After blowing Utravsky's head apart with a single shot, Lorne did not let his guard down. Expressionless, he fired two more shots into that enormous body, then flicked his wrist. A dagger flew from his hand, striking precisely into the other man's neck.
"Ah-"
With a wheezing whimper, Utravsky's enormous body finally went still. At the same time, as he died, the surrounding world began to crumble inch by inch.
A certain illusory sensation faded away. Lorne found himself still standing in the center of the church's main hall, with that strange candle burning with a pale flame before him.
The floor that the Dawn Knight's greatsword had shattered was completely intact. The dense bullet marks on the surrounding walls had vanished, and the spent casings strewn across the floor seemed never to have existed.
Everything had returned to how it had been before the battle, without the slightest trace of damage.
"No Calamity Premonition, and the surrounding spirituality has returned to normal..." Lorne's taut nerves finally relaxed, and he let out a long breath. "Looks like it's over."
He looked toward the large backpack he had tossed onto the floor, then walked over and picked it up.
"Good. The plan went smoothly."
The whole reason he had carried this backpack was to create a diversion, leading Utravsky to assume from the outset that his greatest firepower consisted of just two submachine guns.
Although his Portable Space could also have given him the element of surprise, challenging the other man empty-handed would surely have aroused the suspicions of that battle-hardened knight, putting him on guard. And if Lorne had carried a runic sword or a pistol, it would not have looked impressive enough; he would have seemed like someone still hiding a trump card.
Besides, taking a little sword and