Ch 125

"──NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Commander!!!?"

Anis, unable to acknowledge the nightmarish scene before her, unleashes a sharp scream reminiscent of a scream of terror. Still able to move her mechanical left hand freely, she clutches her chest, attempting to staunch the bleeding from the gunshot wound. However, her efforts are in vain as blood spills vividly from her hand, coloring the ground beneath her in a striking red hue.

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"──Aim properly and shoot!! The one in front of you is just a regular man!! Shoot! You coward!!"

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Resembling the roar of a fierce beast on the brink of demise, he sharply yells at the opponent who, with the momentum of spitting out blood, seems intent on taking his own life.

Following the gunshot and flash, a tall body tilts back dramatically, slowly and surely retreating over the cliff's edge.

"────Commander!!!"

Reaching out with her still mobile arm, she attempts to stop him from disappearing, even if her efforts may fall short. Nevertheless, it's futile──his body vanishes completely from their sight.

"──Let's go."

"Roger ♡"

"Woof woof!"

Having fell from the cliff, disappearing from view──and convinced of his impending death from the gunshot to the head.

As the sharpshooter Crow lowers his submachine gun, accompanied by exotic companions, he turns on his heel almost simultaneously.

"──Wait...! Do you think you can just go back like this...!!"

"──Stop. I don't want to break the promise with Shaw."

"──You fucking bitch!... don't call out the Commander's name so casually...!"

Anis, her flaxen eyes gleaming, fumbles to grab a grenade launcher lying on the ground.

Noticing a hint of envy and jealousy in her voice, Crow returns to the spot where he last stood. He picks up the discarded recognition collar and throws it towards Anis.

"──It belongs to your Commander. Embrace it and depart peacefully."

Having assessed their damaged conditions and seeing thick black storm clouds approaching, Crow leaves them with disdainful words. This time, she walks away with Viper and Jackal by his side.

"──Ugh...! ...A...!!"

Holding the handed-over recognition collar tightly in her palm, Anis crawls on the snowy path, intending to reach the spot where he last stood. However, her legs still lack the strength to carry her.

"──Com...mand...er...!!"

Why did such a thing happen──the order of death is wrong──if someone has to die, it should be me first──

"...Mas...ter...did such a thing...!"

Fortunately, Neon, whose leg injuries aren't severe, struggles to stand. Yet, it's an undeniable state of damage. Once again, she falls to her knees on the snowy path. But she struggles with all her might.

Master──even without legs──he still fought──

"...Commander...!!"

The light brown hair beneath the worn beret is stained with soot from the battle's smoke. Despite being hit by several enemy fragments and experiencing system malfunctions, she ignores the blaring warnings and stands up.

"Falling into the sea──means──"

With heavy steps, Rapi arrives at the cliff's edge.

Switching her vision function, she carefully observes the sea surface──but no human figure is discernible.

"──Rip current...?"

On the left edge of her field of vision──she recognizes the coastline on the opposite side of the cape. In the white-crested waves approaching it, she discovers several areas where waves are unnaturally not forming.

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"──Rip current, you say?"

"Yeah. Well, you guys, in principle, don't need to learn it since you can't swim..."

He directs his gaze──Marian, mowing down a row of targets set up in a shooting range with a machine gun, catches Rapi's attention as she asks about the meaning of unfamiliar words.

"It's a type of tidal current. It's a local current that flows offshore near the coast... if you get caught in it, you'll be swept away further and further offshore."

"I see... Would Nikke be swept away too?"

"...Nikke? Well, they should be fine. Shifty isn't here to say otherwise so... and well...they're heavy."

At the uttered words, Rapi faintly smiles bitterly.

"Do you have any countermeasures? In case, by any chance, the Commander falls into the sea, how can we save them?"

"...The best countermeasure is not to fall into the sea... but yeah. If it happens, calmly get out of the rip current, use the onshore and parallel currents, and head towards the shore."

"...Onshore and parallel currents...?"

"──Commander!! Shooting is finished!!"

"Got it!! ...I'll explain in detail later."

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"──Onshore and parallel currents...!!"

She learns from him the characteristics and mechanisms──onshore currents flowing from offshore to the coast, parallel currents flowing along the coast, and offshore currents flowing away from the coast, forming a single circulation system.

She's been taught how to distinguish them──but why does he know about such things? The questions are endless, but it can be addressed later.

"──Everyone... to the shore! We're going to search for the Commander!"

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How dull, he thought blanky. Falling into the gravitational pull and casually thinking during the descent.

Soon, he dimly senses the strong impact of the water striking his back and then feels the pressure enveloping his entire body.

The vast night sky drifts away in the distance.

Regretfully──as he sinks, he extends his mechanical left arm. However, tossed by the waves, his body immediately begins to rotate in all directions, losing his sense of balance.

But somehow.

──Why am I alive...?

There is no oxygen underwater. Fish are exempt, but he, a proper human, hasn't mastered gill respiration.

Breathing is difficult──the proof of being alive eats away at his entire body.

His head tilts backward. Even though he's undoubtedly been shot in the head, why is he alive?

Perhaps it's related to the fact that his field of vision has slightly narrowed.

"──...!!?"

Instantly, pushed by the water pressure or perhaps the remaining air in his lungs, his breath gushes out.

His consciousness, which was on the verge of fading, is abruptly pulled back to the harsh reality, causing him intense agony.

All sizes of white bubbles signify the expulsion of all the air.

It hurts──just hurt──can't breathe──

Struggling underwater, he catches sight of something shining in the blurry vision.

It's the light from a lighthouse.

The sea surface is──incredibly, right below his feet.

Twisting his body and using his limbs freely to fend off the clinging water pressure, he scratches and kicks through the seawater, aiming for the light.

"──Buh!!"

Emerging from the sea surface, he inhales.

It seems he has drifted quite a bit while being tossed by the waves. The cliff near the lighthouse──the place where he fell was about 100 meters away.

Just after acknowledging this, white waves once again cover him from above, and his body is tossed around.

He must crawl up somehow, so, while his entire body is being tossed underwater, he tries to use his right arm, the dominant arm. Unfortunately, Viper has received a painful blow to the joints, and it doesn't move a bit.

Then──he'll have to make it move forcibly.

When the waves calm down a bit, he raises his face from the sea surface using a doggy paddle technique. He grabs his right wrist with the mechanical left hand without hesitation and pulls it up.

"──Guh...!!"

Pain courses through him. While feeling relieved, painful things are painful.

However, with this, the elbow joint of his right arm somehow fits back into place.

The pain rushing through his whole body, in turn, restores calmness to him. Suspecting that his body, being carried away offshore, has caught the rip current, he attempts to break free.

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"──Commander...!!"

"──Commander-sama... Where are you...!"

"──Master...!!"

Anis, leaning on Rapi's shoulder, and Neon, with widened eyes, scan the rocky shoreline, searching for the tall figure of the Commander.

With his considerable height, it shouldn't be easy to miss him, yet no matter how much they look, they can't seem to find him.

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"...The search...area...!"

Dry, cold snow carried by the chilly wind blows in.

Time is not on their side.

Considering the possibility that Lapi might have been washed up on another shore, Anise firmly grabs her arm, which is draped over her shoulder, as they prepare to walk. Just as they start moving, Neon calls out.

"──Wait, Rapi! Hold on...!"

Anis stops her from advancing. As Rapi turns her gaze to where Anis is looking, they both spot an arm covered in cold-resistant combat gear extending from the sea.

A gloved hand grips the rock, and the other arm reaches out. Crawling out of the sea while completely soaked in seawater is──

"Commander-sama!!"

"Master!!"

"Commander!!"

It seems that crawling up the rocky shore was all he could manage. Seeing the Commander lying still, they approach with unsteady steps.

"──Why did you do such a foolish thing...!!"

The first thing that must be said is a reprimand.

Unconsciously, tears mix with her voice. Anis withdraws her arm from Rapi's shoulder, kneeling beside him, and forcefully turns his tall body onto his back.

The bullet fired by Crow seems to have hit. That much is certain. However, it didn't reach the point of destroying the internal brain. What fortune, or maybe misfortune? The right eye socket is now an empty cavity.

The bullet hit the mechanical artificial eye, altering its angle and gouging out part of the eyelid and eyebrow, but apparently, that was all.

"──Seriously...! Don't worry us...! We really thought you were... dead...!!"

Despite being soaked in seawater and blood, Anis buries her face into Moore's chest. Relief floods over her, as if trying to conceal her teary eyes.

"──An...is...! ...Heavy...! ...Hard...!"

Not only are his ribs broken, but there's continuous bleeding near his heart. Being pressed down there brings both pain and breathlessness. He manages to lift his left hand somehow, tapping Anis' back to urge her to move away.

"...Let's move. Neon, help..."

"Yes..."

He is still barely conscious. It's a relief, but there's no room for complacency.

A bullet struck near his heart, another hit his thigh where major blood vessels pass, and there's still a large fragment of the thrown explosive stuck in him.

Especially the area near his heart, the open chest wound, which requires immediate attention.

Dragged by Neon and Rapi, he is transported to the rugged paved road near the shore while remaining limp.

As soon as the upper body is exposed with the medic scissors, they notice that his chest is drenched in blood, like paint splattered on a canvas.

"──Neon, chest seal!"

Rapi, having removed her gloves, receives a chest seal from Neon. It prevents air from entering the chest cavity to avoid tension pneumothorax and seals the gunshot wound.

Ideally, it should have been applied much sooner, right after being shot. They hope it will hold now.

"...Commander-sama... It's okay... You'll be fine... You'll be properly healed...!"

Shot multiple times right after the battle, soaked in cold seawater, and still managed to swim this far. His stamina must have reached its limit by now.

Amidst his feeble and frail breaths audible from his mouth, the sky is progressively deteriorating.

Now, strong winds start to blow, and snow lashes in sideways.

As they cover his body to protect it from the cold, trying not to let him cool down, amidst the worsening weather──

"──A figure...!?"

"──Could it be... Exotics...!?"

In the howling wind and the poor visibility caused by snow, Rapi faintly spots something resembling a figure.

Anise is on high alert, thinking it might be Crow and the others returning, but something feels off.

"──No... There's only one figure...!"

It's not three figures.

The possibility of Exotics is significantly low.

In that case, it's either Snow White or someone from the Pilgrims.

Considering the possibility of heretics, there is no time for idle talk.

They raise their voices, calling for help towards the figure.

Even if it carries the danger of attracting Rapture, they have no choice but to do this to save his life.

Their plea for help indeed reaches someone.

"──Oh? Everyone is... if I remember correctly..."

In a world dyed white by the blizzard, a figure emerges, and it is the appearance of the golden Saintess.

"You are... from that time...!?"

"──Rapunzel...!?"

"Why are you here...!?"

"...Why, you say... Oh."

Forgetting-Me-Not eyes survey them, and eventually, upon catching sight of him weakly collapsed at the center, she kneels beside him, gripping her carried sacred staff.

"Injuries? What's the condition?"

"──Consciousness level has decreased! There's a lot of bleeding...!"

"...We need to act urgently."

Rapunzel gently strokes his cheek, wet with seawater and perspiration, with the fingertips covered in fabric.

Then, tightly gripping her sacred staff, she begins to recite something like a sacred verse, and as soon as she finishes weaving something, warm light spreads from the golden Saintess.

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Author: To put it mildly, he's seriously injured (why is he still alive?).