Because I Don't Want to Give Up a Single Thing

“Those idiots... What could possibly make them think they can win?”

Watching the battle grow unmistakably fiercer than before from atop the cliff, Merry muttered in evident frustration. More than ten minutes had passed since then, and the dozen or so small Messiahs in the old city had stopped targeting the Beastfangs. Now they were moving through the ruins, trying to take down Kagami and the others who stood against them.

From a distance, it was obvious they were at a disadvantage. According to Yuki, the small Messiahs were equipped with Digders that could detect living beings by their body heat, even inside buildings—probably so they could find the Beastfangs. That meant Kagami and the others couldn’t hide or use hit-and-run tactics.

On top of that, the large magic firearm mounted on each small Messiah’s right arm could fire devastating shots over long distances, leaving the group entirely on the defensive. Their one saving grace was that the Beastfangs, who would normally attack humans on sight, now considered the small Messiahs an even greater threat and were temporarily cooperating with them. They weren’t coordinating their attacks, but at least they showed no sign of turning on Kagami and the others.

“Damn it... What the hell are we supposed to do?”

With that sight unfolding before her, Merry was torn with worry.

‘Why... have you been fighting alone all this time? If you’d wanted to, you could’ve asked us to help. Sure, we might’ve been hostile... and I’m in no position to say that, since I wouldn’t even talk things over calmly with you... but why?’

She still didn’t understand Kagami’s reasons for acting as he did. Now she realized her foolish question had come from her own preconceptions; she’d never tried to see the reasons behind his actions the way Kagami himself did.

Kagami’s answer had been very simple.

‘Because I didn’t know who the enemy was.’...