Miss! I— um…

As Yina completed her task, the dense, sky-obscuring smoke began to dissipate. Thankfully, their location remained unexposed for now.

Yina turned her head. Her gaze settled on Tianxing, who had been rendered unconscious and had his limbs shattered by Yisha.

Tianxing was now fully conscious. He had utilized his Territory to purge every bullet from his body, expelling bone fragments and meticulously realigning his shattered bones. This intricate self-repair had already been half-finished when Yina started her own ministrations.

“Why are you here?”

She parted her crimson lips, her voice laced with an icy chill. Tianxing immediately dropped to his knees, his extensive injuries momentarily forgotten in the face of her frigid tone.

“The acting family head instructed me to retrieve her,” he explained. “She is, after all, an indispensable component of your God-Slayer Project.”

“Oh,” Yina’s voice dripped with sarcasm, “so it seems you still recognize me as your Miss!”

Yina’s voice sharpened considerably, a surge of fury igniting deep within her. This wrath was aimed squarely at her family, not at Tianxing himself.

“What are you saying, Miss?” Tianxing asked, his voice strained. “You are, of course, still our esteemed Miss.”

Blood continued to seep from the wounds on Tianxing’s arms and legs. It steadily spread, crimsoning his advanced armor.

“Then I command you,” Yina declared, her expression frigid. “Stop this mission concerning her and return to await further orders!”

Yina’s face remained cold as she delivered her order to Tianxing.

“Your command authority in this matter does not surpass that of the acting family head,” he stated, his voice unwavering. “I regret that I cannot comply.”

“Who is this acting family head?”

“You are not authorized to know,” Tianxing replied. “The acting family head issued a strict death order: anyone who reveals their name to you must either commit suicide on the spot or face execution by a comrade.”

Yina clicked her tongue in mild annoyance. She understood, however, that Tianxing was already showing her significant deference as their Miss. While she had no idea from where this ‘acting family head’ had suddenly emerged, their existence did not, in fact, hinder her.

Indeed, her ultimate objective had already been met.

“Cough, cough!”

Dark red blood trickled from Yisha’s lips. Yina gently wiped it away with a corner of her clothing, striving to ensure Yisha could rest easy during her treatment.

“Convey my words to him,” Yina instructed, her voice firm. “‘Should he ever move against her again, I will protect her, even if it means severing all ties with the family.’ Do you understand?”

Yina extended her hand. When it retracted, it was clutching Tianxing’s concealed weapon cache.

Without a word, she used a precise hand-chop to split open its top. After rummaging through its contents for a moment, she retrieved precisely what she sought.

“Tianxing acknowledges,” he affirmed.

Tianxing remained prostrate on the ground. He harbored not a trace of resentment, silently awaiting his Miss’s next pronouncement.

Yina surveyed her surroundings. Though Michael (Lord of All Things) had effectively cloaked the area from light, sound waves, electromagnetic pulses, and infrared, myriad annoyances persisted. In this brief interval alone, she had already neutralized four ultra-miniature magical cameras.

‘I truly wonder where the AST procures such an abundance of equipment. They bring entirely useless items to combat Spirits; it’s a wonder they don’t suffer more crushing defeats! It defies all logic if they don’t!’

‘Wait! Isn’t this precisely the kind of thought my sister would entertain?’

Yina mentally chastised herself for the fleeting thought. Conveniently, Yisha’s emergency treatment had just reached its conclusion.

Carefully, Yina gathered Yisha into her arms. She was just about to depart when Tianxing’s voice brought her to a sudden halt.

“Dare I ask, Miss,” Tianxing began, his tone hesitant, “why do you choose to align yourself with Dancer? We can provide you with anything you desire. What does she possess that merits such devotion from you? Why do you refuse to return?”

To stem his considerable blood loss, Tianxing was forced to employ his Territory for an urgent treatment of his wounds. He then finally vocalized the question that had gnawed at him for two long years.

Two years ago, their Miss had departed without uttering a single word. Their subsequent search proved fruitless, compelling them to focus their strategy on retrieving Dancer. They had intended to commence their grand plan once the Miss finally returned.

Who could have ever predicted that their Miss and Dancer would appear to be on such amicable terms? She was even commanding him to abandon the retrieval mission entirely!

Even more critically, if the data from his CR-UNIT had not malfunctioned earlier, the Miss had even acknowledged Dancer as her own sister!

“It is precisely because you can provide me with anything,” Yina stated, her tone utterly matter-of-fact, “that I refuse to return.”

Yina delivered this statement with such an air of obvious truth that it left Tianxing utterly questioning the fabric of his own existence.

‘Could it be that you’ve grown so accustomed to a life of opulence that you now crave the authentic experience of a commoner’s existence?’

“My sister always leaves me with a lingering sense of unease,” Yina continued, her voice growing sharper. “Perhaps you should all deeply reflect on your so-called God-Slayer Project and Mechanized Soldier Project. How many have suffered, how many have perished because of them? How many families have been utterly destroyed, their members scattered and separated?”

“But, these are unavoidable sacrifices—”

Tianxing dared not utter another word. Yina had already pressed a long blade, a perfect mimicry of an Angel’s weapon, against his throat.

“If I am no longer present, and my sister is also gone, will the God-Slayer Project finally come to a halt?”

His Adam’s apple visibly trembled. In that precise moment, he finally comprehended the intricate strategy his Miss was employing.

‘Unable to directly halt the family’s pervasive plans, she had opted to remove their primary target altogether.’

‘Failing that, she intended to at least dismantle one crucial component of the entire scheme.’

“Did the Mechanized Soldier Project stall due to the complete destruction of that experimental base?”

Tianxing’s eye twitched almost imperceptibly. He yearned to divulge the truth to Yina, yet he was utterly forbidden. She was, after all, their Miss – the most revered person in the entire family, second only to the true family head. Yes, even a mere acting family head held more sway in this particular matter.

“I am well aware that those who perished were all members of my own clan,” Yina stated, her voice heavy with emotion. “You lay the blame for all those incidents squarely upon my sister’s shoulders, yet did it ever occur to you that I, too, played a part in fanning those flames?”

A fleeting glint of pain flashed within Yina’s eyes.

How she yearned to resolve all of this through peaceful means. Yet, by the time she finally learned the full, grim truth, it was already far too late. Furthermore, she possessed no inherent right to terminate the devastating plans herself.

They continually asserted it was the former family head’s dying wish, utterly disregarding Yina’s own desires. All the while, they relentlessly pursued those utterly deranged and heartless plans. The moment she fully grasped the horrifying scope of it all, her unwavering resolve had already been forged.

Regardless of how many more casualties her own family might suffer, she was absolutely determined to bring both of these heinous projects to a complete halt.

“Miss, have… have you gone mad?”

It took Tianxing a considerable effort, and a long moment, to finally force those few words past his lips.

Both the God-Slayer Project and the Mechanized Soldier Project were meticulously designed to expand the family’s influence to an unprecedented degree. Their ultimate, intended beneficiary was none other than Yina herself, in her esteemed position as the Miss.

Now, for this very individual, the primary beneficiary, to declare her intent to utterly dismantle these projects – it was something he simply could not fathom.

“I am not mad,” Yina countered, her voice stark. “You are the ones who have truly lost your minds.”

Yina gazed upon Tianxing with profound sorrow. Her voice, when she spoke, carried an endless, desolate quality.

“You have forgotten what a conscience is; you no longer know its meaning,” Yina declared. “But I still possess mine, and my conscience forbids me from indulging in fruits grown from the corpses of others.”

“They did not die! They are still alive, they are merely—”

Tianxing attempted to argue, but the tears welling in Yina’s eyes compelled him to silence.

“Not dead? They became vegetative, without consciousness, without feeling, without light. What difference is there between that and death?”

Yina could not forget the sights she had witnessed in those laboratories. She simply could not.

“You have forgotten how to be human. Why, then, should I return and delude myself into remaining in a place teeming with madmen and inhumanity?”

With her words laid bare, Tianxing knew. Yina would not be returning. He would have no choice but to consult the acting family head and await their decision.

“Miss, the next time we meet, I may well be tasked with bringing you back as well. Please prepare yourself mentally.”

The young man rose to his feet, performing an ancient, solemn kneeling bow.

“Do you not intend to take me or my sister back now?”

“I currently have no orders to retrieve you,” Tianxing replied, a bitter smile touching his lips. “As for her, you would undoubtedly prevent me, and in my current state, it would be wise to abandon that idea for now. It is not imperative that she be brought back immediately.”

Yina reached out to caress Tianxing’s face, gently wiping away the blood from the corner of his mouth. As her hand passed his throat, a fleeting murderous intent flared within her, but she swiftly dismissed it.

“I lack the ability to kill you now and eliminate future trouble. It seems that departing now is the best choice for both of us. I hope we will not meet again.”

With a wave of her hand, Yina clutched Yisha tighter in her embrace and swiftly vanished from the location.

Tianxing watched the direction Yina flew, sighing deeply.

‘You are still too gentle, unable to bring yourself to eliminate those who will obstruct you in the future. Perhaps you truly know nothing of what happened at the experimental base? It was I who truly fanned the flames.’

The young man closed his eyes, lamenting.

The aftermath was remarkably straightforward. The Wizard Unit was tasked with rebuilding the urban area and the school campus, while AST superiors erased all surveillance footage from that region. Although there was some surprise that the specialized personnel hadn’t dealt with the Spirit, seeing the reward was 1.5 times the original amount, Kusakabe Ryoko’s superior enthusiastically ensured all lingering concerns were eliminated.

Notably, Origami suffered an unfortunate bone fracture during the battle while protecting civilians from Princess and was hospitalized. However, thanks to the medical manifestation device, she was able to be discharged the very next day.

In contrast to the AST’s situation, Ratatoskr was utterly swamped. Not only did they have to find a way to clear Shido’s name, but they also had to restore the forest scorched by Dancer to its original state. More importantly, when Tohka heard the booming sounds outside, she had instinctively perceived danger in that area.

In other words, Dancer’s threat level was no lower than Tohka’s, especially considering the previously captured footage of Dancer. The members of the support group felt overwhelmed for the first time, all working overtime until four in the morning.