Act VI: The Symbiosis of Fallen Wings
The ground where Hinata stood just a moment ago shatters.
A chill runs down her spine as she realizes that would have been her fate had she been too slow to dodge.
Yet, there’s no fear in her heart. She sees only what she must do.
At the start of the battle, her heart raced with each evasion. Now, it’s completely calm.
“For all your big talk, you’re doing nothing but running away!”
“…”
Unfazed by her opponent’s taunts, Hinata calmly avoids the powerful arms swinging at her, scattering shockwaves.
Gravel from the asphalt scatters across the empty main street.
(Just a moment ago, so many people were having fun here…)
Hinata feels a pang of sadness at the now-deserted food stalls, where colorful balloons sway emptily.
And at herself, for not being able to protect it all.
(Even so, now I must keep dodging…!)
No matter how fast she is, attacks are meaningless if they can’t deal damage.
Defense is impossible; evasion is the only option.
Having stripped away all excess, her mind is as still as a windless lake surface.
But it’s like walking a tightrope a thousand times over.
Hinata’s body is cold to the fingertips from the tension.
At this moment, Hinata was taking a “gamble”.
“Hah…”
She nimbly dodges the fist closing in before her eyes.
After countless repetitions of this exchange, the Gouki was visibly growing impatient.
“You’re persistent, aren’t you? The guys before you went down in an instant, even six-on-one.
What a pitiful senpai you have.”
“Gh-!… “
She knows.
His aim is to unsettle her. So Hinata strives to appear unresponsive.
She kicks off the ground and [Accelerates].
Instantly shifting from initial to top speed, she moves erratically.
The enemy’s attacks keep missing.
– a Natural Talent Lux that comprehensively enhances strength, toughness, and agility – is undoubtedly a [Physical Enhancement] type. Yet in agility alone, Hinata is overwhelmingly superior.
That’s why this stalemate persists.
However, Hinata knew this couldn’t last long.
Using her Natural Talent Lux to dodge each time advances the [Hunger] of her Compensation Umbra.
Already, the hunger pangs have swollen to the point where she could easily polish off two or three plates of curry.
Curry might seem out of place, but it’s a “thirst” as intense as craving water in a desert, tormenting Hinata.
What kept Hinata calm despite this was the thought that “if I’m suffering, so must he be.”
Where there is light, there must be shadow.
No one has a Natural Talent Lux without a Compensation Umbra.
And that was the true nature of Hinata’s “gamble”.
In other words, a contest of endurance against the drawback.
The had already fought several angels before Hinata.
The likelihood of him reaching his limit first is high.
“Scurrying around like that, how annoying…!”
Indeed, his impatience grows with each passing moment.
Hinata judged the odds of her gamble as not bad.
The chances of this gamble working were about three in four – three out of the four types of Compensation Umbra.
Three of the four types of compensatory umbra: Immediate deployment (immediate payment), advance deployment (prepayment), and accelerated deployment (deferred payment).
The effects vary by type, but the growing impatience suggests Gouki the ‘s is likely the best-case scenario – the same deferred payment as Hinata’s.
“You’re pissing me off!!”
The powerful arms swing at a speed easily surpassing normal humans, but…
The strikes are clearly becoming sloppier, and inversely, dodging becomes easier.
Eventually, the rain of powerful blows ceased.
“Hah… hah…”
The attacker’s shoulders heave as he breathes, his face contorted.
“Please surrender quietly.”
Hinata issues a surrender demand with slight relief – and sees the demon’s mouth curl into a grin.
“As if.”
“Eh…!?”
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She barely avoids the sudden blow. Landing, she takes more distance than before.
Gouki the deepens his smile at her frightened puppy-like behavior.
“Ah, I missed. Oh well. Let me teach you something good.”
“What…?”
“You were aiming for my Compensation Umbra to intensify, right? All you winged insects think alike. Those without power always try to get by with cheap tricks.”
“…!”
Hinata’s expression tightens as she realizes her aim was seen through.
Enjoying even this reaction, Gouki the continues:
“Too bad for you, my Compensation Umbra is – payment in advance.”
“What!?”
If it’s not deferred payment, then why…
“Then why did you seem so impatient…”
“That? I was just acting to see your look of despair. I hadn’t settled our ‘debt’ from before, you see.”
The only thing that comes to mind when he says “before” is the shopping mall incident.
“I’m quite diligent, you know,” Gouki the grins, and Hinata steps back.
“It was masterful. The way you thought you’d won.”
“Ugh…”
“You bet on the prepaid type being unlikely since I’d been active for so long, right? Too bad for you, haha!”
Realizing her thoughts had been completely read, Hinata’s mind goes blank.
Frankly, she had been deceived by the ‘s appearance.
One could say she had underestimated him.
She had been led to do so.
This villain was far more cautious and cunning than Hinata had thought.
Realizing this, she wonders.
What’s the meaning behind this cunning man revealing everything so carelessly?
Is it just mockery?
But if so, it would be more certain to immobilize Hinata first, and this man would choose that.
So then…
“Hahaha, you’ve figured it out? I like perceptive ones, their reactions are fun. Yeah, that’s right. My Compensation Umbra is prepaid [Accumulation]. The longer I’m defenseless before an enemy, the more my Natural Talent Lux’s effect and duration increase.”
“No way…”
In other words, this very moment is the time of [Accumulation].
Even now, the enemy is gathering power to unleash his divine gift lux.
It would be easy to deny this as a lie meant to mock her.
But Hinata’s mind concludes it’s not a lie.
After all, thinking back, Gouki the had indeed exposed himself defenseless before her at both the shopping mall and the intersection.
“…gh, gh”
She needs to move quickly.
She can’t let the Gouki accumulate power.
But it’s already too late.
She doesn’t know how much the Natural Talent Lux is affected by the Compensation Umbra’s time.
But having given him time to [Accumulate] once, there’s no future where Hinata, nearing her limit, can turn this around…
Her heart, so calm before, now ripples with unease.
Her feet, once light, now seem rooted to the ground.
Her fingertips remain cold.
“Pathetic, aren’t you, little insect?”
The man called towers before her.
He slowly raises his arm.
— I need to dodge.
Even that thought is swallowed by the rough waves and disappears.
Faced with an attack she should be able to avoid, her feet won’t move an inch.
The demon before her twists his mouth sadistically.
“It’s over!”
As that fist swings down,
“You are.”
The giant before Hinata’s eyes is sent flying sideways.
“Eh…?”
A thunderous roar.
The ‘s massive body flies across the main street.
He’s slammed into the building opposite.
Hinata turns to look at the owner of the voice that did this.
He was there, in a stance of having just completed an upper kick.
His black robe flutters, scattering vivid red spider lilies through the air.
“Hey there, you don’t look so good. Heroine of justice.”
The same light banter as always.
“Diver…gence…”
Hinata meets this man of deep connection for the third time.
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