When Su Yuzu appeared in Kujou Iruka's field of vision,
everything else seemed to stop mattering to her.
Let the stars fall from the sky.
Let the frenzied Sword Princess swing her blood-soaked greatsword down at her.
Let the small, nimble Seat of Evil thrust a murderous spike of metal toward her.
Kujou Iruka dove down—
Her eyes seemed to hold nothing but Su Yuzu.
The Hand of Paradox had affected Kujou Iruka in a remarkable way.
And the most terrifying part was this:
Kujou Iruka herself hadn't even noticed the Hand of Paradox's influence on her.
It was like the research Keigunen Private Academy had done on the materials Su Yuzu had Twisted with the Hand of Paradox.
On the surface, those materials looked as if they'd been wrung into spirals like mosquito coils, but…
their composition, their structure, looked as though they had never been Twisted at all.
As if everything had always been this way.
Kujou Iruka was the same.
What's more, Kujou Iruka was one of the rare few who had been targeted head-on by Su Yuzu, who had directly tried to Twist her with the Hand of Paradox.
The last person Su Yuzu had done this to was Unohana Chiyo.
Why had Su Yuzu appeared here?
Kujou Iruka didn't care in the slightest.
When she had entrusted Su Yuzu to Lian, asking Lian to look after her, protect her well, and satisfy her every need as far as possible, Kujou Iruka had already prepared herself for the chance that Lian might betray her—
and bring Su Yuzu onto the battlefield.
Only…Kujou Iruka's will swept across the land in an instant.
She clearly sensed the battle between Lian and an Aberrant who belonged to another Throne, fought amid the ruins of her detached palace, now reduced to broken walls and rubble.
So…Lian hadn't betrayed her. She had simply had no choice.
Kujou Iruka dove at Su Yuzu.
Her figure vanished from the sky in an instant, and in a flicker of blue light she was already standing in front of Su Yuzu.
Su Yuzu could see everything with perfect clarity…Kujou Iruka's delicate collarbones, the lovely lines that drew the eye, and the woman's dark-gold, radiant slit pupils.
It seemed that although Saint Michael had restricted Kujou Iruka from using Garan to heal herself,
she hadn't been able to restrict Kujou Iruka's other abilities.
A cool hand…stroked Su Yuzu's cheek.
"Ah~"
"Su Yuzu—"
Kujou Iruka's tone was so gentle…it was as if she wanted to devour Su Yuzu, bite by bite.
A chill crawled up Su Yuzu's spine.
The jet-black wings had already spread, closing in around Su Yuzu.
Kujou Iruka…looked as though she meant to force Su Yuzu's chin up and kiss her on the lips.
Kujou Iruka had not been driven into total madness by Su Yuzu's Hand of Paradox.
On the contrary—
her thoughts were clearer than they had ever been.
The combat group before her had, one could say, gathered here entirely for Su Yuzu.
All the operatives who had taken part in this battle to intercept Kujou Iruka—their goal, one could say, was…
Su Yuzu.
If she could capture Su Yuzu, Kujou Iruka could use Yuzu to command the whole realm.
Of course, if she could just lift Saint Michael's restriction on her Garan, Kujou Iruka would once again have nothing to fear.
Her chin lifted in Kujou Iruka's grip, Su Yuzu didn't look nearly as panicked as Kujou Iruka had imagined.
To Kujou Iruka, an Aberrant, prey like this had suddenly lost a great deal of its sweetness.
She studied the girl before her.
The girl wore a trench coat, and beneath it a lace camisole dress so soaked it was nearly see-through. It gave off an indescribable feeling that made one want to bend down to her.
Besides that…the dark red collar around the girl's neck made one want even more to pull her into one's arms and ravage her.
Wait—
A collar!?
A dark red collar!?!
By the time Kujou Iruka realized something was wrong, she had already missed her chance.
Would Su Yuzu ever put on a collar so casually?
And likewise—
would Kujou Katora ever take her collar off so casually?
Even if she'd wanted to put on that Martyr's Cursed Necklace to protect the others from Kujou Iruka's arrows, couldn't she have just worn the necklace over the collar? Why take it off at all?
Of course, it was to save Miss Yuzu.
Kujou Katora remembered clearly…Miss Yuzu had said that the collar was an extremely powerful piece of equipment.
It couldn't compare to a Holy Relic, but whenever she fell into danger, it could quickly transfer her to Miss Yuzu's side.
And that was exactly what happened.
Every time Kujou Katora's fingertips pressed against the collar at her neck, she seemed to feel the connection between herself and Miss Yuzu.
It was also because of this that Miss Yuzu could grant her the power of the Blessing every day.
And also…while Katora was at work, remove the collar or add something to it, just to tease her.
So then—
what about the other way around?
Su Yuzu, with Saint Michael in her arms, vanished from Kujou Iruka's grasp.
Almost at the same moment, on the other side of the battlefield, Su Yuzu looked at Kujou Katora, drenched in blood from head to toe, and her heart ached so badly she felt close to choking up.
She wanted to comfort Kujou Katora.
Kujou Katora wanted a little reward from Miss Yuzu too.
But…looking at the filthy blood on her own body, she hesitated, and the step she'd taken toward Yuzu drew back.
Su Yuzu didn't care about any of that. She pressed her hands straight onto Kujou Katora's blood-smeared face, then looked, heartbroken, at the huge hole in the clothing over Kujou Katora's chest.
The wound had already healed, but Su Yuzu could imagine how terrible the injury must have been at the time.
Pale blue points of light flared up on the far side of the battlefield.
Kujou Iruka was trying to use Garan to chase after them.
But before Garan's glow had fully lit, Kujou Iruka suddenly felt a terrible chill invade her from behind.
That dreadful chill was even worse than when Saint Michael's Sanctuary had descended.
The sensation, like thorns pressed against her back, reminded Kujou Iruka of…the first time she had ever met Lian.
The Godslayer Weapon.
She twisted around on instinct, but the jet-black wings, bound almost to her very life, were pierced through as easily as paper.
Even the Seat of Evil and Tennouji Jurei from before had only managed to find ways to gouge off Kujou Iruka's wings.
Those wings, sharp as blades and as good at defense as at attack, simply didn't invite anyone to try attacking them.
Apart from Su Yuzu biting a chunk out of them, it seemed no one had ever truly left a wound on Kujou Iruka's wings.
But…that record seemed to have been broken.
A naginata grazed past Kujou Iruka's neck.
A mecha Martial Maiden, whose style was utterly different from everyone else around, closed the distance in an instant and loomed right in front of Kujou Iruka.
"Second-Generation Godslayer Weapon: Anti-Seat of Garan Specialized Armament—"
"Activated."
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