Chapter 65: Twin Crosses

When I finally wake up in the real world after what was seemingly forever, the gaping wound right in the middle of my chest stings my entire core. It hurts so bad, I just wanna scream out loud, but since my lungs are damaged, even uttering a single word is bad enough.

“Calm down, my new partner,” from inside my head, a soothing voice sounds. “Breathe.”

“Kind of hard to do right now, Grandma!” I shout internally as an answer.

“I… How rude! This appearance is no way old!”

“If you can still joke around like that, then you’re fine enough,” another voice similar to mine replies.

“I’m very much not okay right now, other me! Do you not see the hole in my chest?”

“Focus, Katsu. Like Belial said, breathe. Don’t need to be fast or slow, but make every breath count. Oh, and… bear with it for a while.”

“Wait, what do you mean…” I try to ask, but I don’t get to be confused for long. Immediately, from the wound, a burning rash arises. I clutch the wound with my hand but dare not scratch it lest I want to make it worse. It’s as if my flesh is being pierced by a thousand needles at once, all around this tiny hole in my chest.

So this is what they meant by breathe. I try my best to make every gulp of air count, as I can feel my flesh filling itself with every breath I take.

Slow down. Calm down.

As the nasty feeling finally disappears from my chest, I finally take my hand off the wound, only to realize it has closed off completely, as if there wasn’t any damage in the first place.

“… Impossible,” only now do I realize the angel in front of me, and he’s gasping in shock at the scene that has just transpired. “No Demon has that kind of ludicrous regeneration, except for…”

At the same time, a light rummaging causes me to stagger, revealing the obsidian cross hidden beneath my shirt.

“You… You managed to awaken Belial? A fellow Demon wearing another of his kin?”

Ah, it seems like he doesn’t realize it yet.

“Uh… Hey. Oda Petoro, but nowadays it’s Katsu. Nice to meet you.”

The angel doesn’t seem to believe his ears. “O-Oda Petoro? Lord Oda that was killed twice now?”

“Hey, how rude,” I shake my head. “I wasn’t killed. I merely ran away… for a long time.”

“But then… who’s…”

“Switch with me for a while,” my other self’s voice sounds. With a simple nod of the head, I agree, and before I know it, I’m transported back to the old room that I locked myself in, but this time with an extra portal to observe the outside world.

“I thought I’d already told you,” my other self answers. “that I’m not really him, but a combination of souls, an entirely new personality. And since we’re technically not the same people, well… you can deduce from that yourself, can’t you?”

“Are you saying… two souls can hold two crosses in one physical body?”

“Correct. It was a gamble on my part from the start, but without it, I can’t beat you anyway.”

“… And?” The angel, angered at the miracle that has happened, scoffs at the claim. “It’s Belial, not someone like Balam. Do you really think that with just enhanced regeneration, you can match up to me?”

“Of course, I can… no, we can,” my other self lets out a confident smile. “Isn’t that right, Katsu?”

A sudden call leads to a sudden switch, and I’m once again back in the real world facing the angel.

“I don’t know what you’re expecting me to say, my other self, but when Belial chose me as her new partner, I got to know a bit about the guy before me. If he wished to expend his life to win the fight… then I wish to win the fight in order to live.”

Thanks to Belial, the combat knowledge buried deep within me resurfaces once more as I raise my hand and conjure her scythe. “I might not know who you are, angel, but I won’t lose to you!”

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“I can’t believe it… the puppet lord has finally bared his fangs. For some, it would be a case to celebrate… But you’re out of luck!”

His speed is out of this world, even without any special power. I can only hurriedly swing my scythe in a circular arc to attempt to block his advance. I don’t know if it’s by luck or by muscle memory, but the swing perfectly intercepts his silver blade the moment it’s about to stab me, lifting the angle’s arm with the momentum I created.

“Now!” Shouts my other self, signaling another switch.

I retreat back to my inner domain along with my scythe, while he returns to the outside world with a gun in his hand. Positioning himself to strike from below, my other self pulls the trigger, sending a wind bullet straight towards the angel’s chest. However, our opponent is not so easily beaten. Even with his sword hand up in the sky, he’s still fast enough to utilize the force to make a downward arc, slicing the bullet just in the nick of time.

“Again!” My other self shouts once more, and right in an instant, I’m back in the battle. That movement just now has caused his entire right side to be exposed, and so, he’s easy prey to my scythe swing.

A downward slash is inherently stronger than an upward one, since you’re working with gravity instead of against it. For someone without much strength or experience like me, it’s the perfect way to strike. My scythe plunges down towards the angel, but once again, he’s managed to dodge my attack and pulled some distance between us.

“He’s right where we want him to be!” Once again, the two of us make the switch, and my other self summons an entire fleet’s worth of guns floating in mid-air.

“These things can maintain themselves for about three seconds after we switch,” his voice suddenly sounds in my head. “Think you can make the attack?”

“I’ll try,” I unconsciously nod. “But wouldn’t those bullets hit me as well?”

“No. Pay attention to the barrels. They’re all aimed at his spot, so from where we are now to the point where you can freely hit him with the scythe is completely safe from the bullets.”

“So I just run at him. Got it.”

“Alright, then… Now!”

As soon as the words leave his mouth, we make the switch once more, and once the bullets rain down on the angel, I rush at him as fast as I can.

For the greatest surprise factor, I don’t plan to pull out my scythe until the last second. While he’s busy destroying the wind bullets, he wouldn’t notice that we’ve already swapped ourselves. For someone as good as him, the only way to win is to catch him completely off-guard.

Three…

Two…

“One!”

I shout, and conjure up the scythe in my hand, making the widest slash I can possibly make.

As soon as he sees the scythe, however, the angel has already made his move forward, and in his last-ditch effort to strike me down, forgo his behind completely to rush forward – an act that actually has saved him the effort of nullifying the bullet storm, as they can only fire at that direction.

As his blade nearly meets my scythe, I’m sent back to my own world, with my other self going back in for our final moment.

“Gotcha,” with a cunning smile on his face, my other self exclaims. Immediately, every gun that was placed before changed its direction, now all aiming towards the angel’s back. And with his blade already in motion, there’s no way for him to react in time anymore.

The bullet storm commences, and his body is riddled with holes in mere moments.

At the same time, rain starts to pour in this space – an unusual scene considering we’re still in a closed room.

“What the…” my other self feels the same way as he raises his hand forward to feel the odd rain.

“Heh… haha…” the angel, feeling the soothing droplets on his soon-to-be corpse, lets out a bitter laugh. “Is this… how you’re supposed to show your sympathy towards me… my ultimate creation… my… justice…”

As the last word is uttered, the angel’s breathing finally stops, as he turns to his eternal slumber.

At the same time, my other self takes off his hat and closes his eyes, mourning a loss for the first time. “Rest in peace, my former partner.”

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