Editing City Series:Volume3b Chapter 5 (section)

===Part 3===

The swing of Nein König used a steel-colored Live to strike Akira as she lay at the peak of the rubble mountain.

When the solid sound struck her, she broke apart into Lives for some reason.

The blue, refreshing wind Lives that gently floated up were not the Lives of a person.

Gunmal watched them go and muttered “It really was a doll”. He then looked around, ignoring the peak of the rubble mountain, and looked to a building rooftop on the left.

“Hey, could you quit hiding?”

“I suppose there is no point in hiding now.”

With those words, a figure appeared standing on the edge of the rooftop pierced by Gunmal’s gaze. The six-winged Nein Engel was Double Lee.

The right shoulder of his pure white combat coat was torn.

The white material was dyed red from the shoulder to the chest and it was definitely his own blood.

“Red looks pretty good on you. …But this isn’t the time. Why? Why isn’t Akira here?”

“I’m not sure I should tell you or not.”

“I’ll make you tell me one way or another. A Tuner can instantly heal the wounds after all.”

Double Lee smiled bitterly at those hostile words.

“I see. So I was right.”

“Hm? About what?”

“I wanted to know what you thought about my sister…about Akira.”

“So are you done with your little test? If so, I’d like to know how I did.”

Gunmal sounded carefree and Double Lee smiled back.

Then he slowly raised his right arm that had been limply hanging down.

The hand held a sword that emitted a transparent light.

It was a Device. It was a commercial model, but it was obvious at a glance that the precise mold gave it great accuracy.

But Gunmal was faster.

“Is that your answer!?”

He swung up Nein König.

He was not preparing for an attack. He made a diagonal strike from below.

“Ah.”

He amplified his own Live as he ran.

With a metallic tempo that rang into the distance and a steel Word Color, the Live formed a silver pillar of light.

The pillar was fifteen meters across and it swallowed up Double Lee with no chance to escape.

Or it should have.

Gunmal’s Live burst in front of Double Lee.

The pillar of light scattered in every direction and then gathered back together.

It had been Tuned.

Double Lee had given Gunmal’s Live a new form.

It became a Lesser Dragon.

The Lesser Dragon made of silver light was twenty meters tall and it even had scales, claws, and fangs.

“Not bad.”

Gunmal muttered lightly as he ran. He ran to the top of the rubble where the doll of Akira had been.

“At that height, I’ll be on the same level as him.”

The Lesser Dragon pursued him as he ran up the rubble.

Man and dragon moved at different speeds, so the giant fangs approached behind Gunmal in an instant. But…

“Ah.”

He fired a shot while looking back.

A great rumble rang out.

A moment later, the Lesser Dragon was blown away like a mere toy.

It gave a screaming roar.

And that was all.

Its twenty meter form collapsed at the base of the rubble and exploded.

Concrete shrapnel flew into the air, fell back down, and struck both the ground and rubble mountain.

But Gunmal paid it no heed.

“I hate being hit by my own Live. It makes me shudder.”

Meanwhile, he reached the peak and looked to the roof of the building to the left.

Double Lee stood there.

Blue, refreshing Lives flew around him.

They were Lives of the wind. Based on the sheer quantity, they probably had an Octave of about one million.

He swung his Device as if to slice through those Lives.

He looked to Gunmal and gave a shout.

“Word Accel! Oh, you Lives with an Octave of 1,300,000!”

It only took an instant for the wind to become a long, thick spear.

“!”

The spear flew toward Gunmal.

Unlike the Lesser Dragon, this attack moved directly toward him.

“You don’t make this easy!”

With that shout, Gunmal swung up Nein König.

And he voiced his own Live.

“Ahhhhhh!”

The Live was sharper and had a higher Tempo than before.

Nein König amplified the Live and produced a much brighter Word Color light than before.

Without even checking on that, he swung Nein König back down.

The bladeless sword-shaped Device sliced through the wind.

The released Live was narrower but several times brighter than before.

It was a powerful strike.

It pierced through the center of Double Lee’s wind spear.

With a great bursting sound, the wind scattered in every direction.

But Gunmal’s Live did not stop.

Beyond the destroyed and vanishing spear, it flew straight toward Double Lee.

Meanwhile, Double Lee thrust his Device forward to endure it.

“Don’t think you can defend with that!”

Gunmal stared at the man while raising Nein König once more.

In that instant, a slight smile covered Double Lee’s lips just as he prepared to receive Gunmal’s Live with his Device.

“!?”

Just as doubt filled Gunmal, Double Lee gave a shout.

“Fei!”

Gunmal followed Double Lee’s gaze.

He turned behind him and found someone else standing on the opposite building.

The name Double Lee had shouted belonged to a Galgallin man who had customized his entire body.

A mortar was already extending from his arm.

Gunmal saw the pure white Live of great heat building down the barrel.

Meanwhile, Gunmal had yet to prepare Nein König for his next attack.

“Just when I was wondering if you had gone after Akira!”

His shout was drowned out by the mortar’s blast.

At the same time, Gunmal’s Live struck Double Lee.

“!”

The two intense sounds joined together to fill Hong Kong with a single great roar.