A siege—
This was a siege against Kujou Iruka.
They had never fought together before, yet Kujou Katora and Tennouji Jurei meshed with surprising ease.
The frenzied Sword Princess swung her greatsword. The enormous, seemingly ponderous blade moved in her hands as nimbly as a brush.
Blood served as ink, splashed across the air in sweeping strokes.
Kujou Iruka dodged their assaults.
It wasn't because they were strong enough to force her to.
It was because Kujou Iruka didn't want to dirty her dress.
After she had suppressed this lot… or even killed them, she still intended to go and wake her lovely Miss Yuzu as the victor.
And then… she would watch the girl weep, heartbroken, like a pitiful little puppy.
"Oh, that's right—"
"She…"
"hates dogs the most."
She sidestepped the gale kicked up by Tennouji Jurei's downward chop, only for Kujou Katora's Hound of Blood to burst out of that ink-red storm, howling and snapping at Kujou Iruka.
The jet-black wings at the small of Iruka's back flapped once, and she shot backward.
But on her line of retreat, the Seat of Evil, perched on Soga Ishikawa Irube's shoulder, suddenly patted him on the shoulder.
"Hey—"
"Tell me."
"Have you ever seen the Abyss?"
The Seat of Evil looked calmer than anyone else there, utterly unruffled.
And she had every right to be.
After all, the Seat of Evil in her complete form had also been a Seventh Sequence, just like Kujou Iruka.
More than that, the complete Seat of Evil had been far more terrifying and far more dominant than Kujou Iruka. All by herself, she had annihilated an entire era.
The Seat of Evil pursed her lips toward Kujou Iruka. "Not this one."
"Of course!!!"
For Miss Yuzu. For Eldest Young Lady Yura. For the glory of the Soga clan. For his own Little Kiyomi.
Soga Ishikawa Irube, who was only a hair's breadth from the Fourth Sequence, stood here with the resolve of a man marching to his death.
He had come to serve as the Seat of Evil's mount.
"I'm a man with Soga blood running through my veins."
Hearing Soga Ishikawa Irube's words, the Seat of Evil's expression stalled for a moment.
She looked at Soga Ishikawa Irube, who was serving as her mount, and then… glanced at Soga Yura.
Under the influence of Kujou Iruka's erosion domain, the eyes of both of them had not dimmed in the least.
Instead they blazed like flames kindled in Purgatory, only growing brighter and more brilliant.
The Seat of Evil's face turned grave and complicated. "So that's how it is."
"You two…"
"really do have some nerve."
She had heard an ancient legend, in which someone dared to ride a serpent, and someone else dared to ride a demon.
She had never imagined—
that the legend would be so close to reality.
The human heart was truly complex and unfathomable.
Still, this was no time to discuss the origins of the Soga clan. The Seat of Evil watched Kujou Iruka retreating toward them and pressed her right hand against Soga Ishikawa Irube's shoulder.
"Since you've already seen the Abyss—"
"then… gaze into it once more."
The instant the Seat of Evil's words fell, Soga Ishikawa Irube felt a bone-piercing cold and a stabbing pain spread out from his shoulder.
At the same time, his body seemed to grow heavy.
The Seat of Evil's expression was calm and still.
From the spot where her small hand rested on Soga Ishikawa Irube's shoulder, clusters of metallic crystal spread and grew like mad.
In moments, they had swallowed Soga Ishikawa Irube whole.
The Seat of Evil, sitting on his shoulder, now looked like a girl enthroned upon a Throne of metallic crystal clusters.
The next second—
"Ugh… aaaaaaah!!!"
Soga Ishikawa Irube, clad in jet-black armor, burst roaring out of the metal clusters.
He was completely sheathed in heavy armor, leaving only his eyes visible, red and fierce, as fiery and mad as those of a vengeful ghost.
Soga Ishikawa Irube twisted his body and hurled a punch toward Kujou Iruka.
One blow that could split stone and shatter the sky.
Even Kujou Iruka didn't want to take a punch like that.
She pulled away, intending to fly upward.
But within the gloomy erosion domain, a sea of stars blazed with brilliant radiance.
A woman hung in the night sky, arms spread wide.
Her moon-white hair whipped wildly.
Behind her hung a radiant, gleaming moon.
Riding the night wind, her cream-white wool coat snapped and billowed.
"The stars all revolve around my will!!!"
Tsukiyomi Fuya's pale violet eyes fixed on Kujou Iruka, empty and distant, like those of a god.
Only Su Yuzu would stare at her inner thighs at a time like this, her thoughts entirely on Tsukiyomi Fuya's figure.
The light of the countless stars seemed to come alive.
And then it fell.
"Night always ends—"
"and the stars will fall with it."
Back when Tsukiyomi Fuya was still Fifth Sequence, she had already been the strongest Fifth Sequence Esper.
Beyond her Level 59 at the time, there was also the fact that Tsukiyomi Fuya's ability closely resembled a burst-damage nuker mage in a game.
Considering destructive power alone, Tsukiyomi Fuya could be called the strongest.
She could level a city with ease and stand against nature itself.
And she was the complete opposite of Saint Michael, the Sun Esper.
At night, the power Tsukiyomi Fuya could unleash was simply absurd, beyond all comparison.
And now—
even Tsukiyomi Fuya, who had only just stepped into the Sixth Sequence, made Kujou Iruka feel a faint chill of threat.
Her slender right hand reached behind her, and for the first time, Kujou Iruka plucked a feather from her own wings.
She raised her left hand and curled her right as if holding something.
A long black bow appeared out of thin air, and she drew the string to full.
Kujou Iruka aimed the feather, now an arrow, at Tsukiyomi Fuya's chest.
"Sorry about this—"
"Professor Tsukiyomi."
In battle, one must first deal with the greatest threat.
Zing—
The arrow left the string.
The next second, a great gout of blood burst from the woman's back, and those pale violet eyes trembled violently.
Soga Yura's face was cold.
She was recalling Teacher Unohana Chiyo's warning.
"Kujou Iruka's arrows are terrifying."
"They're arrows that seem to reverse causality."
"Loosed last—"
"Arrives first."
"There is absolutely, absolutely no way to dodge it."
"Except…"
Her blood-soaked right hand gripped the arrow that had pierced her chest, clutching it with all her strength.
The sharp feather-blade sliced open her palm.
Only by leaning on the bloodsaw could she hold herself upright… Kujou Katora, her back to Kujou Iruka, slowly turned around.
She looked at Kujou Iruka and smiled, wild and mad.
Blood trickled from the huge wound in her chest, flowing down into the bloodsaw.
"Surprised?" Kujou Katora looked like a lunatic risen from Purgatory. "My dear…"
"Sister."
The hand Kujou Iruka had on the bowstring suddenly seemed unable to pull it back any further.
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