[Collapse of Tears]
Utsusemi was flying in the air like a feather. While avoiding the blood blades fired by Chiyaku on the ground, he pretended to close the distance with her with a misleading movement and moved away.
With the sword he held in his hand, he deflected the incoming blood blades and shot out fist pressure occasionally.
Utsusemi also looked at Shion and the others’ situation with the eyesight of Superhuman (Braver) from the sky. When Hyde, the leader of Anonymous, appeared in the military uniform of the Self-Defense Forces, he also frowned.
“No way, even Hyde was on their side,” Even while talking, he fluttered in the sky.
Each and every blood blade that Chiyaku freely manipulated were aimed Utsusemi’s vitals.
Strengthening system, Superhuman (Braver).
Originally, with its overwhelming speed, power, and reflex abilities, Utsusemi should be able to kill the enemy without a delay, but he couldn’t.
He knew the reason.
It was a story when Utsusemi was still a boy.
Senjiya Kusuri, who once belonged to the Self-Defense Forces and was touted as one of the seven generals and the strongest army surgeon at that time. Alongside her, there was a woman named Enjoji Yachiyo, who was also touted as the strongest.
The two went out to the battlefield together and were in a good relationship.
Therefore, Chiyaku had a detailed understanding of the ability of Enjoji Yachiyo; how to cope with it, its limit, etc. So she was able to deal with Utsusemi who now possessed the power of Superhuman (Braver).
The incoming surging waves of blood blades continued to shot out of the large amount of blood floating around Chiyaku.
It stayed in the air and kept aiming at the sky Utsusemi ceaselessly.
If even a small amount of that blood invaded his body, no matter how strong the endurance of the Superhuman possessed by Utsusemi, fatal injury was inevitable.
Then the blood blades flying in the surroundings would shower him all at once.
Utsusemi focused his eyes on Chiyaku with a faint insane smile on his face.
He was delighted with the desperate situation.
There were several reasons why he didn’t settle in the hideout and became a wanderer, but one of them was he couldn’t fight against his colleagues.
And that was also the biggest reason he became a wanderer.
“It’s fun, Chiyaku,” Utsusemi murmured. At that moment, a blood blade grazed his right cheek.
Immediately after, Utsusemi cut off his cheek flesh without hesitation and flew through the inside of the flying about army of blood blades.
He checked on the situation of Shion and others through the gaps between the houses with a glance. Tameiki seemed to had let Shion and co escape.
The opening created by his diverting attention was large. A blood blade cut his body, but Utsusemi grabbed the wound with his hand and gouged it out to prevent Chiyaku’s blood from entering his body.
Then, *suu* he healed the wound with Accelerate Heal.
“You better not overdo it, Utsusemi. It’s doctor’s order.”
“You sure can joke around.”
Chiyaku who was manipulating the red blood blade spreading all over the sky was about to reach her limit.
Utsusemi sensed that, as Chiyaku continue to whittle his stamina.
The condition of both were getting gradually worse and worse, but the one who set the bout was Utsusemi.
Having flew around in the sky from one corner to the other while avoiding the blood blades, Utsusemi suddenly started to fall.
“Let’s end this, Chiyaku.”
Will I get there or will you kill me before that?
In a straight line.
With the help of gravity, he went straight to Chiyaku.
Without caring about the blood blades, he accelerated while getting struck all over his body by them. He had his arms crossed in front of his face to protect only his eyes.
His haori and hakama had become rags, and his body was already bloody.
Although Utsusemi was showered with countless blood blades, it took only a few seconds for him to reach Chiyaku.
*BANG* the straight first attack was evaded by Chiyaku, and Utsusemi created a crater on the ground.
“You are too easy to read.”
“Really?”
In the second attack, he drew out his sword from its scabbard in an instant and throwing at Chiyaku.
Chiyaku avoided the sword that flew while rotating with *hyun, hyun* by bending over at the last second.
But, it slightly grazed her.
Her cheek was torn apart and the sword pierced the wall behind her.
Utsusemi kicked the ground strongly and tried to close the distance created by the retreat of Chiyaku.
However, Chiyaku’s blood that invaded his body cut off his tendons.
In a moment, Utsusemi suddenly lost his momentum, went pass Chiyaku and fell over.
As he accelerated the healing of the tendons in his feet, the blood manipulated by Chiyaku began to advance toward his heart.
The Superhuman’s though body managed to slow them, but the blood slowly and surely went toward his heart while penetrating his body.
In truth, he should had felt so much pain that he would writhe on the ground, but he didn’t make a single voice; though his eyes were grim, the corner of his mouth was lifted a little.
After having his cut tendon healed to the point of him being able to move, he stood up, leaning on his knees, and closed the distance with Chiyaku.
He tried to throw a punch using the centrifugal force, but of course it is not powerful. Chiyaku was able to stop it with one hand.
He launched an attack with his other hand that just recovered, though barely, but he couldn’t display his true power at all, and it was stopped by the other hand of Chiyaku.
Then, Utsusemi collapsed as though to lean against Chiyaku. She caught him and muttered,
“It’s over.”
Her blood was reaching his heart and his brain.
“Haha, yeah… it seems so…”
Chiyaku frowned at the changes in the expression and voice of Utsusemi.
Immediately after.
“…!”
*Stab*
Receiving a mysterious impact, Chiyaku opened her eyes wide.
Staggering, she tried to step back, but she couldn’t. She vomited a large amount of blood from her mouth.
When she lowered her gaze, a long sword was piercing through Utsusemi’s flank to her heart.
“This, is…” Even while speaking, she rushed to use her ability.
At least I have to kill him too. She thought so before her understanding caught up.
However, Chiyaku’s blood inside Utsusemi’s body didn’t move at all.
“…Inside, my body… my blood, is definitely… a lot more… right?”
“What, are you…”
*COUGH* while coughing out a large mouthful of blood, Chiyaku understood.
――Ability offsetting each other.
Utsusemi copied her other ability, Blood Slave.
She noticed that she was being touched.
She turned her gaze to the handle of the sword that was visible on Utsusemi’s back.
His blood stuck on it.
He manipulated the sword that was stuck in the wall, huh.
He planned to offset her blood attack and to fall upon her, and she, convinced of her victory, fell for it.
Having convinced of her loss, Chiyaku closed her eyes.
It would be difficult for her to recover even with her Accel Heal if her heart was stabbed and the sword was stuck in it.
“I… lost…”
“Yeah… rest… in peace…”
———
We are running, turning our backs on Tameiki-san and Boss.
Although I’m afraid of turning my back to Boss, I still run. The destination is the depths of the forest.
“What are we going to do…! Shion!”
“For now, let’s get away as far as possible!”
I think about our means to escape from here.
Of course, I’m talking about Renga. Actually, I had called Renga when we got to the surface.
However, he is late. He should’ve arrived here by now.
Renga who totally doesn’t want to get separated from me should arrive in 10 or 15 minutes at the latest, it’s strange.
Perhaps, Boss took the initiative and…
That’s not impossible. If even Shido-san’s death was included in the plan, I don’t think Boss would leave Renga, who might come to my rescue, alone.
In that case, I better quit relying on Renga, huh.
It is quite a distance away, but if we go out of the forest, we can get to the public road.
If we steal a car there, we should be able to escape somehow… right?
“…”
After advancing through the woods for a while, I suddenly stop and look back.
“…? What’s wrong?” Sen comes into my view.
Roll also questions me who suddenly stopped, “What’s wrong, Shion?”
I wonder if… Tameiki-san is okay.
The battle between the two is quiet, so I couldn’t hear anything.
What is more noticeable is the fierce battle sound of Chiyaku-san and Utsusemi-san.
“…Nothing.”
I was told to run away, and I came until here just thinking about running away, but is it okay for me to run away just like?
Not just Tameiki-san. Utsusemi-san is still fighting too.
Maybe we are just hindrances for Tameiki-san and Utsusemi-san.
However, now that Anonymous is about to be crushed in Boss’ hand… aren’t they our remaining comrades?
At the time when my ability manifested and I was about to be killed by the Self-Defense Forces, I thought the world had turned into my enemy.
However, after joining Anonymous, I learned that there are many similar people to me.
They were all killed. I’m about to be killed too.
Even though my time in the organization only lasted for a short time, even though the organization was dyed in filthy black of garbage dump, I thought of them as my comrades.
There were many people who I didn’t like as well. Even though I thought that I should be able to cast away something like a comrade at any time.
However, before the collapse, I find this tepid water precious.
I want to be protected. So, I don’t want to lose my few remaining allies.
To notice this on the brink of the collapse…
Boss is an absolutely unbeatable enemy. I’ve judged so in my head.
But, is it okay to escape?
Besides, where are we going to escape to from here? No branch can be relied on anymore.
Having abandoned my friends, family and city, I have no place to call home anymore.
…I, I have always tried to survive that way, even now.
Since the opponent is Boss, I have no other choice but to run.
However, if I run away now, I feel that everything will be over this time.
This is not the time to be afraid.
“Roll… Sen. I will go back and fight.”
Hearing my words, Sen who is still naked takes a step forward.
“Huuh? What the heck are you talking about, bastard!”
Roll glares at Sen as if to tell her to shut up, and she does shut up.
“……Why?”
“… If I run away here, I don’t think I can stand up to anything anymore.”
“…You’ll die.”
“I won’t die,” I say clearly.
I’m very afraid. But there will be a chance of success as long as I cut off my fear.
Boss shouldn’t know my Distortion Sound yet. He’s not an unbeatable enemy. I’m sure of it.
“I’ll also…”
“You two should go first,” I interrupt Roll’s words and say strongly.
There is no need to get her involved. It is fine just me alone.
Rather, that is the only way so this can be meaningful.
“…Got it. We’re going first.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Be careful, buddy.”
“Oh well, I don’t care even if you die!” (Sen)
“Let’s get going, Sen!”
Without seeing off the two who started running after that said, I turn to the path we come from and run.
Is this decision wrong?
――This hesitation, this fear, each and every one of them is annoying.
I feel like I want to separate my brain. Even now, the core inside my head is still trembling.
It’s not like I’m going there to die.
I’m going there to kill Boss.
It’s a simple matter. Enemies that endanger my life should be killed. There is no need to fret about it. It’s just like what I’ve been doing until now.
I reassure myself many times. It’s the same thing. Just that the enemy is Boss now.
It’s a world of kill or be killed from the start, isn’t it? In the big picture, the situation hasn’t changed at all.
I just need to leave my consciousness to the darkness.
Yes, I just need to leave everything to the darkness…
———
After Shion and co escaped, Hyde and Tameiki glared at each other.
Tameiki thought about Hyde’s ability.
Tameiki, who once fought Hyde in an inter-organization tournament, had been pondering about his ability for quite some time.
She had heard some things about it from Yoiyami, and thus she was able to quickly realized that if she received it directly, her time would be robbed.
This is the second time she had received Hyde’s ability. No, to be precise, it was the second time she had been pointed with the brunt of that ability.
This time, she avoided it.
That cleared up some things.
Hyde’s ability was to steal time.
And it could be avoided.
Perhaps there were range limit and, or requirement to the usage of his ability.
And it wasn’t like it stole time all the time.
She guessed that the ability had a point of activation and need a sight.
In other words, if one could escape at the ‘point’, which was the moment when the ability was used, and from his ‘sight’, which was its range of effect, their time would not be taken.
The moment she saw the point, Tameiki immediately escaped from his sight, succeeding in confirming her hypothesis.
――As long one doesn’t enter his sight, they wouldn’t be affected by his ability.
However, Tameiki had a doubt.
Was that all?
Did with just that alone, he drove away Yoiyami, stood at the top Anonymous, and slaughter all those strong people?
If that was all, he shouldn’t be her match.
Suddenly, another question popped up in Tameiki’s mind.
Thinking back, how did he get to the top of the roof?
Tameiki recalled and repeated his previous movements in her head.
The movement she had seen from the sky was just plain fast. But if that was not due to an ability, it was clearly surpassed the limit of human.
That speed would only make sense if he stole the time of Shion and co previously. Perhaps Hyde added the stolen time to himself, allowing him to move at a higher speed.
The more he stole, the more his speed would increase.
However, even so, in order to climb that roof, he had to take some steps such as climbing. Hyde made a linear movement as though he connected from point to point, and reached the place where Tameiki was in an instant.
“Won’t you come down, Tameiki? Sadly, I can’t fly. So I can’t fight in an aerial combat,” Hyde said with a leisurely smile on his face.
“Tsk,” Tameiki replied with a tongue-click.
Certainly, the farther away she was, the easier it was to get out of his sight.
And as Hyde said, unless he could fly in the sky, he didn’t have a means of attack. That was why, Tameiki could be lost in her thought.
At that moment. Having felt a vague ‘something’, Tameiki escaped from Hyde’s sight in an instant.
As thought to stick into the ground, she descended and landed behind a house.
*Throb* Her head hurt.
She came here without completely detoxifying the poison in her body, so her visibility was poor and she endured severe palpitation and headaches.
In her blurry consciousness, she sensed Hyde’s presence. He seemed to be walking slowly here.
“Hah… hah…”
“It’s been 20 years since the day of your manifestation. It feels like it was just yesterday,” Hyde’s voice echoed.
His footsteps stopped on the other side of the house.
He grasped her position as though he could see her without any obstruction.
“…You are leisurely reminiscing about the past? You must have a lot of leeway.”
“I have, right?”
“…………”
Seeing Tameiki sank into silence, Hyde continued.
“20 years. Thinking back, many people have died.”
“If you intended to kill from the beginning, you don’t have to be deeply moved.”
“It’s not like I hate you all. It’s just my purpose comes first.”
“…Why now?”
“I decided so. That’s it.”
“Shido and the others… why were they risking their lives for you?”
“Because we are old friends, perhaps?”
Those words weren’t filled with strength.
Tameiki was sure. This man didn’t know why Kemuri, Shido, and Chiyaku were betting their lives on his behalf.
Even if somebody died for his sake, he would not seek for the reason.
Tameiki understood Kemuri and the others to some extent supposedly.
She thought of each of them as people who had a heart; even though she didn’t show it on the surface, she admired, respected, and trusted them.
Honestly, she wasn’t confident in her ability to judge people.
But even so, she knew they weren’t twisted people her longtime interacting with them, she still believed so, even now.
That was why, at the same time she understood.
This man made Kemuri and co had a reason for them to risked their lives.
For Tamiki, the purpose Hyde mentioned earlier was not something that would made them willingly gave up their lives for him.
“I don’t want to listen anymore,” Tameiki said.
“That so. Then, let’s just kill each other.”
That is, fine.
*Bang* Tameiki dropped Press on Hyde along with the house.
The wooden house makes a creaking noise and instantly collapsed to the ground. Hyde’s figure wasn’t there.
Tameiki immediately deployed a gravitational field to keep Hyde away from her surroundings.
In that case, even if her time was stolen, he would not be able to approach.
While thinking so, she moved her gaze around, looking for the dozens of knives and Hyde at the same time.
A few seconds later, she found Hyde on a small prefab and fired Press on rapid succession.
But, Hyde’s figure disappeared from there.
She couldn’t follow his speed with her eyes. He never drew closer because of the gravitational field, but his speed was truly bizarre. It could be called teleportation.
Then inside Tameiki’s mind, another conclusion was made.
Hyde probably could stock up the time he stole.
Then Tameiki felt a vague ‘something’ again. She put strength into her legs in a moment in order to avoid it.
However, it was extremely dangerous to move indiscriminately in this situation where she did not know where Hyde is.
Relying on the gravitational field, she stayed in place.
And in the next moment she felt suffocation.
“U… gh…”
The scenery had also changed.
When she noticed, she was already pressed against the wall and a hand was squeezing her neck.
Hyde’s other arm was crushed for some reason and hung down loosely. She could see blood dripping from her crushed fingertips.
“…This is no good.”
Hyde muttered. Tameiki grabbed Hyde’s wrist, which was strangling her neck, with her hands.
“…For… what, reason…”
“What’s wrong, Tameiki? If it’s you, you should be able to escape easily, right?”
“Why……”
While being strangled, Tameiki squeezed out her voice.
What she certainly captured in her blurred vision was the tears that flow from Hyde’s eyes.
“Hesita-… ting?”
“…As I thought, you are similar to Yoiyami.”
“…………”
She refused to meet his eyes.
For a long, long time, Hyde strangled Tameiki’s neck.
Slowly, her hands hung down and strength escaped from her body.
Then he said.
“No… you were too kind.”
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Zky Translates 
thanks
lets face it her death has been in the air for a while
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