Thanks to Eina’s detection, Rokuhara pinpointed the location and arrived to find two girls.

Agiri Rinka and Kirara Clam.

It should’ve been their first meeting, yet for some reason, one of them seemed familiar.

“You… have we met somewhere before?”

“Huh, Clam, you know him?”

“…No, not at all~ A-Ahahaha.”

The purple-haired girl kept avoiding Rokuhara’s gaze.

Despite that tug of familiarity, Rokuhara tilted his head but chose to proceed with the conversation.

Whether she was someone he knew or not was a minor detail.

What mattered more was—

“The destruction of the angel that caused this whole uproar. Sorciera asked me to handle it.”

“Yeah, Sorciera told me. Leave it to me.”

With that, Rinka opened a virtual window.

It was a map of both factions’ territories.

“Huh? What’s this, when did you—?”

“This kind of thing’s my specialty. But, this time’s different. The angel’s being controlled from behind the scenes. So, Officer Rokuhara, I want you to capture the one pulling the strings.”

“I see. So that’s why you want to use Eina.”

It all clicked, and Rokuhara nodded.

Clam subtly took a step away from him.

“Thanks to Clam’s autonomous armament, we’ve roughly located the angel’s appearance point. It’s clearly intentional and has the signs of a handler. Now we just need to reverse-calculate their position from there—”

Muttering to herself while staring at the map, Rinka entered a deep concentration that even onlookers could recognize.

Left with nothing to do for a short time, Rokuhara turned to Clam, who’d been distancing herself.

“Hey, aren’t you gonna do anything?”

“…It’s not my turn yet. Right now, all I can do is watch that girl fight.”

Watching a real-time feed from the man-eating frog, Clam responded.

The footage showed Sorciera and Touraku.

“So that’s… those two, huh.”

Clam’s eyes focused on just one person.

“…She paid a price to be there. And once again, I couldn’t do anything.”

■

Star-Slash is the cornerstone of the Stellar Plan.

Only Lutra can sever calamities with its conceptual-cutting power.

Touraku knew that overwhelming strength all too well.

However—

“…Strange. I heard there’s nothing it can’t cut. That’s what Star-Slash is supposed to be.”

“Hah… heheh, sorry, but I can’t afford to lose to you here.”

Sorciera, smiling before him, wore a red dress.

As the battle raged on, a red veil began to cover and consume her previously black attire.

But the change wasn’t just cosmetic.

After several attacks, Touraku grasped the nature of her transformation.

“Your interference nullifies all abilities that touch your scythe… right?”

“Sharp as ever. Correct. So, what will you do now?”

Sorciera laughed.

But behind the smile, her breath was ragged, and her movements sluggish.

If it were the usual Sorciera, she’d easily conceal her condition.

Yet the toll this form exacted on her was impossible to hide.

Seeing that, Touraku grimaced in frustration.

“What I’ll do? I’m going to save you, of course!”

“Then you should let go of Lutra first.”

“No. If I do that, I won’t be able to protect you.”

Their eyes locked.

A fleeting silence.

The very next moment, they clashed.

(That ability nullifies anything that touches it. So, what about the places it doesn’t touch—!)

Right before Sorciera’s massive scythe and Lutra met, Star-Slash cut gravity.

Dodging with an unnatural maneuver, Touraku slipped behind her and delivered a wide slash.

But that attack was blocked by thorns rising from the ground.

“I figured you’d do that.”

Without even looking back, Sorciera whispered.

Then, she snapped her fingers.

Countless thorns erupted from the ground, enclosing Touraku.

They were the same painful black thorns wrapped around her earlier.

“Lutra, one slash.”

Unfazed, Touraku commanded.

In an instant, the surrounding thorns were sliced to pieces and fell around him.

Beyond the shredded thorns, he saw Sorciera charging toward him.

“Lutra!”

“Heheh, too late.”

Before Star-Slash could activate, Sorciera’s scythe came crashing down.

Touraku deflected it at the last second, relying solely on his trained swordsmanship.

(I can’t find an opening to use Star-Slash… Her stats are so absurdly high, it’s a pain even with that wild fighting style.)

“Stop resisting already.”

“No. I’ll end this tragedy myself!”

A short exchange.

But again, it led nowhere.

“Still as stubborn as ever—ugh…!?”

“!”

Sorciera suddenly slowed.

Seizing the moment, Touraku quickly backed away and observed her.

Clutching her left arm and wincing in pain, she barely held herself up using her scythe.

Normally, Touraku would’ve dropped his weapon and rushed to her side.

But not this time.

Seeing her in pain only stirred something deeper within him.

“—Why are you fighting so hard? For duty? For some role? You’re still you.”

“…Because this is my wish.”

“!”

Touraku raised Lutra and charged.

“Lutra, three slashes!”

He cut through distance, appearing behind Sorciera.

The severed gravity floated her into the air.

“Oh my.”

Calmly, Sorciera swung her scythe.

Her interference ability canceled the gravity anomaly, grounding her once again.

But that was the opening Touraku had been aiming for.

“Sorry, but now—I’m going to kill you.”

Touraku had been thinking it over.

(…Maybe it’d be better to just kill her, and bring her back afterward?)

Ignoring the voice inside him that screamed this was a line he shouldn’t cross.

(Yeah, that’s best.)

The ideal he once envisioned—he cast it aside himself.

“I know it’ll hurt and it’ll be painful, but bear with it. Only I can save you.”

“Y-You’re even more messed up than I imagined…!”

Sorciera looked horrified.

Then, in the very next moment, she pointed her scythe at him with resolve.

“I will stop you.”

“And I’ll save you!”

Their weapons clashed.

But a head-on collision was avoided.

“Here!”

Touraku deflected the scythe and stepped forward.

With both of their abilities nullified, their physical capabilities were now even.

The third slash—

Touraku had used it to sever his own limiter.

The restraints he unconsciously placed on himself as a human—he tore them off and became a beast.

Even so, he wanted to save the girl before him.

“Kei!”

“…”

Now inside the range of her oversized scythe, Sorciera couldn’t resist.

She tried summoning thorns, but the cost had already rendered her powers unstable.

“Now I can finally kill you…!”

Touraku threw Lutra aside.

His empty hand stretched forward—and grabbed Sorciera’s neck.

“Gah!?”

With no weapon, he went for a barehanded strangulation.

Caught off guard by the unimaginable tactic, Sorciera struggled wildly.

But his grip didn’t loosen.

“You’ll be happier if I save you…! I don’t want to see you hurt anymore, so just let me save you!”

“Ah… Guh…”

Even as the pressure around her throat increased, Sorciera smiled and spoke.

“Who… would want to be saved… by someone more broken… than they are?”

“…Huh?”

Not understanding the meaning, Touraku paused.

She didn’t miss that opening.

“…Clam…”

Her barely moving lips called a name.

In that instant, an autonomous armament, likely hidden, shot out.

A single frog.

It hopped onto Touraku’s back—and exploded.

“—”

With no Lutra in hand, Touraku couldn’t react.

The blast, powerful enough to decide the fight, hit him directly, and he collapsed forward.

Sorciera caught him head-on, embraced him gently, and smiled.

“Thank you… for trying to save me.”

As she said that, a magic circle unfolded around Touraku.

A warm, gentle light surrounded them.

She laid him in the center of the light, placed Lutra by his side,

Then whispered softly, just for him.

“When I met you—that was when I was already saved.”

Dragging her battered body, Sorciera stood before Touraku.

Around them, countless angels stirred with bloodlust.

“Heheh, did you really think pitting us against each other would give you an opening? Pathetic.”

With trembling arms, Sorciera raised her scythe.

Her eyes hadn’t lost their light.

“Come now. I was just looking for a dance partner.”

Like she was protecting him, Sorciera charged at the angels.

Touraku could do nothing but watch her fight alone.

“Kei…”

His body twitched, a hand reaching for Sorciera.

And then, his consciousness faded.