"Alright—that's enough."
A blazing phantom sword crashed down from the sky, landing right in front of Aki Takamatsuzume, cutting off her path forward. The shock snapped her out of the fleeting joy of her reunion. Before she could react, Rikishi and Ayane caught up, dragging her back.
"Miss Samael," Shoko said icily, her voice dripping with displeasure, "mind not getting in my way?"
Nero, who'd just stopped Aki from rushing into Shoko's arms, merely tipped her hat with a light chuckle. "Well, damn, what a touching little reunion. I didn't want to crash your nostalgic chit-chat, but before we get all warm and fuzzy…"
She glanced at Aki, who was still staring at Shoko in a daze, then turned back to Shoko. "I've got an old question that needs answering. Those girls you whisked away—where the hell are they now?"
Aki flinched, her eyes wide with disbelief.
Rikishi raised her longbow again, her voice sharp. "Just what are you?"
"Still as rude as ever, Rikishi Shiina," Shoko replied coolly.
The shadows at Shoko's feet churned, and moments later, a figure emerged—Kairi, the one Rikishi had been relentlessly chasing for days.
On a nearby rooftop, Mutsu appeared, perched on the shoulders of a towering puppet.
Leopard-like beasts had silently surrounded the railway tracks.
"Looks like the gang's all here," Shoko said, scanning the group with a faint smile. She lifted her skirt slightly and curtsied to the crowd. "Allow me to reintroduce myself… or rather, us. We are 'Ave Mujica,' the rulers beneath the crimson moon. Sinners who shatter the world, yet prisoners trapped within it."
"Quit the theatrics…" Rikishi growled through gritted teeth.
Shoko didn't care for her attitude. Her gaze stayed fixed on Aki and Nero. "Since it's come to this, I'll answer your question. Those girls you're so worried about—the ones who accepted our invitation to this world? They're unharmed. They're just… enchanted by this place. Our friends, now. They don't want to go back to that pathetic, helpless reality you cling to."
She tilted her head slightly. "Satisfied with that answer?"
Before Nero could respond, Shoko turned to Aki, her voice soft and beckoning. "Aki."
Aki trembled, her eyes quivering as they met Shoko's.
"Come with me," Shoko said gently. "Come, and let's fulfill our 'forever' promise."
"No…"
Aki didn't step forward. She shook her head, backing away slowly. "No…"
Under Shoko's increasingly frosty gaze, Aki lifted her head and shouted, "No! 'Forever,' 'always,' all of that…!"
She gasped for air, forcing the words out. "Those words are cursed! People are small, powerless against life's accidents, so—!"
She hadn't yelled like this in ages and struggled to catch her breath, but pressed on. "So… instead of chasing some empty 'forever'…"
Shoko cut her off, her patience gone. "Aki Takamatsuzume, you've changed."
The words hit Aki like a slap. She froze, stiff as a board.
"I kinda dig that speech, though," Kairi interjected.
Shoko shot her a withering glare. "Shut it. This is between me and her."
"Speaking of changing," Nero chimed in, twirling her cane with a smirk, "haven't you changed a bit more? I mean, you're not even human anymore, are you?"
The one who reacted most wasn't Aki, but Rikishi. She stared at Kairi, her voice breaking. "Kairi, you…?"
"Boss?" Kairi glanced at Shoko, silently asking if she could respond. She didn't know Aki well and wasn't sure if answering would mess up Shoko's invitation.
Shoko let out a resigned sigh, giving her permission.
"You're not wrong," Kairi said flatly to Rikishi. "I'm a demon now. The human called 'Kairi Yawata' doesn't exist anymore."
"What… did you say?" Rikishi's face went ashen.
Aki finally snapped out of the shock of their exchange, piecing together what Nero had meant earlier. "Shoko…"
"That's right," Shoko replied, her tone ice-cold. "I'm a demon… one that's taken over the body of the 'Shoko' you knew."
Her amber eyes, glowing faintly red, fixed on Nero. For the first time, her elegant tone carried a hint of hostility. "You've disrupted my plans one too many times. I hope you're ready to face the consequences."
Nero smiled, tipping her hat and pressing it to her chest as if to say, "Be my guest."
"Pretty damn confident, aren't you?" Shoko said, her voice sharp. "Forgetting something?"
With a wave of her hand, a massive demonic pillar and a towering savior materialized behind her. She sneered. "Our last little scrap? I won that one—"
"And this time, I'm not giving you the chance to surrender!"
The monstrous enemies drew a yelp from Ayane. Honestly, she'd been so out of place here that Nero had almost forgotten a regular high school girl was caught up in this battlefield of demons and demon hunters.
Facing the terrifying foes, Rikishi didn't waver like Ayane. She shoved down the chaos in her heart and shouted to her former partner. "Aki, come on! Same tactics as before!"
She fired a venomous arrow skyward, preparing to rain down a toxic swamp.
But…
"I can't…"
Aki shook her head, refusing.
Rikishi called her name again, desperate. "Aki! This isn't the time to sulk—"
"I…"
Aki shook her head again, delivering the answer Rikishi couldn't accept. "I can't… make the same sounds I used to."
Aki's weapon, the staff "Partenope," turned her voice into power.
To unleash its strength, she had to let out her truest, rawest scream.
Rikishi understood what Aki meant, but she couldn't accept it.
"How?!" she demanded. "If anyone could do it, it's you!"
"Prime Mover of All! Your glory permeates the cosmos—"
In that moment, a clear, soaring hymn rose against the wind, aimed at the figure bathed in blood-red moonlight. "Thus it shines a little more here, a little less there!"
But the voice wasn't Aki's, as Rikishi had hoped.
It was Nero.
After a long silence, she drew her blade, and under the crimson moon, she sang the holy hymn once more.