Blake was not quite sure what had happened to him over the past few minutes.

His head was throbbing like hell, his muscles ached and burned like he had just run a marathon, there was more dried blood on his face and body than he had expected, and he could hardly move his body, if at all.

On top of that, he had also wound up in the middle of the wasteland instead of the church, where he believed he was just at.

There was only one possible explanation for all the rapid developments, and he knew it had something to do with the dead doctor in front of him, but more importantly with the furious-looking girl with angel wings currently holding a white arrow at his throat.

“… why?”

That was the question she asked, and as he remembered who she was, he immediately knew what she was talking about. There was a reason for her anger that he had figured out, and it made sense to him why she would react so aggressively towards him.

However, he also knew that whatever answer he gave would not satisfy her. In fact, he did not believe anything that came out of his mouth would. That door had most likely been closed off to him, along with his lost memories.

Despite that, he still attempted to reach out to her in an attempt to try and get her to lower her weapon, because in his current weakened state, he knew he would not survive her attack. At this point, talking was all he had left that he could use.

“I don’t know what to say, lady. I’m sorry if I have upset you, but this is on—”

“Stop it,” she hissed at him, “stop trying to say it’s not my business, I already know that. I just want one good reason why you did all this. You knew about Mister Mayor, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“You knew about Edelweiss, about his work there?”

“I did.”

“Then why did you continue?”

Her voice cracked as she pressed the arrow closer, the sharp tip lightly scraping his neck and drawing out a few droplets of blood.

“I don’t know,” he muttered as a reply, but it only seemed to anger her even further.

“You don’t know?! You just killed a man who hated who he was in the past, who didn’t know what to do because of you! What you did is not because of him, it was all because of you! You didn’t even give him a second chance!”

It took a while for him to respond to her accusations.

“… I know what I did. I just… can’t put it into words.”

“Try it.”

“Alright,” he took a deep breath and continued, “I don’t know if what I did was right or wrong. It felt right to me, but when I did my research on the doctor, I might have believed it was wrong for a moment. However, you must understand, lady, that I made a promise. As much as I sometimes have doubts, I have to fulfil it, for them.”

“And by ‘them’, you mean the other test subjects that were with you?”

“Yes, I answer for them. That’s all there is to it, that’s why I won’t feel sorry for the people I’ve killed, they deserve it for what they did to all of them, all those fucking monsters,” he nodded before explaining.

“So, you don’t believe it’s your fault? It’s all because of your dead friends? Is that it?”

“That’s not what I’m saying. I’m not just doing this for them, I’m doing it for me. I need to decide this for myself.”

“Even if… even if you kill them all?”

“That’s up to me to decide,” he firmly declared as he turned and looked at Julian’s corpse again, “as I’ve said before, you and the devil have nothing to do with this. It’s over for now, so please, let me go.”

“…”

“Lady?”

“… I want you to do something for me first. Once you do, I’ll let you go,” she spoke firmly.

“What is it?”

Using her free hand, she pointed directly at the mayor’s corpse.

“I need you to bring Mister Mayor back to Edelweiss. After that, I’ll tell you what to do.”

“I don’t think I—”

“Ah?”

“I mean, yes,” he switched tracks immediately as he heard her menacingly growl, “just remove your arrow from my neck.”

“How can I be sure you won’t run?”

“If I could, I wouldn’t still be here.”

“Hm.”

Although she kept the tip close to his body, she finally lowered the arrow, allowing him to breathe normally again and move freer than before.

With her following behind and closely watching him with a fierce gaze, he slowly walked towards the dead body and, despite the burning pain he could feel deep in his muscles, bent down to carry it.

“What about your devil friend, though? Aren’t you gonna check up on him?” he asked as he did so.

“I’ll find him later. Right now, just do what I say.”

“Alright, alright.”

With the doctor on his shoulder, they slowly made their way back to the town.

**********************

It took the both of them about two hours, and Anten even had to help support Blake with the carrying of the corpse during the final stretch of the journey, but they eventually reached their destination.

“…”

Without giving any further instructions to him, Anten simply directed Blake to head towards the town center, close to Julian’s destroyed house, before stopping altogether.

“What are we doing?”

“Shush,” Anten ordered Blake before using her finger to indicate what she wanted him to see, and he followed her gaze to see what she was pointing at.

“…”

“…”

Gradually, he began to see movement by the windows in the houses around them. Curtains were being drawn open, little by little, and shadowy figures soon appeared behind them, looking down at the both of them quietly standing in the middle of the street.

Blake could not see them clearly, but he could sense their eyes moving from Anten to him, before landing and staying on Julian’s body.

“…”

As soon as they realized their mayor was deceased, the curtains were frantically shut, and the figures vanished back into their houses, unwilling to peek out again.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“What’s the point of this?”

Anten ignored his irritated question. Tilting her head upwards without warning, she opened her mouth and shouted across the entire street, completely unconcerned about what or who could hear her.

“Edelweiss residents! Please listen to me! We do not want any trouble, we just wanted to return someone who once played a big part in your town, Mayor Julian! We might not have understood how much he meant to all of you, but we were hoping that you can at least say goodbye to him! That’s all we came here to do! So please, make sure he gets a proper farewell and burial! You can also do whatever you want to do with him, we won’t stop you!”

Upon finishing her speech, she began to quickly move to the side, forcing Blake to move along with her, as they carried Julian to the still mostly intact porch of his former house.

“Put him down slowly, then we leave.”

Under her instruction, the both of them bent down together and laid the body down to the wooden platform as gently as they could. Propping him up by the door, Anten then shifted his hands and legs to a more natural position and lifted his head up to ensure he did not fall over on himself.

Once that was done, she signaled for Blake to follow her again, and they left the porch, going straight towards and walking through the alleyway of the opposite houses before going behind a large, loaded dumpster.

“What are we doing?”

“Just wait.”

Despite Blake’s doubts, she threateningly waved the arrow near him, and he kept quiet again. Together, the two of them stayed where they were and peered from behind their hiding spot.

From there, they could still see the porch in full view, even if they were both a little too far away to accurately make out the specific details.

“…”

“…”

After a few moments, they could hear the increasing sounds and noises that were being made by people, but not by them. Doors began to open, and the shuffling footsteps of the townspeople became louder and louder as they all slowly gathered around the porch, around their former mayor.

A vast majority of them were elderly folk, including the old lady Anten had met before, and as the two of them leaned in closer, they could hear soft murmurs from the crowd, and see some of them hanging their heads low and stepping away from the scene.

“Ugh, man,” Blake groaned and covered his face as he watched their depressed reactions, “is this what you really want to show me, lady? I’ve been guilt tripped before, and I have to say that crying and mourning are not new to me. When that happens, I just let go of those feelings every time, and I’ll be fine again. Your lesson didn’t work.”

“Is that so?”

“Yup.”

In the midst of all their talking, they had not noticed one of the townspeople noticing and staring at them. As soon as the two of them saw her face, they could see a look of suspicion, coupled with a growing anger, in her eyes, and they instinctively gulped.

“Well, that’s it. She saw us. I think it’s time for us to go, lady. I don’t think we should—"

“Hold on,” Anten remarked as she used her arrow to stop him before he could move away from the dumpster, “don’t be too hasty. Something else is happening, see?”

“…”

The lady had turned and taken a step towards them, but that was it. She simply stood in place, continuing to stare at the two of them, and slowly, her angry expression shifted into another, much different look; one of resignation and defeat.

“Huh?”

Much to Blake’s confusion, she said nothing else and turned back towards the porch before walking back up to Julian’s body and kneeling before him, her arms closed in silent prayer.

“Well, that was not the first thing I had expected, but I think it still means a lot for what I wanted to say,” Anten commented.

“What are you talking about?”

“She saw us, she knew who we were, she knew what we, or in this case you, did. And yet, she didn’t even fight back.”

“Yeah, so?”

“I might be stretching it here, but isn’t it kind of similar to your own situation?”

“…”

“Revenge,” she continued, “is something I don’t like, but sometimes I still feel that way, and I don’t think I can help it. It’s whether I choose to act on that feeling that really matters. I… just don’t think revenge is the best way to deal with things, you know. Maybe people can be given another chance first, and sometimes you can choose to forgive.”

“Hm…”

He sniffed and looked away for a moment, reflecting on his thoughts, before he gave his response.

“No, I can’t do that, sorry. Look, I get what you’re going for here, lady, and I understand what you mean. It’s just that it’s not just the doctor who was at fault for this whole mess, it was a lot of people. And I don’t think many of them should be forgiven. Revenge is the only way I can deal with them. That’s how it is.”

“Mmh…”

She had expected it as a possible answer from him, but Anten still sighed as she listened to him try and justify his reasoning. There was really no easy way to convince him.

“Then… in that case…”

With that fact in mind, she left the dumpster hiding spot and stood firm in the middle of the alley, pointing at him with a stern expression on her face.

“… I have a proposal for you, Mister Blake.”

**********************

When Yuu had finally woken back up, she, along with Anten and Blake, headed back to the church, where Dauma was already waiting, for Blake’s questioning and the subsequent discussion over Anten’s grand proposal.

By Blake’s insistence, they made a quick stop at Julian’s house for him to clean himself up, retrieve his bag and change his ripped-up clothing before they went over, and Anten had agreed to it on the condition that she would be the one to hold onto his belongings for the time being.

“Just in case.”

Rather unsurprisingly, the entire group, especially Dauma and Yuu, were still wary of him, even as he made continuous attempts to suggest otherwise.

“I’m telling you guys,” he had fervently insisted during his questioning, “if I was still under the influence, I would not have been remotely interested in following you. I need time to rest, especially after everything I did earlier, therefore I cannot fight back.”

“Hm.”

Despite his assurance, Dauma kept his sword close to him as a precaution until all their questions were fully answered, forcing him to answer them as quickly and as truthfully as possible.

“Please do tell us the truth, Mister Blake. I don’t want to have to make you reveal the truth if you lie,” Anten urged him as she sat on one of the undestroyed pews they had set back upright for the questioning, and even without any elaboration, he knew that she was being genuine in her threat.

And so, he told them everything they wanted to know from him, filling in the gaps that Julian had left out in his own version of events.

“That’s that. I intend to kill every single person that was involved in the experiment, all the soldiers, all the generals, all the researchers, even the commander in charge. They all have to suffer.”

“Uh huh,” Anten responded as soon as he had finished speaking, “and regarding the Particle, or rather the thing that was involved in the experiment, the one that made you and your friends stronger, I assume that it is still with those leaders you mentioned?”

“Um… I’m not too sure, but I think so. Chances are it’s still with them, and they’re probably still using it to experiment on other people. That’s what I believe.”

“I see.”

Now that they had gotten to know him a little better, Anten moved on to the most important part of the impromptu gathering.

“Do you want to hear my proposal?”

“I don’t really have a choice, do I?” Blake muttered to himself as Anten stood up and talked quietly with Dauma and Yuu for a few minutes before turning and facing him again.

“Mister Blake… are you interested in joining us?”

There was a long pause as he blinked rapidly and repeatedly at the question, and she waited with anticipation for his answer.

“… what’s the catch?”

“No catch, no catch,” Anten reassured him, “it’s just that, well, I think that your current actions are incredibly dangerous right now, and not just for yourself, but for other people. Sooner or later, I think you’ll end up in big trouble.”

“So what? I’m ready to accept anything that happens to me, and I can take care of myself.”

“Well, but…”

“But you’ll still have to face others like us,” Dauma reluctantly spoke for Anten as she began to get stumped by his fierce determination, “and you won’t do so well in your mission of ‘killing everyone involved’ if you end up getting too hurt. She just wants to ensure that we all get what we want.”

“What… you want?”

“We are after the same thing that you say the Paradise forces currently holds, and we’d eventually have to face them as well. If you’re insistent on staying true to your mission…”

“I am.”

“… then if you join our group, your mission of taking them down would be way easier, and it would help us with our own mission as well.”

“…”

“So? What do you say, Mister Blake?” Anten finished the proposal, taking over for the last and most important question.

“Hmm…”

This time, Blake closed his eyes and crossed his arms, properly thinking long and hard about the proposal. Despite its clear appeal, there were still some things that he was still unsure about, and he had to confirm them before he could come to his final decision.

“… do you really intend to help me? Can I trust you guys?”

“Well… if they are unwilling to hand it over to us, we might have to use force, but ultimately, you’ll still have the final say in what you do to them. We won’t stop you unless a situation like the one with Mister Mayor happens again. In that case, we would have to discuss what is the best course of action.”

“Hmm… and how am I sure that you won’t betray me or trick me?”

“If I was trying to trick you…” Anten casually remarked, “we wouldn’t be offering you a choice now, would we?”

“…”

Finally, after some heavy deliberation, he simply shrugged his shoulders.

“Sure, why not.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful news!” Anten immediately squealed and jumped happily in excitement, “welcome to the Apocalypse Cleaners, Mister Blake!”

“Yeah, welcome.”

“… congratulations…”

In contrast, Dauma and Yuu’s responses were more subdued as they merely acknowledged his acceptance and said nothing else.

“I’m not done,” Blake bluntly interrupted the small victory, “I will only remain with you guys if you keep to your promise. Any long detours and I’m out.”

“Hm, ok. There might be some things we need to do first, but I don’t think we’ll take too long for them.”

“Also, I do want to point something out.”

Turning and focusing on Dauma, he began to criticize him harshly and directly.

“Your fighting is sloppy, devil. You might have more power than I do, but I think you need more practice. Fighting the Paradise forces is much different from fighting me, so all of you need to be prepared to face all of them.”

“Hm.”

“Yup, ok, we all got it!” Anten broke back into the conversation, still maintaining her excited tone, “now, shall we decide where we’re going next?”

“Wait, what… about Edelweiss?”

“Let me answer that for you, floating girl. I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to go back there,” Blake replied.

“He’s right,” Anten dropped her smile as she agreed with him, “at this rate, we’ll most likely cause more problems if we head back, so we should move on from them.”

“I’m sure they’ll do fine anyway.”

“Mf… ok…”

However, even as the subject was dismissed, an uncomfortable silence began to fill the room, with none of the four wanting to continue speaking. For a moment, Anten even looked paler, but she soon slapped herself to try and calm down.

“It was unavoidable,” she lamented, deliberately emphasizing her statement in front of Blake, “but I think that the best thing we can do now is to not disturb that town anymore. We have to let them move on by themselves.”

“…”

All four of them sighed before she lightened up again and took the opportunity to shift back to their discussion’s original trajectory.

“Now, I understand that we are a strange group, and I do think some of us might be better off on our own, but… I would just like to say, I hope we get along together. If we can do that, our mission will be over before we know it!”

“Yup.”

“… uh huh.”

“Sure.”

With words of agreement from the other three, Anten puffed out her chest once again and confidently raised her fist into the air, her wings dramatically unfurling behind her with a big show.

“Then, we shall carry on all our respective missions, as Cleaners together!!!”

Even after they had all experienced the difficult moral decision of sparing a life, the ragtag team known as the Apocalypse Cleaners had gained an unlikely, and slightly unwilling, new member in the process.