Chapter 3: Closure. Battle_Cry.[Part 5]

"ELLIS!"

Hiding behind the stone golem, Sherry shouted in an angry, almost trembling voice,

"—KILL THEM ALL! USE THESE PEOPLE'S CORPSES AS YOUR BODY'S MATERIALS!"

She shouted this as she waved her oil pastel. Numerous overlapping lines form the direction that the golem moved in.

"NOT SO FAST! FORMATION B! PROTECT THE CIVILIANS FIRST!"

With an Anti-Skill member shouting, everyone started to fire.

The Anti-Skill members formed up in pairs; the front person held a transparent shield and the ones behind started to fire. The shields weren't mean to block Ellis, but to block the stray bullets.

Gunfire that almost broke their eardrums echoed throughout, and Kamijou and Kazakiri were pulled aside by a female Anti-Skill member. She used the transparent shield in her hand to protect them.

Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa! The shield in front of them let out such a cry.

Seeing this, Kamijou was flabbergasted. Even the deflected bullets that hit Ellis had such power. Maybe because Kazakiri had been hit by a stray bullet before, she was trembling hard like a child afraid of thunder.

Kamijou saw the stone golem in front of him.

Ellis's leg got concentrated fire that was like cannon fire which looked like the sun magnified with a mirror. It tried to take a step forward, as though it was trying to move through a strong wind. However, it was not able to take that step. As Ellis's body was as big as a wall, the impact area was wide like an open sail waving in a storm. The concrete and glass that's mixed inside Ellis' body continued to be hit, but Ellis just absorbed the surrounding floor and wall, and even the bullets hitting it, quickly allowing it to recover.

"Cheh!"

On the other side of the screen of gunfire, Sherry let out an angry growl.

"'The one similar to God', 'Medicine of God', 'Power of God', 'Fire of God'! The four elements that represent the four worlds will allocate the right power on the right direction, and bring forth the correct lead!"

The oil pastel quickly drew a distorted Cross in the air.

Chi chi…Ellis' body started to cackle.

This was Ellis' cry.

The stone golem didn't have a mouth for it to speak, but the sound of pain echoed throughout the body. It continued to try and obey this impossible order, as if cracked gears were forced to spin and more gears were forced in. The stone golem's huge body let out cackling and terrifying sounds.

Even so, Ellis continued to move.

With that terrifying cackling sound, it finally took a step forward.

BOOM! A heavy sound slightly trembled the ground.

On seeing this, Sherry was delighted, continuing to wave the oil pastel.

"Ah…ah…what to do…"

In the explosion of gunpowder, Kazakiri couldn't help but ask.

"Though the situation isn't too good, it's still within what I expected. It'll be best if I can push her back or maintain her balance, it seems like things aren't going to go as I wanted."

Kamijou's words made Kazakiri doubt her own ears.

Then, the female Anti-Skill member wielding the transparent shield in her hand said,

"Are you sure you're going to do this, boy? No one will blame you if you back away, you know."

"I have to go up, you know. You just saw it, that huge piece of trash got destroyed when my right hand touched it. My right hand has such a power."

"It's true that Tsukuyomi-sensei told me this before…"

Kazakiri felt that strength was disappearing from her fingertips.

What were they saying? Kazakiri wondered. They seemed to be ready to carry out some shocking plan, and yet she herself didn't know anything.

"If I don't do anything now, that thing will come over anytime. Besides, bullets can't be fired forever, and you can't possibly continue to hold that shield for much longer."

"There's only one chance. If you fail, we won't be able to save you, we'll shoot. At that moment, you'll become bullet target like that stone golem."

On hearing the Anti-Skill woman's words, Kazakiri was shocked.

"…Wait…hold on…may I know…what you're trying to do…?"

"Do you need to ask?"

Kamijou replied without hesitation,

"…We're here to stop that monster."

THUNK! The heavy footsteps of the stone golem could be heard again.

The sound was a lot more forceful than before. Sherry and Ellis were now starting to get used to the force of the barrage.

"No…this…is too dangerous…"

"Too bad my power can only be activated when my right hand touches it. If I could just release a long ranged attack like a railgun, it'd be a lot easier."

BOOM! The earth shook again.

Like the traveler moving against the North wind, the stone golem continued to move forward.

Both sides were within 10m of each other.

"I'm about to give the order, and I'm going to confirm it with you again. Boy, are you ready?"

"…Yes."

It was likely that they had already discussed what they should do before coming here.

Thus, the boy just needed to respond with a single sentence, and didn't need to say anything more.

"Still trying to act cool, eh, boy? Sigh, Tsukuyomi-sensei really taught her students well."

The female Anti-Skill member smiled slightly, and then pulled out a mini-wireless telephone.

"Alright, then I'll play with you then. However, you must succeed, and come back alive. We'll try and coordinate with you."

On hearing this, Kamijou's lips curled up.

At that moment, Kazakiri discovered that the boy was trying his best to hold himself from trembling.

"On the count—THREE!"

The female Anti-Skill member gave some command to the wireless radio.

Kazakiri felt goosebumps down her body. Was this boy really thinking of rushing outside of the shield arrays and at the stone golem? In this rain of bullets, even the people firing the guns wouldn't be able to tell where the bullets would fly to.

Once he was hit, he was dead.

It was not possible for him not to be afraid.

"—TWO!"

Originally crouched on the floor, Kamijou slightly lifted his upper body.

"Wait…no! This…you'll definitely die…this…no…I…!"

"Don't stop me, Kazakiri."

Facing Kazakiri, who was all in a disarray and distraught, Kamijou, who was supposed to be in the most danger said calmly,

"The reason you're afraid of me should be because of this right hand, right? No matter good or evil, as long as it's a supernatural power, it will be removed by this right hand, even you."

Kamijou then said,

"So don't try and reach your hand out to stop me."

Kazakiri felt deeply shocked by it, almost unable to breathe.

Sherry also seemed to sense that Anti-Skill was trying to do something, waving her oil pastel even more frantically. Ellis despite getting hit hard by the concentrated fire, started stepping forward with more force.

But at that moment, Kamijou didn't even look at Sherry.

He just focused on the girl in front of him.

Understanding the power in Kamijou's right hand and why she would deliberately avoid this boy, Kazakiri couldn't hide the shock on her face. Looking straight at Kazakiri, Kamijou said,

"However, don't be too mindful. Even if you can't touch me, you're still my friend. And also, don't think about dying so easily. I'll come back alive, I will."

"Ah…come back…alive…?"

"Yeah. We'll then bring Index along, and go out to play again."

After saying that, he smiled.

After that, he turned to look in front.

The voices of Anti-Skill seemed to cut off the last contact between Kamijou and Kazakiri.

"—ZERO!"

In an instant.

Anti-Skill stopped shooting.

Even Sherry didn't expect this.

Since the bullets were the last line of defense that was protecting Anti-Skill, once they stopped firing, everyone would become victims of Ellis' fist the next instant. Normally speaking, nobody would do such a suicidal thing.

But this was effective.

For Ellis' heavy body suddenly tripped forward.

It was forcing its way forward as if it was resisting the North wind, only for the wind to suddenly stop. The excessive force generated on its body caused Ellis to lose balance and fall forward.

Kamijou jumped over the transparent shield and charged forward.

There was about 7m between him and Ellis.

"DAMN IT!! GET RID OF HIM, ELLIS!!"

Seeing Kamijou dash forward like a rocket, Sherry frantically waved her oil pastel.

Obediently following the order, Ellis raised its fist. However, its body was in an unstable state. If it tried to punch in this state, it would definitely trip. If so, Kamijou didn't need to do anything, and without her shield to protect her, Sherry would immediately be shot by the Anti-Skill bullets. Kamijou just needed to get down and avoid the bullet fire.

Even so, Ellis still raised its fist.

Even so, Ellis still raised its fist.

As expected, the body that was already about to fall lost balance even more, and Ellis fell forward, face down. The stone golem was about 4m tall, and since the distance between the stone golem to Kamijou was about 7m, Kamijou would definitely not be crushed.

Kamijou gripped his fist hard, intending to catch the moment Ellis landed on the floor.

VOOM! Ellis swung its fist.

But even as it fell down, Ellis wasn't aiming its fist at Kamijou, but the floor.

"What…?"

With Ellis' fist as center, there was a spiderweb-like crack of radius 8m on the floor. The entire place acted like a cushion as it moved about, and Kamijou's body was tossed high up into the air. The walls, ceiling, pillars and every single corner let out a terrifying clattering sound, echoing throughout the underground street.

Then, Kamijou, who fell onto the ground, saw the giant stone golem Ellis use the impact caused by punching onto the floor to stand upright like a spring.

Sherry waved her right hand.

Ellis' giant fist was raised high again, as if it was trying to crush a bug on the floor.

"Damn it…"

Kamijou heard the slight sound of metal colliding with each other, and it seemed Anti-Skill was raising their weapons. However, they weren't firing yet. Once the torrent of bullets arrived, Kamijou would definitely be dead.

(Damn it, how can there be such a dumb thing! Hurry, think of how I'm going to get out of this…!)

Raising its fist, Ellis was just nicely positioned above Kamijou. In this situation, even if Kamijou used his right hand and destroyed Ellis' fist, several tons of rubble would collapse and crush him to death.

Even if he was to try and escape, due to the time left, he could only take one more step. Ellis was already over 4m tall, and the arm's length was about 2m. No matter whether he was to try and jump aside, left or right, or even roll backwards, he wouldn't be able to avoid the attack.

(Damn it, damn it! Isn't there any way…!)

Ellis' fist carried all the force of its weight as it headed down from directly above Kamijou. Kamijou at least understood that using his right hand to block it would be suicidal. He focused all his attention on his legs, strongly determined to jump over at it.

Not left, right nor backwards, but forward.

Ellis was over 4m tall. In other words, the blind spots close to its chest was a lot bigger than a human. There was already an almost 2m tall hole between its legs. Normally, if anyone was to try and sneak in between Ellis' feet, Ellis would definitely kick the person out.

However, Ellis was swinging its fist down.

While its entire body was unstable as the whole weight was focused on the fist, Ellis had to stand firm and maintain balance.

In fact, Kamijou, who was used to fighting, understands clearly that even though a forceful hit was powerful and looked cool, it had the flaw of being easily counterattacked. Due to the center of gravity, once it let out this hit, it wouldn't be able to evade.

Ellis couldn't move its legs by an inch before it finished swinging its fist.

Trying to maintain balance like a human caused Ellis' downfall.

Kamijou bent down, staying in a position close to the ground before jumping forward. Like an arrow released from the bow, he shot out between Ellis' legs.

Then,

Ta Ta Ta Ta Ta! Ellis' body emitted a lot of sparks. The Anti-Skill members who had raised their guns again squeezed the trigger.

Ellis' movements were again restrained.

And what was ironic was that Kamijou, who was standing behind Ellis, wouldn't be hit by the gunfire.

Kamijou slowly stood up, reaching his right hand out as he wanted to touch Ellis' back. But thinking about it, he didn't do so. He looked away from Ellis and turned his head behind.

Sherry Cromwell was just in front of him.

"Ah…ELLIS…"

Full of fear and tension, Sherry shouted, but she was clear that if she was to move Ellis carelessly, Anti-Skill's rifle bullets would hit her. Also, Sherry was unable to escape from the narrow space behind Ellis.

The oil pastel in her hand was waving unnaturally. Unlike the clear actions she did before, she didn't know what she should command Ellis to do.

Right now, Sherry had no one to turn to.

Her strongest weapon was right in front of her, yet it couldn't move, even helping Kamijou block the enemy's bullets.

"Good."

Kamijou said.

He raised his right hand up and swung one huge round, as if he was trying to check the flexibility of his shoulder.

"Ah…"

Facing this situation of despair, Sherry inadvertently revealed a distorted smile.

"Haha, what the Hell. This means I have no way to escape now, is it?"

"There's no need to."

With gunfire ringing throughout, Kamijou closed an eye.

"You just need to sleep quietly."

With a punch, Kamijou Touma sent Sherry Cromwell flying far without mercy.

Sherry's tender flesh was like paper floating in the air as it continued to roll on the floor.