The shadow-lake churned, and Giratina's gaze never left the surviving enemies.
I could feel the air bending — reality itself warping like stretched glass.
Giratina's power wasn't the same as Dialga's control over time, but the Distortion World had its own rules… and when it leaked into this place, those rules became law.
Time didn't so much stop as it refused to move.
The Fallen Angels froze mid-breath.
The cultists hung in place like marionettes with cut strings, their eyes wide and glassy.
I stepped forward.
The silence was absolute.
Even the beat of my own heart felt muffled, as though the world had been stuffed into a coffin.
In this time-stopped world, I was free to do anything I wanted.
Although I don't know the limits of Giratina, it doesn't matter right now.
After all, I can do anything with these guys.
I decided to return the favor of them trying to kill me a bit.
I walked past the first cultist, his sword raised mid-swing, his face locked in a snarl.
Gently, I turned his wrist, angling the blade until the point pressed against his right eye.
Then, with a light tap on the hilt… It was gently inserted into his eyes.
I was sure he would when, suddenly, finding his own eyes stabbed, rather than taking it out carefully, he would squirm around in pain, adding more damage to himself.
When time returned, he'd finish the job himself.
I moved to the next one.
She had a dagger drawn, frozen mid-step toward me.
I guided her arm upward, twisting it inward until the blade rested against her own throat.
One more push, and her muscles — once free to move — would do the rest.
Another cultist was close by, mouth open as if to shout.
I slid his hand toward his belt, wrapped his fingers around a spare knife, and forced the tip between his teeth, angled toward the roof of his mouth.
I kept going.
Each enemy was rearranged like a macabre puzzle, their weapons transformed into instruments of their own demise.
Finally, I stepped back beside Giratina.
Its vast form loomed in the frozen blackness, six wings undulating slowly, like a predator savoring the anticipation.
And then… Giratina blinked.
Time lurched forward.
The chamber erupted in motion — screams cut short by wet, sharp sounds.
The sword plunged into an eye.
The dagger slit its wielder's own throat.
The knife punched through bone and into the brain.
Some dropped instantly.
Others writhed in pain for only seconds before Giratina's shadow-chains erupted from the tar, latching onto limbs and necks.
The chains yanked them down, thrashing, into the black depths.
Only two of the Fallen Angels remained — still alive, though bound in shadowy manacles, their wings pinned.
They struggled, but the chains dragged them toward the dark portal swirling behind Giratina.
"Too bad, girls~ Who would've thought the human you looked down on so much would be the one to end your story? Well… technically not the end yet, but you get my point."
Giratina didn't give them a chance to reply.
With a final, slow beat of its wings, it dragged them into the Distortion World.
The portal snapped shut like a predator's jaws.
Silence returned… but the darkness lingered.
The smell of blood still clung to the air.
I turned — and there was Asia, still sitting cross-legged on the floor, eyes closed, swaying slightly to whatever song she was listening to.
Not a drop of the carnage had reached her.
I sighed.
Things had gotten far more out of hand than I'd planned.
I decided that this abandoned church had to go down.
Sure, Asia wouldn't be happy if she found out I destroyed it — but if she didn't know it was me, then there was no problem.
I could always blame it on "them."
And why bother destroying it at all? Simple.
This place was the cult's hideout.
If they ever tried to use it again, they'd have to rebuild it… and that would be my early warning that they were back.
I turned toward Giratina.
"Giratina — destroy the building. Physically."
The great golden serpent-dragon inclined its head, understanding.
A shimmering shadow wall of warped space and distortion formed around me and Asia, enclosing us like an unbreakable shell.
Outside, Giratina spread its six black, rib-like wings.
The edges shimmered with sickly gold light before slamming into the church's pillars.
Stone cracked like dry bone.
It rose higher, twisting its massive body, and slammed down again.
The impact sent tremors through the floor, shattering stained glass into glittering rain. Pews splintered like matchsticks.
The altar cracked into debris.
Finally, Giratina lashed its tail straight through the roof, tearing a jagged gap that let moonlight pour in.
With a last beat of its wings, the entire structure groaned — then collapsed inward in a choking cloud of dust.
The barrier fell away.
Giratina's form shimmered, folding into my shadow until the floor was still again.
I walked over to Asia, knelt, and gently plucked the earplugs from her ears.
She blinked at me, wide-eyed, taking in the rubble around us.
"What… happened? How did all this…?"
"Well, just like how you are a healer, I'm a summoner," I said simply.
"I just have a very scary summon. It scared away all the bad people."
While Asia was still staring at the pile of rubble that used to be the church, her expression caught somewhere between sadness and disbelief, the air shimmered.
A deep crimson glow flared against the cracked stone floor.
Runes spiraled outward, spinning into the shape of a large magic circle.
In the next heartbeat, four figures stepped through — Sona, Tsubaki, Rias, and Akeno.
They looked tense, scanning the ruins as if expecting an ambush.
Their eyes swept across the debris, then landed on me.
Their surprise was obvious.
Rias exhaled slowly, one hand brushing back her crimson hair.
"…I honestly didn't expect to find you here."
She said, her tone a strange mix of relief and wariness.
Then her eyes narrowed.
"We came to investigate. A sudden magical signature flared here, and moments later, this entire church was… destroyed."
Her gaze flicked from me to the rubble, then back to me again.
The suspicion in her eyes was almost a verdict in itself.
"To think it was you…"
She added, her voice carrying that quiet certainty people use when they think they've already figured out the truth.
I felt my jaw tighten.
"Wow… you're just going to assume it was me?"
I asked, feigning indignation.
Her lips curved into a knowing smirk.
"Am I wrong?"
I looked away with a sharp exhale.
"…That's beside the point."
The truth was, yes, I had destroyed it — but I wasn't going to let them walk away thinking I'd done it with such certainty.
"Fine," I said, stepping forward.
"You want to know what happened? Then listen. I didn't just waltz in here and smash the place. I was surrounded by cultists and Fallen Angels — ones that were about to kill me and Asia. They were already using this church as their base."
Their expressions shifted.
Even Sona's calculating stare softened slightly, though she kept her silence.
"I… handled it," I continued, glancing toward the shadows where Giratina had disappeared.
"My summon scared them off — permanently. And before you ask, this church was destroyed by the fight between my summon and those cultists and fallen angels."
There was a pause, the only sound the wind whistling through the broken walls.
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