"Nieza… whatever your name is—I need your help. Do you have a plan?" Kira said firmly.
"I could kill all of them on my own if my right hand weren't sprained… and my stomach… ugh… damn it," Nieza hissed, forcing the words through the pain.
"Sir Kira… use your power to heal her…" Aigis whispered from behind him.
"Heal?"
"We, the Engill, are sustained by the same source of power—Sinceritatis. Simply channel your strength into her to accelerate her restoration."
Kira didn't understand the technique. Still, he grabbed Nieza's hand—reckless, trusting pure instinct.
Nieza jolted. "Hey! What are you doing?!"
"Be quiet… I'm trying to concentrate…."
Kira's red flames flared again. He forced that power to flow into Nieza's body.
It worked.
Red fire wrapped around the girl. For the first time, relief softened her expression—just a little.
"…Does it hurt less?" Kira asked.
"K-kind of…" she muttered.
When Kira felt it was enough, Nieza quickly pulled her hand away and stood. Blue flames surged back over her body.
They were ready to fight again.
Kira took a breath, locking onto two main threats: the purple-robed knight (spell eraser) and the staff-bearing knight (healer/buffer).
"…Nieza. I'll go for the one in the purple robe. Looks like he can nullify your magic. I'll leave the rest to you."
"Consider it payback for healing me. And don't you dare think I'm asking you for help! Remember that!" Nieza snapped, voice sharp.
Kira held back a bitter smile. "Yeah. I'm the one begging for your help, Nieza."
Nieza turned her face away. A faint blush rose to her cheeks.
"S-so… what's your name…?"
"Kira Rainhard. Call me Kira."
A white light flashed from the enemy's staff again. The other knights' armor shimmered—reinforced.
Nieza launched herself forward. "Kira! Attack them!"
Kira dashed in with her. But Nieza's blue fireball vanished again—erased by the purple-robed knight.
Then the purple-robed knight glanced toward the frozen crowd. A black fireball formed in his hand—aimed at them.
Kira hurled a Valiant Blade, trying to stop him.
The purple-robed knight leapt aside—then fired the black fireball anyway.
"BOOM!"
A ten-meter explosion tore through the frozen crowd. Green orbs of light burst out and shot toward the colossal eye above.
Kira went rigid, watching the cruelty unfold.
Nieza retreated toward him to evade the sword knight's relentless pressure.
"That bastard!" Nieza yelled, seething.
"Wait, Nieza!" Kira grabbed her arm.
"What now, Kira?! The strategy is obvious!"
"Calm down… the same strategy will keep producing the same result. Please… I need your help."
"…Tch. Then what are you thinking?!" Nieza snapped.
"Aren't you wondering why they aren't chasing us right now?" Kira asked quickly.
"…No. What do you mean?"
"They're waiting for us to strike first. If we keep forcing it, your magic gets erased, my attacks get stalled—they're too agile." Kira swallowed. "I've got a way. Do you see the thirteen large bags behind the purple-robed knight?"
"…Yeah. The stolen money?"
"Good. Here's the plan…"
The purple-robed knight kept provoking them, preparing another black fireball, ready to slaughter more frozen victims.
"…I hope this works," Nieza muttered.
"Relax. Fundamentally, we're stronger than they are," Kira answered.
Nieza didn't reply, but her eyes sharpened—focused.
"Let's go, Nieza!"
"Fine!"
Nieza rose ten meters into the air, forming a blue fireball. Kira threw a Valiant Blade at the staff knight—only for the sword knight to intercept it in a flash.
At the same time, Nieza launched her blue fireball at the money bags.
"She's aiming for our money! Protect the money!" the sword knight shouted in panic.
The purple-robed knight sprinted toward the bags and erased Nieza's magic—just in time.
But while he was busy nullifying it…
Kira's second Valiant Blade shot forward.
It stabbed into the purple-robed knight's stomach.
The force slammed him into the wall. Black blood sprayed from the wound.
"What?!" the other knights recoiled.
Nieza seized the opening—she attacked both the sword knight and the staff knight at once with a massive blue fireball.
Kira sprinted to the dying purple-robed knight, yanked his blade free—then raised it and split the enemy's body and head vertically.
The purple-robed knight unraveled into black sand.
On the other side, Nieza's blue explosion shook the first floor. The staff knight burned completely, scattering into black sand. The sword knight dodged, but one of his legs was scorched away—he limped, trembling with fear.
"W-wait! Spare me!" he begged, crawling toward the Ranger truck.
Nieza moved to finish him, but Kira stopped her.
"…He's mine," Kira said flatly.
Kira walked forward with both Valiant Blades. One thought filled his head: no mercy.
"Please! I'll give you anything! I'm begging you!" the knight sobbed.
The knight tried one last trick—he threw his sword. Kira blocked it effortlessly.
Kira swung his blade—cutting off both of the enemy's hands. Black blood erupted. The scream that followed was ragged and broken.
"…I don't need your stolen money," Kira said coldly.
"This magic world stops time in the real world!" the enemy rambled, desperate. "We can take anything… or kill anyone—"
Kira stared at him with hatred that had turned almost quiet.
"…So my mother was 'getting in your way'?"
"N-no! Not that! Wait—"
Kira split his stomach again, horizontally. The enemy still crawled—until the Ranger truck blocked him. Cornered.
"W-wait! Forgive me!"
"Say that to the people you killed! Say that to the mother you murdered!"
Kira hacked him apart while he was still alive—cutting, stabbing, beheading, driving the Valiant Blades into him again and again until even the Ranger truck was partially cleaved open.
"…Kira! Stop!" Nieza screamed from behind him.
Her voice yanked Kira back from the edge.
His breathing turned heavy. He dropped to the floor.
"Congratulations, Sir Kira. You have purified two Slave-class Monsters and one The Vice-class Monster. You now have access to 'Valhalla Boots'," Aigis said, voice emotionless.
Kira didn't understand. He only understood one thing:
His mother was not coming back.
The colossal eye above slowly closed and vanished. The black dome shrank—then disappeared.
Kira's Valiant Blades vanished. So did Nieza's gloves and black boots.
The massive damage inside the bank—the crater, the lifted floor, the cleaved truck—was gone. As if none of it had happened.
The people who had been caught in the black explosion were simply unconscious now, their bodies pale.
The same was true for the armed robbers.
Even though Kira… was certain he had cut them apart.
Kira didn't care about the contradiction. He ran to his mother's motionless body.
Just seeing her pale face shattered his chest.
Then a violent dizziness struck. The world spun.
Kira collapsed, unconscious, right beside her.
The last thing he remembered before darkness swallowed him was his mother's pale face—and Nieza's voice screaming his name over and over.
Kira sank into one sentence he never managed to say out loud:
Forgive me, Mom…