Standoff! A Collapsing Image

Just as Leo and Asuna Yuuki were officially meeting Miyamoto Musashi at the manor and entering a state of special training at her urging, Yukino Yukinoshita was also being dropped off at the Yukinoshita family residence by her familiar driver.

It was a luxurious mansion, though it did not quite compare to Leo's manor.

After stepping out of the stretch limousine, Yukino Yukinoshita was welcomed into the mansion by the household staff and led toward the living room.

There were only two people there: one was Haruno Yukinoshita, who bore a seventy-percent resemblance to Yukino Yukinoshita but possessed a more mature figure and appearance; the other was a beautiful woman, even more mature and voluptuous than Haruno Yukinoshita, dressed in a kimono and radiating an extraordinary aura.

"Mother..."

Yukino Yukinoshita had thought she was mentally prepared, but the moment she saw her mother, the timidity she had never shown in front of others surfaced involuntarily.

"You've arrived?"

Mrs. Yukinoshita looked at her youngest daughter, a flicker of complexity and suspicion passing through her eyes before she returned to a state of calm.

"Since you're here, sit down."

At Mrs. Yukinoshita's invitation, Yukino Yukinoshita pursed her lips. After a moment, she walked over and sat down in front of Haruno Yukinoshita.

Haruno Yukinoshita did not speak, merely observing her sister—whom she knew down to the bone—as if trying to discern something from her, her eyes flickering slightly.

The three women, who could be identified as mother and daughters at a single glance, sat together. Despite being inseparable kin by blood, neither had anything to say, allowing an indescribable silence to permeate the room.

Yukino Yukinoshita, uncharacteristically unable to hold her composure, spoke with a feigned indifference.

"Where is Father? Why don't I see him?"

Hearing this, Mrs. Yukinoshita raised her eyelids, breaking the silence.

"Your father is not in Chiba recently, so we didn't inform him of your situation."

This was practically telling Yukino Yukinoshita outright that she had no allies here.

Because Yukino Yukinoshita's father was a very kind man, forming a sharp contrast with her strong-willed mother, Yukino Yukinoshita had always enjoyed a good relationship with him.

Now that her father was away, Yukino Yukinoshita could be said to be in a state of total isolation.

However, this did not exceed Yukino Yukinoshita's expectations.

After all, she knew very well that her father was essentially henpecked and had married into the Yukinoshita family; thus, Mrs. Yukinoshita was the true helmsman of the Yukinoshita family.

Mrs. Yukinoshita had a strong personality and was a woman of her word. Even Haruno Yukinoshita held her in awe, let alone Yukino Yukinoshita.

In the past, Yukino Yukinoshita had never been able to defy her mother's orders. Conversely, her mother was the Achilles' heel of the stubborn Yukino Yukinoshita, which was why Yukino Yukinoshita had decided to move out of the family home and live alone.

Yet, even so, in Mrs. Yukinoshita's eyes, she seemed to always be someone who was not mature enough.

"I have already heard everything from Haruno," Mrs. Yukinoshita said, her gaze toward Yukino Yukinoshita filled with skepticism. "To be honest, I am not very willing to believe such nonsense."

"To think my own daughter has turned into a devil. If Haruno hadn't come back and sworn it to be true, I truly wouldn't have wanted to waste my time on this today."

"But since things have already reached this point, allow me to verify it for myself."

Mrs. Yukinoshita stared straight at Yukino Yukinoshita and spoke.

"Is what Haruno said true? Have you really become the servant of a third-year senior at your school?"

Clearly, whether it was the matter of the devil or the servant, both seemed like complete fantasies to Mrs. Yukinoshita.

If she hadn't been certain that her eldest daughter would never joke about such absurd things, Mrs. Yukinoshita would have felt this entire conversation was completely meaningless.

Even so, Mrs. Yukinoshita had refused to believe any of it at first, until Haruno Yukinoshita brought up one thing...

"Do you remember the strange incident we encountered on the first day of school?"

Haruno Yukinoshita had only said that one sentence at the time, yet it stirred Mrs. Yukinoshita's memory.

Of course she remembered that day. On the way to dropping her youngest daughter off at school, she had nearly hit someone. Before she could even react, something incredible had happened.

That day, inside the car, she had been shivering from a sudden, extreme drop in temperature. Her eldest daughter had been just as cold, the car tires had been frozen solid, and the street they were on had been covered in inexplicable patches of ice. Everyone present, without exception, had caught severe colds or even suffered frostbite.

There was only one person on the scene who was completely unharmed, able to run and jump; not only was she not frozen, she didn't feel even a hint of the cold.

That person was her youngest daughter, Yukino Yukinoshita.

"At the time, they said we just happened to encounter an extreme weather phenomenon, but is there really such a coincidence in this world?" Haruno Yukinoshita had added, "Even if there were such a coincidence, why were we all frozen while Yukino was completely fine?"

This in itself was a suspicious point that left people unable to find an answer.

It was because of these doubts that Mrs. Yukinoshita, after careful consideration, decided to tentatively believe Haruno Yukinoshita and call Yukino Yukinoshita back to confront her.

However, Yukino Yukinoshita did not answer Mrs. Yukinoshita's question immediately. Instead, after a moment of silence, she turned toward Haruno Yukinoshita.

"Have you been in contact with people from the church?"

Yukino Yukinoshita's response—answering a question with a question—made Mrs. Yukinoshita frown and also caught Haruno Yukinoshita by surprise.

"Is that important?"

Haruno Yukinoshita also answered with a question, showing no intention of relinquishing the initiative.

"Did you seek them out? Or did they find you?"

Yukino Yukinoshita was very persistent about the answer to this question, prompting Mrs. Yukinoshita to interrupt her.

"Do not change the subject while we are discussing serious matters," Mrs. Yukinoshita said sternly. "When did you learn to answer questions with questions? We are the ones questioning you right now!"

Under Mrs. Yukinoshita's harsh reprimand, Yukino Yukinoshita's hand, which was gripping her skirt, tightened involuntarily, and she nearly yielded.

Long-standing habits made it difficult for her to stand up against her overbearing mother, to the point where her hands were trembling slightly.

If there had been no one else present, Yukino Yukinoshita might have given up and honestly answered the questions posed by her mother and sister.

Unfortunately, they were not the only three people in the room.

"How much longer are you going to hide?" Yukino Yukinoshita suddenly turned her head to look toward the balcony of the living room, her face cold as she said, "Do I really have to spell it out for you to be willing to come out?"

Yukino Yukinoshita's words left Haruno Yukinoshita and Mrs. Yukinoshita stunned.

"What are you talking about..."

Just as Mrs. Yukinoshita was about to say something in annoyance, a figure squeezed in from outside the balcony.

"As expected of a peerage of the Eligos clan. Even without the bloodline of the Eligos clan, you are still quite skilled in using demonic power for detection."

Accompanied by a light chuckle, the nun who had clashed with them not long ago walked in.

Who else could it be but Sharon Holygrail?

"Who are you?"

Mrs. Yukinoshita stood up at once, looking at the suddenly appearing Sharon with a face full of astonishment.

"You were actually hiding in my house?"

Haruno Yukinoshita also stood up, though she looked rather angry.

"It really was you." Yukino Yukinoshita was the third to rise. Her gaze toward Sharon was icy, as if she had been provoked as well. "You were the one who approached my family, which is how they found out about all of this, right?"

Hearing this, Sharon let out a pleasant laugh.

"I just wanted to tell your mother and sister that their family member has turned into a filthy devil, and that they should be very careful."

As soon as these words were spoken, Yukino Yukinoshita laughed out of extreme anger.

"No wonder he said you were troublesome and that you would stop at nothing. You really don't act like a nun at all." Yukino Yukinoshita said bluntly, "He was spot on, wasn't he? Since you couldn't do anything to him, you decided to target his peerage. How unsightly."

The smile on Sharon's face vanished instantly, just as it had when Leo mocked her last time.

Yukino Yukinoshita stared at the nun, her face devoid of any smile. The air in the living room grew heavy with her icy demeanor.

"You two..."

Just as Mrs. Yukinoshita and Haruno Yukinoshita were about to speak, Yukino Yukinoshita and Sharon, who had been glaring at each other, moved simultaneously.

"Swish!"

Sharon vanished from her spot abruptly, suddenly appearing in front of Yukino Yukinoshita. She raised her leg and delivered a side kick aimed at Yukino Yukinoshita's head.

The kick was swift and fierce, whistling through the air with a force that made its power clear.

Unfortunately, Yukino Yukinoshita had already prepared for it, releasing her demonic power without a word.

"Bang!"

Sharon's powerful side kick slammed heavily into the suddenly manifested ice wall, shattering it into pieces.

Yukino Yukinoshita immediately leaped backward, evading the kick that had been slowed by the ice wall. Without a hint of mercy, she whipped up a freezing wind and fired rapidly congealing ice pellets at her opponent.

"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"...

Sharon reacted instantly, moving her hands and feet in unison. With incredible speed, she unleashed punches, palm strikes, and kicks, relying on her astonishing agility to shatter the incoming ice pellets one by one, sending shards of ice spraying across the living room.

Watching this scene, Mrs. Yukinoshita and Haruno Yukinoshita were left completely stunned.

"This... this..."

The surreal spectacle assaulted their minds, causing two women who were usually sharp and capable to fall into a state of uncharacteristic disarray.

Especially when they saw Yukino Yukinoshita enveloped in a freezing wind, continuously manifesting ice pellets, icicles, ice blades, and ice pillars, and hurling them all at once—they were utterly shaken.

In this moment, the image they held of their youngest daughter—the one who was somewhat timid yet full of stubbornness—collapsed.