"You harbor a Sacred Gear within your body, don't you? It would be troublesome if you became a servant when the devils managing this territory return. You shall die here. If you must resent someone, resent God and the devils."
The moment the guy said that, the world felt like it shifted.
Probably some kind of perception-blocking barrier. So we can go all-out in here without anyone noticing... damn it!
We're on the sports field right now, so there's no cover, and if I turn my back on this guy he'll definitely stab me.
I got careless just because I can sense things with senjutsu! Being able to detect doesn't mean I'm constantly scanning...
Didn't Chrollo from Hunter x Hunter say it too—don't slack off on your 'Gyo'!
This whole mess is totally my fault for letting my guard down... I'll try to buy some time by talking to the guy in front of me.
"What do you want, dude? God and devils... are you trying to convert me or something?"
"...No, not conversion. Liberation, if anything. You have one of our detestable Father's toys clinging to your soul. You don't need something forced on you by a god you don't even worship, right? Therefore, I—a member of the supreme race of fallen angels—shall personally liberate your soul. Feel free to praise me all you want."
As he said this, the guy spread his black wings dramatically.
Looks like he's a chatty type who's totally full of himself.
Angels fall for all kinds of reasons, but this guy probably didn't fall because he was groping boobs like Azazel—seems more like pride was his downfall...
I used this time to scan the area with senjutsu, but the situation isn't looking great.
The barrier's about 300 feet across. I can sense what's inside, but my power doesn't work well on the outside.
It's like looking through a filter—I can tell there are no other fallen angels inside the barrier besides this guy, but I can't pinpoint where they are on the outside.
I'd sensed three fallen angel presences earlier. Best case scenario would be to take down the guy in front of me, break the barrier, then immediately mask my presence (adjust my ki to blend with natural energy) and get some distance.
Once I've decided, time to act. No telling when he'll start chucking light spears at me.
"Hah!"
I refined my touki at full speed, closed the distance head-on, and slashed with everything I had using my manifested Sacred Gear's Zarich.
CLANG!
He blocked my first strike with a light spear! Even though he was looking up at the sky all full of himself!
My attack got blocked and he used the recoil to create distance, escaping into the air. Still, it wasn't a complete miss—the weird shape of the sword worked in my favor, and the parts of the blade that weren't blocked by the spear managed to reach him. The guy's clutching his slashed left arm with his right while glaring at me with pure rage.
"You little SHIT! You think some inferior species like you is allowed to wound ME?! You damn brat! I'm gonna kill you!"
Guess he really didn't appreciate that—he's boiling over instantly. Should I suggest he switch careers to being an electric kettle? Probably just me trying to escape reality.
Luckily, I'm not feeling any shock about swinging a blade at a humanoid for the first time.
If anything, my head feels hot—probably adrenaline kicking in. I avoided mental paralysis and managed to wound him, but the situation's actually worse than before. My attacks can't reach him now. Without energy blasts or anything like that, I'm pretty much screwed. At this rate, he'll just pelt me one-sidedly with light spears until I'm done for.
"What should I do? I really don't want to use Ittou Shura..."
The words slip out.
Truth is, if I used Ittou Shura and this guy was the only enemy, it'd be no problem. I could read his attacks, stick to his back with an enhanced jump so he can't escape, and slit his throat. Ittou Shura would make that possible. But then what? If the other fallen angels show up after sensing something's wrong...
"1. Dead comrade 2. Heavily wounded Sacred Gear user nearby"
Connect these two facts and provide an answer. If I were a fallen angel, I'd kill the guy first thing!
Crap! Ittou Shura's been super useful and reliable this whole time, but the moment I need it in real combat, it becomes totally useless!
Calm down! Let me review my options one more time!
Perk 1: Ittou Shura - I can win this fight, but I'm dead if they come after me
Perk 2: Verg Avesta - If I can't take an attack properly, I just die. Even if I activate it, we'll both be immobilized and he's got 2 reinforcements vs. my 0
Perk 3: Self-Destruct - Probably leaves me even more helpless than Ittou Shura, and I don't know the blast radius so no guarantee I'll catch him
Fuck this! What am I supposed to do?! This is basically checkmate!
"What are you muttering about?! Just die already!"
"Whoa!"
With my brain's limiters off, his attacks are slow enough to dodge, but this won't last long. The strain on my brain means I'll get worse and worse headaches the longer I keep this up. Once I slow down, I'm a sitting duck!
Tch! He's throwing light spears like an idiot—I'm jealous! I've only got two weapons! If I let go of them, I won't be able to deflect the spears, but dodging everything is tough. If I could copy weapons and use them as throwaway items like that red archer or the handsome prince from the anime, it'd be different, but these two weapons are all I've got.
...Wait a minute. Who decided Zarich and Taurvi can't be throwing weapons?
Sure, normally once you throw a weapon, that's it. Zarich and Taurvi don't have abilities like Gungnir or Gae Bolg that return to your hand after being thrown.
The fallen angel isn't reusing his spears either—they're disposable.
But now that I have Verg Avesta as a Sacred Gear... if I throw a weapon, dismiss it, and re-manifest it in my hand, I'd basically have a pseudo-ranged attack!
Just as I finished that thought, a light spear pierced my left shoulder.
"Aggh! Gaaahhhh!"
Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot! It's not pain—it's burning!
"Bwahahaha! Finally hit you! But this isn't over yet!"
Thrilled that his light spear finally connected, the guy paused for a moment, created five spears at his fingertips, and hurled them all at once.
I managed to dodge four, but the fifth one sliced deep into my right thigh, and I collapsed on all fours.
"Kehehehe! What a perfect pose! That's right—you inferior species should always be bowing your heads like that before me. Though that's still not nearly enough to earn my forgiveness! I need to carve the weight of your sins into that body of yours, nice and slow."
Ah, shit! I'm such an idiot! I saw a little hope and lost focus, and now I'm completely cornered!
Should I have used Ittou Shura? No, I still don't know the answer. And even if I used it here, I'd be burning through two of my cards.
Since Verg Avesta is a retribution technique that only returns damage to whoever hurt me, I can't take any more hits—it won't work on other fallen angels if they show up.
Lucky or not, I've taken some decent damage, so I need to get through this with just Verg Avesta, no matter what!