"This is a trap!"
Roa’s voice was filled with panic.
He was a master of sches, and before deciding to make a move, he had hesitated repeatedly, carefully observing and reconsidering. Only after confirming that Shinji had suffered an irreparable injury did he finally make up his mind.
Now, seeing the hole in Shinji’s chest heal completely, how could he not realize that everything had been orchestrated to lure him and his group out? If not for the sudden appearance of that Assassin disrupting the plan, perhaps the terrifying Azure Knight would have torn off his disguise only at the very last mont when Roa revealed himself.
At that point—the vampire who had lived for more than 800 years and undergone 18 reincarnations couldn’t help but shiver.
Thankfully, it wasn’t too late.
"Fabro, retreat! Forget about the beasts, retreat imdiately."
Next ti, no matter what, I won’t co out.
Fabro was decisive as well, quickly commanding all the beasts to converge while he mounted one of them and began fleeing down the mountain.
However—
"Trying to run? No way! Since you’re here, you’re all staying!"
After being chased around by these villains for so long, Shinji could hardly contain himself. Now, it was finally his turn to strike back.
He opened his hand, and a golden staff hovered above, constructing a vast divine lightning barrier that slowed and paralyzed the surrounding beasts.
Seeing this, Jack jumped down from her father’s shoulders, her twin knives flashing as she skillfully dismbered the beasts one by one.
She was a good, honest child. Since she had promised her dad that she would help fight the monsters, she wouldn’t just sit and watch. Though Jack the Ripper was famous for dismbering won, her posthumous training had made her even better at dismbering beasts than humans.
anwhile, Shinji raised the hand he had been using to hold his daughter and pointed it high toward the sky.
There, a blue teor streaked across the night sky.
It was a real teor, accompanied by "teor," the background music from Gundam SEED.
A fighter jet piloted by Kirie Fujou, flying the Freedom Gundam, made its dazzling entrance.
It was a purely tallic puppet, not a living entity, and thus was sothing the Sea of Life couldn’t devour. It had been assigned the task of intercepting Chaos. She might not be able to defeat Fabro, but it wouldn’t be so easy for him to escape either.
Elsewhere, on a cliff beneath the teor’s path, a woman dressed in black saw a spiral of red and green light up in her eyes, reflecting the image of a tall man, also dressed in black.
"I’ve found him, Touko-sensei."
"Good."
Touko, puffing out a ring of smoke from the cigarette in her mouth, casually asked, "Caster, how’s it going on your end?"
From the empty air, dea’s voice responded.
"I found a man hidden within a bounded field. It should be Araya Souren, as you said. But I haven’t found his servant, the other Assassin. Isn’t he nearby?"
"No, based on what I know of Araya, his servant must be close by." Touko calmly shook her head.
"It’s fine if we can’t find him. We’ll just force him out. Kirie can hold off Fabro Chaos, and Fujino can cause so trouble for Roa with her Mystic Eyes. Caster, if you could teleport to Araya, that would be great."
"That’s easy, but you want to go alone—"
dea hesitated slightly. While she knew that modern magi weren’t to be underestimated, Touko’s slender fra and lack of visible muscle didn’t exactly scream combat expert.
"It’s fine. Since I’m going, I’ve got a plan."
Touko casually snuffed out her cigarette and tossed it off the cliff.
"I’m not great at combat, but when it cos to immortality, those guys might not have beat."
"Don’t tell you’ve—"
dea quickly thought of a possibility—sothing no one had ever achieved, even in the Age of Gods. Her gaze toward Touko beca more peculiar.
Touko didn’t spell it out, rely chuckling softly.
"Are all modern magi monsters?"
dea sighed sincerely, then began chanting at high speed, reciting incantations in a divine language no modern human could speak.
With the distortion of space, Touko arrived inside a realm wrapped in Sanskrit characters.
"ARa? I thought I’d be teleported outside. Didn’t expect to land directly inside the bounded field. Magi from the Age of Gods sure are terrifying."
"Aozaki Touko..."
The voice of the man at the center of the bounded field was deep and heavy.
"We et again, Araya."
Touko adjusted her glasses, a faint smile on her face as she greeted Araya.
"Ti is short for both of us, so let’s get to the point. Congratulations on reclaiming your body. Sorry, but I’ll need to send you back."
As an old friend, I’m happy for your resurrection.
As an enemy, I’m here to kill you. It’s that simple.
Araya Souren nodded slowly.
"You can’t do it alone."
"Of course, I know that. In the end, we’re just here to hold you off so you can’t escape. The real protagonist is still him."
This was an undeniable fact.
Touko couldn’t defeat Araya in a one-on-one fight.
Kirie could only slow Fabro Chaos down.
Fujino’s Mystic Eyes could only cause Roa so minor trouble.
dea still couldn’t locate the final Assassin.
To win, it all depended on Shinji in the end.
At that mont, Shinji was pressing his forehead against Jack’s, both of them smiling at each other.
"Jack-chan is getting stronger and stronger, huh?"
"Hehe, because Jack has to protect Mommy and Daddy."
"You’re such a good girl."
"Mato Shinji!!!"
A shout ca from behind them—Rin’s voice. "You... you... YOU DID IT ON PURPOSE!!! You planned everything!!!"
"Yup," Shinji admitted it calmly.
"Then why didn’t you tell ? You made —"
You made so worried.
You made try so hard.
You made say those things.
"Please, I couldn’t say it out loud knowing the enemy was watching. And I gave you more than one hint."
Shinji’s retort left Rin speechless.
Yes, now that she thought about it, he had been hinting at it. He had repeatedly told her to leave and had even said that as long as she didn’t want to die, she wouldn’t die. He had never lied about important matters, so why hadn’t she realized it?
Forget it. It didn’t matter now. She could just treat it like he had teased her again. More importantly, it was ti to get revenge for all the trouble the enemy had caused her.
With that thought, Rin raised her Jeweled Sword again, aiming it at Fabro from a distance, only for Shinji to gently lower her arm.
"Put the sword away. If you keep using it, it might break. Fixing it would be a huge project. Besides, you’ve already run a long way carrying . You’re exhausted. Take a break here, and leave the rest to . Jack-chan, you stay here too. I’ll put on a good show for you both."
"Okay, Daddy!"
Jack replied loudly.
"A good show?"
Rin asked, puzzled.
"Rin, you’ve trained under the Old Man of Jewels for many years. Have you ever heard of the Sixth Law?"
Shinji’s lips curled into a mysterious smile.
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