While Souta and the others were still discussing,
Kurumi and Mio's battle gradually reached its end.
Mio, slashed far too many times, her body drenched in blood, was barely holding on.
"Looks like it's over, Mio."
Kurumi gazed at her, chest heaving from ragged breaths, and declared her victory:
"You've lost. There's no point in struggling anymore."
"Kurumi… your spirit abilities… looks like you went back to the past, and absorbed the leylines."
Mio's voice was weak.
After fighting this long, she could more or less guess why Kurumi had become so powerful.
She was no longer bound to anyone.
Her Sephira Crystal had evolved to the level of her own prime.
No longer the Spirit she had once created.
Mio had even tried to wrest control of Kurumi's angel,
"I have one question," Mio drew a deep breath.
"If you really absorbed the leylines, I shouldn't even exist anymore. Why… am I still here?"
"It's simple. A thousand years is enough for the leylines to recover."
"…You mean, you went back a thousand years?"
Mio's eyes widened in shock.
"That's impossible! So far back in time... even in my prime, even if I used all my reiryoku with, I couldn't possibly go that far!"
"Mio, that's the power of love."
Mio gave up chasing the logic.
For her now, it didn't matter.
Instead, her eyes turned regretful:
"Kurumi, I never wanted to use this power. But now… I have no choice but to erase you."
She possessed three angels.
The third was the most dangerous.
Ain, The Angel of void.
The strongest angel, one that ignored the laws of physics themselves, erasing anything from the world entirely.
Once unleashed, the target would vanish completely.
If she could avoid it, she would never use this against Spirits.
Because if a Spirit disappeared, then Shiori's evolution would be incomplete, lacking that power.
But now, she had no choice.
Mio stretched out her hand, and the seed-shaped angel appeared.
"Just what I was waiting for!"
Kurumi's expression turned stern as she gathered most of her reiryoku, activating one of Lucifugus's abilities:
Libra Bullet Moznaim.
A bullet that could reverse cause and effect within space.
Able to directly reflect the enemy's attack.
With her left hand, Kurumi pulled the trigger of her old-fashioned pistol.
The bullet sank into space itself.
At the same moment, Mio's angel's power began to manifest.
The power to return all things to nothing
clashed with the power to rebound all attacks.
Contradictory concepts met head-on.
Surging reiryoku roared as the two forces collided.
A calamity, far beyond the Eurasian Spacequake, swelled within the clash of their attacks.
Mio's reiryoku and Kurumi's reiryoku were swallowed together into that paradoxical vortex.
No harm spilled into the outside world.
Kurumi roared, pouring in even more power, forcing Mio's own attack back at her.
In sheer force, Mio's was undeniably stronger.
But Mio wasn't at full power, and in this contest of spirit energy, she lost.
Kurumi, by sheer overwhelming reiryoku, compensated for the difference in strength.
At last, Mio was struck by her own attack.
What little power she had left… vanished.
Kurumi warped before her, pressing a hand against her chest.
Her modified Spirit formula activated!
Her Sephira Crystal began devouring Mio's remaining power without restraint.
"You…" Mio looked at Kurumi, weak and confused,
"Why didn't you kill me?"
At the very last moment, Kurumi had held back.
Using her own reiryoku to cancel out part of Lucifugus's force.
The rebounded strike wasn't nearly as strong as it should have been.
"You think you can just die that easily? Don't even dream of it."
Kurumi continued draining her mercilessly:
"You're going to use the rest of your time to atone."
To punish instead of kill... that was something she and Souta had decided long ago.
Kurumi herself didn't even know why she had chosen to spare this woman.
The past's pain had already been undone.
Over a hundred million people had been saved.
Her old friend Sawa would even visit her from time to time…
Because of Souta, she now lived in this warmth.
The reasons for hatred… had faded.
Kurumi's mind drifted to the time she had once spent with Mio.
There had been friendship there, even if it was built on lies.
Mio looked back at Kurumi, first surprised, then her eyes softened.
"Kurumi… you really are so kind. Just like before. You've never changed."
She shook her head slightly.
"Kill me. You have that right. I owe you that much."
Perhaps thirty years ago, she had already expected such an ending.
Even if Shinji were resurrected, he would never forgive her.
She had clung to him with obsessive devotion,
swallowing guilt and grief, turning herself into a merciless ghost…
If she didn't go that far, she wouldn't have been able to follow through with her plan.
Death... wasn't that a kind of release?
"I already told you, you'll use your time to atone. And besides…"
Kurumi shot her a sidelong glance, adding:
"He wants to see every tragedy turn into comedy, farce. I'll help him realize that wish."
Mio's beautiful face suddenly curved into a smile of understanding.
"So, I guess I still owe you a blessing. Congratulations… you've become just like me."
"I'm not as obsessed as you."
Kurumi's absorption intensified:
"Say goodbye to your past self, Mio.
I won't forgive you, so I won't let you go.
Without your power, you'll live the rest of your life under my shadow."
Souta waved his hand, dispersing the giant screen.
He turned toward Altair and the others:
"That's enough for today's video call."
"Mio isn't dead. What do you plan to do with her?" Altair asked.
"Well…" Souta replied,
"Once Kurumi drains her dry, Mio won't be able to cause trouble. After that, whatever happens is up to Kurumi."
"…Why does that sound… weird?" Altair muttered with a twitch.
Just then, Kuro Neko's voice chimed in:
"I've got things to handle back in the human world. I'm leaving first."
"Wait!" Souta quickly called out.
"Kuro Neko, don't forget our duel. If you drag this out, I'll come knocking myself."
Kuro Neko swallowed her panic and fear, keeping her expression calm as she nodded:
"I know. You're in such a rush, Kami-sama. Fine then, wash your neck and wait for me."
With that, she logged off the call.
This time, she swore she'd quit the group.