Only I know that this world will end – 077 | Sousaku – 創作

Trauma

――――Please, no more.

As Akira struggled and dodged through the monsters' attacks, one by one, Nao Nanase would let out an unspoken plea each time one of them would bite.

Her skin was bitten off, revealing flesh.
The fangs were thrust again on top of it, this time exposing the bones.
Bones of limbs broken and crushed.
Each time, she would scream and burst into tears.
There was no escape even if she wanted to get out of here. Looking around, drooling monsters attacked one after another, as if it was their turn to strike.

――――Stop. No more, please!!

In a wordless scream, Nao's throat was ripped open before she realized.
The taste of blood in her mouth was disgusting.
The pain turned into heat, raging inside Nao.
She no longer knew how many times she had blacked out and awakened due to pain.
Then, at the moment when she tried to scream for the umpteenth time. Nao heard a grating buzzing in her ear.
Upon turning her head to look, she saw a Killer Bee, which had dodged Akira's attack and was approaching, about to pierce her with a poisonous needle from its abdomen.

――――Please no. Stop. Not that!

The words that she desperately spat out disappeared in a froth of blood.
And then, puck.
The Killer Bee's poisonous needle pierced Nao's side.
That moment. Nao's body felt intense pain like she had never felt before.

――――It hurts. It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!!!!

The pain was so intense that it felt as if the very nerves running throughout her body were being torn out one by one.
The cry was no longer audible, and Nao felt her body jump regardless of her intentions as her grazed breath escaped her mouth.
Then, all at once, her vision darkened.
Even the sound of her own heartbeat, which had been beating noisily, faded away.
All sensations were lost, as if the pain, suffering, and everything else that had been felt before had been absorbed into the darkness.

――――Sto-p.

The last words that Nao conjured up no longer reached anyone's ears.
Only a single tear spilled from her eye.

――And Nao Nanase was brought back to life again.

"...!! "

The place where she woke up again was, as one might expect, in the middle of a battlefield.
The Self-Defense Forces charged toward the Killer Bees with a roar.
People rushed to join the fight, but they were not strong enough and were killed by the Killer Bees.
Screams and shrieks. Screams and buzzing of wings. Blood spilled from a bite by a Killer Bee and a comrade dying from a poisonous needle.
The thickly colored presence of death that wafted through the air from the moment she woke up instantly reminded Nao of all the memories she had immediately prior to the event.

"Hya……"

A small voice escaped from Nao's mouth.
An unwounded arm, leg, body, she was unharmed.
Yet, they faithfully reproduced that pain as if it were a phantom sensation.

"N-No…………! "

She couldn't breathe.
This time, they shouldn’t have been crushed yet.
When she touched her hand, she touched something slimy. Sweat. Nao, however, was not calm enough to judge it as sweat.

"Blood!? I'm bleeding!! "

Once she thought of that, she could understand all the pain in her limbs and her entire body.
I am on the verge of death again.
Assuming this, Nao crouched on the spot aloud.
Karube was the first to notice Nao's condition.

"Nanase-san!? "

Karube came straight to Nao after quickly cleaning up the Killer Bee in front of him with his team members.

"What's wrong!? "
"It hurts…… It hurts!! My arms, my legs, ...... my stomach hurts!! I'm bleeding! My throat was slashed, too!! "
"――! ? Calm down! Nanase-san, you are not injured! "
"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!! No, I don't want this anymore. Please, not this!! "
"Nanase-san!! "

Karube shouted loudly as he tightened his grip on Nao's confused shoulders.
That's when a Killer Bee appeared before her.
Repeatedly hovering finely, the Killer Bee slowly and as if taking aim at Nao, it poised its venomous stinger on its belly in front of her eyes.

"――――――"

Something inside Nao broke at the sight.

"Ah-a-aaah, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! ! "

With a scream, Nao pointed the pistol in her hand at the Killer Bee.

"――――――"

Nao then tried to invoke her magic.
But her voice failed to come out. Because her throat was tightened by fear.
Nao's mouth moved with a jerk as she let out a short gasp that could not even be called a breath.
While she was doing so, the Killer Bee took aim at Nao and at once thrust out the poisonous stinger in its belly.

――It was that moment.

"Nngh!! "

Karube, who was by her side, repelled the Killer Bee's poisonous stinger with a knife he was holding in his hand.
Then he hit Killer Bee with his whole body and blew it away, then quickly sent instructions to the person beside him.

"Take Nanase-san away as soon as possible!! "

At these words, one of the squad members left the battlefield with Nao in his arms.
While being held by the team members, Nao was delirious and repeatedly screamed as if she was remembering something.
Karube, unable to take in the situation, scrunched his forehead into a deep crease and exhaled to switch his thoughts.

"…………What in the world happened to Nanase-san?"

There was no one present who could answer those words.