"I must admit that I'm surprised by your ability to comprehend," Zero walked to him and said while squatting down, "You're the first one who can comprehend this and counterattack without being given any explanation."
The Pure Witch picked up the rifle on the ground, carefully explored it for a moment and said, "Rare materials, exquisite processing techniques... Is this a snow powder weapon as well? The items you created are really scary, however, they do not pose much threat to me. I've been watching the entire battle closely. Most of the slender tubes in the tunnel and the thick iron tubes behind the camp rely on the operators and you could not even see my movements." She shook her head and said, "It's impossible for you to defeat me, I've devoured over a thousand warriors and even an Extraordinary over the years."
Suddenly, a green plastic box appeared between them.
A loud explosion suddenly rang through the roof. The glass in the classroom crunched and even the entire floor of the building was blown up with a hole in it. The air current swept the old iron stairwell door to the ground.
"It's not because I have a strong ability to comprehend, but your stage setting is too lousy!" Roland reappeared in the corner of the rooftop. He was gasping for air as the sharp pain was still fresh in his memory. He could now understand the feeling of those who were amputated before they died. He 'made' an explosive to bomb both Zero and himself into pieces at the same time as he could not tolerate it anymore.
"Lousy?" Zero who was newly born raised her eyebrows and said, "It's in your memory."
"However, it's created through your ability. It's six o'clock in the evening, the busiest time on the campus! How is it possible that there's no one on the field? It seems exquisite but it's just a setting full of loopholes." He was thinking of a countermeasure while delaying for time. "Is this the way you devour your opponent? Force them into despair so that they'll give up and obediently dedicate their knowledge and skills to you?"
The skills of the Pure Witch were somewhat similar to the Extraordinary, or at least Roland had only seen such power and speed on Ashes. The Pure Witch could only be hurt by powerful explosives from which he could not escape either as it was difficult to hit her with only a normal firearm.
However, was it really that simple? After three resurrections, Roland could already feel his sweaty back. His heart was pounding faster than before as if he just ran around the field and he was physically weaker.
Perhaps the number of the resurrections was limited.
In this case, it was not a good idea to bomb an entire building with high explosives... The score was already three to one now and he must quickly regain the position.
There was no doubt that what he needed was a weapon that could both attack and defend.
"Although I don't quite understand what you're talking about, however, isn't it good to surrender?" Zero said with her head tilted to one side, "It's a wise choice even if it means that you have to give up as death is a torture to anyone."
"You can keep those words to yourself." Roland loudly shouted. "Ironman!"
A red metal armor suddenly appeared in front of him and he quietly recited "Start the program" in his heart after walking into the armor from behind.
A narrow display screen appeared at the front of the helmet, however, the armor did not close up by itself and no artificial intelligence responded to his command.
The armor fell to the ground straight away, even before he managed to move forward.
Zero's blade had already cut into Roland's neck when he got up.
The entire world suddenly turned upside down and he could see his body helplessly kneeling down before he passed out.
"You should at least give it some joints if you're trying to create a plate armor," the Pure Witch knocked on the empty armor and said, "However, I don't think that a hollow and thin iron sheet has much effect."
Roland's heart quickly sank after his fourth resurrection.
Although the death was not painful, Roland had realized a harsh truth, the thing he created without understanding its principle was just an empty shell. For example, the display screen on the helmet was simply a camera.
"Damn, I can only use the stupid method now."
While Zero was still pondering on the metal armor, a few pieces of steel plates as thick as 10 centimeters appeared out of nowhere and fell beside him, forming into a blockhouse that could hide only one person. A protected weapon control station rose on the top of the blockhouse and it was carrying 40 millimeters grenade machine gun. Roland quickly plunged into it and locked the entrance while controlling the weapon station to fire at the Pure Witch.
This attempt had finally worked.
Zero could not avoid the destruction scope of the grenade machine gun even when she approached the blockhouse again. Roland continuously shot the grenades around the blockhouse and the flying fragments had pierced through her body while making a banging noise as they hit the thick steel plate.
Unfortunately, Roland was unable to find Zero's resurrection position at once and she had quickly retracted to hide in the corner of the stairwell to avoid the explosive grenade that was coming towards her.
A radiant splendor appeared in the darkening sky when he was just about to 'create' another weapon. A golden light was swirling above the clouds and the dazzling tassels had replaced the sunset which was cast into the shade.
The scene was familiar to him.
Suddenly, a myriad of golden thunder fell on top of the building and Roland was instantly engulfed!
After the fifth death, Roland was drenched in cold sweat as if he just came out of the water and his calves and arms were uncontrollably twitching.
The blockhouse was completely melted by the Sigil of God's Will. However, it had not caused much damage to the ground other than the ground was charred. The unreasonable magic power was still working in this battle.
"Just give up." Unexpectedly, Zero did not closely pursue. "Your energy has already reached the limit. Any additional battle is meaningless as you'll not get anything other than endless pain."
Roland clenched his teeth and strongly held on to himself. "Why does she keep asking me to surrender when she can obviously win this battle if she continues to pursue and attack? Is the output going to be different for her if I surrender myself instead of being killed after exhaustion?"
"You should now understand that both creation and death consume energy. The exhaustion of energy means failure. Everyone has a different energy level and it's beyond my expectation that you can last until now." She stretched out her arms and said, "By the way, I have an over 200 years of experience. That will be doubled if it includes the time I spent in the soul battle. In other words, my energy is enough to endure hundreds of deaths and your efforts will only make you more desperate."
"Hundreds... Is it a boast or the truth?" However, Roland felt that Zero was not lying as she looked relaxed.
And, Roland did not have much energy left to consume.