When the white streak hit Rashiok, he screeched loudly in pain as if he had been hit by a gunshot.

I was unable to make a single sound.

I was in shock as if the world around me had stopped moving, like I"d received a blow to my own head.

Even though I didn"t intend to believe in the Xia Church, did this count as evidence that I"d begun accepting their teachings?

In this world, the thunder from the skies was supposed to be something only the "G.o.ds" could control.

For an enemy giant bird to be able to control it was difficult for me to accept. My head felt like it was going numb.

"Rashi…"

I heard the sound of something rattling. What was this continuous irregular clacking noise? I reached out to touch my own face for the source.

That"s when I finally realized. I was trembling with such severity. This sound had been coming from my upper and lower teeth constantly gnashing against each other. …Compared to where I was touching my face, my hand was actually trembling less.

"Have you changed your mind now?"

The enemy girl"s calm voice seemed to envelop the entire area. I began breaking out into a cold sweat.

I stubbornly stopped myself from looking down at Mefuri who was in my arms. If I did, I felt as if I would perhaps release her to the enemy.

But no matter how much I worked my head, I couldn"t come up with a good idea on how to get out of this situation without handing Mefuri over.

No, it was likely possible that if it was only me and Mefuri, that we would be able to escape, but I wasn"t willing to make such a sacrifice of my soldiers just for Mefuri"s sake.

I kept opening and closing my mouth meaninglessly.

Mefuri was now looking back up and me.

…Then, I came to the sudden realization that she had already been touching both me and Vedwoka for almost half a day already. My unsightly impatient expression met Mefuri"s currently blank eyes.

"Or perhaps it"ll be quicker if I just burn everyone here, including you. What should I do? Do you want to stay by this child"s side? If not, could you please kill her personally for me? There"s no need for the light of this child"s life anymore in this world, you know?"

She was saying that so lightly almost as if she was singing.

I took a deep gulp.

Die. Only the conviction that I wanted the enemy girl to die was whirling around inside my mind like a tornado.

Was I going to have to sacrifice Mefuri?

I felt as if my mouth was going completely dry.

But, abandoning Mefuri wasn"t an option. The moment I said something like that, there was the possibility of her blowing me up.

I myself was the one who inflated and encouraged Mefuri"s "fear of being abandoned" in order to get Mefuri onto my side. How ironic that I myself had no path of retreat thanks to my own tactic.

It seemed as if I had only the two choices of keeping my word to Mefuri and protecting her while risking being struck to death by lightning from that giant bird, or breaking my promise to Mefuri to never abandon her and most likely end up getting exploded by her.

However, no matter what, I had no intentions of dying here.

It was as if I heard a tiny voice whispering into my ears. "-I like you as well. I don"t want to kill you. That"s why, no matter what happens, live. Do not die, I will never allow such a thing-"

It was a curse.

…Or perhaps it could also be called a promise that hurt my chest to the point where I thought I would have a heart attack.

From my stomach and below, I felt so hot as if I was boiling, yet my head remained perfectly cool and colder than ice.

Although this mixed sense of icy and burning rage wasn"t new to me, somehow my brain was working even better than it normally would at this point in time. There was just one thing I had to do.

"…Mefuri. I have a question for you. You-"

I averted my gaze from the girl gazing at us with a sarcastic taunting expression and whispered my question to Mefuri in a low voice only we could hear.

Mefuri opened her eyes wide in surprise at my question. Finally, she nodded almost imperceptibly.

I let go of a huge sigh as I placed my hand on her shoulder. At the same time, I slowly withdrew my short sword from the scabbard on my waist.

I saw the girl on the huge bird narrow her eyes joyously as she looked in our direction.

I met her gaze, and glared viciously in return - and had Vedwoka suddenly jump up into the air.

"…Eh?"

The girl didn"t even have time to react with anything other than an expression of shock to the supple draconis flying up instantly with a powerful jump.

I kept rising and rising. For just a split second, I met the girl"s glance at the exact same eye level, before I pa.s.sed her swiftly by in height.

My blood-red eyes were so similar to the color of sunset during dusk. Just like during the battle where I set fire to an entire river, I currently had an expression similar to my deceased father"s.

I sliced my short sword horizontally. With a *shing!* sound, I suddenly felt less weight on my head.

I let go of my bundle of tied hair and dropped it towards the giant golden bird.

"Do it, Mefuri!"

Mefuri responded to my order and shouted out murkily in a grating sound that was the exact opposite of the golden bird"s sonorous singing.

Pop, I heard the familiar activation sound of her magic.

My hair that I sliced off of myself exploded on top of the giant bird"s head.

"Kyaa!?"

The girl and the giant bird screamed together simultaneously. The giant bird that had suddenly received an unexpected attack to its head flew up to the sky in a frenzy and scattered blood around everywhere.

"Vedwoka, devour!"

Vedwoka matched her alt.i.tude with the giant bird that was currently flying around haphazardly in a frenzy. a.s.sisted by the magic power to control the wind that Rashiok formerly possessed as well in the past, Vedwoka dived through the air and sunk her fangs into the giant bird"s throat.

"Screech!!"

Everything happened in just an instant. The giant bird violently thrashed its body around, twisting and turning so much that I was extremely jarred as well from the centrifugal forces.

Before we crashed into the ground, Vedwoka righted herself and flew up again, while Mefuri and I did our best simply to hold on.

Although I expected it, the explosion"s power was still too small for my satisfaction - probably because I hadn"t been in contact with Mefuri for a sufficient amount of time yet. It seemed like we still didn"t manage to do enough damage to the giant bird, as it also succeeded in righting itself midair and appeared to finally calm down.

There was no more time for us to escape now.

-d.a.m.n it!

"Ha. Ahh, I see. That"s how it is. That"s your choice, eh. Diapetal, cast divine judgement down upon them!"

The girl"s loud voice sounded from above me, and the huge bird crowed once more towards the sky.

It all happened so fast that I had no time to react whatsoever.

My field of vision was filled with a light so bright that I had no idea what was happening to me.