Few hours later.

A fierce storm had fallen upon the beautiful scenery.

The weather following the storm clouds turned into a heavy rain that even dimmed the vision, created waves along the coasts, and furthermore, it even flooded the mountain rivers. The flooded rivers brought forth a muddy stream that could even swallow the town downstream, creating an illusion as if a dragon had appeared.

Livestock residing on the riverside were washed away together with fences and disappeared in water without a trace.

Due to the sudden change, the wild beasts ran away in chaos. However, as if the thunder clouds had a will of their own, lightning fell down on the running animals one by one while they squirmed in chaos.

It was a manifestation of a raging storm which created an illusion that made one wonder if earth had turned to h.e.l.l.

However, within that raging storm, a figure of a man gallantly pushing his way forward was seen.

(This.......This is beyond imagination...!)

Clad in a coat for enduring the rain and wind and pushing his way towards the center of the storm, he – Mikado Tokuteru, ignored the storm that was mowing down and blowing against him, glaring towards the center of the storm.

As if it decided to aim at Tokureru, it tried striking him, but none of its attacks. .h.i.t him. In front of such scene that anyone would shake in fear, Tokureru"s pace hadn’t slowed down even for a bit.

But, that was only natural. To begin with, this man was not afraid of the storm.

He was calmly pushing his way towards the center of the raging storm.

As if it was responding to that fighting spirit, a roar of a bull was heard from somewhere.

Lightning traveled on the ground within the dimmed visibility. The originator of this unnatural storm, in front of his long awaited challenger, decided to stop hiding its appearance.  

『GEEEYAAAAaaaa——!!!』

The c.u.mulonimbus started changing its shape. Its shape had changed to that of a cloven-hoofed animal, then a pair of majestic horns of lightning extended as if they were piercing the heavens.

It’s full length was already beyond measuring.

After all, the opponent was c.u.mulonimbus itself.

The c.u.mulonimbus cloud which was the vortex of raging storm, turned into a bull warrior that was clad in lighting. Although its body was without a substance, with one step of those gigantic hooves formed by the c.u.mulonimbus cloud, the whole ground trembled and cracks appeared. The cracks mowed down the trees, and pavements of the roads were cruelly destroyed.

This shape, it was exactly shaped like the beast of constellation from the myths.

In front of that heavenly bull that would even make Shura Buddhas stare in fear, Tokuteru was glaring at that overbearing form without a bit of fear.

Raising the bull-like roar, the bull of the c.u.mulonimbus cloud was about to charge with vigor.

(Well well.........This troublesome guy has finally appeared. Its growth speed is already beyond the original Gugalanna[1] at this point. How long can the current me last against it.......!!!)

In front of the c.u.mulonimbus cloud that was wriggling as if it was alive, Mikado Tokuteru started preparing for a fight. It was not an illusion, from his whole body, a faint glow similar to lightning could be seen.

Looking at that, the c.u.mulonimbus bull"s growls became more and more violent.

The power of the storm grew even stronger, and it started landing on Tokyo.

───Saigö Homura, Ayazato Suzuka, Kudö Ayato -  around the time when the three of them had a light meal and finished watching the latest remake of a movie after returning from Kanokuniya[2] bookstore.

The weather had already started to become stormy.

When it turned dark and they returned back to the orphanage, the windy rain that blowed thunderously and moved down everything, was. .h.i.tting the windows, and it became a situation where the house was being flooded from the gaps all around it. Witnessing the falling branches of the tree that was outside the gate, the possibility that things would fly in from the outside couldn’t be overlooked.

The children were devising a plan so that the fragments won’t scatter around even if the windows were to be broken, Saigō Homura, Ayazato Suzuka and Kudō Ayato were also running around to a.s.sist them with it.

After getting exhausted from taking measures against the typhoon and having a light dinner, unconsciously, bitter smiles floated on them.  

Homura turned on the TV to confirm the information about typhoon.

"Good grief, what a terrible start for a Golden Week. This was especially one of the worse one in recent years"

"For real! The flower beds and trees are in a complete mess, they need to be re-planted! The emergency rations were also completely destroyed!"

"..........That aloe was edible, right, Suzuka?"

Homura was watching news about the typhoon while Suzuka grieved about the annihilation of edible plants.

Ayato stood up while carrying the emptied tea cup. She was probably headed to get another cup. While looking at her leaving figure, Homura, for some reason, asked a question to Suzuka.

"Speaking of which, this has been on my mind for a while. Why does Ayato speaks only to Suzuka without honorifics?"

"Ah? Well, that"s… I told her, ‘We are both in student council right? Since we are always together in school, being all formal would be bothersome!’ using the authority as the president of the student council.”

"I see. That"s just like Suzuka’s style"

Ayazato Suzuka and Kudō Ayato were members of student council. Unbelievable as it may have seemed, Suzuka, since the first year of middle school, was acting as the president of a student council for three years and played a good role in it. It was because she wasn’t shy and could quickly open up to anyone.

"At this rate, the animal cabins of the school"s dietary education department might be in danger......."

"Yeah, that reminds me, the inst.i.tute"s laboratory and industry university were doing some kind of collaboration"

Homura muttered as if he remembered something.

The school that the three of them attended, the Houei Private University"s a.s.sociated Academy, was a large escalator type private affiliated school. Inside the university, there were grade school, middle school, and high school buildings, with each department owning a sports field. Although it was the leading prestigious school in the neighbourhood, Everything Company was also involved with it and provided support with research to Homura through it.

Youths of the orphanage were only required to pa.s.s the middle school examination and were waived tuition. Even if they failed, they were also able to take an admission exam for middle and high school. These conditions were what Homura got from Everything Company in exchange for giving a part of the license for nanomachines that his father was studying.

Thus, the industry-academic cooperation was referred to the link between high and middle school students performing industry research jointly with Everything Company. The private Hōei University being the leading affiliated school in j.a.pan, from the start, was performing the education to raise the outlook of the world from childhood by doing an industry-academic cooperation starting from middle school.

Homura as someone who has the qualification to enter in and out of Hōei University’s research centre, and Ayazato Suzuka as the Student Council President of the middle school, have contributed to various industry-academic cooperation ideas like stock-farming.

The dietary education department mentioned now was one of them. It was not unrelated to Homura"s research of Nanomachines.

"If the livestock escaped, it would be troublesome for the people in school. What was bred again?"

"Lets see, 10 chickens and 5 piglets. If they are raised well, they are expected to become delicious smoked hams and sausages. Although we have reinforced the breeding cabins............ they could not account for such a heavy storm. The cabins might have been blown away. Can I go and confirm it?"

"Okay. I"ll be guiding Ayato to her room. Please return as fast as possible"

“Okay!” answered Suzuka and she dashed out. The moment she took a turn at the corridor corner, her footsteps vanished.

"............Such laziness. At least walk from corridor to the entrance."

Letting a girl go out in the storm alone might be considered as something that should never be done, but if it"s about her specifically, then there was no need for concern. She was particularly special in this orphanage.

Homura also stood up and went toward the kitchen to see Ayato.

"Ayato. It"s about time I guided you to your room."

"Ah, okay. It"s that room right?"

"Right. Well, it might be a bit inconvenient given that it’s a boy room. Pardon me on that........... Oh, sorry. I got mail."

Hearing a faint ringtone, Homura opened his phone.

It might be a little impolite to do it in front of someone, but the ring sounded from the phone was used to get in contact with the members of the laboratory. Even the laboratory had a holiday in the Golden Week, so he had to consider that there was some kind of urgent task coming up because of the storm.

However, the mail address that was displayed has never been seen before.

(Queen.Hallowe"[email protected]/* */………What the h.e.l.l is this? Is this a spam mail or something?)

He tilted his head while making fun in his heart.

───However, this message was too suspicious.

In the first place, as it was mentioned earlier, leaving aside the lab members, no one should have this mobile"s mail address, except Ayato and Tokuteru. It"s possible that the mail contained a malicious virus that would leak private information.

He would be forever ashamed If he was caught by a typical virus like a Trojan Horse. Homura shook his head and closed the phone.

"Senpai. Was it an important mail?"

"Sorry, it was just a spam. Now, come with me, I"ll guide you."

Homura left the mail as it was and continued guiding Ayato to the room.

The windows at the corridor were still shaking. This was also because of the aging of the window frames. If an earthquake was to come someday, it might not hold out.

It was about time to think about repairs. With such thoughts in mind, Homura quickly walked through the corridor.

Arriving to the room in question, Homura took out the key while talking about the owner of the room who was not there anymore.

"It"s the room of the absent owner, but don"t mind it and use it as you wish. That person hasn’t made any plans to come back anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"From the start, that person only stayed here occasionally. The last time he came back was five years ago, after that he never returned............ Good grief, I wonder where and what is he doing right now."

While showing a bitter smile, he opened the door with a key and vaguely spoke about the circ.u.mstances.

───The foundation of this orphanage "Canaria Family Home" that Saigō Homura lived in, was connected to a single woman and a boy.

One of them was a woman called Canaria with unknown nationality.

With unknown funds and connections that came from G.o.d knows where, she, in a blink of an eye, managed to get more than ten investors and established this private orphanage, and made a foundation so that youths living under it could have a proper education, and she alone managed all this.

However, the female founder Canaria, fell to an illness and pa.s.sed away five years ago. While it was uncertain if that was an excuse, many of the investors quit all at once.

Then there was another boy, who suddenly disappeared five years ago in the middle of a Golden Week. Where he is or what he"s doing, there wasn"t anything heard from him at all.

It"s said that spring is the season of encounters, but it"s the opposite for Homura and Suzuka.

This season, changing from late spring to early summer, was the season full of partings with important people.

"So that"s how it was.......... I did not know that there were people like that in this orphanage. I certainly thought Senpai was the eldest one."

"Right now, I"m truly the eldest. That person would be an adult by now, and he is probably living as he pleases outside of this county."

"...........Have you ever considered that he might be dead?"

"Of course I haven"t. Well, come in."

Ayato was urged to enter a room of the absent owner.

She was expecting a dusty room, but was stunned to see that it looked no less cleaner and tidier than all other rooms.

"..........Senpai? This room hasn"t been used for 5 years right?"

"That’s right. But well, it was cleaned together with all other rooms when doing major cleanups. Mildew might start growing after all"

"But, the room owner"s whereabouts are unknown right?"

"Even though he is missing, that"s different from death, after all it"s not possible for him to die like that. What if he suddenly returns? And at that time, if he finds his luggage to be missing and makes a racket about it, it would be troublesome. Even though he"s bothered by such simple eloquence."

However, it"s still troublesome. Just come and take the luggages already, said Homura bluntly.

After showing more and more surprised expression, she looked at Homura while floating a mischievous smile as if she has understood something.

"..........I see. Senpai and Suzuka, really liked that Onii-san quite a lot right?

"How did you get to that conclusion"

"I can only think so. To take care of a room for a missing person, my goodness, that"s normally impossible. What"s more, it was five years ago when he disappeared, both of you were still 10 years old at that time, right?”

Thinking carefully, to care for for someone that you got separated with when you were a just child, If it"s not a family love, it would be impossible.

Homura unhappily put the key on the desk. Despite Homura’s dissatisfaction, Suzuka truly held the owner of this room very deeply in her heart. So he was unable to strongly deny it.

At this moment, he saw the Nekomimi Headphone on the desk. Homura took it in his hand and rotated it a few times while smiling wryly.

".......Well, I certainly didn"t hate him. Even if I have no idea where he is and what he"s doing, but......... well, he is ridiculously strong person. I think there is no way he’d drop dead at some place."

"Strong you say?"

"Yeah. "Of course, and I"m talking about the physical strength."

"Ph-Physical?"

"Yeah. That person was the most special among us. He was not a person who would seclude himself in a single place."

“Is that so?” Ayato absentmindedly answered.

But it couldn"t be helped. In modern society, what did it mean to be strong physically?

Not to mention that this was not a topic for a girl like Ayato to understand.

Especially since the scale of his power couldn’t be understood without meeting with him.

"Speaking of which, Senpai. That, what"s the matter with Suzuka? Is she still preparing countermeasures for typhoon?"

"Ah, if it"s about her, she went towards the school. She seems to be worried about the animals of the dietary education department, so she went to see what’s the situation right now.”

“Eh?” Ayato raised her voice as she looked back.

"............Senpai. What did you just say?"

"Huh? I said Suzuka went towards school,"

"You let her go alone!? In this heavy storm!?"

Ayato raised her voice.

However, that was a natural response to it.

With such heavy rain, the street flumes were flooded and the water had reached the ankles. The wind blew with such powerful force that it blew away pots and house signs. Lightnings roared every minute, not to mention that there were also several lightning strikes. A blackout wouldn’t be surprising to happen any time now.

By no means was it a situation to let a girl go outside alone.

But Homura was not panicking at all, and instead scratched his head, while considering how to explain it.

"Uh............ I get what you are trying to say, but there will be no problem if it’s her. Look, you should also know about it. Everyone in this orphanage is fundamentally special. Even among them, Suzuka is special. There is no need for concern—"

Suddenly, a roar that seemed to split the veil of darkness resounded in the orphanage.

At first, they were under the delusion that it was thunder, however, as the house was shaking a little, they immediately guessed that this was a sound of an explosion.

"The explosion just now............ It came from the side of the school."

"Tokuteru-san? Where is Tokuteru-san right now!?"

As if driven by the extreme feelings of unease, Ayato grasped Homura"s hand.

Homura got confused for a moment but immediately collected himself and took out the phone. If it’s him, there’s a high chance that he might know something.

"He left for an urgent business, but the weather now is horrendous. So he shouldn"t have gone too far. The call should be connected soon"

"Oh, oh no….! Suzuka is in danger!!!"

Just as she said that, Ayato ran straight towards the entrance.

As Homura called Tokuteru, he chased after her back, however Ayato"s leg strength wasn"t normal. By the time Homura crossed the corridor, Ayato had already opened the door and rushed outside.

Homura hung up the phone which couldn’t connect to Tokuteru at all and smacked his lips strongly.

"s.h.i.t, what was she thinking, that Ayato-Ojōsama!"

Homura thought about the final words she left behind.

—Both Ayato"s and Tokuteru’s behavior was strange ever since the morning.

They both seemed to be alerted about some unidentified thing, but it seemed that their objectives were different from each other. Ayato probably became careless thinking if it was a normal situation, Tokuteru would"ve been able to deal with it alone.

Without a doubt, the two of them must be hiding something.

Homura took the raincoat at the entrance, and hurriedly ran after Ayato and Suzuka.

— In front of the main gates of Houei Private University"s a.s.sociated Academy.

Outside, the storm was heavier than expected.

The Transportation systems were completely paralyzed, not to mention the cars, not a single person was to be seen. The rain drainage systems were also overloaded with the precipitation such that it exceeded the capacity of the systems while the water rushed from the shoes all the way up to the ankles.

Both his legs felt heavy as he ran due to the surging water, but it was not the time to be concerned of that matter.

Homura, running while panting heavily, finally arrived in front of the school gate after all the trouble.

(The breeding cabins should be beside the school. It would be good if the animals for dietary education are being kept in there as well.)

It was midnight after all, so the security guards had already returned home for today. However, as one would expect, the main gate was impa.s.sable.

In the middle of a heavy storm, Homura went to the school"s back door.

Trees that were properly arranged inside the school also swayed by the storm and scattered it’s buds.

In spite of the heavy storm and the possibility of getting swept away by it, Homura found his way to the breeding cabins— but suddenly, the sound of a beast enjoying eating its prey was heard.

(...........What was that sound just now.)

It was a very disturbing sound.

It"s not the sound of the rainfall. It"s definitely not the relaxing sound the rain makes.

If an example was to be given, it sounded like someone biting a moist half-roasted meat, however, the sound kept resounding without getting erased by the sounds of the fierce rain.

After hearing such disturbing sound, Homura"s wariness strengthened. Slowly, he continued approached without making sounds, and he looked towards the breeding cabin from the shadow of the school building.

Then, a huge shadow of a person whose size could cover a cabin moved slowly.

Homura desperately suppressed his voice from surprise. Not raising a loud voice was a good move. Or maybe it was the sound of the heavy rainfall that has saved him. If he was a normal student, then he would without a doubt fall into a state of panic.

The giant humanoid shadow Homura saw was shocking to that degree.

『Ｇｙａ………Ｇｙａ………!!!』

It was the voice of a monster that was indulged in devouring the livestock.

The monster with a huge build bit into the back of a piglet and crushed 5 chickens with one hand. The illumination was broken so the appearance of that figure could not be seen clearly, but without a doubt it was three times the size of a human. Although it was standing on his two legs, the balance of the body was distorted, and It looked like its tough upper body was supported by the thinner lower body.

It was obvious that such shape wouldn’t be able to support its upper body weight.

(Oi oi..... This is way too unexpected.)

Homura observed the monster with a big frame from the shadows.

It was too dark to be seen clearly, but two horns could be seen from its head. The shape of the head above its neck was clearly derived from a human.

(That type of horn and cattle ears.......... a bull monster? Is it possible that it escaped from some laboratory?)

He soundlessly took a picture.

Although it was the normal reasoning, it could only be thought like this.

If Ayato and Tokuteru were vigilant about such monster, their ambiguity before would be understandable. Homura thought his reasoning was flexible, but no matter how you think about it, the existence of such monster was unthinkable.

On the other side, the monster had been displaying a strange conduct of eating and vomiting the livestock. That was obviously not an act to satisfy its appet.i.te. It"s possible that it is an instinctive conduct.

As he watched the monster’s figure, Homura decided to get in contact with Tokuteru and opened the phone’s contacts.

At that moment, footsteps were heard from the other side of the cabin.

Homura raised his face with surprise.

Together with sensing the human presence, a high-pitched metallic sound reverberated.

"——!!?"

Despite of the heavy rain, sparks were flying in front of his eyes.

Although Homura couldn"t tell by the sound, the number of steel exchanges was six. It was an instant clash of offence and defense, but it was more than enough to decide victory and loss.

The giant monster kneeled down as his blood gushed out from his legs.

While Homura could not understand what just happened,  a human figure was blown to his hands and that elevated his level of surprise.

"Ayato.......!? Just what are you doing!!?"

"T-That"s my line............. W-Why is Senpai also..!!!"

"That"s because you rushed out of course! I had already said that nothing would happen to Suzuka......!!!

Ayato wanted to retort back, but she couldn"t continue and started coughing.

"........So........ pathetic. I never thought that I"d grew so dull that I could not handle a mere 10 exchanges."

Ayato was writhing in pain, and lost her consciousness. Looking closely, there was a severe laceration on her flank. From the depth of her injury, Homura immediately guessed that she lost her consciousness from the shock that came from bleeding.

If the wound reached the internal organs, it was in immediate need for an operation.

Luckily, the giant monster"s legs were also injured. It might be possible to escape now.

"Hold on till the laboratory! If we get there, we can take emergency treatments!"

He desperately called out to her despite being aware that she had lost consciousness. The fact that there was no reaction from her displayed the danger she was in.

Homura carried Ayato on his back, and ran towards the school building.

However, the monster was not so generous as to overlook that defenseless back.

The roar not understandable by human language spread throughout the neighborhood.  At this point, it already rivaled a sonic weapon. The tattered breeding cabin completely turned around and was blown off, cracks appeared in the school building and shattered windows were flying everywhere. Homura who was separated from it was also blown off by the shock along with the sprayed water. Luckily, the heavy rain and the tightly put on hood of the raincoat proved fortunate. If it happened a bit closer, the ear drums would"ve been crushed without a doubt.

As Homura fell down with the momentum, Ayato groaned from the vibrancy.

"Ugh..............!"

"I am sorry, please hold on a bit longer!"

Despite still covered in mud, Homura stood up while carrying Ayato.

While standing up, he took in consideration that it would be bad if mud got in her wound, but their companion wouldn"t allow them so much composure. Finding a chance when he fell, the huge monster rushed towards Homura despite being limp. With just one step, the water took a form of a crater and was pushed aside, and that situation was nothing but a threat.

Despite the fact that the injury on its leg was by no means light, it still dashed like a tank. Homura immediately rushed towards the nearest school door and smashed the window to open the lock. With that fellow’s stature, entering the school building would be impossible.

As soon as Homura went inside a school, he leaned on the wall and adjusted his breathing. Even though Ayato was a girl, he still ran while burdened with a person. It was no way lighter than manual work. To run in one go from here to the laboratory, it was necessary to adjust his breathing.

—But, he was too naive.

Suddenly, tremors similar to an earthquake a.s.saulted the two of them.

A violent roar. The vibration spread. The equipment was broken and started flying around making an optical illusion as if an avalanche of rocks. .h.i.t the entrance. What was even surprising, was the fact that the monster stuck its head inside the building from the entrance to examine it.

Despite getting his shoulder stucked due to his oversized figure, the huge monster waved his arm and crushed the pillars that were supporting the school like a rock drilling machine.

With a single swing of it"s arm which was stronger than a crane, all the cupboards were blown and the debris went flying above Homura"s head.

"s.h.i.t, this guy is crazy!"

He protected Ayato from the flying fragments. Despite getting hit by a fist sized fragment, aside from the bleeding forehead, there were no other injuries. The action he took was certainly good.

However, there was no time for relief. That giant build could possibly destroy the school to move forward. Though the reasons for not doing that were not known, Homura had one hypothesis.

(It"s not just dumb. It has the behavior that disregards the surroundings to catch humans? What"s more, this shape similar to human and bull combination…….. isn"t it just like a perfect Minotaur?)

Homura wiped his sweats and stared at the bull"s head.

Minotaur ─── A half-human, half-beast monster that appears in Greek mythology. Homura was not aware of the details, but it was supposed to be a bull monster that ate people that were thrown into a labyrinth as a sacrifice.

This was not a labyrinth, but getting chased by a Minotaur in a school wrapped in a storm was definitely a bad taste for an escaping game.

If the Minotaur was left like this, the chances of not escaping were high.

Homura quickly confirmed the situation, raised his head, and looked at the emergency equipment for calamities installed on the wall. In case of fire or earthquake disasters, if you enter a special code according to the situation and pull down the lever next to it, it can activate protective measures against that calamity.

(Calamity emergency equipment................ Fire extinguishing gas is harmless against living things, so using it is useless. ............No wait, if this equipment is the same as the ones in laboratory then.......!!!)

Different from fire, natural disaster, and earthquake, there was another security code for another calamity. If that equipment was inside the school, it might be possible to get away.

There was no time to hesitate. While crawling, the monster was gradually destroying the entrance. Homura removed the equipment"s protection cover, put in the security code and grabbed the lever.

"Please move..........!!!"

With a heavy sound, Homura pulled down the lever. At that moment, a dull sound that was like a drop of an iron hammer was heard within the school.

Homura who understood that it went just like he wanted, turned his back on Minotaur and ran towards the laboratory. Seeing that back, Minotaur started crawling and pushing forward in a straight line within the school building.

It was a habit to chase the fleeing humans after all. Strengthening his confidence, Homura jumped towards the hallway that continued to another school building.

Homura believed that it would catch up immediately, but it seemed that the previous leg injury was still effective. It was crawling with both hands for that very reason. The Minotaur pursued inside the school just like a centipede.The Minotaur kept crawling while fallen, however, the moment it crawled to the hallway───a huge iron plate fell on it"s neck.

Rather than pain, that scream was probably more from the shock and surprise. Just as Minotaur thrust it’s arm inside the cla.s.sroom, the bulkhead pierced through it’s body looking as if it was isolating the cla.s.sroom.

"It entered perfectly........! How is it you bull beast! A 500mm thick special bulkhead pierced to the base of the neck! It"s not easy to escape isn’t it!"

Homura raised his small fist declaring victory and escaped from the emergency exit next to the security shutter that only opened from inside.The emergency exit would be closed by the barrier soon.

In just a minute, the whole building was surrounded by barriers.

With a hazy consciousness, Ayato muttered as she saw the school changing into an iron casket.

".........That was, surprising. To think our school had such a function........."

"Right. The Hōei large laboratory, along with nanomachines, are also studying particular microbes, like extinct viruses such as smallpox in secret. This is equipment for a biohazard that might be caused from that research."

That’s right───this was not a system for prevention of fire or natural disasters, but to restrain the damage of man-made disasters. No one would ever think that this iron coffin would be used to lock up the Minotaur.

Homura lent his shoulder to Ayato once again and turned his back at school.

"If we go to the 3rd research center, we will be able to get an emergency aid. After that, we’ll call the ambulance and the talk comes after that. Okay?"

“.............Okay. But, umm, how about Suzuka........?"

"Just as I said before, that girl would be fine. I feel sorry for being silent, but different from an imitation like me, Suzuka is a genuine psychic. Even if by some chance she was left behind in the school, that girl will be fine. Rather, we would be holding her back——"

At that moment, the ground shook violently.

In the sky raised a roar from the thunder clouds.

Saigō Homura’s eyes were stolen from the dazzling light in his vision, and he stopped thinking for an instant.

Instead of calling it lightening, it would be better to call it flashing of heat. The heat wave emitted from it instantly erased the rain and wind and brought silence to the surroundings.

That light source that just fell down from the sky ─── pierced through the iron coffin that was covered by the 500mm specially composed armor easily as if it were cotton and sunk into the ground.

The iron coffin was burning brightly. Cracks ran in the ground.

Homura was at loss for words from the supernatural event that was happening in front of him. To be able to tear the specially composed armor that could withstand not only a tank’s cannon but also a ship’s guns was more than surprising, but what was truly surprising was not that.

It was a single great battle axe that fell to the ground as if spewed from the c.u.mulonimbus cloud.

Homura"s eyes were stolen by the brilliance of that battle axe.

It"s not that it had any majestic ornaments on it. All that battle axe had was a single ruby gem inserted in the center. It was also hard to say if the molding was practical, that giant battle axe was not fit for the human"s hands. It was impossible to lift it without the help several people.

Although it was a rough and extremely large battle axe───its edge shone dazzlingly just like a sun. Even though it was inside the burning flames of the school building, the battle axe"s shine was still seen perfectly. Even for an amateur like Homura, that battle axe looked especially threatening. The Minotaur and the storm could not be compared to the threat of this battle axe.

The battle axe that emitted divinity enough to give chills was raised up by the Minotaur that had just come out of the flames. That scene crossed beyond the level of just making it stronger than it was. The power of his strong body grew several times and the injuries on the leg healed in the blink of an eye.

Instinctively understanding that escaping was impossible, Homura covered Ayato who was unconscious.

The Minotaur wasn"t going to show mercy, even to a non-resistant prey.

It bent its giant body, and dashed forward like a bullet.

Saigö Homura glared at the battle axe raised overhead───and following it, resolved himself for death.

1 Gugalanna (GU.GAL.AN.NA) and Guanna (GU₄.AN.NA) are the same. In fact the only difference is that Gugalanna means the Great Bull of Heaven. It was send to punish Gilgamesh and Enkidu, but was killed by them. ↩
2 Play on Kinokuniya Bookstore ↩