["Anya has done her best!" the pink-haired girl argued angrily.]
[Aside, Mikoto Misaka resignedly mediated, "Alright, stop arguing, Damian, be a bit more friendly to Anya..."]
[Just at that moment!]
[It was as if an invisible giant hand instantly pulled across the canopy of the sky, and the blazing daylight was completely swallowed within a ten-thousandth of a second, plunging the entire world into a suffocating, pure darkness.]
[Sunlight, clouds, the outlines of distant buildings, everything vanished, leaving only boundless black.]
["Ah!"]
["What's going on?"]
["Why has it gone dark?!"]
["Is it the end of the world?!"]
[The campus was instantly submerged by panicked screams and chaotic footsteps.]
[In this sudden, extreme darkness, Anya only felt a massive terror born of instinct grip her, her mind blanking from information overload.]
[She felt a wave of dizziness, her legs turning to jelly, and her small body uncontrollably fell backward.]
[She happened to fall right into the arms of Damian, who had also tensed up from the sudden mutation.]
[The warm, petite touch transmitted through her thin uniform, carrying a trace of an elusive sweet scent of peanut butter bread.]
[Damian stiffened all over and instinctively caught her.]
["Hey! Runt! What's wrong with you?!" He felt Anya in his arms grow limp, his heart tightening inexplicably, and his voice involuntarily carried a trace of anxiety even he hadn't noticed.]
["Second Son..." Anya's voice was as soft as a gnat's, with a dizzy, tearful cry, "Is Anya going to die? It's so dark in front of my eyes, it hurts so much..."]
["Nonsense!" Damian immediately scolded, but his tone softened involuntarily. "T-this should just be a rare total solar eclipse! It'll be fine in a moment!" Saying this, his arms holding her tightened slightly.]
[In the dark, he hesitated, recalling the technique he