[ Yuuta's POV]
BAM!
Huh…?
What… just happened?
Why is the sky spinning?
I don't feel pain—just this strange, hollow thump in my chest. Like someone shoved me hard, and now the world's on a tilt. Everything slows down, like time decided to take a break.
I try to move, but my body isn't listening. My legs give way beneath me, and the concrete rises up to meet me with a cold, merciless thud.
There's something warm pooling beneath me.
Sticky.
I blink, and my hand reaches out on instinct—trembling, slick with red.
Blood.
Mine.
"Sam…" My voice barely comes out, a rasp scratched raw by panic.
I see him—his face going pale, eyes wide—as he sprints toward me.
And then—
BAM!
Another shot.
It punches into his chest, right side.
He jerks backward like a puppet with cut strings and collapses beside me. A red stain spreads beneath him, growing, soaking into the dirt.
"No…" I whisper, barely breathing. "Sam…?"
The world erupts.
Screams.
Footsteps.
Doors slamming.
Students scatter like startled birds. The
Field empties in a matter of seconds, leaving only a few behind, Elena, and the two of us bleeding on the ground.
Shapes blur.
Sound fades in and out like a broken speaker.
And then, finally—
Pain.
Real, unbearable pain. It tears through my shoulder and chest like molten glass. I choke on a breath that doesn't come. The air is thick. It feels like I'm drowning in it.
Tears blur the edges of my vision.
I don't want to die. Not here. Not in front of—
"Elena…"
She's there.
My daughter.
Frozen in place. Eyes wide. Lips trembling.
"Papa…?"
She runs to me. Kneels. Her tiny hands grip my blood-soaked shirt.
"Papa, please! Say something! Don't close your eyes!"
I want to speak. I want to lie and tell her I'm okay, that this is just a game, that I'll get up in a minute. But my lips won't move.
All I can do is stare at her—my beautiful girl, tears running down her cheeks—as the world spins darker.
And then—
I see her.
Erza.
Charging across the courtyard, a blur of red and steel. Her eyes lock onto me—and in that moment, I've never seen her look so… afraid.
Not angry. Not annoyed.
Terrified.
"YUUTA!!"
Her voice crashes through the chaos like thunder. Sharp. Desperate.
Behind her, Sister Mary follows, clutching Elena's name like a prayer.
I try to lift my hand.
Blood slips from my fingers.
Please… just reach me…
Then, something glints.
Far off. A rooftop.
A shape.
A gun.
A second too late, I realize what's coming.
BAM.
I see it this time.
The bullet cuts through the air like fate itself, headed straight for my head. It moves in slow motion, spinning like a coin tossed by Death.
I don't scream.
I don't flinch.
I just… close my eyes.
I'm sorry.
Elena. Erza. I'm sorry.
And then—
CLANG.
Not silence.
Not oblivion.
A sound like steel striking steel splits the air.
I open my eyes, blinking through blood and smoke.
She's there.
Erza.
Standing over me.
Her arm outstretched. Her hand trembling.
In her palm…
The bullet.
Caught between her fingers.
The bullet crumpled like paper between her fingers.
Just like that—flattened, useless. As if it had never posed a threat at all.
Erza stood there, unmoving. Her hand trembled slightly, not from pain—but from restrained fury.
Her eyes… they weren't human anymore.
They glowed—a piercing, golden-white light swirling with rage, like twin stars burning with divine wrath. Her gaze dropped to meet mine.
I was still lying there, bleeding, my shirt soaked and sticky. Each breath came weaker than the last.
But it wasn't the blood that ignited her fury.
It was my eyes.
The fear in them.
The helplessness.
Her jaw clenched, and the ground beneath her feet cracked from the pressure of her aura.
She turned—slowly—toward the distant rooftop.
The shooter was still up there.
And they had no idea what they'd just awakened.
Erza inhaled—deep and slow. But this wasn't a breath for calm.
It was primal.
It was instinct.
It was the breath of a predator before it strikes.
Then—
She roared.
A thunderous, ear-splitting roar tore through the sky. It wasn't just sound—it was power.
A sound ripped from her throat that wasn't human—wasn't even close. It was vast. Violent. Shattering.
A dragon's roar.
The kind that could freeze blood in its veins and make mountains tremble.
It cracked the sky.
Windows exploded. Car alarms wailed. Students nearby collapsed, clutching their heads or fainting outright. Even Mary had to throw up a barrier around Elena and us to keep us safe.
Power flooded the air.
Her aura—hidden until now—erupted like a tidal wave, rolling out in invisible bursts. Gravity twisted around her. The wind howled in circles, drawn into the eye of her fury.
Wings burst forth from her back—massive, ethereal things, gleaming white edged with glistening silver, like living blades of moonlight. Her hair lifted in the whirlwind, glowing with static.
Twin horns spiraled out from her head—elegant, deadly.
She crouched, feet scraping into the stone beneath her like talons digging in.
She wasn't just angry.
She was done hiding.
This wasn't Erza the teasing one.
This was Erza of the Dragonkin.
And in the blink of an eye—
She was gone.
[Scene: Rooftop – Narrator POV]
The sniper girl's heart froze the instant she saw it.
Erza had stopped the bullet.
Not dodged. Not deflected.
Stopped it.
Her bare hand held out where the round should've caved in her skull.
The girl's pupils shrank in disbelief. That wasn't possible. Not with this weapon. Not with this round.
A custom-built AWM sniper cartridge—tungsten core, 15mm caliber. Designed to pierce tank armor, to shred through reinforced bunkers. No one alive should've been able to see it, let alone catch it.
Her fingers trembled against the scope. She couldn't even chamber the next round. Dust exploded across the courtyard, followed by a roar—an earth-splitting cry from something she didn't recognize, something other.
She tried to find her target through the haze, squinting against the grit and smoke. A shape flickered. She blinked—
And Erza was gone.
Then—
BOOM.
The rooftop detonated beneath her. Not cracked. Not splintered. Exploded.
The force hurled her backward like a doll, smashing her against the wall. Her sniper rifle spun across the rubble, lost in the storm of debris.
Her ears rang. The world spun. She coughed, choking on dust as bricks rained down around her.
And then the smoke thinned.
She saw her.
Not a woman.
A monster.
Erza Velya Dragmar stood framed by the ruin, her silhouette vast and terrible. Power crackled in the air, twisting the dust into swirls around her.
Her gaze met the sniper girl's.
Not angry. Not vengeful.
Empty.
Like staring into the abyss between stars.
Every instinct screamed at the sniper girl—run, flee, get off this roof before she ends you.
But her body wouldn't move.
Then Erza spoke. Soft. Almost kind.
"Do you have any last wish?"
The words slipped from her lips like a lullaby—a farewell song for a child who would never wake again.
The sniper's breath hitched. Her brain barely processed it before terror sank its claws into her chest. That wasn't a question.
It was a sentence.
Her mouth opened, but no words came. Panic overrode reason. She lunged, dragging the knife from her boot, aiming straight for Erza's eye.
Steel met flesh.
Crack.
The blade snapped in half.
Her strike hadn't even left a mark. Erza's cheek remained smooth, cold, perfect—as if carved from marble.
The girl staggered back, the broken knife clattering from her hand.
"You… you're not human…" she whispered, voice trembling and thin.
Fear broke her. She dropped to all fours, crawling across the gravel like a trapped animal. Her knees shredded, her palms bled, but all she saw was escape—the ledge, the void, anywhere but here.
Then—
SNAP.
Her scream tore through the night. Ice erupted from the rooftop, jagged shards encasing her legs. Frost bit deep, fusing to her skin and bone. Crimson rivulets streamed down the crystalline prison.
"No! No no no, please—PLEASE! Stop Someone Monster is Here!!"
She thrashed against the ice, tears streaming down her face.
"I didn't want this—I was following orders!"
Erza's expression didn't change. She didn't care about orders. She didn't care about excuses. She didn't spare.
The girl sobbed, her words breaking apart.
"I have a brother—he's waiting for me—I just wanted out—I didn't mean—"
No sympathy came from Erza. Only silence. Only Erza's steady steps drawing closer, her shadow consuming the girl's broken form.
Then her boot came down.
CRACK.
Bone shattered beneath frozen flesh. The sniper's scream wasn't even human—just raw, primal pain.
She tried to crawl again, dragging herself with ruined arms, leaving a trail of blood across the rooftop. It didn't matter. A hand like iron closed around her throat, hauling her off the ground.
Her lungs wheezed. Her vision blurred. She clawed at Erza's grip, useless.
"Please—stop—don't kill me—I'm sorry—I'm sorry I even EXISTED—!"
Erza remained silent, her eyes void of mercy.
Then ice crept again.
It climbed her torso, laced over her ribs, locked her arms, her chest, her spine—until only her head remained free.
The girl was a living statue, frozen in terror.
Erza's wings flared wide, white with steel-tipped feathers, and with a single beat she lifted off the ruined rooftop.
The city shrank beneath them. The sniper dangled helplessly, sobbing, dangling between sky and death.
Her voice cracked, desperate.
"It was my boss! He ordered it—it wasn't me!"
For the first time, Erza paused.
Her eyes sharpened. Rage flickered across her face—not pity, not restraint, but something older, darker.
"Who," she asked, voice like a blade. "Speak it."
"Black Viper!" the girl blurted. "It was Black Viper—he gave the order to kill the boy—I swear I know nothing else!"
The name ignited something in Erza. A storm rose in her chest—the same fury that had consumed her when she lost her mother. The fury that demanded blood, that promised no human would live if they threatened what she loved.
Her grip tightened once—
And then she let go.
The sniper fell, her scream lost to the wind.
[The Fall – A Gentle End]
I was falling.
"At first, I was scared—I couldn't open my eyes.
But slowly, I forced them open… and what I saw was the most beautiful scenery of my life. In that moment,
it didn't feel like dying at all."
It felt like… floating.
Like slipping into a dream I'd forgotten long ago.
The wind cradled me.
The clouds parted for me.
And the city—cold, cruel, unknowingly distant—sparkled beneath like a bed of stars.
So far away.
So beautiful.
Tears traced the edge of my cheeks, carried off by the wind before they could truly fall.
"I don't want to die… but maybe… I deserve this."
I am afraid it will be painfully, I am scared.
I wasn't a soldier.
I wasn't a villain.
Just a broken girl who walked the wrong path for too long.
Why didn't I listen to my little brother?
Why did I think that killing strangers for envelopes full of cash would build a future?
I saw my brother's face. That last time we hugged.
I remembered how he cried when I left.
How I told him I'd come back rich.
I lied. I lied to him. I lied to myself.
Time slowed.
Slower.
As if the universe—cold and pitiless—decided to give me one last kindness.
A few seconds.
A final breath of clarity.
And so I dreamed…
What if I'd never signed that contract?
What if I'd run instead?
I saw myself in a crummy apartment. Peeling walls. A sink that never stopped dripping.
Instant noodles boiling over while someone I loved laughed from the couch.
A child in my lap, sticky fingers on my face, asking questions that didn't matter.
And my brother, sprawled on the floor with a game controller, pretending to lose.
I could almost feel it.
Warmth. Safety. That stupid kind of happiness no assassin is allowed to have.
What a beautiful, stupid, impossible dream.
Laughing over burnt rice and silly cartoons.
I imagined a child—mine—running barefoot across the floor.
A family I never had… but maybe could've.
I smiled.
Even through the tears… I smiled.
"Thank you, Goddess… for ending it. For setting me free."
Hope God forgive me. Let me enter in heaven. Tear, last tear of my life.
The ground approached like a whisper, not a roar.
And as I neared the end, I wasn't afraid.
Then My body Hit the ground.
Shattered like glass.
I am glad it's not that painfully.
There was no scream.
No pain.
Just stillness.
Like drifting into sleep beneath a warm blanket.
Impact.
And yet… no violence.
Only silence.
Only light.
My body scattered like stardust. I can see my body part flying from impact.
My blood shimmered in the sun like morning dew.
I didn't look like a killer anymore.
Just… a girl.
Sleeping.
"I'm sorry, little brother… I hope you live. I hope you find your sunlight."
My final breath left not as a cry—but as a blessing.
And then—
There was peace.
Soft. Warm. Endless.
Not darkness.
Just freedom.
To be continued...