"Not only was I utterly defeated," Vali growled, her voice hoarse yet thick with irritation, "I was even toyed with until I ended up like this!"
She looked down at her own body—long hair spilling over her shoulders, a physique that was clearly not her original one. Her hands clenched, nails digging into her palms.
"Hah… disgusting."
"Heh, then let's just look on the bright side, Boss," Bikou said casually, trying to lighten the mood.
Vali shot him a sharp glance. "What bright side."
Bikou shrugged. "Well… you're way prettier than Kuroka."
Silence fell.
Then—
Looks of pure disgust from everyone in the room immediately turned toward him.
Arthur let out a long sigh while covering his face with one hand. Le Fay clicked her tongue softly. Kuroka stared at Bikou with a smile that was unmistakably dangerous.
"Are you… mocking me?" Kuroka's voice sounded gentle—far too gentle.
"N-No! No! I mean—sorry! Sorry!" Bikou instantly raised both hands in surrender.
"Haah…" Vali leaned her head back against the rickety pillow. "I don't even have the energy to get angry."
She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again, staring blankly at the ceiling.
"Hey, Albion."
She tried to call out.
But—silence.
There was no cold voice answering in her head. No surge of power. No connection.
"…Albion?" she repeated, more quietly this time.
Still no response.
Vali frowned. "Even Albion can't connect…"
Arthur immediately became alert. "That's not normal."
Vali ground her teeth. Her memory returned to that moment—when Juggernaut Drive had been activated. Normally, even when her mind was dragged along by Albion's rampage, she could still maintain a single thread of control. Ten seconds. Always ten seconds.
But that time—
Her focus shattered.
Albion's suppressed fury mixed with her own anger. There was no direction. No control. Only the urge to destroy.
And the result… this body.
"I was careless," Vali muttered softly. "And now I have to bear the consequences."
Her hand gripped the bedsheet.
Becoming a woman.
To others, it might be nothing more than a change of form.
To Vali, it was an insult to her very existence.
Suddenly—
A glowing magic circle appeared in the empty space at the center of the room.
White-golden light descended from above, angelic symbols slowly rotating before fading away.
Everyone immediately went on guard.
From within the light, a familiar figure emerged.
Azazel.
He stepped forward, wearing his usual relaxed expression, though his eyes were clearly examining the surroundings.
"Yo, Vali," he greeted lightly, as if dropping by for a casual visit. "How're you holding up?"
Vali looked at him.
A cold stare.
A mix of irritation, exhaustion, and something deeper—hatred that had yet to cool.
"…You've got some nerve coming here," Vali said quietly.
Azazel shrugged. "I'm your foster father. Even if you hate me, that doesn't mean I stop worrying about you."
He then glanced over Vali's body from head to toe, an eyebrow lifting.
"…Though I'll admit," Azazel continued with a crooked grin, "this is beyond my expectations."
Silence fell again, heavy and awkward.
"Should I call you Vali-kun," Azazel paused, his grin turning mischievous, "or Vali-chan?"
"Are you joking right now!?" Vali snapped, a vein immediately bulging on her forehead.
"Hahaha! Don't get mad, don't get mad. You know," Azazel rubbed the back of his neck, "I always wanted a daughter. Just never thought my wish would come true like this."
Crack.
Vali's brow twitched violently.
"You…!"
"Okay, okay! Easy, easy," Azazel immediately raised both hands. "I didn't come here just to joke around."
His expression shifted slightly, though his casual tone remained.
"Remember that device I made back then?" he said with a grin. "That gender bender beam. It was just a joke at first—a failed prototype, even."
Vali narrowed her eyes. "That ridiculous thing?"
"Yup. And don't ask why I still have it."
"You brought it here!?"
"Of course." Azazel reached into his pocket and pulled out something that looked like a brightly colored toy gun—far too bright for such a dangerous situation. "A true scientist is always prepared with emergency equipment."
Arthur let out a long sigh. "Why am I not surprised…"
Azazel aimed the device at Vali.
"Wait—" Vali didn't even get to finish.
Piuuung.
A thin beam of light shot out and enveloped Vali's body.
In an instant, the strange sensation that had been bothering her—the piercing discomfort, the mismatch between soul and body—slowly eased. As if an invisible burden had been lifted.
Vali let out a breath without realizing it.
"…Hah."
But—
A few seconds passed.
Nothing changed.
Vali looked down, examining her body once more.
Her hair was still long. Her figure remained the same.
An even heavier silence fell.
"Eh?"
Vali's brow furrowed as she looked at Azazel in disbelief.
"What's going on?" her voice rose. "I didn't turn back into a man!?"
Azazel stared at the device in his hand.
Then at Vali.
Then back at the device.
"…Huh."
This time, his usual grin completely vanished.
"Interesting," Azazel muttered, his tone turning serious. "This thing should've worked. Even on a pure-blooded devil."
Kuroka smiled faintly. "Fufufu… so this isn't just a simple physical change, huh?"
Le Fay clenched her hand. "The effect runs deeper. It's like… even the concept of her existence was affected."
Arthur nodded slowly. "Not ordinary magic. It's like something rewrote the fundamental condition."
Vali clenched her fist atop the bedsheet, her nails nearly tearing into the fabric.
The anger that had briefly subsided now surged again—denser, colder.
"Damn it… that bastard!" she snarled through clenched teeth. "I'll find him and burn his place to the ground!!"
The aura around her trembled weakly—not from power, but from emotion with nowhere to go.
"Ahem," Azazel cleared his throat softly, his voice no longer joking. "I'd advise against that for now."
Vali shot him a sharp look.
"You're still weak," Azazel continued calmly. "You haven't even recovered from the backlash of Juggernaut Drive. If you force yourself, your own body will be the one that breaks."
Vali clicked her tongue, tightening her grip on the sheet. The anger had nowhere to be vented, which only made it more frustrating.
"Tch…"
A brief silence filled the room, broken only by Vali's heavy breathing.
"What about Albion?" Azazel finally asked, his voice lower.
Vali paused, then slowly shook her head.
"She… isn't responding," Vali said quietly. "Even after I woke up."
That was no small problem.
Azazel narrowed his eyes. "Hmm… I see."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a strange pair of glasses—layered lenses etched with magical patterns and faintly glowing circuits. His own invention, a Sacred Gear scanning device that neither Heaven nor the Underworld possessed.
Azazel put them on and stepped closer to Vali's side.
A thin light scanned her body, focusing on her chest where Divine Dividing normally resonated.
A few seconds passed.
"No serious damage," Azazel finally said. "Your Sacred Gear is stable."
Vali frowned. "Then why is she silent?"
Azazel removed the glasses, his expression thoughtful.
"Could be extreme exhaustion," he replied. "Or… whatever that man did earlier placed too much pressure, even for a Heavenly Dragon."
He paused, then added, "Divine Dividing is arrogant. If she's silent, that means there's something that made her… cautious."
Vali fell silent.
"…I see," she murmured.
Her hand clenched again, but this time it wasn't only anger.
There was something else.
A sense of being shaken.
The realization that, for the first time, there was someone out there who had truly shaken the foundation of her existence—not just as the wielder of Divine Dividing, but as Vali Lucifer herself.
And that, somehow, only made her want to meet Jun again even more.