Editing Apocalypse Witch:Volume4 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 5===

One hit.

The large mercenary’s head wobbled backwards.

His consciousness faded.

He worked as a mercenary, so he had been prepared for his life to meet a sudden end at some point. He had known that all too well, so Athabaskan Rio Grande had not been bound by a fear of death.

A second hit.

But.

For some reason, he would not pass out.

Something other than his death made him reluctant to give up.

He heard a sound in the back of his mind, like a ringing in his ear.

It was a voice.

A girl’s voice.

''“You can’t do it.”

The last of the Problem Solvers had apparently been defeated in America.

And the Four Living Gods were all Japanese. This new era unavoidably reduced America’s presence in the world. And he had wanted to preserve the value of his country.

So he had wanted to defeat a world’s strongest. Just one would do.

Anyone could use a phone or computer. The world of guns and tanks had been one of entrenched power, but the field of robotics still had room for newcomers. So he had started from there. The flying drone weapon and the powered suit to boost leg strength were both technologies that could be used to enrich people’s lives, but he had redefined them as a means to fight.

He had used them to bring himself victory.

And yet.

''“You can never be the strongest.”

The third hit produced a different sound.

Utagai Karuta’s aim had unintentionally drifted.

The shotgun stock meant for the man’s face had instead swung down toward his chest. It was going to break the emergency buzzer ''he had been given.

Athabaskan Rio Grande refused to relinquish his consciousness and instead bit firmly at the shotgun swung down toward his face.

He could not die.

Not when he had yet to accomplish anything.

He could not give up before truly challenging his foe. He could not even consider going down in a blaze of glory. He had to grasp at victory, no matter how ugly it was. He had to reclaim the glory of the world’s strongest.

Because he knew that was enough to save some people.

Like the person who had ''given him this'' because she was worried about a mere mercenary who had sold his own life as a commercial tool.

So.

To accomplish that…

(Not…yet.)

The unpleasant grinding and cracking sounds would not stop.

It meant sacrificing his own teeth and filling his mouth with blood, but that Native American mercenary managed to bite and destroy the shotgun made of plastic and special alloy.

(My arms and legs can still move. I might be bound by my magic, but I still have my life. So I can still fight!!!!!!)

The shotgun shells spilled from the tube.

If the shells contained in the shotgun functioned as his totem, then he could break that bond by destroying the shotgun!!