A moment later, he landed silently on the streets of the city.
His steps were calm as he approached Gabriel, who was still holding the bottle of alcohol.
The night wind blew gently between the ruined buildings.
And in the middle of the empty street, the two figures finally stood not far from each other.
"Shadow, huh?" Gabriel said calmly.
He fixed his gaze on Cid, who stood a short distance away.
Cid didn't respond immediately.
He simply stood there, leaning casually with the mysterious aura he always carried. His black cloak fluttered softly in the night breeze.
"Hmm…" he murmured quietly, his voice calm yet full of meaning.
"So you've noticed."
A brief silence followed.
Gabriel slowly pushed off the wall he had been leaning against and straightened up.
Without a word, he tossed the bottle of liquor he had been holding toward Cid.
The bottle spun through the air.
Cid caught it easily with his left hand.
Without hesitation, he drank it.
Moments later, he lowered the bottle and stared at Gabriel in silence.
His mind was turning.
This… was real alcohol?
Not a stage prop?
Not strawberry syrup like what's usually used for dramatic effect?
He glanced at the bottle once more.
Then his gaze returned to Gabriel.
If one looked closely…
Gabriel really did look drunk.
Something unusual for someone whose mana quantity and quality approached his own level.
Logically, a person like that should be almost incapable of getting drunk.
A faint smile suddenly appeared on Cid's face.
He understood.
Gabriel had prepared his stage seriously.
Down to the smallest detail.
Cid appreciated that.
Because—fundamentally, he was no different.
Moments later, Gabriel Michaelis raised the white blade in his hand, pointing it straight ahead.
The tip of the sword aimed directly at Cid Kagenou.
In the next instant, something inside Gabriel pulsed.
The Hōgyoku embedded at the core of his body emitted a subtle wave of energy.
Immediately, a faint glow appeared across his skin.
The pattern spread like roots in shades of bluish-purple, crawling from his hands, down beneath his cloak, and rising across part of his face.
The energy pulsed slowly, like a living creature.
At the same time, the magical field around him shifted. Mana from the surrounding air was absorbed more rapidly.
The Mana Zone enveloping him activated more aggressively, accelerating the restoration of his energy by drawing mana from the environment.
Under normal circumstances, Gabriel would be almost impossible to deplete of mana.
His fight against Elizabeth earlier, even combined with healing all the victims in Lawless City, should not have been enough to drain his reserves.
But the current situation was different.
The reason was simple.
Mugen, the spirit of his Zanpakutō, was limiting Gabriel's mana flow.
It was granting him access to only about five percent of his original capacity.
Even now, Gabriel wasn't holding his Zanpakutō.
Instead of relying on Mugen, he was fighting with Ragnarok: Sword of Ruin.
The reason for the restriction was simple.
Mugen knew Gabriel better than anyone else.
And there was one thing it understood very clearly—if Gabriel got drunk, nothing good would come of it.
So it restrained its master's power.
A precautionary measure.
But from an outside perspective, the change appeared very different.
Cid observed the pulse of energy spreading like roots across Gabriel's body.
He narrowed his eyes slightly.
Hmm…
So that's how it is.
Gabriel's aura had changed.
The structure of his energy felt different as well.
Cid slowly crossed his arms.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
Second mode?
He nodded quietly in his mind.
Of course.
Makes sense.
The previous fight had only been the opening act.
Now Gabriel seemed ready to enter the next phase.
Cid grew even more intrigued.
Instead of stepping back, he took a single step forward.
His black cloak fluttered gently in the night wind.
The faint smile on his face remained.
To him, this wasn't a problem.
On the contrary, it made the stage far more interesting.
Gabriel Michaelis offered a faint smile at the reaction before him.
Without a word, he swung Ragnarok: Sword of Ruin to the side.
The air before him suddenly cracked.
A rift in space opened.
Not very large.
But large enough for someone to pass through.
The crack pulsed faintly, revealing a dim darkness on the other side.
In the distance, Cid Kagenou observed the phenomenon calmly and intently.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
He said nothing.
Gabriel walked toward the rift in space.
But he didn't step through immediately.
His footsteps halted right in front of the opening.
Then he turned slightly to look back.
His gaze fell on Cid.
"Ash invites Shadow."
The sentence was brief.
No further explanation.
No additional context.
Just an invitation.
After saying that, Gabriel stepped into the rift.
His body vanished into the darkness on the other side.
Cid remained standing in place for several seconds.
His mind raced.
An invitation…
And then he immediately stepped in?
A faint smile reappeared on his face.
Oh?
So that's what it meant.
The real stage was on the other side.
A location deliberately chosen for the next performance.
Cid nodded slowly.
A nice bit of improvisation.
He was increasingly impressed.
Without the slightest hesitation, Cid stepped forward toward the rift.
His black cloak fluttered gently as he walked.
His figure vanished into the dimensional gap.
The moment his steps crossed the boundary of the dimension—
The rift closed instantly.
The air returned to calm.
As if the rift had never existed at all.
***
At the top of Crimson Tower, the atmosphere that had once been filled with the thundering of battle began to settle.
Among the rubble and cracked stones, Beta sat calmly.
In his lap lay the unconscious body of Claire Kagenou.
Beta smiled gently, stroking Claire's head and brushing aside a few strands of hair that fell across her face.
"Now this one is done…" he said softly.
A few seconds later, Beta raised his left hand to waist height.
Moments after that—his hand disintegrated.
The skin, fingers, and arm transformed into a blue mana mist.
The mist did not scatter in the wind.
It flowed gently, like a slow-moving current in the air.
"Our objective is complete as well," Beta continued calmly.
After a short while, the blue mist gathered back together.
And Beta's hand reformed as it had been.
"Beta-sama," another voice spoke.
It was Number 665.
"We've collected the sample."
Beta turned to his right.
Number 665 held out a small box to him.
Beta immediately understood its contents.
Inside the box was a syringe containing a sample of Elisabeth's blood, secured from the debris around the tower.
He accepted the box without saying a word.
Then he stood slowly.
Carefully, Beta lifted Claire's body and carried her in a princess carry.
"We're heading back," he said calmly.
"Prepare yourselves."
"Yes."
Number 665 and Number 664 responded in unison.
But before moving, Number 664 glanced toward someone standing not far away.
It was Number 666.
Her true identity: Rose Oriana.
Rose stood silently, watching the scene on the other side of the tower.
There, Mary sat on the stone floor.
In her lap lay Elisabeth's unconscious body, her head resting against Mary's thigh.
Mary bowed her head slightly, smiling softly as she watched her mistress finally able to rest peacefully.
Rose observed the scene in silence.
"A resting place…" she murmured quietly, her voice barely audible.
"Number 666. We're returning to the base."
Number 664's voice called out to her.
Rose flinched slightly, her brief daydream interrupted.
She immediately turned toward the voice.
There, Beta—carrying Claire in his arms—and Number 665 were already ready to leave.
***
In a world completely different, the sky was filled with dark, swirling clouds that never ceased.
Lightning continuously struck from behind the clouds, illuminating the world in fleeting bursts of cold light.
Beneath that sky stretched a vast, barren land. Rocks of various shapes were scattered everywhere, some rising like sharp hills piercing toward the heavens.
Cratered ruins were clearly visible in many places. Scars from massive impacts and explosions marred the ground, as if testifying to the extraordinary battles that had taken place there.
In the midst of this silent world, Cid Kagenou floated calmly in the air.
His black cloak billowed gently in the cold wind. His red eyes were fixed on a colossal stone ruin in the distance, now shrouded in thick dust.
Yet even through the dust, Cid could see something beyond it.
His vision penetrated the haze like an infrared camera, capturing shapes and heat hidden within.
With a light stomp of his foot, Cid shifted his position.
In an instant, he was right in front of the dust plume, standing before whatever was concealed behind it.
Cid regarded it for a moment before speaking in a calm tone.
"So… this is all the strength Ash has?"
His words sounded casual, yet they were clearly meant as a provocation.
___
Author's Note:
Sorry I'm a bit late, hehehe~ 😅
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