Takeshi received a message in the middle of the morning.

[Ophélia] Can you come for a walk with me today? I found a place near the river that I want to see.

Takeshi read it twice.

’Stepping out of our routine could expose her...’

He remembered the conversation he had with her.

’But I think she really needs to clear her head...’

He replied yes.

’If something happens, I’ll have my phone ready to call Aoi or Nyx.’

They left at four o’clock and headed toward the place. Ophélia carried a bag and walked at a more relaxed pace than usual. She explained that she had seen a picture of the place in a library book, a stretch of river with trees along the bank and an old stone bridge, and that she wanted to see it in person.

Takeshi walked beside her with his attention divided between the conversation and their surroundings. He kept an eye on the people passing by, the side alleys, any figure that slowed down or changed direction for no apparent reason.

The trip took twenty minutes. The place was quiet and sparsely populated. It had trees along the riverbank, the stone bridge exactly as Ophélia had described it, and water moving slowly beneath it.

Ophélia stopped in the middle of the bridge and looked down at the river.

"It’s just like the picture!"

She exclaimed.

"Yeah."

"Do you like it?"

Takeshi looked at the river.

"It’s okay."

Ophélia leaned against the stone parapet. Takeshi remained standing beside her, alternately watching both ends of the bridge.

Five minutes passed without anything happening.

’Looks like I worried too much...’

At that moment, Takeshi saw the movement.

It was coming from the north end of the bridge. A figure walking with too much regularity, without looking to either side, without slowing down upon seeing people standing in the middle of the bridge.

Takeshi stepped between the figure and Ophélia before it reached the midpoint of the bridge.

The figure stopped.

From that distance, Takeshi could see her face. She was a girl around his age with short blue hair. Her expression showed no visible urgency, like someone who had calculated the timing and found no reason to hurry.

She held something in her right hand, partially concealed against the side of her body.

"Move aside."

She said in a low voice.

"No."

Takeshi replied.

The figure assessed the situation for a second and then moved.

She was fast. Faster than Takeshi expected. She dodged to the right with a clean lateral movement and went for Ophélia through the angle Takeshi had left exposed when reacting to the first movement.

Takeshi summoned Eclipse and blocked the second attempt. The impact was direct. The assassin had more strength in her arm than her size suggested, and the block was not clean. Eclipse deflected the weapon, but not completely.

Takeshi felt the cut along his left side.

[Life: 78%]

It was not deep, but it was enough. The pain came immediately, and his stance destabilized for a moment. The assassin used that moment to retreat two steps and reposition herself.

Behind Takeshi, Ophélia said nothing.

Takeshi tried to stabilize his stance. His side hurt with every breath. He used a burst of magic to compensate for the lack of physical stability and raised Eclipse again.

The assassin looked at the wound, then at Eclipse, and evaluated.

Then the sound came.

"אלוהים"

More than a sound, it was like a language Takeshi could not quite comprehend.

"חיים"

It was too quiet to be a shout, and it was coming from behind him, where Ophélia stood.

"מציאות"

Takeshi turned for half a second.

"מוות"

What he saw was not something the brain processed in an orderly way on the first attempt.

"נקמה"

The body was not covered in skin. What covered it were bundles of white fibers and interwoven tendons that moved slightly even when the creature stood still, as if every filament possessed its own tension. Its limbs were long and ended in points that were not exactly hands, but functioned as such. The proportion between the length of its arms and its torso matched no known reference.

"אהבה"

The face retained a vaguely human appearance with a thin nose and a relaxed jaw, but several of its own hands, held by long arms emerging from different points of its body, surrounded and concealed its head as if veiling it. It was impossible to see its eyes from that position.

"טהורה"

On the upper part of its torso, embedded where a shoulder should have been, there was a large black eye at the center, surrounded by a sclera that emitted a uniform white light. It stared without blinking and without a fixed direction.

"אמיתית"

Ophélia stood with her hands clasped in front of her chest and her head slightly bowed. Her expression was one of concentration.

The creature moved toward the assassin.

"אלוהים... חיים..."

The assassin stepped back twice. For the first time since appearing on the bridge, her expression changed to panic.

"מוות"

The assassin tried to move sideways. The creature did not follow the movement with its body. Only the eye in its shoulder turned, and then a long arm extended in the correct direction without the rest of the body reorienting itself. The assassin could not finish her movement.

Takeshi looked toward the river so he would not see the rest.

When the sound ended, the bridge fell silent.

Ophélia came over to him and placed her hands on the wound at his side. The pain diminished within seconds, and the wound closed.

Takeshi looked at Ophélia while the process finished.

"How were you able to summon that?"

He asked.

Ophélia withdrew her hands.

"I asked Tot for help."

"Is that something you can do anytime?"

Ophélia did not answer immediately. She looked toward the end of the bridge where the creature had been.

"Only when necessary..."

She finally said.

At that moment, Takeshi looked around. The bridge was empty, with no one visible in any direction.

That was strange. Before the attack, he had seen at least two people on the riverbank and a couple crossing from the south end of the bridge.

"Where are the people?"

He asked.

Ophélia did not answer.

Takeshi looked toward the street leading to the bridge, and it was empty. He looked toward the buildings on the other side of the river. The windows were lit, but there was no visible movement.

"Ophélia."

She was looking at him.

"What happened to the people who were here?"

Ophélia lowered her gaze for a moment. When she looked up again, her expression was the same as always. Calm, with a smile.

"The world isn’t safe..."

She began.

"There are too many things that can hurt you and too many people who can interfere."

Takeshi waited.

"I asked Tot to take care of anything that could disturb our peaceful life..."

Ophélia continued.

"Here and throughout the rest of the world."

Takeshi processed that sentence.

"What do you mean, everything!?"

Ophélia looked directly at him.

"I sacrificed humanity so I could be with you."

She said it without any change in tone. With the same calmness she had used when explaining the story of Tot on the way to school several days earlier.

Takeshi took a step back.

"Takeshi."

Ophélia extended a hand toward him.

"You don’t have to worry about anything anymore. There’s nothing left that can—"

Takeshi ran and managed to hear Ophélia behind him.

"Takeshi!"

He crossed the bridge toward the north end and went down to the street. The street was empty, just like the bridge. The stores had their lights on, but their doors were closed.

"אלוהים"

He heard the sound behind him.

"חיים"

The creature was on the street behind him, so he ran three blocks before turning around to face the angel.

"מציאות"

He summoned Eclipse and struck its torso with all the energy he could concentrate into the blade. The white fibers separated at the point of impact, and the creature stepped back once.

Then the fibers rejoined.

Within ten seconds, the damage had completely disappeared.

Takeshi struck it again with the same result.

He kept running.

"מוות"

He tried using concentrated magic instead of Eclipse. He fired the compressed sphere he had used against Sylion. It produced a burst of light that caused the angel to stop moving for four seconds. Takeshi used those four seconds to gain distance.

"נקמה"

It was not enough.

The creature did not run; it moved. Takeshi would lose sight of it behind a building, and it would appear in front of him on the next block.

Takeshi used internal physical reinforcement, the same technique he had developed during the fight against Sylion, to maintain his pace. He endured for four more blocks.

On the fifth, the creature’s long arm reached him from behind.

"אהבה"

The impact threw him to the ground. He tried to get up, but he could not finish the movement before feeling his neck break.

’In this reset, I have to avoid this situation...’

Takeshi waited for the reset panel, but it never came.

Instead, he felt something different, as if something were being restored from the outside inward.

He opened his eyes.

He was on the same street and in the same spot where he had fallen, but the angel was gone.

Ophélia was kneeling beside him with her hands on his chest and white light shining between her fingers.

She looked at him when he opened his eyes.

"I told you there was nothing to worry about."

She said with relief.

Takeshi looked at the sky. The reset had not happened.

Ophélia had brought him back before the system could process it as a permanent death.

"Relax, Takeshi. Starting today, our new life begins, just the two of us and only the two of us."

’I’m in serious trouble...’