"..."
Theresa got up from the ground again and warily walked over to Ryn's side.
"You bastard, who on earth are you!"
"A passerby. But when night falls, when beauty is gone, and hope cannot be seen, I can also become a savior of light."
Ryn shouldered the Oath of Judah, then reached out to pat Theresa's little head, looking at her with pity and compassion.
"Grand-aunt, what on earth have you been through... to become so sad..."
The gentle caress made Theresa a little nostalgic for the past, but she had also been through a battle hymn of blood and tears; she was not someone who would indulge in a tender embrace.
"I told you, I don't know you, and I'm not your grand-aunt."
Though she said that, Theresa didn't pull away from Ryn's head pat, instead closing her eyes and allowing his touch.
"Then will you be my grand-aunt?~ My name is Ryn, and as you can see, I'm a Herrscher."
Ryn's bright smile was something Theresa hadn't seen in these five years of despair. But he was a Herrscher. Still, none of this mattered anyway, so what was the harm in indulging for a moment...
"Hmph, whatever you want."
A moment later, Theresa opened her eyes again, moved away from Ryn's hand, and stood at a distance, looking at him seriously. She said to him:
"Thank you for letting me feel the warmth of family again after these five years, but this is enough.
Judah has chosen you, so take it and leave. Leave this place, find somewhere safe, and live peacefully... Never come near here again... Ever!"
"Hmm, why? Isn't the ultimate goal of the Fire Moth to save this world? How could I abandon those who trust me and leave alone?"
Ryn shook his head, rejecting Theresa's request. Although they had only been together for a short time, the people of Fire Moth had accepted him as family from the bottom of their hearts, so what reason did he have to abandon them?
"Fire Moth... hehe..."
Theresa gave a few dry, self-deprecating laughs and took out a flask to take a drink.
Merely one sip, and Theresa's face immediately flushed.
"Are the members of Fire Moth all okay?"
"Not good. The problem of food and medicine hangs over their heads like the Sword of Damocles, ready to fall at any moment."
"Hehe... hehe... I really am useless." Theresa punched the nearby wall, and the powerful force directly caused one side of the house to collapse.
No!! Ryn clasped his horrified face with both hands, his whole body twisting like a noodle.
My house! Although it's not really *my* house, it could barely be considered my house! You died so tragically!!!
Theresa didn't notice Ryn writhing on the ground, wailing in agony over the death of the house, and continued speaking to herself:
"I'm the Principal... yet I've been running away from my responsibilities, letting a bunch of kids take on duties that shouldn't be theirs... They're doing everything they can to save the few remaining survivors, while I just hide here... always hiding..."
"Grand-aunt..."
Ryn reached out to comfort Theresa, but she shook her head.
"It's just the deserved fate of a sinner; there's no need to comfort me. I've lost everything. All I can do now is hope to fulfill my promise to Cecilia. I will absolutely protect Kiana!"
Theresa had a very low tolerance for alcohol, the type to get drunk after one sip. She had just taken a drink and now looked dazed, but Ryn was certain that she was absolutely serious about protecting Kiana.
"Even if... Kiana is the one who destroyed this world...?"
"Even if she is the one who destroyed this world."
Losing Judah was like a tiger losing its claws, but a tiger doesn't stop being a tiger just because it has no claws.
The Apocalypse Stigmata she inherited, "Eyes of Truth," was activated and began to glow brightly. At the same time, the Stigmata she obtained with Yae Sakura's help, "Higanbana," also began to enhance Theresa, causing long, pink fox ears to sprout from her head.
"Sorry, but even if you call me Grand-aunt, even if you've earned Judah's acknowledgment, I won't let you hurt Kiana! Leave now, and I can pretend nothing happened!"
*BOOM—*
Ryn placed Judah on the ground. The house, which had only one side left, suffered even more from Judah's impact.
"Grand-aunt, you're wrong about one thing. Judah didn't actually acknowledge me; it's just that I know how to force it to acknowledge me.
Also, by telling me over and over not to hurt Kiana, aren't you just making it obvious that Kiana is right here..."
"Uh... she's not here."
Theresa scratched her head in frustration, not understanding how Ryn had managed to trick her into revealing that.
"If she's not here, then why are you stopping me!"
Ryn yelled at Theresa, exasperated. He had been ready to fight Theresa and then God Kiana, only to find out Kiana wasn't here.
"Does it make a difference? If you want to save this world, the only final outcome is to kill Kiana... So whether I stop you now or later, there's no difference."
Theresa pawed at the ground with her claws, then charged at Ryn on all fours like a canine.
As Ryn sidestepped her lunge, Theresa kicked him in the chest. But the sensation that came back from her foot made her feel as if she had kicked a steel plate, not flesh.
"Fighting you, the most familiar of strangers, is the last thing I want to do..."
*Voom—*
Ryn sent Theresa flying dozens of meters with a blast of Heat Vision, crashing through several houses.
Then, the Oath of Judah beside him fully deployed. Thirteen chain lances shot into the sky, then crisscrossed and stabbed into the ground around Theresa, completely locking down her range of movement.
"Hmph..."
Theresa grabbed the chain lance in front of her, clenched her fist, and shattered it. She pushed through Judah's blockade and charged out.
At the same time, the parts of her body burned by the Heat Vision and pierced by the chain lances were regenerating at super speed with the help of "Eyes of Truth," "Higanbana," and her own bloodline. In less than a second, apart from her torn clothes, there were no traces of the previous attack on her skin.
But even so, in front of Ryn, she was nothing more than a punching bag.
Ryn's Authority couldn't directly affect them, because their form of existence was beyond the scope of physical explanation.
But as long as it didn't affect them directly, that was fine. Or he could just use some rule-bending methods~
As Theresa, with the flames of battle in her eyes, charged straight at him with fists raised, Ryn snapped his fingers.
"The World."
Shattered debris hung in the air, swirling dust froze in place; time had been paused by Ryn.
Ryn slowly walked over to Theresa, who was frozen mid-charge with her fist out, and gave her a gentle push.
When time is stopped, not only does space change, but the laws of physics are also completely overturned. But as time begins to flow again, everything will restart.
"And so, time begins to move."
Time resumed its flow. Theresa didn't know why Ryn had disappeared from in front of her, nor why the trajectory of her attack had changed.
*Thud—*
A momentary lapse of concentration caused Theresa, who had retracted her strength but couldn't stop her momentum in time, to crash headfirst into the nearby ruins.