Together Weeping

"Can't use it?!" Nia opened her mouth and looked at the utterly useless Angel, her expression half dejected and half helplessly sorrowful.

"Then... then I'll go look somewhere else!" Shiori said hurriedly. She could feel the fine sweat at her temples sliding down her cheeks, while her back had long since been soaked in cold sweat.

No, it wasn't just sweat.

Her legs were trembling faintly beyond her control, and her knees kept going weak.

It felt as though both her mind and body were swaying.

Huanyue...

Nothing... nothing can happen to her!

Yesterday evening.

After seeing Shiori home, the blush and softness on Qian Huanyue's face swiftly faded away. The warmth drained from her violet eyes, leaving behind only the stillness and coldness of a deep pool.

Without hesitation, she turned back, her destination clear—the monument that radiated an ominous aura.

Qian Huanyue's gaze darkened slightly, her face calm as though she were pondering something.

Yes,

She had to think this through carefully—

This unknown, aggressive thing... might threaten Shiori's safety.

Just thinking about it made her body tremble uncontrollably as unease flooded over her, as if she could never truly rest easy without getting rid of it.

Thinking that, Qian Huanyue acted accordingly.

Stepping out of the space cleaved open by Seraph of Thousand Blades,

she took a step forward.

"This strange thing should be destroyed," Qian Huanyue said softly.

The familiar dark crimson barrier spread open in an instant, twisting reality and dragging the area into an alien space.

As if Hibiki were responding to an intruder, vague-faced "Guardians" with wings of light on their backs condensed out of the void one after another. They floated silently, surrounding Qian Huanyue at the center.

"Seraph of Thousand Blades."

Qian Huanyue raised her right hand and slashed downward.