Pendragon's Infinity Gauntlet

Page 176

Kazezan mustered all his strength to steady his feet. His hands, feet, waist, back... every part of him was repeatedly flattened and then expanded. The horrifying sounds of his body being tortured were somewhat like scratching a blackboard with fingernails, ringing out incessantly.

"Ugh... Ah...!"

A surprised voice came from behind.

"Miya! Meow!"

Even the calico cat let out a threatening growl.

What does Kazakiri Hyouka look like in the eyes of the Index to Forbidden Books and the calico cat? Kazakiri gritted his teeth. Just a short while ago, Kazakiri Hyouka was walking so naturally beside him; what did she look like now?

However, as if to tear open a wound, Kaze Slash poured even more power into his entire body.

Because we are friends.

Although after witnessing this scene, Index: Forbidden Books will likely no longer consider Kazakiri a friend, Kazakiri Hyouka still hopes to remain friends with the silver-haired boy until the very last moment...

A sound was heard.

The stone giant's body made a sound again.

Amidst an intense, tearing pain that felt as if her body was being ripped apart from the inside, Kazakiri Hyouka saw it. The impatient stone giant raised its other arm.

However, Kazezan's hands were blocking the stone giant's right fist.

"Well……!"

Kazezan gritted his teeth. Now, even if it meant sacrificing his own body, he had to buy the boy time to escape. Kazezan made his final decision.

The stone giant's other fist was suspended in mid-air, as if it were aiming at a target.

Destruction would come in a second. Kazezan couldn't help but close his eyes.

"Wind... Wind Slash—!!"

A familiar girl's voice reached my ears.

The sound came from behind. Along with the roar, the sound of running footsteps could be heard. In his current state, Kazezan couldn't turn around. But even without turning around, he could understand the girl's expression, her thoughts, and how quickly she had rushed here.

That boy/girl, even after seeing such a terrifying monster, still preferred to call her "Wind Slash".

It's not a monster, but a wind-slashing creature.

Just as Feng Zhan Binghua was still in a daze, the girl's shadow flashed past her with the speed of a javelin in an instant.

At the same time, the stone giant threw another punch.

The girl showed no hesitation, no doubt, no fear. She had only one trump card. She clenched her right fist.

"boom!"

The two fists collided.

Blood spurted from the girl's fist.

But this wasn't caused by the stone giant's power. It was because the girl forcefully punched the rough, hard rock. The stone giant's cannonball-like attack lost all its power the instant it made contact with the girl's fist. No, to be precise, it was the instant the girl's fist touched the transparent, magnetic-like membrane covering the stone giant's fist.

The overwhelming force, like Mount Tai pressing down, vanished from Feng Zhan's body in an instant.

Chapter 306 Flat

Chapter 306

At the same time, the enlarged stone giant's body began to crack. Then it shattered into fragments and completely disintegrated. A massive cloud of gray dust, even wider and more intense than the one in the underground city, billowed up, obscuring everyone's vision.

"it's over……"

In a world where vision is obscured by a gray curtain, Kazakiri Hyouka smiles alone.

"Now... the peaceful fantasy is over..."

With a sound like bent plastic springing back to its original shape, the hands and feet, deformed by pressure, quickly swelled up and returned to their original form.

With a smile that reflected his deepest loneliness, he resolved to disappear before the dust settled.

The crisis is over.

Since that's the case, no one needs Kazan Hyōka anymore. Like a nuclear weapon after a war. Possessing immense power, even in a peaceful world, he would instill fear in others without doing anything. And the silver-haired boy Kazan wanted to protect was not someone who should show fear.

Fortunately, the view was blocked, Feng Zhan thought to himself.

Now, standing behind him, looking at the Forbidden Book Index with its expression, Feng Zhan didn't even have the courage to turn around and look.

The Pure God stood alone in a corner of the ruins.

When the gray dust dissipated, Kazakiri Ice Flower had vanished without a trace. However, even though it hadn't rained, two or three drops of water had dripped onto the ground.

Misaka and Shirai heard the commotion and rushed over immediately. They said that the guards and disciplinary committee members would arrive in a very short time, and it was best to escape before things got complicated.

So, Misaka and Shirai, clutching the Index: Forbidden Book that they wanted to stay with Jōjin, used spatial teleportation to leave the scene. Shirai's teleportation ability seemed to have distance limitations, so she probably moved in segments of about 100 meters each. Jōjin, due to the limitations of her right-hand ability, had to escape on her own.

As for Xue Li's matter, the guards should handle it properly. Judging from past examples, Xue Li's name won't even appear in the newspapers.

"Ugh... this is so troublesome."

Jing Shen sighed. There was one more thing that needed to be taken care of before the guards and disciplinary committee members arrived. She looked up, as if confirming something, and then walked into one of the abandoned buildings.

The building's windows and interior finishes had been removed, exposing the gray concrete. Proper nouns and instructions written in red chalk on the walls and floors suggested the demolition process. The red rays of the setting sun streamed through the glassless windows, slicing through the dusty space like laser beams.

Jing Shen walked up the stairs where the handrails had been removed.

Go up, up, up, up, up, until you reach the top floor.

The door leading to the roof has also been removed.

She walked to the rooftop, which was bathed in the red glow of the setting sun. This place had once seemed to be a rooftop garden. The soil in the flowerbeds was dry and cracked, and the flowers and plants had long since withered, turning into brownish-red remains that swayed in the wind.

In the farthest corner of this former paradise, now a graveyard.

Kazaki Hyouka sat on the ground, his back against a metal handrail designed to prevent falls. He kept his head down, so his expression was not visible.

The limbs that were squeezed and deformed have all recovered, and there are no obvious external injuries.

But he didn't say a single happy word; he just kept his head down silently.

Jing Shen narrowed his eyes slightly.

If Kazakiri Hyouka hid to get away from Index: A Certain Scientific Railgun, or rather, to get away from "humanity," then this was the only path he could take. He wanted to escape Index: A Certain Scientific Railgun, but had nowhere else to go, so he could only linger in the ruins.

The lonely boy saw Jing Shen walk onto the roof, but he remained silent.

The only sound between them was the dripping of water.

Kazan, head bowed, held a large photo booth picture in both hands. Transparent water droplets dripped continuously onto it.

"I'm... because I'm so happy..."

Feng Zhan noticed Jing Shen's gaze, finally raised his head, and smiled softly.

"Because... I used all my strength... to protect my important friend. Not someone else, but me... so... I'm so happy. Because I'm happy, I cried... really..."

"..."

"Why...why are you making that face? Please...smile, give me a compliment...and if you could be a little jealous, that would be perfect...I...I stole your job as a knight...haha, what am I even saying..."

Feng Zhan Binghua laughed, but Jing Shen Tao Mo did not.

She couldn't laugh.

How can one smile in the face of such a sorrowful smile?

"Woo..."

Feng Zhan bit his lip, his smile quietly fading away.

"From the very beginning... I knew this would happen."

Feng Zhan murmured:

"...It's only natural...Everyone could guess...A monster like me would expose himself...Everyone could guess what would happen...If I had continued to hide it, I might not have been discovered...But I foolishly exposed the truth...But I didn't want to...I didn't want anyone to see me like that..."

Kazezan got stuck here.

A choked sound came from his throat.

"...But I had no other choice."

He struggled to move his trembling lips and managed to get the words out.

"To save...the first person in my life who ever considered me a friend...I had no other choice..."

He must have been aware of this from the very beginning.

Once the truth about being a monster is exposed, he will lose the most important thing. Because this worst prediction is already clearly in his mind, Kazezaki sincerely hopes for it.

Hopefully, this prediction will not come true.

They were unwilling to consider how low the probability was, and simply yearned for a miracle from God.

But the result was—

"Why...do I have to lose it?"

He slowly and unsteadily lifted his back off the handrail and stood up.

"Why...do I have to scare other people?"

With tears streaming down his face, he buried his face in Jing Shen's flat chest.

The sorrow hidden behind the smile poured out at such close range.

"I...I...I just couldn't bear to see my friends get hurt, so I stood up for them...Because I have the power to protect the people I care about...I couldn't stand idly by...That's all...that's all!"

The boy's thin hand tapped against Jing Shen's chest.

A muffled voice came from the face buried in the chest.

"I'm so sad... so unwilling... so painful...! Why did this have to happen to me...! Did I... do something wrong? I wanted to protect others... was that wrong?"

P.S.: I was scammed by a con artist who came to my door yesterday. I reported it to the police today and spent a long time giving a statement at the police station.

Chapter 307 Suspicious Points

Chapter 307

The mournful sound of a heart being torn apart pierced the eardrums of the pure soul.

Even though he knew it was futile, he still couldn't stop himself from crying out.

"I want us to be together forever! I want to...be friends forever! I thought...we would be best friends! Why...did it turn out like this? When the person I desperately wanted to protect looked at me in surprise, can you understand how I felt? Even now...I can't understand it myself!"

The boy kept venting his unorganized thoughts.

His inner pain made it impossible for him to remain silent.

"Can't monsters have a heart to protect others? If I were human... I wouldn't have become like this...? But... what can I do? Even if I'm feared, even if I'm hated... I can't just stand by and watch someone die...!"

"..."

The purifying spirit and exorcising demons simply listened silently.

Seeing the boy trembling and sobbing uncontrollably, she couldn't even reach out to stroke his head.

Because this fantasy is so fragile, it will vanish at the slightest touch.

Imagine Breaker.

The girl with this title couldn't even hold Kazakiri Hyouka tightly.

Therefore, all she could do was say:

Are you in pain?

"...Woo..."

Are you sad?

"Woooo...!"

Feng Zhan stopped pounding on Jing Shen's chest, and instead grabbed her shirt like a child. A sob escaped from between her tightly closed lips, a sound he tried to suppress.

"Since you feel this way, you're not a monster. It might sound like a cliché, but I assure you, you're human."

Jing Shen paused for a moment, then continued: