"My, my, has Mr. Shido used Miss Lingmeng's and Miss Tohka's Angels before?"
"You weren't there for the School Trip, so of course you wouldn't know."
Lingmeng chimed in, then gave a brief explanation of how Shido had manifested an Angel to fight Ellen a few months earlier.
Kurumi covered her mouth in surprise.
"Oh my, how remarkable. It seems I missed quite a show."
With that, she turned to Shido with a playful smile.
"If you can fight, Mr. Shido, eating you someday might prove rather troublesome."
"Ahaha... you don't have to worry about that. I haven't managed to summon an Angel since then."
Shido spoke as he scratched his cheek.
In fact, he had kept trying to use an Angel again after the School Trip.
After all, he wanted the power to protect everyone.
But no matter what he did, he couldn't recapture the feeling he'd had back then.
"Well, if you can't use it, you can't use it. I'll do my best to protect you."
Lingmeng lightly patted Shido's shoulder as she spoke.
I really feel like I'm living off the Spirits now...
Shido smiled wryly, but still nodded in response.
"Yeah, I'm counting on you."
"Heeheehee, let's go, then."
Kurumi pointed toward Tengu City Plaza ahead as she spoke.
Lingmeng and Shido nodded in response, then walked forward with her.
The moment they entered the enemies' field of view, several searchlights shone down on the three of them.
That was only natural. Their targets had just appeared right before their eyes, out in the open, after all.
Shido surveyed their surroundings.
People, people, and more people—nothing but people.
Being surrounded by over ten thousand enemies put him under tremendous pressure.
Perhaps because Miku hadn't given any orders yet, however, these people simply watched them, showing no