“Huff… Huff…”

  A cold fog came out of Aleph’s mouth with each breath. He touched the blood red i his chest.

  {Analysis plete. Remaining survival time is two minutes and five seds.}

  “It’s good enough.”

  He came into this “world” in his severely iate. It was the time when the hole was freshly made; if it wasn’t, his ans would’ve failed by now.

  It was due to the cursed energy enha, his Active Power State, that he was able to live for three more minutes despite suffering from it. That goes to show the resilience of a Grade One Sorcerer.

  ‘I strained myself in that fight. I should’ve escaped, but…’

  Thinking of the blue-haired girl beside him, he fell silent.

  “What’s the day today?” He asked.

  “Uhm…”

  Before Aleph could speak further, the sock puppet in her right hand “spoke”.

  “Yoshino doesn’t know it!”

  “You… are a Spirit, right?”

  “Yoshino is! Yoshinon is her friend!”

  “...Alright. Among the Spirits, do you know someoh bd red dress? She has an uwintail… um, the left side is longer. She also uses guns. Does it ring any bells?”

  Yoshino’s eyes widened as she heard Aleph’s description.

  “Could it be…”

  “It could only be her. Nightmare!” The puppet spoke. “Tell me, why are you looking for her?”

  “Nightmare? It… sounds like her.”

  Aleph stood up from the street floor. He walked out of the alley and eyed one of the stores with gss walls.

  Shatter-!

  “Where are you going?!”

  “Wait. I just o…”

  He didn’t have any time to expin. The inside of the store was a cafe. He immediately looked for a dar or any of the likes. It was pletely desote.

  It wasn’t just the cafe. The ey block was desote due to the Spacequake Arms.

  Spacequakes are phenomena created when a Spirit desds into the world. The cracks in space created by them were enough to crush buildings with ease.

  Add to that the aftermath of the Spirits’ powers themselves. It was enough to cause wide-scale destru, hence evacuation protocols were widely taught throughout the entire world.

  “There it is. Twenty… fifteen.”

  Aleph’s eyes went wide open.

  “This is… almost forty years..?”

  He stood still for a while. The puppet, Yoshinon, wao ask him a question but chose not to disturb him.

  “Forty years… Kuk..!”

  More blood spilled from his mouth. Aleph immediately had a hunch that his time in this world will end once he dies.

  The tabletop was stained by his blood. He wiped it before looking for a pen and paper. Aleph soon began writing on it. As he did so, he asked about Yoshinon’s rea.

  “What’s wrong with Kuru… Nightmare?”

  “You don’t know? She caused the deaths of more thahousand humans. Those guys talked harshly about her several times.”

  “Mn… Have you met her?”

  “Yoshi her onightmare was scary.”

  “Heh… She still hasn’t ged.”

  For the mihey talked about Nightmare. In sharp trast with her atrocities, Aleph smiled now and therusted her back then… and it extends until now.

  She must have a reason behind her as. Until then, he wouldn’t judge her.

  However, this short-lived peace was brokehe cafe was bsted open.

  Rumble-!

  Bam-!

  Shatter-!

  Several thin robots appeared. Unlike before, there weren't any pilots ihem. Their targets ged from Yoshino to the seriously injured Aleph.

  “This… is enough.”

  Aleph tore the pieces of paper he had written on. He passed them to the girl beside him.

  “If you have the eet her… Nightmare, give it to her.”

  Several pieces of stiotes were pced in her hands.

  Without even having the time to respond, Aleph charged towards the Bandersnatch robots.

  “Go! I’ll take care of them!”

  The Sphere Boundary’s anti-phenomena radius was deployed. No amount of altered physics was able to harm him remotely.

  With a wide punch, he tore through one of the Bandersnatch’s necks with his ratio teique. It was far tougher than the previous robots, yet Aleph was still able to tear them apart once he got close.

  While the melee was happening, Yoshi flicted. Everything happened all too suddenly. She couldn’t even fully process Aleph’s existence.

  heless…

  Hum-!

  Bam-!

  The rge white shark bumped its head straight to several Bandersnatches. Aleph could sehere wasn't any life ihem, and so did Yoshino.

  Although surprised, Aleph chose to focus oask at hand. It only took a minute for them to dispatch the team of Bandersnatches.

  [Achievement Unlocked: Ter…]

  [Achievement Unlocked: Fly…]

  He couldn’t properly read the achievements in his sight. His vision was blurred. A feeling of lightheadedness assaulted him.

  Three minutes upon his arrival, his ans finally began failing. His knees felt weak. The familiar sensation of borious breathing assaulted him.

  Yoshino was saying something to him, but he couldn’t uand her anymore.

  “Read… notes…”

  With a thud, his body fell to the ground.

  *****

  “Mister!”

  Aleph’s body swiftly turned into silver motes of light. It formed a stunning se for a moment. Even the bloodstains oabletop turned like that.

  “Mister…”

  Recalling his final words, Yoshino took a peek at the stiotes inside her hoodies’ pockets.

  “Mister Aleph…”

  Through the small pieces of notes, perhaps written for Yoshino, she knew more about the new “spirit”. It wasn’t until an untorn page that said “Please keep the rest for her” did Yoshino stop reading it.

  Wheuro her realm, all that was left within the se were broken bandersnatches.

  Hum.

  Out of nowhere, a being pure darkness arrived. Her silver eyes g the pce where Aleph fought the Bandersnatches.

  “Unmistakably…”

  She thought of the boy from decades ago. It was his power that attracted her to test him. Never had she expected that he would fall in one blow, more so give a portion of his power to one of the Spirits she found—causing the said Spirit to discover her identity and break free from her trol.

  "...Nothing should interfere at this time... Shin..."

  After muttering a name she held dearly, she disappeared.

  The moment she did so, everythi back to stillness.