He was back in the snowy field again.

Unlike the last time, however, the mysterious person was already standing in front of him.

He still couldn’t see their face clearly, but strangely he could feel their emotions, as though they were being projected into his mind.

They felt… sad.

Angry. Confused. Desperate.

Emotion after emotion was pouring out of them, all bunched up together into a chaotic mess, overwhelming him.

But there was one emotion, out of all the rest, that he could feel was the strongest.

Regret.

“Who are you?” he asked them.

His voice sounded distant, as though it wasn’t coming out of him, but from someone further away, and he was hearing its echo.

They shook their head and leaned forward until their ‘face’ was a mere few inches away from his.

“You know the answer to that,” they replied, “but that is not the question you should be asking yourself.”

Feeling slightly uncomfortable from the close distance, he tried to pull his head back, but he still couldn’t move.

On the other hand, they could move as much as they wanted to. They now moved in even more, such that their mouth was right beside his ear, and they whispered into it.

“Find the question. Find her. That’s the key.”

“Huh?”

And like that, they disappeared once again, leaving him alone with that strange request in that snowy field.

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

As he looked into the shelter, he sighed.

At the far-left corner of the large structure, Anten, the angel, was sitting on top of a lifeless body. She was pressing a green orb of light against his chest and concentrating heavily, her eyes screwed shut and squeezed together. She also seemed to be chanting something, but it was so soft, he could not make out what it was.

“…”

However, even as the orb of light grew brighter, and the space was filled with a ghoulish-green hue, nothing was happening. The body remained still, and it slowly dimmed again.

“Come on, Anten, try again!” he heard her yell out as he turned and walked out of the shelter.

Three days had passed since they had recovered the first out of the eight Particles needed to create the Source. They had completed one-eighth of their mission assigned to them by a mysterious being that she called ‘God’.

However, that also meant it had been three days since the two of them had last properly slept.

Normally, that wouldn’t be so much of a problem for the two of them, since they didn’t really need much sleep at all, considering they were different than normal humans.

However, that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t get tired either.

For her, she was using up all her energy to try and reverse the effects of the Particle for hours on end, not taking a break until she was too exhausted to carry on, and resuming after she had rested enough by her standards.

As the days went on, it began to show in her appearance as well, with her sparkling eyes slowly turning duller, and her normally perfect and lustrous hair becoming slightly more unkempt.

As for him, he wasn’t using up too much energy at all, but the continuous looming threat of someone or something similar to the three that had attacked the village that could put the exhausted angel in danger worried him, so he had been patrolling around the shelter for the three days she was inside, sword in hand.

As a result, both of them were very close to their limit, in terms of both energy and patience.

Something had to change.

He had tried to convince her to stop, but deep down, he knew he didn’t really have the power or authority to do so. She was determined to save the villagers, and he couldn’t do anything to stop it.

He didn’t know what to do. However, he did have plenty of time to pace around alone, and that got him thinking to himself about the things that had happened, the things they had learnt over the past few days.

And with those thoughts came doubts that slowly began to overwhelm him.

Could I have done things differently?

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

“I’m leaving.”

12 hours after they had recovered the Particle and returned to the town, Charlie gathered the both of them and gave his decision.

“Huh?”

She had questioned him thoroughly about it as soon as they heard it, but his decision was final.

“Listen,” he explained as gently as he could, “I appreciate the help you’ve done for me, for the village. But I can’t stay here anymore.”

“If this is about the villagers, w-we’ll bring them back, I promise!”

He shook his head.

“That’s not my reason. Even if they could be brought back, I couldn’t bear to face them. I abandoned them. I should have been there for them when they needed help, and I didn’t. I thought my fight was going to help the village, but I was wrong.”

“D-don’t say that, we all went after the crab together, it was all of our faults!”

“If that is the case, if it was all of our faults, then we are all carrying that guilt, aren’t we?”

“You are not the cause, Charlie. You cannot blame yourself for this. Please. You did not start this.”

There was silence. After pausing briefly, he looked at the two of them and responded.

“I did not start it, but I can’t end it either.”

And with that, he turned around and left the village, the place he once called home, and the two of them watched as his shadow slowly vanished into the wastelands.

“…I’m going after him,” she declared as soon as he disappeared into the horizon, but he raised a hand to stop her.

“This is probably for the best,” he insisted, “he needs to work his doubts out himself, and bringing him back will only torture him even more.”

“…I guess you’re right.”

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

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Did I make the right choice in stopping her? Should I have tried to stop him?

Even though he believed he was right, there was still something inside him that disagreed with that opinion.

Ah, screw it. It’s too late for that now.

Trying his best to distract himself from that event, another memory came in that quickly replaced it.

That’s right. This should be what I’m focusing on now.

The memory that could, no, that had to help them.

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

“Ow, ow, ow!”

“Stay still. If not, the reattachment will take longer and be more painful.”

“I think it would be shorter if your friend hadn’t burnt my arm off.”

It had been two hours since they had retrieved the Particle. The two gas masks had woken up from their unconscious states, and she had taken it upon herself to heal their injuries and reattach the limb that he had cut off from the deep-sounding one, which was obviously causing a lot of pain for them.

At the same time, they interrogated the other one, who had introduced themselves as Nirade, to get answers.

Initially however, they refused to cooperate.

“I don’t know if you know anything about our clan,” they asserted, “but you can consider us as mercenaries. We don’t ask questions and we don’t give answers unless we get paid.”

“If you don’t help us,” Anten remarked in response, “your friend will need more healing from me. Do you understand what I mean?”

“…what do you want to know?”

Finally, after a lot of hesitation, they got started.

“First things first. Who was the guy you were working for?”

“I don’t know.”

“That’s not good enough for us.”

“I told you I don’t know. We don’t ask for names.”

It seemed like they had hit a dead end from the start. However, Nirade had something more to add on.

“I might have an idea as to where he came from though.”

As though she was afraid someone might overhear them, they lowered their voice to a whisper.

“There is a group, a powerful group of soldiers, who they say guard the gates of Paradise.”

Paradise?

At the mere mention of the name, he narrowed his eyes and leaned in closer.

“These soldiers are incredibly dangerous men, with even more dangerous and strange weapons at their disposal.”

“You mean, like the pistol?”

“Yes. And a lot more than that, too.”

“Then,” Anten replied, snatching one of the gas grenades from the other gas mask she was healing and inspecting it closely, “is this also a weapon of theirs?”

Nirade shook her head.

“That’s from our clan, not them. We gather the gas from our village and weaponize it. But, if I can be completely honest, I had no idea the gas had such a strong effect on you guys, especially if you two really are an angel and a devil. I was taught since birth that it could kill any strong beast, that’s all. So, don’t misinterpret my intentions in using it last night.”

“Going back to the Paradise that you mentioned before,” he suddenly interrupted with his question, “what do you mean by that? What is Paradise?”

“I don’t know. I have only heard stories about it.”

“Tell me more.”

“They say that one has to sacrifice a part of themselves, and that they have to accept that Paradise exists in order for them to be allowed into it. They also say that the being who created Paradise… is an angel.”

An angel.

Suddenly, the guy’s words echoed in his mind once again.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen your kind around.

Anten was also taken aback at the sudden term mentioned, and she quickly responded with another question.

“Wait, so if we take the stories to be true, does that mean there is… another angel like me?”

“I don’t know. As I said, I have only heard about it. I haven’t actually seen it for myself, nor do I intend to.”

“Then,” he continued, attempting to follow up on the topic, “do you know about the Overs—”

“No.”

Before he could finish his question, Nirade had answered it for him with surprising speed and directness, causing it to trail off into nothing.

“You didn’t hear the whole thing.”

“It doesn’t matter, I don’t know what you are talking about,” they asserted, seemingly confident with their answer.

“…”

Even though their face was hidden by the gas mask, he could notice something was different about them. Not only had their voice returned to a whisper, it also looked like they were trembling, and not because of the cold winds blowing around them. They seemed scared—no, terrified by the mere question itself, even if he didn’t finish it.

Seeing their strange, almost suspicious response, he quickly attempted to backtrack.

“Sorry, I didn’t realise that this was such a stressful question for you. Forget I asked it, and let’s move on from it, ok?”

However, after that exchange, their answers became more singular and less helpful.

“Do you know what this thing does?” Anten asked as she held up the green orb of light, partially covering it and holding it at a safe distance to avoid any further accidents.

“No.”

“Do you know how your client got it?”

“No.”

“Do you know if they had others like this?”

“No.”

“Is there anything else you could tell us?”

This time, the other gas mask who was getting healed answered the question.

“I don’t think you should go after them unless you’re ready.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can see it in your eyes. You’re confused, you have no idea what to do right now. We always weigh the risks before we start a job, and no cost should ever be higher than the reward. That’s all I’ll say.”

Nirade solemnly nodded as the other gas mask finished their warning, and that concluded the interrogation.

After their injuries were fully healed, they simply stood up, bowed, and left without saying anything else.

“…”

As they slowly walked in the opposite direction back into the village, Anten suddenly stopped. Tilting her head up, she yelled into the blazing sky.

“’No cost should ever be higher than the reward’, that’s easy for you to say! I didn’t want this! I didn’t think this would even happen at all! What do you want me to do, huh?!?!”

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

What were they supposed to be doing anyway?

As the memory ended in his head, he came back to the pivotal question, the one he had had since the start of their adventure.

Was it to gather Particles? That was what she had told him. But what if gathering them meant more innocent people like the villagers had to die then?

Then, was it to save as many lives as possible? By extension, obtaining the Particles could lead to that in the long run, but what if they weren’t saving them but instead harming them by doing so?

Then, should they save lives at all, even without the Particles? The answer was obviously yes, but what if interfering with their lives was what had led them to disaster in the first place?

What choice did they have? What choice did he have?

Maybe, he entertained the idea once again, maybe I should just disappear.

“Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…”

As he was sorting through his conflicted thoughts, he heard a low droning sound near him.

It sounded very similar to a common fly, so he simply ignored it and let it continue on.

“BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ…”

However, the droning noise grew louder and louder, and as the source of the noise appeared right in front of him in an instant, he flinched and stepped back instinctively.

It was no ordinary fly. With its size, it looked more like a small bird. It hovered in the same position and continued to buzz in his face, unmoving, as though it was staring directly at him.

Damn it, I don’t have time for you.

He tried to swat it away with his hand. It didn’t respond.

He tried to step backwards. It followed.

He tried to catch it. It flew back just a bit out of reach, but still continued to stare at him.

All right, that’s it.

Despite all of the energy he had expended over the last three days, he still had plenty to spare in catching a weak fly.

“BZZZZZZZZ—”

The buzzing was abruptly cut off as he snatched it out of the air with his inhuman speed before it could have time to fly away.

He smirked a little as it struggled violently in his clasped hands in a futile attempt to escape, and he began to squeeze his hands tighter and tighter, increasingly adding pressure to it as it was very slowly getting crushed to death.

That’s right. This is what you get for disturbing me!

“Hey, you there! Could you kindly let go of my pet, please?”

Suddenly, a loud female voice rang out, and he slightly loosened his grip in surprise, giving the trapped fly some breathing room.

He looked up. There was a figure in the distance, shouting and waving in his direction as they walked closer to him.

Who was that?

Whoever this person was, it didn’t sound like Jori, Anten or anyone else he could recall. The tone had sounded more playful and not serious, despite the initial commanding feeling it instilled in him earlier.

“I said, could you kindly let go of my pet.”

“What the hell!”

The fly in his hand suddenly spoke fluently, and this time he fully let go of it. It flew a safe distance up and away from him before grooming itself with its legs before looking down at him and continuing.

“That’s better. Now, what sort of creature are you?”

“You… can talk?”

“Hmm. Doesn’t seem very smart to me. Ue he he.”

“Hey!”

Upon closer inspection as the fly emitted a stupid laugh, he could see that it wasn’t actually talking. In fact, it wasn’t even a fly at all.

It was a robot. The buzzing of its mechanical wings were repetitive and consistent, while the voice coming out of its ‘mouth’, which seemed to be a mouthpiece, was slightly monotonous and distorted.

“Hmm.”

Before he even realized it, the mysterious figure had caught up to him while he was distracted by the robot fly, and they were currently standing right beside him, leaning in, and looking him down from head to toe.

“What would you call yourself? Are you a monster?”

Taken aback by their incredibly close distance as soon as he noticed their presence, he quickly backed away, and the figure straightened up, allowing him to see their full appearance.

It was a lady. Tall, with glasses—or perhaps they looked more like goggles—on her head and wearing a baggy brown shawl. Her blue eyes sparkled with curiosity, and her shoulder-length black hair was semi-tied up in a messy bun, with the rest of it spilling out in all directions. She was also carrying a large backpack behind her, and its height easily towered over hers as it slightly leaned towards her left side.

It almost seemed like she was trying to go for a professional, formal look, but she gave up right before the job was complete or, more likely, she didn’t know how to achieve it.

As he surveyed her closely, she continued.

“If you can just stop staring at me, maybe we can talk.”

“Huh? Talk about what?” he casually gave a simple reply, but then stopped and stared suspiciously at her as soon as she said her next line.

“What happened to this village.”