Despair And Romance Walk Side By Side

"Gwarghh!!" The bullet struck the side of Edward's body, near his liver. It was not a fatal shot, but the pain Edward felt was indescribable.

"Edward!" Peter shouted in fright upon seeing his friend's blood spreading through the air. However, Edward still had the strength to make one last move. He swung his arm, causing his whip to wrap around Jack's leg.

"Peter, go!" Edward did not care about the damage he had suffered; to him, the only thing that mattered at that moment was securing victory and, in doing so, ensuring Arya's safety.

Even shaken by seeing his friend get shot, Peter remained firm on his path and leaped at Jack. The gravedigger blocked the first punch, but Peter did not hesitate and continued his assault. The image of Edward's blood spreading served as motivation for Peter to become even more intense. In the end, Peter managed to knock the rifle out of Jack's hands, leaving the gravedigger defenseless. The flames around Peter gathered in his right arm, and he delivered a blow with all his strength.

"Burning Lariat!" Peter executed the lariat with perfection; his arm struck below Jack's neck, sending him flying out of the tree, spinning several times before hitting the ground.

That blow was capable of fatally wounding a normal human, but Jack had a much more resilient body and managed to survive, absorbing part of the impact while the flames failed to carbonize his flesh.

"Blahrgghh!" Even so, that blow had been devastating, and Jack saw his blood escape from his mouth. He could no longer even remember the last time he had been struck so brutally.

At that moment, Peter could have delivered the final blow, but he had a priority at hand.
"Edward! Are you okay?" He ran desperately toward his friend.

Arya was with him, a look of terror on her face. "Edward! Hang in there!"

"It's okay…" Edward placed his hand over the wound and made a layer of bone emerge to stop the bleeding. Even though he said it was okay, the truth was that pain consumed his body, and he felt his strength slipping away. Little by little, his vision began to darken…

"Edward! Edward!"

(...)

A short time earlier, in the vicinity of the forest, Reaper and Magdalena had finally found their target.

In a tree just above Reaper stood Naoko, a girl with a young look and dazzling appearance, reinforced by her distinctive style of dressing. A cute black dress full of frills and several ribbons with cat skull-shaped clips, which were scattered throughout her long, dark blue twintails.

Naoko stood on a branch just as Jack did, holding a string instrument against her shoulder and wielding a small bow in the other hand—it was a violin. That violin had carvings in the shape of lycoris flowers, just like Arya's flute.

Naoko conducted her melody with refined precision, fully focused, without paying attention to her surroundings. Reaper tried to approach stealthily to catch the girl by surprise but ended up stepping on a loose branch, making a loud "crack."

"Uh! What was that—WAHHH!!" The sound of the breaking branch caught Naoko's attention, and as she turned to look for the source of the sound, she misplaced her step, lost her balance, and fell clumsily.

Reaper acted immediately, driven by his chivalry, but despite his good intentions, he did not have the strength or dexterity to catch the girl, and all he could do was serve as a cushion to soften her fall. It was at that moment that Reaper realized he had made a huge mistake…

He slowly opened his eyes, and by coincidence, Naoko also opened hers at that exact moment. Their pupils were staring at each other, their faces perfectly aligned against each other. Reaper's mask was the only barrier preventing their lips from touching.

"...... Hm? …Uh!!!" Naoko quickly stood up after realizing she had "kissed" an unknown boy. She stumbled on her heels and fell back onto the ground, still trying to process what had just happened.

"(D-Did I just kiss a boy? No, no, wait! This must be a misunderstanding… But it happened, didn’t it? He kissed me! He kissed me!)" Naoko looked at Reaper's face. "(A mask? That means it doesn’t count as a kiss, right? …... But why do I feel like it did?!)"

"Oww…" Reaper began to get up, while Naoko let her thoughts escape through her mouth.

"How dare you kiss me without my permission?! No girl today wants a Matteo as a boyfriend!"

"K-Kiss? Matteo? Who is that?"

"How do you not know Matteo?! Matteo & Chiara is the greatest romance book of all time! Anyone who has ever picked up a book should know who they are!"

Naoko's monologue was just beginning; she talked nonstop while getting lost in her fantasies.

"Matteo and Chiara met at a masquerade ball. Even without knowing each other’s identities, they felt a great attraction between them. Matteo was a boy with a good heart but had a flirtatious side, so he didn’t waste the opportunity and stole a kiss from Chiara before the ball ended.
Despite his questionable behavior, Chiara felt her heart soften toward the boy and wasn’t satisfied until she discovered his true identity, and guess what? He was her classmate! Not just any classmate, but the very boy who rivaled her grades in magic class. Matteo was also interested in discovering who the girl was, and thus, it was inevitable that they would end up meeting again—the best scene in the book, in my opinion.
It so happened that, by a twist of fate, they were from rival wizard families, and for that reason, their love would never be approved! They promised that as soon as they left the Magic Academy, they would travel the world together to live their love, but before that could happen, Matteo ended up suffering an unknown curse and died in his lover’s arms. Chiara couldn’t bear to see the scene and took a potion to die alongside him."

"I can't believe you spoiled the entire book for me! And that’s clearly plagiarism of Romeo & Giulietta!"

"Anyway, I’m not going to accept receiving a surprise kiss just because you’re masked! I won’t be your Chiara—she’s weak and lacks personality… But maybe I’ll accept you as mi Matteo.
Though I already have my destined hero… Even if Jack has never shown romantic interest, I’m sure he’s just waiting for the right moment!"

That's right, Naoko was nothing more than a fool full of romantic delusions.

Naoko placed her hands on her face, hiding her embarrassment. "Ahh… Am I really destined to live one of those romance stories full of handsome boys fighting over me?" Her expression turned serious. "Wait! … You! Take off the mask, I need to know if you’re handsome!"

"Stop right there! Cut it out! I’m not interested in kids!"

"How absurd! I’m older than I look!"

"I don’t want to deal with little girls who are actually thousands of years old! That’s just an excuse for disgusting guys!"

"For your information, I’m almost seventeen!"

"Almost seventeen means you’re sixteen, stop trying to downplay things!" Reaper thought for a moment about his own words. "Though… Magdalena might fit that pattern better than this girl…" A chill ran down his spine. "Magdalena…"

Magdalena was standing right behind him. "Fear" wasn’t a strong enough word to describe what Reaper felt.

"I’m going to kill both of you." Magdalena looked like a vengeful spirit, following them as shadows consumed their surroundings.

"Kyahhhhhh!!!" Naoko and Reaper held hands and screamed in despair. Naoko tried to get up and run, but shadowy rose vines wrapped around her feet. Reaper was paralyzed with fear, mumbling for mercy.

Magdalena grabbed his neck and started pulling him up. The lack of oxygen prevented Reaper from standing properly, and he was slowly being strangled. In a desperate attempt to save his life, he reached out to remove his mask.

"Your pretty face won’t save you now." Magdalena hesitated for a moment but continued choking him. Reaper then used his last trick—he made an effort to plant his feet on the ground and pulled Magdalena’s face toward his in a kiss.

"... Kyun~!" Magdalena lost her composure, releasing Reaper as heat flushed over her face.

Still on the ground, Naoko watched the scene. "(He really is a Matteo!!!... And he’s handsome! But what’s up with her?)"

"I… I’m sorry…" Reaper said while gasping for air.

"Hmph! Your apologies won’t get you out of this! You’ll have to repeat this kiss ninety-nine more times!"

"A total of a hundred times?!"

"If you complain, I’ll make it a thousand."

"Alright! Alright! I accept."

"Now excuse me…" Magdalena turned to Naoko. "I’m going to kill the girl."

"Hey, wait, take it easy! She’s our hostage, remember?"

"Oh, right, I forgot that detail." Magdalena approached Naoko, her scarlet eyes ready to devour the girl’s soul. "But there is no Matteo, right? Only mi Romeo, are we clear?"

"Y-Yes!!!"

(...)

Back on the battlefield, Edward was still unconscious while Arya took care of him. On the other side, Jack managed to stand up again, preparing for a final duel against Peter.

The boy charged at Jack, who tried to defend himself by pulling out his pistols again. Peter dodged with impressive agility and was slowly learning the pattern of Jack’s shots, but he also wasn’t able to land a hit on the gravedigger.

Finally, Jack dropped his pistols and threw his coat to obscure Peter’s vision.
"Limited Edition: Condensed Lightning." Jack pulled out a small pistol, with a thick barrel that tapered into a jaw-like shape at the tip. The weapon fired pure electricity into Peter’s body, making the boy collapse to the ground, paralyzed. 

"You bastard…" Peter tried to move, but his nerves wouldn’t respond to his commands.

Jack pointed the pistol at the boy again, but before firing a second shot to knock him out, he noticed a metal object on Peter’s chest that was still reacting to the electricity. Curious, Jack used the pistol to pull down Peter’s collar, revealing the medallion the boy had received from Belchior.

"Mercenary Guild?"

For the first time, Peter tried using intelligence to his advantage and decided to lie about his origins.

"That’s right! We’re from the Mercenary Guild, do you realize the trouble you’re getting yourself into?"

However, Jack easily saw through the lie. He reached into his coat, but this time, it wasn’t to pull out a weapon—it was for his own medallion.

"Oh really? Then why don’t I remember you?" He turned the medallion around, allowing Peter to see the emblem of the Mercenary Guild. "... Would you mind giving me some explanations?"