Descent into Flames
"Ugh...?"
Perhaps the exhaustion had reached its peak. When her vision blurred once and cleared again, the opponent's figure had already vanished.
"Yeah, I've been wanting to smash that face in for a while now."
The Field Team Leader, her hair firmly gripped, was dragged helplessly along the building's outer wall, her face slammed into it and roughly scraped downward.
Skrrrk-skrrrk-skrrrk-skrrrk...!
"Khh...!"
Only after leaving a trail over ten meters long on the wall did she twist her body desperately to break free from that iron grip. But the repeated impacts to her head left her too slow to react to the next attack.
"...!"
Rumble...!!
Feeling the intense flames surging upward from beneath her with overwhelming force, she finally used her last remaining insurance.
Whoosh...!
The high-pressure, high-heat fireball soared into the sky as if it had wings, the sound vibrating through the air like the cry of a phoenix. After the fierce flames burned for a long while and finally began to subside, a figure trailing black smoke like a tail plummeted from the sky.
Thud...!
Crash!
Roll... roll...
"Ugh... ah... khak..."
Whether it was fortunate or not, she had fallen onto the rooftop of the adjacent building rather than the sea of fire below. Her hair, which had only now begun shifting back from white to black, had reverted to its original form just before the flames engulfed her, enduring the heat once. Even so, she couldn't fully withstand the penetrating heat—burn marks and smoke rose from various parts of her body.
Step. Step.
More importantly, using the last of her strength to endure the opponent's attack meant only one thing: her defeat.
"I've been waiting for this day... kh-kh."
Though she had no wings, the air around the woman who lightly landed on the rooftop railing shimmered with heat, distorting the scenery behind her. She leisurely brushed back her red hair and looked down at the proud beast now facing certain defeat.
"See this?"
Suddenly, the woman tore off her gloves, revealing the hideous burn scars covering her hands—and likely her arms as well.
"...Because you dared to leave such ugly marks on the beautiful body he once favored, you ended up like this."
"Pfft... heh-heh."
"You're laughing?"
These scars had likely come from a previous battle with her, but the Field Team Leader glanced at the woman's arms and sneered as if remembering.
Scraped along the building's exterior wall, shards of glass had embedded themselves in her beautiful face, leaving cuts and blood trailing down. Yet...
"...You got those while desperately struggling to save your own skin, and now you're blaming someone else?"
The fact that she still found the woman alluring only enraged her further.
"Shut up! Because of you... because of you, he hasn't called for me at all since then!"
"Cough... Maybe he just got tired of you."
"...You fucking bitch."
Smack...!
"Still...!"
Smack...!
"You can't even grasp your place...!"
Smack...!
Thud...!
"What's wrong with you...!!"
The woman vented her frustration by relentlessly kicking the fallen woman's face until it twisted in pain. Only then did she stop, planting her foot on the Field Team Leader's head as she gasped for breath.
"Haa... I got too worked up. By the way, I was hoping the fallen light from the pit would flood the city and turn it into ruins, but I never expected that clown mask to be a traitor."
"Ugh... khk..."
"Well, the goal was just to drain your strength anyway, so it doesn't matter."
"...You people... harming innocent humans..."
Crunch!
"Ugh... kh..."
"How noisy. Why is that our fault? Blame those vile demons."
"What...?"
Until now, the Vatican—and even its most radical faction, the Inquisition—had always been sensitive about civilian casualties. Yet now they acted as if such things no longer mattered. The justification, however, was the word "demons"—something that even the experienced Field Team Leader found puzzling. If angels existed, demons should too, but unlike angels, demons were never supposed to cross into this world.
"This is nothing more than collateral damage from cleaning up the demons' mischief. Ah... I've talked too much, haven't I? Time to kill you now."
"..."
"...Are you scared? I hope so. I'd love for you to die trembling in fear."
Fwoosh...!
"But unfortunately, all I can do is burn you to death. It'll probably be so hot and painful that you won't even have time to feel fear."
"...Haa, why did I go through all this trouble trying to save those guys..."
"Don't worry. Whoever they are, I'll send them right after you. I won't be satisfied until every bit of your effort and sacrifice is reduced to meaningless struggling."
"Ha... haha, you really have a nasty personality..."
Just before the massive fireball crashed down in a huge explosion, she had leaped high into the sky, barely escaping the blast radius. As befitting her position, she had been fighting the apparent mastermind of this incident, but it seemed this was the end. Both physically and mentally, she desperately needed rest.
"Hate me more. Get angrier... I can gladly accept that much."
"...Crazy bitch."
Watching her spit out curses, the red-haired woman wore an ecstatic expression as she slowly directed the flames gathered in her palm toward her.
Now, it truly felt like there were no options left.
"...I was planning to burn everything here to ashes anyway..."
Hiss...!
"Huh...?"
Yet for some reason, the woman's palm pressed against the floor right beside the Field Team Leader's head instead, melting and burning the surface.
"What the hell is this..."
Thud!
At that moment, a new face appeared, kicking the rooftop iron door open in a hurry. But...
"Huff... hah...! Hah..."
...He was panting so heavily from running that the dramatic entrance lost all its impact.
"What the hell is that... No, why am I... trying to kill this guy...? Ah...?"
Even as she spoke, she couldn't understand her own words and questioned herself in disbelief. Something was wrong.
"Ugh... ugh...?"
She tried to channel her strength and direct the flames toward the defenseless beast, but it was as if an invisible hand was gripping her wrist tightly—she couldn't move.
"Fuck, why... why don't I want to kill this bitch...?"
She was clearly an enemy she wanted dead, someone she had been trying to kill just moments ago. Yet a feeling that she must never kill her was blocking the way. It was strange. The woman thought she would never have such thoughts.
...Suddenly short of breath, her chest felt tight...
"Don't tell me this is your doing? Haha... I've never felt this shitty before. It's like I've been brainwashed."
"Counselor...? Why are you here?!"
Just like the man who had appeared panting heavily, she too felt something similar. With experience dealing with all kinds of ability users and anomalies, her sharp mind quickly reached a tentative conclusion: these emotions and thoughts weren't her own—they belonged to him. And the high possibility that this was some kind of mental ability made her immediately recall the standard response from the manual.
Fwoosh...!!
Having personally executed countless ability users with her own hands, she raised a circular barrier of flames and heat around her body. This minor interference—especially mental types, which were a bit more annoying—could be easily shaken off by obscuring the opponent's vision or breaking their concentration, now that the ability user had revealed themselves. Moreover, the previous flames hadn't been intended to harm anyone, so as expected, they rose normally.
"What?"
His flustered expression was quite a sight. It seemed he had come to save this pitiful beast. If she had time, playing with this new toy might have been fun, but...
"I'm a bit busy today, so bye."
"...?!"
With a look of disbelief, the man was effortlessly thrown aside. The woman lightly dusted off her hands and turned her back to finish the execution she had been interrupted from. But the Field Team Leader was no longer there.
"Hey, where do you think you're going?!"
Before she knew it, the woman had risen and, leaning heavily against the railing, thrown herself off the building after him. The red-haired woman could only stare in disbelief at her retreating figure.
"Aaaaaah...?!"
Meanwhile, having climbed all the way to the rooftop only to be forcibly ejected moments later, he was experiencing the terror of gravity firsthand—before even processing the unfairness of it all. With no safety devices or ropes, he plummeted endlessly. At this point, he wondered if today was simply the day he was meant to fall and hurt his back. Though, at this height, his back would be the least of his problems.
"Counselor...!"
But the one immediately chasing after him was none other than the Field Team Leader. Even before fully reaching the rooftop, her bloodthirsty mental voice had reached him. He had forcibly connected to the red-haired woman with his ability, seemingly overcoming the dangerous situation once—but that hadn't removed the threat itself, and now they were both falling together.
Until he succeeded in interfering with the woman, he had arrogantly thought he might be able to do something. But now he understood. He really should have listened to the Team Leader's words.
"Reach out...!"
Even as they fell together, the Field Team Leader desperately extended her hand toward him. He reached out in return, but catching each other's hands mid-fall was nearly impossible. There was some distance between them, and even if they managed to grab hold, he wasn't sure it would change anything. Yet the Field Team Leader refused to give up, squeezing out her last bit of strength.
For just a moment, her golden eyes flashed red, her white hair showed only at the roots, and fox ears appeared briefly before vanishing. Using a single aerial step to close the distance, she stretched out her hand and seemed just about to grab him as he fell.
Now only a short distance remained to the ground. Their fingers brushed agonizingly close. As if to tease them, the distance widened again—then finally, their hands drew near enough to touch.
"...! Got it...!"
"...Think so?"
But just before their hands could meet—
Thud!
Crash...!
With wings of flame trailing behind her, the red-haired woman had descended to this height in the blink of an eye. With a mocking sneer, she kicked the Field Team Leader away, sending her flying into the building. Then, for him—now falling alone—she kindly waved her hand in farewell.
"...Ah."
And so, he plummeted into the sea of fire below the ruins.