3

Slash.

One after another, the crowd dwindled down. Little by little. Blood, spraying all over. The walls, the ceiling, the floor, Gen’s clothes, Itsuwa’s clothes, my face. Monsters kept coming.

I watched. I didn’t want to watch.

The sound of a gunshot. The helpless voice.

Heads, arms, feet, organs kept on flying, splaying all over.

The monsters had no one. They didn’t have a monster family, with a monster job and monster friends. Not any monster feelings, or monster hobbies, or any monster places to go to.

They were all alone.

Moved by fear.

Never even spared a look by Itsuwa or Gen.

And so I watched. As they never spared me a look.

And then, as they stopped coming, it appeared. Another creature, larger than the dozens of its fellows alone, appeared right out of the ceiling as if it were some final boss. Its roar was deafening, and its appearance couldn’t be described by words alone - a fusion of monsterly creatures combined together to make a mass of meat. Not only a fusion of monsterly creatures, but of fear, hatred, grief, despair and anger as well. It was horrid.

I stood in place. I didn’t care anymore, not about the lance, not about my friends, not about the monster. This was the end, however skilled the both of them were, there was no chance for them to take a thing this large on their own.

Its head came down as it was shot dead by Itsuwa’s massive rail cannon she carried on her back. I didn’t care.

“And that’s the last of them. We should be close now,” Itsuwa said.

“Do you feel anything, Kiyoki?” Gen asked.

Yes. I could feel it. The lance, it was near.

I didn’t say a word, just started walking forward. The walls of the cave came together to form a narrow downward corridor. This is it. And now, my choice.

Who to trust. To go with Gen, or Itsuwa? What. Was my decision.

I didn’t know why I kept walking, leading on the way. Right now, the thing I wanted the most was to run away. Go back home, and shut myself in. And yet, I kept going. I felt like I had to.

“Kiyoshi, high school is already over,” said Itsuwa, but I didn’t listen. “Life has moved on.”

“And so we hoped you would move on as well,” Gen continued, but I didn’t listen.

“We hoped you’d find new friends, or a job, or anything you can love.”

Who to trust.

“You can’t cling to us forever, Kiyoshi.”

Shut up.

“In these five years, what have you been doing? Every time we met, you were all the same.”

Who.

“You’re too naive. Your fantasy can’t live on forever.”

Who?

“You have nothing left.”

WHO?

“Kiyoshi, you really lived a miserable life, haven’t you?”

The ceiling behind us fell in, and shut us tight in the room. It felt as if I was almost crushed by it. But no.

And in front of us, the lance. Standing there.

The overflowing mana filled the room. The amount was massive. Even without my ability, I bet I could’ve felt a change in the area. It must have had an effect.

“Kiyoshi,” Gen spoke. His final words. “We’re going to have to kill you.”

Kill. Why. Me?

To keep the money to themselves? Or an act. Of salvantion, perhaps.

I stared at the lance, without saying a word. The sound of a bullet echoed through the walls. I could feel it, a small, metallic object entering through the back of my skull and coming out the over side.

And yet, nothing happened.

“Huh…?” the two gasped, confused.

I glanced over my watch as the holes in my skulls started closing slowly. As expected. The lance had its effects, and the time the watch showed was dead stuck.

This room, this entire room overflowing with mana, was sealed away from the outside world, separated, even from the realm of death. The only way to exit, by using the lance’s powers itself. The pair must have realized it as well.

‘Time Sealing Lance,’ huh?

Right now, the winner would only be decided by who can grab the lance first. They ran. Ran as fast as they could towards the lance. But this time, I took action as well.

I couldn’t take on a monster myself, and I couldn’t beat either of them in a fight. The gap in skill was simply too large. However, my advantage over them finally proved itself. They both were fast, but I was even faster. It hurt - my head - but I didn’t care for the pain. This once, just this once, I’ll show them who I am.

I dashed past them both without a moment’s notice. The knife thrown by Gen pierced deep into my right leg, but it didn’t matter. I kept running forward, my gaze locked on the lance alone.

Nothing will stop me now.

I grabbed the lance, and pulled it out of the ground. This power, this incredible aura overwhelmed me as I felt the mana of the lance rushing through my very body. It was… perplexing.

With this strength, this power beyond belief, I could crush the pair effortlessly. And so I turned to face them, raising this divine relic up high, power surging through…

And crushed it on my leg. Split it in half with my knee.

“No, you idiot!!” Itsuwa fired her rail cannon without thinking twice. My head. It was blown off completely. Only to form back once again, as if nothing happened.

They couldn’t feel the mana bursting thorught the room as the lance was shattering to pieces, but I could. It was simply too great. The relic was gone, but the effects it had lingered. And they would keep lingering until the end of time.

“You bastard piece of… why did you do that?! We have no way out now!!” Gen screamed painfully. He sounded almost like a weeping child.

I walked toward both of them.

“Idiot, we would’ve given up the moment you grabbed the lance! You could’ve lived, we could’ve lived! Now what?!”

“Now what? Ask yourself…” I started saying. “Manipulating me… playing with my mind, my heart… All for what..? Just to torture me? You think it’s fun or something?”

“You were miserable. Your existence was. It was sad! This was your last chance of salvation, you wanted your death to be your end, no? And now you’ve thrown it away as well as all of our lives!”

Mental torture. Ending the loop, so I can reach salvation.

“You… are the miserable ones. Let me tell you something, friends,” I took another step. “You rip what you sow.”

I won’t give them their choice.

Itsuwa was quivering with fear in the back, never saying a word. I could hear it - her cries, her tears.

Gen tried jumping at me in maddening anger, as if to attack, but I grabbed him by the neck in retaliation, and stared deep, deep into his eyes, the eyes trembling with sorrow.

“I never realized… just how pitch black your eyes are.”

And within them, the reflection. This figure, this face.

It’s me!

“I’ll show you… hell.”