The blade of the holy dagger gleamed with a blinding white light, approaching Akira's neck at a speed beyond human comprehension. The air around the blade was burning, and the pungent smell of ozone filled his nose. No room to escape. His major power was sealed. And Shion was still two steps away. It was death. But his body, or rather his "system," refused to give up so easily.
[CRITICAL ALERT!] [Maximum Activation: Survival Pulse.] [Temporarily surpassing limits of physical perception. Warning: Expected collateral damage to the nervous system.]
Suddenly, the world sank into extreme sluggishness. The sound of Shion's furious scream turned into a hoarse, prolonged roar. The silver blade that had been diving like a thunderbolt was now moving as if sinking in honey. Akira could now see the attacker from within the spatial rift; a humanoid figure wearing full silver armor, and blue eyes devoid of any emotion, looking at him not as a human, but as a "typographical error" that must be erased from existence. "He's faster than me..." Akira thought, his mind working at a frantic pace. "Even with time slowing down, my body won't move fast enough to dodge the strike. If I try to retreat, he'll slit my throat. I have to change the blade's trajectory!" Akira exerted every ounce of his will to push his energy. He didn't summon that terrifying black aura, but rather the basic skill the system had granted him.
[Activated: Soul Fragments]
It wasn't a visible fragment. It wasn't black or destructive. It was just a transparent pulse of his spiritual energy, which Akira focused entirely on a single point... and fired it not at the attacker, but at the "flat side" of the holy dagger! Clink! A very faint sound of impact, almost inaudible, but it was enough. The soul fragment didn't break the dagger; it barely left a scratch on it, but the slight force of the collision deflected the blade from its path by a few millimeters. Millimeters that made the difference between life and death. The holy dagger passed by Akira's throat, but it didn't miss him completely. The blade pierced his jacket, and tore the flesh of his left shoulder, causing a burning pain as if an ember from the fire of hell had been plunged into his bones. Blood splattered, and Akira fell backward screaming from the intense, burning pain. But... he had survived. He had bought the required fractions of a second. And in that moment, the slowing of time ended. And Shion returned. — "How dare you..." Shion's voice wasn't a scream this time. It was a low, demonic whisper that made the room's temperature drop below zero. The assassin angel, who had lost his balance for a moment due to his failed strike, turned to face the wrath of Tempest's First Secretary. But he saw nothing but a purple flash. Shion's giant sword (Ōdachi) didn't just cut the angel. It cut the air, the light, and the spatial rift itself. BOOOOOM! A deafening explosion shook the top of the tower. The savage purple aura radiating from her sword cleaved the armored angel in half before he could blink, and the brute force continued to tear the golden spatial rift apart, turning it into glass shards fading into the air. Nothing remained of the attacker except a single burnt white feather that slowly fell onto the shattered floor. Heavy silence prevailed in the command room, broken only by Akira's rapid breathing and the sound of his blood drops falling onto the floor. Shion quickly knelt beside him. The terrifying killing aura completely vanished from her eyes, replaced by genuine panic. She tossed her giant sword aside as if it were a plastic toy, and grabbed Akira's shoulder with trembling hands. — "Akira! Are you alright?! Damn it, the wound is deep and the holy mana is preventing it from healing!" Shion bit her lower lip, her eyes gleaming with anger mixed with guilt. "Benimaru ordered me to protect you... and I let them scratch you!" — "I... I'm fine..." Akira spoke with difficulty through clenched teeth. Pain was tearing his shoulder apart, but deep within his consciousness, the system was registering something else.
[Severe pain detected.] [Passive Activation: Memory of Pain.] [Holy mana residue absorbed from the wound and converted into stat points.] [Endurance +5] [Magic Resistance +2]
Akira felt a strange heat seeping from the wound to spread through his body, gradually easing the pain. A hidden power began to fortify his muscles and bones. The system wasn't lying; every pain he went through literally made him stronger and harder to break. Meanwhile, on the large screens in front of them, the battle in the valley of death was nearly over. Benimaru's black flames had consumed what remained of the attacking angel army. But Akira wasn't looking at the screens. He was staring at the burnt white feather on the floor. — "Shion..." Akira said with a panting voice, pressing on his wound to stop the bleeding. "That attack outside... you said it was a distraction." — "Yes," Shion replied, tearing a piece from her jacket sleeve to bandage his wound with surprising military skill. "Angels are beings without independent minds; they only follow orders. Sending an entire army to be annihilated by Benimaru was nothing but bait..." Akira raised his eyes to her, carrying a terrifying realization. — "Bait... so that this assassin could breach the capital's defenses and get here." Shion's hands stopped bandaging the wound, and she looked at him in shock. She understood what he meant. The Celestial Empire didn't attack Tempest today to wage a war. They sacrificed an entire army, just to create a one-second window... to assassinate Akira. — "Why me?" Akira muttered, the feeling of coldness creeping into his heart once again. "I have no magic. I'm just a human... why would the angels send an assassin and sacrifice an army for my sake?" Shion didn't answer. She stood up slowly, and picked up her sword again, her eyes fixed on the crimson sky outside the window. She realized, just as Benimaru and Diablo had realized before, that this human boy who fell out of nowhere... hides something in his soul that terrifies even the gods of this world.