The ground at this moment was trembling in madness.
Dust and rubble shot skyward, buildings collapsed in frenzied sequence, and the entire planet seemed as if it had welcomed the end of days all at once.
A sharp gash spread across the planet's surface, so vast that even the naked eye could follow it until it vanished at the far horizon.
And this was not a mere surface crack. Looking down into it, one could glimpse the planet's very essence.
Countless layers of steel were stacked below, sparks bursting here and there, letting all see just how deep this scar had driven.
From orbit, gazing down at the world, one could see it plainly: in an instant, this mechanical planet bore a single, titanic wound.
Logically speaking, such violence on a planet should have sent vast fragments drifting loose into the void.
Yet not a single piece of debris escaped into space.
This was not because the mechanical planet's construction was flawless, but because at this very moment its entire physical structure remained frozen.
Frozen still. Which meant only one thing…
Hoshigaki Sora drew back his blade.
But that blade, after unleashing such a strike, was itself on the verge of ruin.
Cracks upon cracks ran along its surface, catching the glimmers of light around them and standing out harshly.
The weapon could no longer shoulder the duties of battle.
"Too much power?" Sora quickly understood why the blade had ended like this.
The force condensed into it just now had been far too great, far too mixed.
Not only that, it had never been properly trained and fused, leaving the energy scattered and wild.
That was why it could explode with a blow strong enough to cut down even an Aeon's scattered form — yet at the same time, its own lifespan had burned away in an instant.
But in a face-to-face clash with an enemy like this, how could Sora have had the luxury to regulate every thread of his output?
That the blade would meet such an end was, truly, inevitable.
As his words fell, the cracks multiplied, and in the blink of an eye they spread across the entire blade.
Just as he had shattered Titanironia's long sword into fragments before, now his own weapon shared the same fate.
Seeing this, Sora chose to return the broken blade into his system space for automatic repair.
This was only the second time, after G3, that he had needed to repair a piece of his equipment.
But the blade's mission was complete. All that remained before him was the final foe.
Sora turned toward Titanironia, who had already staunched her wound.
Her expression was still full of disbelief — the greatest reaction she had ever shown since their meeting.
Until now, she had always borne a calm, airy face, never touched by strong emotion.
But that mask was shattered.
The power a mortal had burst forth with, enough to leave a god dumbstruck — a blow that shook even divine flesh — this was a strength unique in all the universe.
And Titanironia sharply realized one thing—
My divine body…
The godly vessel born from her resonance with fate had once more lost a piece.
This time, it was an entire right arm, cut clean away by Sora.
Before, he had severed only a hand, and that alone had kept her from fully ascending to the Aeon's seat.
Now she need not worry about a hand.
Because the whole arm was gone.
And worse, she could not even sense where that piece of body had gone.
The severed hand she had known — it had been absorbed into a clone body resonant with her power.
But this time, the missing arm had vanished beyond her perception, drifting who knew where…
All of it, because of a single human.
Titanironia's candlelit gaze locked onto Sora. Everything, every flaw, every failure, was because of this man.
In a normal course, when she resonated with the Stellaron, she should have risen directly to divinity.
But too much had gone awry. Her once-perfect divine vessel now lay broken in many places.
A body missing so much — if she still sought the Aeon's seat, she would have to reclaim that hand once lost.
Realizing this, her gaze snapped toward the far end of a ruined street.
There, a figure blazing with red-gold and pale light streaked rapidly closer.
That was Hotaru. The moment she had sensed Sora's disappearance, she had come flying here.
And sure enough — she found him. The one who always rushed ahead of everyone, muttering to himself, reckless and alone.
But this time, he had not disappointed her. That blade light, which nearly carved away a piece of the planet itself, she had seen with her own eyes.
Moments before, she had watched Sora nearly be run through by Titanironia, her heart clenched with worry. But now, she could breathe again.
Titanironia's right arm was gone. With only one arm, how could she possibly match Sora?
That was what Hotaru thought. But suddenly, she felt the air around her grow unbearably heavy.
As though the atmosphere had turned to ice — every breath dragging needles of cold deep into her chest.
Her body reacted instantly, honed instincts of a warrior forged in countless battlefields shouting at her.
Danger was coming…
She still wondered from where—when, without warning, a massive shadow loomed.
Titanironia, towering over ten meters high, had traversed distance with mere words, manifesting before her in an instant.
So close, Hotaru could even see the terrible harmony of beauty in the goddess's form.
But that harmony existed only if one ignored the glaring absence of her right side.
Seen whole, that beauty stripped away, what stood before her was—
Nothing but a demon. A demon laden with insectile traits, spreading death to all, stealing futures from all.
And Hotaru now faced that demon head-on.
Titanironia reached a hand toward her.
[Give it back to me. My power.]
The words seemed spoken, but in truth they were merely a decree.
She had entrusted that power into Hotaru's body — and now she had come to take it back
And now, with her arm gone, naturally she would take back from Hotaru's body the power that belonged to her.
Thus, she stretched out that vast palm toward Hotaru.
A palm so large it blotted out the sky, its joints marked with traits like the wing cases of beetles.
It was the shadow left behind on this divine path by the previous Propagation Aeon, Tazzyronth.
That was why Titanironia bore so many insect features.
With an aura vast enough to cover heaven and earth, she pressed that hand down upon Hotaru. She would reclaim what she had lost — even if it meant the life of the one before her.
But Hotaru did not simply stand and await her death.
A normal person, faced with an Aeon, would at once be caught by the destiny radiating from their body, and become a devout believer.
Yet Hotaru felt none of that crushing weight.
She did not know why she was spared from that spiritual oppression, but precisely because of it, her body could move on instinct — to strike back against that incoming hand!
"Haah!"
Hotaru felt in that moment as if she had broken through some unseen limit. She could bathe her entire body in flame.
Her power was climbing, and it showed most clearly in the fire burning upon her.
The dark-red flames that once marked her essence as a Sin Thirster now burned differently.
Threads of white-gold brilliance shimmered within, transmuting the twisted metal fragments clinging to her body one by one back into their true form.
Some even swirled and etched themselves behind her, forming pair upon pair of wings.
Dark-red wings and white-gold wings gleamed together at her back, framing her body in a paradox of the fallen and the sacred.
Hotaru felt the shift in her own strength.
She did not know why it was happening — but if it made her stronger, then it meant she could help Sora better.
"Then I'll call this form…" She began to name her new power.
And soon, she remembered what Hoshigaki Sora had once called it: "Yes. This form's name is—[Miracle Future]!"
No need for confusion, no need to burn herself away — miracles were always by her side.
Her birth, her meeting with him, all of it had been woven by miracles.
Now she would use this miracle to carve open a new future!
And with this power, I can help him even more!
Hotaru named her form, then braced herself, spirit sharp, focusing wholly on the enemy's incoming strike.
Survival came first. Only by surviving the enemy's grasp could she bring forth that future.
If she could not do even that—then the future itself would never accept her.
"Haahhh!!!"
The symmetrical wings at her back roared with flame, and for an instant her aura almost matched Titanironia's own.
Weak, yes — but their breaths resonated.
The white-gold sparks lit upon the body wreathed in dark-red fire.
Faint, but the flame was seeded. Someday those lights would blaze.
And Hotaru, facing the foe who came upon her, charged headlong!
She beat her wings, soaring, and rushed straight for the enemy!
And then—
And then there was no "then."
She was swatted aside in a single blow.
No matter how her power had surged, no matter the terror of her sudden growth — it was far, far too early to stand against Titanironia.
On the battlefield it looked absurd: she flew in, and in the next instant, she was floored.
Aside from the scorch her attack had left on Titanironia's hand, she had done nothing at all.
Thud, thud…
The impact hurled Hotaru rolling across the ground, smashing her against a wall before she finally stopped.
Titanironia might not yet be a full Aeon, but her power was still far beyond the reach of mortals.
"This—this isn't right…" Hotaru muttered dazedly, still stunned.
No, why?
This clearly wasn't right!
Why was it that when Hoshigaki Sora switched armors, shifted forms, he never ran into this kind of thing?
By all the scenes she'd seen, shouldn't a new form mean an unstoppable surge?
So why, when it came to her, was it all wrong?
A strange sense of defeat struck her.
But Titanironia did not pause for Hotaru's daze.
That hand's power was hers to reclaim.
With it, Titanironia could face any foe.
Hotaru realized too late that she could not escape.
She could even sense the other's thoughts through her Silver Branch — this hand was only reaching, yet in truth every path of retreat had already been sealed.
This grasp carried, in its very nature, the certainty of a hit.
A god's strike never returned empty. None could resist the Aeon's weight.
This power of the hand—I reclaim it.
Titanironia's fingers closed.
BOOM!!
The sound of those massive hands clapping shut shook the already-ruined battlefield.
She intended to crush Hotaru into blood, then birth countless spawn from that blood.
But from within the closing palms came another sound, loud and sharp.
As the dust cleared, what Titanironia saw was far beyond her expectation.
Her hands had not closed fully. They had been forced apart.
Flames roared from within, jets bursting from the wrist.
The engines screamed.
That was the force keeping the hands from sealing.
It was Hoshigaki Sora!.