Charlie glanced at Elena, who was standing not far from him, choosing not to debate the woman's words any further.
His gaze slowly lowered, fixing upon the figure of Amane lying unconscious right on the ice floor near Elena's feet.
(Haah... This particular protagonist's mentality is truly pathetic.)
He stared down at Amane with a faintly scornful look.
(The man just fainted like that from mental shock the moment the explosion occurred. Compared to Mahiru, who was in the exact same extreme situation yet still tried to stay strong and maintain her consciousness, the figure of Fujimiya Amane really looks utterly embarrassing.)
(Well, but what can actually be expected from a protagonist who has absolutely no advantage whatsoever other than a slightly handsome face?)
In Charlie's eyes, Amane was merely an ordinary antisocial teenager without any special talent, yet he possessed a haughty personality that made him reluctant to mingle with other people, as though he were a special being distinct from ordinary folk.
During his journey traversing the Planar Worlds as a Savior, Charlie had seen and met several protagonists from various realities.
Take Uesugi Fuutarou with his extraordinary academic intelligence and perseverance, Kirigaya Kazuto with his incredible battle reflexes and fighting mentality, or Bell Cranel, who possessed a pure soul growth and an unyielding determination capable of surpassing the boundaries of the gods.
Of course, none of them were perfect despite holding the status of a protagonist. However, compared to those three protagonists, Fujimiya Amane was truly just an ordinary person who happened to be lucky enough to be born with a slightly handsome face as his only standout characteristic.
"Hey, Charlie. Stop daydreaming." Elena's reprimand instantly snapped Charlie out of his internal musings.
Elena stared at him while straightening her clothes, which were slightly affected by the cold air.
"How are you planning to leave this place? Do you need me to give you a ride as well? I can use teleportation magic to instantly move to my own place of residence."
Charlie shifted his attention away from Amane's unconscious body on the ground, then looked toward Mahiru, whose condition now appeared slightly better after regulating her breathing.
"That is..."
Just as Charlie opened his mouth and wanted to say something to respond to Elena's offer, a highly noisy rumbling sound suddenly rang out loudly and echoed, creeping closer from the sky above them.
*WHUP-WHUP-WHUP!*
Elena turned her head toward the source of the sound, though her eyes could not see anything because they were currently still enclosed inside the building ruins and the ice dome.
She furrowed her eyebrows and murmured softly, "The sound of helicopter blades...? It seems the rescue and evacuation teams from the Japanese government have already arrived at the location this quickly."
Hearing that mechanical sound, Charlie did not immediately believe Elena's assumption. He promptly activated his Senrigan capability, piercing through the thick layers of concrete and the ice wall obstructing his vision to check the situation outside directly.
"...!!!"
What he saw up there was absolutely not a Eurocopter model or the type of light medical helicopter usually used by Japanese domestic rescue teams.
"Elena, get ready!"
"That is not a rescue team helicopter! That is an Apache helicopter!"
"What?!" Elena widened her eyes in surprise. However, that surprise was quickly replaced by a bitter smile as she realized the true situation. "Turns out the enemy's attack still isn't over yet, huh..."
Without wasting any more time, Elena bent her body down and instantly lifted Amane's still-unconscious body in a princess carry position in both her arms.
Mahiru, who until now could only listen in silence to the conversation between the two people, did not understand about Apache helicopters at all.
"Charlie-kun... what is happening?"
"There is no more time to explain, Mahiru." Charlie grabbed the girl's wrist tightly. "The Apache helicopter up there has already locked onto our current position. Damn it! They just launched a missile right toward these ruins!"
Before Mahiru had time to process that sentence, Charlie instantly used spatial teleportation through the Hundred Gauntlets.
*SHUUT!*
In a matter of milliseconds, Charlie shifted himself and Mahiru across space, suddenly appearing right by Elena's side.
Without wasting even a single moment, Charlie patted the woman's shoulder with his palm.
*VUMMM!*
In a single blink of an eye, a wave of spatial distortion instantly wrapped around the bodies of Charlie, Mahiru, Elena, and Amane, who was in her embrace.
The figures of the four of them instantly vanished from inside the ice dome without leaving the slightest trace.
Exactly one second after their disappearance, the high-explosive missile fired from the Apache helicopter up in the sky struck that exact location with precise accuracy.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!*
The resulting secondary explosion was far more horrifying than before.
The military missile's warhead exploded violently, tearing the remnants of the hospital ruins apart until they were reduced to micro-dust, while simultaneously forcing a definitive cut to the remaining threads of life of the unfortunate people who were dying underground there.
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
The following day.
The television screen in the living room displayed the logo of the national news station against the backdrop of an aerial view of Tokyo enveloped in a thin smog.
In the center of the screen, a female reporter in a formal black suit sat upright, yet an expression of exhaustion and deep sorrow could not be hidden from her face.
As she began reading the news text, her tone of voice sounded highly heavy and trembled with held-back emotion.
"Reporting live from the emergency control center, we bring news of profound grief for the entire nation."
"The number of fatalities successfully evacuated and identified from the chain bombing tragedy at the District Hospital yesterday afternoon has now surged drastically."
The reporter took a breath for a moment, staring straight into the camera with watery eyes.
"As of six o'clock this morning, medical authorities and the joint rescue teams have confirmed that the death toll has reached a truly horrifying figure, namely 21,081 people."
"This figure includes thousands of inpatients, hundreds of medical personnel on duty, civilians around the perimeter of the explosion, as well as the wave of visitors from the students and teaching staff of Seijo High School who were undergoing a special agenda at the scene of the incident."
The TV screen then switched to display amateur video footage of the moment the secondary missile struck the ruins, triggering a giant, terrifying plume of fire.
"The follow-up explosion, suspected to have originated from an unidentified airstrike a few seconds after the building collapsed, complicated the initial evacuation process and ensured that there were no survivors in the core zone."
"Up to this very second, the metropolitan police have not received any claim or statement of stance from any party or organization claiming responsibility for this barbaric, inhumane act of terrorism."
The image on the screen changed to show the prime minister bowing deeply in front of the press podium, followed by visuals of the Japanese flag being flown at half-mast at various government buildings.
"In response to the scale of destruction unprecedented in the modern history of this country, the government has officially designated this event as a National Emergency Disaster."
"Through the latest decree, the Prime Minister has issued a firm appeal to all citizens in the Kanto region, particularly the Tokyo metropolitan district, to remain indoors if they do not have highly urgent matters."
"A curfew will be strictly enforced starting tonight."
Before closing that main news segment, the reporter read out a report of military movements that were beginning to be visible at several strategic points in the city.
"Meanwhile, for the sake of maintaining a security stability that is becoming increasingly critical, the JSDF has now been fully mobilized."
"Infantery divisions and JSDF tactical intelligence units have taken over the perimeter line as far as three kilometers from the site of the ruins."
"They are currently organizing a military-scale investigative operation to track down, locate, and drag the mastermind behind this act of terrorism to justice, alive or dead."
"We will continue to update information as the situation develops on the ground."
*KLIK!*
The television screen instantly shut off, turning the bright glow of light in the central room into a quiet darkness.
Charlie lowered the remote in his hand, placing it on top of the table with a slow movement, then turned his gaze toward the tightly closed door of Mahiru's bedroom.
The atmosphere inside the apartment unit felt highly harrowing and quiet, as though time had stopped spinning.
Ever since the two of them arrived back home yesterday afternoon, Mahiru had directly shut herself inside her room.
The girl had not touched food at all or drunk even a single drop of water provided by Charlie. She only occasionally came out in silence to go to the toilet, then locked herself back up without uttering a single word.
Mahiru was a highly good girl, possessing a heart that was exceedingly gentle and full of empathy.
Charlie knew perfectly well that seeing the tragic deaths of tens of thousands of victims in yesterday's tragedy had left a highly deep psychological wound on the girl's soul.
After all, if one traced the root cause of the two bloody acts of terrorism—both the one that attacked Seijo High School and the mass bombing at the hospital—their interconnectedness absolutely could not be separated from the existence of Mahiru and Amane.
The Abyssal Devourer that served as their enemy knew no morals, boundaries, or humanity.
That creature was willing to use the most despicable methods and sacrifice tens of thousands of innocent human lives, as long as its primary objective to kill the heroine and protagonist in this world could be achieved.
Indirectly, all the people who died in the two major terrorism incidents within a short period of time lost their lives simply because they were near Mahiru and Amane.
Charlie knew that the intelligent Mahiru had also realized that horrific fact.
The girl knew that it was her presence that had accidentally drawn catastrophe for the people around her, and that deep regret was what caused her to fall into depression.
Charlie leaned his back against the sofa, staring at the quiet ceiling of the apartment while exhaling a long breath.
"Tch, an Abyssal Devourer of the Parasite Type like this is truly very troublesome." He murmured in a low tone of voice and annoyance. "I would much prefer if I had to face a Summoner Type that overtly summons strong Villains from various anime universes to fight against me, rather than having to face a crafty enemy that keeps hiding inside the darkness and manipulating humans as pawns like this Parasite Type."
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