A dark red erosion domain sliced through the night.
Lyudmila, who had pushed Saotome Yukina behind her, had the tips of her long golden hair seemingly entwined with specks of Holy Light as she locked eyes with the girl shrouded in the center of the erosion domain.
Lyudmila's expression was grim.
Opposite her... was a Second Sequence Aberrant.
Moreover, she was completely different from the half-baked Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi that Su Yuzu had faced back then—who had been completely held in check by the "Dominator's Aegis".
The Aberrant gripping a long, narrow tachimachi and charging straight from the perimeter of the girls' dormitory towards Saotome Yukina was clearly an Aberrant who had been stabilized at the Second Sequence for a long time, even showing faint signs of breaking through to the Third Sequence.
The girl's hair was as black as ebony, making the color of the one-piece black silk formed of Aberrant Crystal on her body appear even paler in contrast. Only thin, dark purple Catastrophe Crystals with extremely small coverage areas were firmly embedded in the girl's vital points.
Accompanying the girl's mid-air posture, her black hair dancing wildly in the night looked less like long hair and more like some kind of excessively beautiful ornament.
Unlike the appearance of First Sequence Aberrants, whose mouths and noses had to be covered like a mask, the exquisite and quiet face of the Aberrant girl drawing her blade to kill Saotome Yukina was completely exposed to the air. There was still a trace of childishness remaining on her face.
Those nearly magnificent dark golden vertical pupils locked onto Saotome Yukina behind Lyudmila like weapons.
The girl wielding the tachi was like a quiet, beautiful flower blooming in the dark.
"Damn it..."
"Why does it have to be a time like this."
Lyudmila stared into those magnificent dark golden vertical pupils.
The opponent had chosen her timing too well. It happened to be just after the sun had set and before the moon had risen—Lyudmila's weakest time as a Sun Esper.
If it had been even a little later, Lyudmila's combat power could have increased a bit with the help of the slight sunlight reflected by the moon. Furthermore... she had happened to use up the "Sanctuary of the Sacrificed" ability to nullify an attack just today.
Lyudmila raged inwardly at the incompetence of Keigunen Private Academy's defense system. It was practically a sieve.
The Aberrant girl in front of her was obviously not some existence that had just been polluted and corrupted. Her mastery over the power of Catastrophe was even stronger than some Third Sequence Aberrants. She had clearly been immersed in Catastrophe for a long time.
To think Keigunen Private Academy... could actually let this kind of guy into the academy grounds.
No—it was the defense line of the Tokyo metropolitan area that had actually been breached so easily.
Lyudmila held her breath, watching the Aberrant girl who had broken through the wall. The fierce wind blew up Lyudmila's hair, and even the bathrobe on the Saintess showed a faint tendency to be blown open.
The erosion domain filled with the aura of Catastrophe rapidly eroded towards Lyudmila, but the situation was completely different from facing a normal apprentice-level Esper.
The dark red erosion domain should have directly crushed Lyudmila, who had not yet stepped into the First Sequence. However... Saotome Yukina, protected behind Lyudmila, saw it—
On Lyudmila's perfect, snowy back, complex gold and crimson stigmata lit up the instant they touched the erosion domain. The flowing, brilliant stigmata brand even easily burned through the bathrobe, looking just like molten lava.
The Aberrant girl clearly hadn't anticipated that there would be someone inside the room possessing the ability to resist.
However... it didn't matter. It was just someone who hadn't even stepped into the First Sequence...
Before the voice in the Aberrant girl's heart could fall, Lyudmila, standing in front of Saotome Yukina, broke through directly to the First Sequence with the momentum of splitting bamboo, thanks to the Level 10 Sun ability fed to her by Su Yuzu.
Originally, Su Yuzu had intended to let Lyudmila take it slow and feed her the "First Sequence Promotion Emblem" tomorrow. Looking at it now, it probably wouldn't be needed.
And Lyudmila... felt extremely bitter in her heart. At this moment, she actually had to thank Su Yuzu for the "Blessing" of that unknown goddess she had brought her. If not for that blessing, the current situation... might have been troublesome.
Gold and crimson runes, nearly identical to the stigmata brand on Lyudmila's snowy back, instantly unfolded around Lyudmila. Even the Second Sequence Aberrant girl was pushed away by those promotion runes that were akin to rules.
As everyone knows—when magical girls and Kamen Riders transform, they possess invincibility frames. This is very reasonable.
Outside the Healing-type girls' dormitory, a piercing alarm tore through the night sky. The second and third-year Senpais, having heard the alarm and sensed the deployment of the erosion domain, were also rushing towards Lyudmila and the Little Rabbit's dormitory at top speed.
At this time... Lyudmila just needed to stall for time. It was just that the person this Aberrant girl chose was Saotome Yukina.
If she had gone to attack Mihou Sakai of the Assault Department... the Assault Department Senpais would probably have jumped directly from upstairs to give her a surprise.
Unfortunately... the Healing-type didn't have those kinds of physical monsters here. No... there used to be one. More than twenty years ago, Keigunen Private Academy had once produced a violent healer who carried a Sword of Erasure and beat up practically the entire grade.
The dark golden vertical pupils judged the situation. There was still a chance.
The Aberrant girl's movements were as swift as the wind; she bypassed the promoting Lyudmila directly and drew her blade to slash at the Little Rabbit's head.
Clang—
A ragingly burning Holy Scripture wrapped in chains flew out from within the promotion runes, slamming directly into the Aberrant girl's blade.
The Aberrant girl looked at those gorgeously burning golden eyes within the promotion runes. The Holy Scripture, smashing onto the ground as heavily as a meteor hammer, had the other end of its thorned chains wrapped tightly around Lyudmila's palm, constantly oozing burning holy blood.
"People from the Holy Royal Court?"
"Or a monster from the Inquisition?" A woman's voice rang in the Aberrant girl's ear.
"Zero—!"
"End the battle quickly and retreat immediately. The Assault Department Head of Keigunen Private Academy is about to arrive."
The Aberrant girl charged at the Little Rabbit once again.
The Little Rabbit struggled to stand up within the erosion domain and cast Hydrotherapy on Lyudmila's hand, which was constantly dripping blood. She didn't want to be a burden. Neither a burden to Yuzu-senpai nor to Student Mira.
Lyudmila swung the Holy Scripture and smashed it towards the Aberrant girl; in the next second, Lyudmila's figure was sent flying heavily away.
But at the same time, the powerful aura of a peak Third Sequence Esper was already approaching the battlefield.
The Aberrant girl threw a spinning pitch-black gear towards Saotome Yukina. Her dark golden vertical pupils glanced apprehensively in the direction Lyudmila had flown, and then she leapt into the night, disappearing.
The Little Rabbit widened her eyes, watching that rotating pitch-black gear... which seemed about to slice into the center of her brow.
"She's done for," the woman chattered endlessly in the Aberrant girl's ear.
"Prepare to welcome your new companion, Zero—"
"What name would be good for her?"
"How about 'Inverse Zero'?"
Only... the woman's voice had not yet fully fallen when it came to an abrupt halt.
Inside the Healing-type dormitory.
Clang—!
A heavy impact sound.
The Little Rabbit, holding a heavy healing staff with both hands—one that looked as if it could easily crack open the skull of a low-level Catastrophe Beast—slumped powerlessly to the floor.
In front of her... the pitch-black gear had shattered into two halves. Black lightning danced constantly between the fragments of the gear.
The Little Rabbit clutched her constantly trembling chest, feeling as if the last bit of strength in her whole body was about to be drained away.
"Almost..."
"Almost never got to see Sister Yuzu again."
When she thought of Sister Yuzu, she seemed to suddenly possess infinite strength.
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