Chapter 2: A New Spirit Descends

A massive spacequake was running wild, destroying the bustling Tiangong City without restraint. Like an eraser devoid of any emotion, it could wipe away all traces of existence, be it skyscrapers or street vehicles, with nothing more than a gentle touch.

No, it didn’t even need to touch. The residual waves emitted by the colossal black hole had already caused the air to warp visibly. Within a few breaths, the area spanning more than a kilometer around the epicenter of the spacequake had turned into a wasteland.

At the center of the circular pit carved by the spacequake stood a magnificent throne. A girl, as cool and pure as a Spirit, stood atop the resplendent throne, clad in ornate armor.

Sensing the approach of an unfamiliar presence, the goddess-like girl abruptly drew the massive sword leaning beside her. Swinging the colossal light blade, which was as tall as a person, like a toy, she slashed toward the strange existence in her perception.

Perhaps it was a twist of fate. The great sword, which normally moved as if she could command it like an extension of her arm, veered off by a few degrees at the very last moment before landing on that unlucky individual. A pale purple gleam of sword light grazed his right arm and flew away into the distance, smashing a high-rise that was dozens of meters tall with ease.

‘If… that attack had actually hit me…’

The young man, who had nearly been ground to dust, felt a rush of fear. His legs were trembling, and he could barely stand.

His name was Shido Itsuka. He was an ordinary student, living an ordinary life, with an ordinary little sister. If nothing out of the ordinary had happened, perhaps he would have continued his unremarkable existence forever.

But now…

He swallowed hard and blinked. The massive blade was hovering just a few centimeters away from his brow. The person who had launched that devastating strike was standing right in front of him, her pale purple pupils devoid of any emotion.

Shido knew at that moment that his life was completely in the hands of this unknown girl. He dared not speak, terrified that she might chop him into minced meat on a whim.

The man and the girl confronted each other in silence, the surrounding air freezing solid. Just when Shido was about to break down and beg for mercy, the godlike girl standing before him spoke first.

“Are you here to kill me, too?”

‘I…’

The young man’s legs went weak. He could clearly feel the murderous intent radiating from the girl across from him.

‘What the hell is going on? I’m just an ordinary student! Why have I been dragged into some mysterious incident that looks like it’ll end with me being silenced?’

There was no time left for him to think. Was it his imagination, or had the blade, which was emanating a chilling aura, moved a few millimeters closer?

“You’re here to kill me, aren’t you? Then let me finish you off quickly.”

‘Oh no! I’m going to die! If I don’t do something…’

“W-wait, how could that be? No matter how you look at me, I’m just a normal…” Shido waved his hands in panic, trying to appear harmless. And here she was talking about killing when she had no menace to her, but who was she really? A girl who popped out of the heart of a spacequake…

Before the girl could make her next move, a squad of girls wearing revealing high-tech armor shot through the distant sky. With them came dozens of visible missile-shaped weapons.

‘Wait, that’s way too fantastical, isn’t it? One second I’m surviving under the blade of an unknown creature, and the next I’m about to die in an indiscriminate bombardment from what looks like futuristic tech?’

‘My life has been without regret. I still remember that golden afternoon running under the sunlight, that’s my lost youth.’

[Boom!]

Just as Shido was already lamenting his fate and starting to see his life flash before his eyes, the girl in front of him swung her high-tech magical weapon and charged into the sky. The dozens of missiles flying toward him burst into brilliant fireworks upon contact with the blade.

‘But that sound… wasn’t from the missile explosion, was it?’

‘The source of the sound seemed to be…’

Both the unknown girl and the armored girls paused, instinctively looking toward the northern district of Tiangong City.

A sky-obscuring black hole stood in the center of the northern city area. Unlike any known spacequake, this one wasn’t an energy explosion; it looked more like a viscous fluid, somehow constrained and slowly pushing outward in all directions, devouring every substance it touched.

Was this also a spacequake? Or was it… an unknown Spirit?

[Crack, crack, crack~]

The sound like eggshells breaking came. The spherical behemoth of black fluid began to show cracks across its surface. Through the cracks, a petite girl was slowly lifted into the air by the sticky, mysterious fluid.

Her face was that of a goddess descended from the heavens. Underneath a tube top and ultra-short shorts that rose to her upper thighs, her pale, sickly, jade-like skin was exposed to the world without any shame. Yet, as if to forbid the desecration of such holy skin, a black coat of absurd size was draped over her, covering most of the snowy white flesh. But that only deepened the desire to explore the mysterious sacred peaks.

The black coat appeared to have the same fluid flowing across it. Though only black, it seemed to contain an entire starry sky. And now the lovely creature within it had opened her blood-red eyes, as if a finely crafted doll had finally gained life.

****

‘It hurts, it hurts…’

Not just her heart. Her limbs, her torso, her muscles, her blood vessels, her brain, and every nerve ending were crying out in agony.

Every cell in her body was already operating at its limit.

‘So this is… what death feels like?’

‘Lies, all lies! They said death was just a moment, and it would be over quickly. That’s a lie!’

Chihaya Sayo felt as if every bone and muscle in her body was being crushed repeatedly by something heavy. The pain made her want to cry out loud, but she couldn’t. She had no control over her body, unable even to blink. She could only endure the most extreme agony in an unknown posture, like a doll being ravaged by a stranger.

‘Perhaps… perhaps I shouldn’t have come to this world. If I could die sooner, if I felt nothing after death…’

‘Maybe I’d feel better? If I just ignore everything…’

Was it her imagination? As she entertained that thought, the pain seemed to ease. The mysterious force that had been crushing her body felt softer, flowing around her as if following her will.

Maybe she was already used to it?

‘Since I’m dead anyway, why bother with all this? Just stay like this, in silence. It’s a bit boring, but there’s no pain, no worry about the burden of life crushing me again. Just being still…’

A sensation of weightlessness washed over her. Chihaya Sayo felt her body plummeting down. But because she had completely lost her sense of touch, she couldn’t even tell if solid ground was waiting below. She could only let herself fall.

It was unsettling, but at least it was better than the pain?

With that thought, she slowly closed her eyes. Outside, the beautiful girl who had broken out of the giant fluid black hole opened her eyes slowly, like a doll that had been activated.

“Executing directives…”

A sweet, gentle voice like a songbird emerged from her lips, but it carried not a shred of warmth. Her body descended to the ground, and the huge black sphere that had surrounded her turned into a true fluid and surged into her fragile form.

Is that… really a Spirit?

That… is a Spirit just like me…?

Almost the same question crossed everyone’s mind at once. The armored girls put down their weapons as one, looking toward the girl.

For some reason, they felt an instinctual repulsion from their very bodies, as if they were the exact opposite extremes. Just sensing the massive Spiritual power leaking unconsciously from her made them feel a needle-like sting, and even their suppressed hearts grew restless.

A nameless irritation. An inexplicable rage. The urge to swing their weapons and kill something…

No, this is… a ‘power’ of that Spirit?

Even a waste like Shido felt his emotions inexplicably tugged, a strange, complicated feeling welling up in him. He looked up, letting his burning gaze sweep across the flock of sparsely clad girls around him.

‘What’s the matter with me…?’

“That’s fine, you know? If it’s Shido… It’s just that there are too many people here. We can save riding in through the city gates and spurring on a steed for later. Though if Shido has that kind of specialty, I don’t mind…”

Shido felt something incredibly soft press against his back, then a pair of gentle, boneless hands wrapped around him. The owner of the hands had a flushed face and rested her head on his shoulder, whispering enticing words in a soft voice, punctuated with the warm sweetness of a girl’s breath that touched his earlobe.

It seemed that if he just gave a sign, the girl in his arms would fall into him, and they would escape to paradise amidst the blessings of everyone around them.

‘Wait, how can I be thinking like this? And isn’t the girl in my arms familiar…?’

Shido shook his head vigorously, clearing out all inappropriate thoughts. In the process, he inadvertently touched the girl’s lovely cheek, but it also helped him sober up. When he finally took a good look at the girl in his arms, the last remnants of those thoughts dispersed.

“Origami Tobiichi? What are you doing here?”

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