At first, it looks like a white star in this endless world.
But as we slide closer, the light twists. It's not a star.
It's a face.
A giant, white face comes into view ahead of me.
It resembles the girl on the bed, but stripped of all humanity.
But the eyes...
They're hollow, and black blood falls from them like tears.
"It's... crying?"
(...This is...)
The giant lips part...
"GYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH—!"
My hands instinctively move to my ears, but it's useless.
The scream tears through the silver line, shattering the rail beneath us.
"Ah."
"Kotori!" I reach out, my hand grasping at empty air.
Kotori pulls me against her.
*Boing*
Her breasts press against my back...
The sensation is suffocatingly pleasant.
Even in the middle of a free fall, Kotori's softness is almost criminal.
...
I notice another one of those Pyramids.
And aim the device on my wrist.
"Azure Thread!"
*Tschk*
It connects!
"Kotori, hold on!"
The Pyramid spins, trying to shake us off.
But I hold on tight.
My shoulder strains, but the connection holds.
The Pyramid stops spinning, and suddenly we are swinging.
"G-force increasing," Kotori states calmly into my ear.
"Compression of thoracic plating against your dorsal region is exceeding standard parameters. Is this acceptable?"
"Y-Yes!"
"It's... Perfectly acceptable!"
Actually, it's better than acceptable. It's the only thing keeping me sane.
But the Pyramid we're bound to... It's moving.
It surges upward, dragging us along with it.
"Pilot, trajectory is aligning with the primary entity," Kotori warns.
"Primary entity?"
I stare ahead.
The Pyramid isn't attacking the giant face. It's flying straight into the mouth!
"Kotori! It's going to eat us!"
I quickly dissolve the azure thread, and we fall before it can swallow us.
Falling...
Again.
"We're going to die! We're going to die! We're going to die!"
Huh? I don't feel myself falling...
I slowly, hesitantly, crack open one eye.
We're not falling.
We're…
"A platform?"
"Pilot,"
"We have landed on a stable data-construct. Immediate threat of kinetic impact has been neutralized."
"How many times am I going to fall?!"
"Statistical probability of future vertical displacements remains high," Kotori replies, helping me to my feet.
"The structural integrity of this data-scape is degrading rapidly. The 'ground' is a relative concept here."
I dust off my... Well, my panties and the oversized shirt.
My face burns. Again. Even in the middle of… whatever this is, I'm still worried about how I look. Stupid. So stupid.
What even is that thing?
(Fallen... Angel.)
Angel...
It sounds… Soft. Pretty.
Whatever that thing is, it isn't soft.
(Not a beast, my little savior. A servant.)
Shizuka's voice holds a strange mixture of pity and disgust.
(In the age of Order, the Hashira forged beings to enact their will. They named them Shin-Kenzoku... But mortals knew them by a simpler name. Angels.)
"Forged?"
(They are not born like you or me. They are made. Given a shard of divine light and a singular purpose: to protect. To serve. To maintain the domain of their creator.)
I look back at the giant face.
"So... That thing was supposed to protect her?"
(Umu. It was her Guardian.)
(But the Void... The Corruption... It does not just destroy. It inverts. It takes the loyalty of the Angel and rewrites the target.)
"Rewrites?"
(Instead of guarding the soul from the outside... It locks it away on the inside.)
"Locks it away..."
Both my hands clench into fists.
"Just like Father."
He locked Mother away. He locked us away. He thought he was saving us, but he was burying us in the dark.
And this thing... This twisted, fallen angel... It's doing the same thing to her.
"I won't let you."
I step forward, the oversized shirt swishing around my bare thighs.
"I won't let you keep her!"
(Wait, my little savior.)
"Why?"
(Your eyes are fixed upon the great wound before you, my little savior. But you have overlooked the poison beneath your feet. Look down. This platform... This very ground... It is also fractured. The Guardian is not the only source of this taint.)
I look down.
...
There's a black vein running through my right foot.
"It's going in another direction..."
Huh? My feet are bare...
Have I been barefoot this whole time?
"I forgot to put on shoes..."
I wiggle my toes. They look so pale against the dark, shifting surface of the platform.
And vulnerable.
Kaito washed them with such care... And now I'm standing on this?!
(My little savior...)
Her voice sighs in my mind, soft as a tap on the forehead.
(Is this really the time to be concerned about hygiene? You are standing inside a metaphysical manifestation of despair, facing a corrupted angel, and your primary concern is the cleanliness of your toes?)
"B-But..."
(The filth here is spiritual, not physical. And right now... There's another source of corruption.)
I swallow hard, forcing my toes to stop wiggling.
She's right.
I can worry about shoes later.
But what are we supposed to do...? That giant is overflowing with corruption, and now this...
(Kotori, can you handle this other source?) Shizuka asks directly into my mind.
"Kotori can hear you?" I ask, surprised.
(We are synchronized, my little savior. Through you, the channels are open. She hears what you hear.)
"Affirmative,"
"I can trace the corruption to its source."
"However, separating from the Pilot increases the probability of mission failure by 42%."
"Furthermore, if the secondary source is not neutralized, the corruption will regenerate indefinitely. The primary target cannot be purged while the supply line remains active."
Regenerate?
I look at the giant face, then down at the black vein beneath my feet.
...I failed to notice the vein was connected to the entity.
Can Kotori also see it?
"Kotori, can you see the connection?"
"Visual confirmation negative."
"However, sensor readings detect a high-density data stream siphoning energy from the primary entity. It travels vertically. Downwards."
I glance over the edge of the platform.
If she goes down there...
"Can you make it back?" I ask, my voice tighter than I want it to be.
"Unlikely,"
"The data stream below is a gravity well. Once engaged, upward mobility will be compromised by 98%."
(Savior, listen to me.)
(Do you trust the bond you forged? That crude, forceful, beautiful claim you laid upon her?)
"I..."
I look at Kotori. Her face is impassive, waiting for the command that might send her to her death.
Do I trust it?
I felt her release. I felt her hips grind against my hand, desperate for my control. I felt her surrender.
Yes.
(Then the gravity of this place means nothing. If she belongs to you... She will return to you. That is the law of ownership.)
The law...
It sounds so cold when Shizuka says it, but looking at Kotori, it feels like the only warmth in this freezing void.
I take a deep breath, steeling myself.
"Kotori."
"Make me Kaito's sword, as you did before."
Kotori doesn't hesitate. She doesn't ask why.
She raises her right hand, palm open.
"Affirmative."
The hilt materializes first, followed instantly by the long, straight blade.
Kaito's sword.
She extends it to me.
"Construct integrity is at 80%. It is a projection based on memory data, lacking the physical mass of the original, but the High-Frequency vibration drive is fully emulated."
I grab the hilt.
"Go."
"Destroy the source below. I will handle the Guardian."
"Acknowledged."
Kotori doesn't offer a word of luck or a glance of hesitation. She simply leans backward, letting gravity claim her.
"Now..."
Turning towards the giant.
I lower my hips, sinking into a low crouch.
Knees bent. Feet planted wide.
"I, Horikita Kurotsukihime Mizuhana..."
I bring the sword up, holding it horizontally across my chest.
"...Who has reached the Hidden Level of the Inverse Flow..."
Right hand locks the hilt near my jaw.
Left hand steadies just above the blade's tip.
"...Shall sever your hold on her!"