At the Homurahara Academy field.
Amid the evacuation line, Manaka, who should have been following others to a safe place, suddenly stopped. She turned and looked toward the distant Mion River, a slight smile forming at the corner of her lips as if she'd seen something intriguing.
"He's awake? His memories, under this crisis, broke through the last Magecraft I set up… Looks like this game of playing house can't continue."
"Sajyou? What are you doing there?"
Seeing Manaka standing still, a student approached and called out, "It's dangerous here. Let's go to a safe place to take shelter."
"Shelter? No need anymore." Manaka smiled and shook her head. "The battle will end soon. He'll win."
Naoki would definitely win—there was no doubt about it. Though not invincible, in a fight of this level, there was no chance he'd lose. Especially now that his memories were unlocked, the Sacred Sword Armor's performance could surely be maximized to one hundred percent.
Though it was just something she'd imagined temporarily, it was more than enough to handle fragments of her own power.
"If the second one is defeated… is there still one more? It'll end soon, the end of this world."
"Sajyou… what are you talking about?"
The student beside her looked at the slightly mysterious Manaka with confusion. Could the shock have been so great that it affected her mentally? Why wasn't Naoki here at a time like this…
*CLANG!*
Suddenly, in the direction Manaka was staring, a beam of light shot into the sky, instantly drawing everyone's attention!
Seeing the beam, Manaka's cheeks couldn't help but flush.
"Ahhh~~~ Naoki, my dear Prince~~~~"
"Finally awake, huh?"
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
Artoria stared at the scene before her in slight disbelief.
The Sacred Sword Armor had vanished at some point. The rainbow meteors that should have struck had melted and disappeared under the radiant light. And she, who a second ago was still inside the armor, was now—
"Quite a special dream, huh."
With one arm embracing Artoria, Naoki, looking like he'd just woken up, gazed at the scene before him with mild surprise. Then he looked at Artoria in his arms. "Good morning, Lia. Looks like the old me caused you some trouble."
"Master… your memories are back?"
"Rather than back, it's more like I was asleep all this time. Only my shallow consciousness was active, while my deeper consciousness was dormant. Now, I've just woken up."
In truth, after being engulfed by the overflowing darkness from Manaka's body, Naoki's consciousness remained awake. But only for a few dozen minutes in real time. After his first meeting with Manaka in this consciousness world, his consciousness split into two due to her Magecraft.
One part was the deeper consciousness carrying his memories, which had been asleep all this time.
The other was the shallow consciousness living with Artoria as Manaka's "childhood friend."
And now, when the shallow consciousness was overwhelmed by the angel and couldn't fight back, the deeper consciousness forcibly broke through Manaka's Magecraft, reuniting the two.
After reviewing the ten years of false memories from the shallow consciousness from a third-person perspective, Naoki sighed slightly. "Really convoluted, Manaka. Making something simple so complicated… Childhood friend?"
It didn't seem like Manaka was into this kind of style. Though, based on their ten years of symbiosis, they could indeed be considered childhood friends in a certain sense.
[Enemy target, confirmed]
[Holy Sword Wielder, eliminate, execute annihilation program]
Gazing at Naoki bathed in light, as if triggered, the angel, previously calm, suddenly retreated dozens of meters.
Its colorful light wings rapidly extended to nearly a thousand meters! Like two divine blades slashing toward Naoki!
"Master—"
*CRACK!*
Amid Artoria's startled cry, Naoki reached out toward the descending light wings. Grasping them tightly, the wings made of pure light shattered into countless fragments in his hand, like fragile glass!
Imaginary Manifestation—Spatial Reinforcement.
What broke wasn't the light wings but the space they occupied. Though not his true body, Naoki was ultimately a half-fairy, and this was part of his own consciousness world. Here, he could wield Imaginary Manifestation even more freely!
"What a disgusting appearance, angel… If you call that an angel—Sogou or whatever, enough. Just looking at it makes me sick. Back to the toilet with you!"
Stepping forward, he instantly crossed hundreds of meters, arriving before the angel's bird-like head. Facing that irritating head, Naoki stomped down with all his might!
*BAM!*
The kick sent the angel crashing to the ground. As it fell, Naoki swiftly swung his arm several times. The angel's previously pristine body visibly cracked with each strike!
Imaginary Manifestation—Vacuum Discontinuity Zone.
*SSSSHHHHHHH!*
An invisible forbidden zone of death, composed of infinite vacuum discontinuities, completely enveloped the angel. Then—
One second, truly just one second. No room to resist, no tolerance to evade.
In that single second, the angel completely vanished from its spot. Amid infinite vacuum discontinuities, no matter how large its body, it couldn't survive—its existence depended on how long Naoki allowed it to exist.
Unfortunately, due to his dislike for the angel's appearance, Naoki had no intention of letting it linger beyond one second.
Absolute victory!
Seeing the scene before her, Artoria, in Naoki's embrace, let out a sigh of relief—this was the Master she knew, a half-fairy, the Holy Sword wielder, capable of defeating all enemies and evils.
"Thank you for your hard work, Master. And welcome back."