Chapter 44 (Gore Warning!!)

"Pain and suffering are, for many intelligent and deep-feeling individuals, something that can never be avoided."

— Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky —

(Tl Notes: which is a bi*ch to feel.)

---

The pursuit that had lasted for several hours finally bore fruit.

Continuing to follow the fading footprints in the blizzard, Snow White and Moore's gaze extended beyond the hill, where the unmistakable figures of two grotesque giants stood.

"We found them. The Heretic and the Talkative," Snow White declared.

"Is she repairing the Talkative?" Moore inquired.

"Likely. They're quite loyal to their comrades."

They were fortunate to have discovered them just before crossing the hill. They both crouched down to conduct reconnaissance of the situation before revealing their presence. While Moore set down his backpack, Snow White, on his left side, aimed her long sniper rifle. Making a faint noise as she disabled the safety, she peered through the scope, her left eye glancing at him.

"Fire the shot, then follow up rapidly. You hide—"

---"Why won't you understand?"

A voice, reminiscent of her, suddenly sounded from behind.

Taken aback, both Moore and Snow White reflexively pointed their guns in the direction of the voice. They lay on their backs.

When did she get so close? They hadn't even sensed a presence.

Cold sweat trickled down Moore's back as he kept his gun pointed at the Heretic who had appeared behind them. The Heretic, floating with mechanical wings extending from its sides around its waist, is Modernia.

"Even though I spared you the trouble, especially by letting you go... My mercy was sending you on a lonely journey wandering in this world, a pitiable destiny beyond words..."

"Shut up," Snow White harshly bark her words out.

With her golden eyes wide open, she tightened her finger on the trigger.

Compassion was a forbidden concept when it came to her. Whether the Heretic knew it or not, their words continued to grate on Snow White's nerves.

"Oh, I see. You grew tired of that sad fate, didn't you? That's why you searched for me. You want to end that destiny..."

The Heretic's words were cut off before they could finish, silenced by the gunshot from the assault rifle.

Three short bursts of gunfire echoed loudly, but none of the shots hit Modania.

"The shots missed... A magnetic field!?"

"Well, that's a surprise. Shooting at me without warning isn't very polite."

"Cut me some slack, missy. I wasn't raised with manners. And please, stop talking with a voice so similar to her. It's getting on my nerves."

With his left eye's pupil dilated, Moore pulled the trigger once again. Flames erupted from the muzzle, and bullets were sent flying, yet not one grazed Modania.

"Oh dear. Well, if you insist so much..."

With a sigh, Modernia looked at him through the protector. Her mechanical wings expanded further, and just as she was about to charge at Moore, Snow White changed the ammunition type loaded into her sniper rifle and fired live rounds from the barrel.

However, those live rounds, like the previous shots, burst into fragments before they could reach Modania, seemingly influenced by some kind of magnetic field.

"Hey! Your opponent is me!"

"Hehe, that's right."

Snow White's intention to draw Modernia's attention away from Moore was successful. As Modernia shifted her gaze from Moore to Snow White, she seemingly teleported in front of SNow White, thrown by Modania's wing extending from her waist.

Thrown a dozen meters away, Snow White crashed onto the snowy ground, groaning in pain. As Modernia approached, she used her wings alternately to lift Snow White.

"Is your pain sensor malfunctioning too? How pitiable. In respect for the time you dedicated to humanity, I will end you with the greatest agony...," Modania said in a gentle tone as she began to torture Snow White, just as she promised.

Tearing her limbs apart, allowing blood catalyst to overflow, and forcing her into the throes of agony until her death – that seemed to be the Heretic's intent. Perhaps even crushing her brain afterward.

Imagining the scene where Snow White's silver hair would be dyed red would soon come to pass, Modernia burst into laughter with an air unbecoming of a lady. As if she realized the impropriety of her actions, she wore an apologetic expression as she looked at Snow White.

"Oh my, I'm sorry. That was a rather vulgar way to laugh, wasn't it? So, how's it going? Can you endure this?"

As if starting over, Modania fluttered her wings and struck Snow White's face. Red bloods dripped from the depths of her nose and even her mouth, indicating that they had been cut.

However, Snow White showed no sign of faltering. She merely lifted the corner of her mouth slightly and said to Modania below her.

"It's...itchy down there. Could you scratch it a bit?"

(Tl notes: Damn...what a gigachad.)

In response to this request, Modania smiled and agreed wordlessly. As Snow White wished, Modernia's wings, which had more elasticity than they appeared, coiled around Snow White's legs and began to contract, as if she were about to cut them off.

As her skin tore, and the pain felt like her frame was about to shatter into pieces, Snow White, whose vision had blurred with red bloods, noticed something.

"Not the most exquisite hobby, I must admit."

Throwing aside the assault rifle she had emptied, Moore drew his pistol as he stood behind Modernia. He pointed the muzzle at the back of her head. The shot from this close range would be hard to avoid.

At the moment the hammer was about to fall, Moore believed so. However, Modania's reflexes exceeded his expectations.

In the split second when the firing pin was about to strike the primer – in that moment of vulnerability, she threw Snow White aside and turned toward him.

While the .45 caliber projectile fired at Modania did not miss, it only hit the protector covering her eye area.

"Oh dear, when did you get here? That's not very nice, attacking a woman from behind."

The wings that had tormented Snow White just moments ago were now aimed at him. Modernia swung them like a horizontal strike from the left. Moore instinctively raised his left arm to defend against it. In that moment, a dull sound reverberated as his left forearm bent in an unnatural direction.

As intense pain shot through him, he managed to retreat with only his left arm affected. The tip of Modernia's wing barely grazed the space right in front of his eyes and nose. While he attempted to fire the pistol in his right hand, Modania delivered a kick before he could react.

Her toenail soared from the left, and Moore raised his right leg, covered in an exoskeleton, to meet it. Their respective left and right legs collided, and Modania displayed an astonished reaction to the unexpected counterattack.

"Oh..."

With that response, she swung her right wing to capture him this time. Her tall body soared into the air.

Thrown back by the impact and rolling on the snowy ground, Modernia landed beside him. She raised her leg and stepped on Moore's cheek.

"For a human, you're quite impressive. I was surprised. But it's a shame."

The pressure from her foot gradually increased.

Simultaneously, his skull began to creak. Just as the future of being crushed underfoot like a ripe fruit came into view—

"Oh? Can you hear it? That distant wolf howl."

Modernia picked up on the distant howl of wolves. Amidst the pain, Moore could indeed hear it.

"Soon, the hungry wolves will be here. You'll become their meal."

"Ha-ha-ha..."

"What's wrong?"

Modania tilted her head inquisitively as he suddenly began to laugh. Perhaps the brink of death had touched his sanity.

"----What a good girls and boys they are."

Still clutching the pistol in his right hand, he raised it above his head—pointing it at Modania's head. He pulled the trigger repeatedly.

Two of the shots hit her protector but only caused minor cracks.

As soon as the pistol went into a hold-open state, indicating it had run out of bullets, Moore, while being kicked, turned his gaze toward Modernia.

At the same time, Snow White, who had just been released from her restraints and was coughing, also directed her golden eyes towards Modernia.

Both sets of brown and golden eyes met, and strangely similar smiles appeared on their faces.

" "Watch your back." "

Before Modernia could question what they meant, an impact struck her from behind. As she sensed that she had been hit, Modernia leaped back, perplexed.

Wondering where the shots had come from, she turned her gaze to the rear and saw three human figures approaching, led by six beasts.

Within moments, the six wolves stood before Modernia, protecting Moore, and growled at her, their golden eyes gleaming with clear hostility.

"Commander! Sorry for being late!"

"Commander...!?"

"Sensei..!"

Seeing his subordinates sliding in, Moore lifted himself up, despite the limp left arm that dangled uselessly. Anis was the first to notice the broken left arm, and she gasped before quickly adjusting her sunglasses onto Moore. Neon followed suit, helping Moore put on his body armor.

"I knew you'd come... Rapi, give me the gun."

"But... ---Understood."

Although his left arm was already broken, Moore urged Rapi to hand over his assault rifle, which was hanging from her shoulder.

Reluctantly, Rapi nodded and handed the rifle to Moore. He crouched down, gripping the assault rifle between his knees, and extracted a magazine from a pouch attached to his body armor, then slammed it into the rifle.

"Commander, who are they? ---Don't tell me....Pilgrims and Heretics, really?"

"Yeah, guess  there's no need for explanations."

"Huh... What's the deal with these legendary beings gathering here?"

"It must be our good deeds."

Moore responded with a hint of irony, showing that he had regained some mental composure. With the first round loaded into his personal assault rifle, he held it with his right hand, aiming steadily at Modernia's back as she continued to fly toward the robot-like craft.

"Commander, your orders."

"She'll attack us shortly. Snow White---Cooperate with her to engage the Heretic."

"Understood."

"...Snow White, can you fight?"

"----Of course."

Before Moore could finish his question, Snow White picked up her sniper rifle, wiped her mouth with her arm, and spat out the accumulated red bloods in her mouth while nodding.

"---ENCOUNTER!!!"

Immediately after Rapi declared the start of the battle, the massive machine with Modernia aboard rapidly approached with sharp maneuvers.

Simultaneously, two yellow beams were fired, causing everyone to reflexively retreat. The high-temperature beams melted the snow and evaporated it. Taking a hit from those beams would be disastrous.

"Don't freeze! Spread out! Don't make good targets! You boys and girls, run!!"

Following his order, the six wolves dashed away.

Responding to Moore's command, the squad members acknowledged and began moving separately, attacking the massive machine.

Rapi and Moore's assault rifles, Anis's grenade launcher, and Neon's shotgun roared as they fired bullets and grenades at the machine. Meanwhile, the sniper rifle held by Snow White began to glow from the depths of its barrel.

"Seventh Dwarf, full active."

As she started to load, she peered through the scope, keeping the machine in her reticle. It seemed like she intended to settle the battle with a single shot.

Seemingly aware of her intentions, the launchers mounted on the shoulders of Modernia's piloted machine opened, and several missiles were fired in succession.

The battle was becoming increasingly like something out of science fiction, Moore thought to himself as he aimed his gun at the missiles, trying to shoot it down before it reached supersonic speeds, all without tending to the pain in his injured left arm.

His aim was spot on, but it was mostly instinct or perhaps what could be called anticipatory shooting.

He quickly emptied the magazine, but the effort paid off as he shot down one missile directly and another as it exploded due to the first one. However, there were still five more incoming missiles.

"Leave it to me!"

The disciple would clean up what the master missed. As if to say that, Neon raised his shotgun and fired multiple bursts of shotgun pellets into the air. The pellets burst into a flurry of large explosions in the sky.

"I did it!"

"Well done! Squad, concentrate your firepower on the shoulder launchers!"

In response to his orders indicating the target to attack, the squad focused all their firepower.

The missile launcher, which had already taken large-caliber bullets, grenades, and shotgun pellets, was destroyed, causing the machine to shake significantly.

However, it wouldn't be deterred that easily. Suddenly, what appeared to be barrels for cannons on both arms of the machine raised, and their muzzles glowed yellow.

"This is bad."

---"Duck!!"

The same beams from earlier were coming.

Right after Moore issued a warning, the two beams fired once more.

The machine moved its arms, crossing the barrels as the beams melted the snow over a wide area. In the midst of this, Snow White muttered quietly.

"Pierce through."

A beam of light extended straight from the muzzle of her sniper rifle towards the massive machine. Unable to evade in time, the machine took a direct hit, causing an explosion and significant turbulence. Despite this, it continued to emit beams from its barrels.

----Unexpected things happen at the most unexpected times.

Moore reflexively tried to leap away from the beam to escape it. However, his broken left arm seemed to reject signals from his brain, causing it to move sluggishly.

In the instant his left arm was engulfed by the beam's edge, Moore first felt the searing pain on his skin.

It was a moment that lasted less than a second.

However, he had clearly observed it from the corner of his vision.

The sleeves of his combat suit, the gloves he wore, and even his wristwatch all burned to ashes in an instant. Then, the exposed part of his upper left arm boiled and bubbled within moments.

His skin turned black and charred, incinerating even the muscle fibers beneath. In a split second, even those were obliterated, leaving his white skeleton exposed in the bright daylight.

Even that bone disintegrated into tiny fragments, carried away by the beam, while Moore tumbled unceremoniously onto the snow-covered ground.

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

His left arm had been almost completely incinerated, wiped from existence. The excruciating pain was beyond any words, but he clenched his back teeth as tightly as he could to endure it.

If he were to scream now, the enemy's attention would shift from the others to him. That would lead to a loosening of their guard, and he couldn't allow that.

He simply couldn't.

The seared stump of his arm emitted a dull black smoke, and amidst the scent of burning flesh, fat, and blood, his left eye reddened due to the overwhelming pain.

Even so, he never screamed.

The machine that had taken Snow White's shot suddenly came to a halt, and a door-like structure at what appeared to be its head opened. From there, a figure gracefully descended, catching everyone's attention.

"How strange. Whether in terms of performance or anything else... I should clearly have the upper hand... Why have it become evenly matched?"

Modernia approached, her footsteps crunching in the snow. It seemed that since her machine had suffered damage, she herself intended to be the opponent.

With the barrels of her guns pointed at them, Moore, despite the excruciating pain, also raised his assault rifle.

This time, Moore took the initiative. He pulled the trigger and tried to fire, but despite the firing pin dropping with a "click," nothing happened. 

Supporting the sling belt around his neck and the butt of the assault rifle against his chest, he immediately began the malfunction clearing procedure. However, once the faulty round was ejected, he realized that he had no ammunition left. He hung the obstructive assault rifle from his neck using the sling belt and drew his pistol from his belt.

Dropping the empty magazine onto the snow, he held the pistol in his mouth and inserted a spare magazine from his pocket by feel. While still holding the pistol in his mouth, he pulled the slide back to chamber the first round.

With the pistol held in his right hand alone, he advanced despite the excruciating pain that threatened to drive him to madness, and the difficulty in maintaining balance. It was at this point that the women finally noticed something was wrong with him and stopped him in their tracks, their eyes wide with surprise.

"Commander! Please retreat!"

Rapi, who had seen him lost most of his left arm, urged him to back away, but Moore did not budge, still holding his pistol at the ready.

"It's a shame to waste such valor on a human. Out of respect for your courage, I shall personally—Oh?... The Protector..."

Cracks began to appear on Modania's Protector, which likely concealed her forehead where Moore had targeted her with his pistol. With a sound, it shattered into pieces.

"-----Tch!?"

Moore's grip on the pistol trembled. He widened his dark brown eyes, and his gaze shifted to Modania's exposed face as she brushed away the fragments that might be obstructing her.

The memories of that day flooded into his mind.

The smiles she had shown, her frequent requests for him to apply bandages, and the touch of her delicate fingertips gently resting on his finger as he placed it on the trigger of the pistol in his final moments—all of it came rushing back.

"Oh... Perhaps Nihilister should have come along after all..."

----"Commander... Bandages... I was... happy..."

Even though their appearance is different, a familiar face, what seemed like bandages wrapped around the head, a voice he recognized...

The gun in Moore's hand, now trembling uncontrollably due to the pain, pointed at them, rattling.

'...Mar...i...an?'

---No, it couldn't be. She, you, I certainly...

The gun, just like that time, shook, and now with only one eye remaining, Moore's eye was so bloodshot that it seemed blood would drip from it, but it wouldn't let go of that sight.

Clearly disturbed, Moore continued, and both Rapi and Anis noticed Modania's true face and were left speechless.

In response to their confusion, Modernia tilted her head.

"...Marian? Are you talking about me? I'm sorry, but there seems to be a mix-up. I am Modernia. I serve the Queen...---"

Modania attempted to deny their misunderstanding, but her words suddenly came to a halt.

She fell into deep thought, hesitated for a moment, and then turned her gaze back to Moore.

"..Marian... It's strange. The name sounds so nostalgic. Marian... Marian..."

Modernia's repeated utterance of someone's name, as Modernia kept repeating it, her eyes began to lose focus and became vacant, repeating it over and over..."

"Marian, Marian, Marian, Marian, Marian, Marian, Marian, Marian, Marian, Marian, Marian..."

The echoing voice was eerie and mechanical. The image of someone continuously repeating the same name, much like a malfunctioning machine, was etched into their minds.

Suddenly, the ground beneath them started to vibrate. Simultaneously, something black and mist-like began to spew from Modernia's entire body.

"Silver Gun... I am... Marian... from the said squad..."

It seemed that her voice, which came through the broken speaker, had become fragmented due to whatever was happening to her.

"Please... take care... of me..."

The relentless lateral force that attacked from below, trying to knock Moore onto the snow, was met with his resilience as he braced both legs to withstand it, all while still pointing his gun.

Eventually, when the black substance spewing from her body dispersed into countless fragments, the Heretic in front of them began to writhe in agony, clutching their head with both hands, their distress evident.

Moore shouted to Modernia, making it clear that something was wrong.

"Marian!!"

Startled by his voice, Modernia hesitated, slowly raising her face, her slightly droopy eyes widening as her trembling lips formed words.

"Command...er...?"

Why... Why are you...?

The words he wanted to utter were cut short. The black mist that he had thought had disintegrated suddenly contracted and, with a powerful shockwave, exploded into countless fragments, preventing him from speaking further.

----

AUthor Notes: "Look, it's the salvation route. Rejoice—"

(This continuation was shattered by a .45 caliber bullet.)