Night fell once more.
Perhaps some unknown Inherent Skill was at work. On this night, with war drawing near, there was not a single cloud in the sky, yet neither starlight nor a full moon could be seen, allowing profound darkness to blanket the surroundings.
At one moment, the door to the rooftop of Tokyo Outermost Dwelling headquarters opened.
"Whoosh—!"
A freezing wind immediately howled past, setting the glossy, waist-length black hair of the girl who stepped through the door swaying.
The girl, who had possessed no name until half a year ago and had only later received the name "Shana" from someone else, slowly walked toward the railing and came to the rooftop's edge.
What unfolded before her eyes was naturally Tokyo's nightscape.
Even without starlight or moonlight, this bustling city remained brightly lit.
"From here, you really can't tell that war is about to come."
Shana spoke the same words Fang Li had once said on the plane.
Before her, Alastor's thunderous voice, which had become his trademark, rang out as well.
"It is precisely to preserve such a world that we fight."
Those were the words of a true god-demon of the Crimson World, a being who had been born almost alongside the world itself.
They truly carried extraordinary weight.
And Shana felt that deeply.
Reaching out and grasping the pendant before her, Shana gazed over the nightscape and spoke in a youthful voice devoid of the slightest wavering.
"To protect this world, and to protect the Crimson World far beyond the border realm, perhaps this time, I will have to use that."
Shana's words were met only with Alastor's silence.
Naturally, Alastor understood what Shana meant by that.
Out of concern for the future, some of the Crimson World's Demon Lords had sought to subdue their