.

"Don't move away," Touma asked the girl next to him softly. "It sounds like a horrible situation but -"

"A perfect world," interrupted Shizuri monotonously.

"What?"

"It's what she wanted, April. A perfect world, for you...for me."

"I don't understand." Touma shook his head. "Why are you telling me this now?"

"I thought I should." Shizuri shrugged.

Touma didn't understand, maybe because she didn't want to understand. In such a desperate situation, the girl was telling him something so irrelevant in such a monotonous way.

The creatures lowered their hands in a single motion, causing all those connected needles to descend beneath the earth like a blanket of golden fire. The air burned, and the earth exploded on impact. Touma watched with the corner of his eye as Kakine flapped his wings and reached out to make a large shield, but that attack was even stronger than the one he had received earlier. His wings twisted, being destroyed, torn like paper without any effort.

Besides the direct attack, the dirt and concrete blown away by the wind was a big problem, but several beams of white light flew and accurately hit the rubble coming towards them, courtesy of #4.

In the next instant, he could barely see what had happened. Touma raised his right hand and felt something being negated, the impact so strong that he thought he would be crushed. The raised dust made him cough and shake his hand in front of his face, trying to keep that obtusion from his vision.

To his left he saw Kakine on the ground, his broken wings spread out around him, but he looked relatively well, probably what Touma negated was enough so that he could protect himself with his dark matter.

Upon hearing Shizuri's coughs caused by the swirling dust, the boy with spiky hair swung his arm, clearing away more of the particles that surrounded him.

"Shizuri, are you..."

He saw the girl place her trembling hand in the region of her abdomen, causing her palm to become stained with a thick, viscous red liquid.

"Shizuri!"

A dim golden light was coming from the girl's direction, right there, disappearing from where she had put her hand, where there was a deep wound in her slender body. Her legs trembled intensely, to the point where she nearly collapsed, but Touma managed to catch her just in time.

"No, no, no... Shizuri... no, no..." The boy held the girl in his arms, as if he knew that if he let go he would lose her.

"It was one of those needles," she said weakly. "I melted some with my ability so they wouldn't hit you but..."

"Don't talk," he ordered worriedly, feeling the girl's blood splatter on his clothes. "Please don't talk."

"April promised me something incredible," the girl continued, putting a hand up to the sky as if to grab the stars. "But I couldn't accept it...it would be an easy path, my happiness would be guaranteed, I knew that."

"Please -"

"It's okay," she whispered, placing her icy hand on his face. "I've done so many horrible things, so many that at one point, I asked myself if I deserved everything good that happened to me. Why are people as kind as you the ones who are suffering in my place? This world is so unfair."

When he saw the gleam in the girl's eyes begin to blur, he felt as if something broke inside him. His eyes moistened and his jaw stiffened, his muscles tensing as his breathing grew heavier. He didn't know what to do. Even if he held her in his arms and ran at full speed, those three creatures would destroy everything. There was nowhere to run, no more hope in this hell.

Until the girl's weak voice sounded once again.

"But I want to be happy in this unfair world," she said, a discreet smile being drawn on her face. "I want to fulfill my promise to you...I want to live...to live by your side away from this darkness...can you give me that?"

"Shizuri." He wanted to turn his face at that moment, catching a glimpse of the three monsters preparing the second round of attacks, but the girl caressed his face, which made him keep focusing on those eyes. "What are you asking me?"

The girl removed her right hand from his face, and then slid it down to that right hand. There was a ring, simple in appearance, but with a meaning that this girl wanted to see at that moment.

"I just don't want our love story to end like this," she said, smiling as she saw the message written there. "It's the most selfish request I could make...but that's what I want."

The moment she squeezed that right hand hard, the sky above them was torn as if reality itself was breaking apart. That imperfect world was slowly fading away.

"Kamijou Touma, I want you to protect this world." Thick tears began to well up in Shizuri's eyes. "Show these monsters that you are not someone who gives up that easily. I know you can do it, so stop holding back. Go, protect the happiness you've created for us."

Her words made him feel something breaking on the right side of his body, right there, on that bandaged arm from a sword strike earlier that long night. The hesitation in his eyes was clear, but after taking a deep breath, he shook his head and put a serious expression on his face.

"I said I would do whatever you wanted. Anything," he muttered, almost only to himself. "Stay here and watch me."

Touma tried to carefully put her down, but the girl grabbed him tightly.

"No," she said, denying with her head. "I want to stay by your side."

There were no complaints to be made, he had made the promise.

The shattered concrete floor trembled below them, and in the sky, needles connected by golden threads with a faint emerald glow covered the sky of the whole world. But the boy saw this as nothing more than a light show.

Supporting Shizuri with his body and passing her arm across his shoulder, they walked for a few meters, with her at his left side, just as she liked to stay.

"Heroes are unnecessary," he stated, unwrapping the bandage from his right arm as if undoing a seal. "As long as everyone is okay in the end, there's nothing I can complain about...don't you think?"

Something was definitely shattering. Cracking sounds, akin to plastic breaking, were emanating from Touma's right side. An oppressive aura surrounded him, which made him cast a cautious glance in Shizuri's direction.

"Don't be afraid," he said, his voice hesitant. The intermittent sound of cracks running through something did not make her move away.

"Why would I be afraid?" Shizuri smiled, removing the remaining doubts in his eyes. "And even if I were, I wouldn't change my decision. It is you who need not be afraid. Time to stop running away."

One last step forward was taken, and the sky collapsed in that instant. The rain of needles fell like an endless storm, a shimmer of destruction falling on that world. It was the end approaching. And...

That end was pushed away by a beam of light.

A roaring sound was heard. The boy, now surrounded by an aura of red energy all over his body, unpretentiously raised his right hand to the sky. Geometric shapes resembling polygons from a video game spread out around them both. It was like fish eggs, but this was surely a symbol of the artificial. Those figures dissolved into a blinding explosion of light that drove away the destruction those creatures brought.

But it didn't stop there.

With a wet sound, as if flesh and bones were breaking, another creature appeared in the middle of that courtyard. It roared and streaked across dozens of meters, its pale hue and distinct shape resembling a blur as it propelled itself at full speed towards the otherworldly beings, jaws wide open.

A symbol that crossed the duality of good and evil by being counted as a filthy devil but also being used to signify proper families and organizations. The ruler of the depths and a guardian of treasure.

In other words.

"A dragon," Shizuri said that as if she expected that she would see just that.

The creature's jaws dug deep into the building-sized monster that had the head of a crocodile, which struggled as it had a large chunk of its body devoured by that white-scaled dragon.

"It's not enough," Touma declared calmly.

"You still have more?!" Shizuri's eyes widened as she saw the scene before her.

In the next instant, more creatures joined the fight, with their jaws open and willing to devour everything in their path.

One of them was black, with horns covering its nonexistent eyes. One appeared like an angel, with no mouth and bizarre hands covering its face. One resembled a snake, its single reptilian eye standing out on its scaly body. One had icy scales, as solid as the planet itself. One was verdant, with multiple hypnotic eyes. One was engulfed in flames, its incandescent red consuming its skeletal form. One was golden yellow, with electricity coursing through its body and lasers shooting from its mouth.

They bit, they tore, they ripped, they destroyed. Bite by bite, the army of dragons devoured the creatures that kept regenerating, making a light show on that long night.

"You said 'don't hold back,' didn't you?" asked Touma. Was that a smile on his face?

"You mean..." The girl left her sentence incomplete as she looked at his face.

The army had more than doubled in size. A total of 17 dragons wrapped themselves around the remaining pieces of the creatures, ensnaring them, effectively immobilizing their every movement. There was no fight there, it was nothing but monsters devouring monsters, until there was nothing left. A deafening noise dominated that courtyard as all the dragons roared at once, as if they were satisfied with that meal.

They began to fade away, bit by bit, but as a last gesture, they all looked in the direction of that totally normal looking boy and bowed their snake heads at the same time in a gesture of respect before disappearing from the starry horizon.

"Dragons?" Kakine had regained consciousness, standing up half staggering. "Will your powers start to make sense at some point?"

"You're the last person who would get away with saying that," Shizuri said, putting pressure on her wound.

The threat had been removed, but that didn't change the fact that the girl was still bleeding profusely. Touma gave a worried look in Shizuri's direction, she had already been injured during her previous fight, which was probably why she had been hit by the attack that was killing her.

"That looks bad," Kakine pointed out casually. "Can I take a look?"

"And you're a doctor by any chance?" spat Shizuri.

"Okay, bleed to death then." He shrugged.

"Is there anything you can do?" asked Touma worriedly. "You can fly, so take her -"

"You think I'm your private chauffeur, Kamijou?" Kakine clicked his tongue and reached out his hand, causing a viscous liquid to form there. "Take your dirty hand away from the wound, #4, before it gets infected. I'll apply a hemostatic gel made with my powers that –"

"I don't trust you," Shizuri retorted, her expression turning guarded as she closed herself off.

"My god, we just fought together almost to the death here, give me a damn break."

With unusual reluctance, the girl grunted something unintelligible and then removed her hand from the wound. The gray substance was applied perfectly to the wound, which made the bleeding stop immediately, as if by magic.

"Thank you," said Touma in place of his sulking girlfriend. "Is she going to be okay with just that?"

"This will stop the bleeding and take care of the wound. She may need a transfusion after losing so much blood, so I suggest she go straight to the hospital. What about you?"

"Me?" Touma made a confused face.

"That doesn't look good."

Kakine pointed at Touma's right arm, or what was left of it after it was blown off from the inside out. The damage extended almost to the shoulder, which was a grotesque scene in itself, but the fact that the boy hardly seemed to care made it all the more strange.

"It's taking a little longer than usual." Touma shrugged, still unconcerned about having a missing arm.

"What's taking so long?"

As soon as number 2 asked this, he witnessed a scene that made him grimace in disbelief and confusion. From the boy's right shoulder, a heap of flesh and muscle clumped together with a wet, disgusting noise, remaking the destroyed arm in an instant.

"You... regenerate?" Kakine twisted his face until it was almost unrecognizable. "Of course you regenerate. What else? Can you fly too?"

"Actually, yes."

"What?!"

"What?!"

The two Level 5's had surprisingly got into sync.

"I mean... sort of," Touma said quietly, placing a hand on his chin. "There was that time in England, but I didn't have a good grip."

"And you didn't think something like that would be useful in this battle?" Kakine was slightly irritated. "You think this was all a joke, Kamijou? By the way, I demand a rematch. We must settle this once and for all later, in a suitable place where I can use the full extent of my Dark Ma -"

"I'll ask again," Shizuri cut in, "since when did you two become best friends?"

"I'm not friends with this guy!" Indignant, #2 turned away, causing 6 wings of dark matter to form on his back. "I'll call you later so we can talk about that matter. You better keep your promise, Kamijou. "

Without elaborating, he flapped his wings and flew off at an alarming speed, leaving Shizuri and Touma alone amidst all the destruction.

"Another Tsundere, what a surprise," Shizuri commented, letting out a tired sigh. "Well, I guess we're done here. I have to stop by the hospital now, will you come with me?"

"I don't need medical attention, but I'll visit you later, I just have to sort something out first." He looked at the abandoned building right next to them.

"What do you intend?" The worried tone in Shizuri's voice made Touma narrow his eyes, which caused the girl to flinch and avert her gaze. "Be quick...we still have a lot to talk about."

The two went their separate ways once again. Honestly, Touma just wanted to go with her to the hospital, to make sure she was okay, that everything was okay, but he knew it wasn't over yet. That defeated girl inside that building was his responsibility, and he was tired of running away.

x-x

In the dirt, there she was. The pink-haired girl, Aihana Etsu, April... Nobody. She was lying there with open eyes, watching the pale moonlight, filtering through the fractures in the dilapidated walls.

"You're late," she said, not bothering to raise her voice or look in another direction. "Shouldn't the Hero show up just in time to save the damsel in distress?"

Touma looked at the girl's precarious state, knowing that deep down, this was all his fault. He knew the whole truth, there was no need for that girl to tell him anything. It was as if the two were connected, two radios sharing the same frequency. But in that instant, there was still a little static in that connection.

"I never asked for any of that." The boy tried to keep a serious expression as he stooped close to April. "I was just fine in the other world, I had everything I needed."

"But not everything you truly wanted." She turned her head toward him, her beautiful face marked by emerald scars. "I wonder how many more times you'll make the same mistake."

"That ended today. No more conflicting desires, no more wishing for a new world."

"You think I'm stupid?" April laughed weakly. "If what you say is true, then why am I still here?"

"You are dying, I can feel it."

"It's not the first time, you know that, so what's your point?" The girl stood her ground, her tone getting louder and louder. "I'm going to disappear from this world, and go back to the place where I was born, and then I'll do it all over again. I hate it all... I really do, but what choice do I have? And you know what's worse? Unlike him, I'm not even able to hate the person who put me through all this."

"From today you will be able to."

Her blue eyes narrowed, settling into those same eyes of his. She had been born thanks to that boy, a fruit of his conflicting desires. In that moment, when he was hit by the power that leaked from the Imagine Breaker, a part of him was sent to another world. This part took shape, based on his own tastes, his own wishes. She represented his desires, his resentments after seeing a perfect world and not being able to be a part of it. She was the part of him that wanted to be saved.

"You can leave where you are now," Touma said, turning his gaze toward the shadows being cast on a nearby wall.

Calm colors emerged in the darkness. You couldn't tell how long that person had been standing there, or what his plans were for this long night, but none of that mattered to the spiky-haired boy.

"Interesting conversation," said the person shrouded in color, Aihana Etsu. "You seem to have regained all your memories, but the question that remains is...are you still you?"

"Save her," Touma said, rising with a stern countenance, his voice carrying an air of urgency, almost commanding."You can start with your riddles and mysteries later, but do what you have to do."

"I don't like how you are making it seem like I have no choice." The figure hidden in those colors had a posture that seemed disinterested.

"I could force you, if I wanted to… but I don't want to be that kind of person."

"What kind of person? Someone who only knows how to solve things using the violence of his fist? Isn't that exactly what you already are?" Aihana walked on, his(?) footsteps echoing softly as he circled around the boy. "That inferior version of you lying right there told me a lot about you. A fair price for what I offered her, considering she was so weak when I released her from that project."

"Spare me from your delusions of heroism -"

"This whole city, and everything that happens in it, is like this thanks to the way you settle things. As I told you before, you are not a good person."

"I know." He stepped into the path so that the figure there stopped walking. "There's nothing you can tell me that someone else hasn't already told me, but I've lived too long to stop caring...not that I ever cared before anyway. Now if you're done, do what you have to do."

That person, even if he was hiding his features, could not disguise how offended he was. Raising his hand to hold his chin, a pose that looked more like mockery than thoughtfulness, Aihana looked in April's direction and then shook his head negatively.

"She's no longer any good," Aihana said calmly. "If I offer my name to her again, she will either regain her powers and try this all over again, or she will be able to see a version of herself with the ability to free herself from the restraints that have been placed on her. That is quite a gamble for someone like you, and while I know you are willing to pay it, my time has become more and more precious. My justice must continue to be served as soon as possible."

"What are you getting at?"

"I will help her. I will give my name to her once again, but on a temporary basis, that way I can guarantee the grand prize." Aihana pointed with his index finger in Touma's direction. "You knew it would end this way."

"No!" was April who shouted that with her last strength. "You can't hear his words, if you accept what he has to offer -"

"I know," interrupted Touma, raising his left hand toward Aihana. "Is that all your price?"

"So do you accept the proposal I made to you earlier today?" Number 6 paused. "Sorry, for you it must have been longer. Anyway, although that girl has been my best vigilante so far, I am no longer interested in inferior versions. I need someone who will honor my name, someone who will go to the depths of this city and come back unharmed. You will be that person, my invincible knight...the bane of the dark side."

One last look was exchanged between those two, and without hesitation, Touma nodded, still keeping his serious face.

"Just to be clear," Aihana said. "Your Imagine Breaker may interfere a bit, but the steady flow of our bond cannot be undone by it easily, so if you were thinking of tricking me with such a simple trick, you're out of luck." The level 5 shook Touma's left hand with his own. "Now, accept my name, I will give you what you lack. Imagine your ideal self, a version of yourself that is normally unattainable."

A calm but steady stream of an unknown energy was flowing through his body now. He even remembered the time he had used magic thanks to St. Germain in his fight against Anna Sprengel, a weakened flow due to the power of his right hand, but one that could still circulate without too many problems.

The power of the number 6 was accepted, which made Touma wonder what it meant to be him, or an ideal version of him, one who could accomplish anything he wanted, conquer anything if he tried. The answer was obvious to that problem.

"Huh?" Aihana Etsu definitely grimaced, no matter that his countenance was hidden, one could tell anyway. "Did your strange power interrupt the process? No... it was activated I'm sure but, I've never received a signal like that before. What did you do?"

Something seemed to have gone wrong, but Touma remained unfazed, looking away in the direction of the girl lying there. After a few seconds, he dropped Level 5's hand in confusion.

April put a small smile on the corner of her mouth as she realized what had happened.

"Of course," she said, giving a weak laugh. "I thought repeating the process was enough, but actually sending your consciousness to the other world instead of receiving a signal from there was the most effective. In the end, memories mean nothing if you receive them as data." The laugh became louder, which made her cough. "All according to plan."

The sound of teeth grinding resounded in that silent, destroyed space.

"You planned all this?" Aihana still didn't seem to have understood everything, but he understood enough to be angry.

"Not really," April replied with a nonchalant tone. "It was that interference from earlier that was responsible for all this. I guess my plan wasn't so good after all, such misfortune. That bastard had everything under control."

"What are you talking about?" demanded Aihana.

"It doesn't matter. Just know that you can't have him anymore, not after all he has seen and felt. You could say that he is complete now, his vivid experiences implanted in his brain now have meaning as he saw the other world with his own eyes once again. He decided that he would run away no more, and that was all that was left for the puzzle to become complete. The ultimate purity has been achieved. There is no way for Kamijou Touma to imagine an ideal version of himself now. You have lost."

Her words echoed like a curse. Aihana Etsu clicked his tongue in annoyance, his fists clenched, his posture rigid, and his gaze drifting towards the distant horizon visible through the crumbling remnants of walls.

It had been a perfect victory.

That was all she wanted, her purpose.

"Yes... I can feel it," April said, raising her right hand that displayed a pale emerald glow. "It was so obvious from the beginning, but I ignored it for so long. This is a perfect world, isn't it?"

Touma walked towards her, his steps slow and rhythmic, his shadow growing as the rising sunlight touched more of his body.

"The world I have now is perfect for me," he whispered, lowering himself beside her and gently grasping her hand with his right. "I don't need anything else from now on, just her by my side is enough. Thank you so much for giving me this gift, and I'm really sorry, my way of paying you back for something like this is even a little cruel."

"Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind, don't you think?" She smiled faintly, looking at that hand holding hers, the one that was beginning to dematerialize, as if her very existence was being rejected. "There's no going back after that, it feels like the end of the line for me."

"Are you afraid?"

"A little." April locked her gaze on his for the last time. "It's dark...cold. Nothing I haven't felt before."

Her entire body glowed with emerald and shocking pink, colors not found anywhere in nature, her feminine silhouette turning into something ethereal, dissolving amidst the dim sunlight that illuminated her body.

But before she disappeared, she grabbed that right hand, bringing it up to her cheek.

"You were wrong," she said, her body now just a blur of light. "I still can't bring myself to hate you. Enjoy your new life to the fullest, it's the least you can do for this idiot girl who just wanted to be saved...don't you think?"

April, the girl who should not exist and was brought into existence by a selfish desire, finally disappeared. Her body faded into an emerald green glow, leaving behind a pink dust that danced for a few seconds in the air like butterflies floating calmly.

It took a few seconds for Touma to gather the strength to stand up. He had done the right thing, he knew it, it was obvious to him, but still, he felt his heart grow heavy. This was the second time something like this had happened, a wish of his being fulfilled in the most twisted way possible. But this time he didn't reject this wish, he embraced it now, so maybe that was the reason for the subtle tightness in his chest.

She had died. Another life being brought into existence by his powers only to be killed by his own hand, and he was rewarded for it this time, and thinking about it made his hands tremble, but he took a deep breath and thought about her last words.

"Sometimes I wonder what it really means to save someone." Touma gathered strength in his trembling right hand. "I saw her smile in that last moment. Before she disappeared, she was definitely smiling."

A faint laugh was heard, distorted like those colors around number 6 who watched the whole scene.

"You remind me of him," Aihana said dismissively, "making his mistakes and failures look like a victory."

"Sometimes that's all that's left. The only thing you cling to if you want to keep moving forward." Touma rejected all that, even though he knew deep down that it was true.

"Cling to what? Madness. Make-believe. A relentless obsession disguised as determination. A lie embellished, but still a lie."

"Someone like you would never understand."

"Someone like me? Someone who uses logic instead of appealing to empty feelings?"

"Someone who is not capable of taking a single step out of his comfort zone." He rejected it all one last time. This was no time to regret for a decision made, that was not her last wish. "That's enough, Aihana Etsu. Your words will never have any force if you remain in your safe bubble. Now get out of my way."

There was nothing to talk about, those two would not come to an agreement, not in this world. It was a shame, as Touma thought to thank him for at least being helpful at this end. If Aihana Etsu were not here, it would be practically impossible for him to prove to April that she was no longer needed, his words would just sound like delusions thrown to the wind by an idealistic and desperate person.

But still, the spiky-haired boy just turned and walked away. He had a new life to enjoy ahead of him, the perfection of this imperfect world, so to worry about something so silly was beyond him at that moment.


A/N: Hello there! I took a little longer to post this chapter, a lot of things happened and I ended up not having much time to revise it.

And this is sort of the end of this arc. Kind of, since we'll have an epilogue. The next chapter is the last one, not only of this arc, but of the entire fic. Actually, chances are that I will divide it into two chapters, since according to my notes, there are many long scenes. I wrote very little these past few days, we had GT8, which I'm rereading, a fic I like updated, and I'm still playing a certain new game... wait, we're getting off topic, better talk about this specific chapter.

The end of Shizuri and April's fight was determined by the famous fragrance of Jasmine and Roses that I made a point of mentioning so many times in this story. I wanted the fight to be resolved by Shizuri, without any kind of help, but at the same time, Touma needed to be present in some way. Even the idea of the sword was his. Shizuri's final speech serves both to show her development and also her ideals when it comes to her allies, those who have read the ITEM novel know what I'm talking about. By the way, the second volume of Toaru Anbu no Item will be released in August. Kamachi is a machine LOL.

The final fight between Touma, along with his two "former enemies" on the dark side, against the knights was complicated to write. I wanted it to be longer, but having two fights in the same chapter could become tiresome, so I hope I got it right. The ending with Shizuri almost dying in Touma's arms and then finally saying what she really wants went through a few changes when I was still jotting down how the scene would unfold. At one point, I was unsure if this particular scene would have a happy ending or not, but I quickly discarded that idea.

Now, about the scene where Touma unleashes his entire zoo of monsters. The sound coming from his arm was inspired by the scene in NT13, even the speech is similar to that scene. For those who haven't read the novels, Touma's power "Beyond the Right Hand" can cause his arm to explode from the inside out, yes, I didn't make that up. The invisible thing can even be used without the need for his arm to be ripped off (NT18). And even if his arm is cut off, the power doesn't always manifest. Touma's mental state is actually as important, if not more important, than the arm itself (NT22).

The final scene might be confusing. To explain it briefly, Touma was hit by WR at the end of NT14, and it was at that moment that his internal conflict caused (a part of) his power, which was momentarily separated from him, to give April consciousness. The logic she was using for the perfect world was all based on how Touma felt, not the world itself. As we saw in NT22R, the "wishes" that Touma makes never turn out exactly as he requested, hence April's confusion, as she barely knew what she was doing.

Aihana Etsu was another plot device here. The main theme of this fic is tied to his power, which basically gives powers to another person, causing them to imagine an ideal version of themselves. In this case, Touma here has his memories from both the future and the past, used his powers voluntarily, and has a girl who approves of this, which made him feel better about himself and accept his "inner self." This new mental state interfered with #6's powers and prevented Touma from accepting the name "Aihana Etsu."

In Toaru, "worlds" doesn't always refer to the entire planet Earth. During the Third World War, in the final battle against Fiamma, Touma said he "saved the world," but he wasn't referring to the planet. I hope this makes sense.

But now, going back to talking about the fic overall again. As I said, this is sort of the end of this arc, the next chapter is almost entirely dedicated to Touma and Shizuri (and the next one if I divide it into two). I thought a lot about whether I wanted to do a sequel to this story, and the answer is both yes and no. The whole plot here was written in a way that the ending would truly be a "finale," so I decided that I'll just do some extra chapters in a "One-Shot" format. Probably on special dates like Christmas, so don't expect something with a lot of "plot." For now, the next chapter will be the end of the journey for these versions of Kamijou Touma and Mugino Shizuri.


I will separate this segment for those who don't want any GT8 spoilers. But I won't go into detail, so you are free to read it.

I wanted to talk about what I thought of GT8, but my notes are already too long. So I'll be brief. It was a good volume, and that ending was a bit shocking. The focus that Kamachi gave on the Spear that Touma is carrying around is concerning. He's probably going to throw that thing at that bastard, and it probably won't have any effect. Who knows.

And obviously, I'll put a line from Touma that made me chuckle a little bit:

"Why is Anna being so nice all of a sudden? Wh-why would that wicked woman hand me a blanket? Wait, hold on. She hasn't fallen in love with me, has-"

And this interaction was priceless:

"Aradia? That's accurate, but I'd prefer if you came up with names that distinguish her from me."

"Then how about I call you Dia-chan?"

"Please don't. It's scary when a guy comes on too hard."

The minorly depressed goddess grew a bit flustered. She wasn't sure what to do with her hands.

Dia-chan is one of the best girls right now. I just wanted to say that.


Let's answer the reviews... this will be the second-to-last time I'll do this, time passes so quickly:

xellos540: ;Well... his manga is excellent.

;"I mean if she didn't love him, what reason would she have to raid it?" Takitsubo. Shizuri comments on how worried she is about her friend to both Touma and Uiharu.

;The topic went to Ayu because Kakine asked Touma if he had lost someone who looked up to him as well.

; "and why Touma is telling THAT to KAKINE out of all people" The same can be asked why Touma decided to say how he feels about his lost memories to Maidono, a dark side assassin he has just met, out of so many people. He thought the two of them would feel better if he was sincere. This is just GT Touma being GT Touma, nothing to do with drinking.

;Shizuri is not stalling for Touma, she has made that clear.

;Before the three ambushed April.

;She is a "female KnT", so yes.

;A sword is better than a "claw", in that situation at least… maybe xD

;In this timeline, Frenda who gave Mikoto the idea LOL. Although none of that is going to happen in the future anyway…

;This excitement brings a smile to my face.

;Poor Touma, hardly ever able to earn money the easy way.

;Kazakiri's chance of dying if Touma touches her with his right hand is about 99%. We've already seen him destroy an AIM thought being in a single blow after all. Here was a special case.

;It seems that you are right about Toaru fanfics being bigger than those of the fandom you write. But my fic is longer than average even here. I did a little research, and the average word count for Toaru fanfics is not that high. Only about 5 percent of all fanfics go over 100k, which is already way above average, and my fic is actually longer than about 99 percent of all Toaru fanfics. It is even longer than the average "long" fanfic. This impression is only because the most famous Toaru fanfic is exceptionally long. And the second place too.

5queso: I'm glad you liked the explanations, I tried to make it simple with the game metaphor. Good to hear that, readers of the novels should be used to it by now after NT22R and so much going on. Drunk Touma is the biggest threat in this universe LOL. As always, thanks for the support. See you (probably) for the last time in the next chapter. Bye!


In the next chapter, we will return to calm... and chaos. Kind of. This story is a real "slow burn", isn't it? Do you prefer the calmest or the most agitated moments? I still have a lot to say, but that's enough for today. I'm leaving.