The arrogant posture of the Heavenly Judgment Herrscher high in the sky, as if controlling everything, abruptly vanished.
She was like a puppet whose strings had been cut, her figure swaying slightly before she was drawn down step by step from the sky, as if pulled by an invisible force.
The spatial staircase that had materialized beneath her feet was no longer steady, supporting her somewhat stumbling steps.
It even rippled irregularly, revealing the extremely unstable state of its master's heart.
She approached step by step; her high heels made no sound on the rough ground, as if even the noise had been swallowed by the dead silence surrounding her.
Her pair of golden eyes, now devoid of light, stared intently and fixedly at the blood-soaked ground nearby, and at the familiar silhouette covered by a school uniform.
She stopped a few steps away from Shido, extending a trembling hand, seemingly wanting to touch his cheek to confirm if he was merely a cold illusion.
As if disbelieving the sight before her, she stumbled a few steps forward, then slowly, as if in slow motion, she crouched down.
Her gaze swept greedily yet fearfully over the hand, stained with dark red blood and hanging limply, and over the pale profile faintly visible beneath the school uniform.
She reached out, her fingertips trembling slightly, moving toward Shido's cheek, seeming to want to touch him, to confirm this was just a nightmare.
But her fingertips suddenly curled back the moment before making contact, as if fearing the cold touch would utterly shatter the last shred of hope in her heart.
Her breathing, which had initially been almost nonexistent, gradually became rapid and violent.
Her chest began to heave visibly, as if something was grasping her throat, stealing the air she needed to survive.
One of her hands unconsciously clutched her chest, gripping so hard that her fingertips nearly dug into the fabric.
Her pair of vacant golden eyes were wide open, reflecting Shido's lifeless face, yet reflecting no light of their own.
Her pupils trembled slightly, as if enduring some unspeakable, soul-rending agony.
Her lips parted slightly, seeming to want to cry out, but no sound emerged; only increasingly heavy and difficult gasps echoed clearly and... desperately across the silent plateau.
Her entire being was like an elaborately carved ice sculpture, struck by a heavy hammer in an instant, covered in cracks, and on the verge of total collapse.
She opened her mouth, but no sound came out; all her words were choked deep in her throat, transforming into silent wails.
In the distance, Tohka, who had been fiercely battling the AST Unit, venting endless fury and grief, seemed to sense something.
Her swing of sandalphon paused slightly, and the violent spiritual energy fluctuations became somewhat disordered.
She abruptly turned her head, her amethyst eyes sweeping past the AST Unit's defense line, spotting the white figure crouching beside Shido, radiating an aura of despair and intensity even stronger than her own.
The anger on Tohka's face receded like a tide, replaced by a mixture of confusion, grievance, and... a faint, almost nonexistent, thread of hope.
She recognized that person. It was the Heavenly Judgment who had told her her name, smelled pleasant, and whom she considered a "comrade."
She was so powerful, so mysterious... Could she... have a way?
This thought, like the only point of light in the darkness, drove Tohka.
Ignoring the ready AST Unit, her form moved, turning into a purple stream of light, instantly breaking away from the battle and arriving beside Chinatsu.
It was Tohka.
She landed softly beside Chinatsu.
She was like a child who had suffered a great injustice outside and finally saw a parent, flying away from the entanglement with the AST Unit and coming to Chinatsu's side.
But watching Chinatsu's devastated, suffering expression—her difficult breathing, her empty eyes gazing at Shido, her hand reaching out and retracting, shaking incessantly—and looking at the lifeless Shido on the ground, the words she intended to use to ask for help caught in her throat.
She looked at Chinatsu expectantly, the last flicker of light shining in her purple eyes, as if asking.
You have a way, right? You are so powerful, you can even defeat those bad women, you must be able to save Shido, right?
However, Chinatsu's expression, which showed greater despair and breakdown than her own, was like a final bucket of ice water, completely extinguishing the faint flame of hope in Tohka's heart.
Chinatsu's appearance clearly conveyed a cruel truth to her—that even she was helpless.
The light in Tohka's eyes completely faded. She lowered her head, biting her lip tightly, struggling not to cry out loud.
But large teardrops rolled down uncontrollably, hitting the dust near Chinatsu's feet and spreading into small wet patches.
She could only stand silently beside Chinatsu, looking at Shido, who seemed to be sleeping on the ground, as the grief and despair she had just managed to calm resurged like a cold tide, completely overwhelming her.
She bowed her head, her long purple hair falling to conceal her face, which was also etched with pain.
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