Suddenly, the young lady, Maria, and Marina appeared.
Setting aside how the three of them got here, I had no idea how Maria and Marina could exist in reality after escaping cyberspace.
"How... ?"
"It’s a body made by [Fraxinus]. It’s disposable, but we came to help Hii."
"Yeah, Maria’s right. That guy’s playing the villain, so as a senior, I’ve got to set him straight."
"Marina, that’s not something to brag about."
"Who cares!"
A body made by [Fraxinus].
Looking closely, I could see tiny seam-like lines around their eyes.
They looked like the boundary where two parts fit together, telling me their bodies were made of metal.
I hadn’t known [Fraxinus] had made something like that.
Apparently the two of them usually stayed in [Fraxinus]’s server room, so maybe they’d known about it.
"I’m sorry, everyone. It took me a while to get used to this body."
"Since we’re here, we’re winning for sure!"
Watching Mari puff out her chest with baseless confidence and crackle electricity around us, I felt some of the tension leave me without meaning to.
Maybe it was just because Marina’s whole vibe was too light, but still.
Now that reinforcements had arrived, all that was left was to win.
"Fuahahaha! You only sent three people and you think that’s enough to win? Aren’t you underestimating me a little too much?"
Whoosh!
Boom!
Crack!
As Ren said that, the shadows began their counterattack.
The commander’s shadow burned, Tobiichi’s shadow fired light, and Yoshino’s shadow froze the area, killing off the young lady’s clones.
On top of that, Rinne’s shadow unleashed bullets of light, Mayuri’s shadow fired beams, and the Yamai sisters’ shadows loosed arrows of wind.
"......"
Boom!
Meanwhile, the Hollow kept seeing the young lady’s clones and, drawn by the souls, attacked them indiscriminately.
"Hahaha, what’s wrong? That’s all you’ve got after all that talk."
Ren sneered at the young lady.
"Ufufu, clones are still just clones. They can’t beat shadows with power equal to a spirit’s, or even greater."
In truth, the young lady wasn’t wrong.
The other side had been strengthened by souls while already having power equal to a spirit, so there was no way mere clones could win.
"If it were just me, though."
Crackle-
KRAAANG-
Electricity burst from the cable-like wires attached to Marina’s artificial spirit, and beams shot out from the crystal attached to Maria’s artificial spirit.
As a result, even the spirits’ shadows that had been battering the clones hesitated and slowed their advance.
We’d only seen them in cyberspace, but those two were no joke either.
And with the young lady using her clones to launch a numbers assault, the shadows were completely pinned down.
Boom!
Except for the Hollow.
Since the young lady’s clones were darting around to draw its attention, Maria and Marina weren’t attacking the Hollow at all.
"If Maria, Marina, and even weak little us all work together and overwhelm them with numbers, we can keep the spirits’ shadows tied down."
"And with just that little opening, everyone else can move."
"Uoooooh!"
The moment Maria finished speaking, Tohka swung her sword at Ren.
Crack!
Ren blocked the strike by propping up a branch strengthened with souls, but what mattered was that it created an opening to attack her.
"Tohka, was it... ."
"Kihihihit! If you’re so upset, why don’t you try making shadows of us? If you can, that is."
"...!"
When Ren created shadows, the condition was the target’s spiritual power.
And that spiritual power came from Itsuka-kun.
But the young lady hadn’t been sealed by Itsuka-kun, so a shadow couldn’t be made from her.
And Maria and Marina were basically program-like beings that had originally existed only in cyberspace, so no matter how much spiritual power they had, their shadows couldn’t be manifested.
"Hmm. I see. What a troublesome situation. I’ve got almost none of Zaphkiel’s power in my hands, and I can’t make Maria and Marina because they’re AIs."
Ren seemed surprisingly willing to admit that fact.
But then she smiled wickedly and said,
"Still, we’ve got something you don’t over here too. Right? [Samael]!"
RUMBLE...!
The entire barrier shook at Ren’s call.
As everyone panicked at the sudden vibration, Rinne shouted,
"Everyone, be careful! This is... the prelude to an ability being used!"
"What!?"
Rinne seemed to know the cause of the tremor.
Apparently, since Rinne also used a barrier-type angel called Eden, she knew the source of [Samael]’s resonance too.
"Yeah, just like Rinne said, this is a prelude. I told you, [Samael] is an angel that grants any wish."
The moment I heard that, a bad feeling hit me.
"You... don’t tell me... even your own wish works?"
Yeah. If there were no conditions on who [Samael] would grant wishes to...
Then Ren herself would obviously be included.
"Correct, Higakieta! My own wish is no exception to that wish."
When she said it herself, despair spread across Itsuka-kun’s face.
If Ren was telling the truth, then she could use a power that let her do anything she wanted in this space, practically reality manipulation.
"Hahaha! What a great face! Yes, making shadows of spirits is nothing but a trifle to me. If I wished to [Samael] once, I could erase all of you or make you my servants."
Yes, in this space, Ren was close enough to a god to be called one.
"There’s still no way to break this situation."
But so what?
Hadn’t I already taken down the one who swallowed a god, and the incarnation made from the souls of beings with power equal to gods?
I wasn’t about to give up over something like this.
"...I’ll have to find a way from here on out, though."
As I was thinking that, the commander was suddenly right beside me.
"Hiki."
"...You startled me. What is it, Commander?"
"Don’t look away. Listen to me. Thanks to Kurumi, I found a way to break this situation."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Listen carefully."
According to the commander, it was genuinely good news.
It might have been an anomaly in the observation device, but Ren’s affection level was already high enough to be sealed.
If they could just seal Ren’s spiritual power, they could get out of this mess.
Itsuka-kun would have to suffer in the process, but when had he ever not suffered?
"Got it."
At her request to handle the other shadows, I gave a small nod.
"Good. I’ll go tell Shido."
Then the commander carefully headed toward Itsuka-kun and soon shouted loudly,
"Let’s go, everyone! We can’t let Ren use [Samael]!"
"Mm! We can’t let her do as she pleases!"
"Understood."
"Yes, yes. We can’t let things go the way Ren wants."
Using the commander’s words as the signal, the battle between shadows and originals resumed.
*****
Shido ran straight across the battlefield of spirits and shadows, heading only for Ren.
Explosions, acrid smoke, and a biting chill raged around him, but he still trusted his friends and left the rear to them as he ran.
He didn’t look back even when he heard screams behind him.
He didn’t stop even when he saw his injured friends at his side.
Rather, knowing that stopping would betray those friends, he kept running toward Ren.
"Oh? So Shido is coming."
Ren looked at Shido approaching her with interest.
If they seemed to have found a sure solution, and if that solution was Shido...
"But what exactly can you do now that you’ve lost your spiritual power?"
Wouldn’t it be enough to kill Shido?
"Ghk!"
The beam of spiritual power Ren fired pierced Shido’s shoulder blade.
It grazed his cheek and left a wound.
Right now, Kamiel, who should have been healing Shido, had also had his spiritual power stolen by Ren, so he couldn’t regenerate.
And so blood flowed from the deep and shallow wounds all over Shido’s body.
Intense agony ran through him from head to toe.
"Haha, you’re trying hard. But how long can you keep this up?"
Ren mocked Shido and kept firing beams and bullets of light.
"K... gh... aah...!"
Even as he screamed in pain, Shido kept moving forward.
He knew that if he stopped here, Ren would make her wish.
He knew that if he gave up, everything would be over.
He knew all too well that the only way to repay the friends who had opened a path for him, and to uncover Ren’s true intentions, was to keep going.
So even while enduring unbearable pain, he didn’t stop.
"Impressive. To think you’d endure this much. Without an angel’s power now, that must be hellish pain."
Ren showed a little surprise as she watched him.
But Ren’s goal was still Shido’s death.
"Still, this is the end. I don’t know what you’re plotting, but if I punch through your chest, that should stop you, right?"
A little surprise wasn’t enough to stop her.
As Ren said, Shido’s body was now that of a normal person.
He had originally intended to ambush her, but once he’d already been seen, that plan was useless.
The moment Shido, realizing he couldn’t get any closer, searched for something to draw Ren’s attention away...
Creak...!
Ren extended a branch to pierce Shido’s chest.
A branch that would instantly tear through flesh, organs, and bone and completely run him through if it reached him.
Shido noticed it coming and tried to dodge, but if he retreated now, he knew he wouldn’t be able to come back, and he hesitated.
Then, at that moment.
Crack!
Something touched the branch and shattered.
"A skull...?"
Just before it broke, what Shido saw was a skull-shaped object.
Not knowing it was a Luring Skull from Dark Souls, Shido was still confused when...
BOOM!!!
The Hollow, drawn in by the souls, rushed over in the blink of an eye and attacked the branch.
"What...!"
As a result, the branch was completely shattered, and Ren showed a look of panic she rarely ever revealed.
"Now!"
Shido didn’t miss the opening. While the Hollow’s gaze was still fixed on the shattered branch, he slipped past it and kicked off the ground.
Then, once he reached Ren, he wrapped his hand around the back of her head and pressed his lips to hers.
"Ah... It seems I, Itsuka Shido, have fallen in love with you."
Ren’s spiritual power began to be absorbed into Shido.
As it did, the shadows lost their forms and vanished, and Ren felt as if her own existence were growing faint.
RUMBLE...!
[Samael] also lost that spiritual power, and the barrier shook.
"It worked! The seal succeeded!"
"Haaah..."
At Kotori’s words, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed.
Some were bleeding from injuries, and some were simply exhausted despite being unharmed.
For their sake, Hieta let out a long breath and activated a miracle.
Ding~
A bell-like sound spread through the area, followed by a warm yellow glow.
That glow enveloped the group, and their wounds healed.
Thud!
With Ren’s seal complete, Shido and Ren fell to the floor.
"Ugh..."
Shido groaned from the impact of the fall, and Ren looked at him with a relieved smile.
"Heh, hahaha... You got me good. I never thought I’d fall in love with Shido."
"Ren..."
"It’s fine. Anyway, I――"
Just as Ren was about to say something to Shido...
Puhwah!
Something dark burst out of Ren’s mouth as if exploding, and covered her body.
In truth, it meant the tug-of-war that had been held in perfect tension by the sealing of spiritual power had ended with one side’s victory.
"...Huh?"
"Itsuka-kun! Move!"
The Dark Souls, bearing deep darkness, took over Ren’s body.
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