Heavy girl? I feel worse than Black Hole Trigger!

The ronin warrior raised his sword and took a fighting stance almost at the same time as Zheli raised his foot. Seeing this, Zheli raised his eyebrows and stopped outside the opponent's attack range.

"...Playing the hero in front of a woman? Haha, you still have some blood in your veins."

After two seconds of silence, the ronin warrior grinned again and sneered dully; his cloudy eyes were as sharp as a vulture in the shadow of his hat, and the frivolous smile a moment ago shrank into an expressionless face.

"Take out your knife. It's not satisfying to chop up the unarmed wretch."

"……knife?"

Zhe Li's originally relaxed smile suddenly turned into surprise.

He scratched his face, "Hmm. Can I borrow your swords from the other two?"

"Humiliate us? Ha, that's fine—"

The ronin on either side simultaneously took firm stances, while the leading warrior took a step forward, his shoulders suddenly lowered, creating the illusion of disappearing from sight. In the brief moment of daze, the crescent-shaped blade had already aimed at Zheli's waist and slashed out!

"when--!!"

Before Su Shi could even scream, the sound of metal clashing filled her ears.

“…Ah.” Zhe Li’s calm murmur pierced the condensed air.

Su Shi took a closer look and couldn't help but exclaimed, "Ah."

The sharp sword easily cut through Zheli's clothes, and then... nothing happened. The sword in the warrior's hand seemed to pierce into hard rock, and was firmly stuck by "something" hidden under the clothes.

“Hmm…!?” The warrior’s upper arm muscles bulged, but he still couldn’t pull out the blade.

He immediately wanted to let go of the knife handle and step back, but Zhe Li had already "gently" grabbed his wrist at this time.

"I see."

The blond man's lips curled up slowly, and dark stars seemed to rise in his bright eyes...

No, that's not an illusion.

A dark mist emerged from his collar like a python, staining his originally fair skin with a strange red and black color, and his gradually narrowed eyes also lit up with a cold and eerie emerald green light.

"You lent me the knife yourself instead of asking someone else to do it. Hehe, you're quite a nice person, aren't you—"

The voice, which was always gentle and soft, at this moment sounded as low as if a pair of iron plates were rubbing against the throat.

Under the astonished gaze of the ronin warriors, a set of blood-red armor covered Zheli's skin along with the mist, as if it grew directly from the skin; and Zheli's slightly hideous sneer was also blocked by the full-face helmet. The dark green goggles could not see the expression underneath, but it seemed that the cruelty in the man's eyes could still be seen.

"I appreciate your kindness. But as for me, haha, I prefer to deal with people with my fists."

“Drink it!!”

At this stalemate, the other two ronin finally rushed over with their swords raised, and with a war cry, they slashed at the armor.

However, the pair of carefully maintained long swords easily bent in front of the hard armor, and did not even leave a scratch on it.

"Oh my." The armored monster was a little slow and only shook his shoulders after the blade was broken.

He took advantage of the situation and twisted the leading warrior's wrist.

“—Ahhh!?”

"Oh sorry sorry. It's been a while since I've fought."

The bloody weirdo laughed a few times, stretched out his hands to grab the two bent knives, bent his elbows, and then - suddenly paused in the air, and threw the knife aside just before the tip of the knife was about to pierce the ronin's abdomen, then retracted his fist and hit the ronin's nose hard in the side!

The powerful impact sent the leading warrior flying several meters away.

The followers on both sides shouted in panic and took up positions, but the next moment they were thrown one by one by the monster towards the leader. The three of them collided into a ball and could only fall on the grass screaming.

The armored monster shrugged his shoulders, turned into a flash of red blood light, and stood in front of the three people with his arms crossed, looking thoughtful.

"It's a little early, though... Sweet dreams, everyone."

Click——!

Thanks to the help of kind-hearted people passing by, the three wanderers who had never slept well fell asleep in the mud.

“…….” “…….”

It was clearly a set of angular and slightly bulky armor, but the man in the blood-red armor was squatting on the ground with his knees supported, looking like a child observing the movement of ants, full of interest and childlike fun.

Looking at the unfamiliar figure, Nagasaki Suyo stood there in a daze for a long time.

Kaname suddenly said, "Aren't you going over there?"

"……Eh?"

Su Shi turned his neck stiffly and looked at the girl's face which was as calm as usual.

"Hmm?" Lenai tilted his head, seemingly unable to understand why the girl in front of him stopped.

She stared into Su Shi's eyes for two seconds, then quickly looked away. She then ran towards the armored man with light steps, and a kitten followed her, meowing.

Su Shi stared blankly at Lenai's receding figure.

"————."

She gritted her teeth and took a step forward to catch up.

It wasn't until the two of them were a few steps away that pitch-black smoke began to emerge from around the armor.

The one who slowly walked out from the smoke was Baodeng Zheli as usual.

"Hey. We're safe now... Although, judging from your expression, you don't seem to want to know that."

"I'm sorry for keeping it a secret from you all this time—"

His bright smile remained unclouded.

"I'm not an ordinary 'human'."

"..."

"Well, I have to let you see my true face, too."

“————————.”

Nagasaki Suyo opened her eyes wide.

That familiar face began to melt as if burning, and turned into bloody mud along with the clothes. It gradually solidified and shrank, as if it was deliberately displayed in front of them, and it was kneaded into a ball very slowly and clearly.

This blood-red mass slowly squirmed, making a crackling sound.

"This is the real me."

It's so far away that it seems like a dream.

Chapter 9: No, buddy

The burning sunset imprinted a man's smile deep in my memory.

'Every simple life is a simple life. I like every simple life.'

The image that I once thought was so strong that it could be engraved forever gradually peeled off in the blood-colored lines.

"..."

Nagasaki Suyo stared at the shapeless "thing" and almost forgot to breathe.

The bloody mud ball squirmed and let out a shrill chuckle. "I thought I could keep this a secret from you forever. But, I don't want to lie to you... Especially now, it seems like something is chasing me."

……

Sure enough, this third life will not be so peaceful.

A "door" that could lead somewhere else. It was as if it wanted to answer all his questions.

Or maybe he wanted him to find the answer himself.

What was the reason for his rebirth? Did his former comrades also transcend the finale? What about his family?

He once thought that he would have to spend the rest of his life with Nagasaki Suyo holding all these questions. However, it seemed that "God" did not intend to let him live such an ordinary life.

A beginning that may be a little late, but contains infinite possibilities——

……

"You mustered up the courage to follow."

If Su Shi chose to wait in the cafe, then he would keep the secret forever.

…But Su Shi chose to stay by his side.

Rather than waiting for his return in the familiar nascita, Su Shi would rather head into the unknown with him.

"Then I should also demonstrate my determination accordingly."

For a moment, the blood-colored mud ball gave out a familiar, gentle laugh. But it seemed to be just a vague illusion. The blood ball in Su Shi's eyes was still wriggling regularly, still saying in that sharp, low, piercing voice:

"...Su Shi."

"You decided to gamble your whole life waiting and companionship on the existence of 'this thing'."

The wriggling gradually subsided, and the flaming blood color turned darker.

It was clearly just a ball of something that looked like a watermelon worm crawling on the ground, and it clearly felt like it was covered in slime that would corrode the grass. It was clearly just listening to that piercing sound from afar, and it was just watching "that thing" from afar.

'He is, sad.'

I just started imagining it.

"I'm a monster among a crowd."

"Even the most vicious robbers are nothing more than snacks to me."

"I am naturally the creature at the top of the food chain."

"...I am 'something like this'."

The wriggling blood clot curled itself into a ball.

A color resembling blood and flame flickered faintly. It was as if he was holding his trembling heart tightly to protect the fire in his chest.

"Even so, will you continue to stay with me?"

“————…….”

Su Shi stared blankly at that thing that had no expression at all.

Is it a dream?

The person who I once thought would always speak softly in my ear is now melting in that ball of blood flame.

The one who said, "I like you." The one who said, "You've tried your best." The one who promised to be with you forever.

...Is it, a dream?

"I,"

The girl couldn't stop her trembling voice after she uttered just one short syllable.

She tried to smile. She wanted to say the obvious things. But she found herself slowly lowering her arms. The worry that had lingered in her heart a moment before seemed to vanish.

"I."

She looked at "that thing", opened her mouth, but could say nothing.

----suddenly.

A shadow obscured Su Shi's vision.

"Well."

...I want Lenai.

The silver-haired girl squatted down in front of the curled blood mass, her extremely gorgeous heterochromatic eyes gazing at it calmly.

"Don't cry," she said.

"……Um?"

As soon as the blood clot made a puzzled sound, the girl reached out and touched it lightly.

Then the girl opened her eyes wide and said, "It's warm." She seemed surprised.

"..."

And Su Shi just stared at her blankly.