Takeshi got up from the ground before Ophélia had finished pulling her hands away.

He said nothing. He assessed the distance between himself and her, the direction of the street, the available exits. The city remained empty, with no sound of cars, no people on the sidewalks, no movement in any of the building windows.

He ran north.

He heard Ophélia say his name behind him. Not urgently, but with the tone of someone expecting him to come back.

’I can’t just stay still! There has to be some way out of this!’

Three blocks later, the angel appeared.

It stood in the street ahead of him, as though it had been waiting. The eye on its shoulder stared without orienting itself.

Takeshi turned east and searched for the inside of a building. The door to a shop was unlocked. He entered, crossed the empty space to the back, and climbed a service staircase to the second floor.

From the window, he saw the angel standing motionless in the street, the eye rotating slowly.

’If it keeps looking this way, it knows exactly where I am. Changing floors isn’t enough.’

Takeshi stepped away from the window and searched for another exit. There was a door leading to a hallway connected to the neighboring building. He went through it, followed the corridor, descended another staircase, and emerged onto the parallel street.

He ran two blocks.

The angel stood in front of him at the corner.

Takeshi stopped. He took a breath and summoned Eclipse.

’I can’t destroy it. I already know that, but if I can’t escape and I can’t destroy it, the only variable I can change is time.’

If he managed to kill it, there was a chance he could reset before Ophélia found him.

He attacked.

The first strike separated fibers in its torso. It took ten seconds to regenerate. The second strike targeted the shoulder eye. The luminous sclera did not go dark, but the creature took fourteen seconds to regenerate that specific area.

’It’s not much, but it’s a difference.’

Takeshi attacked the eye three times in a row. Each time, he gained between three and five additional seconds of delay in the creature’s response. It was not enough to escape, but it allowed him to move half a block before the angel became fully functional again.

He used those openings to reach an area with taller buildings and more possible entrances and exits. He entered a three-story parking garage. The ramp spiraled upward. He sprinted to the third floor, attacked the angel’s eye when it reached that level, and jumped from the edge of the third floor onto an adjacent rooftop.

The rooftop was flat concrete. He crossed to the opposite side and descended an exterior fire escape.

The angel appeared at the base of the staircase just as Takeshi reached the second flight.

Its long arm stretched upward, and Takeshi could not avoid it.

He opened his eyes on the ground floor of the parking garage. Ophélia’s hands rested on his chest as the white light withdrew.

"Don’t do that..."

Said Ophélia, still without any urgency in her tone.

"You’ll get hurt."

Takeshi checked his stats as he got up.

[Life: 100%]

[Sanity: 71%]

[Points: 7]

He stopped at that number.

’Before the angel killed me the first time, my sanity was at 38%, and now it’s at 71% without using pills or spending points.’

Ophélia had healed him, and in the process had also restored his sanity. It was not intentional. Apparently, Ophélia’s magic did not distinguish between physical damage and mental damage.

’Out of everything bad, having my sanity restored is a huge advantage.’

Takeshi walked toward the exit of the parking garage without saying a word.

Ophélia followed him.

"Where are you going?"

She asked.

Takeshi did not answer and stepped out onto the street.

’If the angel responds to the intention to escape, maybe it won’t appear as long as I move without that intention. I have no way to confirm that, but it’s worth testing.’

He walked south at a normal pace.

The angel did not appear immediately.

Takeshi kept walking. Ophélia walked beside him, but neither of them spoke, nor did she demand anything. She simply walked at his side as though it were an ordinary afternoon.

’She really isn’t aware of what she did.’

At the next block, Takeshi abruptly turned into an alley and ran.

The angel appeared at the end of the alley four seconds later.

Takeshi stopped, struck the eye with Eclipse, and retreated back toward the main street. Fourteen seconds later, he turned west and ran.

He reached a plaza. A dry fountain stood at the center, surrounded by empty benches. Buildings bordered all four sides, each with at least two visible entrances.

The angel appeared through the plaza’s northern entrance.

Takeshi headed for the building on the eastern side. The front door was open. He entered and climbed to the first floor. From there, he could see the plaza through a window. The angel stood in the center beside the fountain. The eye on its shoulder stared toward the building without moving.

’If I go back down to the street, it’ll intercept me in seconds. I need to find a route that doesn’t involve the street.’

Takeshi searched for the stairs to the second floor and climbed them before looking for roof access. There was a service hatch with a ladder, so he opened it and climbed onto the roof.

From the rooftop, he could see the buildings across the plaza. One of them had a service bridge connected to the adjacent building. If he could reach that bridge, he could cross into another building without returning to the street.

The distance between the two rooftops was approximately three meters.

’With physical enhancement, I should make it. And if I don’t, the angel will find me anyway, so the risk is the same.’

He enhanced his legs and jumped.

He reached the other rooftop with half a meter to spare. He landed, regained his balance, and continued running toward the service bridge. It was a metal structure with low railings connecting two buildings above a four-meter-high alley.

He crossed the bridge at a run.

On the other side was another hatch. He opened it and descended into the second building, where he found a long corridor. The doors along the sides were closed, but at the far end there was a window overlooking another street.

’Fourth floor from the ground. With enhanced legs, it’s manageable if I bend my knees properly when I land.’

He opened the window and jumped.

He landed in the street, turned north, and ran four blocks without stopping.

The angel did not appear.

Takeshi stopped at the entrance of an apartment building and took a breath before checking his stats.

[Life: 89%]

’The landing did hurt me...’

He waited for a few minutes.

’Did I lose it? Is it possible to lose it?’

The angel was nowhere to be seen.

Takeshi entered the building and climbed to the third floor by the stairs. From the hallway window, he looked down the street in both directions and found it empty.

He waited another five minutes.

Then he heard the elevator.

The doors opened on the third floor.

Ophélia stepped out of the elevator with a bag slung over her shoulder and looked at him.

"There you are."

she said, relieved.

Takeshi looked at the elevator, then at Ophélia.

"How did you find me?"

Ophélia did not answer that.

"I was worried."

"Where’s the angel?"

"Waiting."

She paused.

"It won’t hurt you if you don’t try to get away."

’So it doesn’t act on its own. It responds to what she wants. That means there’s no way to wear it down or confuse it because it doesn’t make decisions by itself.’

Takeshi processed that. Whenever he stopped trying to escape, the angel waited.

Takeshi could try to escape, but the angel would stop him, Ophélia would revive him, and the starting point would always be the same. There was no escape through death because Ophélia would revive him in time. There was no escape through flight because the angel had no endurance limit and would find Takeshi regardless.

’Yuki kidnapped me through direct violence. Aoi threatened me with a display of power. Both situations had something concrete to react against, but with Ophélia, I don’t know how to deal with this.’

Takeshi looked down the hallway and then at Ophélia.

"Takeshi..."

Ophélia continued.

"Are you hungry? I can go find something to eat."

Humanity had vanished, and Ophélia was asking him whether he was hungry.

’I don’t know whether to laugh or panic.’

"No."

Takeshi replied.

Ophélia nodded.

"Let me know whenever you are."

She sat down on the hallway floor with her back against the wall and pulled the blue-covered book from her bag. She opened it to the page marked by the bookmark and began reading to pass the afternoon.

Takeshi walked to the window and looked out at the empty street.

’I need an escape route that Ophélia can’t anticipate and that the angel can’t intercept. Something that happens too quickly for her to react. I don’t know how I’ll do that yet, but it has to exist. There has to be something I haven’t tried.’ 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

He looked at the buildings across the street and the empty road below.

’I’ll keep thinking.’