"Another one...?"
Minamiya Natsuki sighed helplessly as she gazed at the silver-haired girl sleeping in Arcueid's arms.
And... wasn't this Kanase Kanon, who was in the same grade as Akatsuki Nagisa?
After glancing at Arcueid's beaming face before her, she wordlessly pointed toward the room across the hall.
"There's an empty room over there. I've bought up the entire floor below, so we'll sort out arrangements later."
"Ah, that's right." Natsuki suddenly called out to Arcueid, who was heading toward the room. "Nagisa said she's coming over tomorrow."
"Did something happen with Root?" Handing the sleeping Kanase Kanon over to Trimmau, Arcueid asked with a hint of confusion.
Akatsuki Nagisa rarely visited here under normal circumstances. If she was coming, something must have happened.
"No." Minamiya Natsuki shook her head, dismissing Arcueid's guess. "She said her father has something to give you."
Akatsuki Gajou?
It seemed this father had found something.
Arcueid gave a slight nod, then led a dirtied Avrora into the bathroom.
--+--
"Good afternooon~"
A cheerful girl's voice rang from the doorway as Akatsuki Nagisa's lively figure stepped into Minamiya Natsuki's high-end apartment.
Then, she froze in place, her eyes widening in surprise. "So... so many Avroras."
Before her, twelve golden-haired girls, all bearing similar features, turned to look at her simultaneously.
Even so, Nagisa accurately identified the real Avrora, stepped forward, and handed her the ice cream she was holding.
"Sorry... I didn't know there were so many people, so I didn't buy enough ice cream..."
"I have a solution." Trimmau drifted eerily close to Avrora. "The master once said, 'It is not the lack but the inequality that causes discontent.'"
"So..." A slender finger appeared in Avrora's line of sight and gently took her ice cream away.
"No one gets any."
"Ah..."
Avrora's cheeks instantly puffed up like a pufferfish. Frowning, she crossed her arms, fixing Trimmau with a teary-eyed, animal-like glare.
She was furious!
"Good afternoon, Sister Trimmau. Let me handle the cooking today." Nagisa shook the groceries she'd bought.
"Excellent!" Avrora, who had just been sulking, was the first to jump up, only to be immediately silenced by Trimmau's icy glare.
"Nagisa~ Welcome!" Arcueid emerged from the room with Kanon in tow.
Kanon still seemed a bit dazed. After a night of adjustments, the magical circuits within her had been temporarily stabilized.
"Arcueid~ and... Kanon?"
Nagisa tilted her head, wondering why her classmate was here.
"You know each other?"
"Mhmm, Kanon and I were in the same class until last year." Instantly adapting, Nagisa headed straight for the kitchen with the groceries.
Halfway there, she suddenly remembered something, rummaging through her basket.
"This is what my father asked me to bring you."
A slender silver stake engraved with strange runes was pulled from the grocery basket and handed to Arcueid.
The room fell silent.
Minamiya Natsuki cast an intrigued glance their way, while Arcueid's eyes likewise sparkled with interest.
"...Is this something important?" Seeing their expressions, Nagisa couldn't help but shrink her shoulders slightly.
Gajou had been very casual when he gave it to her, almost like he was tossing out trash.
"It's fine, it's fine. You go ahead and get busy." Arcueid gently nudged her toward the kitchen, then picked up the silver stake and walked over to Minamiya Natsuki.
"These are Divine Oscillation Effect Activation Formulae." Natsuki snapped her folding fan open with a crisp 'snap'.
The secret trump card of the Lion King Organization—the Divine Oscillation Effect Activation Formulae—renowned for nullifying magical energy, severing all barriers, and said to be capable of slaying even a Primogenitor.
"Akatsuki Gajou is quite capable, isn't he?"
Arcueid traced the runes with her fingers, a smirk playing on her lips.
It seemed her Mystic Eyes of Anti-Magic could be refined even further.
--+--
A few days later.
The clock tower chimed, marking nine o'clock in the evening.
The bells seemed to act as a signal. As they rang out, a thick fog gradually rolled in, swiftly enveloping the massive structure at the center of the old southeastern district—Keystone Gate.
The main structure of Keystone Gate was six stories tall. In the past, Itogami Island had situated its municipal government and the headquarters of the Gigafloat Management Public Corporation here.
Its exterior walls extensively employed magically reinforced transparent diamond glass, making the entire building resemble a colossal crystal palace.
At the heart of this palace stood a giant clock tower, strikingly similar in shape to a hexagonal crystal.
HOOOONK—
A train whistle, shaking the fog and reverberating through the surroundings, sounded.
Light cut through the mist as a faintly smoking locomotive chugged along rails that had materialized out of thin air.
Close behind, the dark gray body of the train came into view.
This was Arcueid's Mystic Eye Collection Train.
"No matter how many times I see it, it's always so impressive." Akatsuki Nagisa gazed at the train approaching across the sea, a note of awe in her voice.
A hint of nervousness mixed with her excited expression, as if she was feeling some unease about what was to come.
"Of course."
Arcueid clapped her hands lightly, and the train slowly ground to a halt.
Countless Neco-Arcs spilled out from the train, wobbling unsteadily as they carried precision parts and rushed toward Keystone Gate.
Soon, a machine resembling a fuel dispenser began to take shape beside Keystone Gate.
"Well then..." Arcueid turned to face the circle of Kaleid Bloods gathered not far away.
"Let's get started."
The night hung low, and clouds swayed in the sky.
The air carried a scent mixed with grass and damp earth, a sign that rain was coming.
Akatsuki Nagisa stood nervously at the center of the circle formed by the Kaleid Bloods. A gentle breeze stirred, causing the girl's waist-length, raven-black hair to sway.
"Relax. Just go to sleep, and it'll be over."
Arcueid offered a reassuring smile. The Neco-Arcs stepped forward, carrying hoses and something that looked like a fuel nozzle.
The other end of the hose was connected to the fuel dispenser.
Nagisa took a deep breath, a faint glimmer appearing in her eyes.
Golden hair floated around her as an ethereal figure, resembling the Kaleid Bloods but only half a meter tall, materialized behind her.
This was Root, who had always been slumbering within her dreams.
A Neco-Arc stepped up, pried her mouth open unceremoniously, and stuffed the nozzle-like device inside.
Click.
As the trigger was pulled, bulges immediately swelled along the hose, rushing toward Root.
These were the memories recorded within the Mystic Eye Collecting Train—various memories imbued with intense emotions.
The Neco-Arc tapped its foot arrhythmically on the ground, hands casually holding the fuel nozzle, whistling a soundless tune.
Avrora watched everything before her with tense anxiety.
"Remembering now?" Arcueid stood beside her, gently stroking her long hair as if to comfort her.
"Mmm..."
With the hints and implications from her sisters around her, she understood what she would ultimately face.
The Kaleid Bloods were merely vessels created solely for the parasitization of the Beast Vassals. Even though the Beast Vassals had been separated, Root, upon reviving, would not allow these vessels to continue existing.
This meant she would disappear from this world.
But... she didn't want to return to Root's body.
She still wanted to ride the train with the Princess... with Arcueid, eat ice cream with her sisters, and drink the tea Trimmau brewed.
And that egg fried rice... it was actually pretty good, too.
But if this operation failed... Root would destroy everything.
Avrora pursed her lips lightly, her fingers tightly clutching the hem of her skirt. "If... if we fail, can I..."
As if sensing something approaching, raindrops arrived with the spring breeze.
A drop of water landed on Avrora's cheek and quietly trickled down.
So quiet it was soundless, just like a tear.
"Fail?"
Arcueid bent down, a confident curve lifting the corner of her mouth.
"Failure isn't an option that appears before this Princess. Next up, Arcueid is going on a rampage."
She stood right there before Avrora, her figure reflected in the girl's blue, water-like eyes.
Above them, the clouds churned. Silver light pierced the heavy rain clouds, and the usually gentle moonlight seemed to turn resolute, casting a brilliant, silvery-white glow upon Avrora's face.
As if the moon itself had wiped away the girl's sorrow, the teardrop-like raindrop on Avrora's cheek vanished within the moonlight.
The atmosphere trembled; the earth shook.
Ethereal shadows of various forms drifted from the eyes of every Kaleid Blood.
The spectral figure beside Nagisa gradually solidified, slowly flying toward Avrora.
The figure's golden hair was swept by the turbulent winds, and the corners of her mouth began to curve upwards.
Then.
She opened her eyes.
Within them bloomed a radiance like blazing azure-white flames.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.