In a corner of the central city, now completely destroyed with not a trace of its former streets—

Mizuhi and Tatari could do nothing but watch the cocoon of thorns.

“…It’s quiet now, but what happened?”

“Hmm, the smell hasn’t really changed or anything.”

As the two peeked out with only their faces from the shadows, the cocoon of thorns suddenly began to collapse.

From within the crumbling thorns, Zero eventually emerged.

Behind her was the figure of an angel bound tightly in thorns.

“Looks like we won.”

“Yup—. So, shall we get started on round two?”

“Huh?”

Mizuhi’s eyes widened as he turned toward Tatari.

Tatari, too, tilted her head at Mizuhi’s reaction.

“Since there’s one less enemy now. Mizuhi-chan, you got a break too, right? Come on, let’s catch Sorciera quickly and go home—! Then we’ll get our reward and have a yakiniku party together—!”

From Tatari’s shadow, the sound of growling stomachs echoed in layers.

Whatever was inside the shadow seemed to be craving food.

“Alright, let’s sortie—”

Ejected from the shadow, Mizuhi landed in front of Zero.

When she looked up, Zero was just ripping the visor off the angel.

“Now then, shall we go together—oh? Do you need something?”

“Uh…”

“I’m about to start Operation Beat You Up and Grab a Huge Reward~”

“Oh?”

Zero smiled cheerfully.

Then—

“You’re going to beat me? That’s quite the amusing joke.”

“—!?”

Zero was standing behind Tatari and Mizuhi.

At the spot where she had stood before, only a man collapsed to his knees remained like discarded trash.

“Was that supposed to be a surprise attack?”

A shadow extended from Tatari, wrapping around Zero’s leg.

But it was immediately neutralized by thorny vines.

“Oh no—”

“An interesting ability. …No, more like a dungeon trait than a mere ability.”

“You figured that out already? You should totally get leashed by the council, y’know—”

“Tatari, wait! Sorciera is my benefactor! I don’t want to fight her!”

Mizuhi stepped between Tatari and Zero.

She held up her gun halfway toward Tatari.

“Then we have even more reason to protect her. If Silver Twilight targets her, she won’t survive alone—”

“She’ll be fine. With me and my partner.”

“…Partner?”

Zero smiled mischievously at Mizuhi’s confused expression and gave a deep bow.

“Time to properly introduce myself to the council. I am Success Zero. Progenitor of Stellar Radiance, arbitrator of Demonsgear. And—Demonsgear contracted with Sorciera.”

“Demonsgear… you say!?”

“…………That much combat ability alone. She’s a different league than Eina-chan. I had heard rumors from Rokuhara. But to think you were it—”

Tatari nodded in admiration.

Then, wiping her drool, she asked:

“Can I eat just one of your arms?”

“Is there no sane S-Rank out there?”

While the two monsters traded verbal body blows, only Mizuhi in the middle looked flustered between them.

“W-Wait, Tatari stop. Like I said, this person… person? Is she even human? Can Demonsgear even do this? Then where’s the real Sorciera? I—I don’t understand anything…!”

Overwhelmed with confusion, Mizuhi scratched her head furiously.

Zero giggled at the sight.

“You haven’t changed. No wonder my partner likes you—ah.”

Suddenly, a shadow serpent flew at Zero from the side.

But thorns wrapped it tightly before it shattered.

“Surprise attacks, huh? Not bad. I like fiery types like you too.”

“I like you too~ You look super tasty.”

Their eyes locked.

A single spark could trigger a full-blown battle—the air was taut with tension.

And it was Zero who broke the silence.

“Shall we play a little?”

Thorns burst from the ground, targeting Tatari.

Ten of them in total.

Surrounding her from every angle, the anti-ability thorns closed in—yet Tatari grinned fiercely.

“Time for some sashimi dancing~!”

Her body sank into the shadow, and the thorns missed completely.

In the next moment, Tatari was behind Zero.

Both her arms were wrapped in countless shadows.

“Let’s eat—!”

“Sit.”

Above Tatari, a magic circle appeared and launched a blast.

But Tatari charged forward without even glancing at it.

Above her, the shadows gathered and intercepted the blast.

No—rather, they devoured it.

The silver flashes were gulped down like juice by the shadow serpents.

Zero watched with interest and readied her scythe.

“Ha ha ha! You hold nothing back! Unlike the other S-Ranks, you’d actually eat me if I left an opening! Personally, I find that very appealing!”

“Full bite—”

A giant mouth lunged from Tatari’s back.

Zero swung her scythe toward it.

The black blade and the fangs of shadow clashed, sending sparks flying.

After several seconds of stalemate, the two backed off and each unleashed their next move.

“Doing the thorn thing over and over would be dull.”

With those words, she fired silver chains.

Not for restraint, but for impact.

In response, Tatari conjured a wolf from the shadow and sent it at the chains.

Chains and wolf collided, biting and breaking each other, both vanishing nearly simultaneously.

Tatari watched and mumbled:

“The chains are tasty too~ Super refreshing flavor—”

“You’re the first to say that after taking this move. …Then how about this?”

A massive magic circle appeared before Zero.

She linked her scythe’s muzzle to the spinning array and placed her finger on the trigger.

“My treat. Eat as much as you like.”

“Ah—main dish…!”

It was a mysterious technique: layers of converging blasts.

A feat of magical engineering beyond modern human capability.

The magic circle spun faster, drawing in mana scattered from the battle with the angel.

“This is the radiance of the stars.”

She pulled the trigger.

What fired was a hyper-compressed magic laser.

Unlike the previous blasts, this concentrated beam, slender but dense, melted concrete and blasted rubble without even touching the ground.

And there stood Tatari, palms together in a pre-meal gesture.

“…Fuhuhuhuhuhu! So this is Sorciera! I’ve completely fallen for you now!”

Tatari laughed emotionally.

Behind her, the shadows danced wildly and surged forward.

“I can finally forget my hunger for a while—!”

The shadows blocked the laser head-on.

The sheer force of the beam unleashed a tremendous shockwave around them.

Yet Tatari calmly tucked her hair behind her ear.

“Don’t leave leftovers.”

“You don’t have to tell me—”

Even the sides of the laser were bitten and devoured by the shadows.

The ground glowed red and bubbled as a massive crater formed around Tatari.

Still, she didn’t stop feeding on the laser.

On the contrary, she spawned an even bigger serpent and additional wolves from the shadows, throwing them into the beam.

And then—

“—Thanks for the meal.”

Steam rose, and at the shimmering center of the crater, Tatari said those words.

Without a trace of waste, she had devoured Zero’s full attack in under ten seconds.

“I had hoped you’d savor it a bit longer. Are you satisfied?”

“Hmm, I should be good for an hour~”

“You have quite the troublesome body.”

Zero responded with a mix of exasperation and amusement.

Then, she turned her back.

“It’s about time. I’ll take my leave.”

“Ah, wait, Sorciera! …No, Zero? Anyway, just wa—”

Ignoring Mizuhi’s call, Zero vanished via teleportation.

All that remained was the battlefield in even worse shape than before.

“Tatari, why did you fight! What if you’d lost? You could’ve ended up like that guy!”

Mizuhi ran up to Tatari, pointing at the man.

The man had been blown away by the blast’s aftermath and now lay among rubble.

Yet he didn’t appear hurt, just muttering to the sky.

“Loli… salvation… over there…”

His mind was clearly broken.

“I figured she’d be okay if she’s Sorciera’s partner. But even then, if she’d killed you—” “No worries~” …Huh?”

Tatari swallowed a chain, looking satisfied as she spoke.

“Zero-chan wasn’t serious at all. Felt more like she was just playing with me~”

“Playing with you?”

“Yup. I was dead serious the whole time, but she never once showed killing intent”

Tatari glanced toward the man and muttered.

“Between that angel and her… who should the council really be fighting, I wonder~”

A being with tremendous combat power, acting on unclear motives.

It was obvious what would happen if she turned enemy.

Even so, Mizuhi replied without hesitation:

“The angel, of course.”

At those words, Tatari looked genuinely caught off guard for the first time.

For some reason, that made Mizuhi happy, and she continued proudly.

“Sorciera is on our side. She’s our benefactor.”

That alone was reason enough for Mizuhi to trust her.