Unable to penetrate the shield, it scattered and rained on the surrounding buildings, either setting them aflame or downright melting them.

However, the heat from the beam increased the temperature of the shield the man was holding, leaving him scorched.

Though burned by both heat conduction and radiation, he continued holding the shield up to protect both Gringham and Louie.

Eventually, the beam stopped.

After protecting their lives, there was an interval in which Monochrome didn’t fire anything, likely because it was charging another powerful beam.

The man used this opportunity to talk. “Do you hear me, Monochrome?!”

The UBM’s laughter was still reaching his ears, but the man didn’t know if his voice reached Monochrome.

“Your eyes look down on us all, but do they even see?” he continued regardless, presenting the monster with a question that came from his heart... and a declaration just as passionate. “There’s nothing here for you to break.”

Perhaps he was talking about the exact place he was in, the burning village, the miracle wrought by a certain family, or all of them at the same time.

“I won’t let you take another life.”

The pleasant time at Torne had ended with the advent of the tragedy above. It had brought pain to many and was endangering Louie’s and Gringham’s lives at this very moment.

The man claimed that he would put an end to that — that nothing would be lost now.

This man, Ray Starling, took a deep breath and gave his whole heart into the words he said next.

“Come, monster! This is the shield of miracles!”

They were the same words Louie had mentioned when talking about Shijima.

When Louie and Farica had been attacked by an inescapable despair, the man had spoken them before braving the horde of monsters in order to save the mother and child.

He had no doubt been a miracle worker, and Ray thought it seemed right to start his battle against Monochrome by borrowing those words.

Just like Shijima before him, he was determined to destroy the sky-nesting despair before it could take Louie’s life.

That declaration was the trigger that started the final fight between Ray Starling the Unbreakable and Monochrome, the Void of the Black Sky.