Resolve

She knew that for someone like her to do such a thing was illogical. But even so, she wanted to save these children no matter what.

Sion Kenzaki continued to sprint on the road, through the crosswalk, past the convenience store, into an alley near a shopping mall, through the alley, past a student dorm, and she continued to dash on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on.

She couldn't waste any time.

Right now, as that fire was burning, lives were endangered.

However...to protect or destroy?

It was obvious which one was more suited for Sion. Sion's power was more suited to destroying than protecting others. No, perhaps this wasn't of a technical or theoretical problem now.

She couldn't protect others. She didn't know how to protect others. She couldn't even imagine herself saving others through her power.

This was no longer of reasoning, but concepts. Her power couldn't save anyone. The world she belonged to wouldn't allow her to save anyone.

If she just used her power to save someone for once, the common knowledge about er would collapse. 'Sion Kenzaki' would no longer exist. The Sion Kenzaki who saved others wouldn't be Sion Kenzaki at all. One could even say that he got replaced by someone else.

"Yeah, that's right. Anyone can tell which side I will choose." Sion continued to mutter to herself. She was not Tsuruko Sejren. There were many others who were more suited to be a savior than her. And unexpectedly, the seats over there were taken, there was no way in.

Her power wasn't suited to save others.

Her power was only suited to kill others.

Sion's mind immediately thought of a certain person's face.

"Humph, laugh at me now, former allies. I can only choose this side!" Then, she needed to make a decision. She had to choose whether or not to flee and live another day, or risk her life to save these children.

She decided to save those innocent children.

From that moment on, Sion Kenzaki was no longer Sion Kenzaki.

She stepped up to protect others. She took action to help others. She was going all out to save others. The term 'unsuitable' didn't even describe her now. Anyone who understood her and saw this would think that something was wrong with her, or even declare that 'the Sion who says this is definitely a fake'.

Her choice was this unbelievable.

One could even say that she had lost all reason to exist as Sion Kenzaki.

Rushing through the flames in the place which previous brought smiles to the children, Sion shielded her eyes from the smoke and fire defensively—whenever her keen eye caught somebody in danger, she did not hesitate to grab them and throw them in the direction of the exit immediately—from all outward appearances, she appeared to be panicking heavily. Running around, the people that she saved let out a "Thank you!"

Those words...

"Thank you."

They struck a kind chord in Sion's heart.

"So, you're now rebelling, Ouroboros?" Sitting on top of a burning pillar was a man clad in golden and black—possessing the motifs of a scorpion, he had six glowing red eyes and a stinger on the back of his head—finishing with clawed gauntlets and stinger-like legs. The Scorpio Symbiote had returned.

"Did you start the fire, you stingy asshole!?" Sion screamed at her enemy; Zander Calibur at the ready to strike out at the Scorpio Symbiote.

"What do you think?" The scorpion threw his hands up sarcastically, as if welcoming any speculation that Sion put forward. "Our goal is to spread despair. What better plan then to attack these pitiful worms in a retreat of joy and wonder?"

"That's..." Sion spat, "That's fucking disgusting. Listen up." She pointed at Scorpio confidently, "They may all look the same to you, but there are different kinds and different levels of evil. A first-class villain doesn't target honest lives." Her magical aura flared out—in the form of a certain familiar seven-headed serpent. "Now then. I'll teach you one thing about the aesthetics you lack... This is what a truly first-class villain is, fool. Your fate is mine to decide!"

Charging forward, Sion attacked with new feelings. She wasn't fighting for herself anymore, but instead, she was battling to save those who did not deserve to be caught up in the chaos of the Zodiac Knights' plans.

Slashing away, Sion struck at the golden-hued body of the Scorpio Symbiote with the Zander Calibur again and again, slashing with such ferocity that one could liken her to one of the Berserkers of Norse Legend.

Scorpio's body was like a flowing river—erratic, yet fluid and focused. Despite the demonic appearance of his monster form, Sion's foe smirked, "Your movements are too scattered. Honestly, who do you think you can harm while fighting like that?"

He crossed his arms arrogantly, releasing a powerful surge of magical energy as he declared, "Ground Fang!" Stomping on the ground, Scorpio's magical aura trailed into the earth, before exploding, unleashing a powerful, sharp stalagmite outwards in Sion's location...

There was no escape from this type of attack. As it attacked from below, Gehaburn could not react in time, and thus, the only option that Sion could take was to receive the full brunt of the attack.

Being blown away by Scorpio's Ground Fang, Sion was launched into the air—it appeared that the stalagmite was capable of piercing her defenses and dealing critical damage to the Ouroboros Symbiote.

"...Gh!" Sion caught herself, skidding along the torn-up gravel as she noticed a rather large wound right in the middle of her chest—no doubt, this Ground Fang spell was extremely deadly. If she had been less lucky, then there was a possibility that it could have done away with her instantly. Even so, Sion continued running toward Scorpio explosively, refusing to give in, no matter what.

However, Scorpio did not move from that spot. In fact, he did not even clench either fist. He kept his arms dangling at his sides, he did not use his legs to shift his center of gravity, and a smile split across his demonic face. Scorpio slightly tapped the heel of his foot on the gravel as if he were tapping his foot to a rhythm. In that instant, the gravel below his feet exploded like he had stepped on a landmine. A large amount of gravel scattered in every direction and at close range it was reminiscent of a shotgun blast.

"…Tch!" By the time Sion realized what was going on, it was too late. She immediately brought her arms up to cover her face and over a dozen small stones of various sizes struck Sion's body. Just when she thought her feet had been knocked from the ground due to the large shock, her entire body was forcefully blown back. She rolled along the ground before finally coming to a stop a few meters back.

"…Too slow," said an unpleasant voice that sounded like pieces of rusted metal being scraped together.

The intense pain had disoriented Sion and she merely looked blankly in the direction of the voice completely forgetting to stand back up.

"That's nowhere near enough. That speed of yours is just 100 years too sloooooowwwww!" Scorpio stepped on the ground again. He must have converted the energy used to manifest Ground Fang in some way because a steel rail which had fallen from the roof lying at his feet stood up on end like there had been a spring under it. Scorpio used a backhanded blow like he was brushing a spider web away and knocked the rail flying. His action had been nothing more than the slight strike one would use on an unreasonable child, but a great noise like a church bell resounded throughout the burning building. The steel rail bent into a shallow V-shape and flew straight for Sion like a bullet.

"…Dammit!" Sion frantically rolled and jumped away from its path. Immediately afterwards, the crushed piece of steel pierced into the ground like a holy sword in the exact spot Sion had been lying in before. Sion thought she had just barely managed to avoid it, but the mass of steel weighed hundreds of kilograms. When it struck the ground, it sent a large amount of gravel flying into the air. It was like a meteorite striking the sea. Countless small stones stabbed into Sion's body. The shock this gave to her chest forced all of the oxygen from her lungs. "…Guaah!"

Scorpio fired a second and third steel rail at Sion who was rolling on the ground. Those masses of steel flying through the air were as unavoidable for a human as handgun bullets. A direct hit from one would be certain death and even barely avoiding one would lead to damage from the gravel scattered by the hit, which would slowly but surely add up and lead to death.

All Sion could do was continue to roll along the ground. Beyond that, all she could do was try to read the direction the gravel would be sent and jump in the same direction to reduce the damage as much as possible.

She could not approach.

She avoided 10 or 20 of those steel bullets and was struck by the scattered gravel each time, but she was gradually heading away from the center of the burning building and to the outer part.

Even then, Sion felt the battle was in a stalemate.

It was true she was the only one receiving any attacks, but she believed that her enemy would not deliver a decisive blow.

But the sound of the air being sliced cut off her thoughts.

The gravel sprayed at her at close range from the opposite direction than she had expected. It was like running into a truck that was moving at 100 kph while moving at 100 kph yourself. Her own actions had doubled the damage that stabbed into her back. Her breathing stopped as if she had been struck with a bat in the back and she pathetically collapsed onto the ground. The sound of objects slicing through the building continued.

Sion looked up and saw multiple steel rails flying toward her as she immediately tried to roll out of the way, but the rails landed on all sides of her simultaneously. As if she were being beaten by 5 or 6 people, gravel assaulted her from all sides. She could not defend against or evade that. Having lost all options, Sion could only sit there dumbfounded as over 100 small rocks stabbed at her. Her body was knocked about making her look like a shrimp that had been brought onto land.

"Gh…gheah…! Ahh…aahhh…!" Even so, Sion managed to grab one of the steel rails sticking into the ground nearby in order to stand up. Her legs were still shaking from the damage leftover from the initial Ground Fang and her mouth was filled with the taste of blood.

She was just barely managing to hold on to her consciousness when she saw it.

In the distance ahead of her, she saw Scorpio slightly lowering his entire body like a spring. "It's over, Ouroboros! Did you really think you could get off scot-free if you did a little good!?"