Rushing out from the foot of the Mountain where Kujou Iruka's "palace" stood, Su Yuzu finally saw just how outrageous this battle had become.
The ground, once pitch black and tangled with jungle… had somehow turned into a stretch of pure white earth.
Across the white ground, pools of gleaming blue water were scattered like jewels set into the land.
An erosion domain?
No. It would be more accurate to say—
This was a "Sanctuary."
It was only that, every so often, the pure white Sanctuary flickered, and Su Yuzu could faintly make out the dark red essence of the erosion domain beneath it.
Su Yuzu understood in an instant—
This was the "Sanctuary" created by Lyudmila, or rather, by Saint Michael.
Its purpose… was surely to suppress the power of Kujou Iruka's "Garan."
Su Yuzu charged into the "Sanctuary."
Immediately, terrifying explosions and roars assaulted her ears. The sound was so overwhelming that, for a moment, Su Yuzu thought she was going deaf.
The deafening blasts left her head spinning, and the sharp, piercing ringing in her ears was like a cat's claws dragging across a blackboard.
Su Yuzu looked up—
In the sky… Kujou Iruka and Saint Michael were clashing at blinding speed.
With black wings spread from her waist, Kujou Iruka looked like a fallen angel, beautiful and bewitching.
Facing her, Saint Michael was going all out. The stigmata branded onto Lyudmila's body had all been ignited.
The blaze of light erupting from behind Saint Michael made her look like a seraph straight out of a video game.
After eighteen years of death, Saint Michael's power seemed to have reached the Sixth Sequence.
She was still some distance from Kujou Iruka.
But Saint Michael, a rule-type ability user like Iruka, had barely managed to gain the strength to fight her.
At least—
Under this artificial sun, Saint Michael and Kujou Iruka seemed evenly matched enough to fight.
"He says…"
"Blasphemers shall be punished."
Swinging the blazing cross in her hands, Saint Michael slashed furiously at Kujou Iruka.
The two fought at astonishing speed.
So fast that all the colors of the world seemed to drain away, so fast that time itself seemed to stand still.
Facing Saint Michael, Kujou Iruka was clearly not as composed as she had been against the women who'd come to rescue Su Yuzu earlier.
She was never the type to win by simply crushing everyone with her body.
Reaching for the black wings spread at her waist, Kujou Iruka deftly plucked two long black feathers.
But this time… Kujou Iruka did not nock the arrow formed from the feather onto her bowstring.
Because… there wasn't time—
Saint Michael pressed her attack, step by step.
Even though Kujou Iruka's arrows carried the invincible effect of "Strike Last, Arrive First," in a meat-grinder dogfight like this, she could only choose to fight at close quarters.
The black feather grew and spread in her hand until it became a sword, and Kujou Iruka brought it down hard on Saint Michael.
The two figures crossed paths.
Thick black blood and near-blinding red-gold blood burst across the sky at almost the same moment.
Saint Michael clamped a hand down on her shoulder.
Between the girl's fingers, blood scalding enough to boil, even to burn, spilled out and would not stop.
And Kujou Iruka?
She hung in the air with her black wings spread wide.
She looked just as battered.
Her evening gown was in tatters, the slit on her right leg torn clear open, almost all the way up to her waist.
The long, graceful line of her thigh was fully exposed to Su Yuzu's view.
Even the feathers of the black wings behind her looked somewhat ruffled.
But both Saint Michael and Su Yuzu, who had only just stepped onto the battlefield, knew better than anyone:
If they couldn't restrain Kujou Iruka's "Garan," no amount of damage would matter.
That flickering blue light had already begun to shimmer around Kujou Iruka once more.
Floating in the air, Saint Michael couldn't even spare a moment to cover the wound on her shoulder.
She looked at Kujou Iruka, then at Su Yuzu, who had just stepped into the "Sanctuary."
And her resolve hardened.
She absolutely, absolutely could not let this drag on.
Even if it cost her all her fighting strength, even if she had to pass the baton to someone else, she would restrain Kujou Iruka.
Under the astonished gazes of both Su Yuzu and Kujou Iruka,
the Holy Flame sword, burning fiercely… tore straight through Saint Michael's own arm.
The seraph in the sky, her stigmata blazing ferociously, had her clothes burned clean through.
"Ngaaahhh!!!" Even Saint Michael couldn't hold back a cry of agony.
What the Holy Flame scorched was not only her body, but her soul.
But… but!!!
She flung great gouts of her blood straight toward Kujou Iruka.
"He says—" Saint Michael ground her teeth, her eyes blazing like torches as she stared at Kujou Iruka.
"Those who forsake His faith shall be stripped of His Blessing."
Kujou Iruka was about to sneer. What did a "Blessing" have to do with someone like her, who had fallen into the Abyss?
But before she could speak…
the blue light flickering around Kujou Iruka suddenly… vanished.
Kujou Iruka froze, plainly stunned.
Since stepping into the Seventh Sequence, she had never seen anything like this.
Still, her reaction was swift. The instant "Garan" was sealed, she was already charging at Saint Michael.
The woman's knee slammed brutally into Saint Michael's chest.
Saint Michael's body instantly folded into a bow.
The burning angel was sent flying like a little bird with broken wings.
But Kujou Iruka's motion didn't stop there. She drew a long feather from her back and set it on her bowstring.
There wasn't even a chance for anyone to rescue her.
The longbow in Kujou Iruka's hands was already drawn to a full moon. Hmmm—
The arrow, striking last yet arriving first, pierced Saint Michael's chest in an instant.
The entire sky began to explode.
The sky was once again covered in dark red.
The pure, immaculate white earth… slowly lost its whiteness, its color wiped away piece by piece as if by an invisible eraser.
With her wings spread, Kujou Iruka hung in the air, the moon behind her stained crimson by the erosion domain.
Her body and wings formed a sinful cross, cutting the moon into a broken silhouette.
Yet, having dealt with her old enemy, Kujou Iruka's expression did not relax.
Because… the effect of the Word of Command still lingered.
The light of "Garan" flickered, but it could not heal Kujou Iruka's wounds.
This was why Kujou Iruka had called that girl the person she hated most.
As revolting as gum stuck to the sole of a shoe.
And then… she looked down at the ground.
Saint Michael's flawless "Sanctuary"… had not completely faded.
On the last patch of white holy ground stood a girl in a white trench coat, with a shamelessly risqué silk camisole dress beneath it, holding the fallen angel in her arms.
Even gravely wounded, Saint Michael's right hand still pointed her index finger at Kujou Iruka with all her strength.
Still lending her the power of the Word of Command.
Kujou Iruka looked at the girl.
Those crimson eyes, which should have been swallowed by the dark domain, shone within the erosion domain as dazzlingly as the most striking ruby.
"Ahh~"
"Su~"
"Yuzu~~~"
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