"Fujino, you're back!"
A dark shadow quickly lunged into Asagami Fujino's arms. The familiar soft touch and unique scent immediately revealed the identity of the newcomer to Asagami Fujino.
"Alice, you're still so impulsive. What will we do if Illya ends up like this too?" Asagami Fujino looked at Alice's smiling face dotingly, reaching out to gently stroke Alice's long silver hair.
"Illya will definitely be a good child," Alice said, rubbing against Asagami Fujino's cheek like a child.
"Alright, stop fooling around."
She gently tapped Alice's head; the painless force caused Alice to playfully stick out her tongue while acting cute.
"Ryusei and the others should be back too, right?"
"Ryusei is already back." Alice nodded and pulled out of Asagami Fujino's embrace, instead hugging Asagami Fujino's arm, the softness of her chest pressing tightly against it.
"Is Fujino planning to bring things to an end?" Alice asked softly.
"Mm, by that time, Illya should be just about ready to be born."
Speaking of this, Asagami Fujino's gaze fell upon Alice's flat lower abdomen. An existence far beyond ordinary human comprehension, Alice's pregnancy situation was also different from others; she seemed no different from a normal person, save for the life within her. Moreover, Alice's body was undergoing subtle changes every day; her homunculus traits had vanished, and her body had completely turned human—or more accurately, a New Human.
She was human, yet transcended humanity, her body having become something derived from a part of Asagami Fujino's own essence. This was likely a gift to Alice from the portion of Asagami Fujino within the unborn Illya. To some extent, Alice could be said to have a blood relation with Asagami Fujino, a connection far beyond what ordinary genetics could explain. If published as scientific research, even just the surface level would be enough to fuel centuries of study.
Returning to the present, Alice gently stroked her lower abdomen, showing a very maternal smile.
"Illya will surely be the happiest child in the world."
"Of course." Asagami Fujino smiled as she placed her hand over Alice's on her abdomen, gently holding Alice's hand. Looking at Alice's maternal smile, she couldn't resist leaning in to kiss Alice's rosy lips.
"Let's go. It's almost over."
"Mm."
In a deserted city, the area had been baptized by the flames of war and was devoid of people. Almost every city in the entire world now shared this appearance. Most people had fled to live in underground shelters because the Fallen Angels and Muir V's factions generally did not attack civilians. As long as one didn't foolishly leave the shelters, there were basically no casualties. The shelters also had sufficient food to ensure survival at this stage, so it was rare to see civilians on the surface. Occasionally, those seen were merely people hoping to join one of the two sides to gain power.
Ink Flower appeared alone in this abandoned city, her face full of displeasure.
"Where on earth is it!"
Ink Flower's angry voice echoed through the city. Having accepted this mission, she had racked her brains thinking of how to complete it, but she soon realized a crucial prerequisite: where exactly was the target of the mission!
Naturally, her powerless shout received no response. Helplessly, Ink Flower used her abilities to start traveling through several cities, but all she saw was desolation and a few rookie Fallen Angels who had clearly just obtained their Seventh Sense. Ink Flower hadn't intended to pay those rookies any mind, thinking to slip away quietly to find her target, but even though she didn't go looking for trouble, trouble found her.
One of those rookie Fallen Angels likely possessed a search-type ability and found Ink Flower. Because they were from different factions and Ink Flower's identity as a member of the Dark Moon Iron Cavalry was obvious, capturing her would definitely lead to a massive reward. Thus, those rookies decided to make a move on Ink Flower to bring her back for the bounty.
Ink Flower, who originally didn't want any trouble, looked at those rookies trying to target her and was absolutely fuming. She was already in a bad mood because of the mission, and now these rookies, who didn't know the heights of the heavens or the depths of the earth, wanted to catch her. Consequently, an angry Ink Flower sent these rookies back into the embrace of Mother Earth.
Originally, Ink Flower was going to just kill these rookies, but during the fight, she learned some news from them, so she changed her original plan.
After a sound beating and some "mentally and physically pleasing" intimidation and torture, Ink Flower got the information she wanted. The Fallen Angels were actually searching for the location of VV Academy, and the identity of Ink Flower's mission target was the current principal of VV Academy. In that case, as long as she followed the Fallen Angels, wouldn't she be able to see her target once they found where VV Academy was?
Moreover, what made Ink Flower happy was that the Fallen Angels already had some conjectures about the location of VV Academy. However, what made her feel a headache was...
"Why is it in the sky!"
Ink Flower angrily kicked the unconscious rookie Fallen Angel at her feet, sending him flying, then gritted her teeth and looked up at the moonlit sky.
If it's in the sky, what is she supposed to do? And the sky is so big, who knows where VV Academy is!
"Why would it be in the sky! Whose stupid idea was this! If I find out who it was, I'll definitely give them a sound beating!"
While Ink Flower was venting at the sky, behind her, Asagami Fujino, who had hidden her presence, looked at the shouting girl with an unfriendly expression. She decided she would definitely have to "discipline" this little girl later. To call the brilliant idea of a Floating Island a "stupid idea"—how uncute!
Beside Asagami Fujino, Alice was giggling with her hand over her mouth. Looking at Fujino's current expression and then at the oblivious Ink Flower, she couldn't help but look forward to what would happen to Ink Flower later. Alice's gaze toward Ink Flower held a tiny bit of pity—maybe about one percent—while the remaining ninety-nine percent was the excitement of watching a good show.
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the story has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 chapters in advance over on my Patreon: patreon.com/TLHimejima1
Every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone and let me know.