Volume 3, Chapter 3 Part 9

(Nn……?)

A warm something was touching her cheek unpleasantly in drops.

It awakened the consciousness of Shiori who was sinking in darkness.

(Eh, I, was……)

Within her muddy consciousness, Shiori recalled just what happened to her before she lost consciousness.

She encountered Michael inside a pocket dimension, she was restrained… just like that she was swallowed into his body entirely, that was her memory.

Like that, when she recovered the working of her brain until she could remember that, at that time

“――――-! -!”

A voice she remembered hearing before struck her ear.

Shiori knew really well the owner of that voice.

There was no mistake.

The avatar of <Liber Legis>. The voice of that monster.

The annoying avatar of evil god who was trying to pull away Homura from the human world into the world of monsters, so that she could monopolize him alone.

For Shiori who wished for Homura to obtain happiness as a human, Vel was an opponent where hatred was insufficient to describe her feelings.

But, why did she hear her voice like that?

And then, why did the voice of that girl sounded this desperate?

To obtain the answer to that question, Shiori reflexively opened her eyelids,

“Eh――”

She saw the figure of Homura, his chest gouged standing in front of her.

“Ho, mu… ra?”

Unable to swallow the sudden situation, Shiori was dumbfounded.

On the other hand, Homura looked at Shiori who opened her eyes,

“……Aah, that’s great……. So you’re still alive……”

It was a relieved smile from the bottom of his heart.

“-really. This is because, you are sleeping in a place this dangerous…… that I almost cut you down, y’know.”

“That wound of yours……! -!? ――What’s, this……!?”

Most likely Shiori was trying to rush at Homura’s side.

But, Shiori’s body didn’t move forward even for a little.

That was natural.

That was because the girl’s face was half hidden, buried inside the chest of Michael that was exposed bare.

“As expected you stopped your sword. ……So you cannot kill your beloved person for the second time.”

That amazed tone of voice, was Michael’s.

In other words, this was the trick of this situation’s reversal.

In that decisive moment, Homura’s sword should definitely have severed Michael’s life.

But in that last moment timing, Michael let out the trump card that he had prepared beforehand.

Giving a glimpse of the hostage that was Shiori, he thrust before Homura the fact that killing him meant killing Shiori.

As a result, Homura stopped his sword just barely.

And then, in that fatal opening, Homura’s chest was gouged open by a holy art.

“If you care for human life until that much, it would be better if you only advance in the path of faith praying to god. If you just did that… surely you wouldn’t need to shoulder such great sorrow with that body of man.”

There was not even a little bit of tension anymore within Michael’s voice.

He was convinced.

That Homura was already… a dead person walking.

In actuality, Homura’s internal organs together with his breastbones had already been blown away, no matter how excellent a magician Homura was, it was difficult to preserve his life like that.

After vomiting out even more large amounts of blood from his mouth, Homura fell down on the spot.

But―― before his body fell down to the ground, he grasped the arm that Michael thrust forward to release the holy art, that grip strongly held on to the degree that his nails caused blood to come out. Homura held his ground like that.

And then,

“Kukuku…… hahahahaha-……!”

Even while blood was leaking out from his mouth, Homura laughed without minding that.

Looking at that reaction of Homura, Michael asked with a dubious expression. “What is funny?” He asked.

In response Homura answered as if spitting out.

“It’s obvious just what the hell is funny, you stupid idiot―. You said out something idiotic. The god of you assholes… has he saved us even once huh? That time, when my family was killed… That time, when Shiori was at that hell… That time when Typhon burned cities, when mankind itself was ruined… You assholes, just what the hell were you doing then?”

They didn’t do anything.

When humanity was lamenting, praying, begging for salvation, there was nothing that rewarded them.

Homura knew that to a painful degree.

“Then there ain’t nothing to do, but to protect them myself……!”

But the angel didn’t try to understand that grievance of Homura.

“Those trials were also all the will of god. It’s going to far even beyond your station to try to surmise that with that body of man. ……Humans only need to believe and pray to god no matter what kind of time they are in. If they do that, then no matter how much their bodies are ruined, they will receive the blessing of having their soul guided to the paradise of god.”

It was a one-sided salvation that was too condescending in all respects.

It was a stance that didn’t try to understand even for a little bit, the sense of values of humans who only possessed a single body and a single heart.

And yet, these people were exclaiming salvation with loud voices.

It was already a story where he could do nothing but laugh.

It was also only natural for Homura to laugh out.

“This talk just ain’t going anywhere. I’m not calling for you. Sh*tty bastard.”

A scorn spitted out together with blood. In response to that,

“That’s my line. In your trial you didn’t pray, didn’t believe in god, you made use of the power of evil and imitated god. You violated god’s privilege of [salvation]. That’s a great sin. God will not save you anymore. In the salvation that will be carried out after this, ――is not of any concern to you anymore.”

Michael put magic power into the arm that Homura clutched.

Golden magic power light was manifested in his palm.

That was the same thing with the holy art that gouged Homura’s chest just now.

“Leave this world without leaving a single dust behind. You foolish .”

Michael once more directed that power of destruction to Homura, he was going to shoot him.

Homura whose body was already dead didn’t have any way to resist, that attack would surely thoroughly burn his life with certainty.

“Homuraa! Run! Just run… please-!”

Imagining that future, the pale Shiori yelled as if she was going to vomit blood.

There is no need to care of whatever happened to her anymore, so just run, she pleaded.

But, toward such Shiori, Homura was… of all things, he directed to her a powerful smile persistently,

“I’ll save you for sure. Just wait.”

“-…………!?”

Instantly――, the light shot out mercilessly from Michael’s palm.

The fired flame of light swallowed Homura in the blink of an eye――

“――――――”

Altogether with the words that he let out in his dying moment, everything was burned to nothing, leaving not even a single dust behind.

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