Editing Apocalypse Witch:Volume1 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 9===

Night turned to day. No, it was more like a video that turned out entirely white because the exposure was set wrong.

A sunburn-like pain covered Karuta’s entire body. And it did not end there. The pain increased endlessly. He knew he could not stay here, so he slipped below a car parked on the curb.

His fingers were moving oddly.

Pointy crystals stuck out from all over his body like distorted scales.

(What’s happening now!?)

The attack continued for more than thirty seconds before night returned. He clenched his teeth at the pain, waited for the healing to complete, and checked on things outside. After a thirty second interval, white light filled the world once more.

“Kyah!?” screamed Marika.

“We did not see this phenomenon before,” said Aine.

“But we can survive brief exposure to this,” he said. “Can she switch between a focused and wide-angle version? Or…”

The next attack came, but when he took a closer look, he realized the blinding light did not fill the entire space.

It was more like a polka dot pattern or a mesh.

Countless light spears were piercing the city of London at a set interval. There were tens, hundreds, or even thousands of them and the space between that mesh of attacks was roasted by the residual heat. It was like how a grill efficiently heated food.

“Is this a scattershot!? She doesn’t just have the one satellite weapon. How many weapons are staring down at the planet!?”

“Sacri-sama, the light spears appear to be firing on the same coordinates each time. She likely scanned London’s terrain and calculated the optimal layout for evenly cooking everything with the radiant heat.”

“Thousands of attacks she can fire simultaneously with the added bonus of roasting an entire city if she scans the terrain?” said Marika. “I see. I suppose you would need something like that to count as one of the world’s strongest.”

“But, Marika, as convenient as this is, it isn’t immediately effective. She must be waiting for me to screw up, which means she’s lost track of me.”

“Argh, maybe it would be easier to travel along the subway tracks.”

“Sacri-sama, this much damage is within acceptable bounds for me. I can continue as is.”

“Pretend it’s hurting you. You’ll stick out like a sore thumb otherwise.”

He crawled out from below the car in between shots.

He had not expected this at all back then, so it was pure luck that he had told that girl to escape indoors.

And he had learned something. The attacks and the pause between attacks both lasted about thirty seconds. Once he knew that, this scattershot mode was no threat. By running into a boxy smoking area or a building with its windows smashed by the rioters, he could take shelter while making his way toward the Palace of Westminster. When he ran across a rioter writhing on the ground, he did his best to shove them underneath a nearby car.

“I’m not…”

He gasped for breath and felt sweat unpleasantly soaking his body, but there was a thin smile on his face.

“I’m not afraid of you anymore, Yukino Arakawa.”

The hunter ran through the dark city of London which had been transformed into a fiery hell.

He was drawing ever closer to the Palace of Westminster where his prey awaited.