Turning back to Khosrow, Rei narrowed his eyes as he clutched his staff.

"Ayato, how's the situation? Where's your family?"

"I... Tch."

Letting out a grunt, I clutched my shoulders. Rei let out a sigh and lowered his staff.

"Apologies for asking that question. I should've just assumed from the context."

"No, it's fine. I don't know where my parents are, but I'm currently with Kazane and Ayaka."

"Ayaka's with you?"

Rei turned back and gave me a glance. I nodded.

"Yeah. She paired up with me when we encountered each other."

"Where did they go?"

"They're both here. Ayaka was injured pretty bad, but Kazane's with her right now. I told her to run while I distracted Khosrow, but I don't think Kazane did."

"I see."

Rei turned back to face Khosrow.

"I'll take it from here. You, get Ayaka and Kazane and escape north of this city."

"North? You mean the forest?"

"Yeah. Run into the forest. Take shelter there. When Ayaka awakes, she should be able to lead you two to a safe place beyond all this hell."

"A safe... place? Where can be safe from this hell?"

"The place made to combat this hell."

Saying that, Rei walked forward.

"Now's your chance, Ayato. Go."

After vaulting behind the rock, I forced myself to breath. Deep breaths. Don’t panic. Calming down, I pushed myself up.

In front of me, Kazane's arms held onto Ayaka's slim figure. Ayaka's moddest chest rose up and down as she slept, matching her pale, peaceful face.

Kazane's brown hair fell over her green T-shirt. Her brown eyes gazed over the rock, as if she could see what was happening. Her sword laid on the ground, sheathed.

I frowned.

"Kazane, why didn't you run?"

She snorted as she ran a hand through her brown hair.

"Running? To where? I thought you were joking. I'm sure you figured everywhere in this city is dangerous, Fallacyato."

"Yato names again... That's not the point. If Khosrow had killed me, we'd all be doomed. Running was our only shot."

"Annoying. You're blabbering a lot. We survived, didn't we? It's alright."

"No, it's not all right. That's hindsight. Kazane, grab Ayaka. We're running north. Rei said there's a shelter in the forest."

"Running north? A shelter?"

"Yeah. Rei said the shelter there was safe from GRS, and once Ayaka wakes up, she can lead us there."

"Ha?"

"What do you mean ha? We need to go. It's too dangerous here, and it'll only get more dangerous. Let's leave."

As I was turning around, Kazane's thin fingers snatched my wrist.

"Rei's still back there. Are we seriously leaving him behind?"

"Kazane, you've got to be reasonable. If we don't run, Ayaka will be in more danger. Rei himself told me to run with you and Ayaka."

"Didn't you hear Khosrow? He's going after dad. If we run here and now, mom and dad will also die. It's not just Rei who will die."

"----"

"Nothing to say? If so, we're staying. I don't want mom and dad to die."

"It doesn’t matter—they’re probably already gone. We haven't seen or heard of them at all since dawn. What can we do? Stay here and die with them?"

"That's how you see it?"

Kazane narrowed her eyes. Her grip tightened around my arm-despite how petite her figure was, her grip was strong. Her voice was curt, suggesting me to be silent.

"I see. If that’s how you see it, fine. Take Ayaka and run. Get as far as you can."

Kazane shoved Ayaka into my arms. Her brown eyes looked icy as she looked down to me.

"Remember what I told you? Chase the light. If that shelter you talk of is truly the light, then surely you'll find something there."

She turned back, reaching into the pocket of her blue jeans. Pulling out a hair tie, she wrapped her brown, shoulder length hair into a bun. She gripped her sword.

"You probably want to escape this hell. I do too. But leaving now would mean the death of the others of whom I care about. I'd take the chance to ensure they're fine at the cost of my life."

Her eyes locked on the chaos ahead before she sprang over the rock.

"----"

In my arms, Ayaka coughed. I rested a hand on her forehead. Her left arm was wrapped in a bandage sling, and her shoulders were covered with bandages.

Taking a sigh, I leaned back on the rock.

Deep breaths, deep breaths. Don't panick. Kazane was stronger than I was by a lot. Unlike me, she had stayed in combat training classes throughout her life. Those lessons that dad was teaching actually came pretty useful, huh.

Still. I looked over the rock, my height being just enough to see the sky. Collisions of rocks and shattering echoed the area, gusts of wind blowing.

"That's where you're wrong... I didn't die so many times for only me to stay alive. In the first place, running was my solution because I thought I couldn't save everyone."

Trees blew sideways, their branches swaying like a kite.

"That's why... if you do something like this now..."

I took a deep breath. My fists clenched.

"I’m not leaving you behind, Kazane. I’d never choose my life over yours—even when Khosrow had me shaking with fear."

"Ayato?"

"Ah? You're awake."

Ayaka stirred in my arms. Her eyes opened.

"Eh? What happened? Why am I in Ayato's arms?"

"You fought Khosrow and got badly hurt. I pulled you out. Rei and Kazane are fighting him now."

"They're fighting Khosrow? Oh yeah. I remember now. I'm surprised you managed to survived before Rei and Kazane showed up."

"That's too much credit to me. They arrived before my battle really started. I did tell you that I had a plan."

"Ha. Pushing around the credit huh. Anyways, what are we supposed to be doing? Surely, we're not supposed to be doing nothing while they're putting their lives out like that?"

"Well, I'm supposed to be running away with you. But you know, I care a lot about Kazane, so... I can't exactly run. Sorry."

"That's fine. I get that."

Ayaka slowly pushed herself up from my arms. Then, she winced, clutching her shoulder in pain. I caught her before she hit the ground.

"Woah, don't move too much—you’re still hurt. And, uh, it’s a bit awkward holding you like this."

"Oh, my bad. You can set me against the wall."

"Sure thing."

I set Ayaka by the rock. She let out a breath, before closing her eyes.

"Ayato, how's the battle going? Between Kazane, Rei, and Khosrow."

"I haven't looked. I just want to pretend nothing’s happening, like it’s all over and everything’s fine. I’ll deal with my heart when I get the wake-up call. For now, all looking over will do is make me anxious. It's not like me looking over will change the result of the battle or anything, so might as well get some free time of rest."

"That's true. It's not like either of us are in a state to change something."

Ayaka sighed, looking away. She rested her hand on her sling, clutching her broken arm.

"I get why you didn't run without Kazane."

"----"

"Before the battlefield, Khosrow attacked the restaurant. Rei distracted him and told me to run. We met at the city entrance after that."

"----"

"I told you about how I was looking for Rei, didn't I?"

"----"

"At that time, I think I was confused. Really, really confused. I didn't know if I was going to see Rei again, and I regretted leaving. Rei is somewhere around Khosrow's skill level, so if I had been there, the outcome could've certainly been different."

"-Ah."

"What I mean to say is, thanks for saving me and getting Rei here. You're pretty cool, you know. For someone who thought $1.00 could buy you something at a vending machine."

"That was embarrassing. You still remember that, huh?"

"Of course. It was the same day that you told me life could settle itself."

"----"

"Even when you ran off by yourself when I wasn't supervising you in the park that day. I remember feeling regret and guilt, I charged at Khosrow by myself. You can survive death, can't you?"

"-Yeah. I figured you would know if you remembered enough of what happened. Everyone seemed to."

"I wonder… how many times have you died to get here? I can tell from your eyes you've been through a lot. It's pretty crazy you're still sane."

"--hk."

The wind blew against my face and I found myself looking at the ground.

I thought of the conversation I had with Kazane earlier.

"Ayaka... What do you think of me? Do you think I've been doing too less with this ability to cheat death?"

"I think you're amazing. You've been doing a lot with your ability, like saving me, Kazane, and Rei many times."

"I've done a lot...?"

I hesitated, staring at the ground as the wind rustles around us.

Noticing my hesitation, Ayaka tilted her head.

"What’s wrong? Don’t you believe that?"

"Then why do I feel like I've done so less? Everyone around me tells me I've done much, how valuable I am to them. Why am I the one that values myself the least?"

"----"

Ayaka's gaze softened, but she said nothing.

My hand dropped and my voice lowered, almost ashamed.

"If they say your own beliefs are what matters, then what am I supposed to conclude? Am I supposed to think I've done too less, or am I supposed to think I've done a lot?"

"-You should think you’ve done something, no matter what anyone else says."

"I don't get what you mean by that."

"If you worked hard for something, you should be proud of it. No matter how easy it might seem, your effort matters. Why belittle the things you worked so hard for? Why disregard your effort saying things like 'anyone could do it'? So what if anyone can do it?"

"----"

"You got something done. Use that and try to do your next thing. Maybe if you think you could've done more, aim for more."

"----"

Same as Kazane's, huh.

"-I see. I'll try to keep that in mind."

As I was staring at my hand, a sudden snap vibrated the air. It sounded like a shot from the gun followed by the shattering of glass. It sounded like air pushing rapidly away from a single condensed point, as if there was an explosion.

"Kazane!?"

I pushed myself up and looked over the rock. Immediately, I coughed.

Smoke.

Thick, gray fog covered the scenary. The air smelled putrid, like the smell of a burning kitchen. In amongst the smoke, a silhouette of two figures emerged.

Kazane had her arm slung around Rei's neck, shifting her weight on Rei. When they approached us, Kazane pushed herself off Rei and took a seat on the rock.

I frowned.

"Are you alright, Kazane? What happened?"

Kazane coughed.

"One of Khosrow's heavier shards hit Rei's shield. It caused an explosion as well as large area effect that hit me. But it's nothing, don't worry about it."

"A-alright..."

"More importantly, is Ayaka alright?"

"Yeah, I'm alright. My arm feels pretty good."

Ayaka gave Kazane a wave with her unhurt arm, the one covered in a jacket sleeve instead of bandages.

"I see. That's good to hear."

Kazane glanced at Ayaka's bandaged arm before giving her a nod. She turned back to Rei.

Rei coughed, before looking at me and Ayaka.

"Anyways, we'll have to come up with a new plan. Khosrow's shield was a lot stronger than I thought, so we couldn't take him out long enough for him to lose chase of us. Me and Kazane were able to knock Khosrow down for a bit, and we can use this time to formulate a new plan. Speaking of the former plan Ayato, I thought I told you to run."

"Sorry. I couldn't leave without Kazane. She wasn't supposed to go with you. I hope she didn't cause trouble for you."

"Not at all, she did pretty well versus Khosrow. Her wind abilities are quite refined."

"Is that so... Hey Kazane, why do you look so smug? Wipe that grin off your face please."

"Hmph. It's punishment for your doubt saying something like that, I suppose. Have more faith in your little sister, she's doing a lot more visible work than you."

"Ah... Irritating. Despite all that prep talk you gave me earlier, you pretended like all that praise you gave me was gone..."

Watching us, Rei closed his eyes and smiled. He looked up and crossed his arms before looking at me.

"Well... we need to come up with a strategy real quick and get back before Khosrow comes first."

"Stand here and blast time" - was my instruction to participate.

Khosrow was lunging towards Rei and Ayaka. Their synergy was slightly off. Occasionally while Khosrow took a swipe at Rei, he would glance sideways at Ayaka. Almost as if he was expecting her to make a dive. Ayaka, however, only fired an ice shard back- it took too long and wasted Rei's baiting.

"Ayaka typically fights at close ranged while Rei fights at a long range. So if they're both fighting at a long range, the synergy is probably not as good."

Scratching my chin, I wondered what the fate of the battle was going to be. My only instruction was to take down Khosrow's shield, and we had near invincibility -Kazane was to use her wind abilities to give me, Rei, and Ayaka agility to dodge Khosrow. Rei had wrapped us each in a shield so that Khosrow's strikes won't hurt or kill.

"Basically, all that matters if I hit him."

Lifting my hand, I lined up my aim as streams of darkness suctioned themselves into a spinning sphere of threads.

"Unfortunately, I have no idea how to hit him. It wasn't like that time when he was just casually walking towards me, and I got a good strike. I have no chance of hitting him when he is moving this fast."

Somehow I felt like Khosrow was holding back. Every time one of us made a move on him, he'd glance around the situation as if checking if he got into a dire situation. He'd be seemingly unconcerned, almost as if he was having fun from this fight.

"Damnit, are we that far apart in skill level..."

Clenching my teeth, I watched the battle from afar, looking for opportunities to attack Khosow. Alas, every strike from Ayaka, Rei, and Kazane, Khosrow twisted his body gracefully in an arc, bending his gray uniform as he spun and landed on his feet, his short brown hair blowing in the distance.

"LI Exhauire."

Crack.

In an instant, a black shard zipped across the air and shattered against Khosrow's shield. He turned around and glared at me.

"Fuck."

Just as I blinked, a gush of wind slammed my side, pushing me against the concrete. I slammed the ground tumbled onto my stomach.

"Hk."

Coughing, I slowly pushed myself up. To the left where I just stood, a large crater was there as light smoke filled the air.

"Thanks Kazane for that one..."

Wiping my mouth with my sleeve and turning back, I saw Khosrow lost in the fight with Ayaka, Kazane, and Rei.

A ice crystal and a green crystal carried by a breeze slammed against Khosrow's shield. He grimaced, lowering his fist. Just then, he shield's barrier shrunk for a second before rapidly expanding back. Then, a dark crystal flew out and shattered against Rei's shield.

The corners of my lips twisted into a smile.

"So thats it."

"Ayaka. Coordinate one of your shards with Rei's. Tell Kazane to apply a large gush pushing me to Khosrow."

"Eh? Pushing you to Khosrow?"

"Yeah. That's the only way I'll have enough force and aim to destroy the shield."

"I... is that the only way to destroy his shield? No other safer way?"

"Seems so. I'll have to pray for this one."

"I see... Well... I don't know what else to say but don't die."

With that, she sprinted off, her moving knees fluttering her dress. Kneeling down, thin black dust streams suctioned towards my hand.

"My life's expendable anyways."

As Khosrow turned around, likely trying to track where I was, a green shard and an ice shard flew towards his shield. In an instant, Khosrow turned around. Lowering his hand, the shards shattered against his shield.

"Now or never."

As I took off sprinting, a gush of wind slammed against my back. My feet flew off the ground and I was pushed facing towards Khosrow's shield at an alarming speed. As my face grew a few inches from the shield, Khosrow turned, the edges of his shield shrinking. Black was channeling in his hand -originally made for Rei, now made for the new intruder. But it was too late.

"LI Exhauire."

Khosrow's face twisted in anger as black glass-like panels flew out around him. The shield was finally broken. As I was about to smile, I realized a mistake.

"Oh wait."

Khosrow's leg struck my stomach. My vision blurred, and my body whirrled until my back crashed into something hard. Suddenly, breathing became hard. My hands reached for my chest but my arms felt weak.

A noise cracked in front of me, then slurred voices entered my ears. My eyelids fought to open. Even squinting them the hardest I could, my vision was stained with red. A field of bloody grass laid in front of me.

"I'm dying..."

My mouth moved. Everything in my body hurt. It felt as if I fractured all the bones in my ribcage. My left arm felt numb and my right had no strength. 

I would die again here, leaving my sister and friends the duty of finishing Khosrow. 

Death, again and again. Even with the new motivation, the world would come to an end again. And I would wake up again, hoping for the best.

Yet as I laid on the groud gasping and wheezing, I thought I lived my worth at life. It wasn't like one of those other deaths, where I failed something or someone. I did my best and succeeded in doing my job. Dying in glory, they call it. Even if it didn't accomplish anything in the long term, it was sure one hell of a drug to pretend like life was worth it.

As those thoughts enclosed my mind, my lips formed a smile. When my head swirled with darkness, a sudden voice rang out.

"You're not dying that easy."

An arm pulled me off the ground, holding me in a sitting hug. A warm light encased my body. A piece of fabric was tightened around my waist and forehead. Then, wet fabric brushed against my forehead.

"What's Ayato injuries?"

"Seems to be broken bones. Primarily most of his ribcage. Broken left arm as well. It should be all healed within 72 hours."

"I see. That's pretty good."

A moment of silence.

"I need to go back to support Rei. Now that Khosrow's shield is broken, I need to go forward with offense."

"I'll carry him. You should focus on supporting Rei."

"Got it. Make sure to take care of Ayato."

My body ached. W-what are these girls doing? Just let me die in peace! It would be a lot less painful. Yet, any complaints that I had barely even made it to my lips. Who was even holding me?

As I rested, I felt some energy returning to me. As my eyes opened, I found myself staring at the leaves of trees.

"Huuuuuuuh...."

My voice came out sluggish. 

"You're awake, Bakayto."

"K-Kazane..."

"I wouldn't recommend sitting up by yourself right now. Your body would instantly collaspe."

"O-oh. My bad."

My back relaxed against Kazane. Her arms wrapped gently around my neck, warming my neck with her wool sleeves.

I gazed at the still leaves of the tree above us.

"Somehow, I'm still alive."

"Yeah me and Ayaka saved you."

"Why did you save me?"

"What do you mean why did I save you? You're my brother."

"That's not what I meant. I was going to respawn right?"

"If we'd done that, even if we defeated Khosrow you could've respawned in the middle of nowhere. The risk of you dying again would be pretty high."

"Yeah... but if you guys ran I would just live and die infinitely anyways. At some point you guys could've returned to save me."

"To be honest with you... I don't understand the full nature of your ability."

Kazane's arm tightned around my neck as she rested her cheek on my forehead.

"I'd rather treat it as a miracle than risk it being a fluke."

She hugged me in silence. Her skin felt soft and warm, and the wind ran through her bangs. I smiled softly.

"Thanks and sorry for worrying you"

"No need. You did you job really well, even if it was risky and stupid."

As we embraced in silence, a feeling of nervousness settled in me. Did I see something wrong? Oh. The realization suddenly hit me.

A gust of wind brushed against my shoulder.

"Kazane. How are Ayaka and Rei?"

"Ayaka and Rei?"

Kazane paused, lifting her head up. One of her arms unwrapped around me.

"Oh, Khosrow is."

Suddenly, a strong gush of wind blew into me, my hair scattering across my face.

"Kazane!"

My head tilted in Kazane's arm, trying to look forward.

"Ayaka? Why do I hear her voice?"

Two footsteps slammed into the ground in front of me. One started running, until her face popped into my view.

"Ayato! Are you okay?"

"Ayaka? What is happening?"

"About that..."

Ayaka gritted her teeth, glancing back. Her eyebrows were creased, and she seemed rather worried. A staff of ice formed in her hand. She gave me a quick glance.

"This is going to be rather bitter. Kazane, hold on to Ayato tight."

As she finished that sentence,

"Vanishing... LIGHT!"

"KO Anilhation!"

"SE Sacrifice!"

Suddenly, the sky that I was viewing clouded with darkness. Huh? Mustering my strength, I pushed my head up and looked forward.

A large shield formed around the 4 of us. Darkness poured into the front, splashing hard against it while cracks began to appear.

"Shit, this is not ideal..."

Rei muttered and clenched his teeth, the hood of his robe blown off. His amherst staff was stabbed into the ground, orange energy flowing through it. The energy repaired the shield whenever cracks formed in it, providing a barrier.

"This is..."

Blocks of ice formed outside the shield, near where the darkness got thick. It offsetted the damage, reducing the cracks in Rei's shield. Besides Kazane, Ayaka stood. Her long black hair wavered and the flaps of her jacket danced as she stood to the side, pointing the ice staff in her hand towards the barrier.

"So you decided to look."

Kazane whispered in my ear, hugging my neck.

I shook in her grasp.

"I'm not some baby."

"I suppose that's true."

She held me in her arms as we watched the outcome of the blast.