Kujou Iruka sat sidesaddle in mid-air, wings spread as though she rode a cloud, and looked down with cold contempt at the people who had stormed her domain.
The hem of her evening gown stirred without any wind.
She sat with her legs crossed, and even though the gown's slit already ran high, looking up from below…
All anyone could see were the woman's long, graceful legs, her delicate ankles, and the inviolable absolute domain.
Dark golden vertical pupils pressed down on everyone with matchless oppression.
Kujou Iruka's gaze lingered, almost fondly, on Kujou Katora.
In Kujou Iruka's eyes, this entire squad was nothing but a pack of children who thought they could play games with a grown-up.
Only Kujou Katora could stir even a little of her interest.
Peeping from far away was never as good as seeing someone up close with her own eyes.
In Kujou Iruka's memory, Kujou Katora had been such a tiny little thing. Now she actually looked rather dashing and heroic.
She looked a lot like herself, really… except her figure was a bit more fiery.
Was that decided by innate genes, or was it… Su Yuzu?
Kujou Iruka's gaze abruptly turned very dangerous.
In the middle of the squad that had invaded Kujou Iruka's Catastrophe Domain, Soga Yura's expression turned ugly.
She could feel that terrifying pressure from Kujou Iruka swing toward her for no reason she could fathom.
That wretch was the one who had kidnapped her Little Sister.
She hadn't even exploded yet, and the woman was already playing the aggrieved party, the villain who files her complaint first.
Still, it was only Kujou Iruka's mental pressure, thankfully.
As a mental-type Esper, Soga Yura simply braced her body and her gaze, and glared back, defiant and furious.
Soga Yura had no idea.
She was nothing but a scapegoat.
But Kujou Iruka clearly paid her glare little mind.
The only reason she had spared Soga Yura an extra glance was that face, nearly identical to Su Yuzu's, and the relationship between her and Su Yuzu, so very close to the one between Iruka herself and little Katora~.
A hunter doesn't care about the gaze of her prey.
With Kujou Katora in front of her, Kujou Iruka couldn't possibly care about anyone else.
But Kujou Katora was clearly not going to endure it quietly like Soga Yura.
She was far more flammable and explosive.
The woman she had hated for twenty years, resented for twenty years, longed to kill for twenty years, was right there in front of her.
And she was calling her a foolish, weak Little Sister with that mocking tone.
"Foolish?"
"Weak?"
"Little Sister!?"
Kujou Katora's killing intent was a sword stabbing straight through the clouds.
Because of the earlier Shame Event, she had for once changed into a fairly proper combat suit. She had upgraded from a one-piece black stocking set to a skin-tight leather jacket and leather pants. Now, inside the erosion domain, she summoned her pet directly:
The Hound of Blood.
Tsukiyomi Fuya was about to call out and stop her. They had agreed before coming that nobody would attack rashly.
But then she thought about the relationship between Superintendent Kujou and the woman seated on high.
In the end, Tsukiyomi Fuya chose silence.
She had no grounds to stop Kujou Katora.
Even if it was for Yuzu's sake.
That was the kind of good person Tsukiyomi Fuya was.
For Su Yuzu, and for countless ordinary people, she could let the arrows of the Seat of Evil pierce her own body.
But she couldn't demand that others take that arrow for Su Yuzu, or for more people.
Even among self-sacrificing saints, there were differences.
Hideous, terrifying hounds like beasts from hell lunged out of the darkness and tore at Kujou Iruka.
The might of those savage dogs rivaled even the Fourth Sequence.
It was the same in the game.
As the Hounds of Blood were an extension of Kujou Katora's ability, the damage they dealt was often higher than Katora's own.
And summoning them was simple.
As long as the battlefield had shadows.
As long as the battlefield had blood, or Kujou Katora's own HP was above thirty percent, she could summon whole packs of Hounds of Blood with ease.
And on top of that,
thanks to Kujou Katora's own Talent, [Edge of Aberration],
inside an Aberrant's erosion domain, Kujou Katora and her Hounds of Blood fought even more fiercely.
That made Kujou Katora one of the physical-damage ceilings in the game.
The other ceiling was Sakura Mai.
With the Sword of Erasure in hand, Sakura Mai… well, in any game, true damage is practically the noblest damage type there is.
A pack of scarlet hounds burst out of the shadows and sank their teeth toward Kujou Iruka.
Up there, Kujou Iruka had been surveying everyone with cold, dismissive contempt. At last, a slow curve rose on her lips, like a cat toying with its prey.
She spun gracefully in the air.
Her evening gown flew out around her.
Beneath the hem, the woman's long, pale thighs lashed out like whips. The vicious wind stirred by her sharp stiletto heels gathered into blades of force, crescent shadows like slashing moons, and cleaved open the skulls of the hounds rushing at her as easily as nothing.
Rather than suppressing the Hounds of Blood outright with the power of the Abyss, Kujou Iruka seemed to prefer this kind of close-quarters brawling, fists meeting flesh, legs whipping like lashes.
Drenching blood rained down from the sky.
The hounds of congealed blood were broken with effortless ease. Kujou Katora's face looked rather pale, almost beaten.
But she didn't look drained.
On the contrary.
When a mad grin spread across Kujou Katora's face too, a different aura, wholly unlike Kujou Iruka's and just as chilling, spread out from her body.
On the other side,
Kujou Iruka had shredded the Hounds of Blood's assault with no effort. Not to mention her hem, not a single drop of blood had stained even the pale skin of her thighs.
Kujou Iruka had fought blood-type Espers before.
She had also seen how her own sister hunted those Aberrants.
In short, once blood touched a body, or a wound was torn open,
the situation would flip in an instant, earth-shaking, in front of Kujou Katora.
But how could Kujou Iruka hand Kujou Katora that chance so easily?
Her black wings spread. The empress who had been sitting sidesaddle in the sky pointed her toes in their high heels and lightly touched down on the ground.
She looked at Kujou Katora.
"Is this your attack?"
"You disappoint me so… my foolish, weak Little Sister."
"I can't taste any hatred in you."
"The wolf's fangs have been ground flat."
"Her claws are no longer sharp."
"Has your heart already been corrupted?"
"Or… has your body already undergone Taming?"
"If that's the case…"
"Submit to me."
"I don't mind granting you the right to wag your tail and beg."
"I'll share a tiny bit of Su Yuzu with you."
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