The dark shadows… the fallen rushed over viciously, trying to tangle up Hisashi and Kaede!
However, the moment they touched Hisashi and Kaede, the shadows were dissolved by a faint golden glow on their bodies. It was as if snow and ice had come into contact with a powerful flame.
After all, Hisashi and Kaede weren't fallen like they were. There was a spell protecting them.
The fallen would have to undergo the pain of being dissolved in order to obstruct them.
Yet even so, the fallen still continuously swarmed them, refusing to let them leave.
Even more fallen chose to swarm Zankita.
Although the golden light protecting Hisashi and Kaede extended itself to Zankita as well, since Zankita was now a skeleton, the protection's effect was greatly weakened.
Zankita got stuck due to too many fallen dragging on to him.
"Let go!"
Hisashi waved his hand to dissolve them.
However, a new batch of fallen instantly replaced them.
Hisashi and Kaede both worked their hardest to dispel all the evil dark shadows.
The two of them protected Zankita just like this while doing their best to continue moving upwards.
Thus began their difficult return journey.
After an unknown period of time, the nightmares began overlapping with each other.
Hisashi was no longer able to differentiate what was real and what was only an illusion.
Perhaps there was no such thing as "real" to begin with?
'No, I can't think like that. I can't lose my sense of self, because I have to keep moving upwards…
'Upwards?
'Go upwards… to where?
'I remember that I need to return somewhere… return where?
'I can't remember… calm down and think it over carefully.
'That's right, I need to return home!
'But where is my home?
'Why do I need to go upwards in order to return home? Do I live somewhere really high?
'No, that shouldn't be it… it's not that I live somewhere really high, it's that I fell down.
'Fell down… to where?
'Why did I fall down? Where did I fall down to?
'It feels like I fell down to a very deep, incredibly scary place, together with someone else… who was that person?
'Who… who… who… damn it, I can't remember, this is so annoying!
'I absolutely have to remember… but why?
'Isn't it just forgetting about someone? Why does it feel like I care so much?
'I don't want to think about it, but it's so annoying not remember what I forgot.
'So annoying so annoying so annoying so annoying so annoying so annoying so annoying so annoying so annoying so annoying…
'I want to die with how annoying it is.
'Why not just die, then!
'If I die, I won't have any more pain, I won't be annoyed anymore.
'Alright, it's decided then. I'm going to commit suicide.
'I should write a suicide letter… forget it, I wouldn't know who to write it to.
'Not to mention I can't even remember who I am anymore. Haha.
'Eh? Why do I suddenly have a gun in my hand?
'No, I was holding on to this earlier, wasn't I?
'That's right, I originally intended to do this anyways.
'I don't want to live anymore because it's too painful, too tiring.
'Farewell, whoever I am. Although I don't know why I'm feeling somewhat apologetic, I've had enough. Let's just end things like this.'
He aimed his gun at his head.
And then, he began pressing down on the trigger…
*Boom!*
There was the sound of a gunshot.
Hisashi jumped at the sound.
That was because it was someone else's gun that sounded, not his own.
He turned around to see a blonde woman.
This caused Hisashi to remember everything.
He recalled who he was, where he was, and what he was doing…
"Get down!" Kaede shouted at him.
Hisashi did so immediately.
Kaede started shooting at a zombie that appeared on the wall.
*Bang bang bang bang…*
The gun shot out golden bullets that eradicated all the strangely shaped dark zombies.
Several zombies approached from behind her.
Kaede turned around and used a whirlwind kick to kick them all away!
"Hurry and leave," she told Hisashi.
Hisashi grabbed the skeleton on the floor and carried it on his shoulders.
The two of them walked up the stairs.
As they progressed, dark zombies kept continuously appearing. They fought back using their guns as they kept moving upwards.
Suddenly, the environment changed yet again.
Hisashi no longer possessed his gun, and his sister had disappeared to somewhere else. Hisashi was carrying the skeleton alone and standing in a graveyard.
Dark demons started crawling out from everywhere and approaching him.
Many arms started reaching out from the ground and began to forcefully tug on the skeleton.
Hisashi raised his hand, causing a longsword to appear in his hand. The sword was sharp and shone with a golden light.
He swung his sword around, slicing through the demon arms and eradicating the demons.
A golden line appeared and continued indicating the path that he should take. Hisashi continued to carry Zankita while following the direction indicated as he continuously destroyed all demons that appeared before him.
His left hand was injured by a zombie bite due to a moment of carelessness.
Hisashi grit his teeth and withstood the sharp pain that attacked him. With a golden flash, his wound healed.
He continued onward.
A blood-red line appeared, and he immediately changed direction to follow that instead. After following it for a while, he located Kaede.
She was standing there in a daze, with a faceless demon attached to her body. It was moving the sword in her hand towards her neck.
Hisashi immediately rushed over and slew the demon with his sword!
Kaede instantly woke up and regained her senses.
"Let's go!"
The two of them continued onward.
The environment continued to change.
The siblings pulled on the skeleton in the abyss while dispelling dark shadows and did their best to continue upwards.
The environment continued to change.
The siblings dragged on the skeleton while fighting with packs of wolves in a blizzard while climbing a snowy mountain.
The environment continued to change.
The siblings carried the skeleton while fighting enemy soldiers in a hailstorm of bullets as they passed through enemy campgrounds.
The environment continued to change…
In the endlessly changing and overlapping environment of hell and its illusions, Hisashi and Kaede kept continuously taking damage, suffering various pains, and forgetting over and over again about who they were and what they were doing.
Their spirits had already become unavoidably numb… they were struggling on the brink of becoming fallen themselves, and they were only stubbornly persisting by relying on each other.
It was already quite tough.
They were truly just barely holding on.
However, neither of them mentioned wanting to use their one and only chance to ask for help.
If they asked for it, Seiji would come assist them.
Although he would only be able to help for one minute, it would definitely be a huge help.
Even if he couldn't do anything at all in here, even if he only appeared, that would be an incredible encouragement by itself to the two siblings right now.
They really wanted to ask for help.
They wanted to be saved.
But precisely because of this, they couldn't ask for help at all.
That was because this was all that was currently supporting them to go on.
Hisashi and Kaede both realized that if they used up their only chance of asking for help that it might become impossible for them to persist until the end.
It was as if they possessed merely a single candle in this endless dark labyrinth.
If they didn't use it, they would still feel a light in their hearts.
But if they ignited the candle and used it up, then they wouldn't have anything left anymore.
'When we really can't go on anymore, we can still go for help… so, until we 'really can't go on,' let's just bear with it for a little longer.'
They continued moving upwards… upwards… upwards…
The obstacles they met with became stronger and stronger.
They number of times they lost their own sense of self became more and more.
It took longer and longer for them to find each other again after being separated.
Finally, they were injured irrecoverably.
Hisashi finally collapsed after accumulating too many injuries in battle.
Kaede was left alone, forced to face a black gigantic monster that was approaching her by herself.
She was similarly seriously injured. However, she began smiling as she looked at the fearsome monster that seemed like an incarnation of despair.
"Seiji… I want to see you."
She summoned Seiji.
The black gigantic monster reached out towards her.
A golden figure descended from the sky!
The large monster's hand was shattered by this golden figure. Then, its mouth, followed by its entire body, were all entirely shattered as it vanished completely.
Seiji turned towards Kaede and Hisashi to cast healing magic on both of them after taking care of the huge fallen threatening them in one swoop.
Then, he pulled on Kaede's hand, while telling Kaede to hold Hisashi's hand, while Hisashi would pull on the skeleton… Zankita.
"Hold on tight!"
Seiji began flying!
Their procession transformed into a golden light.
Seiji crushed every fallen that attempted to obstruct them! He tossed them downwards before they even finished dissolving.
Seiji kept speeding up… speeding up… speeding up…
He sped up to the maximum, causing the environment around them to speedily change like a kaleidoscope turning at high speed.
Seiji withstood a tremendous amount of pressure while taking the Juumonji siblings with him in flying past an indeterminable distance in the endless abyss of hell.
Bright-red blood began seeping out from all over his body.