A crushing force from behind knocked Akari forward.
An arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her close.
Her head was pressed down, forcing her into a prone position.
A blade slashed through the air just above them,
gravel struck her cheek.
「Aoi!?」
Aoi’s face was right beside hers, his breath ragged like a beast’s.
From his body, pale blue lightning crackled faintly, like static.
Thin, glowing wounds split across his skin, and red droplets splattered onto Akari’s face.
With a growl, Aoi stood and launched himself toward the two armored figures.
The suits of armor turned to each other in disbelief.
They hadn’t expected a human, bare-handed, to charge at them.
Aoi clenched his fists and let out a roar, a wild cry, primal and anguished, as if trying to purge something burning inside him.
In contrast, the armored figures made no effort to brace themselves…
But within a second, that nonchalance would prove to be arrogance.
A dull thud, Aoi’s fist slammed into the abdomen of one suit, and the armor visibly caved.
Not stopping there, the towering figure with the spear began to tip.
Staggered by the impact, it didn’t even attempt to recover and crashed to the ground.
「No way…」
Akari stared, dumbfounded.
While she did, Aoi leapt onto the downed armor with feral speed and began raining punches down.
By the time the second armored monster snapped out of its daze and raised its spear, Aoi’s fifth strike had already landed.
Each blow further warped the armor, and now, its plating was beginning to dissolve into shimmering motes of light.
Without glancing back, Aoi threw himself sideways.
The spear lunged through the space he had just occupied, carving through the air with a howl.
Though he didn’t flinch at the wind, blue lightning coursed across his body, and he staggered, vomiting a mouthful of dark red fluid.
The other armored figure charged forward, parting the dust-laden air.
Aoi forced his bloodied eyes open wide and narrowly dodged the thrust.
A knifehand strike slammed into the enemy’s arm, making it drop the spear.
A kick followed, crunching the armor inward.
And again, Aoi unleashed a barrage of senseless, instinct-driven attacks.
Akari felt her fingertips grow cold.
His ragged, tormented cries made her want to cover her ears.
If that much violence came from just a human body alone…
Then if it were combined with a Radiant Divine Arms—
『He’ll need six months to fully recover. But if he tries to use the Counterblade, or that power again before then, he’ll die. 』
Those words weren’t a threat.
They were simply the truth.
While Akari was lost in thought, a sharp, violent sound rang out.
She opened her tightly shut eyes and saw Aoi.
He had stolen the enemy’s spear and slammed it downward, striking his foe to the ground with overwhelming force.
The enemy could no longer maintain combat, their armor dissolved, revealing the defenseless soldier of CODE:I beneath it.
Terror filled their eyes as they stared at the incomprehensible boy.
They scrambled to their feet, kicking rubble in their haste, and fled.
Aoi didn’t chase them.
Still panting heavily, he stood there, head tilted skyward like someone utterly spent.
「…Aoi?」
Akari called out gently, stepping closer.
The boy still shimmered faintly with threads of pale blue light.
「…Sorry.」
This time, his head sank.
「I appreciate it… really. But I have to keep fighting.」
Following the blood, droplets, whether sweat or tears, fell silently to the ground.
「Is that the face of someone who wants to save others?」
Her tone sharpened just slightly.
He turned to face her halfway, just his face, and, as she had expected, his expression was pained.
His clenched jaw trembled.
His eyes were filled with a helpless, choking sorrow.
The sounds of the retreating soldiers had already faded.
From afar came the shrill cry of a woman, proof that neither the Toukatsu forces nor the terrorists had been purged from this city.
「Was stopping you really just about our feelings?」
「…」
「Isn’t there a part of you that wants to stop too?」
Akari had been the one closest to Aoi, watching over his efforts.
He had once called his previous life empty, but did he still believe that?
He had run, strong and fearless.
He had come to know both pain and joy.
He had lived every second more vividly than anyone else.
To cast all of that aside now… would be far too cruel.
His journey had only just begun.
She took a step toward him. Then another.
「There’s someone inside Kokujou, right? Someone you know. But if you died to save her… she wouldn’t be happy about that.」
Blood from the gash on his arm slid down through the fingerless gloves,dripping steadily from his fingertips.
「You have to let that power go, right now! There has to be another way to save her!」
Aoi pulled off his glove and looked down at the back of his hand, now tinged a pale, unnatural blue.
A faint light leaked from beneath the skin.
That power was still spreading through him, still eating away at his body.
From behind, Akari gently placed her hand over his.
It burned, like his skin was boiling from within.
After several ragged breaths, Aoi spoke in a voice hoarse and heavy, as if soaked in blood.
「I… I want to live.」
His fist clenched tighter.
His teeth ground against each other.
「If I use the key, I’ll die. I won’t be able to stay in this world. I kept blaming myself for what she was going through, got desperate, felt like I had to save her no matter what…So I made up excuses and decided to use this power. I’m glad you stopped me. I really am.」
「I know. So let’s hurry and—」
Aoi turned to face her.
Then,
「But…」
He slowly pulled her hand away, as if to gently reject her.
Akari stepped forward, confused, but he stepped back in response, dragging his foot to put more distance between them.
「No matter how I think it through…Without this power, I can’t save her.」
His eyes trembled, still lost, still searching.
He held his left fist close, as if to shield it with his right hand.
His breath hitched, irregular, shallow.
「The city’s doing all it can. But it’s not just Kokujou, there’s A-rank Touka-tsu, Shugou, and squads of soldiers all deployed. Even if we manage to drive the enemy back…we won’t be able to defeat Kokujou completely. We won’t be able to save her. And the few who can still fight beyond the FND…they’re hiding underground. They don’t even know what’s happening up here.」
He coughed violently.
Blood trickled from the hand covering his mouth.
He wiped the foam from his lips with his sleeve, roughly, almost desperately.
And then, in a voice full of grief, he spoke again.
「I can’t abandon her. If I can’t save someone here, just like I failed to save her before when I chose to live in comfort, then I… I don’t know how I could live with that.」
He stepped back once more, his lips barely moving.
I’m sorry, that’s what it looked like he said.
「Saving her is only possible through making this mistake. Akari… please, just get out of here.」
‘I’m sorry.’ he mouthed it again.
Then he turned and ran.
「No!!」
Akari’s cry was swallowed by a thunderous roar.
A barrage of supernatural attacks surged toward Aoi all at once, converging upon him like a merciless storm.
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