The Laughing Swordsman

Despite all the panic surrounding the fallen angel, the very person that was considered a fallen angel himself didn't seem to be noticed. In fact, one of the guards announcing this very fact bumped into him and still didn't notice.

The chaos in the city was gradually building up and practically everybody was contributing to making the situation even more hectic.

This was especially magnified by the woman with a rabbit mask pulling out black axes from her heart before throwing them at people. It was Eden.

She seemed to have already forgotten about Serosh's warning, not to use the black heart too much as it would place a burden on her body. It was almost like Eden was trying her best to do the exact opposite, making black axe after black axe.

Almost all of her throws would hit their target. Few people were in a calm enough state to dodge, and even then, some were unable to because of the people around them pushing and shoving.

After these black axes hit and killed their targets, they would transform into flesh that would partially consume the other person's body. Though they were already dead, the process to onlookers was quite terrifying because of the bones and organs that were leftover.

From there the black mush would hurry as fast as they could back to Eden, before becoming axes once more. They seemed anxious to return, almost like a pet.

In fact, they seemed to be desperate.

As for why, that could be seen from Eden's body. She was gradually getting more pale, and becoming thinner. Although the black heart gave her the ability to create, it didn't mean it could just create something out of nothing.

The black heart that Serosh gave her was a modified version that could use human flesh to create things. The way it did so was very safe for Eden herself, but that was if she didn't overexert herself.

And at this point, she really didn't care about that.

The various black flesh Eden had created also were born with intelligence. That meant they could tell she was dying. The black flesh couldn't do anything to stop Eden from creating more, so they did the best they could, coming back as fast as possible so she didn't need to create any more.

However, it still wasn't enough. Eden stopped caring so much about aiming as time went on and prioritized speed, worsening her condition further.

She just basked in all the blood and screams from the people around her. She reveled in the cries of fear.

And most of all, she felt a strange satisfaction whenever someone died.

Almost like she was killing pests.

Eden continued to walk forth in the city, becoming paler and thinner, almost to a degree that seemed impossible.

The arms she used to hold the axes began to shake. But still, she winded up her axe before letting it loose once more on the nearest victim.

And this person just so happened to be Apollo.

As of now, Apollo was completely lost in a trance. He may have been walking down the city streets, but it was not the city streets he saw. Normally, his instincts would make him avoid danger.

But this time, even though the axe was coming straight for his face, he did not move.

A frightening crunch resounded.

The black axe lodged itself into Apollo's head, splitting apart his skull. Large veins immediately appeared on his skin around the wound.

However, Apollo himself did not seem to notice.

But what was even stranger, was the fact he began to smile gently. It was a smile that held both sorrow and relief. Apollo had been reliving his own memories, being overcome with grief once more.

But through it all, he still smiled happily.

"Ivy? Is that you?"

Eden paused. She looked at Apollo intently, but couldn't see well because her vision was blurry. Yet, despite that, she was feeling a strange sense of familiarity from him. A lot of black flesh rapidly made its way back into Eden's heart.

And as they did so, Eden's condition rapidly improved.

With that, came her vision. She was able to see Apollo and the black axe pierced through his forehead.

An eerie cold swept past Eden. It was as though she had been thrown into an icy lake.

"A-Apollo?"

Apollo's eyes began to close, while his expression became dull.

"Sorry Ivy... I got your clothes dirty again..."

He began to fall backwards.

Eden took off the rabbit mask and reached out to him, but something else happened before she could.

Without warning, a massive thunderbolt came down from the sky, striking Apollo. It was awfully similar to the one that struck Apollo that first gave his crown. However, the difference was that this one was far larger.

For a moment, Apollo's figure was completely covered by that lightning.

Then, when it cleared, he was laying on the ground.

Apollo lazily rubbed his eyelid before slowly opening his eyes.

"Mm..."

Most of the passersby had been running away in fear. After all, Eden had just been killing people left and right. However, that lightning bolt simply drew too much attention. What's more, is that every person that turned to stare just... kept looking.

Because Apollo's crown had become a faint yellow halo just above his head.

After several moments of silence, frenzied screams came from the crowd.

"T-The yellow halo! Just like how it is told in the stories!"

"It's really an angel! An angel has descended to protect us!"

"Bless the angel! Bless the Heavens!"

People gathered around quickly, but even faster than all of them was Eden, who dove forward before cradling Apollo in her arms.

In response, Apollo looked up at Eden, still without his eyes fully open.

"Mm... Ivy?..."

Eden looked down at Apollo with both guilt and relief.

"I-"

"What are you doing with the angel! We have to stop her!"

The crowd pointed fingers with both anger and boldness.