(… What is this? Am I being watched from somewhere?)

Signe becomes alert to her surroundings so she can immediately move her puppets.

Although she may look like a child, Signe herself is a fighter in her own right, and she felt a sense of discomfort.

She is alert, albeit belatedly. There is an enemy somewhere. There is no evidence at all. Still, Signe is convinced.

(Ambush? Great. I’m going to turn the tables on you.)

But the vigilance itself is in vain.

To begin with, her sensing abilities and puppets cannot cover the distance between “sniper bullets”.

The doll in the parental role that was holding her hand. Its belly suddenly bursts open.

Almost simultaneously, Signe’s right shoulder disappears.

Not to the level of a shredded arm, but the shoulder area was obliterated in a chunk.

The contents scattered. She immediately moves.

Normally, this would be a fatal wound, but she moves. She does not stop. She keeps running.

Confusion, pain, checking for wounds, assessing the situation. She ignores these things. She doesn’t have time for that.

Before Signe understands the meaning of the series of phenomena, she rushes into the shadows of the building, using the surrounding dolls as her shields.

Then, a move of disengagement, as it were.

“Ugh!”

“Yikes!”

“What the hell is this? What happened!”

After a few blinks, there is a scream that rips through the silence.

That’s it. That’s what happens when a human being is suddenly shredded from the gut in the streets of a town.

All that was left was one shredded doll and Signe’s right arm.

Her right arm is bubbling and melting away in a sickening froth.

****

(Ahhh. I shouldn’t have thought that….. Saying farewell to a nameless enemy. It’s a Flag. *Sign* I was a little off target. Sniper rounds can’t be fired in rapid succession. …… If they had stopped moving just a little bit, I could have fired the next one. Maybe a little closer? You didn’t even know what they had done to you, but you pulled back while defending yourself well. After all, you have to get close to some extent…)

Al also moves immediately.

Although I’m sure I did some damage with what I just did. I was certain that the “enemy” would not die at that level.

The most important reason is blood …… flowing in its body. Inside.

The enemy spewed not blood, but a black sludge-like substance, as if black mana had materialized, from the wound. Not only from the doll, but also from Signe. It can’t be a normal creature.

(Is that thing the enemy of the Gods in this world? I didn’t think they were even demons. No, are those the ones called demons? …… No way.)

Al jumps off the church roof and runs straight down. Aiming at the black mass of mana floating in his field of vision.

A game of tag.