Because I Don't Want to Give Up a Single Thing (4)

“I pushed things too hard... I need to reflect on that.”

Takako, who had gotten a little carried away by how invincible she was, lowered her head with a dejected expression. As if to cheer her up, Kagami gave her back a few hearty pats and said, “Well, it worked out in the end,” before moving over to the wreckage of the small Messiah they had destroyed.

“I feel bad for Tina, but thanks to her, we managed to destroy it. Now we can finally see who’s inside. If we can get information out of whoever’s in there... we should be one step closer to saving the world.”

With that, Kagami eagerly reached for the hatch over the small Messiah’s chest. He figured that if anyone was inside, that had to be where they were.

“...?! ”

But just then, Kagami was struck by such intense killing intent that cold sweat broke out on his brow, and he reflexively pulled his hand away from the hatch.

“Kagami-san! Watch out... get away!”

At her shout, Kagami shifted his gaze from the small Messiah to the sky ahead, from where the killing intent had come. A small Messiah that hadn’t been there moments before hovered in the air, blue light streaming from its back as it aimed an enormous, cannon-like magic firearm at them.

Its appearance was clearly different from the small Messiahs they had fought until now. It wore sleek, jet-black armor like a suit of plate armor rather than the small Messiahs’ heavy plating, yet it held a brutally oversized, long-barreled magic firearm in both hands.

“Gah?!”...