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She was attacked fro thunder dragon opened wide in wait for her flying for, false Kaori wrapped herself up in her silver wings Then, she used her silver ical power to summon her decomposition ability at its on’s shape dispersed

Shia as hiding behind gave pursuit It see this outcome before she threw false Kaori An ie deed

Yue’s defense, thunder dragon, had been successfully penetrated However, she used a gravity ball of ‘Cursed Sky’ to create a high-gravity field on the front

As a result…

"HeuUUUUU!?"

False Kaori as still flying was suddenly and forcefully pulled to the ground and slid face down

What a ht If Shizuku was here, there’s no mistake she would be furious, even if she kneas a false iround, false Kaori et up in so face…

"Mugyuu!?"

Her face was trampled down by Shia who had coround once ht was increased , incidentally taking false Kaori along One could easily guess as shining along with the ice shards fluttering about in the air and which had for origin the area near false Kaori’s eyes…

Without a single care about her, Yue and Shia entered the climax of their battle Both of the an unladylike display

Yue was healed with her ‘Autoed into superwoeneration hly due to their consu their deical poas just due to their stubbornness

"Yue-san no…"

"Shia no…"

Yue suon’ It took the shape of a huge are kenda Doryukken They both released an unusual pressure

And, therein, false Kaori was flapping her wings and flying unsteadily… her eyes lost focus

Maybe she had not yet recovered froet away quickly -!"

"Fue?"

Kaori used both hands as aBut, as expected, false Kaori as barely conscious only gave a dull response

After which…

"Blockhead!" X2

The thunderous lightning and the red kenda about fierce destruction

"?!?"

The poor recovering victim who had been silent screamed Jostled in the air fro towards Kaori

Bouncing off the ground several tiround until she ended her course before Kaori What a cruel fate There was a certain charh

"Su- Such cruelty…"

"Sorry, ed characters"

Eround, tears forave her a faint sh"

"… My other self…"

There was a nice feel between the two, but they were the sa aside the fact that the aireat labyrinth was to play with the core of one’s feelings

A threat suddenly appeared above the tere cuddling close together, ready to deliver the final blow ‘Bikiriii-’ An unpleasant sound reached their ears as a huge lu Yes, that was the aftere central pillar that supported the ceiling had been s ceiling to collapse as well And both Kaoris were right below

"Run away! I’ll be fine!"

"Sonna! I can’t do that! At this rate!"

As expected, the development had become drama-like for both of the danger was pushing aside Kaori in an atteer

Kaori, with an extreo It would have been simply fine for Kaori to carry false Kaori in her arhtless at the , as well as countless icicles, were close, and the next moment they would…

"Quickly!"

"Uu, Un Understood Sorry"

As false Kaori was urging her on, a large sas thrust at false Kaori’s chest Along with Kaori’s sweet voice

"… Eh? Why?"

Naturally, it was Kaori who did the stabbing, ly displeased expression as she averted her eyes She answered false Kaori’s unintentional question with a pained face

"Be, because if your death is caused by so else, maybe I will fail the trial… So before you die, I have to be the one to kill you"

It was actually a fair argument Actually as up with the cheap dras like ‘Co ‘I can’t leave you like this!’ Considering she was up against the voice inside her heart, inning Before the disappearing false Kaori, Kaori’s expression was better left undescribed

"Fufu, you becarowth… However, I think this way of ending things was a little excessive"

The icicles and the ceiling which had been seconds away fro back to their for due to the maze’s restoration function It was obvious this would happen, just like it always had before

Moved to tears, false Kaori, whose every effort had been fruitless up until Kaori’s last decision at the end, finally collapsed and disappeared without leaving any trace

"… This victory feels empty"

If so’ It seeroup

On the other side, Yue and Shia who had

"Haa, Haa…, keho"

"Fuhe, Fuhe…"

They were breathing roughly while standing on the ground of ice with si cos"

"…"

"If soether"

"…"

"No ainst, no ether, we can do anything That’s what I believe"

Shia was reiterating her last speech with a rough breath Yue, si silently

"The ones who taught ht now, you aren’t being the sae a Yue-san who is afraid of soed beloved ‘special one’ was a person ould not give up under any circumstances and would rely on her and her power to peep into the future Which is why there was no way she could approve of the current Yue Not only could she not approve of Yue’s states were

She didn’t knohat exactly inside Yue made her pronounce the words ‘in the worst case scenario’, but if there is a chance such a thing will happen, they should not befor it instead Even if her coht to love were to get involved in the process, they should still be trying to seize the future in which they are all together The idea of people close to Haji self-sacrifice was unthinkable Even if it sealed their fate, staying, eating and drinking together until the end, and then perishing together would still be ten thousand times better

Of course, for her, their probability of perishing was so low she wouldn’t even give it a thought If Haji, he would probably be searching for a way to kill the absurdity instead Not even onekilling intent

And, Yue should be the first one to know that

"Such a foolish request, you think I’ll listen to it?"

"Shia…"

By now Shia was shedding tears Irritated by Yue aswith theine this future which saddened her …

She thought that if she beat Yue in this fight that had started as easily as a child losing his te enough to protect Yue and thus bloay Yue’s lack of resolve But as expected, Yue was strong, and victory was not possible This fact was disappointing and annoying for Shia…

Shia’s various s piled up and saturated Unable to contain herself any

Lying on the ground, Yue, who had only ht to Shia in order to watch her, suical power froetting up slowly Then she started crawling towards Shia on all fours

"… Shia, sorry"

"Yue-san?"

Looking fro nose particularly stood out, Yue gently stroked her head With both her gaze and hands, and in an extreed to stare back despite her field of vision being reduced by her tears

"… It’s as Shia says No matter the past, no matter who I am, it doesn’t matter From now on, I want to remain all the ti anyone who stands in the way of that, no hu, Th- That’s right"

"… Nn Even if so happens toabout it There was nothing to worry about"

"Isn’t that obvious, uh"

"… Nn Sorry I ive you! So, don’t you dare ain! Pro the sweat fro to Yue Yue also hugged Shia back tightly

Tis had becoently

Yue and Shia had had their first big fight It was a scene like that of friends having a fist fight by a river beach and watching the sunset after er

A quivering voice reached the on anyoodness"

"?" X2

Puzzled, Yue and Shia turned their sight to the source of the voice They saw Kaori’s sh, due to her pro at all

"Ufufu, I’m speechless There was no consideration whatsoever formy trial into a completea care in the world Rather, giving me this ‘Huh, you were here?’ look, ufufu"

In response to Kaori’s suspicious laughter, Yue and Shia ere still elances And, at that moment, they reht, there was so …

Then, realizing that this was the large room for Kaori, their expression made an ‘Oops’ face

"A~ E~tto, Kaori-san? For now, let’s cal funny, Shia-ttara Don’t I look perfectly calm?"

… Kaori, the … how about the trial?"

"Nn~? I more or less passed it By h of relief

As one would expect, involving her into their fight and leaving her unable to clear the trial, taking into account all the hardships faced so far, would have been beyond forgivable

However, they froze in place when they heard Kaori’s next words

"Yes, I defeated her with ot beaten up by you two very badly and was in a hopeless situation"

"… " X2

"That counts as a win, right? I won’t be told it’s invalid because she was already done in by you two first, right? What do you think about this? Huh?"

Yue and Shia were dripping cold sweat Kaori ca down and e each other She crouched with a friendly sesture had a certain charm to it, but because her eyes were devoid of color, she appeared rather scary

Then, Yue suddenly looked the other way and added oil to the fire

"… Then, it would have been better to use restorationher off"

"… Yue?"

"… It’s not my fault Rather, it’s Kaori’s, who did her in too quickly"

"Haa, haa Yu- Yue-san, that’s a bit … Hum, Kaori-san, really, sorr?"

"Fufuu, Yue-ttara, you’re funny After co, to say such a thing … hey, raise your friendship level withever deeper fro face as a vein popped on her forehead and she extracted her twin large swords

Seeing this, Yue quietly stood up and showed a fearless sth

"… I don’t mind A friendship where I am above Kaori and Kaori is under me, I will raise the level of such a friendship"

"Ufufufufufuu, get bloay!"

"… I refuse!"

Then, flashes ran through the large roo froain heard

"Fueeeen, Yue-san! Kaori-san! If Ito cale that made its appearance felt somehow like the reward of futile efforts

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1: They use the word Gekokujo Frohly translated as the lower rules the higher or the low overco In our case, juniors (Shia) doravity ic