Fighting Side by Side

A pink figure descended from the sky, landing beside that battered silver tower shield.

The moment she touched down, Love's hand gently rested on the Knight's shoulder, and a ring of warm pink-and-white halo rippled outward centered on her palm.

The Knight only felt a warm current flowing through her limbs and bones—the arm that had just gone numb from the tentacles' lashes, the tiger's mouth that ached from the shock, and the dull, stifling pain in her chest all rapidly melted away like snow meeting spring water.

"...Phew."

The Knight let out a long breath, and her grip on the sword steadied once more.

She turned her head sideways, looking at the pink-and-white figure beside her, and the corners of her mouth couldn't help curving upward.

"You finally came."

"Oh my, oh my," Love said with her hands on her hips, her skirt still gently fluttering in the brilliance, "to actually bully our Lord Knight into such a state."

"It really is—unforgivable."

The two Third-Order Fallen Beasts did not have the patience for a reunion.

The Jellyfish Fallen Beast's dozen or so tentacles raised simultaneously, whipping over like a sheet of black shadows, covering the sky and blotting out the sun; the Bone-Winged Fallen Beast in the air emitted a sharp shriek, folding its wings in and diving straight down like a giant bone-white arrow released from a bowstring.

"Guardian Heart!"

The Knight's tower shield smashed heavily into the ground, and silver light surged violently.

The two Fallen Beasts' attacks stagnated in mid-air all at once—that formless power descended once more, forcibly pulling all hostility and killing intent onto the Knight alone.

Right now!

Love teleported directly beside the Jellyfish Beast, smashing a fist into its main body.

Boom!

A formless shock wave spread outward, throwing the auditorium scene into utter chaos.

The Jellyfish Beast slammed heavily onto the ground, blasting out a large crater in the earth.

Hehehe~

She still had to explain the situation to Chen Qianqian later; smashing the auditorium to pieces meant she could even take some time off.

Anyway, repairs were paid for by the Association!

As for the Knight's side, with one Jellyfish Beast missing, the Bone-Winged Beast's attack was directly blocked by her.

Then, taking advantage of the opponent's brief rigidity, the Knight stepped directly forward and fiercely slashed out with her sword.

"Roar!"

The slash imbued with Magic Power directly broke through the Bone-Winged Beast's defense, causing it to emit an angry roar.

The pink figure soared up into the sky.

Love hovered mid-air, gently pressing her hands together in front of her chest as if in prayer, or as if cupping something incomparably precious.

"Spread, Wings of Light!"

Pink Magic Power condensed into dozens of ribbons of light behind her, breaking through the air like living things—those ribbons were faster, denser, and more flexible than the tentacles, tangling and locking dead with the black tentacles in mid-air, actually using the strength of one person to entangle and firmly bind all dozen or so tentacles of the Jellyfish Fallen Beast!

The Jellyfish Fallen Beast struggled frantically, black mist churning, but wherever the pink brilliance flowing along those ribbons passed, the black mist hissed and dissipated like morning mist irradiated by the sun.

Inside the auditorium, on the stage.

Chen Qianqian was still standing in place.

Staff members had long since come to pull her along, only to be shoved away by her.

At this moment, the entire auditorium was empty, with only her standing alone in the center of the debris-littered stage, looking through that shattered west wall at the battle on the athletic field.

(Staff member: Am I even human or what!)

Watching that pink figure.

That figure flew and shifted back and forth in mid-air, the waving posture of the ribbons both beautiful and fierce, clear and bright chanting like a song carrying across the entire athletic field, every single word hammering against her eardrums.

It was an existence she had never seen before, so dazzling that people could hardly keep their eyes open.

Yet.

That face...

"Yang Chen..."

Qianqian murmured the name, her brain churning into a chaotic mess.

The expression on his face before he rushed out that day in the park.

The expression on his face when he stuffed the glow stick into her hand at the concert.

The lines on his body that grew softer day by day, his shoulder-length hair, his increasingly delicate brows and eyes.

And just now—that unyielding steadiness when he grabbed her wrist just now, something that didn't belong to an ordinary person at all.

All the fragments "clicked" into place at this moment, piecing together a complete picture she couldn't dare believe.

"So... it was like this..."

So what you were hiding from me was this.

So what you called "disappearing sooner or later" was this.

So every time I was in the greatest danger, the one who appeared by my side—was you.

Her fingers tightened bit by bit, her nails pinching into her palms.

Shock, bewilderment, grievance... and an indescribable something that burned her chest hot.

"When you're done fighting..."

She stared fixedly at the pink figure on the athletic field, squeezing the words out from between her teeth, one by one:

"You must, explain, everything, to me clearly."

"Not a single word is allowed to be missed!!"

On the athletic field, the battle had reached its most critical moment.

The Bone-Winged Fallen Beast's dive was firmly dragged down by the Knight—every time it wanted to bypass the tower shield to attack Love in mid-air, that formless pulling force would yank it forcibly back, forcing it to unleash all its sharp claws and bone blades onto the Knight's shield face.

And the Knight's shield grew brighter with every fight.

"You know what?" the Knight suddenly smiled after once more hard-defying a claw strike. "In the past, I always thought that guardianship meant one person standing at the very front."

"Now I feel—"

She exerted force abruptly, sweeping her tower shield horizontally and sending the Bone-Winged Fallen Beast flying away as a whole!

"The person standing at the very front should also have light behind their back!"

"Well said!"

Love's voice rang out in mid-air.

The ribbons entangling the Jellyfish Fallen Beast suddenly tightened, and the pink brilliance burst forth along the ribbons—that three-story-tall giant beast let out a shrill roar, its massive body being forcibly dragged off the ground and slamming fiercely toward the flying Bone-Winged Fallen Beast!

The two Third-Order giant beasts collided, and smoke and dust soared into the sky on the athletic field.

"Knight!"

"Here!"

"Let's go together—show them what kind of light blooms when love and guardianship collide together!"

"Hmph, exactly what I intended!"

Silver and pink streams of light soared into the sky simultaneously.

The edge of the Knight's sword flashed with sudden brilliance.

Love's ribbons twisted into a spiral-shaped pink spear of light.

Subsequently, Love shaped her fingers like a pistol, aiming straight at the Fallen Beast.

Afterward, the two streams of light merged into one, like a shooting star defying gravity and plunging back to the earth, piercing through the smoke and dust, piercing through the roars, piercing through those two entwined massive bodies—

"BOOM----!!!"

The earth trembled.

The pink pillar of light and the silver halo burst open in layers at the point of impact, rushing into the clouds and dyeing the sky over half the city a warm color.

The black mist boiled and struggled in the light, and then, bit by bit, was purified into nothingness.

When the radiance scattered, only a huge shallow crater remained on the athletic field.

In the center of the shallow crater, the Knight knelt on one knee, panting heavily, her tower shield stuck to the side and her sword tip propped into the ground.

On her body, the silver armor was covered in cracks.

Yet she smiled with unprecedented exhilaration.

"We won..."

"We won, you know."

Love landed gently beside her, reaching out to pull her up, and casually patted another circle of healing halo over.

"A Guardian Knight fighting side by side with Love—a scene like this will surely become a fine tale once spread."

The Knight laughed in spite of herself, gently shaking her head.

In the distance, cheers poured in like a tide. The evacuating teachers and students surrounded them from afar, not daring to get close, yet frantically waving their hands and shouting the names of the two.

Security personnel and the Association's backup fleet finally arrived fashionably late, the sound of sirens coming from far to near.

Everything was over.

The Knight moved her shoulders slightly, turning to look at Love: "What's next? What do you plan to do?"

"As for that..."

The smile on Love's face turned, bit by bit, into some subtle, nearly tragic expression.

She turned around, gazing in the direction of the auditorium.

Through that shattered west wall, a black figure was standing quietly in the center of the stage.

Across the entire athletic field, their gazes met.

"The Fallen Beast is dealt with."

Love muttered to herself.

"But this next battle—"

She took a deep breath, her long pink hair fluttering in the wind.

"Is the real hard battle for today."