Her tone was mocking, and pitying all the same.
Kujou Iruka looked down on them all from on high.
It was true—
In Kujou Iruka's eyes, these girls and women who had come to rescue Su Yuzu were no different from ants.
Even Tsukiyomi Fuya and Tennouji Jurei, both of the Sixth Sequence.
Before her, they were nothing more than slightly sturdier ants.
They had no idea—
The gap between the Sixth Sequence and the Seventh was as vast as heaven and earth.
The Seventh Sequence was no longer a realm anyone could enter through training or Talent alone.
What the Seventh Sequence required… was a "Credential."
Only after stepping into the Seventh Sequence had Kujou Iruka felt like a god. All living things were ants before her.
In the game, the "Seventh Sequence Promotion Crest" had another name—
"Proof of Godhood."
Even if Tsukiyomi Fuya fell into the Abyss right here and now, she could never leap straight from the Sixth Sequence to the Seventh.
Because she lacked that "Credential"—
And a "Throne" was precisely one such "Credential."
So… Su Yuzu, a mere Third Sequence, would already have one foot in the Seventh Sequence the moment she was willing to surrender herself to the darkness.
And then—
Kujou Iruka's gaze suddenly stopped on Soga Yura.
Her eyes slowly filled with astonishment.
After that… an even more absurd sight unfolded before her.
Sakura Mai, who wielded the "Power of Erasure."
The "Seat of Evil," back in human form once more.
She watched the Seat of Evil, who had snatched away Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi's reserved spot and now sat on Soga Ishikawa Irube's shoulder as if bored, swinging her legs.
Kujou Iruka had to admit it.
Among this group, there were indeed some who could threaten her.
Lyudmila was not in the crowd.
Neither was Sakura Mai's mother, Sakura Koishin, nor Unohana Chiyo, Mihou Sakai, or Saotome Yukina.
But then—
Present or absent… what difference did it make?
Such negligible combat strength was no more than a feather-light bargaining chip before Kujou Iruka. It could never add the slightest chance of victory for this group.
Their absence only gave Kujou Iruka an excuse to needle Su Yuzu with a few sneering remarks.
The people you care about so much~
Don't seem to care about you all that much, do they.
The instant Kujou Iruka's taunt fell, Kujou Katora's eyes went red.
"This wretch!!!"
"This… this wretch she had hated for twenty years!!!"
"Make her grovel and wag her tail at her!?"
"Are you kidding me!!!"
"Even if she wagged that weird tail of hers to curry favor with Miss Yuzu, she would never wag it at this one, this wretch."
Kujou Katora's right hand shot up.
A flash of steel split the night.
Only, what it cut open was not Kujou Iruka's defense, but Kujou Katora's own wrist.
Blood gushed out in a roaring torrent, a cascade so thick it looked like it could drain and kill a person in an instant.
Kujou Katora didn't care in the slightest.
"Blood Manipulation" did not exist to kill its host.
From Su Yuzu's point of view, Kujou Katora's maximum health was even ten times that of Senior Tsukiyomi Fuya, roughly on par with a Fifth Sequence Aberrant, someone who could be treated as an outright Boss.
The blood transformed into a huge, roaring bloodsaw that Kujou Katora seized in her grip, while the wound on the woman's pale wrist healed rapidly.
Swinging the bloodsaw, Kujou Katora charged straight at Kujou Iruka.
Hayabusa, standing behind Kujou Katora… only watched the battle between the sisters in silence. She did not stop it.
She knew—
Lady Kujou had hated "The Abyss of Eternal Smiles" for a very long time.
One could even say… it was the fury and grudge Lady Kujou carried toward Kujou Iruka that had let her claw her way out of one hopeless situation after another.
And of the two—
The fury actually outweighed the grudge.
Even if it meant a moth throwing itself into the flame, in the instant they met, Lady Kujou would not hesitate.
Facing Kujou Katora, who came charging with the bloodsaw, Kujou Iruka merely gave the black wings at her back a lazy, arrogant flap.
The next second, she was already in front of Kujou Katora.
It had been nearly twenty years since Kujou Katora had been this close to Kujou Iruka.
The scent on Kujou Iruka didn't seem to have changed at all in twenty years.
The only difference was that this time, it carried a heavy trace of the scent of Miss Yuzu.
Boom—
It sounded like a cannon blast.
Kujou Iruka's knee slammed hard into Kujou Katora's chest.
The girl wielding the bloodsaw flew off like a cannonball. The way Kujou Katora spat blood made the others wonder, just for a moment… whether she had died on the spot.
The black wings slowly spread wide.
Kujou Iruka lowered her right leg unhurriedly, and the hem of her silk-black evening gown settled with it, covering her ankle and leaving only a glimpse of pale skin.
Dark golden vertical pupils, cold and contemptuous, looked down from where she stood upright in midair.
She said nothing more and made no showy display of power, yet… Kujou Iruka's might pressed down like the sky and earth collapsing together.
"How terrifying—"
Tennouji Jurei tilted her head back slightly to look at Kujou Iruka standing in the air.
"So this is the Seventh Sequence's "Seat of Garan"?"
"Oh?" Hearing Tennouji Jurei's voice, the corners of Kujou Iruka's lips curled in amusement.
She hadn't expected the human side to have known all along that she had already stepped into the Seventh Sequence.
But…
"If you have long known the gulf between us,"
"why come here to die?"
Tennouji Jurei's expression suddenly turned fervent. It was such a fervor that even Sakura Mai felt she could no longer quite read "Father."
Such a gentle, refined "Father"… had a side this wild too?
She suddenly remembered "Father's" old title—
"Sword Princess of Frenzied Assault."
"After all this time, I've finally found a strong opponent worth drawing my sword for… How could I possibly choose to run?"
Her right hand closed on empty air behind her, and there… coiled what looked like the shadow of a dragon in ink-wash.
Tennouji Jurei drew a long, narrow greatsword, longer than she was tall, out of the painting.
It was a very strangely shaped blade.
The hilt was extremely long, taking up fully a third of the sword's length.
The instant Tennouji Jurei drew the greatsword, the roar of an enraged dragon seemed to explode through the erosion domain, rumbling like muffled thunder.
It was no illusion—
"Kujou Iruka!!!" came an enraged, low roar.
A long crimson cascade surged in from the distance, staining the already dark-red erosion domain until it looked like Purgatory itself.
Kujou Katora, her mouth and chin drenched in blood, returned from hell like an asura of death.
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