Surprisingly, I landed perfectly beside the igniting royal guard Almond.
He must have sensed me land behind him — because he suddenly threw Shija like a broken doll and let go of her neck.
I couldn't tell how bright that damn monster was.
He looked at least ten feet taller. His mustache and eyes literally burning, the heat radiating off him like the atmosphere itself had caught fire.
A second sun.
He turned around, shifting his gaze directly at me — and nothing irritated me more than his proud, satisfied expression.
"You haven't fled yet, clown?" As the words left his mouth, the heat rose higher.
So this is what people imagine hell to be.
I coughed. "Well — not without her.
I can't leave her behind in your hands. Honestly, you look like a creep."
He chuckled and stepped only one inch closer — yet it nearly made me unable to breathe.
"Who are you kidding, kid?
You can't even stand properly, let alone breathe." He tilted his head, resting his hammer on his shoulder.
"So what now? You'll try that trick again? Tell me a joke?"
I clicked my tongue. "What else can I do?" I stepped closer — which is the most foolish thing I have ever done in my life. I think.
You might ask why.
Well — maybe because my skin started to burn with each step, and even that arrogant royal guard's eyes opened wide with shock.
I continued. "But why don't we just try to have a good laugh?"
Strangely enough, he didn't drive his hammer through me. Not yet, at least.
He just stood there like a statue of power and pride.
How disgusting.
But I noticed something interesting. The wound Shija had caused earlier — before I entered the database — wasn't burning away and healing. It was only getting darker.
"What's your name, clown?" His tone was sincere and firm — the same way he'd asked Shija's name. Which made me oddly happy for a moment.
I wanted to answer. To say — "I'm Sammael Morningstar." But I couldn't. And I didn't know why. Maybe it had something to do with Uncle John's answer earlier.
I smiled as the skin on my lips began to burn and said,
"A clown."
His eyes narrowed. "You're not allowed to say it, are you?"
"No — that's my name."
He laughed, and somehow it made the suffocating air settle slightly.
"What a ridiculous name!"
"Well — your name is Almond. Don't you think that's equally ridiculous?"
His smile twisted into a frown, making the air hotter than ever.
Damn my vile mouth. Couldn't I just shut up for once?
His grip tightened around his hammer.
"The name you mock so carelessly is the name of the greatest god humanity has ever witnessed!"
I laughed.
"What are you laughing at, clown?"
"Sorry, sorry — but don't you think it's just… hilarious that you say that with such conviction while serving the god of the west?"
I could have sworn I heard something roaring from deep in his throat — but it didn't frighten me. It only made me continue.
"Besides — is the sun god even a god?
To my knowledge, there are only seven gods. The ones Lucifer created. Could you enlighten me, sir?"
Sadly, he did not enlighten me. He just raised his burning finger upward toward the sun.
But something was… off.
The very ground beneath his feet began to crack. Fire surrounded him from every angle.
His hammer seemed heavier — he was holding it with both hands for the first time. Or perhaps it was the hand Shija had wounded, now completely pitch black, that was weakening his grip.
"To say such disgusting things about the sun god — while you and everyone else live under his light — is unforgivable…"
Wasn't the sun a star? Well. I might be wrong. Nothing is certain, is it?
"I intended to let you both go after you handed over the data…" He waved his hammer slightly in my direction. A cool move, honestly.
"But now? You both burn to dust!"
He charged the hammer straight at me.
Watching it hanging in the air like that, I realized — it was slower than his earlier attacks.
If I just leaped to the left, I might not even get a scratch.
But I didn't.
I just stood there. Waiting for his hammer to crush me — like some vile criminal awaiting execution. Which is, now that I think about it, exactly what's happening.
And could my brain please shut up for once and focus on what matters?
I wanted to feel it again.
The taste of iron.
The chest pain that makes everything go dizzy.
I wanted to feel all of it.
Wait — is it over?
Huh?
I looked to my left.
My arm had been cut off completely, wild fire consuming the stump where it used to be.
Any moment now and the sweet pain will come.
"This must hurt like hell — I can't wait!!" How naive of me.
I waited a moment. Then another. then -
NOTHING?!
I chuckled faintly, wondering where the taste of iron was. Where was that sudden desperate urge to survive?
But yet again —
NOTHING…
Shouldn't my heart at least beat a little faster?
Almond held his hammer back.
He didn't look proud. He didn't look joyful.
He looked confused — which was ironically exactly how I felt.
His eyes opened wide. His jaw dropped completely.
He stepped back and said with a crooked voice,
"How… are you still standing?!"
The proud, conceited tone from before — completely gone.
As if he were a different person entirely.
I loved it - no wonder it aroused me so much…
I loved it so much I started laughing hysterically. Too loud. Too obnoxious. But who cares?
"How are you laughing?!
You should be weeping in pain!"
The fire around him looked faint now. His arm was entirely covered in black from Shija's wound.
"What are you?!"
"Why aren't you burning?!"
I stepped closer — and what was truly funny was that with every step I took, he instinctively stepped back.
"Don't come any closer, damn it — you freak!"
"I CAN'T FEEL PAIN, YOU IDIOT!"
Almond's face was drenched in sweat. Even his tight grip on the giant hammer no longer looked intimidating — it looked more like a desperate last resort. Something to hold onto rather than a weapon capable of crushing me in an instant.
"YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE, ALMOND — SUN GOD'S DESCENDANT?"
My voice rose even higher. It felt Great to... Just to yell to my heart's content. As if I were the one in control.
"I CANNOT DIE EITHER! .
Burn me. Crush me with that great hammer of yours — and I will just come back and haunt you. Again and again."
His jaw trembled. That trembling pushed me further.
"And not just you… your wife. Your daughters and sons. Your grandchildren."
His eyes were wide open — yet his pupils weren't directed at me. I could feel him struggling to force them to look at me directly.
Is that what normal people call
Terror?
I picked up my severed arm like a piece of trash and waved it at him.
"You said you'd make me burn and turn to ash… yet even my cut-off arm isn't burnt in the slightest."
Almond finally stopped stepping back.
His heartbeat was loud and clear even from inches away.
Which was… delightful.
"Do you really believe that a pathetic trembling giant like you is the sun god's descendant?"
Almond gritted his teeth and yelled — his voice carrying the rage of someone who had just lost the most important thing they owned.
You might ask what he lost.
"I'M THE SUN GOD'S GREATEST WARRIOR!"
He lost what he held most dear.
His pride. And with it, his identity.
"Are you sure of that, Almond?"
I touched his chest — heaving beneath the melted, golden armor.
"Don't you think you're just… trying to convince yourself?"
He didn't answer. Just stared at the ground in shame.
I raised his chin, forcing him to look upward.
To look at me.
"Don't look at the ground, sir."
"Why…?" he asked, his voice broken.
"Because looking down is basically surrendering.
And I got the impression that you had already
Given up - have you ? "
"I haven't!" he said sharply.
The blue distorted star began to form on his forehead — though the sun's light seemed to still be resisting it.
I licked my lips.
"You said you're the sun god's greatest warrior just now, right?"
He nodded.
"And I believe you. Truly."
His eyes suddenly sparked.
Hope?
"You do?" His voice was filled with uncertainty. It reminded me of my own — and made me think that maybe Almond and I weren't so different underneath. Maybe it was only the surface that separated us.
Damn the surface...
"I do, my friend.
But I'm not the one you need to convince."
I raised my hand upward, pointing at the sun.
"He is the one who needs you to prove it."
His gloomy expression began to twist into a smile — one not unlike my own.
"Yes… you are right, clown!"
His fingers tightened around his hammer.
"But why do you want me to kill you?"
I smiled and stepped back a couple of paces.
"Because I love you, Almond."
I raised my hand toward the sky.
"Show me the sun shining, Almond!"
He held his hammer upright — despite the black spreading from Shija's wound — and the heat finally began to rise again as he charged the hammer at me . roaring in excitement to recover what's left of his pride .. what a fool .
I wonder if I'd feel anything this time.
I chuckled and closed my eyes.
"I guess we'll find out."