"If you're so eager to die, then take this!" He aimed his pistol at Lion Mlortha's head. Bang! A bright blue spirit-energy bullet shot from the muzzle.
The bullet hit Lion Mlortha in the head, sending sparks flying once more.
"Roar!!!" Lion Mlortha howled in pain, but instead of backing away, it raised its claws and charged at Senba Gari even faster.
"Not good." Seeing Lion Mlortha charge at him instead of retreating, Senba Gari hurried forward, tucked his pistol into his waistband, then raised the wooden sword in his hands with both arms. A faint blue light shone from the blade.
"Crack." The wooden sword, glowing blue in his hands, collided with Lion Mlortha's claws. "Ugh." But this Lion Mlortha was much stronger than before. The impact felt as if it had crushed his insides, and he couldn't help crying out in pain.
"Yah! Hah!" He shoved Lion Mlortha back with both hands, then swung his wooden sword at it. "Ugh!" But as the blow struck, Lion Mlortha's right claw carved three vicious gashes across Senba Gari's chest.
"Hah. Hah. I really did underestimate it a little. That hurts." Senba Gari staggered back to Arisa's side, clutching his chest and breathing heavily.
"But this can't go on. I have to get her out of here."
"Big brother, are you okay?" Arisa looked worriedly at the three bloody gashes on Senba Gari's chest.
"Don't worry, big brother's fine. There's no need to worry. And I'll definitely get you out of here." Senba Gari ruffled Arisa's little head, then picked up the hat that had fallen to the ground during the fight, dusted it off, and put it on her head. It was so big that it nearly covered half of Arisa's face.
"Mm." The gentle hand stroking her head suddenly calmed Arisa's heart. Then a hat was placed on her head, but it seemed too big and almost blocked her view.
"Roar!!" Lion Mlortha's angry roar drew the attention of the two, one big and one small.
Arisa fearfully hid behind Senba Gari, her little hands clutching the hem of his clothes.
Senba Gari gently wrapped his left arm around Arisa's slender waist and picked her up. "Don't worry. No matter what, I'll get you out of here, even if... (it costs me my life)."
He planted the wooden sword in the ground with his right hand, then pulled a piece of paper bearing a strange symbol from his pocket.
"Hold on tight."
"Mm." Senba Gari's voice seemed to have a magic to it, calming Arisa's anxious heart once more.
At the same time, Senba Gari tossed the talisman. It stuck to Lion Mlortha's head.
Lion Mlortha felt something stick to its head, but no matter what it did, it couldn't get it off.
Senba Gari picked up the wooden sword with his right hand and held Arisa close with his left. His mouth opened and closed as he spoke a single word: "Explode."
The talisman on Lion Mlortha's head suddenly erupted in a violent explosion.
"Roar!!!" Lion Mlortha cried out in pain.
Taking advantage of the brief opening while the explosion hurt Lion Mlortha, Senba Gari endured the pain in his chest and quickly turned and ran, carrying Arisa.
"Roar!" Lion Mlortha bellowed furiously. It picked up a huge rock nearby and hurled it with all its might in the direction Senba Gari and Arisa had fled.
Seeing a shadow suddenly appear beneath his feet and grow larger, Senba Gari looked back. His face fell as he saw a massive rock flying toward him.
"Hey, are you kidding me? That thing's huge!" He complained, but still stopped in his tracks.
Boom! The rock crashed down, kicking up a cloud of dust.
The falling rock smashed a lamppost beside them, and the pole toppled toward them.
"Ugh." "Big brother!" To keep the lamppost from hitting Arisa too, Senba Gari turned his back to her and took the blow himself.
"Big brother, are you okay?" Arisa saw him protect her and looked at him anxiously.
"I'm... I'm fine. Tch, this makes things even worse." Senba Gari turned around in pain and saw Lion Mlortha approaching them.
"I have no choice, little girl. I'll hold this thing off. You just need to keep running straight ahead, and you'll be saved. But remember: don't look back. No matter what, don't look back." Senba Gari looked at Arisa with a serious expression.
"But if you do that, you'll..."
"No buts. Go! If you can get to safety quickly, then I might have a chance of being saved too, understand?" Senba Gari slowly stood up and gently ruffled her little head. "Besides, don't forget—I'm not that weak."
"So if you can escape and get help soon, I might still have a little life left in me." Gripping the wooden sword, he walked step by step toward Lion Mlortha.
Tears welled in Arisa's eyes as she watched Senba Gari's back. She turned and ran in the direction he'd indicated, shouting, "You have to stay alive, big brother!"
He glanced in the direction Arisa had run. "Yeah. I hope so. But as long as you make it out alive, that's all that matters."
He turned back to Lion Mlortha and raised the wooden sword, pointing its tip at the creature.
"Come on. Today, either you die or I do."
"Roar, roar, roar!!" Lion Mlortha bellowed and charged at Senba Gari.
"Haahhhhhhh!!" Senba Gari charged forward too, refusing to back down.
Rescue and a Mysterious Figure
"Roar, roar, roar!!" Lion Mlortha bellowed and charged at Senba Gari.
"Haahhhhhhh!!" Senba Gari charged forward too, refusing to back down.
Lion Mlortha raised its sharp claws. Black light flickered across them as it brought them down on Senba Gari.
Senba Gari raised his wooden sword, which gleamed blue and was carved with strange runes, holding it across himself to block the attack.
The claws, shimmering with black light, and the runic wooden sword, glowing blue, collided in an instant.
Boom! The shockwave created by the collision of the two different energies sent everything nearby flying.
"Ugh." His arms could barely hold out, and the wounds on his chest split open again. Senba Gari's body was still human, and could never measure up to the bodies of those monsters.
Lion Mlortha seemed to realize this. It struck Senba Gari with its other claw, sending him flying into the wall of a nearby building that was still mostly intact.
Boom! "Thud."
"Ugh—pfft!" Senba Gari fell from the wall after Lion Mlortha struck him. He got up from the ground and dropped to one knee, bracing himself on the wooden sword. It felt as if his insides had nearly been crushed. A sudden pain tore through his chest, his throat tickled, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Hah, hah. No, I have to hold on. I have to last until that child gets away." Clinging tightly to the wooden sword, Senba Gari slowly got to his feet.
"Come on, you stinking lion!" Enduring the agony in his body, Senba Gari charged at Lion Mlortha again.
...Scene change...
Far from where Senba Gari and Lion Mlortha were fighting, Arisa was still running desperately ahead.
"Ugh!"
"Thud." Arisa accidentally stepped on the hem of her dress and fell to the ground. Her hat tumbled off, and her white dress was stained with dust, no longer pristine.
"Ah... that hurts." Arisa tried to stand, but when she moved her foot, she realized she'd scraped her right knee. The intense pain made her cry out.
Boom! A loud crash came from behind Arisa, from the direction of the battlefield where Senba Gari and Lion Mlortha were fighting.
"N-no, I can't. B-big brother's still there, still there, buying time for Arisa, fighting the monster. Arisa can't... can't stop here." Enduring the sharp pain in her right knee, Arisa slowly got to her feet.
"Rip." Arisa bent down and tore the hem from her dirty white dress, revealing her flawless ivory-white little legs—the kind that would drive the lolicon and foot fetishist crowds of this world wild.
Using the torn piece of fabric, she gave her right knee a simple first-aid bandage, just as her grandmother had taught her. Then she picked up the hat Senba Gari had given her.
"Please wait for me, big brother."
...Scene change...
"Thud."
The wooden sword had snapped in two, and the pistol had been smashed to pieces. Dust and blood stained his clothes, and his trousers were in tatters. His left eye was bruised and swollen, and a thin trickle of blood ran from his nose and the corner of his mouth. His head was spinning, several ribs were broken, his right leg had been pierced by a claw, and his left arm was fractured.
Senba Gari had lost count of how many times he'd been sent flying. But he knew one thing: no matter how many times he was knocked away, he couldn't let Lion Mlortha go after that child. He had to hold the path behind him.
(Honestly, I can't believe I'm risking my life for a kid whose name I don't even know. If Dad and the others found out, they'd definitely call me a lolicon.) He didn't even have the strength to speak anymore. Even with his right leg pierced, he limped toward Lion Mlortha one step at a time. His fractured left arm hung limp at his side, while his right hand trembled as he raised his broken runic wooden sword and swung it at Lion Mlortha.
"Roar." Seeing Senba Gari block its path yet again made Lion Mlortha furious.
It raised both claws and slammed Senba Gari into the ground, then seemed to vent its anger by pounding him several more times, stopping only when his entire body was embedded in the earth.
But just as Lion Mlortha lifted its left leg to step forward, Senba Gari's blood-soaked hands grabbed its right leg. Weakly, he forced a few words from his mouth: "I... won't... let... you... hurt... her."
"Roar! Roar, roar, roar, roar, roar!!" Lion Mlortha was nearly mad with rage. It wildly raised both claws and pounded Senba Gari, driving him several more inches into the ground, then swung a claw and knocked him into the ruins opposite.
"Roar." Lion Mlortha roared at Senba Gari, who was on the brink of death, then turned to chase after Arisa.
(Ah, that child must have gotten out and been rescued by now. It looks like I really can't go on. Damn it, Dad, Mom—I'm coming to see you.) The corners of Senba Gari's mouth curled up slightly, and he closed his eyes.
...Scene change...
"Eli!" A voice caught Eli's attention.
"Nozomi, what are you doing here?" She turned and saw her friend, Nozomi Tojo, standing there.
"Oh, I saw you on TV, Eli, so I came to check on you." Nozomi Tojo looked at her friend's puzzled expression and answered playfully.
"I see. Oh, right! Nozomi, you have to help me. My little sister Arisa still hasn't gotten out..." Eli pleaded with her friend in panic and desperation.
"Calm down first, Eli." Seeing Eli in a panic, Nozomi Tojo hurried to reassure her.
"But..."
"Look! There's a little girl running this way!" A sudden shout interrupted Eli, making her frown. But then she remembered what they'd just said. Wait—a little girl!
"Arisa!" Eli turned around, overjoyed, and saw her little sister running toward them, clutching a hat she'd never seen before. Her clothes were torn, and she was limping, but none of that mattered. All that mattered was that her sister had made it back alive.
Ignoring the police trying to stop her, Eli ran straight to Arisa and caught her as she collapsed from exhaustion.
"Arisa! Arisa!" Eli cried out her sister's name in alarm.
"S-sis, please... please save big brother. B-big brother's still there. You have to... you have to save big... brother." After saying this, Arisa fainted, still clutching the hat Senba Gari had given her.
"Arisa! Arisa! A doctor! Where's the doctor? Hurry and save her!" Seeing her sister faint, Eli shouted frantically for a doctor.
A young police officer called over a doctor and spoke into his radio. "Hello, headquarters, do you copy? We found a little girl who managed to escape. From what she told us, there's still a boy trapped in there. We need backup, I repeat, we need backup."
A voice came through the radio at the same time. "This is headquarters. We've already sent people over. I repeat, we've already sent people over."
Whoosh!
A pillar of fiery red light suddenly erupted in the distance, catching everyone's attention.
...Scene change...
Whoosh! Where Senba Gari was, a pillar of fiery red light shot upward, piercing the heavens.
A figure clad in armor appeared within the pillar of light.
"Cawwwww!" A powerful eagle's cry rang across the sky.
At the same time, Senba Gari's voice came from inside the helmet.
"Now, the hunt begins!"
Camus, Gaia, and a transformation!
"Now, the hunt begins!"
What was going on? Let's turn back a few minutes.
Back, back, back in time—
In an endless white space.
Senba Gari lay unconscious, and all the wounds on his body had vanished, as if they had never been there.
Suddenly, the white space beside Senba Gari rippled. A little girl with silvery-white hair and silver eyes appeared silently at his side, dressed in a black Gothic Lolita dress that stood out against her pale skin.
"Hey, wake up." Her clear, ethereal voice echoed through the space.
"Hey, wake up!" When Senba Gari didn't respond, the silver-haired girl pouted angrily, clenched her right hand into a fist, and brought it down hard on his head.
BOOM!
"Ow! That hurts!" The pain in his head made Senba Gari wake up, clutching it.
"Uh, where is this?" Senba Gari opened his eyes and saw nothing but white—an endless expanse of pure white. That was his first thought.
"Hey."
"Wait, wasn't I in Akihabara? And hadn't I already been... by that lion-like Mlortha..." Not hearing the Lolita-like voice behind him, he sat on the ground and thought to himself.
"Hey! Hey, you bastard! Can you hear me or not?!" Seeing that Senba Gari had woken up but was still ignoring her, the silver-haired girl angrily punched him on the head again.
"Ow! That hurts! Who are you?!" The sudden blow made him cry out again while he was still thinking.
"Uh, who are you?" He turned around and saw a silver-haired girl standing in front of him, puffing with anger.
The silver-haired girl heard Senba Gari's question and, displeased, kicked him.
"Ow! What are you doing? That really hurts!"
She huffed, "Hmph! That's what you get for ignoring me. Listen up. My name is Gaia, and I'm the will of this world. If you want to know where you are, I'll tell you: this is the World Interstice."
"Huh? You? Gaia? Give me a break. How could the will of the world be a little girl? Do you have any proof?" Senba Gari looked at her in disbelief.
"Fine. If you want proof, I'll show you." Gaia flicked her hand at Senba Gari. The space in front of him suddenly rippled, and a figure appeared before him.
Before you continue