Dark golden vertical pupils opened in the darkness.
Su Yuzu had never Recruited a six-star Operator from the Abyss faction before.
So unlocking an achievement tied to the Abyss side didn't seem like a problem in itself.
But "Flowers Bloom in the Abyss"?
Now that really did sound like an achievement name made for Kirishika.
The character art it unlocked, however, was something else entirely.
Dark golden vertical pupils opened in the darkness, and the figure kneeling there was the "Seat of Evil," wrapped in a black silk dress.
The girl's skin was smoother than the soft fabric itself, and the silk clung obediently to every line of her, tracing a silhouette that was as striking as it was tempting.
She looked at Su Yuzu coldly.
"So you're the junior who symbolizes the last hope?"
"What an ill-mannered je... jerk!!!"
"All right, all right..."
"I know, I know, I was wrong."
Su Yuzu stared blankly at the "Seat of Evil."
Of course, Su Yuzu wasn't stunned simply because the Operator she'd pulled was the "Seat of Evil" instead of Kirishika.
What truly left her speechless was the other girl, dressed in the same style of silk dress but in white, sheltered in the arms of the kneeling "Seat of Evil."
Kirishika.
Bent slightly forward, almost prostrate just to bring her height down, her face buried against the "Seat of Evil," Kirishika had a lowered waist whose curve was, if anything, even more eye-catching.
And more than that. Whether it was the "Seat of Evil" or Kirishika, those excessively form-fitting silk dresses gave Su Yuzu the distinct impression that there was nothing at all underneath.
Honestly, though.
Considering the Kirishika of the previous era, Su Yuzu thought it was entirely possible.
"Su Yuzu..."
"Yuzu—"
"May I call you that?"
"Please stop bullying this child..."
"Eh?"
"What?"
"Me?"
"Then please, by all means, keep bullying her as hard as you like."
The real reason Su Yuzu was floored: this Recruit seemed to be a buy-one-get-one-free.
Jackpot!!!
A six-star piece of seafood traded in for a six-star Kirishika and the "Seat of Evil" — that was daylight robbery in her favor.
[Ding ding ding ding ding ding—]
[★★★★★★]
The art of Kirishika and the "Seat of Evil" froze in place before Su Yuzu.
[Operator: Kirishika / Kirishika (Dark)]
[★★★★★★]
[Level.0 - Fate Erasure rule-type ability user / Level.65 - Supreme Lord Esper.]
[Talent: Divine Proxy]
[Talent: Seat of Hunger]
[Inherent Ability: Supreme Lord (Incomplete)]
[Inherent Ability: Synesthesia]
[Inherent Ability: Flowers Bloom in the Abyss]
[Inherent Ability: Deep Sea Evil Lord]
[Kirishika, once a rule-type ability user, fell and became the "Seat of Evil." For unknown reasons, the empty shell that took Kirishika's form continued to exist afterward, and the two became something akin to twins.]
[Initial Favorability: 33 (Closeness) / -33 (Obedience).]
[...]
As Su Yuzu's first six-star Operator from the Abyss side, Kirishika left absolutely nothing to be desired in terms of raw power.
And what made it more interesting still: Kirishika, existing as a hollow shell, and the "Seat of Evil," who had once acted as the proxy of the Abyss Will — two individuals who were by now all but wholly independent of each other — existed together as a single Operator.
Even the [Inherent Ability] entry, which ordinary Operators only ever had one of.
Even a noble six-star Operator only got two of those special abilities, yet Kirishika, being the special case she was, had a full four.
Su Yuzu could see how it worked.
Of those four [Inherent Abilities]... two belonged to Kirishika, and two to the "Seat of Evil."
Amid the giddy sense of having made an enormous profit, though, a small pang of regret surfaced.
What a shame—
She could have had one more "Combat Record Extraction Princess," and now she was down one.
It was supposed to be a regretful thought, but there wasn't the faintest trace of regret on Su Yuzu's face.
The girl was practically cackling.
What was the saying? A blessing in disguise, that was it.
Her "Ten-Pull Search Voucher" had inexplicably fished up a piece of deep-ocean seafood, sure — but that seafood had let her "exchange" it for a six-star Operator.
And a six-star Operator this special, no less.
Su Yuzu went through Kirishika's abilities one by one.
"Divine Proxy" was presumably the special ability Kirishika held as Godmother of the Holy Royal Court.
Because of her lifelong struggle, Kirishika, once regarded as something close to a proxy of god itself, would receive a stronger and stronger blessing the closer she got to the Holy Royal Court.
As for the "Seat of Hunger"... this was the Kirishika who wanted to roast and eat even a eurypterid, so having a Talent called "Seat of Hunger" was perfectly natural.
The remaining three [Inherent Abilities] were nothing more than the special authority and power Kirishika — or rather the "Seat of Hun... Evil" — had held as a rule-type ability user of the previous era.
And even that power was no longer whole.
A portion of it had already been traded away to Su Yuzu by Kirishika twelve years ago, and now... the "Seat of Evil" had been picked clean by Su Yuzu as well.
The one thing Su Yuzu did find worth noting was that the "Seat of Evil," after being picked clean by her, had somehow been "reborn" as an Esper of the Sixth Sequence.
She wondered what those people at the Holy Royal Court would do when she brought back Kirishika, the "Seat of Evil," and Lyudmila, the "successor" to Saint Michael, all at once.
It would probably be a spectacular sight.
Su Yuzu was about to close Kirishika's panel.
Then her gaze caught on [Inherent Ability: Synesthesia] and stopped.
[Inherent Ability: Synesthesia.]
[As isomorphic variants upon the same thread of Fate, Kirishika and Kirishika (Dark) possess the ability to sense one another.]
In that instant, Su Yuzu understood exactly why Sister Kirishika had looked so flustered and squirmy when she came back carrying the "Seat of Evil" in her arms.
But the power of [Synesthesia] wasn't quite that simple.
[As compensation for being "isomorphic variants," Kirishika and Kirishika (Dark) do not share Development attempt limits.]
[But they do share Development gains.]
Su Yuzu's eyes lit up at once.
What did that mean?
It meant that whenever she Developed Sister Kirishika, the "Seat of Evil" would be Developed at the same time — and it wouldn't stop her from Developing the "Seat of Evil" separately on top of that.
Her stock of "Combat Record Extraction Princesses" hadn't shrunk at all.
And Sister Kirishika would get to enjoy Lady Fate's "Blessing" twice a day.
If she timed it right — right at midnight, using two in a row.
Sister Kirishika might just become the first person to enjoy Lady Fate's "Blessing" four times back to back.
And if you counted Sister Kirishika and the "Seat of Evil" as a single whole... that made eight!
Su Yuzu was starting to feel a little worried for her.
"Yuzu?" Inside the dorm, Soga Yura watched the smile bloom across Su Yuzu's face. "Yuzu... you're plotting something wicked again."
"Wicked, nothing!" Su Yuzu declared with righteous conviction. "I'm only thinking about how to get stronger, fast."
No problem there.
Su Yuzu was merely thinking about how to raise the efficiency of her "Combat Records" income.
Right.
Exactly that!
As if Soga Yura couldn't read the girl like a book.
That look on Yuzu's face just now was pure scheming.
She just didn't know which poor soul was about to be bullied by this wicked-minded girl.
"All right... Sister should get to sleep early," Su Yuzu said soothingly to Soga Yura.
Soga Yura gazed at her quietly. "I want... to sleep with Yuzu."
Su Yuzu looked at Soga Yura, and it was as if she could see straight through to the unease, the restlessness, the confusion and the sulking hurt inside her.
On the lower level of the capsule dormitory, Sakura Mai slammed her door shut and did her best to look like she hadn't heard a single thing.
She'd love to hold soft, squishy Sister Yuzu and have sweet dreams tonight too.
But... the situation simply wouldn't allow it.
Su Yuzu glanced around the cramped capsule room.
The bed in here looked barely a hair bigger than the camp cot in Tsukiyomi-senpai's observatory.
She looked at Soga Yura biting her lip, the toe of one foot tracing circle after circle on the floor without her noticing.
Su Yuzu let out a sigh.
She climbed the stairs up to Soga Yura's bunk.
____
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