Shido and Tohka reflexively turned toward the source of the sound. Slow footsteps were heard from the right. Dust swirled in the air, and then from the shadowy darkness of the ruined building, a mysterious figure emerged.
A long, dark blue robe flowed with his steps, with silver patterns flowing through every fold of the fabric. The figure stood tall, but not puffed out. His face was obscured by a mask, with neon blue lines faintly glowing around his eyes. His gaze was unreadable, but the pressure of his aura made the air seem to thicken. A katana emanating a terrifying aura was strapped to his waist.
His arms were crossed in front of his chest, his back leaning casually against the ruined wall. But that posture conveyed strength, the strength of someone who didn't need to move to assert their superiority.
Tohka, who had just parried an attack from the AST, suddenly turned around. Her eyes narrowed at the new presence, something in her instincts screaming danger, but she didn't have time to move.
ZUUUP!!
The air was shattered by an invisible burst of pressure.
In an instant, the masked figure vanished from sight.
"What—?!" Tohka only had time to raise an eyebrow before—
BOOOM!!
A powerful blow landed squarely in the stomach. Her body flew through the air, flung several meters before crashing into the crumbling remains of the building wall.
"TOHKA!!" Shido shouted in panic from behind the rubble.
Tohka fell to the ground, groaning. Her spiritual armor trembled violently, fine cracks beginning to appear along her chest. Her breath faltered, but she forced herself back to her feet.
The masked figure had vanished again and suddenly reappeared right in front of Tohka, like a shadow that never intended to leave.
He moved once more.
This time, a horizontal kick struck Tohka in the side of the stomach, sending her tumbling hard to the ground. Dust rose as her body hit the broken asphalt.
Tohka groaned softly, her eyes clouded. But she held on, took a deep breath, and lifted her face, which was smeared with dust and wounds.
"I-I… won't lose…" she muttered softly.
With a final, passionate shout, she launched herself at the masked man, her sword, Sandalphon, raised high, enveloping the blade in purple spiritual energy.
But the attack never reached its target.
The masked figure tilted her body slightly to the side, then slammed her knee into Tohka's stomach brutally. A sharp cracking sound rang out as the armor on her front shattered, and Tohka's body fell heavily to the ground.
...
Fraxinus – Main Command Room
(During the battle)
The previously busy atmosphere suddenly turned silent as the main visuals highlighted something unexpected.
The masked figure.
Standing still. Arms crossed. Long cloak swaying lightly in the wind of the rubble.
Then…
"Zzzzt—!!"
He disappeared from view.
"Sudden movement! The target is moving fast!"
Before the tracking system could respond, the screen immediately showed Tohka being slammed hard into the wall. Dust erupted, cracks spread.
"DIRECT PHYSICAL CONTACT!!"
"Spirit Princess blown away! Spiritual armor sustained moderate to heavy damage!"
Kotori stood up from her chair. "Zoom in! Focus on the attacker!"
The screen followed. The figure reappeared, only to strike Tohka once more, this time with a kick to the side. Tohka rolled hard onto the rubble.
"He's not an AST… nor a Spirit. But his movement… was too fast. It couldn't be captured by a normal camera."
"Was that… teleportation?!" asked one of the operators.
Reine shook her head quickly. "No. There were no ripples of energy, no surges. He moved physically. But his speed… was like leaping through space."
The screen again showed Tohka unsteadily rising, raising her spiritual sword. She slashed furiously.
But the masked figure only shifted slightly to the side, and immediately struck Tohka in the face with a knee, then an elbow to her back. The Spirit's body staggered and collapsed.
"Her attack… was planned. It's as if she knew Tohka's weak point!"
Kotori gritted her teeth. "Don't just stand there! Send out the reconnaissance drones! Disrupt her visibility, whatever it takes!"
"The drones are deployed!"
Shido ran to Tohka, who was now lying on the ground, breathing heavily. "Tohka!!" He knelt beside her, shaking her shoulder. "Hold on! I'm here!"
Tohka opened her eyes with difficulty and looked up at the sky.
"…Too… strong…"
Across the street, the masked figure stood silently. His eyes, or the light behind his mask, stared at Shido, who was shielding Tohka's body with his hands.
He didn't say a word.
He simply stared at them for a moment, then turned and walked away silently.
ZRRRT
In one smooth, silent movement, his body seemed to disappear into the air like dust blown by the wind. There was no wave of energy. No flashy teleportation.
He disappeared... like a nightmare that only stayed for a moment, then left leaving a deep scar of fear.
...
The sky above Raizen School – AST Assault Unit (Anti-Spirit Team)
An explosion struck the night sky, shaking the air like a thunderclap descending from the heavens. High above, several AST members in flying formation were forced to halt their movements. Their focus was no longer on their primary target, the Spirit Princess.
Their attention was now focused on something unexpected.
"Unit Tobiichi, visual confirmation… a second target has appeared on the scene. That's not a Spirit, is it?"
Origami Tobiichi, wearing an experimental AST suit, stared straight down. Her helmet's optics captured two figures: one was Tohka Yatogami, staggering, her spiritual armor cracked; the other was a masked figure, clad in an unfamiliar dark coat, standing calmly amidst the smoldering rubble.
She didn't recognize the figure.
But what made her breath freeze wasn't its appearance.
It was his movements.
On the HUD screen, the masked figure suddenly vanished from view—moving so fast the camera didn't have time to adjust its focus—and then, in a split second, he was in front of Tohka and slamming her straight into the wall.
"He... attacked the Spirit?" whispered one of the members on the shared communication frequency.
"The Spirit Princess took a direct hit! Her armor was badly damaged!"
Origami watched, silent. Her eyes were glued to the screen.
He wasn't even using his sword.
No magic.
No assistance from advanced technology.
The man was fighting barehanded, but his blows... were like a punisher. Tohka tried to get up and counterattack, but her opponent only shifted slightly, then struck her again—harder, more brutal. It was as if he were practicing a move he'd repeated thousands of times before.
His movements were concise, precise, and devoid of emotion.
"He's not an AST," said one of the operators from headquarters.
"Not a Spirit either. There were no energy fluctuations."
Origami narrowed her eyes. Behind her helmet, her mind worked rapidly, memorizing patterns, reading rhythms. But none of the man's techniques matched the combat catalog she had studied over the years.
Even she... wasn't sure she could hold him off for more than a second if confronted directly.
"Should we intervene?" asked one of the pilots on standby beside her.
"Wait," Origami replied curtly.
"Why?"
Origami stared intently at the battle below. Tohka's blood was visible on the ground. The masked figure stood over her, unfinished, as if waiting for something.
"If he can do that to a Spirit I've fought hundreds of times..." she said quietly. "Then we don't stand a chance."
There was a few seconds of silence.
At AST headquarters, the operator reported quickly, but with an uncertain tone.
"His uniform doesn't match any design in the database. No technology, no signal transmission, no identification."
"The mask and coat are both ordinary. They aren't detected as active devices."
The AST Lieutenant gritted his teeth. "Then who are we watching? Or what?"
No one answered.
And then, on the screen...
The masked figure slowly turned his body, turning his back to the already limp Tohka.
Without a word, he walked away. No look back. No triumph. No threat.
Then he simply vanished, out of optical range.
"Target lost..." an operator said, almost a whisper.
The sky fell silent again.
Origami exhaled slowly, still staring blankly in the direction the masked man had gone.
"...Not who," she whispered. "But what."
Then she closed the communication channel and descended slowly, as if carrying with her one thing she couldn't shake from her mind:
Fear.
...
Fraxinus – Main Command Room
The final visual burst of the battlefield had just ended. The main screen displayed static: the ruins of the schoolyard, Tohka's limp body, and Shido kneeling beside her. The masked figure that had just devastated the battlefield… had vanished.
"The target has disappeared from the radar. No energy traces, no electromagnetic interference, no surges of spiritual particles. He disappeared… clean," one of the operators reported in a barely audible voice.
The entire room fell silent. No one spoke for several seconds.
Then,
"What do you mean… 'clean'?!" Kotori snapped, standing up from her chair and slamming her palms onto the console with full force. "Even Spirit teleportation leaves traces! Even dimensional shifts!"
The operator in front of her trembled. "Commander, our systems didn't detect a single fluctuation. It's as if… he doesn't belong to this dimension."
"His movements cannot be analyzed. They are ahead of our system's predictions. He used A high-speed technique not recorded in any military database. Not even a Spirit."
He took a deep breath. "And her physical strength… exceeds the human body's capacity tenfold. But… she's not a Spirit. Nor an AST. Her identity… is completely unrecorded."
Kotori stared at the screen silently. Her voice was now softer but far more terrifying.
"We're watching a human… beat a Princess-class Spirit… like she was just a training sack."
One of the female operators in the back covered her mouth, her eyes welling with tears.
"I-Is… Tohka going to die…?"
Kotori didn't answer.
Another operator gritted her teeth. "This… is worse than an Inverse Spirit. Even an Inverse Spirit… can still be detected by our systems."
One of the operators spoke, her voice tense but controlled.
"Commander, Tohka is in an unstable condition. Her spiritual energy is rapidly decreasing. She could lose her existence if not treated immediately.
On the screen, Shido was seen frantically shaking Tohka, repeatedly calling her name. He tried to remain calm, but his voice cracked every time he pleaded with her to open her eyes.
Kotori didn't answer immediately. She took a deep breath and then touched the top of her internal communication headset.
"Transfer magic standby unit," she said, flat but firm. "Prepare emergency teleportation to the main medical recovery room. Priority code: level one."
Instantly, several operators moved quickly at their consoles.
"Target location synchronization successful. Shido and Tohka are within safe range."
"Coordinate processing complete. "Ready to execute command."
Kotori narrowed her eyes, then uttered a single word.
"Do it."
A pale blue light began to envelop the screen, forming two large magic circles that enclosed Shido and Tohka. On the field, the two were surrounded by rapidly spinning fragments of light, signaling the activation of the transfer.
In the last second before their bodies disappeared, Kotori caught sight of Shido looking up, as if he could sense someone's gaze from the sky. His eyes were red, not from injury... but from fear. From loss.
And then—they vanished.
Kotori slowly lowered her hand from the headset, then turned, her back to the screen.
"Prepare a spiritual isolation chamber for Tohka immediately. Make sure Shido stays by her side."
One of the crew members replied quickly, "We will prepare everything, Commander."
They had just experienced something far beyond their plans.