Infinite Journey: Dark Souls

The newcomer asked a question timidly, and was immediately assigned a task by Yuri.

The guy in front of them rushed towards the battlefield between Ori and the Angel without any regard for the consequences, while Asahina, who trusted Ori a lot, actually ran to the safety passage to find the person in charge.

Otonashi gritted his teeth and followed Yuri.

Didn't I tell you to go first?

"I can't leave my teammates behind and go first."

"Hey, buddy, you're just worried about the angels, aren't you?"

Zhi had already noticed the two of them approaching. While wielding her sword and constantly cutting through the angel's increasingly aggressive attacks, she teased a certain hypocritical fellow.

"Why can you talk during a fight?"

"Because..."

The katana suddenly returned to its sheath, and the angel, taking advantage of this momentary opening, indeed thrust forward. However, the katana, now back in its sheath, parried out even faster, deflecting the angel's thrust in one fell swoop.

"...This level is just a friendly exchange."

This created a major opening for the angel, but instead of pursuing, Zhi took a few steps back and returned to the two of them.

"Then, if you use all your strength, can you defeat the angel?"

"Killing her is no problem, but subduing her will have to wait until I fully analyze her protective shield."

"He just said something so dangerous!"

"But Commander, do you really want the angel to die?"

Having recovered from the blow, the angel, wielding his double blades, continued walking towards the three troublemakers before him.

"Of course, I am a man who rebels against God."

After loading the Beretta 92F pistol, Yuri firmly aimed the muzzle at the angel.

"Heh, you guys aren't going to die anyway, so I'll give it a try."

Facing the approaching angel, Zhi gripped the scabbard and bent down.

A murderous aura emanated from the air.

The angel hesitated in her steps, and Yuri hesitated in pulling the trigger, simply because the famous sword now reeked of blood. That chilling red color made the two girls, who had only ever hurt others with weapons under the premise of "not dying," feel terrified to the point of almost suffocation.

"One last question, Commander, do you really want to witness death?"

"me……"

The red dark spirit seemed to reappear in front of her. At this moment, Yuri recalled the feeling of the needle-piercing straight sword piercing her chest. That time seemed to be the real battle. If they did not defeat the invaders, she would keep dying repeatedly until she could not hold on any longer and would escape and become an NPC.

Now that feeling is back. This is the real killing intent, the killing intent released with the malice of wanting the other party to disappear forever. She does hate God and does want to rebel against God, but is her so-called rebellion to kill God?

If this can make up for some of my regrets, then I'll kill him.

"I! I really want it...!"

"Wait a minute! How did things get like this? This murderous intent makes me feel like if you swing your knife, the angels will vanish! Can't we all calm down and talk this over?"

"Get out of the way, buddy, or I'll chop you up too!"

Otonashi's eyes met the golden-white demonic pupils for a moment. He, who had been driven to hysteria by the killing intent, was completely suffocated and slowly collapsed.

The last obstacle before the angel fell, and the silver-haired girl, facing the murderous intent head-on, took her steps again.

"Ha, so it turns out this little girl has the strongest will after all?"

The iaido is ready to be drawn.

"Zhi, you're doing something unnecessary again."

"Waaaaah! Get out of the way!"

Suddenly, a purple line shot out from the connecting ladder behind them. After the rapid advance of the ash, flames surged out from under the stairs.

The detonation has begun.

The purple line slowed down in mid-air, and Xiaoyan, who had revealed herself, casually threw Hyuga, whom she had brought with her, out and they landed between Ori and the angel.

"Oh, I just couldn't stand these half-baked guys anymore—just like you can't stand Asahina."

Before the blade could even flash, it was already back in its sheath.

"Everyone! This place is about to collapse, come over here quickly."

The continued roar of the explosions began to shake the ground in the passageway. Asahina ran back from the emergency exit and waved to the crowd.

"Ouch! Ouch! Girl, can't you be a little gentler... Huh? Otonashi, what's wrong?"

"They were just scared by someone, let's retreat!"

Yuri gave the angel one last complicated look, then directed Hinata to carry the weak-legged Otonashi on her back, and together with the two Ashes, they ran towards the safe entrance.

The angel watched the crowd leave, somewhat bewildered, looking at the ground that was about to collapse.

PS1: Thank you to reader [Chaotic Space Warrior] for the donation and monthly pass!

Interval in ten intervals

At the Angel Operations Headquarters, today's meeting began with a serious operational summary.

With the curtains drawn, a fluorescent projector, and a white beret in the dim light, the group members watched their leader, who was resting her head on her hands, with trepidation, awaiting her instructions.

"I don't want to say much about yesterday's battle. The veteran members who were eliminated should go and accept their punishment!"

"What! Could it be that punishment?"

"No! Yuriko, can we change the punishment to a week-long hunger strike?"

"Punishment! Punishment! Punishment! How terrifying! How terrifying! How terrifying!"

"Extremely superficial!"

The already serious atmosphere turned into a cacophony of howls and wailing after the leader's announcement.

"So, what is punishment?"

The newcomer, Otonashi, looked listless. After noticing that the principal's office had turned into a hellish mess, he asked his best friend, Hinata, who was taking good care of the newcomer, about it.

"Ah, that's an extremely cruel and inhumane punishment. It's said that those who receive that punishment will be tortured until they're neither human nor ghost, until their personalities are completely twisted and they become machines that obey Yuriko's every word!"

The blue-haired boy, with a ferocious expression, introduced the legendary punishment to the newcomers. However, some of his descriptions made Otonashi's gaze involuntarily fall on a certain delinquent with messy purple hair holding a halberd.

"So, did that guy receive this kind of punishment before?"

"Now that you mention it, it does seem quite possible! It really is a terrible punishment—well, anyway, I survived to the end, so it's none of my business."

Satisfied with his continued absolute dominance within the team, the team leader nodded and then continued to issue commands with an air of authority.

"Now, quiet!"

"Yuriko, how about we make a deal? Can we get rid of this punishment?"

"Commander, Lady Yuriko, please have mercy!"

"Perhaps we can reduce the punishment step by step according to the order of death!"

"Extremely superficial!"

However, this time, absolute dominance does not seem to have been implemented.

"So I say, be quiet!"

The projection shook violently, and a shrill female voice echoed in the principal's office. The leader's authority was maintained by covering everyone's ears in pain through the form of jarring noise.

After the sonic attack, the principal's office fell completely silent.

"Ahem, very good. We'll talk about the punishment of the veteran members later. Now let's talk about the new members."

Overwhelmed by the leader's imposing presence, everyone immediately focused their attention on the two Ashes.

"You won't need to participate in operations against angels anymore. Instead, I will allocate resources to monitor the movements of those armored monsters. You just need to take care of eliminating them as soon as possible."

"Oh~ it seems that the commander has given my questioning yesterday a good thought."

"You bastard! How dare you be so rude to Yuri!"

"Hey, everyone, calm down!"

Ignoring his own halberd, Zhi stood firm, staring directly at Yuri, who was propping her head up with her hand.

"I have my own considerations. We don't have enough information about angels and gods yet. I need to figure out exactly what they are before I can decide whether to eliminate them or replace them!"

"Well, then we have no problem. We came here to deal with the trouble caused by the Dark Spirits."

"You call them 'Dark Spirits'? That sounds like something related to 'the underworld' or 'the netherworld,' which fits well with the afterlife. So, where did you 'Grim Reapers' come from?"

Yuri's gaze swept over Ori, Homura, and Asahina in turn, as she uttered some unrelated thoughts with a profound meaning. Finally, after Asahina gave a guilty, silly laugh, she stopped, leaned back in her chair, put her feet on the desk, and moved on to the next topic.

"Enough of the small talk, let's get down to today's battle plan."

"Huh? Are we going to be fighting for three days straight?"

"What about punishment? What about punishment? After we're punished, we won't be able to fight at all, will we?"

Then, as always, the commander's authority was challenged.

"If the operation is successful, this punishment can be waived."

"Commander! We are at your service!"

The commander, with absolute authority, regained his dignity with a simple sentence.

"Tonight, we will execute the 'Second Angel Realm Intrusion Plan.' I believe all of you veteran members still remember the failed first intrusion. The angel's residence is controlled by an encrypted computer. You idiots couldn't even open her computer and had to retreat in disgrace. So this time, I've brought in a professional to assist us—Zhushan, come in."

The doors to the operations headquarters were opened, and even before anyone arrived, the reflection of their white glasses shone through the doors.

"Hi, I am Kleist, nice to meet you all."

A short, bespectacled hacker with a student-style haircut has arrived.

————————————————————————————————————————

The meeting ended, and the new student, Yin Wu, was still wandering around the cafeteria listlessly.