"You stubborn IDIOT!" Kaguya yelled.
"Reply. That's our line," Yuzuru countered.
Winds clashed, a divine tempest beyond mortal comprehension. Two queens of the hurricane, each worthy of the name Yamai.
"Why don't you get it!?" Kaguya shouted. "No matter how you look at it, you're more worthy of being Yamai!"
"Rebuttal. Don't make me repeat myself. Only Kaguya has the right to that name."
Twin meteors streaked through the night sky, matching in speed and power, carving trails in the void. Their repeated clashes split the sea, uprooted trees, and swirled clouds into a vortex.
"Ugh, you're so SELFISH!" Kaguya screamed. "Stupid Yuzuru! Stupid, stupid, STUPID!"
"Outrage. That stings. If I'm stupid, you're the biggest idiot in the world."
"What did you SAY!?" Kaguya's face flushed as she readied her lance, charging with a wind-wrapped, lethal strike. Yuzuru countered, her pendulum swirling with a storm as she rushed forward.
Each attack was a decisive blow, meant to end the fight.
The collision birthed a tempest fiercer than before—yet no victor emerged.
"—!" Both recoiled, perfectly synchronized, as if mirrored. The strike should have been fatal, yet it seemed… restrained, as if both held back.
"You—" Kaguya started.
"Assertion. Kaguya—" Yuzuru began.
Their thoughts aligned, yet diverged. A warped battle—not to kill, but to save the other.
"The true Yamai!" they cried in unison.
A fated burden from birth. Two queens, doomed to an unsalvable tragedy. Unsalvable—except by one boy.
"There! Kaguya, Yuzuru!" Shidou called, barely reaching them. Whipping his heavy body forward, he found them within a raging storm.
The fight began when Shidou consulted Takanotsume about the twins, and they overheard, sparking this duel. Or perhaps it was inevitable, fated to happen regardless.
"Stop it, both of you! Please!" Shidou pleaded, but his cries were drowned by the wind. Agony wracked his body, forcing him to his knees. Takanotsume supported him, worried, but he forced himself up, assuring her he was fine.
What could he do? How could he stop them? He needed to reach them. His gaze fell on Sandalphon in his hand.
"That's it… Takanotsume! Can you use Sandalphon to stop them? With your power—"
"Impossible," a voice interrupted.
Shidou turned to see Kurumi, her expression somber as she gazed skyward. Closing her eyes briefly, she met his gaze, as if measuring him.
"Impossible?" Shidou echoed.
"An angel obeys its wielder," Kurumi said. "I told you you summoned that sword. The answer is clear."
"Mmm…" Takanotsume touched Sandalphon's hilt, her strained voice confirming Kurumi's words.
"She's right," Takanotsume said. "I can't wield this Sandalphon. An angel manifests through the wielder's wish. This one, summoned by your wish, Shidou, won't answer to me."
"No… way…" Shidou whispered.
Was he to give up? Watch their fight and let one sacrifice herself? Was that the choice allowed to him?
They cared so deeply, praised each other, loved each other—yet chose their own erasure. Was he to abandon them?
"No way I can do that!" Shidou roared, gripping the sword's hilt. He wasn't the type to give up or accept this fate.
He looked to Kurumi. Involving her or Takanotsume was unfair, but they could help him reach that storm. He had to reach the twins.
"Kurumi, I need—"
"Shidou-san," she cut in, her tone almost questioning. "Make your choice."
"Choice…?"
"Yes. Kaguya-san or Yuzuru-san."
"That's—!"
"Or…" Kurumi continued, "the choice only you can make."
Her cryptic smile returned as Shidou's eyes widened. She continued her earlier warning.
"An angel is a crystal… a mirror of the heart," she said. "Fill it with anger, it returns anger. Fill it with sorrow, it returns sorrow. Fill it with prayer… it returns prayer."
"A crystal…" Shidou murmured.
"Tell me your wish," Kurumi urged.
Her smile seemed to soften, watching over him.
His wish was clear from the start. He'd done it before—with Takanotsume, Yoshino, Kotori, and even now with Kurumi, his beloved.
'They're a bit different. They're likely the same being.'
'What will you choose?'
Kurumi's words echoed. The same being… She hadn't asked who to choose, but what.
"You said they're the same, right?" Shidou asked.
"I did," Kurumi replied. "But because they're the same, Kaguya-san and Yuzuru-san must fight."
"No. You're wrong."
A flame ignited within him, its regenerative heat mirroring his burning heart.
"If they're the same, losing either means Yamai ceases to be!" Shidou declared. "It's just senseless self-destruction. I'm sick of it—everyone sacrificing themselves for others!"
He loathed it—people caring so much they'd erase themselves. So, this endlessly kind, endlessly greedy boy chose the hardest path.
"My choice was set from the start," he said. "I choose both. If Yamai is both of them, then both have to stay!"
"That's the Shidou-san I love," Kurumi said.
His love was vast, gentle—and why she believed in his choice.
"Pour that earnest wish into your angel," she said. "Sandalphon will answer… Show them you have the power to save them both."
"Yeah!" Shidou affirmed.
He had to do this. He had to prove he could save those reckless Spirits.
"Takanotsume-san, take Shidou-san's hand," Kurumi instructed.
"Hm?" Takanotsume blinked.
"Even if he summoned it, that angel is yours. It might help."
"…Got it," Takanotsume said, taking a hand—Kurumi's.
"Um, Takanotsume-san," Kurumi said, flustered. "Shidou-san's hand…"
"No! Three is better than two!" Takanotsume declared, dragging Kurumi to Shidou and placing her hand on his.
What logic was that? Child's math? Takanotsume's enthusiasm rendered retorts pointless. Kurumi, caught up, joined hands with Shidou, who flushed in surprise.
"Hey!" he exclaimed.
"Calm your heart," Takanotsume said. "Focus your wish into Sandalphon."
"Exactly," Kurumi added. "Your wish—your prayer—into your heart."
It was absurd in this chaos, but Shidou listened, raising the sword, closing his eyes, and steadying his breath.
My wish.
To save those foolishly kind girls. To keep them whole. To defy their cruel fate and save them.
The power to do it—here!
Light blazed before his opened eyes, a radiant glow piercing the night, the antithesis of the dark aurora—a white light born of a just heart.
Kurumi and Takanotsume nodded, their hands tightening on his. Shidou raised Sandalphon high.
Not with hatred or anger, but with prayer—this one swing held everything.
"Reach them!" he roared.
A flash thundered through the sky, undaunted by the storm, cleaving it apart. The hero's strike reached the queens.
"What—?" Kaguya gasped.
"Shock. This is…" Yuzuru murmured.
The blow halted their winds, parted the clouds, and drew their attention to Shidou, the source of that incredible spiritual power.
"Shidou…!? Was that you?" Kaguya asked.
"Astonishment. Incredible power," Yuzuru said.
"Listen up!" Shidou shouted, pain splitting his head, his body screaming as if it might shatter. Yet he stood, forcing his voice to carry.
"You chose me as your arbiter! And I'm not stepping down! I've decided—who's worthy of being the true Yamai!"
The twins held their breath, their gazes sharpening. The pressure was palpable—each expecting to be chosen. Knowing this, Shidou pressed on.
"I choose both of you as the true Yamai!" he declared.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kaguya scoffed.
"Contempt. Childish—" Yuzuru began.
"I have the power to seal Spirits!" Shidou interrupted.
Their eyes widened in shock. This was a gamble. He had to make them believe in his power.
His vision blurred, their forms barely visible. But he couldn't stop. If he did, they'd be lost forever.
"With that power, I'll take away your Spirit abilities! Then you won't have to fight! You can both live—together!"
"What are you saying? That's impossible…" Kaguya protested.
"Doubt. No such method exists," Yuzuru said.
"Who cut through your precious winds?" Shidou challenged, forcing a grin despite the pain eating at him. He tasted blood, knowing the toll of wielding inhuman power.
His bravado shook them, their gasps clear even through his fading sight. Pressing forward, he poured every ounce of strength into his voice.
"Please! Believe me! Believe I have the power… a chance to save you, who care more for each other than yourselves! Just once—trust me!"
The twins fell silent.
"Please… I'll save… both…" His words faltered, Sandalphon dissolving into light. Coughing blood, Shidou collapsed.
As Takanotsume shook him, calling desperately, Shidou felt a warm hand—his beloved's—through his fading consciousness.
"Kaguya-san, Yuzuru-san," Kurumi said, her voice gentle yet commanding.
She knew she should leave the choice to them. But she couldn't stop speaking.
"It's natural to doubt. But please… believe just one thing."
Her heart drove her words, overwhelming reason.
"Believe in Shidou-san's words, staked on his life!"
She knew this was unlike her, meddling too much. But she couldn't let his wish—his love—come to nothing.
Silence fell. The twins looked at Shidou, Kurumi, then each other, and spoke.
"What…?" Kaguya whispered.
"Observation. That's…" Yuzuru said.
A massive roar interrupted—a warship loomed above, its timing utterly tactless. Kurumi's expression soured as her communicator buzzed. She answered instantly.
"Status?"
'A warship hit hard by Fraxi-nas is heading your way—oh, you see it?'
"Yes."
'No surprise it's fine without its commander. Kotori Itsuka's ship is something else.'
"Wonderful," Kurumi said. "We'll handle the cleanup."
Shadows emerged. Kurumi was beyond irritated. To interrupt his wish with that? Unacceptable.
"Takanotsume-san, take care of Shidou-san," she said.
"Got it!" Takanotsume replied, cradling Shidou.
Kurumi launched into the sky. Shadows weren't bound to the earth—they rose over sea and sky.
"Now, 'we' shall feast on these foolish intruders," she declared.
From the shadows emerged countless Kurumis, her army. Raising her arm like a conductor, she directed them toward the puppet soldiers.
"Kihehehehe!" their laughter echoed.
A true nightmare unfolded. The puppets were torn apart—arms, legs, heads—before reaching their targets, ravaged as if in a dance.
"Lies… you…!" Kaguya gasped.
"Astonishment. You too…" Yuzuru murmured.
"Yes, my apologies for hiding it," Kurumi said, curtsying midair, ignoring the chaos. "Now, will you believe? Shidou-san has the power to save you both. I, Tokisaki Kurumi, a Spirit, guarantee it."
Her goal aligned with theirs—to "conquer" Shidou. That meant he held value even a Spirit like her obsessed over.
"It's up to you now," she said. "I'd be delighted if you trusted his words."
She'd played all her cards. Perhaps she'd helped too much, but it was a reward—for Shidou's life-risking wish and the twins who cared for her.
The twins stared at her, then at each other, their expressions softening.
"Hey, Yuzuru," Kaguya said. "Will you listen?"
"Reply. What is it?"
"I… want to believe."
In that impossible if, that improbable story. If there was a way to seize it…
"I was lying all along," Kaguya confessed, tears falling. "I want to be with you, Yuzuru!"
Her hidden feelings spilled out. She'd always wanted it, buried deep.
"I want to go places with you! See things together! I don't want to disappear!"
"Reply…" Yuzuru's voice trembled, a single tear her proof. "I feel the same. To see, feel, live with Kaguya—together."
Their secret wishes aligned. They were Yamai, after all.
"We want to live!" they declared.
To live together. Their gentle, desperate wish, finally voiced through Shidou's resolve.
Wiping their tears, they nodded, understanding each other without words.
"Kaka, I commend you, crimson vampire!" Kaguya said. "For buying time for us, Yamai!"
"V-vampire…?" Kurumi blinked, bewildered. She'd been called many things, but this was new. Sucking time, not blood, wasn't that far off, but still.
Yuzuru shot Kaguya a flat stare. "Point. That's lazy. Your taste confuses even Kurumi."
"Hey, what else could I say!?" Kaguya protested. "She's so cool! Clones are cheating! It just fits!"
Kurumi's bewilderment deepened, verging on rare embarrassment. Shidou, on the ground, would be jealous of this scene.
Clearing her throat, she regained composure, eyeing the twins. She knew their next move, having already recalled her clones.
"May I leave it to you?" she asked.
"Of course!" Kaguya replied.
"Affirmative," Yuzuru said.
"Then wield your hurricane's power to your heart's content," Kurumi said.
She pointed to the iron mass—a human creation, mere obstacle to Spirits.
Kaguya raised her left hand, Yuzuru her right, perfectly synchronized. Their astral dresses glowed, wings transforming into a bow. Yuzuru's pendulum became the string, Kaguya's lance the arrow.
Their angel's ultimate form—the true essence of Yamai.
"Raphael—El Kanaph, Sky-Runner!"
A hurricane roared. The lethal arrow, its mere shockwave felling all, was unstoppable. Yamai's wind was the ultimate strike.
It obliterated the remaining puppets, painting the night sky red, heralding the twins' new beginning.
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