ing back.

No—it was not something that could be called fighting back.

Not one of the attacks that the AST let out with intense spirit reached Tohka.

On the other hand, Tohka's swings, whether a direct hit or even just the shockwave, was easily blowing the wizards away and breaking their formation, as if their territory didn't exist.

It was overwhelmingly one-sided— the march of a king.

"She's completely gone. Seems she really couldn't tolerate Shidou being killed."

Saying this, Kotori shrugged.

"..., What does that mean...! Oh right! Rather, why am I alive!?"

Shidou yelled, and Kotori grinned like she obviously knew something.

"Well, let's talk about that later. Right now there's something else you need to do."

While looking at the image of Tohka, Kotori said.

"Something else—to do?"

"Yeah. We wouldn't want casualties to result due to the Spirits."

"..., That's obvious, isn't it!"

Shidou shouted, and Kotori narrowed her eyes like she was having fun.

"Okay, splendid, Mr. Knight. —Then let's go. To stop the princess."

Kotori looked away from Shidou after saying this, and then raised her voice.

"Turn the <Fraxinus> around! Move to the battle front! Bring the uncertainty within 1 meter!"

"Understood!"

Several crew members who seemed like helmsmen responded in unison.

Then, together with a strained sound, the <Fraxinus> shook slightly.

"Ko-Kotori!"

"Nn, what is it Shidou?"

"You say stop Tohka—is something like that possible!?"

"What are you saying? It's not whether it's possible, it's whether you'll do it, Shidou."

Kotori raised her brows, a stupefied look on her face.

"M...Me!?"

"Of course. When are you going to make up your mind. —It's impossible for anyone but Shidou."

"H-How exactly do I...!"

While sweat dripped down his face, Shidou asked, and Kotori pulled the Chupa Chups out of her mouth.

And then, as a mischievous smile floated onto her face,

"Don't you know? There's only one way to save a princess that's been cursed."

Saying this, her puckered lips and the candy met in a kiss.

The situation was the worst possible.

The ten AST members on standby were already all in the battle, but nevermind damaging the Spirit, they could not even hope to approach it.

No—even before that, nobody other than Origami even entered the edge of the Spirit's consciousness.

After all—there are no lions that walk while worrying about ants.

"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh—!!"

Releasing a roar like a crying voice wet with tears, the Spirit swung the oversized sword down.

"..."

Origami engaged the thrusters, twisting her body and escaping into the sky, avoiding that strike.

But—the shockwave brought about by the sword's pressure invaded her territory and assaulted Origami's body.

"Guh—"

For just a moment, she had been careless.

"—AAAAAAAAHHH!"

The Spirit roared.

Then with all her power she rotated her shoulders and the sword sliced through the air, once again swinging towards Origami.

"—Origami!!"

Ryouko shouted out. But—it was too late.

The Spirit's sword touched Origami's territory.

—In an instant.

"——"

Origami realized that her judgment had been naive.

She had tried to guess the approximate power by the shockwave but—she was wrong. The power was clearly in a different world.

Nevermind comparing it to oneself, even just considering a strategy against it would be blasphemous; the iron hammer of the tyrannous king.

In terms of time, it was a mere 1.5 seconds.

Her territory.

Supposedly boasting an absolute power, Origami's castle.

"———"

Without a sound, without a voice, it was crushed.

Origami's body was flung from the sky onto the ground.

"Aa—"

"Origami!"

Ryouko's voice felt far away.

Probably since the territory had been released, the burden on her brain seems to have eased somewhat, but in place of that her whole body hurt intensely. There weren't just one or two broken bones. Blood drenched the wiring suit from wounds which she didn't even know where they were, creating an unpleasant feel. Her head that suddenly became heavy, as if remembering about gravity, moved just a tiny bit.

In her hazy vision, the figure of the Spirit standing in the sky was the only thing she could see clearly. Holding the sword with an extremely sad expression, the figure of an awfully small girl.

"——It's the end."

The Spirit raised the sword, and paused.

Surrounding the Spirit, a countless number of specks of light appeared, each giving off a black glow, and converged onto the sword's blade like they were being sucked in.

Even without any explanation, she understood.

That is a strike with the Spirit's full force behind it.

If she received it in her current state, without her territory, then without a doubt she would die. She had to escape somehow.

However, her body was heavy and hurt, as if she couldn't even try to move it.

Ryouko and the other AST members are all already unable to fight. There was no longer anything in existence that could stop the Spirit.

She waited for the sword to take on a dark glow.

The Spirit put power into the hand holding the sword.

Then—at that moment.

"TooohkaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaa—!!"

From the sky.

From even higher up than the Spirit.

Such a yell was heard.

"Eh—"

Even though a threat to her life was imminent, Origami still let out that astonished voice.

After all, that scream was from the boy that Origami had hit just a while ago.

"The princess is in flight huh... then Shidou, let's drop in here. Parachute? You don't need something like that. We're not so high up, and anyways, when you approach her, we'll suspend you in midair. —Ahh, uun, don't worry don't worry. It's limited to directly below the <Fraxinus> though. ...Eh? If you stray off course? Mmm... well, there'll be a beautiful flower blooming on the ground, a bright red one though."

After telling Shidou about 'the way to stop Tohka', Kotori glanced at the monitor while saying that. She then chuckled.

"W-wait! It's already gonna be hard enough, why are...!"

"Well you know, if the success rate is going to be around the same, then isn't it obvious that the more enjoyable way is better?"

"You're gonna be the only one enjoying itttttt!"

"So annoying. Grab him."

"Yes!"

Kotori said, and from somewhere two muscular men appeared, and restrained Shidou's two hands.

Like that, Shidou was pulled along.

"Ahh, damn you, you better remember this Kotoriii!"

"Whatever. I'll remember it so have a nice trip."

Hearing such a voice, Shidou who was dragged to a hatch positioned in the lower part of the hull,

"Good luck."

Not even given time to complain, was thrown into the sky.

"Gyahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh—!?"

A fierce wind assaulted the school uniform wrapped around his body as well as the flesh on his face.

An unending feeling of zero gravity. He no longer was afraid of things like roller coasters.

Then—while so frightened that it seemed like his consciousness would fly away, Shidou saw a single shadow.

"—!"

Extending his limbs to stabilize, he captured that girl in his blurred vision.

And then.

"TooohkaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaa—!!"

With all the power he could muster, he screamed out that name.

Not even a beat afterwards, the gravity that pulled on his body melted into the sense of weightlessness.

It was probably the support from <Ratatoskr>. It didn't change the fact that he was still falling, but if it's like this—

"——"

Tohka seems to have noticed Shidou's voice; without swinging that giant sword, she faced upwards.

Her cheeks and the tip of her nose were bright red, and her eyes were soggy. It was an extremely unseemly appearance.

His eyes met Tohka's.

"shi—dou...?"

As if not yet comprehending the situation, Tohka muttered.

While the speed of his descent gradually slowed down, Shidou placed his hands on Tohka's two shoulders. With the help of Tohka standing in midair, he finally stopped.

"H-Hey... Tohka."

"shidou... is it, r-really, you...?"

"Ahh... yeah, I think so."

Shidou said, and Tohka's lips quivered.

"shidou, shidou, shidou...!"

"Mhm, wh—"

As he started to answer, the edge of Shidou's vision was filled with an intense light.

The sword that Tohka stopped in mid-swing gave off a pure black glow that turned the surroundings into darkness.

"Wh—What is that..."

"...! Oh no...! The power is—"

The same time that Tohka furrowed her brows, light leaked out from the blade like lightning, piercing the earth.

"To-Tohka, what is—"

"I can't control?[The Last SwordHalvanhelev]?anymore...! We have to release it somewhere...!"

"Where is that somewhere!?"

"——"

Without saying anything, Tohka looked towards the ground.

Following her gaze, he noticed Origami lying there, seeming like she might die any moment.

"...! Tohka, you...! D-Don't shoot there!"

"T-Then what are you telling me to do! It's already reached the critical state!"

Even while saying this, the sword that Tohka held was shooting streams of black lightning into the surroundings. Like machine gun fire, the continuous barrage gouged out the earth.

Then, at that time, Shidou remembered Kotori's words.

"...Tohka. U-Uhm, calm down and listen to me."

"What is it! Now's not the time—"

"It's about that! The possibility to do something about it... maybe... is there!"

"What did you say!? What should I do!?"

"A-Aahh. Uhm—"

However, Shidou wasn't able to immediately let it out of his mouth.

After all, the method that Kotori had told him was too incomprehensible and illogical and lacking context—

"Hurry up!"

"...!"

Shidou made up his mind and opened his mouth.

"I-It's, uhm...! Tohka! K-Kiss, me...!"

"—What!?"

Tohka furrowed her brows.

But that was to be expected. During this urgent time, he said something like that. It couldn't be helped that she took it as some kind of bad joke.

"S-Sorry, just forget it. Let's think about some other—"

"What's a kiss!?"

"Huh...?"

"Tell me quickly!"

"...A ki-kiss is uhm, you bring two lips together—"

In the middle of Shidou's words.

—Without any hesitation, Tohka pressed her pink lips onto Shidou's lips.

"———!?"

His eyes opened as wide as they could, as he let out a muffled sound.

Tohka's lips were so soft and so moist and even gave off a sweet smell that that feeling and touch had caused his brain to scream hell and heaven[1F 3]. That kisses tasted like lemon is a lie. Tohka's kiss tasted like the parfait she ate at lunch.

A beat later.

—Cracks formed on Tohka's sword that towered into the sky, then it crumbled away, dissolving into the air.

Following that, the film of light that formed the inners of the dress wrapped around Tohka's body as well as her skirt disappeared, as if bursting open.

"Wh—"

Tohka let out a voice filled with bewilderment.

"...!?"

But even more surprised was Shidou.

It was not at Tohka's sword and clothes disappearing. That he had heard from Kotori, though he had half-doubted it.

If anything, it was that Tohka spoke while they were still in the kiss, so the lip that was in contact wriggled, causing him to go into some kind of chaos state that could no longer be expressed with Shidou's vocabulary.

—Tohka's body grew limp, falling towards the ground.

In Shidou's dim consciousness, while hesitating slightly, he hugged Tohka before her body fell away. Rather weakly. Timidly.

With their heads downwards, their lips and bodies united, the two of them descended.

Tohka's raiment turned into particles of light, leaving behind a trail.

It could've probably been a scene from a fantasy.

However, Shidou didn't have room to be aware of that.

Slowly falling while supporting Tohka—with his body on the bottom, they landed on the ground.

They remained overlapping like that for a while,

"Pwua...!"

As if taking a breather, Tohka's lips parted, and she raised her body.

"S..., s-s-s-s-s-sorry Tohka! I was told that this was the only way...!"

Shidou immediately jumped up when Tohka moved off his body, springing backwards and at the same time balling up his body, ending with a marvelous jumping dogeza[1F 4].

Well, to be precise Tohka was the one who gave the kiss, but somehow he felt like that was not the problem.

However, many seconds passed, but she didn't step on Shidou's head or even curse at him.

"...?"

Thinking this was strange, he raised his head.

Tohka was just sitting there with a mysterious look on her face, touching her lip with her finger.

Or rather, before that—

"Pwua...!?"

Shidou's face turned bright red as if he was about to spout a nosebleed, and he hardened.

The raiment she wore crumbling into bits and pieces, Tohka was in a half-naked state that was embarrassing to even look at.

"—!"

Shidou's reaction seems to have caused Tohka to notice this. She hurriedly covered her chest.

"N-N-N-No Tohka, I was just—"

"D-Don't look, idiot...!!"

Though not knowing the meaning of a kiss, it seemed that she had a normal sense of embarrassment. While blushing, Tohka glared.

"So-Sorry...!"

Flustered, he closed his eyes.

"That's no good! You're squinting aren't you!"

"Th-Then what should I do...!"

Shidou said, and after a few moments, his whole body felt a warm feeling once again.

"Eh—"

Involuntarily, his closed eyes opened.

In front of his eyes were Tohka's pure black hair, and her naked shoulders. The point was—their bodies joined snugly.

"...Now, you won't be able to see."

"A-Aahh..."

Is this really okay? While thinking that, and unable to move his body, he stayed firm like that.

After a while.

"...shidou."

Tohka let out a fading voice.

"What is it?"

"Will you... take me on a date again...?"

"Yeah. Something like that, I'll take you any time."

Shidou emphatically affirmed.