"Ugh..."
Slowly climbing up from the ground, her consciousness a bit hazy, Tohka shook her head.
"I am currently... Right! Shido!"
The blank mories in her mind quickly cleared up. Just monts ago, Tohka was joining hands with everyone to stop Shido's rampage. However, just when they thought they were about to succeed, Shido suddenly erupted, summoning a lightning strike to attack everyone.
Hurriedly looking around, many trees had been ignited by the sudden lightning strike, and a raging fire was spreading through the forest. Viewed from afar, the sky-filling flas in the dark night here would surely be particularly conspicuous.
"Yutsuki!"
Not far from her, in a crater completely turned to scorched earth, Ryougi Yutsuki was lying down, unconscious.
"Yutsuki, are you okay?!"
Hurriedly running over and picking Yutsuki up, Tohka shouted anxiously.
"..."
She could feel the flow of breath from her nose and mouth, and her chest was rising and falling rhythmically. It seed she was just unconscious and not in life-threatening danger. Tohka couldn't help but sigh in relief.
"Is everyone... okay...?"
Uneasily turning on the communication button on her earpiece, unlike Yutsuki, Tohka wasn't good at fiddling with such delicate machinery. She only rembered the most basic operations. If it malfunctioned due to the lightning strike just now, Tohka would be helpless.
However, Tohka was lucky; the earpiece connected smoothly.
"Everyone! Are you okay..."
[My familiar... rest assured, this kind of lightning strike is still far from the strike of my comrade back then. My life is not in danger... It's just... the Child of the Typhoon is not completely fine right now either.]
[Careless. My body... can't move.]
[Ugh... my body is numb... Darling is so an...]
Intermittent responses from everyone ca through the earpiece. Although they sounded a bit noisy, no one was in life-threatening danger.
[Tohka... can you hear ?]
"Reine?"
[I'll give you a minimum explanation right now, although I'm sorry. We are currently recovering the injured Spirits and dealing with the spread of the fire. You'll have to rely on yourself to seal Shin from here on out.]
A blessing in disguise: when Shido unleashed the lightning strike, all the Spirits happened to have their Astral Dresses and Angels deployed. Combined with Yutsuki's tily warning, everyone managed to save their lives with only a scare, and their injuries were not severe. However, affected by the lightning, their bodies were temporarily paralyzed.
[The reason you are uninjured right now is because you were right next to Yutsuki at the ti. Originally, as a Spirit who manipulates lightning, her constitution itself has a strong attraction to lightning, like a lightning rod. I'm afraid that back then, Yutsuki bore the brunt of the lightning strikes that fell in your area alone.]
"I see..."
Tohka tightly pursed her lips.
Thinking back on it now, when the lightning struck, it was indeed Yutsuki who pushed her away.
"Phew..."
Now was not the ti for self-bla. Tohka took a deep breath to calm her emotions.
"Then, what do I need to do next? Where is Shido right now?"
[After releasing the lightning strike, he temporarily stayed in place without any reaction. He only started moving just now, heading towards you—more accurately, he should be heading towards the city area behind you.]
"I understand."
Nodding gently, Tohka hoisted Yutsuki onto her back. Her beautiful athyst eyes shone with a resolute light.
...
After clearing all obstacles hindering its progress, the "beast" ran forward.
The sound of leaves being blown off, the crackling of burning trees, the sound of towering trees being pushed aside, the sound of the earth shaking.
Ignoring the tragic state of its surroundings, the beast continued to advance, advancing without knowing its destination.
"...?"
In its hazy vision, the beast stared ahead. Another new obstacle appeared on its path.
No, accurately speaking, there should be two.
A girl as beautiful as a princess, manifesting a purple blue partial Astral Dress, planting a golden sword blade straight into the earth. And on her back, she carried an unconscious brown-haired girl.
—Stop.
For so reason, a voice like this echoed sowhere deep in its mind.
—You cannot hurt them. I gained power, not to hurt them.
Just now, when clearing the obstacles hindering its progress, the sa voice had appeared in its mind. The beast couldn't understand the aning of these words. However, those obstacles no longer had the ability to hinder it, so the beast ultimately chose to let them go.
But this ti, the situation was different.
From the slight intellect it had just recovered, the beast made a judgnt.
The obstacle before it was incredibly dangerous.
"...Sandalphon..."
Following the body's experience, the next instant, a giant sword identical to its opponent's appeared in the beast's hand.
...
"—Here you are, Shido."
Watching the aggressively approaching Shido, Tohka calmly opened her eyes, gripping Sandalphon's hilt with one hand, and fearlessly stared ahead.
"——————"
Letting out a aningless roar, Shido stomped the earth forcefully, rushed up to Tohka, and swung the blade down.
"Hmph—"
Violently pulling Sandalphon from the ground, the blade swiftly drew a half-moon in the air, moving later but arriving first, accurately striking the back of Shido's Sandalphon blade.
"—!?"
His forward-charging body lost its balance due to the sudden impact. Sandalphon in Shido's hand was deflected. Tohka didn't miss this opening, raising her right foot and viciously kicking Shido's abdon.
"Sorry, Shido, go to sleep for now!"
Boom—! A massive shockwave rippled out between Tohka and Shido, bending the surrounding trees.
Tohka widened her eyes in disbelief.
A distance of over ten ters opened up between Tohka and Shido instantly. However, in reality, the only person who retreated was Tohka herself. That kick just now, Tohka felt that rather than kicking a soft abdon, it was more like kicking an indestructible city wall.
"—"
However, the opponent didn't give Tohka any ti to be surprised. Wielding Sandalphon, he closed in on Tohka once again.
The two identical Angels clashed, Spirit power exploding and scattering like sparks.
High stance, low stance, middle stance. Slashes were unleashed from various angles, while defending against the sword swinging through any gaps. Tohka parried all the attacks one by one. With every clash of the swords, the wind pressure generated by the aftershock rippled outwards, and the ground sank slightly as if heavily trampled.
"Guh—"
Tohka couldn't help but grit her teeth.
She was at a disadvantage. Although it was frustrating, Tohka had to admit this fact right now.
Honestly, if it were purely about swordsmanship, there was an insurmountable gap between Shido and Tohka. Even with the difference in Spirit power capacity, as long as Shido wielded Sandalphon, Tohka was absolutely confident she could win.
However, this only applied under normal circumstances. Currently, Tohka was carrying the unconscious Yutsuki on her back.
Her movents were restricted, and there were more things she needed to consider. Shido, perhaps noticing this as well, frequently tried to attack Yutsuki while attacking Tohka.
She absolutely couldn't let Shido get behind her, otherwise Yutsuki would be in danger.
Tohka clearly understood this. At the sa ti, she also knew very well in her heart that if she just put down Yutsuki on her back, she could definitely subdue Shido.
—Throw her away.
—Throw her away!
—Just throw away this botherso baggage!
"Shut up!"
Swinging Sandalphon to deflect all of Shido's attacks, Tohka shouted as if to dispel the distracting thoughts in her heart.
"Yutsuki is not baggage! I promised her, I will absolutely bring her to Shido's side!"
Up until now, how many Spirits had Shido saved? How much pain had he endured, how many tis had he fallen to the ground, barely able to stand back up? Tohka felt she couldn't even count.
Why did he chose to save Spirits? Tohka couldn't understand the reason.
But she believed that a person who gave unconditionally, heedless of everything, constantly dedicating himself to others—if such a person couldn't be saved when he fell into danger, the world would be too unreasonable. So, this ti it was her turn to repay Shido.
However, such a thought was incorrect. She understood that now.
If it were purely out of repaynt, relying solely on the moral duty of gratitude, Tohka couldn't have held out until now.
She liked Itsuka Shido, specially liked him, or more accurately, she loved him. Therefore, she didn't want Shido to die, didn't want Shido to leave her.
Moreover—
[...Mhm. I suppose my liking is the sa as your liking, Tohka.]
Honestly, when she heard Yutsuki's answer back then, Tohka was at a loss for a mont. One could even say she felt a tiny bit of jealousy.
Perhaps Yutsuki herself didn't know how admirable and dazzling her reliable, considerate, and honest posture was in the eyes of others.
To share the sa feelings with such a person, Tohka felt both a bit happy and a bit nervous.
(I like Shido. But at the sa ti, Yutsuki is also my family.)
Therefore, just succeeding herself wasn't enough; she had to help Yutsuki succeed together.
No one knew better than her how despairing and painful it was to lose an important person because of oneself.
Shido raised Sandalphon high with his right hand and violently chopped down from above.
"Aaaaaaaaaah!!"
Instantly, Tohka's eyes grew sharp. Pouring her remaining Spirit power and all her strength into Sandalphon, she swung the blade upward fiercely.
Clang! With a loud crash, the Sandalphon held by Shido was sent flying into the night sky, turning into light particles and dissipating with the wind. The right hand holding Sandalphon was uncontrollably thrown far backwards.
However—
"...Railgun..."
Shido's body spun a half circle. The left hand hidden behind his back—Ratziel—was now aid straight at Tohka's face, accumulating terrifying energy.
(—Oh no!)
Tohka hurriedly tried to dodge, but at this mont, Sandalphon and the partial Astral Dress deployed on her body disappeared together. That strike just now had completely exhausted Tohka's Spirit power. The massive gravity and the ensuing pain caused her movents to stiffen.
Just when Tohka thought all hope was lost, a voice suddenly echoing in her ear made her widen her eyes in surprise.
—Cover your ears.
Without any hesitation, Tohka instantly blocked her ears with both hands.
"————————"
Hearing absolutely no sound, she only saw Shido's cheeks suddenly twist in agony.
The next mont, the super electromagnetic cannon about to be fired blew up in his hand.
—————————
While Tohka and Shido were fighting, Yutsuki had already woken up.
Or rather, anyone who could sleep soundly during such an intense battle would be a true genius.
(I can't act rashly.)
Although awake, Yutsuki didn't show any signs of having woken up. She knew that Tohka was currently in a state of high concentration. If her attention was distracted by even the slightest movent, she would be imdiately defeated by Shido.
(Endure.)
Yutsuki constantly warned herself.
Actually, a little bit of Spirit power had already recovered in Yutsuki's body.
After all, what Shido used were Yutsuki's techniques; the Spirit power within was inherently Yutsuki's own power. However, in a state of depleted Spirit power, without the assistance of an Angel and an Astral Dress, and not being replenished through a Spirit power path, the absorption efficiency was extrely poor.
After enduring that lightning strike, only one-thousandth of the amount was absorbed into Yutsuki's body.
This tiny bit of Spirit power was only enough for Yutsuki to use one move.
She had long been self-aware that she had beco Tohka's burden. Even if Tohka threw her aside right now, she wouldn't have any complaints. But since Tohka had no intention of giving up on her, then she, too, had to do everything in her power to do what she needed to do well.
"...Railgun..."
Upon hearing this voice, Yutsuki opened her eyes without hesitation.
"Cover your ears!"
Giving only a brief warning, Yutsuki began pushing the Spirit power within her. She believed Tohka would definitely understand her intention.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah————!"
Recreating the technique of Miku's Gabriel from her mories, Yutsuki applied Spirit power to her roar, emitting a lethal sonic wave.
Although the power wasn't great, it was enough to make Shido's movents stall.
And, as the original owner of Ratziel, she naturally knew at which stage interrupting a Railgun would be most fatal.
(To actually use their Angels in front of the two original owners, that's a failing grade, Shido.)
"Tohka!"
"Umu!"
As Yutsuki called out, Tohka swiftly lunged into Shido's embrace and gently kissed his lips.
"Yutsuki, next it's your—"
Confirming her internal Spirit power was replenished, Tohka hurriedly tried to bend down to let Yutsuki on her back take the opportunity to kiss Shido.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!"
However, after another Spirit power path was unblocked, the Spirit power in Shido's body was stimulated once again.
As if sensing that one more step would an its disappearance, the beast began struggling with all its might.
A massive tornado instantly rose from the ground, the fierce hurricane sweeping everything around it into the sky.
In an instant, the violent wind swept through. Tohka was separated from Shido again, and that wasn't all. The weight of two girls was clearly not enough to stabilize their bodies in this tornado; Tohka's feet were forced off the ground.
At this rate, both of them would be blown away. —Tohka made a prompt decision. In the nick of ti, she threw Yutsuki towards a large tree still rooted to the ground.
"Yutsuki! I leave Shido to you!"
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