I, Matou Sakura, Third of the Flame-Chasers!

I didn't know.

The wind carried whispers, answering the mountain's question.

Her fate had been completely thrown into disarray. She had even broken free from her original destiny.

The mountain trembled as the turmoil within Misaki City's Ley Lines intensified.

The wind swept in once more, carrying one final whisper.

In the worst-case scenario, abandon this world. Her existence is no longer something we can suppress.

The dark golden radiance faded at that moment, revealing Matou Sakura's figure.

A sacred pure-white robe concealed her shapely body. Golden patterns slowly emerged across the holy garment, outlining and embellishing it.

Matou Sakura slowly opened her eyes. Her once distinctly black-and-white pupils had changed as well.

Her dark golden eyes looked noble and sacred, yet they lacked the warmth of light. They held an indifferent chill, as though granting all things equal treatment.

Her waist-length hair drifted without wind. Though it was still the familiar black, the ends had turned white.

It was a crystalline color, as though it could reveal all things.

"What a huge change."

Her calm voice carried an ethereal quality. Then, a faint smile appeared on her now-mature face.

It was breathtakingly beautiful.

She felt better than ever before!

Dazzling light emerged from her hand. Following her will, a pure-white device appeared in her fair palm.

The Spark Lens used for Trigger's transformation. As for the Victory Transcendence Key used to switch forms, she had discarded it.

She preferred Tiga's simple transformation. The post-New Generation style of plugging in devices might have looked cool, but to her, it was nothing but making trouble for herself.

She had only made a Spark Lens to fulfill an old dream.

"Let's try transforming."

She clenched the Spark Lens in her hand, raised it straight above her head, and sharply pressed the button at the point where the handle connected.

Build the Future! Light of Hope!

Intense light bloomed from the Spark Lens's unfolded core. As the earth trembled, the giant who would later be passed down in countless tales made her appearance!

Half a month had passed since that massive earthquake.

Misaki City, once considered relatively prosperous, was now steeped in desolation.

As the earthquake's epicenter, Misaki City had been one of the hardest-hit cities.

Though the earthquake had not ultimately swept across the entire island nation, dozens of cities had been affected, and every region had suffered considerable damage.

Fortunately, the earthquake had abruptly subsided before it could trigger an eruption of Mount Fuji, preventing things from becoming even worse.

For the cities that had already been destroyed, the government had also allocated vast sums of money for repairs.

But in this era of economic depression, government funding came from nothing more than the people's taxes. The ones who suffered were still the people.

By now, the people who had endured the earthquake that had nearly swept across most of the island nation had become numb. Many had put on bloody high-wire acts from dangerous skyscrapers.

According to the statistics of certain busybodies, in the five days after the earthquake ended and calm returned, at least ten thousand people had chosen suicide because they could no longer endure the high-pressure society and deathly atmosphere following the disaster.

And that figure counted only those publicly reported. No one knew how many had quietly sat in damaged buildings and chosen to take poison.

There was no precise number, but it was certainly not a small one.

After all, someone had discovered in surprise that drugs used for suicide now cost at least three times as much as before.

At that moment, the entire small island nation was shrouded in a suffocating atmosphere.

Some chose death. Some chose silence. Some chose to let themselves go.

The small island nation looked peaceful on the surface, but beneath it lurked the madness before the end of the world.

And the culprit behind all this—the one indirectly responsible for countless deaths—was currently staring coldly at the Saintess who had suddenly appeared before her.

"Do you want to die, or do you want to live?"

Matou Sakura tightly gripped the Saintess's delicate neck. The Saintess had descended in the form of a Heroic Spirit, so she should not have been this weak.

Yet in the face of Sakura's attack, the woman had merely defended herself, only to be captured after Sakura used a small trick.

"I want to live!"

The Saintess in her grasp bluntly expressed her desire to survive. Such a straightforward answer made Matou Sakura frown.

She did not know who had sent this foolish Saintess to find her, but the answer could only be Gaia or Alaya, the Counter Forces of this world.

If it wasn't Gaia, then it was Alaya. It was entirely a choice between the two.

Or perhaps it was both of them.

She did not care who had sent this foolish Saintess, but she did care about the purpose behind her approach. "Then go die."

Cold words fell, and Matou Sakura immediately snapped Saint Joan of Arc's neck. To be safe, she also poured energy into the other's body before detonating it!

Countless motes of light slowly appeared, dispersing into the air.

But Matou Sakura suddenly spun around. Crimson light flared in her eyes, and Heat Vision shot forth, directly killing the Saint Joan of Arc who had appeared behind her once more. Her gaze then shifted to the left, and the newly appeared Saint Joan of Arc was killed by Heat Vision yet again.

Meanwhile, deep within the world, Gaia and Alaya were left speechless in the Hall of Heroes.

"Why is this girl so decisive?!"

"How would I know?!"

Alaya replied irritably, her expression far from pleasant.

But what choice did they have? To keep this extremely dangerous person under control, they had to place a pair of eyes by her side.

And among so many people, there were hardly any suited for this task.

Joan was one of those who had volunteered.

"Enough. Keep reviving Joan. Gaia, I'm sure you don't want Earth to be gone someday, right?"

"You don't need to tell me that!"

Gaia gritted her teeth, her expression equally ugly.

Thinking back to the giant the other had transformed into, that terrifying power and level of life were simply beyond anything they could contend with!

Just where had this freak come from?!

Negotiations Break Down

Looking at the Saint Joan of Arc who had appeared before her once again, along with that gentle smile that had initially seemed pleasant but had now become tiresome, she chose to give up.

The red glow faded from her eyes as she looked coldly and impatiently at the Heroic Spirit who had revived forty-two times.

In other words, she had killed the other forty-two times.

Her energy was infinite, so she did not need to care about the expenditure, but this was truly boring!

If the other had fought her, she might have found it somewhat interesting. But Joan simply let her do as she pleased, making it far too dull.

She pulled over a chair and sat down. At that moment, a light rain began to fall. Combined with the gloomy skies of late and the oppressive atmosphere, it truly felt as though the end of the world had arrived.

However, she disliked this weather. Without sunlight, the amount of Solar Energy her body absorbed had decreased considerably.

Because she had fused with the Light of Trigger, her need for Solar Energy was now extremely high.

After the Light of Trigger fused with the Kryptonian Bloodline, it gained some of the Kryptonian Bloodline's traits. Perhaps it was no longer accurate to distinguish the two separately; once the Light of Trigger and the Kryptonian Bloodline fused, they became a single entity. This greatly increased her need for Solar Energy.

It was like replacing a bucket that could originally hold ten liters of water with one that could hold a hundred.

Her body's demand for Solar Energy even made her consider getting herself a Plasma Spark.

With that thing, things would be much easier. Being able to grow stronger rapidly just by hugging the Plasma Spark sounded wonderful.

"Lady Matou Sakura, can we finally have a proper conversation now?"

Saint Joan of Arc—or rather, that foolish country girl—stood in the rain, still wearing that gentle smile.

Though she had grown tired of that smile, she saw another person's shadow within it.

It was not Elysia. If it were her, she would have been far more clingy than this fool.

But that person was already dead, before Matou Sakura had become a Fusion Warrior and gained the power to protect her.

"Sit."

Her voice was somewhat low as she looked toward the sky blanketed in dark clouds.

"Lady Matou Sakura."

Joan also took a chair and sat down before Matou Sakura. Having been rained on earlier, her body was inevitably a little damp.

Although she wore light armor, most of her clothing was ordinary fabric.

Under the rain, it clung tightly to her delicate skin.

It was a beautiful sight, but Matou Sakura had no interest in it.

She had no interest in women at the moment. If she had needs, she could simply play with her own body.

She had no taboos or shame regarding such things. Still, playing with her own body did cause fluctuations in her mind; in ordinary terms, it made her excited and interested in herself.

"Say whatever you want. If I'm not satisfied, I don't mind killing you again."

She spoke to herself, her eyes remaining fixed on the cloud-filled sky.

"Yes."

With the manner of an obedient student, it had to be said that this suited the foolish saint quite well.

Especially now, with her appearance like a drenched young girl, combined with an outfit that looked almost like cosplay, she seemed even more alluring. It was easy to associate her with certain adult comic plots.

But Matou Sakura's eyes remained fixed on the cloud-covered sky, as though she were completely unmoved by feminine charms.

Joan did not mind, or rather, she had not realized what she looked like at that moment. Her mind was entirely occupied by the task Gaia and Alaya had given her, as well as the duty that had brought her here.

She would definitely reform Lady Matou Sakura!

She could see the light in Lady Matou Sakura's heart!

It was so dazzling, so scorching, so full of hope.

Like the sun hanging high in the heavens, bringing light, heat, and the warm hope of life to the world!

"So, are you done?"

Matou Sakura withdrew her gaze from the sky and turned it to the Jeanne before her.

Her figure was pretty good, almost on Elysia's level, though she couldn't compare to Big Sister Eden.

She was quite curious—how had Big Sister Eden developed such a figure?

That kind of figure was probably the envy of countless people, wasn't it?

And there was also Mobius before she became smaller.

What a pity. Although she was quite interested in lolis too, the big-sister type suited her preferences back then even more. But that version of Mobius had only existed for a single month before she became loli-form Mobius.

What a pity. Obviously, big sisters who pretended to be gentle were the best. Back then, there weren't many lolicons in the Flame-Chasers.

At the time, she had always felt that Mobius becoming smaller was the main reason why fewer people were tricked into her laboratory.

After all, big sisters who acted gentle while being a little crazy were absolutely the best!

"I'm done."

Jeanne nodded somewhat blankly, then added another sentence.

"If Lady Matou Sakura didn't hear clearly, I can repeat it again!"

Since the other party had been staring at the clouds just now, Jeanne felt it was absolutely necessary to repeat herself, lest Matou Sakura misunderstand the true intentions of Lady Gaia and Lady Alaya.