Above the scorched battlefield, amidst the broken clouds and flickering rays of divine light, Yui and the other angel clashed in a violent ballet of wings and wrath.
Suspended in mid-air, they danced a deadly waltz.
Their silhouettes blurred, moving faster than the human eye could follow, swords of radiant light flashing in and out of existence as they struck and parried in relentless succession.
The air trembled with every collision with each clash of their blades releasing a thunderous crack and sending concentric shockwaves rippling outward, disturbing the sky itself.
The force of their strikes warped the atmosphere.
Wind howled around them like a caged beast set loose.
Their hair, caught in the gusts born from the impact of their blows, whipped and snapped like silk banners caught in a storm.
Even the clouds above scattered violently, as if fleeing from their overwhelming presence.
"Fufufu~ You're not bad," Yui said, a slow, amused smile curving her lips, her eyes gleaming with intrigue.
The other angel narrowed her gaze. "It seems I've underestimated you. You're more formidable than I thought… and fast. You're able to keep up with me." She paused, floating gracefully yet with the weight of authority. "May I ask your name?"
Yui tilted her head slightly, eyes still locked on her opponent. "I don't mind. It's quite the honor, after all, to be acknowledged by someone from the younger generation."
The angel's expression hardened. "I don't recognize you as part of the old generation. Not anymore. You've fallen. You've become a creature of sin—a fallen angel." Her voice was laced with cold judgment, yet beneath that was a flicker of respect. "But as a warrior... as a fighter... I do want to know you."
"Fufufu~... Is that so?" Yui let out a soft laugh, her wings flaring behind her in a slow, mesmerizing rhythm. "Then I'll entertain you. I am Himeno. Himeno Yui. Pleased to meet you." With a hand pressed to her chest, she gave a mockingly elegant bow, her grayish wings shimmering as they kept her aloft.
The angel wasn't satisfied. Her voice sharpened with suspicion. "That isn't your true name, is it? It's merely the alias you wear among mortals. What name did our Creator, Yesh, bestow upon you?"
Yui's grin widened just slightly, like a blade being slowly unsheathed. "Ah... that's a tricky subject. A controversial one." She leaned forward, her voice lowering to a near whisper. "Are you sure you want to hear it?"
The angel's stance grew firmer. "You make it sound like it doesn't matter, stalling . Are you afraid to say it?" Her words were laced with provocation, baiting her opponent.
But Yui wasn't flustered.
She was unshaken with her smile unbroken and her calm unwavering.
In fact, she looked amused.
Still, she decided to oblige.
With a quiet, almost reverent breath, she moved her lips and uttered a name.
Her original name, the one etched into the tapestry of Heaven itself.
And with that one word, everything stopped.
A violent chill surged down her spine like ice water, shocking her to her very core.
Her breath caught in her throat, her wings momentarily faltering in the air.
The name struck her like thunder, crashing into her soul.
It wasn't just shock—perhaps it was rejection.
Her mind couldn't process it. Her very soul pushed against the truth.
"You are…!" she gasped, her voice faltering in disbelief.
Yui laughed. Her laugh was soft, dark and musical. "Fufufu~ Now that is the kind of reaction I enjoy. It's always fun to drop a name on someone who had absolutely no idea who I was."
One of the first-generation angels—a celestial being born in the early light of Heaven's creation.
A warrior once revered as one of Heaven's strongest, most divine soldiers.
Her descent from grace had rocked the Heavens like a cataclysm.
When the news spread that she had been tainted by mortal sin, and cast down by Yesh to fall as a fallen angel, it was more than betrayal—it was a wound across the face of Heaven itself.
And now, the angel facing her… for the first time, saw her not just as a rebel—
—but as a living threat.
"You should be purged," the angel declared, voice now steady but cold, edged with fear and fury.
"Is that so?" Yui said, mockingly curious. Her smile stretched wider. "Then go on… try it. Show me if you have the power."
She licked her lips with theatrical exaggeration, as if savoring the angel's trembling resolve.
The angel didn't wait.
With a burst of divine light, she dashed forward—this time with everything she had and every shred of hesitation burned away.
She didn't hold back.
But Yui… she merely smirked.
"I love it when the weak rush in against the strong," she said, effortlessly gliding backward to avoid the attack. "It makes them cuter. Maybe that's what drew me to Okumura-senpai…"
The angel gave chase, swinging her blade with righteous fury, yet Yui moved with ease with each slash narrowly missing her by inches.
"Hey, you still haven't told me your name," Yui taunted casually as she weaved through the angel's relentless strikes. "I gave you mine, didn't I? You asked for it, and I gave it freely. Don't you think it's only fair to offer yours in return?"
Despite the angel's determined attacks, Yui's voice remained teasing and almost playfully seductive.
"You don't deserve to know my name!" the angel hissed. "You've done irreparable damage to Heaven's forces—you've slain countless of our comrades! You're a menace! You should be purged!"
Yui's smile dimmed slightly.
Her tone dipped lower, tinged with something darker and colder.
"Now that's not something you should say to me, sweetheart. The number of angels I've killed? Please. That doesn't even come close to the amount of demons I've slaughtered in the name of Heaven."
Her gaze sharpened, a flicker of bitterness in her eyes.
"And when I finally got bored... when the sin of mortality stained me… Heaven cast me aside like I was nothing."
She narrowed her eyes further.
"And let's not forget—I wasn't the one who went looking for trouble. You people from Heaven? You picked this fight. I was just living my life. You came down here, strutted around like you owned the place, and attacked me. So don't play righteous. I was just defending myself."
That was the undeniable truth.
Yui had never been the aggressor.
She never once raised her blade first against the forces of Heaven.
It was they who struck first. They who hunted her like a traitor.
And everything Yui did afterward? That was nothing more than her response.
The angel's gaze lingered on her, thoughtful and intense.
For a fleeting second, there was hesitation in her eyes, like she was reevaluating everything she'd believed up until now.
"I'm going to ask you something," she said at last, her voice steady but laced with suspicion. "You're the one who placed that soul here, aren't you? What's your intention? Are you toying with the natural flow of death for mortals? Trying to cheat fate?"
"I don't get involved in things like that," Yui replied casually, her tone light but hiding something deeper. "But then again… it's not like I had many options, did I? You can't expect me to just stand by and watch the only person who's ever caught my attention in this dreary world get erased."
Her eyes glimmered, lips quirking up in a teasing smirk.
"So that soul... that man. You protected him? From death itself?"
"I don't really see a reason to explain myself to you," Yui shot back, the smirk on her face widening just a touch. "Especially when you haven't even been polite enough to share your name."
The angel's expression darkened.
"Then..." she said with growing determination, "I'll end this farce. I'll break your illusion and lead that mortal back to the heavens where he belongs."
Yui's expression shifted. Her playful tone hardened into something sharp.
"No. You won't," she said. "You'll have to kill me before that ever happens."
The angel held her ground. "Are you sure about that? Because this time… I'm not alone."
From the start, another presence had lingered in the air.
The second angel was the one who had launched the devastating beam of concentrated light earlier.
The very attack Kouhei had dodged by mere inches. He was a single heartbeat away from instant death.
But Yui had already known that. She wasn't blind.
"I know," she said with a calm certainty, a slow, knowing smile curling at her lips.
"If you're really shielding that soul and keeping us from touching him," the angel pressed, "shouldn't you be more concerned for his safety? If she lands even one strike—if he gets caught in her light—he's gone. Erased. Just like that."
"I know," Yui said again.
"You know?" the angel asked, her voice rising with disbelief. "Then why the heavens are you still standing there looking so smug?!"
There was no need for a grand reason.
No convoluted strategy.
"I'm just putting my faith in him, that's all," she said softly, her smile gentler now.
Because Kouhei had the will to live.
A burning determination that most mortals lacked.
And that kind of resolve—it wasn't something you could fake or break easily.
It was dangerous. Beautiful. And powerful enough to change fates.
After all, those who clung to life with that kind of fire in their soul… they were always the hardest ones to kill.
"Now then," Yui said, her eyes gleaming with challenge as she floated higher, her wings casting sharp shadows under the pale light, "shall we continue our little dance?"