Hoshimi Miyabi shot Zane a glare, just about to settle the score, when his body suddenly lurched backward.
Miyabi quickly reached out to catch him, steadying Zane against her as she asked in worry,
"How are you feeling now? You just said not to worry about you, but you look like a frail little thing..."
Could it be because of the Simple Hollow?
As she thought it over, Hoshimi Miyabi began to release the Simple Hollow. However, Zane seemed to sense her intention and raised a hand to stop her.
"This isn't over yet..."
"Though that thing has been gravely wounded, it's still within me. We have to finish it completely..."
"Send your spirit back. Leave the rest to me."
Zane's tone, like his condition, carried a faint weakness that deepened Miyabi's unease. Though she wanted to ask about his state, she chose to follow his words first, sending the spirit back into the long sword.
Within a few breaths, a faint, cool blue glow spread across the blade of the demon sword. The earlier ferocity had faded, replaced by a strange, calm stillness.
As the spirit merged back into the blade, the surrounding Simple Hollow slowly began to collapse and shrink. Ether energy, once sealed away, surged back in like a rising tide.
"Miyabi, focus your mind."
Zane's voice came softly as he raised his hand and placed it over hers on the sword's hilt.
"Back at the video store, when you asked for my help, I tested the power inside your blade... and tried to control it."
Zane paused, looking at Hoshimi Miyabi with faint apology.
"I hope you don't mind."
Hearing his words, Miyabi frowned. Seriously? Now? The blade's still stuck in you, and this is what you bring up?!
Besides, how could she possibly mind? No one could ever truly mind Zane.
"Ahem... This blade belongs to you in the end. My control over it is limited. So from here on, you'll need to guide the remaining energy as I show you."
"Once the energy settles, you'll know what to do."
Miyabi nodded earnestly. Warmth wrapped around her hand, but she didn't think much of it. It didn't feel out of place.
Though it was their first physical contact since they'd met, back when they were young, things like head pats and cheek pinches were nothing new. She'd even ridden on her master's shoulders once to watch the New Year's fireworks together.
Zane didn't know any of that. He simply assumed Miyabi understood the gravity of the moment and chose to focus.
Hoshimi Miyabi sank her consciousness into the demon blade. She could faintly sense a current of power being drawn away—cold, sharp, and brimming with killing intent—as it drifted into endless darkness.
Through their joined hands, she could feel Zane's guidance. Following his lead, she began channeling the remaining energy.
The demon blade resisted at first, unwilling to obey. But under Zane's steady pressure and Miyabi's firm will, it eventually gave in.
Soon, guided by Zane, Hoshimi Miyabi began separating the power from the blade itself.
She knew well what the demon blade's energy was like—violent, immense, filled with murderous will and twisted desire. And vaguely, she began to understand what Zane was trying to do.
Zane's blood formed a bridge across the blade, allowing the dangerous energy to flow out and circulate freely. Miyabi squeezed her eyes shut, her pale forehead damp with sweat—born of tension and concentration, mixed with melting snow that drifted softly from above.
Because the demon blade rested within Zane's body, channeling such immense energy outward was far easier than she had expected.
Before long, she and Zane found the destination of the energy.
It was a core—brilliant, radiant, dreamlike in its beauty.
Zane's original nucleus.
"That thing... it's inside now."
"What comes next... I don't need to explain, do I?"
In her trance, eyes tightly shut, Miyabi could almost see Zane as he once was—standing quietly beside her.