The storm has subsided

Blood flew through the air, shimmering with an ethereal green glow.

Beneath the setting sun, the dark-haired girl’s eyes held an endless mixture of confusion and surprise.

Darkness descended from the sky, silently enveloping him. A chilling sensation began at his waist, steadily creeping to consume him. His hearing blurred, slowly stealing away all sound.

‘Toh…ka…’

It was the girl’s name, the last thing he could see.

‘Don’t…cry…’

It was the only thought he could muster.

His hand weakly reached out to her, to the girl who had forgotten how to cry.

It was the last thing he could do.

Ultimately, he failed to achieve any of it, as darkness mercilessly claimed him.

His hand fell to the ground.

Yisha bounced incessantly among the tree branches, her figure in the air as graceful as a soaring swallow.

Swallows brought spring, yet her arrival heralded the omen of death.

Where she passed, plants withered entirely, as if they had endured an eternity in a single moment. Yet, it wasn’t quite that; they lost all signs of life while still retaining their physical forms.

Yisha’s eyes, sharp as a hawk’s, gazed directly at a single spot. There lay a young man who had sacrificed his life for others.

‘Faster, I must go faster!’

Yisha accelerated relentlessly. As her speed increased, the radius of withered plants expanded, until she finally reached the edge of the forest.

!

Without a moment’s pause or rest, Yisha rushed directly to Shido’s side, where his body had already grown cold.

Shido’s lifeless body lay at the center of a pool of blood, covered by a female uniform jacket from Raizen High School.

Yisha knelt, reaching out to touch Shido’s neck. Moments later, the dreadful possibility in her mind was confirmed.

‘For now, it’s just excessive blood loss and brain shock. Any longer, and the shock will likely lead to brain cell death.’

Relieved to have arrived in time, Yisha carefully removed the uniform jacket, revealing the gaping wound beneath.

Her fist slowly unclenched, revealing a glob of pale green liquid within.

“Zadkiel, Source of Life,” she whispered.

As she softly called its name, a lunar halo appeared behind her head.

Her hand gently caressed the boy’s rapidly chilling face, and Yisha’s gaze softened considerably.

‘Do not squander the brilliance of their lives.’

“Resuscitate!”

She pressed the liquid against the wound. The lunar halo then dissolved into countless threads, one end entering Shido’s body, the other held firmly in Yisha’s free hand.

Yina arrived just then, witnessing Yisha’s attempt to heal Shido.

“Michael, Lord of All Creation,” she declared.

Knowing her sister was preoccupied, Yina summoned her Angel, shrouding their forms from sight.

Having done so, Yina moved to Yisha’s side. To her surprise, however, Yisha’s expression suggested the healing was not progressing smoothly.

Her gaze fell upon Shido’s wound, and Yina’s small mouth parted in astonishment.

A ball of pure white flame burned within Shido’s injury, and it was this very flame that made Yisha’s healing efforts incredibly difficult to continue.

“Sister, give me Zadkiel, Source of Life. You suppress the flame,” Yina instructed.

Knowing Yisha was determined to save the young man, Yina made her request.

Yisha nodded, slowly moving from her position to allow Yina to take control of the Angel. The moment she relinquished it, Yisha would focus on suppressing the Spirit energy flame.

“This is Spirit energy of positive polarity, Yina. Be careful,” Yisha warned.

“Positive?” Yina questioned.

Yina grasped the gravity of the situation. She gradually took Yisha’s place, ensuring Shido’s blood circulation remained normal while simultaneously suppressing the flame’s influence over him.

Yina could sense that, contrary to its deceptively gentle white exterior, the flame contained a vast, almost berserk amount of Spirit energy.

“This is positive polarity? It feels even more volatile than negative polarity,” Yina mused.

Yina furrowed her brow. From her perception, the flame wasn’t composed purely of positive polarity Spirit energy. That unrestrained power seemed to have a touch of negative polarity contributing to it.

“It’s not purely positive. It might be unrefined, roughly 90% positive and 10% negative,” Yisha clarified.

Having successfully disengaged and provided a more accurate assessment, Yisha began her suppression of the flame.

“Calamity,” Yisha murmured.

Massive quantities of dark purple light particles surged from her body. The larger particles formed centers, medium ones created lines, and smaller ones filled the gaps, coalescing in the air into an armored suit resembling amethyst. It consisted of a dark purple bodysuit with a pure black long-sleeved shirt, hot pants, a battle skirt, and armor around the lower body, completed by thigh-high leather boots paired with black stockings.

Without bothering to observe its form, Yisha immediately dispersed it, transforming it back into a unified mass of light particles. Unlike the previous particles, however, these now pulsed with an erratic brightness, as if imbued with a life of their own.

The sky filled with these light particles, swirling around Yisha, Yina, and Shido. As dusk approached, it seemed as though a constellation of stars had descended to guard them.

With a gentle wave of her hand, the pure white flame became their focal point. The light particles surged forward relentlessly; each one that passed through weakened the flame slightly. Though it attempted to recover, its restoration was too slow, and it was quickly extinguished by the relentless onslaught of particles.

“Yina,” the girl stated coldly.

The girl beside her nodded, rapidly converting the sustained power into energy for activation and repair.

The transformation of power was clearly manifested in the liquid she held. Initially pale green, it had turned blood-red when maintaining its form, but now its color began to subtly shift, gradually approaching the hue of human skin.

Swiftly, it became one with Shido’s body.

Once everything was complete, Yina withdrew the threads from Shido’s body, reforming them into the lunar halo.

“His vital signs are normal. He’s fine,” Yina confirmed.

Yisha exhaled in relief, though her vision momentarily blurred to black. Fortunately, this was a long-standing issue for her; after standing still for a moment, her sight returned.

“So, shall we… take him…?”

“Are you going to—?”

Yisha’s phone suddenly rang. It was then that Yina realized something was amiss.

Upon their arrival, she had activated Michael, Lord of All Creation. That Angel granted absolute control over everything within its area of effect. To conceal herself and Yisha, she had naturally blocked all detection methods, including electromagnetic waves, uncertain if anyone might try to locate them via GPS.

Yet, Yisha’s phone was ringing?!!!

“Michael, Lord of All Creation!” Yina exclaimed.

As expected, the Angel materialized in her hand.

Just as Yisha had been too focused on healing to care about other matters, Yina had been the same. Thus, while she concentrated on the treatment, Michael, Lord of All Creation, had vanished at some unknown point!

“Hello?” Yisha answered.

– “Ms. Shimazaki, or perhaps I should call you Dancer, thank you very much for saving my idiot brother.”

As the familiar voice emanated from the phone, Yisha glanced at the raging Tohka in the distance, then motioned for Yina to take Shido and leave.

“Is this from Ratatoskr?” Yisha inquired.

– “Indeed. Now then, could you please return the idiot Shido to me?”

Yisha, whose eyes had been fixed on Tohka, searching for an opportunity to deal with her, now shifted her gaze to the area behind her.

There, Shido, carried in Yina’s princess-like embrace, vanished along with her.

“An aerial battleship’s transfer manifestation device? It seems your influence here is quite extensive,” Yisha remarked.

Understanding that it was unwise to linger, Yisha quickly departed the rooftop. Her gaze swept across the sky, soon fixing on a particular spot.

It wasn’t that she could see the invisible aerial battleship, but rather that she could sense Yina’s presence there.

– “Let me show you something interesting. It might not be of much help to you, but for now, it’s the best approach.”

Yisha furrowed her elegant brows, a hint of confusion in her expression.

‘Something interesting? Not much help to me, but the best approach right now?’

The girl turned her head, observing the nearly berserk Spirit relentlessly attacking an AST member who had retreated into a Territory.

‘That sniper rifle… it seems she’s the sniper.’

After briefly piecing together the events in her mind, her eyes took on a playful glint.

‘The AST, who believe in protecting citizens, unfortunately struck an ordinary civilian. Now, wracked with self-doubt, they’ve lost their composure and are getting a thorough beating from Princess. It’s rare for an AST member to have such a fragile spirit. This doesn’t rule out the possibility of accidentally injuring a distant relative, a crush, a benefactor, or a benefactor’s family.’

Yisha, who was pondering how the other party would resolve the situation, was stunned by what happened next.

Shido was thrown from the aerial battleship!

She momentarily considered saving Shido, who was in freefall, but the person on the phone stopped her. It was Yina who used Michael, Lord of All Creation, to reduce Shido’s kinetic energy to a point where Tohka could safely catch him. Simultaneously, she shrouded their figures to prevent the AST from discovering Shido, though Yisha could still perceive them.

Then, after an exchange of unknown words, Tohka leaned in and kissed him directly—

Kissed him—

Him—

—

…

‘[(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻ (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻ What the hell is this?! This is what they call “something interesting”?! Giving out everyday necessities is “something interesting”?! ]’

As Yisha fumed in impotent rage, witnessing this blatant display of affection, she saw something she couldn’t have imagined: Princess’s Angel began to dismantle, her Astral Dress dissipated, and even the immense sense of danger she had always exuded diminished to a negligible degree.

– “This is the confidence behind Ratatoskr’s mission.”

Hearing her words, Yisha remembered.

Ratatoskr was a company dedicated to saving Spirits, utterly opposed to their mortal enemies. In Yisha’s eyes, they were a company utterly foolish and ridiculously absurd.

‘This doesn’t look good,’ Yisha thought.