"Aoko!"
Even though she was not there, the moment Alice Kuonji saw the subtle expression on Touko's face as she confronted Aoko, her expression changed dramatically. The indifference she had maintained to stand against Roland vanished, leaving only fury and alarm.
The situation was already clear. Though their verbal exchanges and even their actual fighting had seemed evenly matched, from an outsider's perspective, Aoko Aozaki had been in serious trouble from the very beginning.
Throughout this battle, Touko had always been the first to reveal her hidden cards, seemingly putting her at a disadvantage, but she was clearly a cut above Aoko. The stark contrast between Aoko's disheveled state and Touko, whose coat remained spotless even after Aoko closed in on her, was enough to establish that.
Touko had been waiting for this moment for a long time. She had maintained the appearance of an even match precisely to give Aoko Aozaki hope and keep her from escaping.
Then, at this moment, she would let her true trump card settle everything in a single stroke.
As Aoko Aozaki's Magic Cannon stood ready to fire, the trump card for whom even Touko willingly served as a stepping stone emerged from the darkness beneath the mist-veiled moonlight.
Alice's lips trembled slightly.
Not from fear, but because seeing exactly what kind of creature it was had made her tremble with excitement.
It was an exquisitely beautiful golden beast.
It was neither demonic nor illusory, but something truly sacred. It was an extinct life-form from the Age of Gods, a mystery possessed of human intelligence, a repeatedly accumulated legacy of mystery, a miracle of the entire earth made manifest again-it was the true natural enemy of mages, capable of crushing everything in one blow.
*No. If a surprise attack from a Phantasmal Species like