"...Kotori, what's going on...?"
"Shidou."
Kotori immediately cut him off.
After that—only a chilling silence.
"...I'm sorry."
The apology was so faint that it was almost inaudible, but Shidou still heard it.
"Huh?"
He scratched his cheek, puzzled as to why his sharp-tongued, tsundere little sister was suddenly apologizing.
"I'm sorry... if I'd known she would appear, I never should have let you go on that date with Kurumi..."
Kotori lowered her head, looking deeply remorseful. Even her fiery twin ponytails seemed to droop weakly, as if mirroring their master's emotions.
"No... I should've had you return the moment you first saw her. I should've sounded the spacequake alarm and evacuated everyone immediately..."
"Eh? Ehhhhh?"
The more Shidou listened, the less he understood.
Sure, what had happened earlier—Kurumi killing and being killed—had shocked him to the core.
But that alone shouldn't be enough to make his battle-hardened little sister, the commander of Fraxinus, look this shaken and afraid.
"I almost fired the convergence cannon—Mistilteinn..."
"Kotori, wait—what happened just now?"
The convergence cannon—Fraxinus's ultimate weapon.
For his usually composed commander-sister to admit she almost used it... Shidou realized he'd missed something crucial.
"...Ah, sorry. I haven't explained it properly."
Kotori took a deep breath, raised her head, and fixed her bloodshot eyes on Shidou. Her voice was calm, but only barely.
"Brother, do you know who that girl was—the one who stayed by Tokisaki Kurumi's side the entire time?"
"That girl? You mean Tenki Sanluo? She... wait, don't tell me—she's a Spirit?"
Shidou's heart clenched, but something still felt off.
If Tenki Sanraku were just a Spirit, Kotori wouldn't be this disturbed.
And for her to risk exposing Fraxinus's existence just to teleport him and Mana away before a confrontation—that could only mean one thing: the situation had been desperate.
"Yes, she's a Spirit. But..."
Kotori trailed off. It was Murasame Reine who quietly continued for her.
"She's Genie (Shura)."
"Genie (Shura)...?"
Shidou tilted his head. It was a codename he'd never heard before.
"Genie (Shura) appeared about half a year ago," Reine explained. "She possesses the most destructive spatial-quake power ever recorded among Spirits. The first time she manifested, her spacequake leveled an entire city. Nearly every person—including those in underground shelters—was killed."
"W-What... even the shelters...?"
Shidou's eyes widened in disbelief.
"See for yourself."
At Kotori's signal, Reine opened a laptop nearby, tapped a few keys, and played a video file.
Shidou looked at the screen—then froze. His pupils contracted sharply.
"T-This is..."
He had seen spacequakes before, but nothing of this magnitude.
Even underground shelters were annihilated.
It was an unprecedented level of destruction—something comparable only to the "Eurasia Catastrophe" thirty years ago.
"That's not all," Kotori continued grimly. "According to the reports, Genie (Shura) is sadistic, violent, and bloodthirsty. Her combat ability and aggression are both off the charts. She exterminated all remaining survivors of that city, then slaughtered hundreds of AST members in what looked like sheer amusement during their first encounter."
On screen, the image showed Tenki Sanluo descending upon the ruins, flames raging beneath her.
Her face was twisted into a grotesque, frenzied smile.
Watching that smile alone made Shidou's fists tremble.
"N-No way..."
The footage shifted—AST units arrived and engaged her.
But calling it a battle was a joke; it was a massacre.
Genie (Shura) toyed with them. The fight was completely one-sided.
Had she not been playing around, those hundreds of soldiers would've died even faster.
"Based on recent intel, Genie (Shura) commands two Angels—one controlling fire, the other ice," Reine added. "Her elemental control, particularly over ice, surpasses even Yoshino's."
Shidou didn't need Reine to tell him that.
On screen, Sanluo lazily swung her icy spear once, freezing dozens of AST soldiers into statues. Yoshino's abilities didn't even come close.
Then, as if bored, she shattered the frozen corpses and summoned a blizzard to crush the rest—before colliding her two Angels together, igniting a massive explosion of fire that engulfed the battlefield.
"T-This is..."
"Shidou," Kotori said gravely. "That was just her first appearance. In every encounter after that, no AST unit ever came back with their bodies intact."
More footage followed: spacequakes, raging flames, torrents of blood, and Tenki Sanluo standing alone among the carnage, her fiery blade gleaming red.
"This power... why...?"
Then, another image appeared—one that struck Shidou like lightning.
Amid the ruins of a collapsed city, Tokisaki Kurumi and Tenki Sanluo stood face-to-face. They appeared to be... talking.
Of course, every AST soldier nearby had already been slaughtered.
"At first, we thought their meeting was coincidental," Kotori explained. "But it's clear now—they've known each other for some time."
That footage became the key clue allowing Ratatoskr to identify Tenki Sanluo's true identity. Kurumi's attitude toward her said it all.
After that meeting, Genie (Shura)'s behavior changed.
Instead of massive spacequakes, she began to appear silently in cities, killing quietly and deliberately.
The death tolls were smaller—but judging from the increasingly twisted smile on her face, she seemed to enjoy the act of personal slaughter more than ever.
"Since then," Kotori continued, "Genie (Shura)'s surprise appearances have become the AST's worst nightmare worldwide. No matter what security measures they employ, they can't stop her killing sprees. The AST has suffered catastrophic losses. Most of their manpower depletion is thanks to her."
Kotori's words pounded against Shidou's mind like a hammer.
He shut the laptop, clutching his head, unable to process everything he'd just learned.
He was just an ordinary high-schooler.
Seeing Kurumi kill and be killed earlier had already been traumatic enough.
But learning that the girl beside him—Tenki Sanluo—was in fact a psychotic mass-murdering Spirit? That shattered his worldview completely.
He had always believed Spirits could be good. That belief was collapsing.
"After Genie (Shura)'s third appearance," Kotori went on, "riots broke out around the world. Even AST headquarters was attacked by civilians."
"It's only because she hasn't reappeared recently that the world has started to calm down again."
"Later, at the suggestion of a DEM executive, the AST gave Genie (Shura) a title—like Kurumi's 'Worst Spirit.' They call her the Most Brutal Spirit."
Kotori let out a weary sigh.
"When I realized that girl was Genie (Shura), I honestly thought she and Kurumi were going to kill you right then and there—turn Tenguu City into a wasteland filled with corpses and rivers of blood."
"Thankfully, she didn't start a massacre immediately. And before Mana provoked her any further, I managed to teleport you both to Fraxinus. Then, she lost form—by sheer luck, we escaped with our lives."
Her tone grew heavier and heavier.
"Shidou, I told you all this for one reason—"
Her crimson eyes locked onto his.
"I want you to abandon any attempt to seal Genie (Shura)."