???: "Hup!"

  Val remained still on his knees while the girl attacked Masako. She jumped suddenly, bringing her weapon-arms in front of her.

  Riney gasped. His own brother was in grave danger.

  Masako waited with a confident stance. He observed, until--

  The sound of metal clashing rang. Masako held his sword over his head, and the girl reappeared over him, accordingly. He had successfully blocked that monster's attack, even though barely-- The scythe wasn't able to reach Masakos' head by a hair.

  Riney intervened, seeing his brother struggling. He quickly moved behind Masako where the girl was landing and threw a kick at her back. But that girl, instead of losing balance and falling, took the opportunity.

  She stomped her feet on the ground and started running toward where she had been kicked to. In front of her, the man who had picked the corpse up stood terrified. He dropped the body to the ground, but he wasn't able to do more than that.

  The girl approached swiftly, her hair floating and following her.

  The man didn't have any time to--

  The girl brought her arms together in front of her-- The scythes changed form once more. This time, they merged, and as a result, a pointy metal rod came off of her extended forearms, which were now one.

  It pierced the man, as the girl arrived, stomping all over the corpse. Masako tried to get there in time, along with Riney, but even their speed wasn't on-par. They watched as that monster disrespected their most beloved friend. They almost felt worst because of that than because of the other man's dire situation.

  She divided her arms, this time into swords, all the while having pierced a clean hole to the man's body. She put distance between her hands, more, and more.

  The man was cut at his stomach, since that's where the small statured girl could reach easily.

  The two halves of the man fell to the ground, guts spilling out from the top one. Val was still close to the tree they had found the body at, and he only turned his head and moved his eyes to follow the fight around him. He had no intention of intervening even if it meant death.

  Riney: "Shit! Get your weapons out!"

  He called out to all of his companions, to ready themselves.

  Val recognized the danger of the situation.

  The girl turned around toward Masako and Riney who were sprinting in her direction.

  ???: "Hey! Let's stop this for a second. I'm really sorry i killed this guy, my real target was you, but he was looking at me funny and that made me angry... I really don't regret it though. It got your anger rushing too."

  The girl smiled with a finger on her bottom lip, as if she had just made a small mistake. Her high pitched voice rang and only angered the two even more.

  But, at the same time, they narrowed their eyes at the girl in determination.

  ???: "I simply came to talk to that guy right there! I need to speak with him! But you guys got in my way."

  She pointed toward Val and she spoke with dissatisfaction. Val kept his expression unchanged, but he looked at the girl and listened.

  She noticed the unchanging stance of distrust of her opponents.

  ???: "Tell them!! You called me to you!"

  Val simply stared back with a blank expression.

  Riney: "Seems to me like you tried to kill him!"

  Riney was angry. It could be heard in his voice. Masako didn't take his eyes off the girl.

  ???: "Well, for being one of us, i could see he was soooo weak... Being called upon by such a weak being made me angry... so i thought i could've been better to just kill- you.!"

  The contrast between her childish tone and body language and the things she was saying was sickening. But, this last statement confused the people present at the moment. In the meantime, Masako signaled to someone behind the girl.

  If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  Masako: "What do you mean by _one of us_?"

  The other party members looked at Val as if anything was confirmed. But right now, the correct thing to do was to gather information instead of accusing blindly. Though, a though formed within Val; Was this another Angel?

  The girl turned her head toward Val, who stared in confusion, even though he wouldn't show it on his face. He was still on his knees.

  ???: "You're Greed, right?"

  The girl accused Val of something terrible. And only at this point he changed his expression into a worried one.

  Val: "No."

  He was only able to answer like that. He didn't bother to defend himself, for in this moment he couldn't bother doing anything. Instead, he turned away from the girl.

  Masako widened his eyes, in confusion and disbelief, even though he didn't fully believe any of them. He didn't know who was more trustworthy, but he was leaning on Val's side, only based on their experiences in the past days.

  The man behind the girl sprung to action, taking fast steps toward her with his sword drawn.

  ???: "I mean you can't den--"

  The girl didn't even stop her sentence. She made a new scythe out of her right arm and swung it backwards, cutting the man's head clean off. The surprise attack failed miserably.

  The body would've fallen on top of the girl, had she not moved aside accordingly. Then, while still talking, she gave a kick to the body's torso, and it moved away quickly, which was weird, considering the force a girl her size should've normally been able to kick with.

  ???: "--y it. It's etched into your soul."

  She grinned, even laughing a little, and she started walking toward Val. The head that had been cut off was now rolling toward him too. It stopped, tapping Val on the side of his leg.

  The girl got there too. Seeing the gruesome demise of their party members, no one knew what to do. It wasn't like they didn't want to get their friend Val out of that situation, but it was because of their fear that they might get killed while defending him. Everybody stood still, hoping for an answer to this situation. Riney, instead, looked down, concentrated.

  The girl grabbed Val's jaw, with such force that it almost hurt him. Her nails were somehow able to pierce the angel's extremely durable skin, and blood poured from his cheeks.

  ???: "So tell me-"

  She turned Val's head toward her. They were looking into each other's eyes, and they both held blank expressions. They were close enough to feel their breaths.

  ???: "What - about - this - alli-ance?"

  Separating each word from the other, she asked this question. And finally, the stalemate was broken.

  Riney flung himself toward her with such speed that it looked like teleportation. He kicked her side with both of his feet, at such speed that for any normal human the injury would probably be fatal. The girl couldn't help but suffer the blow.

  As one of the girl's arms flew off, the one that had most sustained Rineys' blow, she stabilized herself, planting both her feet into the ground.

  She bore an angered look.

  ???: "Do you think it's polite to barge in on someone's conversation like that?"

  She spoke, with her high pitched voice, as if she hadn't just lost an arm. Rineys' eye twitched, as he narrowed his eyes in anger. But he didn't let it affect his battle with this otherworldly being.

  ???: "I'll let it slide this time, since you seem pretty strong."

  Her arm showed no signs of growing back. Val returned to looking directly in front of him, without paying any attention to those two back there.

  Riney: "What do you want from that boy?"

  He spoke, his voice as deep as ever. He was even able to get Val to snap out of it. Slowly, gripping the tree, he got up and watched the showdown. Even though he had gotten up, he still had no intention to act.

  ???: "It's more about what he wanted from me, y'know? He called me to him!"

  Riney briefly turned toward Val, but returned quickly to face the danger in front.

  ???: "He is Greed!"

  Riney brought his sword up and held it tightly. He was preparing to fight.

  Riney: "He isn't."

  Confidently, he pushed back the girl's claims.

  He looked at her in the eyes, with a serious look.

  Riney: "What comes off of you, doesn't come off of him in the slightest."

  ???: "Oh? Are humans that limited?"

  The girl was dissatisfied.

  ???: "I knew he was weak, but i didn't think he would be that weak."

  Out of her arm blood came out, and she acted like she felt none of it.

  ???: "That makes me want to kill you even more."

  Riney prepared himself for an unexpected attack. But instead, something even more unexpected came.

  ???: "Since you've impressed me, i'll let you introduce yourself, as is customary for duels i believe."

  Riney gripped his sword even tighter.

  Riney: "My name is Riney Neymore, Head hunter for the Capital's second division."

  On her face appeared a grin, as if she had just received a heap of good news. She bowed down, and then replied.

  ???: "I am Mira Leide, Sin incarnate of Wrath."

  And so, the battle began. The two duelists both boasted incredible speed. Who would be able to prevail?

  --

  Masako carried Val on his back, while he ran. They two were the only ones remaining, as the others were swiftly executed when they tried to make an escape. Masako, however, was too fast for Mira to catch while also paying attention to Riney.

  They were alone, running. Masako had picked Val up because he refused to escape.

  Val: "Why..."

  Masako: "What? Did you say something?"

  Val now had time to elaborate his emotions and thoughts. He didn't know wether how he had acted was wrong, or right, but he was heavily leaning toward right.

  Val: "Why did you leave your brother there?"

  A moment of silence passed as Masako ran.

  Masako: "I trust him."

  Val's face didn't budge. He still held that blank expression.

  Masako: "You heard him, right? He's the best hunter in his division, and one of the best heads of division of all. He's strong."

  Val listened, but he couldn't bother giving any reaction.

  Masako: "Besides, Wrath is weak right now, i'm sure he can easily over power her."

  Wrath is weak? Right Now? What could this mean?

  Val: "Okay."

  Val didn't even bother asking.

  As they approached the village, Masako explained his plans.

  Masako: "I'll wait at this edge of the village for him. If he doesn't return before it's dark, i'll go get him myself. I can't risk losing someone else important."

  That in particular made Val's whole body hurt. Along with the refusal of action, the lump he had lived with also returned.

  --